person doesn’t get as upset about money being thrown away as he does about money being given to his friend, as one will become jealous of his friend and he will begrudge him the money.
Baalei Mussar write that this was Esav’s mindset. He didn’t really care about the brachos that he lost, and he would have been satisfied with the blessing he received to “live by the sword.” The only reason he was upset was because Yaakov took the brachos, and he was jealous of him.
It is related that two merchants once came to Rav Chaim Soloveitchik zt”l, the Rov of Brisk, for a din Torah. After they both laid out their claims, Rav Chaim ruled in favor of one of them, and the other merchant became very upset and screamed that the ruling was wrong.
Rav Chaim remained firm and ordered the man to follow his ruling. After the man left, Rav Chaim asked those in the room, “Why is it that when a Rov rules that a cow that is worth thousands of dollars is treif, the ruling is accepted without question but when a Rov rules against someone in a din Torah, even if it is only over a small amount of money, the ruling is not accepted and the losing party cries and complains?”
No one offered an answer, so Rav Chaim said, “I will explain it to you. The middah of jealousy clouds a person’s mind. A person is prepared to lose thousands of dollars as long as no one else gets that money. If someone else takes his money, however, he can’t take it!”
He used this idea to explain the pasuk (Bereishis 4:6) that says that Hashem asked Kayin, “Why are you upset?” What was the question? Kayin was upset because Hashem did not accept his korban. What was Hashem asking?
The answer is that Hashem was asking Kayin if he really was upset that his offering was rejected, or if he was upset because Hevel’s was accepted!
The Greatness of Generosity:
The Mishnah (Avos 2:12) relates that Rav Eliezer said that the best middah is to have an “ayin tova”. Rabenu Yona explains this to mean the trait of generosity. The reason it is such a good middah is because a generous person who has a “good eye” and sees the good in others will be worthy of acquiring all other good middos.
One Who Pursues Tzedakah Will be Granted Wealth:
The Gemara (Bava Basra 9B) says: “’One who pursues tzedakah and chesed will find life, tzedakah and honor (Mishlei 21:21).’ What does it mean when it says that one who pursues tzedakah will find tzedakah? This teaches us that if a person looks for ways to give tzedakah, Hashem will provide him with money in order to be able to give tzedakah.”
The Maharsha explains that the Gemara is speaking about a person who does not have money to give, but he runs after others and convinces them to give tzedakah. The reward for such a person is that Hashem gives him money so that he can give tzedakah himself.
A Full Ship:
Sefer Maasoh Ish (Chelek 3, page 88) relates that there was a family from Hungary who managed to escape to Eretz Yisroel during World War 2 on a small ship. Their relatives in Eretz Yisroel had been informed that they were coming, and they eagerly awaited their arrival. The scheduled time for the ship’s arrival came and went, and it did not appear. The relatives were very worried and they went to ask the Chazon Ish zt”l what to do. He told them, “In the Hungarian yeshivos they learn a lot of Maharsha. Therefore, the ship is full of Maharsha and it definitely will be safe.”
A short time later, the ship arrived safely.
Saving a Man in the Upper World:
During the Maharsha’s lifetime, a sinful man passed away. When the taharah was being performed on his body, one of the members of the Chevrah Kadisha shamed the man by pinching his nose. That night, the dead man came to that person in a dream and told him that he had complaints against him for embarrassing him. The Chevrah Kadisha member replied, “You are a rasha and the disgrace I caused you was to provide at least a small kaparah for your sins!”
The dead man was not appeased and said that he was viewed differently in the world of Truth. In Olam Haba, he said, he was treated like a talmid chochom because he had once saved a Torah scholar from drowning and had subsequently supported the man financially. Therefore, the dead man demanded that the Chevrah Kadisha member appear with him at a din Torah before the Heavenly Court, which meant that the man would have to die.
The man ran to the Maharsha and told him about the dream and the Maharsha told him, “Tonight, you will sleep in my house.”
At midnight, the man began to scream in his sleep, as he was having another dream. The Maharsha stood at his side and spoke to the dead man. He asked, “How are things going for you?” The dead man said, “When I went to the Upper World, I was greeted by damaging angels who were created by my sins but they could not touch me because an announcement had gone out saying that I had the status of a talmid chochom because of the man I had saved.”
The Maharsha told him, “You should know that Hashem is not a ‘vatran’. He does not simply forgive all sins. You did many sins in this world but the merit of saving a talmid chochom’s life is protecting you from punishment in Gehenim. But if you harm this member of the Chevrah Kadisha, you will lose your protection and you will receive your rightful punishment.”
After the Maharsha finished speaking, the dead man disappeared and did not bother the Chevrah Kadisha member again.
Providing the Hungry With Bread:
Sefer Toldos Maharsha relates that a local baker once came to the Maharsha’s bais medrash in order to daven with the tzibur.
The Maharsha saw that the baker looked upset, so he called him over and asked why he appeared so sad.
The baker said, “Rebbi, I prepared many loaves of bread this week to sell on market day but I was only able to sell a small amount of what I baked. Now, I am left with a lot of bread and no buyers.”
The Maharsha couldn’t stand seeing the man so sad, so he told him, “Bring all of the bread to my house.”
When the loaves of bread were brought to his house, he paid for it all and distributed the bread to the poor.
Released From a Difficulty:
The same sefer relates that the Maharsha learned Torah day and night and since he loved Torah so much, he did not want to doze off for a moment and miss out on a second of learning. To this end, he grew his hair long and he would tie it to a hook on the wall. If he fell asleep and his head drooped, he would be jerked awake by his hair. In this way, he stayed up all night learning.
The only night that he did not learn was on the night of “Nittel”. On this night, he would make a reckoning of all of his finances so that he would know how much to give to maaser.
One year, there was a sinful person who lived in the city of Ostroha who disliked the Maharsha. This man went to the authorities and made up a libel against the Maharsha, falsely claiming that he had cursed the Christian religion. As proof, he related that the Maharsha would not learn Torah on the night of Nittel because he believed that this night was impure.
The Maharsha, who was unaware of any of this, sat down that Nittel night and started to make his financial calculations. Suddenly, while he was writing, a sefer fell off his bookshelf and landed on the floor. The Maharsha quickly picked it up, kissed it and put it back in its place. However, another sefer then fell from the shelf and landed on the ground.
The Maharsha again bent down to puck it up, but the same thing then happened a third time. The Maharsha realized that this was not a coincidence. He opened the sefer and looked into it, as if he were studying it, and, at that exact moment, the door was forced open and a group of policemen rushed in, with the informer at their lead.
When they saw the Maharsha learning from a sefer, they turned around and left, and the informers plan went to naught.
May the memory of the tzadik be a source of blessing for Klal Yisroel.
