Early in life, Rav Shimon Schwab’s father taught him the importance of not only speaking the truth but of living the truth. The Rav told the following story from his childhood:
As a young boy around the age of Bar Mitzvah, I decided to stand for the entire tefillos on the night and day of Yom Kippur, a custom cited in the Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 619). My father, who was not one to ignore such things, made no comment.
On Motzei Yom Kippur, one of my younger brothers did something that was not to my liking, and I let him have it physically. My father slapped my face. 'I thought that you had perhaps attained the madreiga of observing even a custom brought as yesh omdim (some stand) in the Shulchan Aruch,' he said. 'But your behavior immediately following Yom Kippur indicates that you reached no such level at all and were just showing off. For that, you got the potsch.'"
Compiled by Tzvi Schultz [email protected]
Reprinted from the Parshas Chayei Sara 5786 email of Chayeinu Weekly.
