Over one hundred years ago in the town of Belz, there was a very holy Rebbe called Rav Shalom of Belz. He had tens of thousands of Chasidim and his name was famous throughout much of the Jewish world.
One year on the first night of Selichot, (special penitential prayers said before Rosh Hashana), instead of going to the large synagogue to signal the beginning of the prayers, Rav Shalom asked his assistant to ready the carriage for they were going into the woods.
The astonished assistant thought of the thousands of Chasidim who were waiting for the Rebbe's arrival in the synagogue to begin the prayers. But he knew better than to ask questions and went out to prepare the carriage.
A half hour into their journey, the Rebbe signaled the assistant to stop. The Rebbe told the assistant to remain in the carriage while he walked down a narrow path by foot. In the distance was a small hut.
The Rebbe walked over to the window of the hut and looked inside. There sat an elderly chasid, alone at a small table. On the table was a bottle of vodka and two small cups, one in front of him and the other before the empty seat opposite him.
Through the window the Rebbe could see the chasid raise his cup, say "l'chaim" ("to life") and drink the vodka. Then he saw the chasid drink the second cup as well. This he repeated two more times after which the Rebbe walked quickly back to the wagon. Together with his assistant, the Rebbe travelled back to Belz.
When the doors of the synagogue opened and the Rebbe entered, the congregation fell silent. All eyes followed the Rebbe to his place at the front of the synagogue, and the room burst into prayer as they began to say Selichot.
As soon as Selichot ended the Rebbe turned to his assistant and said, "There is an elderly chasid who came in after we had begun and I'm sure he will finish after everyone else has left. Please wait for him to finish and tell him that I want him to come to my study."
A half hour later, Zelig stood in trepidation before Rav Shalom. "I want you to tell me what you did in your house before you came here tonight," began the Rebbe. "Why did you have two cups of vodka and with whom did you make a l'chaim?"
"The Rebbe knows that!?" he asked, his eyes opened wide in amazement.
"I was at your house and saw what transpired. But I want to understand what you did there," the Rebbe explained.
"I'm a poor man, Rebbe, I have no children and my wife passed on years ago. I live alone with my few farm animals, that is, until a few months ago. My cow got sick so I prayed to G-d to heal the cow. 'After all,' I said to G-d 'You create the entire world and everything in it, certainly you can heal one cow!'
"But the cow got worse. So I said, 'Listen G-d, if You don't heal that cow I'm not going to the synagogue any more!' I figured that if G-d doesn't care about me, I mean, it's nothing for Him to heal one old cow! So why should I care? But the cow died and I got mad and ... I stopped going to the synagogue.
"Then my goat got sick. I said to G-d 'What! You haven't had enough? Do you think I'm bluffing? If this goat dies I'm not putting on tefilin any more!' So the goat died and I stopped putting on tefilin.
"Then my chickens got ill and I told G-d that if they die I'm not going to keep Shabbat. A week later I was without chickens and G-d was without my Shabbat.
"Well, I held out for over a week until suddenly I realized that the time for Selichot is approaching. I thought to myself, Zelig, you aren't going to go say Selichot with the Rebbe? What, are you crazy!?? But on the other hand I was angry with G-d and I wasn't going to the synagogue.
"So I remembered that once I had an argument with Shmerel the butcher. For about a month we didn't even say 'hello.' Then one night he came to my house with a bottle of vodka and said 'Let's forget the past and be friends. We Jews have enough enemies.' So we said "l'chaim," three times, shook hands and even danced around a little together and we were friends again.
"I figured I would do the same thing with G-d. I invited Him to sit opposite me, poured us two cups and said 'Listen G-d, You forget my faults and I'll forget Yours. All Right?'
"I drank my cup and understood that G-d wanted me to drink His. And after we did it twice more I stood up and we danced together! Then I felt better and came to Selichot.'
The Rebbe became very serious. He looked deeply into Zelig's innocent eyes and said. "Listen, Zelig. Before we began Selichot I saw that in heaven there was a terrible decree on our holy congregation. The reason was that, the Chasidim were saying the words in the prayer book but they weren't really praying seriously to G-d. But you, Zelig, you talked to G-d like He is your friend. Your simple heart saved the entire congregation!"
Adapted from www.ohrtmimim.org/torah
