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This week our daf yomi group was fortunate enough to complete tractate Sukkah. Towards the very end of the tractate we came across the following story. It is a story that I will be thinking about on Rosh Hashanah this year, as it is a story of life and death, and our fate. These are all themes of the Rosh Hashanah liturgy.
The story goes as follows:
The Gemara relates with regard to these two Cushites who would stand before Solomon: “Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha” (I Kings 4:3), and they were scribes of Solomon. One day Solomon saw that the Angel of Death was sad. He said to him: Why are you sad? He said to him: They are asking me to take the lives of these two Cushites who are sitting here. Solomon handed them to the demons in his service, and sent them to the district of Luz, where the Angel of Death has no dominion. When they arrived at the district of Luz, they died. The following day, Solomon saw that the Angel of Death was happy. He said to him: Why are you happy? He replied: In the place that they asked me to take them, there you sent them. The Angel of Death was instructed to take their lives in the district of Luz. Since they resided in Solomon’s palace and never went to Luz, he was unable to complete his mission. That saddened him. Ultimately, Solomon dispatched them to Luz, enabling the angel to accomplish his mission. That pleased him. Immediately, Solomon began to speak and said: The feet of a person are responsible for him; to the place where he is in demand, there they lead him.
There is a story told about Reb Zusha that reflects the concept of teshuvah:
Reb Zusha was among the favorite students of the Maggid of Mezritch.
There is a story about a man who arrived at the court of the Maggid of Mezritch asking that the tzaddik receive him and give him a blessing. Reb Zusha, who was there at the time, looked at the guest and recognized him as a serious sinner who had no thoughts of teshuva (repentance). Reb Zusha was not able to avoid the storm of feelings in his heart towards the man, whose words did not match the feelings in his heart, so he said to him in an angry tone: “Sinner that you are! How are you not ashamed to stand face to face with our holy rabbi?”
The guest was taken aback by Reb Zusha’s harsh words, and with a bowed head he left the home of the Maggid and disappeared. Reb Zusha followed the man with his eyes as he left the house of the Maggid without saying a word and he felt remorse for the insulting words that he had just said to him.
When he told this to his rabbi, the great Maggid said to him: “Every morning we begin our daily prayers with the verse, ‘How fair are your tents, Yaakov!’ so that we will merit seeing only good qualities in the tents of Yaakov. And this is the blessing which I bestow on you this day: May it be God’s will that you always see only the positive attributes found in every Jew—even if his sins are as numerous as the seeds of the pomegranate. And our ancient sages already taught us: ‘Even though Jews sin, the blessed Holy One deals with them as sheep’ (treats them leniently and forgives their sins).
Hasidim say that the words of rebuke which the Maggid of Mezrich pronounced at that time to his faithful student penetrated deeply into his heart. And from then on Reb Zusha no longer reprimanded sinners but delivered to every Jew an abundance of love. And when a sinner came to him and shook his hand, a new spirit engulfed him and he immediately had thoughts of repentance” (The Holy Brothers, 135-136).
.....will return next week.
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