70. The Arizal Sees The Tanna Reb Pinchos Ben Yair

00:15 Today is the yahrtzeit of the Arizal. So I wanna share a story that happened with one of the talmidim of the Arizal and the Arizal. The Arizal had a Talmud by the name of Reb Shmuel Uzidoh. Reb Shmuel Uzidoh is the author. He wrote a very famous sefer called Midrash Shmuel on Pirkei Avos, which everybody cites. One of the most important commentaries on Pirkei Avos. Reb Shmuel Uzidoh lived in Tzfat. He was born in Tzfat. His father was named Yitzchak Uzidoh, and he was a friend, a colleague, a friend of the Ramak, Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, the famous Mekubal, and later on he became a Talmud of the Arizal, and after the Arizal's passing, he became a Talmud of Rabbi Chaim Vital, who was the successor of the Arizal. And, uh, the story goes like this, that Rabbi Chaim, um-- Reb Shmuel Uzidoh, the author of Midrash Shmuel, once came to-- he came every day to the shiur of the Arizal, gave every day a shiur. The Arizal would teach Gemara. He would teach also Kabbalah. Everything in Torah, the Arizal would interpret six ways: according to Gemara, according to Nigla, according to Halakha, and one way according to Kabbalah. So he would come-- the Reb Shmuel Uzidoh would come every day to the shiur. One day, people noticed that Reb Shmuel came to the shiur dressed in Shabbos clothes. It was not Shabbos. It was the middle of the week. And he came to the shiur of the Arizal. The Arizal saw him walking into

02:09 the shul, and the Arizal stood up and gave him kavod, which was very unusual because he was his Talmud. He came every day. He never gave him such kavod. Why suddenly today? So and then the Baal She-- the Arizal said, "Please come and sit down." After the shiur, Rabbi Chaim Vital, who was the closest Talmud to the Arizal, went over to his rebbe and says, "Rebbe, what happened today that you stood up in front of Reb Shmuel? He's here every day. You never do this. Just today you stood up for him." And the Arizal said, "Reb Shmuel came in, but there was somebody also came in with him." Who came in with him? The famous Tanna, Reb Pinchas ben Yair. Reb Pinchas ben Yair is a Tanna that lived thousands of years earlier. But his neshamah came in together with Reb Shmuel. "So when I stood up, I stood up not for Reb Shmuel, who is my Talmud. I stood up for Reb Pinchas ben Yair." And then he explained: "Why would Reb Pinchas ben Yair come in together with my Talmud, Reb Shmuel?" And the answer is that Reb Pinchas ben Yair was a great man, a great tzaddik, a great Tanna, and he spent most of his life on Pidyon Shvuyim. He-- the Gemara says-- the Gemara tells stories about him, how he would go save Jews who became prisoners of some Roman governor or king, and, and he would go and, and save them by raising money and pay the governor money,

03:57 so he would let the Jew out of prison. So that's called Pidyon Shvuyim. And he would go from town to town wherever that he knew there was a Jew that needed help, and he would help them. So there's a special mitzvah called Mitzvah Pidyon Shvuyim of saving people who are prisoners of non-Jewish, uh, kings or governors and tries to save them by offering money to the king. So it must be that this Reb Shmuel had done today a big mitzvah to save someone, either a prisoner or somebody-- something similar. Somebody had a lot of trouble, and he saved them, and that's why the neshamah of Reb Pinchas ben Yair came with him. Because that's the way it is. If somebody does a big mitzvah, special mitzvah, and there's a neshamah of a tzaddik many years before who used to do that mitzvah too in a very special way, like Reb Pinchas ben Yair would do this all his life. He would go from town to town all the time, every day. He tried to save lives. So such a neshamah will come and accompany and join even though the person doesn't know, but he'll be-- the person who did this special mitzvah will be accompanied by a neshamah of a great tzaddik from previous generation who will show-- will walk with him and protect him and be his, uh, companion, so to speak. And he would come and, and, and, uh, and be with him. So when Reb Shmuel walked in and I saw Reb

05:28 Pinchas ben Yair walking in behind him, I knew that Reb Shmuel must have done some special thing today to deserve Reb Pinchas ben Yair, the great Tanna from thousands of years ago, to come and join him. But I stood up for Reb Pinchas ben Yair. Reb Chaim Vital heard this, and he went to s-- he went to, uh, to the house of Reb Shmuel, Reb Shmuel Uzidoh, and he asked him, "Reb Shmuel, what did you do today? And also, why were you wearing Shabbos clothes?" There were two mysteries here. You wore Shabbos clothes, and it seems like the Rebbe stood up for you. Why did the Rebbe, the Arizal, stand up for you? What did you do today that's special? And Reb Shmuel Ozido says, "Well, I don't know what I did, but I can tell you what happened to me. On my way to the Beis Midrash today, I walked by a house, and I hear crying in that house. I couldn't ignore the crying, so I s- I went straight to that house. I wanted to see what they need, what's going on. And I realized that robbers had come and stolen everything that family had. Everything, all their clothes, everything. They had nothing left. Literally nothing left. No food, nothing. So I decided I'm gonna help them, and I gave them my-- all my, my coat. I gave my coat and my shirt. I gave them everything I had on me. But then I had no clothes. I needed clothes. So of

07:00 course, I had some underwear, and I had maybe a sh- um, just a basic shirt on my body. But the rest, my jacket, my-- everything that I had, like my coat, I gave to them 'cause they didn't have any clothes left. Then I-- since I didn't have any other clothes, only my Shabbos clothes, so I went home. I got dressed in my Shabbos clothes because my weekday clothes, the clothes for every day, we- now I gave away. And I only had one set, one set of clothes, one for Shabbos and one for the weekday. I gave away my weekday clothes. Then I had to go home and get dressed in my Shabbos clothes, the only clothes I had left." So Rav Chaim Vital understood what his Rebbe was telling him, that this Reb Shmuel must have done an amazing act of saving a life, somebody that was in a lot of trouble, and that's why he merited, he had the zechus, of the Reb Pinchas Bey Hur's neshamah walked with him. The Arizal saw the neshamah of Reb Pinchas Bey Hur, and that's why he stood up. By the way, Reb Pinchas Bey Hur's kever is in Tzfas. So Reb Pinchas Bey Hur is, uh, is buried in Tzfas, same cemetery as the Arizal. And so it could be that Reb Pinchas Bey Hur was in the same town. So he came and joined this Reb Shmuel Ozido, right, uh, because of the great mitzvah that he did.