A wealthy Jewish merchant treats a poor old man with rudeness and disdain as they travel together on a train.
When they arrive at their common destination, the merchant finds pious Jews thronging the station, waiting in ecstatic joy to greet the arrival of one of the holiest rabbis in Europe, and learns to his chagrin that the old man in his compartment is that saintly rabbi.
Embarrassed at his disgraceful behaviour and distraught that he missed a golden opportunity to speak in privacy to a wise and holy man, the merchant pushes his way through the crowd to find the old man.
When he reaches him, he begs the rabbi’s forgiveness and requests his blessing.
The old rabbi looks at him and replies, “I cannot forgive you. To receive forgiveness you must go out and beg it from every poor old person in the world.”
A rabbi is a Jewish scholar or teacher, who is appointed as a religious teacher.
Itzhak Kaduri (c. 1898-2006) was a renowned Haredi rabbi who devoted his life to the study of Torah and prayer on behalf of the Jewish people. His blessings and amulets were also widely sought to cure people of illnesses and infertility. At the time of his death, estimates of his age ranged from 103 to 108, and his birth year is still disputed. His funeral, which was held in Jerusalem, drew over half a million followers in what was described as the largest funeral in Israel’s history. Please visit https://leimanlibrary.com/ for rabbis on stamps.