Weekly Chasidic Story #646 (s5770-31 / 29 Nissan 5770)

A New Cousin for Seder

"I must not let a minor matter such as his severe stench repel me from the great mitzvah of hospitality," Rabbi Lezer of Reishe thought to himslef. "But what about my wife?"

Connections (2): Seasonal - Passover, and Weekly Reading -- skin disease

 

A New Cousin for Seder

In our holy books it is written that every Jew should take upon himself one mitzvah to do it with special devotion. Sometimes, for our own good, we are even sent from heaven a special trial in the mitzvah that we seek to excel in.

For the tzadik Rabbi Elazar ("Lezer") from Reishe, a city in Galicia, Poland, the mitzvah was hospitality, as is fitting for the descendants of Abraham. He strived always to bring home guests and honor them, and never more so then for the first night of Passover, for the Pesach Seder. So it was no wonder that when he saw an unfamiliar face in shul after the holiday Evening Prayer, he approached him and thought to invite him home. But when he approached closer to this poor man, he saw how he was struck with a leprous-type skin disease, and because of the stench of his disease, it was difficult to get near to him.

"Even so, I must not let such minor matters repel me from performing this great mitzvah," he thought. "But, what about my wife? She is a most righteous woman, but she also has her limits." So he told the wayfarer, "I want you to come have the Seder and the meal with me, but first I have to arrange something. Wait here, and I will come back to take you home."

So off he went to his house, walking in with a somber face more befitting Tisha B'Av than Pesach. "Lezer, git yom tov ('Good Holiday')!" his wife warmly greeted him, but he barely whispered back a subdued "git yom tov." "

"What is the matter?" she asked, concerned, for it was most unusual for him to display even the minutest trace of sadness on a holiday.

He asked her if she remembered their second cousin Moshe from some other town. Embarrassed to admit that she did not, she responded, "Nu, so what is with him?"

"He is here in shul."

"What?" she exclaimed. "Everyone in the world you bring home, and our relative you leave in shul? What an embarrassment! Go back fast and bring him here!"

"I would like to," the Rebbe said quickly, "but he is leprous, and has a bad smell."

"Even so, he is our relative," she said firmly. "I will make a separate table for him."

So the Rabbi went and brought the "relative." After the Seder, the Rebetzin started asking him questions about mutual relatives, such as what is with Uncle Yitzchak and how is Aunt Rivkah, but the poor guy didn't know what she was talking about. Finally she caught on and said, "Lezer, you are such a wise guy!"

She prepared a bed for the guest, but didn't want to give him a pillow, because it would have to be thrown out afterwards. The tzadik said to her, "that pillow will be a 'michaye' (pleasure) for you in your grave," so she gave in.

Before they went to bed, they locked all the doors and windows, so there simply was no way to enter or leave the house in the middle of the night. Yet, in the morning, they found the bed of the guest empty.

Eliahu Hanavi (Elijah the prophet) doesn't sleep!

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[Adapted by Yerachmiel Tilles from a submission by Ezra Radhun, who heard it from Rabbi Mordechai Tachaver, z"l, a man who brought many wandering Jews back to their faith, and started a "cheder" school for young boys here in the Old city of Tsfat.]

Connections (2): Seasonal - Passover, and Weekly Reading - skin disease

Biographical note:
Rabbi Elazar of Reishe (1839-15 Tamuz 1910), a city in Galicia, Poland, was a great-grandson of the Rebbe Elimelech of Lyzhinsk. He was best known for miraculous healings, and for his book, Mishna Lemelech, on the weekly Torah readings.

Ezra Radhun adds:
I heard that for years Reb Lazer used to say, "they will pack me away like a cholent (stew) that is put on the fire before Shabbos." Sure enough, he passed away on a Friday and was buried just before Shabbos, even though in his will he asked to be buried in another city, near his ancestors. The whole funeral went so quickly, including the trip to the other town and the graveyard, that it could only have been miraculous that they finished before Shabbos.


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