The Tzemach Tzedek was once learning in the house of his grandfather, the Baal HaTanya. While he was learning, a baby in a crib next to him started crying. When the crying continued, the Baal HaTanya, who was upstairs, came down, picked up the baby, and soothed him.
When the Tzemach Tzedek noticed his heilige grandfather in the room, he quickly stood up. When he realized why his grandfather had come downstairs, he apologized and explained that he simply hadn’t heard the baby crying because he was learning with such deep concentration.
The Baal HaTanya turned to his grandson and said, “Do you think I was less concentrated than you? Or was I perhaps closer to the baby than you? Let me teach you a lesson for life. No matter how great a Yid you are, and no matter what lofty avodah you are in the middle of, you must always hear the cries of even the smallest Yid and do everything possible to help him!”
We might think that when someone is connecting to Hashem, he shouldn’t notice anything else. But we learn from this story that sometimes the right thing to do is to stop what we’re doing and help another Yid! We see this in this week’s parsha as well, that Avraham Avinu interrupted his conversation with Hashem to welcome guests into his home.
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 105.
