An episode I heard from my father. I wonder what you think.
This was while they were still behind the 'Iron Curtain' in Czernowitz. My grandfather Rabbi Moshe Wischetsky zt"l And his good friend Rabbi Mendel Pottraps, zt"l They had already returned from the Gulag - the prison camps in Soviet Russia, and life had settled into a kind of routine.
On Shabbat they would get up early, study Hasidism together. The older ones taught the younger ones. Father, his brother, and another young man or two were in their late teens, while Rabbi Mendel and Rabbi Moshe were in their forties.
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After the study, Rabbi Mendel and my grandfather would each go to their own corner to pray. A long prayer, an outpouring of the soul, a kind of 'thirst for my soul, for God is alive' - 'prayer at work', in Hasidic parlance.
One Shabbat, when the adults went to pray, the young ones knew there was still a long time until Kiddush, so they decided to "test" the cholent, what is called a small taste before prayer, well, it's not even 'food'.
They didn't know, but Rabbi Mendel caught them doing the honorable "to'amiya.".
At the gathering after the long prayer, Rabbi Mendel took some 'cheyim' and began to pat them on the head for a long time, is that possible? How is that appropriate? Do 'innocent' young men sit and eat cholent for their own enjoyment before prayer? Is this what Shabbat looks like? Is this how they prepare for prayer?
They were silent, of course.
But after he finished, one of them asked: Why didn't you stop us? Didn't you see that we were eating? One word and we would have stopped!
Listen to what Rabbi Mendel answered:
""A Jew eats, enjoys, should I disturb him?" - A Jew eats, enjoys, should I disturb him?
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This story was a lifesaver for me.
I probably heard it 30 years ago (although there may be some inaccuracies), but it never leaves me. I wouldn't exaggerate if I said that almost every time I was about to scold or admonish my children, this story stood before my eyes and apparently saved us, me and them.
On the one hand, let the Jew enjoy the cholent. On the other hand, find the momentum to hit him over the head if necessary.
And why did I remember him today?
Because abroad this week we studied Parashat Be'Alo'tach, a parashat that we will read tomorrow.
The Rebbe translates the lighting of candles from physical candles to people, women, and children for whom the light must be lit, or more precisely, to raise and prepare the candles for them so that they will shine with their special light.
And when I think about how it is actually done? How Aharon really did 'love the people and bring them to Torah,' I am reminded of this story with the Cholent and Rabbi Mendel.
