The great Tzaddik, Reb Menachem Nachum of Shtefinesht, had a chossid who had been waiting to be blessed with a child for many years. He davened and gave his brocha, and within a year, the couple was blessed with a baby boy. They wanted to bring the baby to the Rebbe to get a brocha, but it was freezing cold outside. After much thought they decided to cover the baby in lots of blankets and put him in a closed part of the wagon and travel to the Rebbe.
When they got to an inn, they opened the carriage to check on their baby, and to their utmost horror the baby was gone! They figured he must have fallen out when the carriage turned a corner. They looked back at the road they had traveled – a dark, windy trail, through a forest filled with dangerous animals. They knew the odds of finding their beloved baby alive were slim, but they had to try.
With little hope, they began backtracking. After some time, they saw two wolves hovering over their little baby! Of course, they feared the worst, but as they got closer, they realized the wolves weren’t harming their child – they were breathing directly over him to keep him warm! When the wolves saw them coming, they promptly walked away. The parents quickly picked up the warm baby and continued on their way to the Rebbe.
As they walked into the Rebbe’s room, the Rebbe asked them, “nu, what did you think of the wolves I sent!?”
The pasuk tells us in this week’s parsha (Breishis 9:2) “u’mora’achem v’chit’chem yih’yeh al kol chayas ha’aretz, your fear and dread will be on all the animals of the earth.” Hashem made it that, by nature, animals are afraid of people. But for some tzadikim, not only were the animals afraid of them, they would even obey their commands!
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 102.
