The Holy Fire

The elders of Tzfas told a well-known story. One hot summer day a woman who lived near the home of the Saba Kadisha climbed up to her roof porch for some cooling air, as was common in summer. To her horror she saw flames blazing on the roof of Rav Alfandari's house and inside it.

She ran for help, and as she reached the house, Rav Alfandari's talmid, Rav Aharon Ben Shimon, who was learning with him, heard the commotion and came outside. He calmed her. There was no danger, he said. What she had seen was an aish kodesh (holy fire), the flames of the intense Torah learning in which the two of them were engaged, and she was fortunate to have been shown it.

Rav Ben Shimon asked her to keep the matter secret, and she did. She revealed it only after the Saba Kadisha had left this world.