By Dovid Zaklikowski, Hasidic Archives
The festival of Sukkos was approaching, but not one person in the town of Berdychiv had an esrog. Even in a good year, the citrus fruits were difficult to find in Eastern Europe; often a whole town would perform the mitzvah of the “four species” using just one. This was a bad year, and on the eve of the holiday, it was beginning to look like they might not be able to perform the mitzvah at all.
As a last resort, the famed Chassidic leader, Rabbi Levi Yitzchok (the Berditchever Rebbe), sent a group of Jews out to the crossroads near the town in the hope that they might waylay a traveler with an esrog who would be willing to spend the holiday with them.
There, indeed, they met a man traveling home by coach with his prized citron. He sympathized with their plight, but refused to stay. He had not been home for a long time and was looking forward to spending the festival with his family. The locals pleaded with him to remain with them for just a few more minutes and sent an urgent message to summon Rabbi Levi Yitzchok.
The rabbi arrived and added his entreaties to those of the townspeople. Still, the man refused. Just before his carriage began to move, Rabbi Levi Yitzchok offered him a deal: If he would remain in the town for Sukkos, when he left this world, he would share Rabbi Levi Yitzchok’s own chamber in Heaven.
The man accepted the offer and agreed to stay. The people returned to their holiday preparations with new joy. They would be able to fulfill the cherished mitzvah after all! In the commotion, the guest did not notice the rabbi pulling aside his congregants, one by one, for a brief conversation.
After prayer services that evening, the guest walked to the home of the family that was hosting him for the evening meal in the sukkah. But when he arrived, they told him that he could not eat with them. Bewildered, he knocked at the house next door, but they, too, refused him entrance. He begged for an explanation. After everything he had done for them, how could they refuse him the simple hospitality of a holiday meal?
The people directed him to Rabbi Levi Yitzchok. The guest walked to his house, arriving just as the rabbi was about to begin his own meal. Now frustrated and hungry, the man complained bitterly about the rude treatment he had received. Would the rabbi be willing to host him? No, Rabbi Levi Yitzchok replied, he would not be permitted in any sukkah in the town. “Unless…”
“Unless what?”
If he would forfeit his share of their deal, he would be welcome to join them, then and there, for the meal, Rabbi Levi Yitzchok said.
Seeing that the rabbi had outwitted him, the man agreed.
The next day, Rabbi Levi Yitzchok invited the man back into his sukkah and explained the reason for his strange behavior. “When I first promised you a share of my spiritual reward, you were not worthy to receive it, it would be a gift. Only by giving it up for a chance to observe the holiday properly in this world could you prove yourself worthy of such a place in the World to Come.”
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