When Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt”l, was young, his parents wanted to inspire him to trust in Hashem and serve Him with absolute devotion, and they would tell him a story about his great-grandfather which made a powerful impression on him.
Rav Moshe’s father was named after his own grandfather, Rav Dovid Feinstein, who was a man who worked as a common laborer, but was full of Yiras Shamayim.
When Rav Dovid was hired to work for a non-Jew, he made the condition that every day he must be allowed time off to Daven Minchah. However, Rav Dovid’s employer was not very happy about this condition. He was angry that precious time that could have been used for work would be ‘wasted’ because the Jew had to say his prayers. But Rav Dovid was a good worker and the man needed him, so he agreed.
However, the employer became even angrier when he saw that Rav Dovid’s Shemoneh Esrei was recited carefully and with intense Kavanah, and lasted a very long time. The man said, “Who does he think he is? This is not a synagogue where you can pray as long as you like. I only intended to allow him a couple of minutes off, and nothing more!”
Instead of speaking to Rav Dovid directly, the man decided to send the Jew a message to show how upset he was, and he wanted it to be a message that Rav Dovid would remember for a very long time. One day, as Rav Dovid stood with his eyes closed davening Shemoneh Esrei, his employer moved behind him, and held a shotgun in his hands. He waited for Rav Dovid to bow, because after watching him Daven a few times, he knew that there were times when he would bow his head, and when the moment came when Rav Dovid bowed, he shot his gun just above Rav Dovid, and a bullet whizzed right over him.
The goy watched with joy, expecting to see the Jew fall to the ground from fright or start running like mad for the door, but he was greatly disappointed. Rav Dovid simply continued to daven as if nothing at all had occurred. His Kavanah was so intense that he may not have even heard the gunshot at all!
Rav Moshe Feinstein, the great-grandson of Rav Dovid
Later, the employer told Rav Dovid what he did and that he tried to scare him by showing that he had been angry enough to kill him for taking so long in his prayers, but when he realized how intensely Rav Dovid was concentrating on his prayer, he realized that Rav Dovid was truly a G-d-fearing man. He said, “I see now that you really are not wasting any time at all as you are actually talking with G-d, and I am no longer angry about this. I thought you were trying to fool me just so you can take a break from work.”
From then on, the man would refer to Rav Dovid as ‘my Jew’, and never again complained about the length of his davening. When Rav Dovid davened, it was as clear as day to him that he was standing directly before Hashem!
Reprinted from the Parshas Noach 5786 email of Rabbi Yehuda Winzelberg’s Torah U’Tefilah.
