Rabbi Yonathan Eibishitz zt"l
Rabbi of Metz and 'the 3 communities' - Altona, Hamburg & Wandsbe
Author: Yaaros Devash, Urim Vetumim
21 Ellul 5524
Rabbi Yonathan Eibishitz was married to the daughter of a wealthy man who gave him 3000 gold coins as a dowry to enable him to sit and study Torah without having to work to support his family.
Rabbi Yonathan sat and learned undisturbed. But the Satan wasn't very excited by the Kedusha of Rabbi Yonathan and his Torah study. So a church was built right next to the Shul where Rabbi Yonathan learned. It caused great distress to everyone, but even more to Rabbi Yonathan.
Rabbi Yonathan's Chavrusa (study partner) saw how much distress it caused him and he decided to take action. One night he quietly broke into the church, climbed up the tower and broke the cross.
The non-Jews knew that the church bothered the Jews and realized that someone may try and do something. So they had guards hiding secretly and watching. When the Chavrusa of Rabbi Yonathan broke the cross they immediately caught him and hid him away.
The Jewish community noticed that he had disappeared but had no clue what had happened and where he disappeared to. Everyone was looking for him but their searches were fruitless.
One day the guard came to the community president and told him what happened. He told him that the man had broken the cross, was caught and had already been sentenced by the church to be burned. He was willing to secretly rescue him, but on condition he gets paid three thousand gold coins, not a penny less. This was a huge sum of money. But everyone knew that Pidyin Shevuyim - freeing someone imprisoned is a priority Mitzva. So people started raising money to help him.
When Rabbi Yonathan heard he took his entire dowry money and gave it to the guard. He was scared that he may be transferred somewhere else and no one will know where he is and he was concerned that they may kill him before the money was raised. The guard transferred him to a secret hiding place.
Since everything was done secretly, nobody knew what had happened. The collection continued and the money that was raised was brought to Rabbi Yonathan Eibishitz. However Rabbi Yonathan told them that he had already laid out the whole money from his pocket. They asked Rabbi Yonathan to at least take the money they had raised so the community could have a share in the Mitzva. Rabbi Yonathan was adamant not to take a penny. He had done such a great Mitzva and didn't want to lose any of it. The organizers were upset and left very disappointed that they didn't merit to have a share in such a great Mitzva.
Rabbi Yonathan realized that he hadn't discussed it with his wife and when she finds out the money is missing she will be very angry. So Rabbi Yonathan left his home for a few days, hoping that by the time he comes back home his wife will have noticed the money was missing and had enough time to calm down. He planned that when he returns he will explain to his wife what he did and why.
In the mean time the church found out that the Jew had escaped and they came to the obvious conclusion that the guard must have played a major part in the escape. The church decided to punish the guard with the same punishment that they had sentenced the Jew.
The guard realized that the noose was tightening around his neck and he had to escape fast. But he had one big problem. Being the church guard for many years he had accumulated a lot of money, gold and jewelry that he had managed to steal from the church. There was no way he could take it with him when running for his life and at the same time he for sure didn't want the church to find it and confiscate it. So he quickly took all his wealth and came to Rabbi Yonathan's house and asked to speak to the Rabbi. Rabbi Yonathan's Rebbitzen told him that her husband wasn't home and she had no idea where he was nor when he was coming back.
Without a choice the guard told the whole story to the Rebbitzen and started showering praises on Rabbi Yonathan. He told her that he must be a very special person to give away such a large sum of money to save someone else's life. Therefore he is returning them the money her husband had given him and leaving everything else in his trust. If he manages to return he is sure that the Rabbi is an honest man and will return everything else to him and if he is caught, he prefers that it stays with the Rabbi who will surely use it for good things.
The guard escaped but the church sent officers searching for him. They finally found him and immediately drowned him in the river.
The Rebbitzen waited with excitement for her husband's return, looking forward to tell him how Hashem had not only returned the money to them but also gave them such wealth. Rabbi Yonathan was heading back home not knowing what had happened while he was away. As he neared home he began thinking what is he going to tell his wife when he gets back. He was so deep in thought he never noticed his wife coming excitedly towards him.
She greeted him very warmly and said, "I know the whole story of your great deed. Not only did Hashem pay us back the money, we have become very wealthy." And she went and told her husband the amazing story with the guard. The Rebbitzen was sure that Rabbi Yonathan would join her excitement and rejoice with her. But instead he started crying hysterically. The Rebbitzen couldn't understand why he was so broken. She asked her husband, "why are you so upset? Can't you see that Hashem was happy with your Mitzva and rewarded us straight away with such wealth."
Rabbi Yonathan replied, "that's why I am so broken. A Mitzva that is so special the reward is saved for Olam Habba. By receiving such a reward so soon it is as if in Heaven they said, we don't want your Mitzva, take your reward and go."
Rabbi Yonathan couldn't calm down. He fasted for three days straight and then made a Shaalos Chalom - asking a question to Heaven in a dream. He received the following answer.
You were right for crying. Your Mitzva wasn't welcomed in Heaven. The reason is because you weren't willing to accept the money from the organizers and the community, and let them be part of such a great Mitzva, you wanted it all for yourself. Such a Mitzva isn't welcome in Heaven.
When we do Mitzvos it isn't about how many Mitzvos we can do, it's about increasing and enhancing the honor of Hashem.
