YeshivaThe torah world Gateway
Beit Midrash
- Sections
- Chassidish Stories and Great Rabbis
- Chassidish Stories
The Torah study is dedicatedin the memory of
Yaakov Ben Behora
"You have come at just the right time," exclaimed the rebbe, "We are in a quandary." Take the child. I am certain that you will be able to return him to me in a healthy state."
Yissachar Ber was perplexed. Never in his life had he healed anybody, neither had he ever felt as if he possessed any such powers. However, he heeded the words of his rebbe and took the baby. He returned him to the cradle and began to rock it. Rocking the cradle, he began to pour out his soul before God. In about an hour the baby had improved to the point where it was no longer in danger.
Chassidish Stories (17)
Rabbi Eliezer Melamed
5 - The Charm of Jerusalem
6 - Descending from the Hilltop
7 - The Lugubrious Bed
Load More
The student, hearing these sounds, hurries confusedly down the hill. He is still unaware that something inside of him has changed, that he has been instilled with unique faculties - faculties which place him on the hilltop. The student does not yet know that he is capable of saving the life of the child. He descends the hill to the house of his rebbe. He is contrite, diffident before his rebbe.
The rebbe is distraught, crying. A person who is immersed in pain and suffering is not capable of helping himself. The student approaches from without. He is capable of gathering his energies and uttering a fitting prayer. Sensing this, the rebbe charges his young student with the responsibility of offering supplication on behalf of his son. What we have here is a kind of ordination wherein the aging rebbe "explains" to his young disciple that the time has come for him to take on a position of authority. It has come time for Yissachar to pray on behalf of others.
The student's descent from the hill bears deep Chassidic significance. When, in the wilderness, the Children of Israel committed the Sin of the Golden Calf, God turned to Moses, saying, "Go down, for your people have sinned." Chassidut has always called upon its pious to "go down to the people," to be sensitive to their tribulations, and to address even their smallest problems - problems which, from the top of the hill, sometimes seem insignificant.
In our story, the student declines the hill; his teacher, R' Yaakov Yitzchak, says, "You have come at just the right time." Indeed, the time has arrived for you to reveal yourself. The time has come for you to effect salvation through your prayers, to perceptively and understandingly aid others.
It is here that R' Yissachar Ber performs the act which inaugurates him as a righteous person who effects miraculous salvation. He prays and the child becomes healthy. We would do well to consider the manner in which this prayer is conceived: R' Yissachar Ber does not know what his teacher expects of him. He never imagined that he had the power to heal the sick. Yet, the rebbe has given his order to save the child.
From this point onward he behaves in the most simple and natural manner: He places the boy in his crib, rocks him, and pours out his prayers before God. R' Yissachar descends. He feels the pain of the child. He feels the pain of the entire family, of his rebbe, R' Yaakov Yitzchak. With these simple and pure intentions he pours out his prayers before the Creator.
Prayer does not necessarily have to be pronounced with calculated focus. Prayer which gushes forth as a result of a true feeling of pain can also achieve salvation. The "inauguration ceremony," wherein R' Yissachar Ber is made aware of his unique capacity to aid others, has come to an end.
The impression left from this event accompanied the young Yissachar Ber wherever he went. R' Yissachar Ber from Radoshitz indeed became known as a worker of wonders who was ever sensitive to the hardships of the Jewish people, and, accordingly, effected miraculous salvation on their behalf.
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
fast navigation
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 9 - "Seeing is Believing" (parag. 21-30)
These paragraphs elaborate on the theme that seeing and knowing is better than any attempt to prove logically, and begins explaining the difference between Israel and gentiles.
Ein Aya Various Universal Stages of the Geula Process
Rav Kook examines the various stages of redemption, explaining how (in addition to the obvious oft-mentioned stages of ingathering the exiles, reviving the Hebrew language, army, state etc.) the messianic dream of world prosperity, the State of Israel and world unity can and are realistically and logically gradually coming true.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 8- "Answering Questions on the Kuzari's Proof from Mass Revelation
How do we know that the "claim" of mass revelation to 2,000,000 witnesses at Mt. Sinai is really true? This important class answers all of the questions skeptics ask about this claim of the Kuzari.
Ein Aya Armies Still Necessary for Balance & the War Against Wars
Rav Kook explains why the world was originally divided into the various seemingly contradicting ideologies and cultures, in order to develop each one respectively. Swords or armies symbolize how each respective ideology defends themselves, as well as deters their opposing ideologies and cultures. On the other hand, the messianic era will be one of peace, and Rav Kook explains the transition to that stage, which mankind is already undergoing.
The Land of Israel LGBT'S IN ISRAEL
The question was asked, how can one make Aliyah with the LGBT parades?
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 7 - Five Accumulative Proofs of G-d
As a preparation for the Kuzari's classic proof of G-d from the mass-revelation at Sinai, we start here with 5 other directions to strengthen our belief which also contribute to what the Kuzari will present as well.
Ein Aya Muscle & Meaning: The Dual Nature of Gevurah (Physical Strength)
Is physical strength and fitness a necessity or an ideal? Although it if often totally overlooked among topics of Judaism, Rav Kook writes that it clearly is also a necessity to deter the many enemies of Israel, but even in Y'mot HaMashiach, in the Messianic era, to a certain extent, it's ideal continues even after our enemies will have been finished off.
