Splitting the Heavens at Mincha

Rav Mordechai of Slonim once told how the holy Baal Shem Tov confronted his talmid Rav Nachum of Chernobyl and asked why he had split the very heavens that day during Mincha. In his defense, the Meor Einayim told how he had been traveling by wagon in freezing cold. As they neared the next village, the old gentile wagon driver passed out in the snow and died. When the wagon reached the village, the villagers attacked Rav Nachum and shouted that he had murdered the driver, and they threatened to lynch him.

“I begged them to let me say my last prayers,” he said. “As I davened Mincha and pleaded before Heaven, the driver's body came back to life. He rose, and before the frightened and astonished villagers he declared that he had died of the freezing cold and not by my hand. After he said this, he fell down dead again, and I was saved. Perhaps that is what you heard from Heaven?”