חגיגה יג

It was said about a well-known דרשן that he was a בקי on all the מדרשים and אגדות and was able to give a spellbinding דרשה on any subject without preparation. When he came to speak in a particular city, a skeptic challenged him by asking that he agree to give his דרשה that coming שבת on a מאמר of חז״ל that the skeptic would write down on a piece of paper which he would hand to the דרשן as he stood on the בימה, so that there would absolutely be no opportunity for preparation. The דרשן accepted the challenge. That שבת, the Shul was full and, as the דרשן went up to the בימה and the skeptic handed him a sheet of paper, everyone was excited to see if the דרשן could meet the challenge.  The דרשן looked at the paper and saw that it was blank on both sides.  He held it up for all to see and said: “As you can all see, the paper is blank on both sides.  It was similar to this that השם יתברך created the world from nothing, מאין, מתוהו ובוהו.”   He then proceeded to deliver a brilliant דרשה on בריאת העולם.

05/10/2021