Rabbi Yitzchak the author of the Ohr Zarua told over the following story and vouched for its authenticity. Rabbi Bunim was the Gabbai of the Shul and also a member of the Chevra Kaddisha that bury the dead.
One morning Rabbi Bunim came into Shul and saw a Jew sitting there with a crown of nice smelling plants on his head. He looked to see who it was and to his horror he recognized him to be the man he had buried the day before.
He asked the man, “aren’t you the person I buried yesterday?”
“Yes I am,” replied the man.
“And what has happened to you in the Heavenly Court?”
“I was given entry to Gan Eden and I was welcomed with honor,” replied the man.
“But here you were such an ordinary person, “said Reb Bunim. “What merit did you have to get such a special Gan Eden?”
“Because I used to say Berochos in Shul sweetly and carefully. In that merit I was given a respectable place in Gan Eden.”
“And what is the crown of plants on your head,” asked Reb Bunim?
“Since I came down to this world again to tell you, I was given theses sweet smelling herbs so I shouldn’t have to smell the bad odor of this world.”
This man was given the opportunity to come back down to this world to tell the Gabbai the power of making a Berocho carefully and how powerful it is in the world to come.
Reprinted from the Parshas Balak 5785 email of Inspired by a Story by Rabbi Dovid Caro.
