Rav Aryeh Levin was known for the warmth and love that he demonstrated toward the Jewish prisoners who had been jailed by the British government during the years before the State of Israel was founded. It was his usual practice to visit the inmates held in the Russian Compound prison every Shabbos and speak to them compassionately and with brotherly love.
One Shabbos, a prisoner revealed to Rav Aryeh that he had taken an oath never to smoke a cigarette again on Shabbos.
“Rabbi,” he said tearfully, “when you came over to greet me and patted my hand affectionately, I was holding a lit cigarette behind my back in my other hand. At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to get rid of it.
“I always knew it was forbidden to smoke on Shabbos, but it didn’t matter to me. But when you greeted me so kindly, I felt that it was impossible for me to violate the Shabbos” (“A Tzaddik in Our Time”).
Reproduced from Living Kiddush Hashem by Rabbi Shraga Freedman with permission of the copyright holders, ArtScroll/Mesorah Publications, Ltd.
