Chapter 52: Baruch the Young One in the Home of Eliezer Reuven

00:02 Baruch was in the town of Dubomysl[?], working for Eliezer Reuven the blacksmith and taking an interest in the town’s various Jews. And we continue with the story. The way Eliezer Reuven the blacksmith taught Zevulun Binyamin made a deep impression on Baruch. It became etched in his soul as he saw the profound beauty of the Jewish soul: a simple Jew doing everything he could to pass on the little he knew to someone who knew even less. In this, Baruch saw the strength that sustains Judaism. Fathers teach their sons, one Jew teaches another, and no one is left out. Baruch also took an interest in Zevulun Binyamin’s life story. What he could not learn from Zevulun Binyamin himself, he learned from Eliezer Reuven. Zevulun Binyamin was born and raised in a village among non-Jews. His father worked at the lowliest and hardest trades, including horse trading. In the process, his father acquired knowledge and experience of animals and their illnesses, and peasants and landowners would call on him to cure their sick animals. Zevulun Binyamin himself had not learned even a single letter by the time he reached bar mitzvah age. When his father died, he could not even say Kaddish. At the same time, Zevulun inherited his father’s ability to heal sick animals and horses. When he married, he settled at the edge of town and became Eliezer Reuven’s neighbor. Eliezer Reuven began drawing him closer to Judaism and awakened in him a longing to live as a Jew should. Through Eliezer Reuven’s influence, Zevulun Binyamin became an observant Jew, though he was deeply unlearned. On Shabbos and Yom Tov, he would stand in the beis midrash with his tallis over his head and shed tears. This was after he had learned to read from a teacher he had hired for himself. Before then, he would daven at home with that teacher’s help. Eliezer Reuven the blacksmith took pride in this student of his, for it was only thanks to the blacksmith that Zevulun Binyamin returned to the fold of

03:17 the Jewish people. Otherwise, Zevulun Binyamin would have remained among non-Jews, or fallen in with Jews who would have mocked him and his ignorance and driven him away from Judaism. But Eliezer Reuven won Zevulun Binyamin’s heart with love and treated him like a cherished son. Zevulun Binyamin, for his part, saw Eliezer Reuven as both a teacher and a friend. Zevulun Binyamin gave generously to tzedakah and showed affection and respect for Torah scholars. He and his wife commissioned Torah scrolls and had them brought into the shul. They also took three orphaned children into their home to raise them. He entrusted his own children to the best teachers, and they did indeed grow up to be Torah scholars. Baruch, who had been following all this, continued as Eliezer Reuven’s assistant. During that time, Baruch came to see Eliezer Reuven not only as his employer but, in a certain sense, as a guide. He learned a great deal from the simple blacksmith. Winter passed, and Pesach drew near. Eliezer Reuven invited Baruch to spend the holiday at his table. He told him, “Look, all year you managed without eating in my home, but on Pesach that’s difficult. So you’re invited to have the Pesach meal at my house.” Baruch agreed on condition that Eliezer Reuven accept payment for the meal, but the blacksmith firmly refused. “How could I take money from a poor young man?” Baruch explained, though, that he made it a principle to live only from the work of his own hands. He took care to explain this without giving the impression that he was anything more than a simple person. Still, Eliezer Reuven could see that Baruch was no ignoramus, and the resolve in Baruch’s words persuaded him to agree. Baruch now had a chance to see how the simple blacksmith prepared for Pesach. It made a deep impression on him. Once again, Baruch saw that even a simple Jew

06:00 could be a warmhearted Jew. Three days before Pesach, Eliezer Reuven set aside his work at the forge and devoted himself to preparing the house for the holiday. Non-Jews who came to the workshop to order repairs and horseshoes were turned away, even though the work could have brought in considerable sums. Eliezer Reuven took the trouble to explain that the holiday was approaching and he could not serve them just then. Watching all this, Baruch felt a growing respect for this craftsman, who gave up perfectly legitimate earnings even though his financial situation was far from comfortable. But now Eliezer Reuven put everything aside for a task he considered most urgent: making sure the house was properly prepared and arranged for Pesach. In these holiday preparations, Eliezer Reuven did not want to rely on anyone else. He preferred to handle everything himself. He took all the household utensils outside, washed and scrubbed them, aired out and dusted the house itself, thoroughly scraped and cleaned the oven bricks, removed them and put new bricks in their place. Not a corner of the house was left without cleaning, scrubbing or koshering, as needed. On the eve of the holiday, Eliezer Reuven went to the bathhouse. When he returned, he put on his holiday clothes and went to shul. When he came back with Baruch for the Seder, the house was transformed. The holiday shone from every corner. Holiness could be felt in the air. Eliezer Reuven, his wife, his daughters and his only son, who was Baruch’s age, all looked completely different. The extra Shabbos and Yom Tov soul shone from their eyes. During the reading of the Haggadah, Baruch was honored with explaining it to the family. He gladly did so, since, as is known, no special scholarship is needed to explain the Haggadah. Everyone around the table sat spellbound and drank in Baruch’s words. Tears streamed from Eliezer Reuven’s eyes. It was unclear whether they were tears of joy over the holiday or tears because his own son

08:41 was then in such a state that he barely knew a parsha in Chumash. Eliezer Reuven had entrusted his son to a good teacher, at considerable expense. But sadly, his son had limited aptitude, and Eliezer Reuven saw little benefit from his studies. Eliezer Reuven was deeply pained, because he had wanted a scholarly son. But what could he do? Baruch never forgot that Pesach. A year later, as Pesach approached, he appeared again at Eliezer Reuven’s home. By then Baruch was living elsewhere, but he traveled especially to Dubomysl[?] to celebrate Pesach with Eliezer Reuven. Of course, that time too, he did not come for free. Eliezer Reuven, knowing Baruch’s practice, accepted payment for the meal without arguing. Baruch felt at home in Eliezer Reuven’s house. He absorbed its simple Jewish sincerity and warmhearted fear of Heaven. He never forgot the honesty... and the faithfulness of this simple blacksmith. And so, in light of all this, it is no wonder that now, in Liozna, after Rabbi Avraham the gardener—the first to discover Baruch’s scholarship—invited him to celebrate Pesach at his home, Baruch decided once again to spend Pesach in Dubomysl[?], at Eliezer Reuven’s house. As soon as he arrived in Dubomysl[?], Baruch made his way to the forge. Eliezer Reuven stood by the anvil, wearing a leather apron and holding a hammer. His son Shmuel Nachum held a piece of red-hot metal on the anvil with tongs, and the blacksmith struck it with all his might. As in the past, he recited Tehillim by heart as he worked. The moment Baruch appeared in the workshop, Eliezer Reuven put down his hammer and exclaimed, “Look, Shmuel Nachum, what a dear guest has arrived!” The blacksmith hurried to wash his hands and gave Baruch a warm, hearty “Shalom aleichem.” At once he opened his heart to Baruch, speaking to him as to a son, and said,

11:24 “Boruch Hashem, my daughters give me a great deal of nachas. I married them to Torah scholars and built a home for them where they sit and study Torah. It’s only from Shmuel Nachum that I have no nachas. I hoped he would grow up to be a scholar, but apparently he doesn’t have the aptitude.” Eliezer Reuven told Baruch how he had tried every means to help Shmuel Nachum succeed in his studies. He had consulted the town rabbi, who told him it would be better for Shmuel Nachum to become a craftsman. “At first,” he told Baruch, “I didn’t want that, but I had no choice. I brought Shmuel Nachum into my own forge, which is certainly better than apprenticing him to a stranger.” Baruch comforted Eliezer Reuven and told him that working with one’s hands was not in any way inferior. After all, a craftsman too could be a G-d-fearing Jew, devoted to mitzvos and possessed of good character traits—and Eliezer Reuven himself was living proof. Even so, Eliezer Reuven’s love of Torah was very great. He would have been far happier if his son had grown up to be a Torah scholar.