The Rov Who Became a Wagon Driver:
The same sefer relates that when the Maharsha served as Rov of a certain kehillah, he would spend most of the day sitting and learning with the bnei hayeshiva of the city. At the time, there was a “Chief Rabbi” of the entire region, and all the Rabbanim of the surrounding area were under his authority. All the Rabbanim of the local communities in the region were required to come before the Chief Rabbi to pay homage to him, but the Maharsha did not come to him because he was sitting and learning at all times.
The Chief Rabbi understood that the Maharsha was so busy learning that he couldn’t come to him, so he decided to travel to the Maharsha’s city to meet him there. When he arrived in the city, all of the residents hurried to greet him, as was customary, but the Maharsha did not go. The Chief Rabbi understood that he was immersed in his learning and didn’t want to waste a moment. He decided that he would personally go to the bais medrash where he was sitting with his students, but even when he got there, the Maharsha did not greet him. He continued learning, without even looking up to give him ”shalom”. Still and all, the Chief Rabbi judged him favorably and said that the Maharsha does not want to stop learning for even a second.
Suddenly, a young bochur entered the room and the Maharsha greeted him warmly. He rose to his full stature, welcomed him with much honor, and spoke to him at great length. The Chief Rabbi now became furious. He yelled at the Maharsha, “At first, when you did not come to see me in my place, I judged you favorably and said you must be too busy learning. Later, when I came to your city and you did not come to me, I again judged you nicely and said that you didn’t want to waste time from learning. After that, when I came to the bais medrash and you did not greet me, I once again judged you favorably and thought you didn’t want to lose a moment of Torah study. But now I see that it is a lie because you stopped learning to honor this young man and talked to him quite a bit in the middle of learning!”
The Maharsha said to him, “I will give you a sign that I acted correctly... You will see that this young man will be killed within two hours.”
The Chief Rabbi didn’t believe him. He took the same bochur and walked with him here and there for the next two hours, engaging him in conversation, so that he wouldn’t leave his sight and he would be able to disprove the Maharsha’s words. As they were walking through the city, a nobleman passed by and shot an arrow in an attempt to shoot a bird. He missed and the arrow hit the young man in the heart... and he died exactly two hours after the Maharsha uttered his statement.
The Chief Rabbi ran back to the Maharsha, who said to him, “Now you will see that in a short time, another man will be killed.”
While they were talking, they heard a commotion coming from the street, with people saying that they had found a man who had been killed. By now, the Chief Rabbi was very frightened and he asked what was going on. The Maharsha then revealed to him, “This young man was the reincarnation of Achav, King of Yisroel. That is why I gave him great honor. And because Achav was killed, this bochur was also destined to be killed. As soon as the young man was born, a damaging angel was created in order to kill him, and it was stationed next to the city, waiting for the time to kill him. But because you delayed him until he was killed in the middle of the city by the man shooting arrows, the angel of destruction had to be given another man in his place. Thus, you caused that man’s death, and you must do teshuva for this.”
Upon hearing this, the Chief Rabbi fell at the feet of the Maharsha and begged him to forgive him, and to give him a way to do teshuva. The Maharsha said to him, “Your teshuva will be that you leave the Rabbanus and become a wagon driver.”
He accepted this upon himself and became a wagon driver.
