סנהדרין נד

When רב ברוך was sick and couldn’t see visitors, הירשל quickly put on the רב’s clothing, sat in his chair and made himself the רבי.   A חסיד came to see him to ask how he should do תשובה for a great sin that he had committed.  “What was the sin?” הירשל asked.  The tearful חסיד explained that the previous night, after having too much to drink, he returned to his hotel exhausted and a bit drunk and mistakenly entered a שיקצה’s room instead of his own.  It was only by the light of morning that he realized that he had spent the night with her.  But, he swore, nothing חס וחלילה happened.   Raising his voice, הירשל told him to return home and for 30 days to eat nothing but oats and hay.   When רב ברוך heard about this, he asked הירשל why he prescribed that תשובה.  He responded:  “רבי, it was obvious that the man is a בהמה.”

06/10/2021