Come Down From Your Horse
A Turkish pasha asked the Saba Kadisha for a blessing, and was told to dismount first.
A story ofRav Shlomo Eliezer Alfandariהרב שלמה אליעזר בן יעקב אלפנדריProfile ›
One day, it is told, a high Ottoman official, a pasha, rode into Tzfas on a white horse. He wore a splendid uniform, and soldiers marched behind him. Word of the holy rav from Constantinople had reached him, and he wished to be blessed by the old man.
The Rav went out to receive him, and the pasha was moved by his dignified bearing. "Please bless me," he said.
The Rav did not answer with a blessing at once. His berachos, he explained, can be received only by someone humble, and so the pasha would have to come down from his horse and bow his head.
The pasha was a man used to being obeyed, yet he dismounted and lowered his head. Then the Rav blessed him: may Hashem grant you success, on condition that you work to protect and benefit the Jews under your rule.
Those who tell the story add that the blessing bore fruit. When the First World War brought hunger and thirst to the Jews of Tzfas, the same pasha saw to it that food and water reached them. A blessing, it seems, entered the one who had made room for it, and it stayed bound to how he treated the vulnerable.
Source: Oros Mimizrach, p. 147
Before you ask for help or a blessing, whether from Hashem, a parent or a rav, take a moment to lower yourself. Today, before davening or before an important request, say quietly what you do not know and what you need. Then, when you receive a kindness, ask how you can use it for someone weaker than you. The Rav tied the pasha's blessing to how he treated others, and you can do the same with yours.