By Rabbi Yechiel Spero
It was a heat wave the likes of which Jerusalem had not seen for many years. The temperature had reached nearly 110 degrees and the air was stifling. Warnings were issued and signs were posted cautioning citizens to keep up their liquid intake, and not to venture out of doors unless it was absolutely necessary.
Reb Nota Weiss, a maggid in Jerusalem in the 1920’s, spoke every week in a shul in Shaarei Chesed. His dynamic, fiery speeches inspired all who were privileged to hear them to make the extra effort, to go the extra mile. Reb Nota’s derashot became a Shabbat afternoon staple for many loyal followers. However, this particular week Reb Nota walked into the bet midrash at 3:00 in the afternoon and not a soul was there! Apparently the oppressively hot weather was keeping everyone indoors.
A Custom is a Custom
He decided to wait a bit longer to see if anyone would come, but when time passed and the room was still empty, Reb Nota made a decision: a custom is a custom. If the custom was for him to speak, then he would speak.
He walked up the steps toward the aron kodesh and adjusted his streimel. Though at first he felt strange speaking to an empty room, within moments his usual fire-and-brimstone pitch reverberated throughout the Shaarei Chesed shul. From the outside one would never have been able to detect that Reb Nota was speaking to himself! And speaking with the same energy and excitement as when the shul was full.
Forty-five minutes after he began his lecture Reb Nota stepped away from the aron kodesh and headed for the exit. Suddenly he heard a voice shouting from the balcony where the ladies’ section was situated, “All right. I’ll do teshubah! I promise I’ll try to improve!” Reb Nota looked up and saw a young man about 18 years old. He was completely disheveled. Apparently, he had been sleeping in the ladies’ section. The young man, who had been struggling with his learning and abodat Hashem, had apparently been searching for a place to escape from his problems, and had figured that the ladies’ section would be an ideal place to catch a Shabbat afternoon nap. But in the middle of his nap, he had been awakened by the sounds of a fiery lecture - spoken only to him, in a seemingly empty room.
This lecture - that was almost not delivered - had made its mark. (Excerpted from the ArtScroll book – “Touched by a Story 2”)
