The Talmid Who Heard From Afar

The Chassidim sat spellbound at the table of the Meor Einayim, the Rebbe of Chernobyl. He had finished his Divrei Torah and begun to speak of ordinary matters. All sat still, except one chassid, who slowly crept inch by inch down the table from the far end, straining to hear the Rebbe's words.

This was Rav Avrohom Dov of Avritch, the author of the Bas Ayin. Most of the Chassidim noticed nothing, but one man was annoyed by the slow advance toward the head of the table and objected loudly. “So now you come, eh? The whole time the Rebbe said Torah, you sat content at the far end, and now that he speaks of mundane matters you push your way to the head of the table?”

The Meor Einayim turned, upset, not toward the Bas Ayin but toward the man who had spoken, and defended his talmid. “My talmid's ears are pure. He has corrected them so that they are attuned to the Torah that he needs to hear and less to the mundane matters that he does not need to hear. When I speak Divrei Torah, he can sit contentedly at the far end of the table and still hear and absorb my words. But when it comes to sichas chullin, ordinary talk, even though there is something to learn from it too, he must exert himself and sit close in order to hear.”