It was a dark and cold night in the month of Tevet 5744. In the corner of the Beit Midrash "Shomrim Le-Boker" sat Moshe Chaim, sad. He had a good reason for this. Several years had passed since he married his wife Miriam, but they had not yet been blessed with viable fruit. Although they were blessed with three daughters many years later, to the extent of their sorrow, the daughters died suddenly about a month after their birth. From time to time, he took a sip from a cup of chowder that was in front of him, as if trying to warm himself up and be comforted, but his sorrow was great.
At the next table sat Moshe-Yosef the blacksmith, Yisrael, Chaimel, and a few other simple folks. They sat and talked in a voice that reached Moshe Chaim's ears as well, and they had something to talk about...Those days were the days of great awakening in Decenburg, and the one who supervised this awakening was Gedaliah Baruch the cobbler, and his wife. Ostensibly, he was simply a cobbler, but only three years after the couple arrived to live in Decenburg, they already managed to bring about a great change in the city, when he said that recently one of the hidden tzaddikim from among the lovers of Israel was revealed, speaking in praise of them and showing them a new way in the service of G-d. The guiding line of his ideas is the observance of mitzvot with joy, virtue, and love of Israel. Gedaliah Baruch was referring to the holy Baal Shem Tov, whose light began to shine and shine on the face of the world. Now Moshe Chaim sat in his corner, and without wanting to, he heard the conversation of his friends, who sat and told various stories of the Baal Shom Tov, describing his greatness as a priest.
At a certain point, the vegetable seller opened his mouth. He told of a childless couple who came to the Baal Shem Tov and begged him to bless them with a male son. The Rebbe's blessing made an impression, and after a while, they had a son. Moshe Chaim heard these words, and they added to his heartache. Without saying a word, he left the beit midrash into the dark night. At the first opportunity he saw fit, he repeated the story to his wife Miriam, and suggested that if such a person was a holy man living in Mezhibuz, perhaps so they too would go to him and ask for his blessing. In fact, Moshe Chaim was not sure that he wanted to go to the Tzadik. He hesitated. He thought about it. And continued hesitated...A woman of kindness was Miriam. When she heard from her husband about his idea of going to the Baal Shem Tov, she noted with satisfaction that she, too, had heard a great deal about his greatness, but did not dare to suggest it so as not to upset him. The decision to set out was not easy, since Moshe Chaim had never left Dachenburg. His fear was great: "The roads are dangerous", he would repeat to his wife, along with his sincere desire to go to the righteous one.
One day, he learned that a group of residents of Dachneburg, led by Rabbi Gedaliah Baruch, were preparing to travel from Zibozha for Shavuot, to stay with the tzaddik. Moshe Chaim understood that the time had come. On Rosh Chodesh Iyar 1844, the group set out. The big day arrived. Moshe Chaim and Miriam were privileged to enter the modest room of the Light of the Generations, the Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov. With great heartache, they poured out their troubles. They recounted the birth of their three daughters one after the other, with none of them surviving more than a short time. The Baal Shem Tov looked at them with righteous eyes. His pure eyes were like eternity, but for some reason, there was something dim in them. The Tzadik looked at them, but to their great astonishment, he did not respond. This was not how they imagined that Tzadik, who works miracles, who helps everyone who asks for it. With great disappointment, they left the Tzadik's room and went to the hostel that had prepared for them. They turned to Rabbi Gedaliah Baruch and told him the details of the case. He advised them to wait a few days and re-enter. A few days later, they entered the sanctuary again, and once again poured out their pain on the Tzadik – but this time, too, the Tzadik looked at them with his crystal eyes, and did not respond. When this happened for the third time, Miriam fell to the floor in his room. When she recovered, she burst into tears that could shake heaven and earth, but the Rebbe remained silent. The ways of the Tzadik are straight. Rabbi Gedaliah Baruch, who was somewhat aware of the order of the tzaddik's walks and conduct and the immense love of Israel that pulsated in the Rebbe, understood that the situation was very serious. Rabbi Gedaliah Baruch gathered some of his friends, some of the most important people who huddled in the shadow of his teacher and rabbi, and together they devised advice on how to help the couple. Although the paths of heaven were not clear to them, they understood that if the tzaddik himself did not help, it was a sign that the gates of heaven were closed to the couple. After discussions, it was decided to gather a minyan of people who knew religion and law, and to fast for three consecutive days, while praying and supplicating to God. Moshe Chaim and Miriam will be included in a holy seed that lasts. "We will see how the Rebbe will react to this, and how things will work out," Gedaliah Baruch concluded the meeting. It was not easy for Moshe Chaim and his wife in those days. They saw other Jews entering the tzaddik, and each of them came out equipped with the blessings of the tzaddik. There was no limit to the anguish of their souls. For three days, ten selected students of the Baal Shem Tov sat in a side room, and out of fasting, they prayed before the One who sits in the heavens, begging for a childless couple for whom the light of the world had been extinguished. This was kept secret, and no one but them knew the order of the fasts and prayers that they had taken upon themselves, out of great love for others.
On Tuesday evening, at nightfall, they turned to pray the evening prayer, a prayer that was supposed to conclude the tractate of prayers and fasts. While they were still in the midst of prayer, the Rebbe's servant arrived and informed them that it was time for the Rebbe to come home for a mitzvah meal. "A mitzvah meal?" asked Gedaliah Baruch aloud at the end of his prayer, "For what?" "I don't know, only I know, that a few hours ago the Rebbe instructed me to prepare a meal." A short time later, Gedalya Baruch and his group sat around the Rebbe's pure table. There were also members of the Chavriya Kadisha and many guests who had come to Mezhibuz in those days. No one knew the purpose of the mitzvah meal, just as no one knew – except the tzaddik, of course – that this meal was also a break of a long fast. The face of the Baal Shem Tov shone with precious light. In a solemn voice, the Tzaddik began to recite Torah innovations and Chassidic matters about the verses, "Love your neighbor as yourself," "Behold, how good and pleasant it is to sit together as brothers." As for the kindness of the Rav's pure soul, he went on to tell several stories about the love of Israel and how precious it is for a Jew to help his neighbor in Heaven. He extolled the importance of the act of loving one's neighbor, friends who arouse great pity for their friend in times of need. And they change a curse of seventy years for him, and turn the curse into a blessing, and death into a long life.
Rabbi Gedaliah Baruch and his friends now understood that the reason for the mitzvah meal lay in their actions in the last few days. In a conversation with Moshe Chaim and his wife Miriam, he revealed to them their decision to pray and plead for them: and that their sacrifice, the scarcity of their milk and blood during the long fast, was received with satisfaction in heaven, and their sentence was torn, as they understood from the Rebbe's words. "It turns out that the Rebbe's blessing will work for you, to bring down a great and precious soul to the world," he concluded. The two, together with the rest of the group, returned to their city, happy and fully believing that already in the coming year they would be blessed with a male son, alive and healthy, who would live a long life, and indeed, the blessing of the Baal Shem Tov, as well as the prayers of the friends, bore fruit. Exactly one year after they set out from Zibozha and thirty-three years after their marriage, Miriam gave birth to a son, and his name in Israel was Shlomo. Thirteen years later, Shlomo traveled with his father to Meziborz, where he was blessed by the Tzaddik with a good memory and longevity and years. At the age of seventeen, he was betrothed to Gedaliah Baruch's daughter, and from then on he was called "Shlomo Bashas" after his mother-in-law, who was known for her virtues and good deeds.
