Before the Heavenly Court

Rav Mordechai of Chernobyl was once sitting at his holy table with his chassidim. Suddenly the Rebbe closed his eyes and lowered his head as if he had fallen asleep. After a few moments he opened his eyes with a dazed look, as if returning from another world, and said, “I was just in Heaven, where my father was being judged.”

The charge concerned a barren woman who had come to Rav Nachum for a blessing. He had told her that if Hashem chose not to give her children, he had to accept it. The bitter woman kept coming back, and he refused her each time. At last she decided to force his hand. She waited until the members of his household had gone out and he was alone in his study, tapped on his window and demanded, “Rebbe, you must bless me with children.” He was annoyed at her commanding tone and at her persistence. “Why must I promise you children, when I have refused you many times for the same reason?” “Because if you refuse me this time,” she said, “I will walk into your room and cause you to transgress the prohibition of yichud, being alone with a woman.” The Rebbe looked around and saw that nothing could stop her from entering. “Stay where you are,” he said reluctantly. “I will do what you ask.” He prayed for her until he split the heavens with his pleas. The woman went home, and within a year she had a child.

This caused an uproar in Heaven. The heavenly court could not accept that the Rebbe had forced it, through his prayers, to cancel its decree of barrenness. When he passed away he was summoned to the court, which wished to review the case. To do what he had done he would need a very large store of merit, and the judges wanted to see whether he had enough. They searched his record and found at the head of the list one outstanding deed.

Of all the mitzvos he did, the dearest to him was hachnosas orchim. He was so happy to host people that he served his guests and attended to their needs himself. A man posing as a maggid once came to enjoy the Rebbe's hospitality. Rav Nachum did everything he could to please him, serving him himself with choice dishes and a fresh and comfortable bed. Nothing satisfied the man. He turned up his nose at the food and asked for more bedding, and he caused the family much inconvenience, which they bore without complaint. When Shabbos came he even asked to borrow Rav Nachum's special silk caftan, and Rav Nachum gave it willingly and took no offense. After Shabbos he asked Rav Nachum to go with him on his fundraising rounds.

One night, when the household slept and only Rav Nachum was awake, busy with Tikkun Chatzos, the guest crept out of bed. Rav Mordechai was awake too, and saw him fill a large sack with the family's silver and valuables. As soon as the man slipped out of the house, he hurried to his father's study. “Quickly, father, pursue him before he is out of sight and make him return our valuables.” His father looked at him in surprise. “Why do you suspect that he stole? Our guest only took what is his.” His son did not understand. “He took all our family treasures.” But his father said, “Whatever he took is his own, because from the moment he set his eyes and heart on those things, I gave them to him as a gift, so that he would not commit the sin of stealing. So whatever is in his sack really belongs to him. Now, my son, lie down and pretend you saw nothing, so that the guest will not be embarrassed.”

“It was this deed,” Rav Mordechai concluded, “that so deeply impressed the whole heavenly host that they all agreed that this tzaddik was worthy of overturning a heavenly decree. And so my father was acquitted.”