The following stories originally appeared in Yated Ne’eman - Matzav.com Newscenter
Ambulances speeding down Geula’s Malchei Yisrael Street with their sirens wailing are, sadly, not an uncommon sight. Nonetheless, each time the wail of an ambulance was heard in the Geula-based Porat Yosef Yeshiva, its Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Ben Tzion Abba Shaul, would bless the passing patient with a speedy recovery. Then he would quietly resume his shiur or studies. While it’s impossible to know what effect these particular blessings had, it is well known that Rav Ben Tzion’s blessings worked miracles.
“Why are your blessings so effective?” a student once asked him.
“Because I really love people,” was his unassuming reply.
This love for his fellow Jew (Ahavas Yisrael) was an inherent part of Rav Ben Tzion’s every action. His love for others was so great that when he would see young children walking to cheder, their innocence and sweetness would cause his heart to swell with a love for all of Klal Yisrael.
Before going to bed each night, he would forgive all those who had wronged him during the day. He recited the nighttime prayer “I hereby forgive all who angered me” not by rote, but with great sincerity.
Once, someone greatly offended Rav Ben Tzion. “Did you recite the prayer that night?” a friend asked him. “To tell you the truth,” replied Rav Ben Tzion, “I found it very hard to forgive him. Twisting and turning in bed, I said, ‘Hashem, my anger is justified. But what should I do? Skip the prayer?’ Then I sat up in bed and for a long time struggled to judge that person favorably. When I was certain that I no longer bore a grudge against him, I placed my head on the pillow and recited the prayer.”
Rav Ben Tzion’s formula for developing and maintaining strong interpersonal relationships was based on simple arithmetic: Instead of calculating what others owed him, he would ask, “What do I owe others?” Then, enumerating all of the mitzvos between man and his fellow, such as “Love your neighbor as yourself”; “Don’t despise your brother in your heart”; “Don’t bear slander”; “Don’t harbor vengeance”, he would say, “How can I be at odds with people to whom I owe so much?”
