After the pleas of a very poor man for a loan were rejected by a wealthy man, the beggar said: ישימך האלוקים כאברהם יצחק ויעקב. Surprised, the wealthy man said "I turned down your request and still you give me this ברכה?" "Yes," the poor man answered. "May you be נע ונד like אברהם, may
Two men in Warsaw were talking about an acquaintance who immigrated to America. “It’s amazing,” said one, “here he was כבד פה and in America he’s a חזן.” “What’s so amazing?” said the other. “The same was true with משה רבינו. All his life he was כבד פה and after he crossed the sea we
The תורה commands three times that תרומה be taken: ויקחו לי תרומה; תקחו לי תרומתי; and וזאת התרומה אשר תקחו מאיתם. Why three times? Apparently, it’s because when it comes to matters of צדקה, asking once isn’t enough.
There was a town where the רב when presented with questions of whether meat was כשר was generally מיקל. However, the דיין was a difficult man and was generally מחמיר. The רב said: “What’s the reason for having to ask a רב whether the meat is כשר or not? After all, the תורה says לכלב
R’ מאיר שפירא was asked: "When משיח comes, all the רבנים who served in this city will be resurrected. How will they all be able to serve at the same time?" The רבי answered: "It's simple. As each רב rises, his דור will also be זוכה to תחית המתים and rise with him. Thus, each
The רבי of Koritz, רבי פנחס, was told of a man who throughout his life prayed for רוח הקודש. The רבי remarked: “It’s known that תפילה accomplishes half. So he was זוכה to רוח, but not to קודש.”
When learning the גמרא which relates that while צדיקים גמורין נכתבין ונחתמין לאלתר לחיים, רשעים גמורין נכתבין ונחתמין לאלתר למיתה, בינונים תלויים ועומדין, a student asked what the גמרא means when it says בינונים. His friend responded: "It’s like the רמב״ם says when he speaks of a person who sticks to the center and
A schoolteacher was puzzled when one of the boys brought a note from home asking that he be excused from school due to a religious holiday. She phoned the boy’s mother and asked “What religious holiday?” The mother explained: “That’s the holiday we’re taking to see the circus. We go there every year religiously.”
When רבי יהודה רואנס, the author of פרשת דרכים and משנה למלך, rode into a town on a horse and armed like a military officer, he went into the בית מדרש, where a תלמיד חכם, citing today's דף, told him אי סייפא לא ספרא, אי ספרא לא סייפא. The רבי, citing ויקרא רבה לה, ו,
When רבי שניאור זלמן, the בעל התניה, was imprisoned in Petersburg, his חסידים sent him kosher food every day. Unable to get justice in the courts, he wrote a note to his חסידים to suggest that the path to justice might be through an appropriate "gift." He gave the note to the שליח who delivered
