The Testimony of Rav Raphael of Bershad
It is told that when the grandsons of Rav Pinchos Koretzer who ran the Slovita press were libeled and falsely accused, many tried to prove their innocence, to no avail. At last the authorities agreed that if three prominent Jewish leaders and rabbis would testify to the innocence of the Shapira brothers of Slovita, they would be cleared.
One of those chosen was none other than Rav Pinchos Koretzer's prominent talmid, Rav Raphael of Bershad, who had inherited his rebbe's devotion to emes (truth) at any cost. People even nicknamed him “der Emesser.” It was said that he took such care never to say anything doubtful or possibly untrue that if it was raining and you asked him, once he came indoors, whether it was raining outside, he would answer, “When I was outside it was raining.” Perhaps it had stopped in the meantime, and he could not speak in the present tense about something he could not see.
This was the same elder chassid who had received the holy Baal Shem Tov's blessing for arichus yamim (long life). When he was asked to testify on behalf of Rav Pinchos Shapira, he did not know what to do. On the one hand, it was a matter of life and death and so fell under the heter of pikuach nefesh. On the other hand, although he was sure that Rav Pinchos was innocent and the libel a fabrication, he could not bring himself to declare with certainty that he had personally witnessed that innocence, when he had not.
At first he agreed to testify, but as the date drew near he began to daven: “Master of the World, I have never let a false word cross my lips, and I have never uttered a lie my entire life. I have never testified to a certainty that I cannot verify, nor have I ever resolved a doubt whose truth I did not know. Ribono Shel Olam, I plead with You, please take away the blessing of long life, so that I will not be forced to say something I did not witness.”
His prayers were answered. The very next day he passed away, and when his testimony was needed he was no longer among the living. Since his was one of the three testimonies, the whole arrangement fell through, and the Shapira brothers of Slovita were sentenced to torture and exile.