The Beating in the Forest
It is told that Rav Lieber was once davening Minchah by himself in a forest, so deeply absorbed that he noticed nothing around him. A local man of rank came upon him there and struck him, not knowing who he was.
When the man realized whom he had beaten, he begged to be forgiven. Rav Lieber would forgive him on one condition, that he build a large beis medrash on that very spot. It was built, and people called it Rav Lieber's shul. According to tradition, the Jewish town of Berditchev grew out of this episode, after the landowner promised to establish it.
More stories of Rav Eliezer Lieber Ashkenazi
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