72. The Shpoler Zeide Saves A Life

00:16 Hello, "." Here's a story that is told by the Munkacz Rov, Rab Chaim Elazar Shapiro, the author of the Sefer Minchas Elazar. In his Sefer Divrei Torah, he brings a story that he heard from his, uh, grandparents, the, the... who were tzadikim and rabbeim in Munkacs before him. And the story is about the Shpalazer. Once there was a family that lived next to the Shpalazer's house. The... There was a father and a mother and two daughters, and the father was a very important person. He was a learned, a talmid chacham, and he gave a lot of tzedakah, and he was... Everybody in town gave him a lot of respect. And one day, unfortunately, the father passed away and left the almanah and her two daughters alone. But the father had a business. The business was to make what's called a medvash. It was a kind of drink that everybody loved, was a sweet drink which was made with honey. Not sure what the recipe was, but it was a type of drink that had honey in it, and people loved drinking it. And he would make that kind of drink, he would bottle it and sell it, and people would come and buy from him that special drink. When he died, the almanah, the wife, took over the business, and everybody in the city made a point to buy from her so that she should have parnasah because they knew she's a widow and she has left two orphans, two girls that, that need

02:28 to get married and so on. One day, the almanah herself became very sick and she got worse and worse until she was literally almost dying. The doctor said there's nothing they can do for her, and he said, "That's it. We're gonna have to, uh, give up on her. She's only have a few hours to live." The girls were very, very upset and they panicked. They realized if their mother dies, who's gonna run the business? Who's gonna give them food? Who's gonna marry them off? So they ran in panic, they ran to the next door to the Shpalazer. They knocked on his door, and when the Shpalazer opened the door, they cried and cried and cried and said, "Our mother is dying, and what are we gonna do without a mother? We need our mother. Rebbe, can you do something? Daven, do something to save her life." Shpalazer said to the girls, "I know that in your business, which your mother has, there are these little, uh, c-cans or, or bottles that she has that she pours the, that special drink in, and that's how she sells it. She sells these bottles to people. Take one of those bottles, fill it up with some of that drink that your mother made, and I want you to go to the cemetery where your father is buried, go to his kever, and put down the bottle of honey water, that special water that she... that special drink she made, and say, "This is in... I'm g- we're giving

04:15 it to you in honor of our mother's arrival to the other world. Our mother's gonna arrive in the other world." When the girls heard that, that means the Shpalazer is saying that she's gonna die, so they both fainted. And they had to call a doctor, and then they... f-finally, they revived them. When they woke up, Shpalazer said to them, "Don't worry. Now you can go home. Your mother is getting better. She's gonna, she's gonna live." And the girls went home, and they found their mother was getting better and better and better until she was healthy. So the question is, people asked the Shpalazer... The family members of the Shpalazer saw him doing this. They said, "Why did you do this? They fainted. They almost died, these girls, from the news. Why would you give them such-- cause them such pain, causing them to faint? Why didn't you give them a bracha right away, 'Your mother will live im yirtze Hashem'?" So the Shpalazer explained the following. It's an amazing thing, an amazing thing that he said. He said, "You know, these girls are not good. Apparently, they're doing some things they shouldn't be doing, uh, some averos they shouldn't be doing, and that is the reason their mother died, is dying, was dying. It was a punishment for them. And I realized that if I make them experience the death of their mother, that will be enough for their punishment. In other words, their mother doesn't have to actual die, but I'm gonna tell them

06:01 that she's dying, and they're going to be so afraid- So terrified from the news that their mother is dying, so that would be considered as if they already had the punishment of the death of the mother, and then the mother doesn't have to die anymore, because they already experienced as if she's already died. She's already dead. So that's what I did. I told them, "Yo, your mother is going to die. Go tell your father he should anticipate and await his wife, the mother of these girls, that she's coming soon to the Olam Ha'emes, to the other world." When the girls heard that, they said, "Oh, that means it's finished. It's over. Our mother is dying." So they fainted from the shock that their mother is actually dying. So with that, I was able to, uh, take away the punishment. Says the Monkat Chirov, with that we can explain a very interesting story in the Gemara. What does the Gemara say? You ever heard of Chizkiyahu HaMelech? Chizkiyahu HaMelech was a great king, a descendant of David HaMelech. Chizkiyahu HaMelech, it says Hashem wanted to make him Mashiach because he was such a tzaddik. Chizkiyahu HaMelech didn't want to get married. He didn't get married for a long time. Ask them why? Because he was afraid. He saw in Nevuah that he's gonna have children reshaim. And he did, right? Menashe. He had children that were reshaim, that were very evil. So he didn't want to get married because he didn't want to bring such children

07:35 to the world. So Hashem said to Yeshayahu HaNavi, Hashem said to Yeshayahu, "Go to Chizkiyahu HaMelech and tell him that he's gonna die." Chizkiyahu HaMelech got sick, and he was in his deathbed. He was dying. And Hashem said to Yeshayahu, "Go and visit... Pay a visit, big bikkur cholim to Chizkiyahu HaMelech, and tell him that the reason he's sick and he's going to die is because he's not getting married." So Yeshayahu went to him and told him the Nevuah, that you're going to die because you're, you're not getting married. So Chizkiyahu said to him, "I'm not getting married because I see that if I get married, I'll bring children that are reshaim." So Yeshayahu said to him, "That's not your business. You don't have to run the world. Hashem wants you to get married. What your children are gonna do is not in your hands. You can't, you know, decide whether you have children or not. Hashem gave you a mitzvah, you gotta do it. What's gonna happen to them is Hashem's business. So... And therefore, because you didn't have children, you didn't get married, you're gonna have to die." And Chizkiyahu said to Yeshayahu, "Tze, get out of here." That's the literal meaning of the words. He said to Yeshayahu, "Tze, go out. Kal et nevu-ascha. End your Nevuah. Stop your Nevuah. Finish up your Nevuah. Don't say it anymore, and get out." Because I learned from my ancestors, from David HaMelech, that even if someone is in a sakana, they're dying, if filu

09:23 cherev munachas al tzavara shel adam, even if there is a sword already on your neck, chas v'shalom. That means the person is so close to death. Al yisiyeish atzmo min hatahnunim. Don't give up, because Hashem can make things turn around in a second, and the person will live. Never give up davening to Hashem. And that's when Chizkiyahu HaMelech says he turned to the wall. He turned around. Instead of facing Yeshayahu, he told Yeshayahu to leave. He turned to the wall and he davened, and he did get married eventually, and he, and he lived another 15 years. Says the, uh, the, the Monkat Chirov that according to the story of the Shpala Zedei, we understand the story. What did... Chizkiyahu HaMelech was like a little chutzpadik to Yeshayahu. He says, "Tze, get out of here." You don't talk to a navi like this. But he was telling him the following. He's telling what the Shpala Zedei was saying to his family. He's saying to, to Yeshayahu, "Your Nevuah comes from Hashem." Of course, it's a Nevuah you have to deliver. But you can be yoetzah. I can be yoetzah with the, with the, with the einish, with the punishment of misah that you are telling me about from Hashem by being scared. You gave me the Nevuah. Now I have the pachat, the fear that I'm gonna die. So, um, the punishment was already fulfilled. Tze means yoetzah. You were yoetzah already. You already fulfilled what you needed to accomplish by scaring me that I'm gonna

10:58 die. And now your Nevuah has been ended. That means it's already been fulfilled. That's what he meant with these words.