On the day that רבי אייזל חריף took his position as רב of Slonim, the sun shone brightly and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.  One of the members of the קהילה said to the new רב that that they have a מסורה that if it rains on the day that a new רב takes his position, it’s a good sign for the רב and the קהל.  Yet on this day, there’s not even a wisp of a cloud.  רבי אייזל responded: “That’s a nice מסורה that you have.  But כמידתו של הרב כך מידת הגשמים היורדים.  If he’s a רב with only a little knowledge, only a little amount of rain falls.  If he’s an average רב, an average amount of rain falls.  But if he is a great תלמיד חכם and ירא שמים, he’s worthy of a מבול.  However, since the רבונו של עולם swore that he will not bring another מבול to the world, the weather today is clear and beautiful.”

06/10/2021