Rav Yisroel of Ruzhin, known as the Rizhiner, was an incredible tzaddik already from a young age. Even before he was born, it was said that when his mother went to a tzaddik while she was pregnant with him, the tzaddik stood up for her, because he understood that she was carrying a special neshamah!
When the Rizhiner was a young boy, around 7 or 8 years old, his father told him he wanted to teach him how to play chess. Little Yisroelke’s father started explaining to him how the game works: this is the bishop, the knight, the queen, this is how they can move, and so on. Yisroelke then turns to his father and says he has one question. What happens if we are playing, and I make a move, and then I realize that it was a mistake, can I then go back and change my move? His father responded that if your finger is still on the piece that you moved, your turn isn’t over yet, and you can still change it, but once you take your finger off there is nothing you can do. Yisroelke turned to his father and said, “Totte, with all due respect, I do not want to play chess for the rest of my life! Chess is not a Jewish game!” His father was shocked! “What’s wrong with this game, he asked?” Yisroelke responded: “A Yid should not be playing a game that gives over the message that when you make a mistake you cannot undo it!”
For us, it is most likely OK to play chess – but we can still internalize this holy lesson! Moshe Rabbeinu took the Torah from the angels because we need the Torah to help fix ourselves, to improve us. We were born to correct our mistakes, to learn and grow and come close to Hashem. The young Rizhiner teaches us that there is no such thing as a mistake you cannot correct, and for as long as we are privileged to be in this world, it means Hashem is giving us another chance!
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 3.