Vayakhel: 5782 - "No mishap befalls the righteous, not even their animal." Rabbi Shimon Zonnenfeld of Nachlah with a brief insight on the Daf Yomi, in Tractate Chagigah, at the conclusion of the daf shiur…

00:00 Speaker 1 Rabbi Simcha Gorodetsky, Mordechai Gorodetsky’s father, related that this happened during the hardest period under the Communists. Outside, armed gangs were running wild as the Whites and the Reds fought during the revolution. They were sitting in the yeshiva, and Reb Itche der Masmid was there. Reb Itche was very particular about mitzvos. For example, he was careful not to eat bread baked by a non-Jew. There was one woman who baked bread, and he would eat only her bread. He was hungry, so he went over to Rabbi Simcha and asked him to bring him a piece of bread. But going outside at night was life-threatening. The rosh yeshiva there, Rabbi Isser Tsha’s[?], noticed Reb Itche asking Rabbi Simcha for something. Afterward he went over to Rabbi Simcha and asked, “What did he ask you for?” Rabbi Simcha told him, “He asked me to go and bring him a piece of bread.” The rosh yeshiva said, “Absolutely not. I forbid you to go out. It’s life-threatening.” About half an hour later, Reb Itche came over to Rabbi Simcha again and said, “I asked you to bring me a piece of bread.” Simcha understood that going out was dangerous. He wanted to bring him the bread but didn’t know what to do. The rosh yeshiva came over again and told him, “I won’t allow it. You may not go out; it’s life-threatening.” But Reb Itche had asked him for bread. What were they to do? So they agreed that Simcha would step outside, go upstairs to the women’s section, stay there for a while, and then bring him a piece of bread—not bread from that woman, but a piece they would give him. And that’s what he did.

01:59 Speaker 1 He went out, and after half an hour he came back, and they gave him the bread. Reb Itche asked him, “Is this bread from that woman?” He said, “Yes.” Reb Itche went to wash his hands. Now, washing his hands took him a long time, because he was very particular that there be no dirt under his fingernails. It took a very long time. He came over again and asked, “But is this bread from that woman?” He asked several times to make sure, and Simcha told him, “Yes, yes, it’s bread from that woman.” Then Reb Itche finished washing his hands, came to take the bread, and began to make the bracha. He put the bread aside and fainted.

02:34 Speaker 2 Who did?

02:35 Speaker 1 He fainted. He sensed it. Hakadosh Boruch Hu does not allow the righteous to stumble. Because he was so particular, even though he had asked several times whether it was the bread he had requested, he collapsed and fainted.

02:47 Speaker 2 That was Reb Itche der Masmid.

02:49 Speaker 1 Reb Itche der Masmid.