Every Shabbat, the young men from the yeshivah in Pressburg would eat their meals at the homes of members of the community. After praying, they would emerge from the bet midrash en masse and walk through the town to their respective hosts’ homes. Every week, one of the young men would wander off by himself for a while, and then catch up with the group a few blocks away. This young man, Chaim, was well respected among his peers as a caring, generous individual, always ready to help a friend in need. Chaim’s “disappearing act” intrigued his friends, and they decided to follow him one week to see where he went.
Knocking Gently on the Basement Apartment Door
The next Shabbat morning, the boys followed Chaim into a particularly poor part of town. Chaim walked to a basement apartment and knocked gently on the door. An old woman answered and Chaim wished her a warm Shabbat Shalom. Seeing the smile on her face, they assumed that this was his grandmother. They managed to get away before he could see them, but when he rejoined the group, they confessed that they had followed him. “So,” they asked, “who is that woman? Your grandmother?”
A bit embarrassed that he had been caught in the act, Chaim shyly responded that the woman was not even related to him. That piqued their curiosity even more. “Then, Chaim, why do you go wish her a Shabbat Shalom every week?”
This Woman is a Widow
By this time a bigger crowd had gathered, with everyone eager to hear Chaim’s story. “The truth is that this woman is a widow, and she had very little family around. So, I figured I would go to wish her a Shabbat Shalom. She seems so happy when I come and it is such an easy thing to do - How could I not?”
The stunned friends hung their heads in humility. Amazed that their young friend had the sensitivity to look after an old widow, they knew then that this boy would become something special.
“The Bachur is Coming! The Bachur is Coming!”
Rav Yitzchak Shloime Blau remembered this story fondly because he was a little boy at the time and the old woman was his grandmother. “And although I was only six or seven years old, I remember waiting outside for him every Shabbat and then running inside to tell my grandmother, “The bachur is coming! The bachur is coming!”
Chaim’s friends were correct in predicting that this young man was destined for greatness. Young Chaim grew up to become the great Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, Rav of Yerushalayim! (Touched by a Story 3)
Reprinted from the Parashat Vayakhel 5784 email of Rabbi David Bibi’s Shabbat Shalom from Cyberspace.
