Chapter 50: The Landowner's Invitation to Baruch to His Estate

00:02 We continue the story of young Baruch’s life. He is now seventeen years old and works for Rabbi Avraham the gardener in the orchard. As we know, the orchard belongs to the landowner, who leased it to Rabbi Avraham and his partner, Azriel, and Baruch works for them. The landowner and his family have taken a liking to Baruch. One evening, when Baruch was alone in the orchard, the door of his tent—or hut—suddenly opened. To his surprise, the landowner’s son stood before him. The young man opened with a cheerful “Good evening!” and explained that his father had sent him to invite Baruch to their home for the evening. As he put it, the whole family felt for him in his loneliness and wanted to relieve it. Baruch understood that nothing good would come of this and tried to get out of it. “I’m responsible for guarding the orchard,” he said, “and I can’t leave it unattended.” The landowner’s son left. Baruch thought that was the end of it, but a short time later he returned with two burly men and their large guard dogs. “I brought them to guard the orchard while you spend the evening with us,” he said. Baruch found himself in a difficult position. At first he thought of declining the kind invitation, but then he realized that this might anger the landowner, who would take out his fury on the Jews of Liozna. Ahavas Yisroel and a sense of responsibility came before everything else for Baruch, so he decided that, much as he regretted it, he had to accept the invitation. He was not afraid to decline for his own sake, even at the cost of the landowner’s anger, but he did not want to cause harm to others, even if avoiding it meant doing something against his wishes. In his heart, though, he resolved to show no sign of fear or submission during the visit, and to uphold Jewish dignity in the spirit of the Torah. At the landowner’s estate, Baruch was received with great friendliness, much to his displeasure. As soon as he entered the house, Baruch showed his strength of spirit by not removing

03:03 his hat. In fluent Polish, he explained his refusal to go bareheaded on the basis of the verse, “Let every soul praise Hashem.” Our Sages interpreted this to mean that a Jew must praise Him with every breath. Since at every moment one must feel that one stands before Hashem and praises Him for every breath, how could one remain bareheaded for even a moment? Baruch’s firmness and resolve, together with his clear explanation, made a deep impression on the landowner and his family. It may have been the first time in his life that the landowner had heard a Jew speak with such conviction and firmness. Neither he nor his family was accustomed to seeing Jews as anything other than submissive, trembling people. They were therefore astonished to see such strength and courage in a simple Jewish young man who worked as an orchard guard. The landowner came to respect Baruch so much that he put on his own hat. Baruch began speaking about the importance of Jewish customs. In the course of the conversation, he hinted at the injustice of interfering with another person’s religious practices. He drew frequently on verses and teachings of our Sages, translating them into Polish and explaining them in a captivating way, to the great admiration of his listeners. As the conversation continued, Baruch described two opposing worlds: the world of materialism, the non-Jewish world, and the world of spirituality, the Jewish world. The landowner sat and drank in Baruch’s words, rich in substance and drawing on a broad range of knowledge. His children, however, were not pleased with the direction the visit had taken. They said that such subjects were suited to a separate discussion with the priest present, and announced that the next day they would come to the orchard on their own and talk with Baruch about lighter matters. Baruch was stunned. He saw the danger in the growing friendship on the part of the landowner’s family and decided to put an end to it.

05:50 His mind raced as he tried to devise a way to prevent the young people’s expected visit. When the landowner expressed regret that he had met Baruch only now, at the end of the summer, Baruch was glad that summer was nearly over. Meanwhile, Baruch was invited into the dining room for a meal prepared from foods he was permitted to eat. Despite his hunger, Baruch decided not to taste anything, solely to show his resolve and avoid deepening the friendship. He prepared an explanation, but apparently did not need to give it: at that moment, the air was pierced by a little child’s terrible scream. The youngest of the landowner’s children had been scalded by boiling water. An uproar broke out in the house, and everyone immediately turned to care for the child. Baruch remained in the house for a while, but then felt it would be best to leave. He returned to the orchard, and the two guards and their dogs went back to the estate. Baruch did not sleep that night. He was worried about the following evening, when the landowner’s children were due to visit him. He began reciting Tehillim. All night long, the sound of weeping as he recited its verses could be heard from the orchard guard’s tent and hut. The next day, Rabbi Avraham, Rabbi Azriel, and the other workers arrived at the orchard as usual. Baruch, of course, went back to work. News came from the estate that the landowner’s child had died. This pained Baruch, though he did not share his feelings with anyone. As evening approached, Baruch felt uneasy and worried about the expected visit from the landowner’s children. He understood that he would not be able to speak with them about serious matters and influence them for the good as he had done with the landowner himself. There was no chance of any good coming from the visit, so he decided to have a serious talk with Avraham. He told Avraham everything that had happened and said he had concluded that he must not spend the night in the orchard. Avraham doubted whether

08:48 the landowner’s children would go ahead with their planned visit after the tragedy that had befallen them. But Baruch stood firm. Avraham agreed to his request, and that evening he and his partner Azriel came to guard the orchard. Avraham explained to his partner that Baruch was not feeling well and could not stand guard that evening. That night, Avraham saw that Baruch’s fears had been justified. Both Noach and the landowner’s daughter suddenly arrived at the guard’s hut. When they discovered that Baruch was not there, they were, of course, bitterly disappointed and left as they had come. When the work in the orchard came to an end, Baruch received his wages from the partners and returned to the beis midrash to devote himself to Torah and the service of Hashem. What he had earned was enough to support him for a long time, since his needs were extremely modest. Mondays and Thursdays were fast days for him. On the other weekdays, too, he made do with meager bread and a little water, which were enough to sustain him. The only day of the week on which he allowed himself a proper meal was Shabbos. He devoted all his time to Torah and the service of Hashem. Baruch also set aside some of his study time for works of mussar that guided him in life. The long winter nights after the festivals enabled him to preserve his image as a simple young man who knew little of books: he would sit alone in the beis midrash through the night, studying Torah with all the fervor of his soul. Somehow, he also managed to go about his day without drawing attention to himself. But one night, while he was absorbed in a difficult topic, Rabbi Avraham, his employer from the summer, suddenly appeared before him. Avraham said, “You should know that I’ve been watching you all this time. Until now, I didn’t want to tell you that I knew your secret. More than once, I heard you studying from my hiding place in the orchard. I haven’t told anyone, and I don’t intend to in the future. But I’ve come to ask that the two of us set a time to study Shulchan Aruch together every day

11:32 “Choshen Mishpat, Baruch.” Baruch struggled with the decision. He did not know whether to accept the offer and thereby admit that he was a scholar. He remained silent, unable to decide what to tell Avraham. Avraham the gardener noticed Baruch’s hesitation, sat down beside him, and began outlining a difficult passage in the Talmud. As he spoke, he shared remarkable Torah insights, especially those of his teacher, Rabbi Avraham Zev of Byashinkovitz[unclear], at whose yeshiva Avraham had once studied. Baruch listened in amazement. Avraham was a great scholar in his own right, but above all, he had much to pass on in the name of his teacher, who was renowned for his genius. Avraham then began discussing the laws of piggul, nosar, and tumah in a way that greatly impressed Baruch. Until then, Baruch had devoted himself especially to studying Seder Nezikin, but from the way Avraham spoke, he saw that Avraham could be a suitable teacher for him, and that through him he could become acquainted with the teachings of Avraham’s teacher, Rabbi Avraham Zev. As Avraham spoke words of Torah, his face grew animated and shone with a distinctive light. Baruch remembered that his late father’s face had shone in much the same way when he shared words of Torah with him. This immediately made Baruch feel close to Reb Avraham, so he saw no reason to hide anything from him—especially since Reb Avraham had promised to keep his secret.