The Fallen Yarmulke

Before the Shapira brothers of Slovita were to run the gauntlet through the rows of soldiers, the authorities feared that the first troop had been bribed to deliver only light, token blows. At the last minute they switched the troops and had the two brothers stripped bare, so that the blows would be dealt with full force.

In the midst of this, the yarmulke fell from the head of one of the brothers. Although the blows kept coming, and anyone who ran quickly would have fared better, he retrieved it, and refused to take even one step with his head uncovered. This was told by Rav Raphael Kohen, who heard it from Rav Shmuel Gronem.

A second tradition, recorded in Seder HaDoros MiTalmidei Baal Shem Tov, says it was the younger brother whose head covering fell. He was tied and bound by ropes that led him through the gauntlet, so he could not bend to pick it up. He stood still as the blows rained down on his motionless body, accepting the Heavenly decree with love and paying no heed to the pain. At last someone replaced his head covering, and only then did he agree to move on. By the grace of Heaven he survived.