52. The Power Of Speaking The Truth

00:15 My friends, you remember last time I told you a story about Reb Avraham Abba Shaul of Frankfurt and how humble he was, and what a great tzaddik he was. And the Baal Shem Tov said about him that he had ruach hakodesh and he knew what's going on in the heavens. Well, I'm gonna show you another amazing thing about this Reb Avraham Abba Shaul. Reb Avraham Abba Shaul, as I said, was a famous rav in Frankfurt. Now, Reb Avraham Abba Shaul, whenever somebody invited him to come to a bris and be a sandek, he always accepted, because he had a big desire to do mitzvahs and to be part of a mitzvah. And mitzvah like a bris, he wanted to be so much part of it. So if somebody said, "Reb Avraham Abba Shaul, we would like you to come to my town, to my village, and be the sandek," he would always agree to go. And he had a wagon driver, a simple Jew, very simple Jew, and he would always take him wherever he needed to go. So once Reb Avraham Abba Shaul was invited to come to a village where a, a man was have-- had a baby boy, man and a woman, a husband and wife, they had a baby boy, and they wanted to make a bris. So they wanted-- they sent a special invitation to Reb Avraham Abba Shaul that he should come and be the sandek. Reb Abba Shaul agreed, and they decided, uh, Sunday morning, it was Sunday

01:51 was the bris. He's gonna leave early in the morning. It took a few hours to travel there. So he told his wagon driver, a Yid, a simple Jew, that he should take him to that town. On the way, when they were traveling for a couple of hours, the wagon driver stopped the wagon and the horses and turned around to Reb Avraham Abba Shaul and said to him, "You know, this-- we're going through now a city which is very bad. This city, the people that live in that city, they hate Jews. They're very bad. They're anti-Semitic. They hate Jews. Many times Jews have tried to travel through the city, and people have hurt them and threw rocks at them, and sometimes even people were killed. It, it's a very bad place, so I think we should go around the city. We shouldn't go through the city. We have to go to the other side of the city and continue on our journey all the way to the next town, but I don't wanna go through the city because it's too dangerous." Reb Avraham Abba Shaul said to him, "And if you go around and around the city, how long-- how much longer will the trip be? I mean, we'll have to travel much longer then. It'll take a lot more time to travel." He said, "Yeah, it'll take us about another hour to travel." He said, "Well, it's a shame with the horses. They, they're so tired. I don't want to have to travel and run

03:21 so much. You know what? Stay here. Don't go anywhere. We won't go into the city now, but in ten minutes from now, there probably will be a fire in the city." And in those days when there was a fire in the city, everybody-- there wasn't a fire department. Everybody had to go and get water from the well and put out the fire, everybody in the city. "So there'll be a big fire in the city," that's what Reb Avraham Abba Shaul tells the wagon driver. "I'm telling you, in ten minutes from now, there'll be-- you'll hear like ringing bells. They have special bells that would make a sound in the whole city, and everybody knew there was a fire, and everybody came and ran and took their buckets and brought water and, and, and together they would put out the fire." But it took a long time usually. So Reb Avraham said, "There'll be a big fire, and everybody will run to put out the fire, so they will be very busy putting out the fire. So then we'll-- you'll whip the horses, and we'll go quickly through the city. Nobody will notice us because they'll be busy with the fire, and then we'll be able to go straight through to the city to the other side and keep traveling to the town we need to go to." "But I don't want you to go around and around as we'll have to drive, we have to travel an extra hour, and the horses are so tired.

04:34 They have to run and run and run an extra hour. Nah, it's not, it's not, it's not-- No, let's not do that." "Don't worry. In ten minutes you'll see. Everything will be fine." The wagon driver hears Reb Avraham Abba Shaul say this, and he's like very puzzled. How does he know there's gonna be a fire? What, is he gonna make the fire? Of course not. Reb Avraham Abba Shaul couldn't make the fire. What, is he gonna go into town and set everything on fire? They'll, they'll, they'll, they'll kill him for setting things on fire. "No, no, no. We're staying here, and there'll be-- it'll happen in t- in ten minutes." That's very strange. How does he know that? And you know what was even more surprising? It exactly happened the way he said. Ten minutes later, suddenly all the bells in the city were ringing and ringing and ringing. Everybody was running, and there was screaming, "Oh please, there's a fire. There's a fire. Come put out the fire." And people, everybody, man, woman, and child, everybody was grabbing buckets and little buckets and big buckets and running over to the, um, running over to, to the fire and put out the fire. And that's what Reb Avraham Abba Shaul said to him, "Hey, take-- whip the horses now. Let's go quickly. We'll go inside the city. They won't notice us because they'll be, be too busy, and we'll go through the city this way, and everything will be fine." And that's exactly what happened.

05:54 They went through the city, and they traveled, and they made it to the other side And now after they had left the city and they were far away from the city, the wagon driver decides to stop the wagon again. And now he turns around to Reb Avraham Abba Shalom and says, "Rebbe, I hope you don't mind that I'm asking you this question, but this, what you just did, is very, very strange. How did you know there's gonna be a fire in exactly 10 minutes? Who told you that?" Well, this simple man didn't know about Ruach Hakodesh or anything, so he was, like, wondering. And well, Reb Avraham Abba Shalom said to him, "Listen, there's nothing special here. Even you can know that. You can do the same thing." He said, "Me? Well, I should know that there's gonna be a fire in 10 minutes? How would I know that?" He says, "Well, I'll tell you how. You see, I have a little secret. I have a little secret that I know, and if I tell you the secret, you can do the same thing, and you'll be able to predict and know in advance whether there's gonna be a fire or not, or anything else." He said, "You see, it says in the Torah that a person needs to always say the truth, right?" In other words, if something happened, you don't-- you never say a lie. "Oh, I saw this, and this, and this, and it didn't happen." Don't, don't say that. That's a

07:25 lie. But more than that, the Torah says if you promise you're gonna do something, you have to make sure that what you promise is true, and you're gonna make it. You're gonna do it. You make a neder, right? If you make a neder, you have to keep your neder. It's a pasuk in the Torah. The Torah says, "Lo yachal d'varo." A person who makes a promise should not go back on his word. You need to keep it. "Kol hayotze mippiv," anything which comes out of a person's mouth, "ya'aseh," he shall do it. If you promise to do something, you have to do it. So says Reb Avraham Abba Shalom to this wagon driver, "You know, Hashem promises. There's a promise Hashem makes to anybody who keeps their word. They never say a lie, never say a lie about what happened, and they never say a lie about what they're going to do. If they say they're going to do something, they are doing it. So you know what happens? Hashem makes sure if a person never lies, he always makes sure that what he's saying is true, and Hashem makes sure that if a person wants something to happen, he says, 'Hashem, make it happen,' Hashem makes it happen for him." Why? Because Hashem says, "This person never said something which is not true. He never said something that he's going to do that he didn't do. He always does everything he says. So I'll also do what he says." If he says, "Hashem, I

08:46 want you to do this," it's-- Reb Avraham Abba Shalom says, "I wanted Hashem to make a fire because I knew that then we'll be able to travel through. So I said there'll be a fire in 10 minutes, and Hashem made it that way." So Reb Avraham Abba Shalom said to this wagon driver, "You know, if you do the same as me, you never lie, and everything you say you're gonna do, you promise to do it, you do it exactly the way you said, you also will be able to do this." Now, this man was like, "Wow, this is amazing." Now, there's a Sefer called Noam Elimelech by the famous Tzadikk of Elimelech of Lizhensk. He says this is what the pasuk means. "Lo yachal d'varo," don't go back on your word. Don't make your word, uh, meaningless. You know, if you say something, make sure you do it. "Kol hayotze mippiv," anything which comes out of your p- your mouth, "ya'aseh," Hashem will make. This is already a promise. Hashem is saying that if you never say a lie and you keep everything you say you're gonna do, Hashem will make sure that when you say something should happen, Hashem will make it happen. And that was the secret Reb Avraham Abba Shalom shared with this man. So remember, keeping your word always honest and truth is great, great, great thing. And Hashem gives you the reward that when you say something should happen, make sure that your word should be true.