The Tzadik of Yerushalayim, Rav Aryeh Levin, zt”l, used to visit various jails to spend some time with the prisoners, offering them Chizuk and encouragement, and brightening their bleak lives. One Shabbos, Rav Aryeh arrived at the gates of a certain jail, only to find that the British guard on duty would not allow him to enter. The guard told Rav Aryeh, “There’s a curfew on today. You are not allowed to be out on the streets now. Make your way home immediately!”
A Jewish policeman standing nearby pleaded with the British guard to make an exception for Rav Aryeh, and said, “Why prevent an elderly man from performing an act of kindness? It must be very difficult for a man his age to walk all the way over here, but Rav Aryeh does it every week, on a purely voluntary basis, to gladden the hearts of the prisoners.”
The guard could not believe this. The old Rabbi volunteered to visit prisoners? How could that be? The guard shook his head and said, “No, that is impossible.” He was sure Rav Aryeh received some type of compensation for his work. And if that was the case, he thought, he had better find himself a different line of work!
While the British guard and the Jewish policeman were arguing, Rav Aryeh made his way around the building, checking for an opening of some sort in the wall surrounding the jail. Maybe he could find a foothold that he could use to help him climb in. Finally, he found what he was looking for. There was a small protruding rock that was sticking out of the smooth wall, and like a young man, Rav Aryeh used it to help him climb to the top of the gate. He then jumped inside to the prison grounds.
The British guard saw what had happened and he said to the Jewish policeman, “You are right. This Rabbi must be a volunteer. A man who did this job for pay would never go to such lengths to get inside the jail. This man is determined to visit the prisoners no matter what!”
Reprinted from the Parshas Balak 5785 email of Rabbi Yehuda Winzelberg’s Torah U’Tefilah.
