|
Teachings
and Writings of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach
New
York, 5746
In Honor of Daniella Miriam
Transcribed
with Love and Deep Admiration by Sara for Connections Magazine
I
want to tell you a good story that I heard on the first day
of Succos. Someone told me he heard it from his father, a
Hasid, and just forgive me, because I have to throw a lot
of names at you, but just imagine for a moment that you know
them... Again, this is a story of the highest and the deepest,
the Heileger Reb Mordechai, Reb Motelle Neshcheezer (whose
Yahrzeit is tonight). The Holy Ropshitzer, Reb Naftali, was
one of his followers. Okay, at the time, Reb Naftali was maybe
seventeen years old and he came to Neshcheez for Purim, and
after Purim, the Holy Neshcheezer tells him, "Do me one
favor. Please don't come here for Pesach." Now Reb Naftali
really wants to be with his Rebbe for Pesach. So he thinks
to himself, "Hmm. Pesach is in four weeks time. Okay,
I'll talk my way back into getting invited to Neshcheez for
Pesach."
So
it's a few days before Pesach. So Reb Naftali goes to the
kitchen and helps the Rebbetsn. You know Pesach is coming,
it's the Holy Nescheezer, there are thousands of Hasidim and
the Rebbetsn needs help so badly. So after he helps her for
a few days, Reb Naftali asks the Rebbetsn, you know, just
do me one small favor, just ask your holy husband, my Rebbe,
to let me stay." Okay, he talked her into it, so the
Rebbetsn asks the Neshcheezer, "I need Naftali so badly,
he helps me so much in the kitchen." So the Neshcheezer
tells his Rebbetsn, "Okay, he can stay. But I'm telling
you now, he will make me a lot of trouble."
So
if you know a little about what we do the morning before Pesach,
say about ten in the morning or so, you burn whatever is left
over from the bread. But it's not only burning a crumb of
bread. It is mamash wiping out all the evil from the world.
You are mamash cleaning yourself in the deepest way. Okay,
after this is over, Reb Naftali goes to the beis medresh (the
synagogue), because now the cleaning is all finished and this
is a good time to learn just a little bit...
Now
let me interrupt the story for a minute. Imagine you sit in
a room that smells bad. Then you don't even know after a while
that it smells bad. Sadly, sadly enough, we are so accustomed
to the spiritually evil smell of this world, that we don't
even know anymore what good smelling is. But the Holy Ropshitzer
knew what a good smell and a bad smell is.
So
suddenly the door to the Beis Medresh flies open, and nebekh,
a schlepper walks in and oy, gevalt, does he smell bad! You
could see that there is not a sin he has not committed yet--
and -- guess what -- he is ready for more! So the schlepper
comes in and asks RebNaftali, "May I see the Rebbe?"
Now the Heileger Ropshitzer thinks, "Gevalt oy! Just
two minutes ago my holy master, the Neshcheezer burned all
the evil. He mamash cleansed himself and the entire world.
There is absolutely no evil left! And this disgusting low
filthy
schlepper
is destroying my whole Yom Tov! I won't allow it!" So
he says to the shlepper, "Is that all you need to do,
see my Rebbe? Why don't you go home first, cleanse yourself
a bit, wipe out your chumetz and do just a little teshuva
first before you have the chutzpa, the audacity to disturb
my holy Rebbe. Araus! Out! Chutzpa!" So the shlepper
walks out of the Beis Medresh and Reb Naftali entirely forgets
about it.
A
minute later, the Nascheezer comes running into the Beis Medrash
and asks Reb Naftali, "Was anyone just here?" He
answers him, "No, at least nobody I know of." So
the Nashcheezer tells him, "I'm not asking you if it
was anyone you know, I'm not asking whether someone who looked
holy to you was here. I am asking you if anyone was just here?"
So Reb Naftali answers him, "Now that you mention it,
yes, there was this disgusting shlepper... disgusting..."
The Neshcheezer is throwing up his hands! "Gevalt! What
did you say to him?" So he answers, "What do you
think? I threw him out, of course." So the Nashcheezer
is about to have a heart attack. So he grabs the Holy Ropshitzer
by the neck and screams, "If you don't bring him back
right away, I don't want to see you here ever again."
Mamash,
the Ropshitzer is besides himself. He runs around all over
the city. Finally he finds the shlepper in a bar somewhere,
already he's drunk like a dog, without saying anything too
disrespectful about dogs... Now you know how disrepepectful
the Ropshitzer was to the shlepper before. But this time,
the Ropshitzer treats the shlepper as if he were the holiest
Rebbe in the world. So he says to him, "Please, I am
begging you! Please come back with me to the Neshcheezer,
because if you don't come back, my holy Rebbe will never speak
to me again!" But it's not so easy. The shlepper has
had enough of the Ropshitzer. He only wants to be left in
peace, let alone go back with him. So the Ropshitzer physically
grabs him and literally carries the shlepper back with him
to the Nashcheezer. And the Holy Nashcheezer is so overjoyed
to see him! He hugs and kisses the shlepper, telling him,
"Where have you been? I am so overjoyed to see you...
I am so overjoyed to see you!"
So
the Nashcheezer dismisses the Ropshitzer and takes the shlepper
into his humble abode. The Nashcheezer gives the shlepper
a bath and new garments. For Yom Tov, he gives him a long
"bekeshe" and "shteimel". And the shlepper
is shining mamash from one corner of this world to the other.
So after Pesach, the Nashcheezer explains it to the Rophsitzer.
"I want you to know that this shlepper was not always
a poor shlepper. He was my greatest, utmost holiest of the
holy, deepest of the deep, student. His head was mamash in
heaven, maybe, maybe, his feet touched the ground. But the
saddest thing happened. You know he is just a human being.
Once he made a mistake. But since he knew that I knew about
it, even without his telling me or my telling him, he left
and was ashamed to ever come back. And since he was so ashamed
to come back, it was just downhill, downhill, downhill...
I want you to know that on Purim, I mamash davened so strong
to haShem,
"Please
bring him back!" So I saw in prophecy that he would come
this Eruv Pesach. And I also saw propheticaly, that you would
be here in the Beis Medresh when he came back and would throw
him out. So I wanted you out of the picture. That's why I
told you not to come. Eruv Pesach, he had decided to give
it one more chance. He thought, "If my holy Rebbe the
Nashcheezer takes me back without saying anything, then I
shall stay. But if his Hasidim throw me out, then I'll never
come back again." So now you knowthe story. You knw this
story is so gevalt, so awesome. You never know, someone you
meet, maybe for that person it's the last try...
Copyright
© by the Shlomo Carlebach Foundation
Teachings
and Writings of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach
|
