Rabbi Yehudah Tzadka zt“l related a story about Rabbi Mordechai Labaton zt“l, who was the head of the rabbinical court in Aram Soba. When he became old and his strength began waning, he was no longer able to wake up early to go to the beit kenesset or stay late. He therefore asked the people in his community to arrange for a minyan to come to his home morning and evening so that he could join a public prayer. And so, the minyan was arranged, and men would go morning and evening to pray in his home.
One day, in the middle of the winter, a furious rain poured down from the skies, and the group of men never came. The tzaddik was terribly upset and said to his attendant, “Do me a favor, and gather the people together for the minyan.“
The attendant agreed, and he went out into the storm and knocked on the people’s doors. After a long while, he returned alone and reported, “The people will not come in these awful conditions. They told me that today they will pray privately in their homes.“
The tzaddik responded, “You know that I am not a wealthy man, but over the course of my years, I have saved penny by penny, so that I have enough to pay for scholars to come to my house after my death to learn in my memory. Take this last money that I have prepared for after my death and use it to pay all the people of our minyan to come here so we can pray together with a minyan.“
The attendant obeyed the tzaddik’s wish. When the people heard how precious public prayer was in the eyes of the tzaddik, that he was willing to allocate for this purpose the money set aside for the study of Torah in his memory after his death, they all came to his home, even in the pouring rain, and refused to take a single coin.
They enthusiastically reported this incident from mouth to ear, until the entire community recognized the importance of public prayer and how much one must sacrifice on its behalf. For it is worth far more than any sacrifice we make!
