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Weekly Chasidic Story #1355 (5784-12) 14 Kislev 5784 (Nov. 27, 2023) "The Straw Lion and the Tailor" "Why hadn't the Maggid of Mezritch spoken a single word of Torah to him," the Sassover worried. "All he did was tell me childish stories." Connection: Yud-Tet Kislev, this Shabbat, is the yahrzeit of Rabbi DovBer, the Maggid of Mezritch.
Story in PDF format for more convenient printing The Straw Lion and the Tailor
He had been told that the Maggid was a distinguished Talmudist, a scholar of repute. If so, why hadn't the Maggid spoken a single word of Torah to him? All he did was tell him childish stories. He began by talking about a man who had a field: The man had taken a lion skin, stuffed it with straw and placed it in front of the field to scare animals away. At first the plan had worked and the animals had kept their distance. After a while, however, they realized that the lion was not alive and began to use it for sport, ripping it apart, piece by piece. "Why did he waste my time with that tale," Moshe Leib thought. Suddenly, it occurred to him that the Maggid might have been talking in allegories. Our Sages refer to the lion as "the king of the beasts," and to the Rabbis as "kings" because of their halachic (Jewish law) authority. Perhaps the Maggid was intimating that, although Moshe Leib was a rabbi, he was merely a straw lion, lacking life and true power. He started to review the Maggid's second story: A poor man discovered a treasure. He sought out the advice of friends, invested the money wisely and became very wealthy. As his wealth grew, he felt it proper to change his wardrobe. He hired a tailor to sew him a custom-made suit, as other wealthy men did. Everything went well until the tailor called him to make a final fitting. He had never ordered such a suit before and did not understand what the tailor wanted from him. He would have taken the suit, put it on and walked home. Instead, the tailor told him to stand tall, to put his feet together, to turn around…He kept tugging at all the corners of the garment, sticking pins in here and there. The man could not understand what he was doing. The suit had looked fine to begin with. Finally, he concluded that all the tailor's activity was intended to make fun of him, taking advantage of the fact that he never had bought a suit like that before. Enraged, he pulled the garment away from the tailor, threw him the fee he had promised, and stalked out of the shop. Perhaps this also was an allegory, Moshe Leib thought. Garments are metaphors for our means of expression: thought, speech, and action. Was the Maggid telling him that he was being offered a chance to develop a new approach to self-expression and that he was too boorish to appreciate the opportunity? It did not take Moshe Leib much further reflection to decide to become the Maggid's disciple. In our own ways, each one of us is a "straw lion." We have our facades behind which we hide to shield us from the full force of life's experience. Although we would like to change, like our nouveau riche friend, we are so used to living the way we do that we may resist change and, even when we seek it out, we may be incapable of appreciating the opportunity granted us. Chasidic stories offer us a guiding vector of light which creates such opportunities and urges us to use them. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Biographical notes: Rabbi Moshe-Leib of Sossov (1745-4 Shvat 1807) was the leading disciple
of Reb Shmelke of Nicholsburg. He also received from the Maggid of Mezritch
and from Elimelech of Lizhinsk. Subsequently a Rebbe in his own right with many
followers, he was famous primarily for his love of his fellow Jews and his creative
musical talent. His teachings are contained in the books, Likutei RaMal,
Toras ReMaL Hashalem, and Chidushei RaMal. Among his disciples were
Rebbe Menachem Mendel of Kossov [forerunner of the Vizhnitz dynasty], and Rebbe
Tzvi Hersh of Ziditchov.
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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.