02 Nov The Value of a Yid
Someone sent his butler to bring a barrel of wine as a gift to the Meor Einayim, Rebbe Nachum of Chernobyl zt’l. (In that era people would commonly send gifts, such as food packages, to tzaddikim, because Chazal compares giving a gift to a talmid chacham to bringing bikurim). The Meor Einayim accepted the gift, and then asked, “Did you wear tefillin today?” “No, I woke up late today and I davened quickly without tefillin. I was planning to put them on immediately after Shacharis, but my boss summoned me to do some errand, and when I finished that errand, I was hungry and tired, so I ate breakfast. Years ago, my rebbes in cheder taught me that tefillin must be worn before eating. Since I already ate today, I realized that I can’t wear tefillin today.”
The Meor Einayim explained to him that he can still put on tefillin.
Tzaddikim repeated this story and added the following observation: How did the Meor Einayim recognize that the butler hadn’t worn tefillin? The butler was ignorant in Torah, and who knows how kosher his tefillin were. Furthermore, he certainly didn’t have special intentions when he wore tefillin. Nevertheless, the Meor Einayim was able to perceive that he hadn’t worn tefillin that day. We learn from this the value and holiness of a mitzvah of every Yid, regardless of his level. The Divrei Shmuel zt’l (Slonim) was once riding the train, and noticed a commotion in the first class section.
The Divrei Shmuel asked his companion to go find out what the commotion is all about. The shaliach reported that Mr. So-and-so, a very wealthy and influential person boarded the train, and everyone was honoring him immensely. The Divrei Shmuel knew that wealthy person. Years earlier, he was still shomer Shabbos, and he was a student in the Slonimer Yeshivah. The test of wealth had affected him negatively, and he strayed from the path of Torah. The Divrei Shmuel sent his chassid to the first-class car, once again, to invite the wealthy person to speak with him. In honor of the Rebbe, the wealthy man came.
The Rebbe asked him, “How wealthy are you?” “What difference does it make?” he asked. “I won’t give you anything, anyways.” The Rebbe replied that he would still like to know, and the man replied, “I have two million gold rubles.” The Rebbe said, “Years ago, when you were learning in the yeshivah, I also didn’t give much value to your Yiddishkeit. I didn’t consider it worth more than a shmek tabak (a whiff of tobacco). But I see that it was worth it for the yetzer hara to give you two million rubles so you would abandon that drop of Yiddishkeit you had. I see that even that drop was also extremely precious…” These stories remind us that we are unable to evaluate the value of a Yid, and the worth of his good deeds. He may seem simple and unimportant to us, but to Hashem, each Yid, and every good deed he does, is extremely precious and beloved. As we stated above, it is because Hashem loves every Yid that He calls out to them, and sends them thoughts of teshuvah.