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sort of palm would relate a well-known
story that happened with the Sadiq of
Jerusalem. It's a very powerful story
that brings out this point. Rabbi Aryeh
Levin
Rabbi Aryeh Levin is remembered for his
love of every Jew.
And he was the rabbi of the of the
prisoners under the British mandate
in Palestine. I think this is right
before the founding of Eretz Israel of
the state of Israel.
And one time he was attending a Levaya.
There was a Levaya that he went to.
Somebody a close friend of of his or
somebody that he knew. Whatever it was
and it was by the Levaya and he saw by
the Levaya there was a close friend of
the person who was nifter left in the
middle of the Levaya he left. And he
went to a flower shop and he and he and
he bought himself a large flower pot.
And he couldn't believe his eyes. Rabbi
Levin he he said I don't understand is
this man's heart made of stone? Like
you're in the middle of the Levaya. This
is a good friend of yours. You're here
it's it's right smack in the middle
you're leaving to run to a store to buy
a flower pot? Like I just don't
understand.
This is your kindness to your friend.
Like the possuk says.
So he was troubled by this but instead
of judging and this and that and all
these different things and and forever
having that thing like okay you are
going to be labeled as that person he
went over to him he said I have to go
over to him. And he was stunned by what
the person said.
He said I I just want to know
I just want to know like this is your
friend how could you know? In a loving
way obviously.
And he said back like this. He said I
know that what I did looked very
strange.
But unfortunately there's another very
good friend of mine
who is a patient in another hospital
for some diseases and and stuff that
there's different government regulations
that there has to avoid
you know contamination and stuff
everything has to be burned. I think it
was maybe leprosy or something.
But and then maybe in a leper's
hospital.
But the hospital required that my my
friend who was just nifter my other
friend everything has to be burned.
Everything all the belongings everything
has to be burned because of
contamination and I begged them please
don't burn the tfillin. He has tfillin
there and you cannot burn them. And they
said, "We're going to wait a little bit
of time. If you bring a big flower pot
with earth in it, then we'll bury it
instead of burning it. But you have to
be back If you're not back in time,
we're burning it. We can't It's
dangerous. There's disease and
everything."
And I was in such a great rush to get to
the hospital with a flower pot before
they burn the tfillin that I I had to
meet leave in the middle of the levaya.
I couldn't I couldn't do it. Now, I know
it looks strange, but but don't judge me
because
it's coming from a good place. I just
want to make sure that the tfillin is
saved and this and that whatever. And
Rabbi Yaakov Levine was speechless
because he he he said that this is this
is the the behavior of somebody who's
who's cold, a heartless person. Somebody
doesn't you know like my levaya thinking
about your flowers.
And in reality, this person was a
tzaddik.
Now, this is something that comes up all
the time. Maybe not as as extreme as in
this case, perhaps, but there are so
many times in life that we jump to
conclusions.
And we rebuke.
We jump to conclusions and we rebuke
whether maybe we're counselors, maybe
we're teachers, maybe we're a rebbe,
maybe we're a rav.
It happens all the time. Sometimes you
jump on somebody and you don't even know
the story. I remember there was a
