After Davening You Look Different

A chassid, one of those who passed down these stories, went to see for himself the man whom many respected and others held to be a meshugener. He arrived on the East Side before Shacharis, wondering where to find a minyan. No sooner had he entered the beis medrash than an elderly Yid came up to him and said straight away, "Go to such and such a beis medrash. There they are beginning to daven Shacharis."

This was his first encounter with Reb Moshe New Yorker, and a clear example of his ability to know things, perhaps through ruach hakodesh. The chassid had never met him, never spoken a word to him, and had certainly not told him or anyone else that he was looking for a minyan and had not yet davened. When he asked how Reb Moshe knew he had not yet davened, the answer came in Reb Moshe's characteristic simplicity: "After davening you would look different. Nuch davenen hot min an andere punim."

Two of his friends had similar experiences. One of them prepared a question on Sefer Yetzirah. He approached Reb Moshe, and before he could even formulate the question, Reb Moshe said, "Ah, you are asking about the Sefer Yetzirah?" The other had a question on Rabbeinu Bachya, and the same thing happened. After he had said only the beginning of the question, Reb Moshe interrupted him knowingly and said, "Ah, the Bachya?" It was as if he knew what question they were about to ask before they had asked it.