The Aura Above the Rosh Yeshiva

Once a young tzaddik, then a yeshiva bochur, was unsure which yeshiva to attend, until a heavenly voice directed him to Pozna, to the yeshiva of the Semichas Chachamim. When he arrived and sat in on a shiur, he was astonished to see a bright, shining aura, burning like a candle, above the head of the maggid shiur, the rosh yeshiva, Rav Naftali Katz, author of Semichas Chachamim.

He decided to follow the rosh yeshiva and learn what special deeds had earned him such an aura. He saw that the rav fed many guests at his table, among them the poor and the destitute, but this was not reason enough. He looked further and found that the rav served his guests himself and attended to their needs personally, while he himself ate nothing, for he was fasting. Yet the young man concluded that this too was not reason enough for the aura.

He kept following the rav and watched how he slept. He stole into the bedroom and hid, and he saw Rav Naftali close and lock the door, open a sealed chest, take out a stone, lie down on the floor and sleep with the stone as his pillow. After about an hour he rose, went to the bed, rumpled the sheets, covers and pillows so that the bed would look slept in, and then secretly returned to learning Torah. This, the young man concluded, was why a candle burned above that holy head.