Reb Raphael der Emesser

It is told that when the Shapira brothers of Slovita, grandsons of Rav Pinchos of Koretz, were falsely accused, many tried to prove their innocence without success. At last the authorities agreed that if three prominent Jewish leaders would testify that the brothers were innocent, they would be cleared.

One of those chosen was Rav Raphael of Bershad, a leading talmid of Rav Pinchos of Koretz, who had inherited his Rebbe's devotion to truth at any cost. He was so exacting that people called him Reb Raphael der Emesser, the man of truth. It was said that if you asked him, after he had come indoors, whether it was raining, he would answer, “When I was outside, it was raining,” since it might have stopped in the meantime, and he could not speak in the present about what he could not see. This was the elder chassid who had received a blessing of arichas yomim, a long life, from the Baal Shem Tov himself (Kovetz HaTamim VIII, letter 284).

When he was asked to testify for Rav Pinchos Shapira, he did not know what to do. It was a matter of life and death, which sets aside a great deal. He was sure that Rav Pinchos was innocent and that the libel was a fabrication. Yet he could not bring himself to state as certain something that he had not seen with his own eyes. At first he agreed to testify, but as the day approached he began to pray.

“Master of the World,” he said, “I have never let a false word cross my lips, and I have never told a lie in all my life. I have never testified to a certainty that I could not verify, and I have never settled a doubt that I did not know to be true. Ribono Shel Olam, I plead with You, take away the blessing of long life, so that I will not be forced to say something I did not witness.”

His prayer was answered. The very next day he passed away, and when his testimony was needed he was no longer among the living. Since his testimony was one of the three, the condition could not be met, and the sentence of flogging and exile against the Shapira brothers of Slovita stood.