Weekly Chasidic Story #970 (s5776-42 / 21 Sivan 5776)

The Ninety-Year-Old's Father's Tallit

When he saw this he was astounded. Never having encountered anything like this before, he was afraid to continue.

Connection: Weekly Reading of Shelach (outside Israel) -- concludes with the mitzvah of attaching tzitzis (intricately woven strings) to the corners of one's four-cornered garments.

 

The Ninety-Year-Old's Father's Tallit

 


A ninety-year-old man contacted Rabbi Mendel Ekstein of Bnei Brak, and hired him to transfer his father's remains from Uzbekistan to Eretz Yisrael. During the War years, his father escaped from Europe to Uzbekistan. There he became ill (he had heart trouble) and realized that his death was approaching, so he told his then twenty-year-old son, "When I die, bury me here, in Uzbekistan, but when you have the opportunity, bring my body over to Eretz Yisrael."

Seventy years passed since then, and he still hadn't fulfilled his father's wishes. (This is often how things are: it was after the war, he needed to re-establish himself in Eretz Yisrael, years passed and he forgot to take care of his father's wishes. But now, being that he was ninety years old and realizing he would soon join his father in heaven, he remembered to carry out his father's last wish.)

Transferring bones requires a strong level of fear of Heaven, expertise in the laws and in the procedure [which includes lighting candles, learning some Mishna and giving tzedakah - all for the merit of the departed], and Rabbi Ekstein is an acknowledged expert in this field. Even one of Israel's leading rabbinical authorities, Rabbi Shmuel Wosner (who passed away during Passover in 2015 at age 102!), would rely on him for these matters.

Reb Mendel traveled to Uzbekistan and did all the preliminary procedures. Afterwards, he opened the grave. He saw that the woolen Turkish tallit in which the body of the deceased was enwrapped was whole, just as if it was just freshly placed in the grave.

When Reb Mendel saw this, he was astounded. He never encountered anything like this before. He was afraid to continue. The deceased was apparently a very special and holy Jew, for his tallit to be uneffected by seventy years of being buried in the earth.

But this was the deathbed request of the deceased, so he accepted that he was obligated to continue. Slowly, carefully, he removed the tallit, and there was the skeleton of the body, exactly as one would expect to see after 70 years: the burial shrouds were totally gone, the flesh was consumed, only the tallit (which generally disintegrates first) was remarkably fresh, like new.

The remains were brought to Eretz Yisrael and after hearing the story, one of the most important rabbis in Eretz Yisrael delivered a eulogy. After the other eulogies were completed, Reb Mendel went over to the great rabbi and asked him, "Although the custom in Eretz Yisrael is to bury the dead without a tallit, perhaps because of this unusual miracle, it is proper to bury him with the tallit?"

The rabbi replied that before answering, he needs to hear more about the deceased. He brought Reb Mendel and the ninety-year-old son into a side room and he said to the son, "Tell us about your father. What was he like?"

The son said, "As your Honor heard in the eulogies. He was a genuine Torah scholar, a significant Jew."

"Yes," the rabbi said,"but tell me more. What did he do to merit that his tallit remained fresh for seventy years under the ground?"

"The tallit?" the son said, matter-of-factly, "that's a simple matter to explain. When my father put on his new tallit on the day after his wedding (Ashkenazi men wear a tallit only after marriage), he made a resolution that he would never speak while wearing the tallit (other than words of prayer, of course). He kept this resolution his entire life. Apparently, in this merit, the tallit remained intact."

After hearing this explanation, the rabbi ruled that they can make an exception this time, and bury him with the tallit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Source: Adapted by Yerachmiel Tilles from Torah Wellsprings (KiTeitze 5775) - the teachings of Rabbi Elimelech Biderman.

Note from Rabbi Biderman:
The Shlah writes that to never speak while wearing tefilin is highly desirable and propitious for long life. Nevertheless, there is no explicit source anywhere in Jewish Law that one shouldn't speak while wearing a tallit.

It is known that the Sar-Shalom of Belz taught his chasidim not to speak while wearing a tallit. Belzer chasidim relate that the Rebbe Sar-Shalom once instructed a bar mitzvah boy the first time he wrapped tefilin to promise to never speak words not of prayer while wearing the tefilin. When years later this young man was about to marry, he asked the Sar Shalom, "I kept my promise and I didn't speak while wearing tefilin. What should I undertake now?"

The Sar Shalom told him, "Take on never speaking while wearing your tallit." He continued that this will help him when, after 120 years, he stands before the heavenly tribunal. When they ask him to tell his deeds and his sins, he can signal that he cannot speak, since he is wearing a tallit. In this manner, he will be freed from judgment. (Outside of Israel, it is customary to bury the dead with a tallit.)

Connection: Weekly Reading (outside of Israel) Shelach concludes with the mitzvah of attaching tzitzis (intricately woven strings) to the corners of one's four-cornered garments. (These verses also constitute the 3rd paragraph of the Shma Yisrael prayer.)





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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