by Rav Shmuel Holshtein, Head of Bnei Tzvi Yeshiva High School, Beit El, yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel.
1. Upon hearing a delicate knock at the door, Reb Yaakov arose to welcome his guest. Standing there was a young man with a gentle face whom he did not know, but who handed him a letter. "This is for you," he said, "from the renowned Gaon of Vilna." Reb Yaakov was incredulous: "The Vilna Gaon himself!? He has sent me a letter?! What possible connection could he have with me that he would send me a special correspondence?!"
With trembling hands, Reb Yaakov tore open the envelope with his name on it and began to read. The Gaon had written [paraphrased]: "Many years ago, I was traveling around on a personal exile [as was customary in those times for those who wished to perfect their character], and one night, you hosted me in your home. There was a wedding in the town that night, and you and your wife participated – but your wife asked me if I could pay attention to your baby daughter sleeping in her crib. After a short while, the baby woke up, and so I started rocking her crib and singing her a popular lullaby. The words were, 'Sleep, little girl, and when you grow up, we will find you a worthy groom.'"
"Now, years later, I have heard that the girl has in fact grown up, and has fine traits – and since I fear that what I sang then was a form of a promise and vow to find her a groom, I hereby recommend to you the bearer of this letter as a son-in-law. I believe he would make a fine husband for your daughter, in the event that he finds favor in her eyes and in the eyes of her parents…"
2. The students of Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer [a great rabbi and scholar in Kletzk and Jerusalem in the early 20th century] were astonished to see him one day giving a particularly large sum of charity to one of the poor men who frequented the yeshiva every week. "Why so much, and why to that particular poor man, and why specifically today, as opposed to other days?" they asked their rabbi. He answered:
"The man came up to me and asked me for some charity. I knew that I only had a few coins in my pocket, and I didn't want to give him so little, so I apologized and said that I could only give him what I had in my pocket. When I put my hand in to give him what I had, I remembered that I had just received an unusually large sum – but since I had told him that I would give him what I had, I was left with no choice but to stand by my word and give him exactly what I had in my pocket…"
3. This same Rav Isser Zalman once set out on a very snowy day to give his customary weekly Torah lecture. His helper attempted to dissuade him: "It's snowing heavily, how can you go out on such a day? The students won't be expecting you to show up when it's snowing so heavily! They know that you must preserve your health! How can you endanger yourself like this?!" The rabbi thanked the student for his concern, but insisted on going anyway. The student, of course, accompanied him.
And so the two of them trudged along, with difficulty, to Yeshivat Etz Chaim on Jaffa Rd. in Jerusalem. They could not even open their umbrella as protection against the snow, because of the heavy winds. When they arrived, the students were astonished to see their beloved teacher. They immediately went up to him, helped him remove his soaking coat, and sat him next to the heater. When he had settled down, he asked one of his students to bring him the paper he had posted on the bulletin board the day before, containing the sources for the lecture that he was to deliver. He took the paper, showed it to his students, and said: "You see here where it says, The class tomorrow will be on the topic of such-and-such? Unfortunately I didn't write that it would take place "b'ezrat Hashem" – with G-d's help – and therefore I feared that I had made a type of vow to give the lecture. That's why I made such great efforts to come today to deliver the class!"
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