Sefer Hadeiah V’Hadibur relates the following story in the name of the Toldos Aharon Rebbe zy”a:
Two Sefardic Jews who were originally from Kurdistan lived in the city of Teveriah. These two men were not learned, and were so ignorant that they didn’t even know how to daven. At that time, the bais medrash known as Bais Medrash Yehoshua bin Nun was inaugurated after undergoing renovations.
The inauguration took place on the night of Yom Kippur and chochomim delivered drashos to mark the occasion. These two Sefardim wanted to attend, but the shamass would not let them in. He told them that the gathering was only for talmidei chochomim and not for ignorant men like them.
The two men stood outside on the porch and told each other, “Let’s sing the letter of the Aleph Bais forwards and backwards!” They sang and danced with all their strength, reciting the letters of the Aleph Bais forwards and backwards.
Suddenly, the Kalisker Rebbe zy”a, who also had a bais medrash in that courtyard, said that he saw a great light emanating from outside. He went out to find the source of the light and saw these two simple men singing the letters of the Aleph Bais. The Rebbe declared, “The light is coming from them. As a result of their incredible temimus, the letters were arranged to create holy names and this created a great light in Shomayim!”
Reprinted from the Parshas Shoftim 5783 edition of The Way of Emunah: Collected Thoughts from Rabbi Meir Isamer Rosenbaum.
