Rav Chaim Berlin was once traveling and found himself in a remote village in Russia for Yom Kippur, where there was only one small shul. He went to daven on Yom Kippur night but was surprised to find that no one else was there. On Yom Kippur morning, the same thing happened. Finally, in the afternoon, a group of men walked into the shul looking disheveled and dirty, covered in mud.
Rav Chaim witnessed a tefillah filled with sincerity, emotion, and heartfelt connection that he had rarely seen before. These simple villagers poured out their hearts to Hashem, crying and pleading with incredible devotion.
After davening, Rav Chaim said Shalom Aleichem to the men, and they explained their unusual Yom Kippur schedule. “Yesterday afternoon, as we were preparing for Yom Tov, a group of Russian soldiers arrived. They forced us to leave our homes and perform all sorts of hard labor against our will. We begged them to allow us to prepare for Yom Kippur, but they ignored our pleas and forced us to continue working. We spent the first half of Yom Kippur performing hard labor against our will. Only when they finally released us did we return as quickly as we could. We came straight here – to shul – because there was nowhere else we wanted to be.”
Rav Chaim was blown away by what he heard. He then addressed the men and shared the following thought:
There was once a dispute between two people over the ownership of a chicken. They went to Beis Din, and the judges instructed them to untie the chicken’s legs and see where it naturally walked. Once freed, the chicken walked toward one person’s home, and Beis Din ruled that this revealed its true owner.
“Ribono Shel Olam,” Rav Chaim cried out, “look at the incredible children You have! These Yidden’s ‘feet were tied,’ and they had no choice but to work in the fields. But the moment they were free, where did they go? They didn’t go home to rest or recover. They went straight ‘home’ – to You – to daven.”
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 99.
