Rav Aharon of Belz, ZT”L, had a custom: whenever shaking hands with someone under Bar Mitzvah, he’d put a cloth over his hand. Once, as many chassidim were approaching him, a young child dressed up in a hat and jacket to fool the Rav into thinking he was over Bar Mitzvah.
The gabbai, realized the boy's ploy, and publicly embarrassed him, screaming, “Sheigetz! Get out of here!”
Shaken up by the gabbai’s horrific behavior, Rav Aharon told him to apologize to the boy and ask for forgiveness. The gabbai did so, but when he returned, the Rav was still too agitated by the gabbai's horrific sin, so he called back the boy to make amends himself.
Upon returning, the boy received a wholehearted blessing from the holy Rav. However, the Rav still felt he hadn’t done enough, so he instructed the boy to write a note with a request from Hashem that he would pray for to be granted. As the boy was leaving, the Rav was still too disturbed about how someone could publicly embarrass another person so brazenly and said, “Just because I observe certain stringencies and don’t give my hand to a child who is under Bar Mitzvah doesn’t mean it’s right that the boy should be publicly shamed.”
He called the boy back one last time, and in front of everybody, removed the cloth from his hand, shook the boy’s hand, and gave him many more wholehearted blessings. Then the Rav was calmed.
Reprinted from the Parshas Vayishlach 5785 email Torah Sweets.
