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| ISBN-13: | 9781118104439 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Wiley |
| Publication date: | 04/19/2011 |
| Pages: | 330 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.90(d) |
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Jewish Tales of Holy Women
By Yitzhak Buxbaum
John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0-7879-6271-6Chapter One
Sabbath Candle-Lighting PrayersThe Sabbath is the focus of much of Jewish religious life. It is inaugurated by the woman of the household lighting candles as dusk descends on Friday. The Hebrew for Sabbath is Shabbat; in Yiddish, the word is pronounced Shabbos. Friday during the day is called erev Shabbat, and the time right after the Sabbath ends at sundown Saturday is called motza'ei Shabbat.
* The tzaddeket Rebbetzin Hayyeleh Aharonowitz, wife of Rabbi Avrum Aharonowitz, the Israeli tzaddik, was totally devoted to the holiness of Shabbat. On motza'ei Shabbat, she prepared wicks for her candles for the coming Shabbat, already expectantly looking forward to the next week's holy day of rest. And every day of the week, she did something to prepare for the next Shabbat, so as to remember the Sabbath constantly. Her preparations reached a zenith on erev Shabbat, when she exerted herself so that everything would be fully ready and prepared in the best way, without any tension or pressure.
When the setting sun had reached the tops of the trees, the rebbetzin stood beside her candles, her white Shabbat tichel [head covering] on her head, gripped with the holiness of the entering Sabbath. With great love and reverence, she lit the candles and then did not move from her place. She stood standing in front of the precious light ofthe flickering flames, her hands covering her eyes, her whole body swaying in heartfelt prayer. She prayed, pleaded, and entreated, laying out her supplications before the One Who Sits on High. Thus she spent the time after lighting Shabbat candles, which is known as a time of special grace, when prayers are answered. For two hours, she kept her hands over her eyes, pouring out her heart's desires to God. As she stood there, her face shone in the supernal light of the Shabbat candles, and her tears glistened like pearls as they exited from the corners of her eyes.
Only when the last congregants had returned from the synagogue did the rebbetzin move away from her candles and softly bless, with great feeling, her daughters-"Good Shabbos! Good Shabbos! Good Shabbos!"
Tears Before Candle Lighting
* The tzaddeket Rebbetzin Rivka Miriam of Belz, the wife of Rabbi Yehoshua, the second Belzer Rebbe, excelled in acts of kindness and gave away large amounts of money for tzedaka [charity]. Rebbe Yehoshua said that his wife's tzedaka could be compared to that of the holy Rebbe Hayim of Tzanz. The Tzanzer was so devoted to tzedaka that he even borrowed money and went into debt to give to the poor!
One erev Shabbat, the Belzer Rebbe heard the sound of weeping coming from the rebbetzin's room. He immediately sent someone to ask her why she was crying. She replied that the whole week, she had not had money to give to the poor, as she usually did. Every day of the week, she could hope that she would still get some money the next day. "But now," she said, her voice choking, "in a few hours, it will be candle-lighting time. I have no more hope. I can't bear it anymore." So she broke down and cried.
Rebbe Yehoshua sent back a message, saying, "I don't have any money to give you. But if you'll give me something of value, I can loan you money to give to the poor." [The rebbe was undoubtedly holding other people's money for charitable purposes, which he could not freely give but could loan if a valuable item was left pawned with him.] The rebbetzin gave him her ornamented Sabbath tichel. He loaned her the money, and she rushed out and gave it to the poor people, in just enough time for them to buy their Sabbath needs right before the day of rest began. Then she went home and later, with elevated spirits, joyfully lit her Sabbath candles.
This tale and the preceding one about Sabbath candle lighting each provide a glimpse into a world of holiness. When one hears a tale about a holy person, one should realize that it is just a glimpse, a peek, into a different realm. How holy does a person have to be to stand, like Rebbetzin Hayyeleh, for two hours in front of the candles with her hands over her eyes! And how holy must a person be to cry, like Rebbetzin Rivka Miriam, because she has no money to give to poor people! Each anecdote is just a detail that intimates much greater things. We should understand many of the tales in this book that way. Sometimes what seems to be only a small act can reveal spiritual greatness.
In the Merit of the Sabbath Candles
* When Rabbi Yaakov Yitzhak (later known as the Seer of Lublin) and his wife, Shprintza, were young, they were very poor. One erev Shabbat, Shprintza had no money for Sabbath candles. Candles cost only a few kopecks, but she had no money at all. An hour before candle lighting, not knowing what to do, she went out of her house and was standing in the street, confused and distraught. Overcome at not being able to light Sabbath candles for the first time in her life, she began to cry and pray to God, "Master of the world, it's not for my honor that I want to light candles but only for Your honor and for the honor of the holy Shabbos! I want to bring Your light into the world!"
God heard Shprintza's prayer, and suddenly, a fancy carriage with a wealthy man inside came rumbling down the street. When the rich man, who was Jewish, saw a Jewish woman standing in the street crying, he told his driver to stop. He got out and said to her, "Why are you crying?"
She said, "I don't have money for Shabbos candles, although it's only a few kopecks."
"Here are a few kopecks," he said. "Please get yourself candles."
Although outwardly he seemed to be just an irreligious rich man interested only in externals, Shprintza saw that inwardly he was much more. He gave her merely a few coins-nothing for such a wealthy man-but she could see his soul shining in this act of compassion. She said, "May God bless you with the light from the Shabbos candles that you've bought for me."
He got back into his carriage and continued on his trip. He would be traveling on Shabbat, but he was not religious and did not care. Shprintza ran to the last store in town that was open and bought candles to light in honor of the holy Sabbath.
Soon afterward, when Shprintza was lighting her Sabbath candles, she prayed with all her heart that her blessing be fulfilled and that the light of her candles reach the soul of that wealthy man and that he be brought back to the Source of light and life, in the merit of his kind deed. And the holy Rebbetzin Shprintza was on a spiritual level that, as the Rabbis teach, a tzaddik-or tzaddeket-decrees and God fulfills. So amiracle occurred.
The rich man was traveling in his carriage when he suddenly felt an expansiveness, an openness within himself that made him wonder why he was alive and what his purpose on earth was. Then he remembered how he had felt when he had done his kind deed. He immediately told his driver to turn the carriage around. He went back to Lublin; found the house of the rebbetzin; met her husband, the Seer; and stayed with them that Shabbat. He became the Seer's disciple and eventually became a tzaddik and a holy man himself.
A truly pious person who loves doing God's will is pained at not being able to perform a mitzvah, a divine commandment. In answer to Shprintza's heartfelt prayer, God sent her a benefactor to provide her with money for Sabbath candles. But divine providence worked for the rich man as well, because spiritually, she became his benefactor. Why did God make the rebbetzin needy? To save a lost soul who would be rewarded for helping her. Rebbetzin Shprintza was so radiantly holy that she could bring even an irreligiousman, who casually came into contact with her, back to God.
A Prayer over the Challahs
* A prayer has come down to us from Perl, the wife of Rebbe Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev. Whenever she kneaded and baked challahs for Shabbat, she would pray, "Master of the world, I beg You that when my husband Levi Yitzhak says the blessing over the challahs, he has the same holy intentions I have now when I'm kneading and baking them!"
Husband and wife are partners in the Jewish spiritual mission of becoming holy. Traditionally, the woman bakes the challahs for Shabbat, and the man makes the blessing over them at the table. If both have holy intentions, in the baking and the blessing, the bread flies up to heaven as it is eaten.
The Taste of the Garden of Eden
* The tzaddik Rabbi David of Lelov was good friends with another tzaddik named Rabbi David, who lived in the nearby village of Zellin. They were both Hasidim and disciples of the Seer of Lublin and always traveled to Lublin together. Sometimes Rabbi David of Lelov traveled first to Zellin, and sometimes Rabbi David of Zellin traveled first to Lelov-and then they set out together for Lublin.
Once, Rabbi David of Lelov went to Zellin to begin their trip, and his friend, Rabbi David of Zellin, told his wife, Miriam Shulamis, "My dear, please prepare something to eat quickly, because we have a very special holy guest!"
Now, Rebbetzin Miriam Shulamis and her husband were desperately poor. They had nothing in the house, not even coals for the oven! All she had in the way of food was a little bit of flour. How could she prepare a meal for this tzaddik who was visiting them? So she went out into the field to gather some wood chips for the oven and brought them home. She then mixed the flour with some water, without any fat or spices, and served this meager meal to her husband and their guest. After the meal, the two traveled to Lublin.
When Rabbi David of Lelov returned home from their trip to the Seer of Lublin, he told his wife, Rebbetzin Hanna, "I want to tell you, my dear wife, that I was in the home of my friend Rabbi David of Zellin, and his wife made us the most delicious dish I ever ate. It actually had the taste of the Garden of Eden."
When Rebbetzin Hanna, who knew how far her holy husband was from relishing simple earthly pleasures, heard that, she hurried to Zellin to learn the secret of the other rebbetzin's cooking. When she arrived there, she asked her, "With what did you season the food you served my husband? He said that it was the most delicious food he had ever eaten, that it had a taste like the Garden of Eden!"
Rebbetzin Miriam Shulamis told Rebbetzin Hanna that she really had nothing to serve or anything with which to season the food. But while she was preparing her meager meal, she was begging God, "Master of the world, You know that if I had something to serve, I wouldn't spare a thing to give to this holy tzaddik! But what can I do? We don't have anything in the house! So I'm begging You to put the taste of the Garden of Eden in this dish I'm making so that this tzaddik will enjoy my food." And she continued to pray this way until the food was prepared. "So it seems that God answered my prayer," she said. "And your husband tasted the flavor of the Garden of Eden in my food."
What gives food its taste is not its physicality alone but its spiritual aspect. Rebbe Simha Bunim of Pshis'cha laughed at Hasidim who praised their rebbes by saying that they were so holy, so ascetic, they did not even taste their food. He said that true tzaddikim are the only ones who really taste the food they eat! Why? Because they don't just taste the food itself; they taste God in the food, or as this tale puts it, they taste the Garden of Eden. Food served and offered with love tastes of love. Rebbetzin Miriam Shulamis put her devotion to God and God's servants into the dish she prepared, and the rebbe was on a spiritual level to taste it.
Some piouswomen, while preparing food for Shabbat, continually repeat, like a mantra, the words l'kavod Shabbos, "for the honor of the Sabbath." Jewish religious tales often recount acts of piety that seem to be unique but are actually practices recommended by the rebbes and rabbis. We can learn from them for our own spirituality, from this tale, for example, to use a mantra while preparing food and to pray while cooking that those who eat our food taste God in it.
Healing Food
* In earlier generations, there were great Hasidic rebbes who could heal the sick. For example, when sick people went to the Tzanzer Rebbe paralyzed, the rebbe would bless them and say, "Get up and walk," and they would walk out.
At the turn of the twentieth century, before the First World War, there were still great rebbes who could heal, but not all of them healed by the laying on of hands or by words, with spoken decrees like the Tzanzer Rebbe.
For example, there was the Kerestirer Rebbe, Reb Yeshaya. He did not lay on hands or speak-but if you ate food in his house, you went away healed.
When his wife, Sarah, died, the rebbe wept terribly and would not be consoled. He told the Hasidim, "You might have thought that people who ate in my house were healed because of me. That's not true. It was because of my holy wife, Sarah. Now that she is gone, I can tell you. Listen to this story of what happened.
"In our earlier days, we were desperately poor. If we ate one meal a week, we would have food to eat on the Sabbath, but we wouldn't be able to have any guests. So we fasted from Sabbath to Sabbath. Then we had enough food for ourselves and for some guests. One week, my holy wife was cooking on Friday for the Sabbath when a drunkard knocked on the door and was invited in. He was reeking of alcohol, but he said to my wife, 'I'm starving. Do you have anything to eat?' We hadn't eaten that whole week, but who knows how long he had been without food? And when someone says he's starving, how can you not feed him? So my wife gave him from the food she'd prepared for the Sabbath. But after finishing what she gave him, he asked, 'Is there more?' Each time, he ate whatever was put before him and asked for more, until she said, 'There's not a crumb left.' She gave him everything she had prepared for our Sabbath meals. And she gave him everything gently and respectfully, because she was doing a great mitzvah and a good deed. She didn't judge him by how he looked or for his crude behavior, for who knows what troubles he had had?
"Then this drunkard did something unusual. He asked, 'Can I speak with your husband?' My wife came to my room and told me about his request, and when I agreed, she sent him to me. When he came in, he no longer smelled, and he didn't appear drunk. In fact, his face was glowing, and I realized at once that this was Elijah the Prophet.
"He said to me, 'I only came here to bless your wife. Her kindness has made a great impression in heaven.
Continues...
Excerpted from Jewish Tales of Holy Women by Yitzhak Buxbaum Excerpted by permission.
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Table of Contents
S'micha as a Maggid.Acknowledgments.
Note to the Reader.
Preface.
Introduction.
THE TALES.
Sabbath Candle-Lighting Prayers.
Tears Before Candle Lighting.
In the Merit of the Sabbath Candles.
A Prayer over the Challahs.
The Taste of the Garden of Eden.
Healing Food.
Watching at the Market.
Two Pious Peddlers.
Are You Not Our Father?
Riveleh the Tzaddeket.
Holy Spirit.
Deeds Great and Small.
How I Envy You!
A Fence to Wisdom.
A Saving Prayer.
Insulting Her Husband.
Rebbetzin "Devorah Cohen".
A Hidden Tzaddeket.
The Hot Water Heater.
It Must Have Been Hard!
If It's Difficult, It Must Be Good.
Using Every Device.
The Shofar.
An Angel for the Poor.
A Generous Wife.
A Blessing.
Yenta the Prophetess.
Loud Davvening.
All Prayer.
Edel, Daughter of the Baal Shem Tov.
The Sleeping Child.
The Gates of Divine Help.
Trust in God!
Elijah's Cup.
The Screaming Baby.
Have Faith!
The Bris.
A Special Gift.
A Covenant in the Flesh.
The Clotheslines.
The Guest.
The Sound of Her Blessings.
The Water Barrel.
Even Her Taking Was Giving.
A Reward for Kindness.
One Flesh.
At His Wife's Death.
How to Accept Suffering.
Great Love.
Tzedaka as a Cure.
A Fifth.
Standing Up for Herself.
No Joke Needed.
The Boldness of Rebbes.
Thank God!
Serving a Torah Scholar.
Her Share in the World to Come.
After the Fact.
How to Give Birth.
Facing God.
The Passing of a Woman Who Had the Holy Spirit.
My Time Has Come.
The Dress.
The Homely Lesson of a Patch.
Rebbetzin Malka of Belz.
More Than a Helpmate.
Sitting with the Rebbetzin.
Good Advice for Healing.
How to Eat.
How Much to Eat.
A Questionable Rebbe.
Malka Saves the Poultry.
They Are Clapping in Heaven.
Rebbe Edel of Brody.
Her Greatness.
Healing by Faith.
Doubtfully Kosher.
Rebbe Miriam Hayya of Shatz.
Preparing the Coffee.
A Miracle-Working Partne.r
How She Became a Rebbe.
Rebbe Sarah of Chantshin: A High Soul.
Sarah Shneirer.
Tzedaka in Secret I.
Tzedaka in Secret II.
Alive.
Good Pay.
The IOU.
The Quality of Voice.
A Favor.
A Devoted Heart.
Under All Conditions.
From Heart to Feet.
Why Did the Milk Boil Over?
Sensing Others' Troubles.
Pawn.
Coins That Sparkle.
A Disregard for Wealth.
A Glass of Water.
In the Merit of His Mother.
A Mother's Tears.
Be like My Mother.
Ungrammatically Correct.
Which Blessing to Give.
The Secret of the Yarmulkes.
Pure Thoughts.
Guarding His Studying.
Revelations.
Maxine.
Two Cups.
Pessia Carlebach and the Gentile Maid.
He Who Would Live Should Die.
Golda and Miriam.
I Don't Kneel!
A Mother's Passion.
Training Her Sons.
The Future Redemption.
Waiting for Redemption.
In the Cave of Machpelah.
Sukkot Stories.
She Did Not Taste the Sukkah
Visions in the Sukkah
A Sukkah of Peace.
A Brilliant Female Scholar.
Hadassah Linder.
What Is Important.
In the Taxi.
Patience.
A Single Bagel.
The Best for Others.
A Memorial.
Milk and Noodles.
Matters of Food.
The Joy of Giving.
Blessings and Curses.
Ironing.
First Aid.
Improvements.
The Torah Cries Out.
How Does One Attain Spiritual Greatness? .
Learning from the Pious.
The Tzaddeket.
Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis.
A Holy Wind.
Bending Over.
Do Not Stand Idly By.
Comparing Faces.
Tears for Her People.
All Children Cry.
Everybody Must Give.
Giving When Things Are Tough.
The Source of Strength.
The Rebbetzin Teaches Children.
With Female Prisoners in Israel.
Two Jewish Girls in Denmark.
Allison and the Fruit Seller.
God Bless You!
Raise the Torah Banner High.
NOTES.
GLOSSARY.
THE AUTHOR.
What People are Saying About This
"Yitzhak Buxbaum has performed an act of vital reclamation, lifting the veil that has concealed the holiness of so many Jewish women from previous centuries to the present. These stories redeem their simple piety and command our respect for their noble acts of faith." —Ellen Frankel, author, The Five Books of Miriam, editor-in-chief of the Jewish Publication Society
"Written in the style of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach's soulful stories, Jewish Tales of Holy Women fills a gap in placing the saintliness of women at the center." —Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg, author, The Beginning of Desire, The Particulars of Rapture, and Genesis
"Buxbaum's tales allow us to enter the hidden world of Jewish holy women. Deep, simple piety and generosity of spirit breathe through these pages. Our soul— the 'holy woman' in each of us— finds delight in these tales of virtuous realities." —Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
"These stories of holy women are pure light. From the simplest ones to the most miraculous, they radiate the particular kind of warmth and healing power that so many of us crave." —Rabbi Tirzah Firestone, author, With Roots in Heaven
"These wonderful stories are for men, women, and children of all backgrounds and all religions. They open the heart, inspire us to be better people, and fully honor the holy legacy of Judaism. Thank you, Yitzhak Buxbaum." —Melinda Ribner, author, Kabbalah Month by Month and New Age Judaism
"Yitzhak Buxbaum has performed a great service in compiling these beautiful stories of saintly women who expressed their deep connection with the Shechinah (Divine Presence) in private prayer and in manifold acts of loving kindness— feeding the poor, healing the sick, and escorting the dying. The tales show that even in times when gender roles were restricting, there were always outstanding women who excelled in the sanctified realms of study, teaching, prayer, and charity." — Rabbi Leah Novick