Sermon Archives

Vayishlach
32:23-25

“That same night he arose, and taking his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven children, he crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After taking them across the stream, he sent across all his possessions.   Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn.”
This is a story about the chassidic Rebbe, Yisrael of Ruzhyn (1796-1850). The Ruzhyner Rebbe is known for his regal court and for his strong faith in Hashem despite the many false accusations and difficult trials he faced in his life.

One Shabbat all the chasidim of Rebbe Yisrael of Ruzhyn were sitting and learning Torah in Ruzhyn when they saw their holy Rebbe approaching.
The chasidim asked the Rebbe: “Rebbe, please tell us what is the proper path to go on for service of Hashem?” 
The Rebbe responded: “How should I know?”  The  Rebbe then went on to tell them the following story.

There were once two beloved friends that were sentenced to death by the king.  In truth, even though the king wanted to pardon them, he was unable to because even though he was the king he was bound by the law of the land to sentence them severely.  Therefore the king issued a strange ruling.  He asked his officers to stretch out a long rope over a deep and dangerous river.  He said that if these two men would be able to walk across the rope that he would then pardon them and release them from their sentence.

The first man set out and safely crossed over the river by walking on top of the rope.  His friend stood on the other side and yelled across to him: “My beloved friend, please tell me how you walked across this river so that I may also know how to cross it.”  The first man responded: “I have no idea.  The only thing I can tell you is that when I walked across the rope if I felt I was falling off the right side I quickly moved my body to the left and if I felt that I was falling off the left I quickly moved to the right.” (From Zeev Kitsis, Fifty Readings in Hassidic Stories, Hebrew, 202.)

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