The Baal Hatanya was once traveling during Chol Hamoed Sukkos, and stopped off in a small village along the way to rest for Shabbos. He didn’t reveal who he was, and he simply went to shul on Friday night, hoping to get invited by someone to sleep and eat by them for Shabbos. Sure enough, after davening a Yid noticed him and saw he wasn’t a local, and invited him back to his house for Shabbos.
This Yid started to realize that there was something special about his guest, just from observing the way he davened and the way he carried himself, but he had no idea that his guest was the great Baal Hatanya. They sat down in the sukkah to eat the Shabbos seudah, when they started to hear booming crackles of thunder and saw bright flashes of lightning brighten up the dark sky. Sure enough, a moment later the sky opened up and they heard the sounds of a torrential downpour coming down.
As the host braced himself to get wet and run into the house to finish the seudah, he was stunned to discover that not a drop of rain entered the sukkah! He went outside to see what was going on, and the moment he left the sukkah, he walked into the downpour, soaking himself in the process. He walked back in, and sure enough, his sukkah was completely dry, and the Baal Hatanya was just sitting there calmly, as if there wasn’t an incredible miracle taking place!
The host put on his raincoat, and ran to the Rav of the town, to tell him about the great guest that was in his sukkah, and the miracle that was taking place in his merit (and that if the Rav wanted to eat in the sukkah tonight, he can just come to his sukkah!). The Rav, somewhat skeptical of this story, nevertheless came home with him and walked from the pouring rain into his perfectly dry sukkah. Excited at the opportunity to talk with a great tzadik, the Rav started talking to the Baal Hatanya about various Torah topics that he wanted to clarify.
At some point in the conversation, the Rav asked the Baal Hatanya where he was traveling to. The Baal Hatanya responded that his Rebbi, the Mezritcha Maggid, had sent him on a certain mission, and he was following his instructions. The Rav was shocked that such a great tzadik had a Rebbi at all, and asked him: “With all due respect, you’re such a great tzadik that it isn’t raining in the sukkah right now, even though it is raining everywhere else! Why do you need a Rebbi? What do you learn from the Mezritcha Maggid that you wouldn’t have already known?
The Baal Hatanya dodged this question, and continued to talk with the Rav about other things. At some point the Rav mentioned that he had a daughter who was of marriageable age that he was trying to marry off. At that moment, the Baal Hatanya noticed a man walking by outside the sukkah. “What about his son?” the Baal Hatanya asked, pointing at the man. “Why don’t you marry her off to his son?” The Rav knew that this man had a son of marriageable age, but shrugged off this suggestion. When the Baal Hatanya asked why he would not consider it, the Rav responded that he is the Rav, and that man is a bagel salesman! That is simply not an appropriate shidduch for the daughter of the Rav of the town.
The Baal Hatanya was taken aback by that comment and responded: “You asked me what I learned from the Mezritcha Maggid. One thing I learned from him is what a Yid is, and that a Yid is way bigger than any job he holds or any other surface-level characterization that he has. I learned from the Maggid to never talk about another Yid in such a belittling way!”
These words penetrated deeply into the soul of this Rav, and from that moment on he became a chassid of the Mezritcha Maggid himself. And of course, it goes without saying that his daughter married that Yid’s son and built a happy and holy Jewish home together.
Take It To Go!:
We learn from the Baal Hatanya and the Mezritcha Maggid, to never judge a Jew by its cover! A Yid is way deeper and holier than the job or ‘status’ that he holds.
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 21.