The רב of a small town turned 80 and to honor him, the קהילה decided that each of the 50 בעלי בתים would donate two bottles of wine and pour them into the cask in the רב’s cellar. And so they did, filling it to its very top. After dinner, the pleased רב asked his wife to go down and bring him a cup of wine. The רבנית went down and filled the cup, but when she came up, she couldn’t believe what she saw: the cup was full of water. When the רב saw this, he exclaimed “רמאים בני רמאים!!! The בעלי בתים each brought water, leaving it to the others to bring wine. That’s how the cask became full of water.” The רבנית began to curse them, but her husband said there was no need to do that; he would get even. “They will provide us with twice as much wine.” That שבת, the old רב stood before the בימה and quoted רבי ברכיה, who said in מסכת יומה we are told: הרוצה לנסך יין על גבי המזבח, ימלא גרונן של תלמידי חכמים יין; one who wishes to offer a wine libation upon the מזבח should fill the throats of תלמידי חכמים with wine. “I want to thank everyone in the קהילה for your gift, but unfortunately one of you ruined it by pouring in water, instead of wine. I know who it was but I don’t want to shame him publicly. It’s best that after הבדלה tonight, he on his own bring four bottles of wine to my home to atone for the two bottles of water and he will be forgiven.” Immediately after הבדלה, the רבנית heard footsteps in the backyard and went to see who it was. The רב told her to stay where she was. The footsteps came and went for more than an hour. When they stopped, the רב told his wife that she could now go out and count how many bottles of wine there were. She went out, counted the bottles and reported: There are 200 bottles.
06/10/2021