You Are Pushing Up There

In the summer of 5746, a Yid entered the She'eris Yisroel shul. He approached the place where Reb Moshe sat and said that he wanted to sit there and asked Reb Moshe to move. That is how little anyone thought of Reb Moshe, who was not known to them for who he really was. Reb Moshe refused to simply get up and move, so the man pushed him aside roughly and sat down.

A look of anger crossed Reb Moshe's face. "What is the matter? Why do you look so upset?" someone asked him. "You do not just push me," he said. "When you shove me aside, you are pushing up there," and as he said so he pointed up toward Heaven. Everyone chuckled and no one took him seriously.

The next day, that Yid who had so callously shoved Reb Moshe did not wake up. Only then did they get the hint, too late. They asked Reb Moshe, "What happened here? What have you done?" He simply pointed up and said, "Up there," as if to say, "I did not do anything. It was not me. It came from On High." From then on no one bothered him, and he sat and stood wherever he wanted.