By Yehuda Z Klitnick
The Tzemach Tzedek
A Yid rented an inn from the Poritz of the village, and made a nice living from it. One day, the Poritz notified the Yid, that he was ending the contract with him for the inn, and would have to leave. The Poritz was going to give the lease to another Yid who would pay more rent and give him better terms. The Yid pleaded with the Poritz and told him he would pay more rent, and he would offer the same terms that the other Yid, had offered. But the Poritz would not give in, and dismissed the Yid from his office. It was devastating for the Yid, and he had to begin thinking what to do now. His friend told him about a very rich man who had influence on the Poritz. He advised him to go to this man and ask him to intervene with the Poritz for him.
However, the rich man refused to do it. He went back to the friend and told him what the rich man had said. The friend advised him to travel to the Tzemach Tzedek (Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, 1789-1866), the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and ask him to write a letter to the rich man asking him to beg the Poritz for mercy.
The Yid, traveled to Lubavitch. When he arrived, Reb Chaim Ber Chaiyimson, who told this story, was standing at the door, and he let the Yid in to see the Rebbe. The Yid, told the Rebbe his story. “I want to ask the Rebbe,” he said, “There is a rich man, who the Rebbe knows, and is a friend of the Poritz. Maybe the Rebbe could write a letter asking him to convince the Poritz to change his mind about the inn, and let me continue to operate it.”
The Rebbe immediately took a pen and paper and wrote a letter. He took an envelope, and wrote a name and address on it, and gave it to the Yid. The Yid left the Rebbe’s home happily. However, the glanced at the envelope, and to his surprise, the name on the envelope was not the name of the rich man that the Yid had named to the Rebbe. It was a different Yid who lived in some far-away town!
The Yid assumed that the Rebbe had made an error and decided to return to the Rebbe and call attention to his mistake, and ask the Rebbe to correct it. When he reached the door to the Rebbe’s room, Reb Chayim Ber, standing there, told him, “The Rebbe already saw you and said goodbye to you!”
The Yid reacted, “The Rebbe made a mistake. He wrote someone else’s name and someone else’s address. I simply want to correct him and ask him to write the correct name and the correct address.”
“The Rebbe makes no mistakes,” said Reb Chayim Ber. “If he wrote a name and an address then you need to go to that person at that address. There is no question that you will get the help you need there.”
The Yid had Emunas Tzaddikim, and traveled to that town. It was during the worst of the winter, and the weather was bad. The roads were full of mud and snow, and only with great difficulty did the Yid reach the house of the man whose name the Rebbe wrote on the envelope.
He handed the letter to the man. The man opened the letter the Rebbe wrote to him and read it. The Rebbe was asking him to influence the Poritz of the Yid’s village to let the Yid stay at his inn and not rent it to anyone else. The man was surprised, and wondered Why would the tzaddik write this to me? I don’t know the Poritz. How can I influence this Poritz when I have no connection with him at all?”
The Yid said “I have the same question.” He told the rich man how he had come to the Tzemach Tzedek and asked him to write a letter, but the Rebbe addressed it to you, not the person he had in mind. “Okay, then stay here with me. Let’s see what happens.”
In the middle of the night, they heard a loud knocking at the door. When the rich man, went to the door he found a Poritz dripping wet from head to toe, begging to be let in before he dies. The rich man took him in immediately. The Poritz began to tell how he was on the road in his wagon and got stuck in a swamp. In the process, he got totally soaked and the winter weather froze him.
The Yid was awakened by the noise of the knocking, and recognized the voice of the Poritz of his village. He immediately called the rich man to him and whispered to him that it was his Poritz who had come to the door, and now he had the chance to help him!
The rich man warmed up some hot soup for the Poritz, and gave him dry clothes. The Poritz was full of thanks and praise for the rich man who had labored so much for him. The Poritz slept overnight at the house, with the plan to leave in the morning to the swamp to retrieve his horse and wagon from the swamp.
In the morning, after the Poritz ate breakfast, he asked the rich man how he could pay him back for all the good he had done him the nightbefore. “I don’t want any payment from the Poritz,” said the homeowner. “I have one thing to ask of the Poritz: I have a friend that has been the innkeeper in your town. He happens to be here, and is at a loss to understand why the Poritz decided to throw him out and rent the inn to someone else. “I ask that the good Poritz should change his mind and allow the Yid to return to his inn.”
“I’ll tell you,” said the Poritz. “As far as I’m concerned, I have nothing against the good innkeeper. But I have a good friend, a rich Jew, -and the Poritz named the rich man that the Yid had asked the Tzemach Tzedek to write the letter to-. He asked me to give the inn to his relative. Since he’s a good friend of mine, I decided to give in and do it for him.
“But you have treated me so well,” continued the Poritz, “and you saved my life. If you hadn’t opened the door to me in the middle of the night, I probably would have died from the cold. I must thank you and show you good will. So, I agree with your request, and I guarantee you that the Yid can stay where he is, and at the old price. He will not have to pay more rent.”
Now the Yid understood that the Tzemach Tzedek had not made any mistake. The mistake would have been had they sent the letter to the rich man that had started the whole trouble, as he had now found out from the Poritz.
Reprinted from the Parshas Chukas 5785 email of Pardes Yehuda.
