HaRav Yehoshua Leib Diskin zt”l was a Rav in various cities in Europe before moving to Yerushalayim in 1878 and becoming a Rav there. When he was still in Europe, certain members of the city falsely accused him of accepting bribes. They brought false witnesses against him who testified that he was seen accepting bribes. At the trial, Reb Diskin’s lawyer called the prosecution witness to the stand and said, “Are you sure you saw R’ Diskin accept a bribe?” The witness answered, “Yes, I saw him accept a bribe and then count the money.”
The defense lawyer said, “Are you sure you saw him count the money?” and the witness answered positively. “Are you one hundred percent sure?” said the lawyer, and the witness again answered positively. The defense lawyer then said, “Your Honor, with your permission, I’d like to show you what type of person we’re talking about.” The lawyer then proceeded to remove a huge wad of bills from his pocket. He handed the wad of bills to the judge and requested that he split the pile in two. The defense lawyer then pointed to the larger pile of bills and turned to R’ Diskin and said, “Will the esteemed Rav please tell me how many bills are in this pile? R’ Diskin immediately replied, “632.” The defense lawyer turned to the judge and asked him to count the money, and the judge proceeded to do so, and counted 632 bills. The defense lawyer then asked the judge to divide the wad of bill again, and proceeded to carry out the same steps. Again, R’ Diskin was able to pinpoint the amount of bills without counting it. The lawyer repeated the process a third time. The defense lawyer then turned to the judge and said, “Your Honor, I think we’re discussing someone who would be extremely unlikely to be counting bills!” The judge dismissed the case.
[Special thanks to Revach L’Neshama for the story]
