נדרים טו

The מגיד of דובנה was once in a village and asked a Jew if he could let him spend the night and perhaps give him something to eat. The man being a tightwad said he had room for him to sleep but, unfortunately, they had already eaten and didn’t have even a crumb to spare. Having no choice, the מגיד went to bed hungry, but the hunger did not allow him to sleep. After about an hour, the בעל הבית, thinking that his guest was fast asleep, instructed his wife to bring out the dishes which she had prepared for their dinner. The מגיד, of course, heard it all. The following morning, the מגיד said to the villager: “חכמינו אמרו: אל יפטר אדם מחברו אלא מתוך דבר הלכה.” He then proceeded to tell him the חידוש that came to him during the night. “צינו במסכת בבא מציעה: לעולם אל ישנה אדם מן המנהג, שהרי משה עלה למרום ולא אכל. That is to say that since the מלאכים in Heaven don’t eat, משה רבינו also didn’t eat. This raises the question of why the חכמים didn’t learn that לעולם אל ישנה אדם מן המנהג from משה רבינו not sleeping, which is a greater deprivation than not eating, as חז״ל say: האומר שבועה שלא אישן שלושה ימים, מלקים אותו וישן לאלתר. The answer is that from the fact that משה didn’t eat, we know that he didn’t sleep. That’s how he knew whether the מלאכים ate or not. And that’s why he didn’t veer מן המנהג.”

06/10/2021