Weekly Chasidic Story #751 (s5772-30 / 24 Nissan 5772)

Missed Opportunity

Rabbi Chaim Vital's reputation for greatness spread even to the non-Jews of The Land of Israel -- and this in itself sometimes caused him serious problems.

Connection:Seasonal - Saturday night is the yahrzeit of Rabbi Chaim Vital.

Missed Opportunity

Rabbi Chaim Vital's reputation for greatness spread even to the non-Jews of The Land of Israel -- and this in itself sometimes caused him serious problems. Despite his strong wish not to leave the Holy Land, he was once forced to flee for his life to Damascus. Here is that story:

One Friday, all the gates of Jerusalem were sealed off. No one was permitted to enter or leave the city. The Muslims gathered in the mosque that, tragically, stands where our holy Temple once stood in all its glory.

One of their high-ranking officers, a rabid Jew-hater by the name of Abu-Sifin, was passing by one of the gates. In the silence of the empty roads, he heard the sound of water flowing beneath the gate. These were the waters of Nachal Gichon, the stream of water that King Chizkiyahu had sealed off when facing the enemy, Sancheriv [see Book of Chronicles II:32:30].

The official, recalling the existence of this water channel and knowing who had sealed it off, turned to his men.

"Is there any Jew who is capable of opening this channel?"

"Certainly," one of his men replied. "Not far from here lives a great rabbi. He can do anything!"

Within the hour, Abu Sifin was standing in Rabbi Chaim Vital's doorway.

"Listen, Jew," he said. "The people of this city need the waters of the Gichon, I command you to open the channel -- on pain of death!"

Rabbi Chaim did not want to use G-d's holy Name to perform open miracles in public. Instead, he fled, and with kefitzat haderech [miraculous shortening of the way], he arrived in Damascus the same day. He fell asleep and had a dream in which his master in Kabbalah, the holy Arizal [Rabbi Yitzchak Luria of Tsfat], appeared before him.

"Why didn't you open the Gichon?" the Ari asked. "This would have been the proper time to repair what King Chizkiyahu did against the Sages wishes. Had you opened the Gichon, it would have been the start of the Redemption!"

Rabbi Chaim Vital wished to return to Jerusalem at once, but the Arizal stopped him. "The time has passed," he said. "We have lost our chance."

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[Source: Adapted and supplemented by Yerachmiel Tilles from "Stories My Grandfather Told Me" (Mesorah) by Zev Greenwald]

Connection: Seasonal - Saturday night is the yahrzeit of Rabbi Chaim Vital.

Biographic note:
Rabbi Chaim Vital (1543 CE - 30 Nissan 1620 CE) - was born in Safed. Rabbi Chaim is renowned primarily as the recorder and editor of the teachings of Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, although he himself was also an accomplished kabbalist and writer. In 5347 (1587 CE) Rabbi Chaim was appointed a leading judge in the rabbinical courts in Jerusalem by his teacher, Rabbi Moshe Alshich. He remained there for several years and then returned to Safed. He moved to Damascus in 5354 (1594) where he passed away in 5380 (1620 CE) at the age of seventy-seven.

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Yerachmiel Tilles is co-founder and associate director of Ascent-of-Safed, and chief editor of this website (and of KabbalaOnline.org). He has hundreds of published stories to his credit, and many have been translated into other languages. He tells them live at Ascent nearly every Saturday night.

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