Called Up Without Titles

The following story shows Chacham Raphael's great modesty.

One day he came to daven in a different shul, in order to honor an important family that davened there. His arrival was greeted with honor and respect. When the Torah reading began, the gabbai called him up with the words, "May our teacher and Rav arise," adding many praises and titles, such as "Ateres Rosheinu, the crown of our head, HaGaon and haDayan, haAnav, the humble and righteous tzaddik."

But Chacham Raphael did not get up or move. Everyone assumed that he had simply not heard the gabbai, so they told him that he had been called up to the Torah.

He explained softly that he had heard what the gabbai said, but that such a description did not refer to him. "The gabbai was calling up someone else," he said, and he refused to move until the gabbai called him up again simply as Rav Raphael Encaoua, without any further titles or accolades, to come up to the Torah.