Metzora: 5782 - Rabbi Shimon Zonnenfeld with a short, inspiring story about "Maos Chitin," at the conclusion of the Daf Yomi shiur of Rabbi Betzalel Mizrachi of Nachlah. Watch

00:00 Speaker 1 Rabbi Sonnenfeld, please.

00:03 Speaker 2 One thing, and another on the same subject. The first laws in the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, in the laws of Pesach, deal with kimcha d’Pischa—the obligation to provide people with what they need for Pesach. There are many details to it. From Purim onward, the Rebbe would mention kimcha d’Pischa at every farbrengen: that no Jew should lack Pesach necessities throughout the days of Pesach. Not just money, not just—seeing to the needs of every single Jew. They also tell a story about one of the rebbes of Poland. One day he left home with his attendant and went to the house of a wealthy man in town. The man opened the door, saw the Rebbe, and was very surprised. He welcomed him respectfully. The Rebbe came in and sat down at the table, but he didn’t say a word. After a few minutes, he got up to leave. The wealthy man was puzzled. The Rebbe had sat there for a few minutes without saying anything, and now he was leaving. So he asked him what this was about. The Rebbe said, “Listen, our Sages say that just as it is a mitzvah to say something that will be heard, it is a mitzvah not to say something that will not be heard. If I sit in my house and you sit in yours, I haven’t fulfilled that mitzvah. If I come to you and don’t speak, then I’ve fulfilled it.” The wealthy man said to the Rebbe, “But how does the Rebbe know it won’t be heard? Maybe it will be?” The Rebbe said, “No, it won’t be heard.” Still, the wealthy man looked at him and said, “How does the Rebbe know?”

01:59 Speaker 1 He looked at him.

02:00 Speaker 2 The Rebbe said to him, “I’ll tell you what this is about. There is a widow who owes money to the bank, and they want to take her house. I wanted you to arrange for her debt to be forgiven.” The man began to explain. He was the bank manager, and he started saying, “It’s not in my hands, and—” The Rebbe said, “You see? I told you it was something that wouldn’t be heard.” And he got up and left. But his words entered that wealthy man’s heart, and he arranged matters so they would not take her house and she would have what she needed.

02:36 Speaker 1 Reward, reward.