Weekly Chasidic Story #599 (s5769-34 / 26 Iyar 5769)

Only One Extra Letter

That night, Rabbi Yaakov-Dovid of Radomsk did not even get an hour's sleep. After just a few minutes, he woke with his heart pounding from a dream.

(Connection: Weekly Torah Reading - Bamidbar)

 

Only One Extra Letter


It was already the second week of Elul. In cities and town throughout Eastern Europe, in bustling batei Midrash Study Halls and in overflowing hearts, Chassidim were preparing for their upcoming trips to see their Rebbes, with whom they would spend the impending High Holy Days. Already they were immersed in the work of this special time of the year. They filled their days with Torah and good deeds, and stole hours of the night to do the same. Who could sleep with the shofar blast echoing in the chambers of his heart?

Rabbi Yaakov Dovid had been living for years in Plavna, a small town on the banks of the Wort River, not far from the large city of Radomsk. He, too, would have liked to find a few extra hours -- or even a few extra minutes -- at night, but he could find none. He spent all his time involved in Torah and holy service.

Winter and summer, he would rise to begin his work at midnight. He would learn Torah, review mishnayot, and dip into the Zohar and Chovot HaLevavot until the morning light. He would greet the dawn with Tehillim, which he would recite with great sweetness and warmth, his eyes dripping tears onto verse after verse until the time came for a quick visit to the mikveh and then shacharit in shul. Afterwards, still wrapped in his tefilin, he would continue his in-depth learning of Talmud and its commentaries until midday, when he would finally revive himself with a little food.

This is the way he conducted himself all his life. This night, the twelfth of Elul, was no different. It was the yahrzeit of Rabbi Simcha-Bunim of Peshischa, the holy Rebbe who had left his incredible stamp on Polish Jewry and opened for many the floodgates of wisdom and fear of Heaven.

R' Yaakov Dovid of Plavna was a disciple of a disciple of R' Bunim, and his Rebbe's fire burned in his own veins. On that twelfth day of Elul, R' Yaakov Dovid completed his day's work, consigned his soul to G-d for the night, and closed his eyes for a little sleep. It would soon be midnight, when he would rise once again to perform G-d's holy work.

But he did not even get an hour's sleep. Just a few minutes later, R' Yaakov Dovid woke with his heart pounding from a dream.

In his dream he saw his father-in-law, the holy tzadik Rabbi Avraham Sofer, who had been living in the nearby city of Radomsk for many years. R' Avraham had been a disciple of R' Bunim of P'shischa and a close friend of Rabbi Shlomo HaKohen Rabinowitz, the first Rebbe of Radomsk. He was also a sought after scribe who devoted himself body and soul to his holy work. He had once even written tefilin for his rebbe, R' Bunim.

In the dream, R' Avraham said to him, "Please, dear son-in-law, get up and travel to the nearby city of Radomsk. When you get there, go to the shul of the Gerer chasidim, where you will find the last Torah scroll I wrote. Open it, and please erase the extra vav that I wrote in parshat Bamidbar, in verse so-and-so. That is the only error in the entire scroll. I apologize for the trouble, but please… …" Suddenly R' Avraham disappeared, and the dream ended.

R' Yaakov Dovid jumped out of bed, confused and bewildered. The Peshischa chasidim labored all their lives to keep their feet on the ground. They were not especially attuned to dreams. How, then, had his father-in-law appeared in his own?

R' Yaakov Dovid knew his father-in-law's pious ways and the care he took with the holy work he did. Every drop of ink that R' Avraham used was infused with love and awe for G-d. He also knew what the holy Zohar has to say about an extra letter, Heaven forbid, in the Torah, and of the tzadikim who were pushed out of their place in the Heavenly yeshiva because of an extra vav. Nevertheless, he still did not understand how R' Avraham had come to appear to him in a dream on the night of his great rebbe's yahrzeit.

If what his father-in-law had said in the dream was true, why didn't he fix the problem himself? And if it was hard for R' Avraham to get to the shul, why not ask that the scroll be brought to him? After all, the holiness of a Torah scroll is not valid if it contains an error, Heaven forbid. How had R' Avraham suddenly come to learn that there was an error in this particular sefer Torah? And, most of all, why send the message to his son-in-law in this strange way? Why not deliver it with one of the many travelers between Radomsk and Plavna?

Cutting his thoughts short, R' Yaakov Dovid ran as fast as he could to the home of his good friend, who was also a student of R' Avraham Sofer. Together the two hastened down the road to Radomsk.

They reached the city with the dawn. Their first stop would be R' Avraham's house, in order to find out whether or not the dream had been true. Then they changed their mind. The dream had not asked R' Yaakov Dovid to pay a visit to his father-in-law's house, but rather to correct the error in the Torah scroll. Perhaps R' Avraham had not sent the message via a human messenger because of a great need for haste. Accordingly, the two hurried directly to the Gerer shul.

Respectfully, they removed the sefer Torah from the Ark and laid it on the Readers' table. They rolled it back to the beginning of parshat Bamidbar, as their eyes raked the words for the error. They found it at once, glaring out at them. The dream had been accurate. Pulling out a sharp knife, R' Yaakov Dovid scraped the extra vav from the parchment.

With trembling hands, he returned the sefer Torah to the Ark. It had not been a trivial dream, but a true one -- though many things were still unclear to R' Yaakov Dovid. With pounding heart, he and his friend left the shul. Then the two raced down the street toward R' Avraham Sofer's house, eager to hear an explanation of the dream from his own lips.

As they reached the house, R' Yaakov Dovid noticed the large crowd gathered outside the door. It was a funeral procession. People had come from every corner of the city to pay their last respects to R' Avraham Sofer, who had departed this world on the night of his rebbe's yahrzeit.

Suddenly, the answers to all the questions became clear: Why had R' Avraham appeared in a dream instead of fixing the error himself? How had he learned about the mistake that had been hidden from him during his life? Why hadn't he sent word with a human messenger? His holy soul had left his body that very night -- but had found it's passage blocked by the extra vav in the last Torah scroll he had written. R' Avraham had hastened to appear to his son-in-law in the depths of the night, to plead for his final rectification.

Step by step, R' Yaakov Dovid walked behind his great father-in-law's bier on R' Bumim of P'shischa's yahrzeit, his eyes cast down and his mind a thousand miles away.

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[Adapted by Yerachmiel Tilles from "Stories my Grandfather told me" (Mesorah) by Zev Greenwald, who received it from R' Yaakov Dovid Weintraub of Bnei Berak, grandson of R' Avraham Sofer, the story's hero.]

Connection: Weekly Torah Reading - Bamidbar


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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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