Years ago, at a gathering in Northern Israel, Rav Ovadiah Yosef, ZT”L, was sitting next to a young Rabbi named Rav Dovid. At some point, a man ran to Rav Dovid, hysterically crying. “My wife just came back from the doctor, and she was told that she only has a few months left to live,” he exclaimed. “What about our family?! What about our children?! Rav, you have to promise me that she’ll be okay!”
Rav Dovid empathetically responded, “I can give you a blessing, just like any other Jew can, but I cannot make such a promise.” The man would not accept no for an answer. “Please! You must promise us. What about ‘Tzaddik gozer v’HaKadosh Baruch Hu mekayem (a well-known statement that when a tzaddik makes a decree, Hashem fulfills it)?”
“I’m sorry,” Rav Dovid responded, “I’m not capable of making such a promise.” Still, the man would not relent. After four minutes of begging Rav Dovid, he got up and said, “I promise that your wife will have a complete recovery.” The man ran away as happy as could be, but at that moment, Rav Ovadiah Yosef looked on in utter shock.
“What did you just do?!” Rav Ovadiah exclaimed. “Did you just make a promise to this young man? I don't even promise anybody. What about the biblical prohibitions against making false promises or giving somebody false hope? What if his wife doesn’t recover? Did you even speak to the doctor? How could you say such a thing?”
Rav Dovid responded, “I saw that young man’s pain. I knew he wasn’t leaving without a promise. If he goes home now without that promise, he and his family will sink into terrible despair from which they may never recover. I looked into my heart and said, ‘Hashem, I’m willing to suffer the consequences of violating a biblical prohibition, but at least I’ll know that for the next few months this young man and his family will live in a happy home because of this promise.’”
Rav Dovid Abuchatzeira
Rav Ovadiah was stunned. He turned to the crowd and said, “This man - Rav Dovid - is destined to be a Gadol. Someone who is willing to give up of his own Olam Haba, who is willing to suffer for his people, that is a true leader.” Indeed, his words came true. He is now the world-renowned Rav Dovid Abuchatzeira, one of the gedolim of our generation
Reprinted from the Parshas Shemos 5786 email of Torah Sweets.
