# 359 (s5765-02/7 Tishrei 5765)

The Holy Thief

The Shpoler Zeide befriended a number of thieves, and even used to boast to the Almighty about them.

The Holy Thief

In 1929 there died in Jerusalem, at the age of ninety, a chassid by the name of Reb Raphael Wiltz (or Wolf) of Skoli, Galicia. He left a manuscript of memoirs in which he records that in 1881 he visited Shpole, in Russia. While there, he questioned a number of aged local residents about a curious tombstone, next to the grave of Rabbi Aryeh Leib of Shpola - known as the Shpoler Zeide ('grandfather'), on which was inscribed, "the grave of the holy martyr, Yossele the thief."

How can it be that a man who sanctified the Name of heaven in public is called in the same breath -- a thief? The following is what he learned from them.

It seems the Shpoler Zeide used to keep company with certain thieves in the area. No one knew or could even imagine what business he had with them. Whenever one of them was caught and had to serve a sentence, the tzadik used to send him food and drink and to attend to all his needs. It was his custom to boast to the Almighty about "my thieves," and people had even heard him say: "Master of the Universe! Just look at my thieves. Why, even the least worthy of them is full of good points!"

Now it once happened that the local thieves planned to steal the whole fortune -- silver, gold, gems -- that was to be found in the big church in Shpola. It stood in the middle of town, a solid stone edifice with a tall steeple. The only way to reach the interior was for one of them to climb up the steeple. And to break his way inside through a small window near the top.

For this they needed Yossele Ganav ("Joey the thief"). He was a young burglar of slight and athletic build who lived in Shpola, who could clamber up any stone wall with the greatest of ease. Whenever his colleagues were confronted with a professional problem involving a narrow passage, he would make his services available to the cause.

They all waited patiently for the end of the lunar month. That night, the little band of burglars collected in the deepest dark behind the massive walls of the church, while Yossele climbed swiftly up to the top of the steeple, wriggled in through the little window, and found his agile way in the gloom down the steep interior staircase that took him all the way to the floor.

As soon as he landed, he piled all the golden icons and other valuables into the tablecloths that he found there.

While he was on his way up again to the little window, the night watchmen appeared on the scene outside the church. They raised a hue and cry, and with exemplary alacrity the waiting little band disappeared in all directions.

And just at that moment, unaware of this sudden change of plan, Yossele stuck his head gleefully out of the window in order to give the signal to his cronies in robbers' slang that they should be ready to catch the loot - for he was afraid of being caught up in the bundles and ropes which he still had tied to himself. He called out again, but received no reply. The night watchmen, however, looked up and saw a man who appeared to be hanging near the top of the steeple, calling out in a language they could not understand.

Overawed by this marvel, they surrounded the building, and decided to wake up the parish priest.

All the local gentiles were soon on the scene, and when they opened the church they discovered to their horror that all their bejeweled objects of worship had, like Yossele, ascended on high. They kindled tall candles, and saw him stuck up there in the little window, trailing cumbersome bundles on all sides. They climbed up and seized him, and threw him into prison pending trial.

When the day came, and he was brought before the judges, Yossele argued that his intention was only to test whether the icon they worshipped was a thing of substance.

He had therefore decided to visit it at night, undisturbed by anyone, and to pray to it that he be granted a more generous livelihood for the support of his wife and two children. If it helped, then he would know it was divine, and he would worship it all his life.

When, however, he had prayed there a few times, and had received no answer - a mouth that spoke not, eyes that saw not, ears that heard not - he had lost his patience, and had addressed it as follows: "Look, you're fooling everyone around these parts into worshiping you because they think you are divine. But I can see there's nothing to you. Better that I take you and sell your gold; that way at least I'll have a livelihood."

Yossele continued his explanation to the court: "So I began to move him, and I saw that his hands and legs made no move in self-defense. It was safe to assume, in that case, that the smaller images would certainly by unable to raise any opposition. And so it was. I took them all, together with their ornaments, and not one of them said a single word in protest! You realize, therefore, your honors, that I have done you a great favor, for now you know that there is no point in worshiping things of nonsense."

The judges nevertheless sentenced Yossele to be burned alive in front of the church in the presence of all the populace.

After handing him the sentence in writing, the chief justice said: "You still have a way of saving yourself from this wretched death. Because you are so young, and you showed such prowess in climbing to the top of the steeple, we have decided that if you convert to our religion we will let you live. Not only that, we will give you all kind of gifts, and make you rich."

The answer was bold and clear: "I, Yossele the thief, have committed plenty of sins in my lifetime. But to betray his faith - that Yossele the thief will never do, even if he is tortured by all the means in the world.

"Tell me: are you out of your minds? Who would do such a thing - to exchange the living G-d for a dumb stone, fashioned by the hands of mortal man, a thing which wasn't even able to defend itself against me? True, Yossele is a thief. But to change his faith, that he will never do, whatever happens."

He was thrown back violently into his prison cell, and when the day arrived an eager crowd assembled to watch the spectacle. First he was placed on his feet next to the fierce flames of a burning barrel of tar. Then the parish priest addressed him in measured tones: "My son, you still have a chance to save yourself from a horrible death -- if you will convert to the Religion of Love. And if not, you will be thrown into this burning barrel and boiled alive."

The answer rang loud and clear: "I, Yossele the thief, am Yossele the thief, but to change my faith? Never!"

They seized his shackled hands and plunged them into the barrel.

"Your chance is not yet passed!" declaimed the priest. "If you will change your religion, physicians will heal your hands, and we will let you live long and happily!"

Yossele writhed in unspeakable agony. He was held up only by the hands of the burly gentiles who surrounded him. But he cried out at the top of his voice: "Yossele the thief will be burned in the fire; he will suffer all the tortures you can invent; but he will not convert!"

When it was all over, his mortal remains were handed over to the Jewish community for burial, and the simple gravestone in the old cemetery of Shpola records the date of his martyrdom.

"You see," the Shpoler Zeide would say, "it is not in vain that I speak in praise of my thieves!"

[Selected and adapted by Yrachmiel Tilles from the rendition in A Treasury of Chassidic Tales - Festivals (Artscroll), as translated by our esteemed colleague Uri Kaploun from Sipurei Chasidim by Rabbi S. Y. Zevin.]

Biographical note:
Rabbi Aryeh Leib [?-6 Tishrei 1811], known as the Shpola Zeide ("grandfather"), is famed as a miracle worker and for his devotion to the succor of poor Jews in distress. In his early years, he was a disciple of Rabbi Pinchas of Koretz, a leading figure in the first generation of chassidim. He was not called "zeide" because of advanced age, for that was his nickname even when he was very young - given by the Baal Shem Tov, but that's another story.

Yrachmiel Tilles is co-founder and associate director of Ascent-of-Safed, and editor of Ascent Quarterly and the AscentOfSafed.com and KabbalaOnline.org websites. He has hundreds of published stories to his credit.