On that very day, however, the young man suddenly passed away. The caretaker was alarmed, for the young man had not even been willing to give his name. Who knows who he is, and if he is worthy of the honorable place? But on second thought, the caretaker calmed himself: the young man has no relatives or friends, so no one will know about the whole affair. Moreover, the money went to charitable purposes and it is a great merit for this young man. The young man was buried in a side plot, and not in the plot adjacent to the Megaleh Amukot, which he had purchased for himself during his lifetime.
At night, the young man came to the caretaker in his dream: “We made a deal and you didn’t fulfill your part. I am challenging you in the Heavenly Court!” The caretaker was very frightened, but when morning came, he said to himself: “Dreams are void of meaning.” However, after the dream repeated itself two and three times, he realized that this was no simple matter. The caretaker went to the Rabbi Yoel Sirkis, the great Bach, who served as the rabbi in Krakow, told him the whole story, and said that he could find no peace for his soul.
The Bach replied, “When the young man comes to you again in your dream, tell him that if he desires a rabbinic court case, it should not take place in Heaven, but here on earth. Let him come for a hearing before the rabbinical court on such-and-such a date.” The caretaker did as the rabbi said, and the young man immediately agreed. They set up a partition in the synagogue, and when the time for the hearing arrived, they heard a kind of noise behind the partition and understood that the young man had come for judgment.
The rabbi directed the young man to state his claims, and when he finished telling the story, the Bach turned to the caretaker and asked: “What do you have to say in response?” The caretaker replied: “Indeed, that is exactly how it all happened, but I never intended to bury him in this place, as it is not befitting the honor of the Megaleh Amukot! Moreover, I do not even know his name, since he did not want to tell me.” The rabbi turned towards the partition and said: “Tell us who you are and what your name is, and then we will know if you are worthy to lie next to the Megaleh Amukot.” But the young man flatly refused, keeping his reasons to himself.
Then the rabbi ruled: “On the face of it, we are obligated to bury the young man in the plot for which he paid a hefty sum. But on the other hand, we do not know who he is, and perhaps it is not befitting the honor of the Megaleh Amukot for this young man to lie beside him. Therefore, we will open the grave next to the Megaleh Amukot. And you,” he turned to the young man, “if you are worthy of the place, pass over to the plot you bought in your lifetime.”
The caretakers opened the plot, and the next morning they came to the cemetery and were astonished: the young man’s grave was empty, while the grave next to the Megaleh Amukot was occupied. The caretakers erected a headstone on his grave and wrote on it:
Here lies the young man whose identity is unknown.
His neighbor will testify to his stature
Years passed on the inscription on the headstone was erased. In the year 5592 (1832), the cemetery caretakers erected a new headstone on the young man’s grave and engraved the following words:
A monument to a living soul we found here
To know its name we toiled in vain
For it was found buried among the mighty
And its letters were erased by many years
Indeed, his neighbor, the pride of our strength, will testify to his stature
The Megaleh Amukot who illuminates our darkness
For great is his honor in the name of glory
To remain for generations as a memorial
The Chevra Kadisha caretakers took this to heart
And erected a new headstone on his grave
In the year 5592 since the creation of earth and heaven
To unravel this story, let us transcribe another story recorded in the Kracow Chevra Kadisha ledger:
A young man, unknown from where he came, arrived in Krakow and sought a position to serve there. He was hired by the owner of a large store work in his shop. He worked faithfully and explicitly stipulated with the store owner that he would serve him on the condition that he could go to the synagogue to pray, morning and evening. The owner agreed, and from the time the young man came to the store, the business and trade were blessed abundantly.
Once, this young worker went to the synagogue to pray the morning prayer as was his custom. Meanwhile, merchants from afar and many customers came to the store, and the store owner could not tend to them all. The young man was late in returning, and the store owner asked several times where he was and was told that he had not yet returned from prayers.
The store owner went in a rage over the delay and went to the synagogue himself: if the worker had prolonged his prayer, he would forgive him, but if he was wasting time idly, he would take revenge on him. When he came to the synagogue, he saw him standing and looking upward at the ceiling paintings, with no words coming from his mouth and he ran to him in his fury and struck him on the cheek. All the worshippers there gathered to see what was happening.
The store owner left the synagogue and went to his store, and the young man did not return to the store again. Instead, he went to the holy Rabbi, the Megaleh Amukot, whom he knew from before, to take leave and part from him. The holy rabbi bitterly pleaded with him: “Why do you leave me?” But all his entreaties were in vain. The holy rabbi said to him: “At least don't depart from me without words of Halacha, so that I may have an eternal remembrance. Behold, I have toiled on my book, Megaleh Amukot, and written 252 interpretations on the verse “God said to me, ‘Enough for you,’” whose numerical value is 252, regarding Moses pleading to enter the Land of Israel. Let your honor also tell me something that I have not brought in my book!”
The young man said to him: “I have an insight that is not brought in the books: Since there are four angels called ‘living ones’ (chayot) that carry the supernal chariot. Three correspond to the three pilgrimage festivals and to the three patriarchs. Moses wanted to enter the Land of Israel so that by its holiness, he could become the soul to which the fourth living one of the chariot would correspond. The Holy Blessed one said to Moses, “Enough for you, do not continue to speak to me anymore about this matter” because I have already prepared my servant David to be the fourth leg of the chariot. This is all alluded to in the word “about this matter” (הזבהדבר). “About... matter” (רבדב) is an acronym for “the son of David is the fourth leg” (ןב יביערלגר בדוד).” They parted and the man of truth disappeared.
The store owner, seeing that the young man did not return to him, deeply regretted having shamed him in public. He went with a bitter soul to the Megaleh Amukot and upon coming to his house, the rabbi said to him: “When you struck him on the cheek, he did not feel it at all, and you did nothing to him. But to me you did! You distanced from me a friend and companion, and he is now 500 parasangs away and I will not see him again. But I rejoice in the words he left me.”
Could this mysterious worker be Elijah the Prophet who is known to disappear? If we accept the storyteller’s assumption that the worker is also the young man who bought the grave, this is not possible at all, for Elijah does not die. But there is someone closely connected to Elijah, for whom death is indeed possible: this is the Mashiach who is born anew in each generation and passes away if the generation does not merit redemption. Even regarding the true Mashiach, who will merit eternal life, there is an opinion in the Gemara that he too will die, and his son and grandson will inherit his kingdom.
And what is the meaning of the intense friendship between him and the Megaleh Amukot? This can be understood in light of the Megaleh Amukot's extensive focus on Moses and God’s refusal to let him enter the Land. One of the ideas Chasidut takes from the Megaleh Amukot is that if Moses had entered the Land, the Temple would have been supernature, eternal, and would never be destroyed. But God wanted the Divine service in the Land of Israel to depend on us, with all its transience and its risk of failing. The Divine toil of His people is more beloved to God than a building that is entirely miraculous and stands forever.
Noting how preoccupied the Megaleh Amukot was with God’s refusal to allow Moses to enter the Land and its implications, clearly, he was the Moses of his generation. The Torah words with which the Mashiach of the generation, the David of the generation, parted from him was actually an expression of the connection between them. His desire to be buried near the Megaleh Amukot is also a connection between David and Moses. The Megaleh Amukot innovated that Moses (הֶשֹמ) is an acronym for the phrase, “What was is what will be” (המ היה יהי), and so just as Moses is the first redeemer, he is the final redeemer. Thus, just as there is Mashiach son of David and Mashiach son of Joseph, there is Moses’ soul—known in the Zohar as Raya Mehemna (the faithful shepherd)—who constitutes another figure in the redemption. In the end, Moses too will enter the Land: both will rise together from their shared grave in Krakow and arrive straight in the Land of Israel.
And a numerical allusion to conclude: the value of Moses (345 ,הֶשֹמ), is the product of 15 and 23, where 23 is the value of “living one” (הָּיַח), a connotation for the 2nd highest level of the soul. But Moses aspired to reach the highest level known as “singular one” (הָידִחְי), the aspect of Mashiach in the soul. Indeed, the Megaleh Amukot’s name, Natan Neta (ןָתָנ עַטָנ), equals 629, or 17, the value of “good” (בֹטו)—alluding to the first description of Moses, “And she saw that he was good”—times “the singular one” (הָידִחְי). The sum of the four multiplicands: 15, 23, 37, and 17 is 92, or 4 times 23, the value of “living one” (הָּיַח), which means that the average value of all 4 multiplicands is 23, the base of Moses (הֶשֹמ); all if about Moses.
1. Deuteronomy 3:26. This verse is part of parashat Va’etchanan and some years later, he passed away within a week of this Torah reading.
2. The second name, Neta, alludes to Moses planting (נטע) in us eternal life by giving us the Torah.
3. Exodus 2:2.
