Zusha Is Hungry

It was Reb Zusha's custom to daven Shacharis at great length. When he finished, he would go to his room next to the shul, open the window, lift his eyes to Heaven and call out, "Master of the World, Zusha (he always spoke of himself in the third person) is very hungry and wants something to eat." Every morning his attendant waited until he heard the call, and then brought in his meal of cake with a little schnapps.

One morning the attendant thought, "Why does Reb Zusha not ask me directly for his meal? And whom does he think he is fooling by calling out to Hashem like that? He knows full well that I bring him his food every day." He decided that the next morning, when Reb Zusha called out, he would not bring the meal. He would just wait and see where Reb Zusha would find it.

The next morning Reb Zusha rose well before dawn, as usual, and went to the town mikveh to immerse in preparation for the day's holy work. It had rained in Anipoli that night, and the streets had turned into rivers of mud. To cross from one side to the other, one had to walk on narrow planks laid over the flowing mud. As Reb Zusha crossed toward the mikveh, a stranger, a guest in town, came toward him from the other side. He saw Reb Zusha, thin and almost emaciated, dressed in rags, with no teeth in his mouth. The stranger shouted, "Beggar," burst into hearty laughter, and jumped up and down on the plank, so that Reb Zusha tumbled into the mud.

Reb Zusha did not say a word. He calmly picked himself up and went on to the mikveh, while the stranger strolled off, chuckling and replaying his great prank in his mind. Back at the inn where he was staying, he could not help bragging about it to the innkeeper. The innkeeper did not laugh. He asked the guest to describe the beggar he had sent into the mud, and then he clapped his hands to his head and cried out, "Oy vavoy. Do you know what you did? That was not just some beggar. That was the Rebbe, Reb Zusha." Now it was the guest's turn to cry out. Reb Zusha was known to everyone as a holy man and a tzaddik, and the guest trembled and asked what he could possibly do.

"Do not worry," said the innkeeper, collecting himself. "Listen to me. Reb Zusha spends many hours every morning in prayer, and when he finishes he goes into his private room next to the shul. He opens the window, and anyone can see him lift his eyes to Heaven and call, 'Master of the World, Zusha is very hungry and wants something to eat.' I will prepare some cake and schnapps for you to bring him. When you hear him call out, go in at once, offer him the gift, and beg his forgiveness. I am sure he will forgive you wholeheartedly."

That morning, after davening, Reb Zusha went into his room, opened the window and called out as always. The attendant, hearing him, held his ground and folded his arms even tighter, waiting to see what would happen. "Let Hashem bring him his cake this morning," he muttered. Suddenly the door of the shul opened, and a man came in carrying a large plate of cakes and a bottle of schnapps. He went straight to Reb Zusha's room, put the food on the table, and fell to the floor in grief, begging the tzaddik's forgiveness, which was certainly granted. And the attendant came to understand that it really was the Master of the World who brought Reb Zusha his breakfast every morning.