“Baruch, listen closely. Although you will see lots of gedolim and tzadikim, and things may look very exciting, you have to control yourself.” “What do you mean?”
“Well for one thing, you cannot touch anything. Do you understand? Meaning, if you bump into someone, fine. But you can’t purposefully move anything in the past. If you do, things can go very wrong.” “But, I noticed, people can’t even see me! Can I actually move anything?” “Ah, so you’ve noticed. Yes you’re absolutely right. But if you ever feel like you really want to touch something, and you try to… I’d rather not say what could happen.” Baruch looked worried. “Baruch don’t worry, I just had to tell you before we continue, so we don’t run into any trouble, okay?” Baruch nodded. “Ok well enough of that! Ready for another adventure?” Mr. Shpeiter didn’t exactly wait for Baruch to respond. “To the mailbox!” Baruch threw on his coat and ran out the door.
Baruch gingerly pressed the button. The next thing he knew he was spinning through the time tunnel. Color and light swirled around him.
Baruch landed outside what looked like a pub. He saw a group of young chassidim excitedly headed his way. They were whispering excitedly to each other. “This is it!” “The bartender.” “Yes, their brother!” “I wonder if he looks like either tzadik?” “He can’t know why we’re here. But we will observe him and see if he is like his brother Reb Elimelech and Reb Zusha. Quiet chevra, let’s go!”
The brother of Reb Elimelech and Reb Zusha? This Baruch had to see. The group entered the bar and ordered drinks and food. The bartender, apparently the brother of the two famous tzadikim, served them. Throughout the night they kept ordering and watching – trying to see what was special about this Yid. The group was very disappointed. “He seems just ordinary to me. Nothing special at all,” said one boy. The others seemed to agree, and they got up to leave. They approached the counter to pay their bill and saw the bartender crying. “Reb Yid, why are you crying? What’s wrong?”
The bartender tried to shrug off their question. He was holding a notepad that was drenched in tears. “Please Reb Yid, maybe we can help you,” said another boy. The bartender replied, “I don’t think you can help me. This is mine alone. I am just a simple Jew. I don’t know much Torah. Throughout the day, I record any aveiros I’ve done in this notebook. When the day is done, I don’t know what else to do but cry to Hashem over my aveiros. I cry until the ink is rubbed off the paper. When the ink is erased, I know my aveiros have been erased as well. “ The boys stood shocked. Baruch was shocked as well. Was there really such a thing as a simple Yid? Baruch was suddenly very thirsty. He reached out to take a glass of water from the counter – but stopped himself. He remembered the warning and it was a good thing too! Baruch started to spin…
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 22.