132: The Jew That Saved A Jewish Boy From The Galach’s House

00:16 Shalom Aleichem, kindalech. I'm gonna share with you an amazing story the Friediger Rebbe tells us in his famous Sefer Hazichronos. The Alter Rebbe, the Alter Rebbe's father, his name was Reb Boruch. Reb Boruch had a sister who was the aunt of the Alter Rebbe. Her name was Devorah Leah. The Alter Rebbe named his daughter, the mother of the Tzemach Tzedek, named her Devorah Leah after his aunt, Devorah Leah. Devorah Leah, the aunt of the Alter Rebbe, was a very learned woman. She was a lamdanis. She knew how to learn Gemara, and for sure she learned a lot of seforim. And she later married a famous, famous rav. His name was Reb Yosef Yitzchak from the city of Charhei. Reb Yosef Yitzchak was a big gaon, and he was, uh, one of the secret talmidim of the Baal Shem Tov. At that time, many of the talmidim of the Baal Shem Tov, uh, did not reveal to everybody that they were talmidim of the Baal Shem Tov 'cause there was a lot of Misnagdim that didn't, you know, wanna talk to people that learned Chassidus. So he was one of the hidden tzaddikim. They called the hidden tzaddik of the Baal Shem Tov. And Devorah Leah married him. That's how she became close to the Baal Shem Tov also. This story that I'm going to tell you is about how Yosef Yitzchak was born. His father's name was Yaakov Kerpol, and his mother's name was Tzipora Bracha. Yaakov Kerpol and Tzipora Bracha didn't have children for

02:02 many years, and then when they started having children, the children died right after birth, and they realized that they can't have any children. They were a very, very nice couple, and they liked each other and... but they were poor. Yaakov Kerpol would make a living from being a peddler. A peddler means somebody who goes from village to village. He leaves his house on Sunday and travels through the villages around the city of Charhei. He lived in Charhei, but there were villages around Charhei, and he would travel from village to village. He would try to sell door to door, go from one door to the next door, selling all kinds of stuff like buttons, needles, scissors, paper, whatever people needed. Yaakov Kerpol was also a big am ha'aretz. You guys know what an am ha'aretz is? Somebody who doesn't know how to learn anything. He didn't even know Alef Bet. In those days, there were many Jews like that. Simple Jews who were big am ha'aretz, big am haratzim. They didn't know anything. They didn't even know Alef Bet, but they were very, very from Jews. They went to shul every Shabbos, every day, and they tried to put on tefillin, but they didn't know how to daven. They would just sit there. They would memorize sometimes Shema and Shemoneh Esrei or parts of Shemoneh Esrei, and they would say it by heart because they were able to memorize it. Somebody would read it for them, and they would memorize the words, and that's how they

03:48 knew how to say it by heart. But they couldn't read. It's not like today. A Jew who doesn't know Alef Bet and doesn't know how to read is not a Jew that comes to shul. These are the kinds of Jews, unfortunately, who are going to a baseball game on Shabbos morning. Instead of going to shul, they go to a baseball game 'cause they don't even know what Shabbos is. Anybody who comes to shul today, they know how to daven. But in those days, it was very different. Everyone went to shul. Everybody wanted to do mitzvahs. Everybody wanted to be close to Hashem. But some Jews just didn't have a chance to learn because they were so poor. Their families were so poor that they couldn't send them to a cheder, and they never learned how to read, even though they went to shul every Shabbos, and they ate kosher and kept Shabbos and were very excited to do achnasat orchim and to help another Jew. But they felt very bad that they, they're am haratzim. They don't know how to read. Yaakov Kerpol was one of those Jews. Yaakov Kerpol, as I said, would travel every Sunday. He would leave the house Sunday morning and wouldn't come home till Friday 'cause he would go a whole week trying to sell stuff and make some money. When he would come home on Friday, he would first-- the first thing he would do before he went home, he would go to the rav of the city of

05:11 Charhei and would give him money, ten percent or whatever amount of money, to give to tzedakah. The rav had all the pushkas of the tzedakah, and people were able to put in tzedakah into the pushka, and he would first give t-tzedakah from all the money he made that week, and then he would go home and prepare for Shabbos. One day, Yaakov Kerpol is traveling from city to city, from village to village, trying to make some money, and he saw there's another Jew also traveling. Maybe he's a peddler, too. His name was Hirsh Leib. And they decided, "You know, it's better to go together." They-- Rather than travel alone, it's not always safe, so they travel together. On the way, while they were tra-- walking from village to village- Yakov Kerpel sees that this Hirsh Leib is mumbling with his lips. He's saying things. He's asking him, "What are you talking about? You're talking. You're saying things." And Hirsh Leib said to him, "Oh, yeah. Um, you know, when I, when I walk, I just say words of Mishnah. I say words of Tehillim, of Tanakh, uh, things that I remember by heart, so I would be able to always learn Torah, even when I walk." What does it say in Mishnah? Beshivtechava beisecha, you have to learn Torah when you sit at home. Uvelechtechava delech, when you walk on the road, you should also learn Torah. So he says, "I, I learned, I memorized many Mishnahs and many Psukim from Tanakh, and I'm able to

06:49 say and, and learn while we walk." Yakov Kerpel was very impressed with that. Yakov Kerpel couldn't even read, but here's a Jew, not only knows how to read, but he's memorized so much Torah in his head. So once they were walking together, and Yakov Kerpel began to cry. Hirsh Leib asked him, "Why are you crying?" He says, "Because I feel so terrible. You, I see you, I'm so jealous of you. You're able to learn, you're able to read Psukim, you're able to, to daven, and you're able to remember so much Torah in your head, so that whenever you walk, you travel, you, you're never without Torah. You're always learning Torah. I wish I was like you." So Hirsh Leib says, "Well, why don't you do it?" He says, "Oh, what can I do? I don't know. I don't even know Alef Beis. I go to shul, I memorized Shema and a few other things, and that's all I do because I don't... I can't read." Hirsh Leib said to him, "Listen, Yakov, don't cry. I will teach you. When we finish traveling, we're going back for Shabbos, I'll go with you to Czerniejew. Although I'm not from Czerniejew, I'll stay in Czerniejew for a while, and I will teach you every day. I'll teach you Alef Beis, then Kamatz, Alef, Oh, and then how to read, and I'll even begin to teach you how to understand what you're saying. We're gonna learn Chumash and Tanakh, and I'm gonna teach you the Torah. It'll take a

08:20 while, but, you know, you don't have to cry. You can learn." When, when Yakov Kerpel heard this, he was so excited. He was so filled with simcha and joy. He said, "Thank you, Hashem, for bringing me this guy, Hirsh Leib. He's offering to teach me for free." So at the end of the week, they went back to Czerniejew. It was getting Shabbos. Uh, Hirsh Leib decided that he's gonna stay in a shul. Uh, he's not going to anybody's house. If people invite him, he said, "No, I'd rather eat here." Nobody knew how he lives, where he has money from to eat. That was a mystery. Nobody knew much about him anyways, nothing. He was, like, very, very mysterious. Nobody knew where he came from, who he is, how much learning he knows. He was, like, very, very for himself. And he stayed in shul. People invited him on Shabbos to come to their house to eat. He would say, "No, no, no, I'd rather eat my own food." And so nobody bothered him because this Hirsh Leib looked like a very simple man. So the guy that wants to stay in shul, a simple Jew, okay, let him stay in shul. Nobody cared about him. Nobody found it unusual that he doesn't wanna go anywhere. They let him stay in shul, and nobody paid attention. He told Yakov Kerpel, "I'm gonna teach you, but you have to keep it a secret. Nobody has to know that I learn with you. Only your wife, Tzipora Bracha,

09:53 she's allowed to know." And they started learning. And slowly but surely, Yakov Kerpel learned Alef Beis. He learned how to read. He even learned some meanings of the words. And slowly, slowly, Yakov Kerpel, his mind opened up, and he was able to read Chumash. And he learned Chumash, and he learned then Nevi'im, and then he learned a little Mishnahs. He became, like, a little bit learned, a little bit of a Talmud Chacham. Now, when he was traveling and walking from village to village, he also was able to think words of Kedusha, holy words. In the beginning, when he learned with, with, uh, Rav Hirsh Leib, he would memorize the Shema. And when he walked from town to town, he would, like, go through in his head the words of Shema. When he knew the Shemoneh Esrei, he would go through in his head the words of Shemoneh Esrei also. And so as he learned more and more, he memorized Chumash and Tanakh. He would go, whenever he traveled, he would go through in his head or with his mouth, he would say, because he wanted to, to be like Hirsh Leib, that never stop learning. Now, Hirsh Leib said to Yakov Kerpel, "There must be more Jews like you in this town that don't know how to read. I'd like you to introduce me to them. I wanna meet them because I'd like to teach them too." And Yakov Kerpel says, "Of course, a lot of us here that don't know even how to, to

11:28 read Alef Beis. So I'll make sure they come and meet you." And very soon, Hirsh Leib had about 15 Talmidim, all of Jews that were very good hidden. They wanted to daven, they wanted so badly to know how to daven. They, they used to do mitzvahs with such excitement, but they didn't know how to learn, didn't know how to read, didn't know Alef Beis, but they would go to shul every day, and, and whatever they knew by heart, they would say over and over again because they loved Hashem very much. But Hirsh Leib said to them, "You don't have to be an Am Ha'aretz. I can teach you how to read and how to understand Chumash, and you can become a, like a Talmid Chacham." They were so excited because they never imagined that somebody would one day come and teach them. They knew that little kids learn Alef Beis, but that adults would be able to learn Alef Beis? If you're an adult and you don't know Alef Beis, they thought you will, you will never know Alef Beis until you die. Here this Hirsh Leib says, "No, no, no, I'm gonna teach you all Alef Beis." And they all came to shul every day. For a few hours, he taught them all Alef Beis and how to read, and slowly but surely, they began to learn. Some learned Chumash already, others Mishnah is, and he kept teaching them, and he didn't take any money from anyone. He would just stay in shul in

12:54 his free time when, when people were at work, and he didn't teach these people, he would just sit in shul and learn all day. Would learn with a great geshmak, you know, and eat in shul. He didn't even left the shul. Once the Rav of the city of Shaarei heard that there's this man, Hirsh Leib, nobody knows who he is, where he came from. There's this mysterious man, this unusual person, and he sits in the shul, some little shul there, and he's teaching these ignorant people. Some of these ignorant people had long white beards, but they never learned Alef Beis, and he's teaching them. The Rav was very impressed with that, and he went to visit the shul to see for himself how this man, Hirsh Leib, he doesn't know who he is. Nobody knows who he is. Nobody ever, ever found out, um, does he have a wife? Does he have a family? Nobody knows. But he's just sitting there every day in the shul, teaching these Jews, uh, who, who don't know anything, and he's making sure that they're not-- they don't remain Am Ha'aretzim. They become learned people. He went to the shul himself to watch this, and he watching, and as he walked into the shul, Hirsh Leib, the teacher, got up right away from his seat, and everybody together with him, the talmidim, also stood up. And, and the Rav said, "Sit down. I wanna con- I wanna thank you, Hirsh Leib, for doing this for our community. That all

14:24 these Jews that don't know anything, you're teaching them." And he kissed his hand, and then he said to these Jews that were the talmidim of Hirsh Leib, "You know, you remind me of a mashal. There was once a king, and that king was a very special king. Everybody wanted to see the king, and one day the king decided that everybody who wants can come three times a day. There's once in the morning, once in the afternoon, and once at night, where you have a chance to come to the king and ask whatever you want." And so the people would come every day. "Oh, Your Majesty, I need a doctor to help me with my leg." Other ones, "Oh, Your Majesty, I need some money to, uh, for a loan, so I can pay off my debts." Everybody had their requests, and the king listened to everybody, and he helped them. But there was a group of people in the country that they couldn't speak. They were mute, right? There were people can't speak. Some people, chas v'shalom, they d- they don't have speech. They can't speak. So they couldn't speak. So they knew that the king said anybody can come to the king and ask whatever they want, but they can't speak, so they can't go to the king, and it bothered them a lot. They were, like, really upset. They had so many questions they wanted to ask the king, and they can't because they can't speak. And every day, every day, they were

15:50 thinking, "What would I ask the king today? Oh, I would ask the king this today, and the next day, another thing." They all had, like, all kinds of things they needed to ask the king, but they can't. Until one day there was a doctor that came to town, and he heard about this group of people that can't speak, and how they, they can't go to the king, even though they want so badly to go to the king. So he felt very bad for them, and he worked very hard, gives them medicine, medicine, all kinds of different types of things, until he was successful, and they were able to speak. And when they were able to speak, they were, oh, they had so much to ask the king because for all these years that they couldn't speak, they had all these requests that were like they couldn't ask, but it stayed in their hearts. They remembered everything. So when they went to the king for the first time, they poured out everything that was on their hearts and telling the king, "Oh, we have this question and that question, that question." And finally, they were able to talk to the king, and the king was able to help them. Says the Rav, the same thing with you. Every Jew is told by Hashem, "You can come and talk to me three times a day. Ask me whatever you need. I listen. I listen to you." But then he says, "You, you simple Jews, you can't speak.

17:12 You didn't know how to daven. You didn't know the, even the Alef Beis. You were like these mute people that can't talk. You couldn't go to the king and speak to him. You sat in shul, and you really wished you could daven, and you were jealous of everybody who was davening. You were watching everybody, and I saw tears coming from your eyes where you were so sad that you couldn't daven. But now, the big doctor, Hirsh Leib, came to town, and he cured you. Now you can all daven. You know how to read." And then the Rav left. These talmidim of Hirsh Leib, the group of talmidim grew every day, and they became very close to Hirsh Leib. They loved him so much. He wouldn't-- wasn't only teaching them how to read and Chumash, he would also give them advice about how to live life. He was, uh-- he really, really helped them a lot. Y-Yakov Kerpel, specifically, especially, was very close to Yershleim. Yershleim would tell him how to live his life and what to do. And once he told him, "You know, Yakov Kerpel, there's a mitzvah to give ten percent of everything you have to tzedakah." Yakov Kerpel didn't know that, and he told him, "Listen, the first time when you start giving tzedakah from your money, you look at all the money you have, and first you give f- a fifth, not a tenth, a fifth, like twenty percent. This is twice, twice that ten percent, right? Twice a tenth. And

18:54 then you put it into the business, you, you make money, and then you give every year ten percent of everything you earn." And he told him that it says in the Gemara that if you give ten percent of your money, it's-- Hashem gives you-- makes you successful in business, and you make a lot of money. And that's what happened. Yakov Kerpel started giving ten percent of his money, and he gave it very joyfully together with his wife, and they started seeing their business grow and grow. He became quite wealthy, quite rich. Now, something incredible happened that changed Yakov Kerpel's life. Near Charrei, there were different villages. One of those villages, there lived a Jew. Maybe he was the only Jew in town. His name was Gershon Yitzchak. Gershon Yitzchak was also big Am Ha'aretz, didn't know anything. He had a lot of children, and his job was that he rented from the Parets, from the village. There was a very rich Parets, an old Parets, a very big anti-Semite, a very cruel person. But he was able to rent from him the right to-- by the-- all the rivers that were in the village, he had the right to go fishing there, and he would sell the fish to all the people in the village. There was-- He had to pay the, the Parets a certain amount of money every month, so you would be allowed to go and catch fish in the rivers that, that belonged to the Parets. He also had on the

20:45 side a r- a store where he sold all kinds of stuff, clothes and stuff that people need, and he also had a bar. A bar where people came and bought, uh, vodka and beer. They drank. The Goyim would buy all kinds of drinks. They would come and drink every night in his bar, and he would make money from that. He had children, and his children were very ignorant. He never hired them a lamid for his children, so his children remained totally Am Ha'aretz. The old Parets from whom Y-Gershon Yitzchak rented, uh, the right to, to, to fish from his pond and his rivers got so old that he decided to retire, and he gave all his land and all his businesses to his son. The son was a very good person. He loved Jewish people, and he was a very nice and soft person. But something happened that make the life of this Jew, Gershon Yitzchak, very, very miserable. A very-- A new galach came to the village who was a very bitter anti-Semite. He hated Jews, and he started every Sunday speaking against the Jews in the church. And he would tell the Jew, the Goyim, "You know, there's one Jew in our village, and he has a bar. You can't go to his bar because you're giving him parnasah. You're buying stuff from him and making-- giving him money, and you shouldn't give it to him because they hate our religion, and you shouldn't go to his store either." The Goyim stopped going

22:34 to his store, and they stopped going to his bar and didn't buy from him anymore. He lost a lot of money. And then something else happened. Even the business that he had with the Parets, that he was allowed to go fishing in the rivers and the ponds of the Parets, suddenly the fish didn't show up. He put a net in the, in the river, and the fish didn't come up. It's-- It looked like as if the fish also listened to the speech of the galach and decided not to go into Yitzchak Gershon's net. Of course, that's a joke. But, but for some reason, he wasn't able to catch fish in the rivers and the ponds, and so he had no money. And when you have no money, you can't pay the rent. So first month, he couldn't pay the rent because he didn't have enough money. So he went to the younger Parets, who's now in charge of all the property, and told him, "Please give me a little bit of an extension. Give me a little time. Maybe give me another month, and then I'll maybe be able to pay you back. But right now, I had a very hard month. I, I lost a lot of money." The Parets said, "Sure, no problem." Another month goes by, another month goes by, and Yitzchak Gershon can't pay. One day, the old Parets, the big, big, hateful anti-Semite, started-- told his son, "I'm gonna look over the books, see what-- who pays, who doesn't pay,

24:02 how much money comes in." And he looked in the books and sees that the Jew, Yitzchak Gershon, hasn't paid his rent for the last three months. He flew into a rage, and he said, "Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, that-- We can't let this happen." And what did he do? He called Y-Gershon Yitzchak to his mansion. He said to him, "Listen, I'm giving you a few days to get all the money that you owe me, and if not, I'm throwing you and your wife into a prison, and I take all your property. Everything you own, I'm taking away." Look, it was the middle of the winter then. It was very, very freezing cold outside. And Yitzchak Gershon hoped that maybe some Jews travel through the village, he's gonna ask them to help him with a loan, so he can pay off his debt. But because it was so freezing cold and so much snow that there were no travelers. So he was the only Jew in the village, and he didn't know what to do. In the meantime, the galach, yimache Shemo, this, this anti-Semite, the galach, who hated Jews even more than the Parets, he heard this Gershon Yitzchak and how the Peretz yelled at him and threatened to put him and his wife in jail. So he also got involved, and he told the Peretz, "You know what? What are you gonna gain from putting the, the Gershon Yitzchak and his wife into the prison? He's not gonna get you the money. If you

25:32 put him in prison, for sure he can't get you the money, 'cause he's gonna be locked up in a prison. How is he gonna get the money for you? I have a better idea for you. Take one of his children as a hostage, take him away, and this will make him work very hard. He will sell everything he has just to get his son out of captivity from prison." "And then," the galach continues saying, "if the Jew doesn't come up with the money, you know what would happen? You Peretz should give that child to me, and I will shmart him." You guys know what shmaring means? Is to take a Jew and make him into a Christian, a Goy. Tell him to go over to their religion, to the church, and become a Goy. "And I'm telling you this, their parents will be so upset, it'll make him crazy, and they'll go and try to find all the money that they need, and they'll give you the money." And the galach even said, "You know, he has many, many sons. I like that Dovid, the 12-year-old. He's, like, smart. He's great. Hey, I'd love to make him into a Christian. So let's take this kid." The Peretz listened, and one day soldiers came into the house of Gershon Yitzchak. They grabbed Dovid, and they took him to the Peretz's house. Gershon Yitzchak and his wife began to cry and scream, "Oi, our Dovid, our Dovid." And they didn't know what to do. Where are they

27:11 gonna take money, so much money to get their son Dovid out of captivity? In the meantime, the Peretz sends a message to Gershon Yitzchak and his wife. And he told them to come to his mansion, and he started yelling at them. And he said, "If you still wait with bringing the money, I will not only tell-- take your son and put-- and put-- give him to the galach, and he will force him to become a Christian, but I will also take you and your wife, and you'll have to become my s-slaves. You'll become slaves to me in my house." He said, "You better come up with the money in the next few days or else." Gershon Yitzchak and his wife, they started crying hysterically and started begging the Peretz to please, please not to steal their child. And he says, "I'll do everything to get the money, but please give me back my son." The Peretz laughed at them and said, "What? Are you crazy? You didn't pay me the money for so long. No, I'm taking your son because you owe me a lot of interest for the money that you owe me, and he'll be instead of the interest. And you and your wife, if you don't pay the money soon, I will take you as my slaves for the money itself, for the principal." And he-- then he picked up his whip and started whipping them until they were bleeding. They had to run away from his house. They went home so

28:44 broken. Oh, he's so pained. They didn't know what to do, where we're gonna go, and then suddenly... They hear terrible things. They hear from the young Peretz that Dovid was already taken by the galach, and the galach told Dovid he must eat chazer. He ma-- He tried to force him to eat pork, but he didn't want to. So the galach started beating him. He beat him really hard, and Dovid still didn't wanna eat. The galach beat him so hard until Dovid fell down on the floor without any strength. He was bruised up everywhere. He couldn't move, and that's when the galach left him alone and walked away. The young Peretz said, "I found that out because I went to check out from the galach what happened to Dovid, and that's what I found out." "In the meantime," says the young Peretz to Yitzchak Gershon and his wife, "listen now, Dovid is sick because he was beaten up so badly to the galach. He's gonna have to leave him alone for a while. So you have a chance to work on your money. Go do whatever you can." The parents were a little bit happy that Dovid is not listening to the galach, but they were very hurt and very saddened of all the pain that their son is going through. Now, Gershon Yitzchak had an idea. What is he gonna do? He knew Yaakov Karpel, who lived nearby in the city of Chare. Yaakov Karpel would come to his village from time to time to

30:43 sell some of his goods to the Goyim. Yaakov Karpel had a lot of friends in the village 'cause he would do business with them. So he thought, "You know what? Yaakov Karpel can help me, so I need to go to Chare to speak to Yaakov Karpel." But the Peretz sent soldiers to watch Yitzchak Gershon and his wife so they couldn't run away from the village. They would have to stay. So they, he asked the guards, "What should I do? I wanna go to Charai so I can get the money to pay the Poritz." So they told him, "Tell the Poritz that you wanna go to Charai and get the money." So he went to the Poritz, the Poritz yelled at him, "No, you wanna run away. I know you wanna run away." So he told the Poritz, "No, no, no, no. You know what? You can take one of your guards, and he can go with me to Charai. He'll watch over me. I won't be able to run away." And so the, the Poritz agreed. He went to Yaakov Kerpel's house in Charai and said to Yaakov Kerpel, "This is my problem. This is the terrible situation I'm in. I lost all my money, and the Poritz, I couldn't pay my rent. The Poritz must have took my son, Dovid, 12 years old, and now gave him to the Galach, and the Galach is beating him and trying to make him become a Christian, to convert him to another religion. And I don't know

32:04 what to do. I don't have the money." Yaakov Kerpel heard this. He was, like, shaken, and he said to him, "We'll give... Wait one minute." He went to his wife, and they talked it over and decided it was a lot of money. They're gonna sell everything they own. Everything, everything. Everything they're gonna sell and give him the money. But that wasn't enough money. He needed more than that. So they went and borrowed more money from other people in Charai, and they gave him till they had the entire money and gave it to him, and they said, "You go pay off and get Dovid out of the Galach's house." So Gershon took the money, and he went quickly to the Poritz's house. And before he went to the Poritz's house, he went first home to tell his wife that he has the money. But his wife told him with a very sad voice, "I just heard that the Poritz had beaten Dovid again. And he wanted him to eat chazer, treif, and he didn't want to, so he threw him into a stable full of pigs, full of chazerim, live chazerim. And the c-- and the Galach said, 'I am going to make Dovid into a Christian no matter what.'" So they both started crying, Yisroel Gershon and his wife. "Oi, yoi, yoi. Our son Dovid, what's gonna happen to him?" So he ran quickly. Yisroel Gershon ran first. He says, "I'm going to the Poritz now to pay off the debt. Maybe he'll let us

33:33 or Dovid to come out of the Galach's house." When he came to the Galach, he gave him the money. He said, "Okay, you and your wife don't have to be my slaves." "Where's my son Dovid? Can I have my son Dovid back?" And he said, "Oh, no, it's too late for your son Dovid. I already gave him to the Galach. That's too late. You waited too long. Now he's-- the Galach is gonna do whatever he wants with him." So he started crying and crying. So the servants of the Poritz threw him out, and they beat him, and he left the house of the Poritz. He, he called Yaakov Kerpel. He went to Yaakov Kerpel and said to him, "Look what's happening. Please help me. They don't wanna give back my son Dovid." Yaakov Kerpel said, "Don't worry. I'll g- I'll go, I'll go to the village. I know a lot of the people there." Yaakov Kerpel went, talked to a lot of the people that he knew, the Goyim that he did business with, and they all agreed with him the Poritz is very mean and, and he's doing... This is not right. It's not f- it's not fair. He gave back all the money. Now they should give him back his son. And then Yaakov Kerpel went to the young Poritz and said to him like this: "I don't understand. Yisroel Gershon worked so hard to get the money to pay off for your father. Now finally he got the money, and now he

34:46 doesn't wanna let him take his son back? Why? Is it because he gave him to the Galach already? It's too late? What is the Galach gonna do? He's gonna convince him to become a Christian, to convert to another religion? No, he's gonna force him. You think that's right?" The Galach agreed. The young, the young Poritz agreed that this is not fair. He's going to try to do what he can do, and he talked to his father and finally convinced his father to tell the Galach he must give back Dovid, and Dovid was set free. Yaakov Kerpel took Dovid, who was all bruised up. He lost a lot of weight. He looked very, very sickly because he was beaten so much, because he refused to eat treif. He refused to convert and to shema' himself, and he was willing to, to be hurt and whipped till blood came out of him. But even though he was an am ha'aretz, his father never taught him anything. But all these Jews in those days, even the Jews that didn't know how to read, had a very strong emunah in Hashem. They would, they would die al kiddush Hashem. They would not even think of, chas v'Shalom, doing something which is against the Torah, even a 12-year-old boy. Yaakov Kerpel took Dovid and brought him to his house to Charai, gave him good food, and tried to bring him back to his health. And then when he got healthy, he sent him away to yeshiva in Berislav, where he

36:15 could learn Torah. Now, Yaakov Kerpel lost all his money because he sold everything to save Dovid out of the Galach's house. He had no money, many, many debts. But he was b'simcha because he felt that he gave away all his money to save a Jewish soul. So he wasn't complaining. He didn't even tell people how s- bad his situation was, that he's suffering, that there's poverty, they don't have food. He didn't want anybody to know. He didn't want anybody to feel bad for them. He always was happy. He smiled. Even Hirsh Leib, who was the teacher of Yaakov Kerpel, also didn't know. Then one day, a stranger came to the city of Charai. His name was Reb Chayes. He was a talmid of the Baal Shem Tov. And nobody knew who he was. Also one of those hidden tzadikim, which nobody knew who he was, and he went to the same shul where Hirsh Leib was to li-- was to stay. Hirsh Leib would stay in that shul and sleep there and eat there and daven there and learn there and teach his talmidim, and Reb Kahaz would hang out with Hirsh Leib. Nobody knew who this Reb Kahaz was. Reb Kahaz and Hirsh Leib, uh, were, were talking. Turned out Reb Kahaz had a message from the Baal Shem Tov to Hirsh Leib, that was interested like this. There's a Jew in Shaarei that is a very simple Jew, but he's a great tzadik. He's done a huge mitzvah, an incredible mitzvah. And now

38:07 it's time to help him. Now, Yaakov Kerpol, after getting into such deep debt, also became very sick. He was so sick that the doctors thought that they can't help him anymore. He got very, very sick, every day sicker and sicker. So by the time Reb Kahaz came, the Baal Shem Tov had said that he was sending money to Yaakov Kerpol because it was decided in Shamayim, because it is this enormous mitzvah, he sacrificed, gave e- gave away everything he had to save a family and to save a boy from the galach's house. He's gonna become rich, and he will have a son. You remember Yaakov Kerpol was then sixty-three years old. His wife, Tzipa Bracha, was fifty-nine. You know what it means to have a child at that age? It's quite old. So Reb Kahaz said, "The Baal Shem Tov gave me a hundred and fifty rubles to give to Yaakov Kerpol so that he would use that to, to make a business, and w-- and Hashem promised to give him a bracha that he will be very successful. He'll become rich, and they will have a baby boy within the year." But Hirsh Leib said to Reb Kahaz, "You know, Yaakov Kerpol is not gonna agree to take the money. He doesn't like to take from people money." First of all, Hirsh Leib was surprised. "I didn't even know that Yaakov Kerpol was going through a hard time. He never told me anything." But the Baal Shem Tov knew everything, baruch hakodesh, and that's

39:46 how he told Reb Kahaz, and Reb Kahaz told Reb Hirsh Leib. And they decided together to go to Yaakov Kerpol's house and see, make sure that he accepts the hundred and fifty rubles. They went to his house, and they told him, "Listen, this Reb Kahaz is a good friend of mine, and he needs to... He has a hundred and fifty rubles with him, but he doesn't want to travel with a hundred and fifty rubles because there can be robbers stealing the money. So he wants to keep it safe in somebody's house. Would you, Yaakov Kerpol, please hold on to that money? And you're allowed to use the money in the meantime for business, whatever you want, and when Reb Kahaz comes back, you can pay him back then." At first, Yaakov Kerpol was, was, was... Yaakov Kerpol was a little bit, you know, hesitant. He wasn't sure. "I mean, it's a lot of money. I don't wanna take responsibility." But they begged him, and finally he agreed. Now, Yaakov Kerpol got, uh, so much money, a hundred and fifty rubles. He paid off his debts, and he started buying more merchandise, and he started selling it, and he, in a very short period of time, became very rich. He sold and sold and sold and made a lot of money and became very rich. And then, uh, less than a year later, his wife became pregnant, and she had a baby boy, and they named him Yosef Yitzchak. And this Yosef Yitzchak became a very,

41:04 very, a tzadik, a big gaon. He became the Rosh Yeshiva in the city of Vitebsk and, um, became one of the talmidim of the Baal Shem Tov.