The childless daughter of a wealthy man in Vilna was an עגונה for 16 years. She had been married for only one year to a young man, when her father broke up the couple and sent her husband packing. He had not been heard from all those years, until a man appeared in town and declared that he was the long missing husband and wanted to return to his wife. She didn’t recognize him but he proceeded to relate details of their relationship and conversations between them that no stranger could possibly know. The רבנים of Vilna חקרו ודרשו אותו כדין and all of them permitted him to live with the עגונה. Nevertheless, her heart told her that this wasn’t the man she had married. The matter came before the וילנא גאון. “I can’t go against the גאונים who have given their היתר,” the גר״א said. “But I suggest that we treat this as if it were a new marriage, calling him up to the תורה on שבת morning. If he finds his old seat in the shul, it’s a sure sign that he is her real husband.” The suggestion was, of course, accepted. When שבת came and the man entered the shul, he didn’t know where to turn and when pressed, ultimately admitted that he was an imposter seeking her wealth. The surprised רבנים asked the גר״א how he knew. “I’m not a נביא and not a בן נביא,” he said. “But I knew that if he really was her husband and remembered details of their conversations from 16 years ago, he surely would remember where he sat every day in shul. And if he doesn’t know that, יש רגלים לדבר that he’s an imposter, who learned the information from her real husband. And I was certain that a רשע who would live with אשת רעהו באיסור, wouldn’t think of asking him דבר שבקדושה.”
06/10/2021