Friday, May 22, 2009

The Berditchever's Wisdom

Rav Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, zt”l, once spotted a young man racing to and fro and shouting, “Gevald! My father-in-law entrusted me with a large sum of money to do business—how could I have lost it all? What am I going to do? He will surely throw me out of his house!”
The Rav called to the weeping young man from his window, “Please come into my house right now.”
When the young man entered, Rav Levi Yitzchak gently assured him that there was no reason to worry. “I am sure the lost money has already been found and will surely soon be in your hands again. But first you should have a little something to eat and drink to calm your shattered nerves.”
As the young man restored himself with a bite to eat, he calmed down. All of a sudden, he jumped up and raced out of the house without so much as an explanation. A short time later he returned very elated, with a broad smile on his face. He cried, “Rebbe! I have found the money! While I was eating I suddenly recalled that I left it on the shtender in the shul where I davened minchah. I rushed to the beis midrash and found it just where I had left it...”
Just then, the young man was filled with wonder at the Rav’s open nevuah. He could not contain himself from getting a confirmation of Rav Levi Yitzchak’s prescience. “How was the Rav so certain that the money would be restored to me when to all appearances it was lost, perhaps forever? What enabled the Rav to maintain such an absolute calm when I was so filled with panic?”
The Berditchever Rav immediately explained, “Don’t think that this was ruach hakodesh—it was common sense. When I saw you running around so filled with despair I noticed that you had not only lost your money, you had lost your head as well. The first thing for me to do was restore this to you as quickly as possible, since you had probably placed the large sum in an obvious place. I spoke with such conviction because I was sure that you would find the money the moment you were able to collect your thoughts!”

No comments: