The Importance of Hadlakas Haneiros
When the Mahari Asad zy”a was the Rov of Seredhely, the shamas of his shul was simple, unlearned Jew, who possessed an abundance of yiras shomayim. Every day, when he would light the candles in the shul, he would wrap himself in his gartel and recite, “L’Sheim yichud kedusha...I am now prepared to fulfill the mitzvah of honoring Hashem with light...”
He would continue with a tefillah, in which he said, “Yehi ratzon...May it be your will that it be considered as if I am having intentions when I fulfill this mitzvah like the Kohen Gadol had when he lit the lights in the Bais Hamikdosh.“
He would say this tefillah with exceptional kavannah.
One day, the city’s butcher came to shul and witnessed how the shamas lit the candles. He was very inspired and impressed by his simple devotion, and he became envious of this mitzvah. He asked the shamas to sell him the rights to light the candles, offering him a large amount of money in exchange.
The shamas refused the offer, saying that he would not sell this precious mitzvah for money. But the butcher would not take no for an answer. He harassed the shamas every day, begging him to sell him the rights to this mitzvah. The shamas eventually couldn’t take it anymore, and he decided to approach the Rov and ask him if he should accept the offer.
The Mahari Asad told him, “If it is true that you are doing this l’sheim shomayim, and not to receive reward, you should know that ahavas Yisroel is also a big mitzvah. My advice would be to give in to the butcher and grant him the right to light the candles in shul. But don’t give it to him for free. One must pay for a mitzvah. Therefore, tell him to give you one silver coin for each individual day (which was a very large amount at that time).”
He added, “Don’t use the money that you get from the butcher. Just put it away. One day in the future, I will tell you what to do with it.”
The shamas took the advice and, from that day on, the butcher would come to shul every day, hand the shamas his payment of one silver coin, and light the candles. The shamas took the money and put it away, never making personal use of any of it. This went on for a number of years, and, after a while, the shamash had accumulated a large number of coins.
One day, the butcher’s daughter got engaged and he promised to give a large dowry. Unfortunately, he experienced a financial downturn just at that time, and he lost all of his money. He found himself unable to pay for the dowry he had promised. He confided his problem to some of his friends and the Rov eventually heard about it. The Mshari Asad then summoned the shamas and told him to return all of the coins to the butcher so that he should be able to marry off his daughter.
The Mahari Asad later related that he himself was amazed when the shamas counted the coins and it was discovered that they equaled the exact amount that the butcher had pledged to give as a dowry. He said, “The butcher didn’t know it, but he was putting away this money for himself through his tremendous emunah in the mitzvah of providing light for the bais medrash.“
