There was a gadol in Europe known by the name of his sefer, Baruch Taam (Rav Baruch Frankel-Te’omim (1760-1828)). Baruch Taam’s son became engaged to a girl from a very wealthy and prominent family. At the tenaim, the mechutanim came over and they noticed that Baruch Taam was not really into it. He did not look happy. He looked preoccupied with other matters. The kallah’s mother came over to him and asked why he did not look happy on this joyous occasion. “Are you not pleased with this shidduch?”
Baruch Taam responded that he had no problem with the shidduch. “But the water carrier of the town is very sick and I am worried about him.” (In Europe, in the shtetl, before indoor plumbing and running water, there was someone whose job it was to be the water carrier. A water carrier would go down to the river and fill up buckets and then carry the buckets on his shoulders to deliver the water to the town’s residences.) In European Jewish society, the water carrier was the low-man on the totem pole. The only requirement for the job was a strong back. Brains were not needed.
The mother of the kallah was shocked: “Because the water carrier is sick, you allow that to dampen your simcha? You let the water carrier effect your mood? I can’t understand that!”
Baruch Taam stood up and announced “The shidduch is off! I will not let my son marry into a family that has such a cavalier attitude, which shows no empathy for the misfortune of another Jew.”
This was one of Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach’s favorite stories because throughout his life, Rav Shlomo Zalman – among all of his other prodigious character attributes – exemplified the midah of feeling the pain of his fellow Jews.
Reprinted from the Parashat BeShalach 5785 email of Rabbi David Bibi’s Shabbat Shalom from Cyberspace.
