The Young Man He Honored

It is told that the Maharsha served as Rav of a small congregation, while a Rav who held authority over the whole region stood above him. The Maharsha never came to pay his respects to the senior Rav. He simply stayed in his yeshivah and taught. The senior Rav judged him favorably, thinking that the Maharsha was so absorbed in learning that he did not want to cause bitul Torah.

One day the senior Rav visited the town where the Maharsha was Rav, and even then the Maharsha made no move to greet him. In the shul he went on teaching and did not so much as rise. The visiting Rav again gave him the benefit of the doubt.

Then a handsome young man entered. The Maharsha stood at once, honored him, and spoke with him at length. The senior Rav was furious and confronted him. Three times he had judged the Maharsha favorably, he said, but this could not be bitul Torah, for the Maharsha had broken off his teaching to talk with a young man.

The Maharsha answered that the young man would be dead in two hours. The senior Rav did not believe it, and he followed the young man around. As they passed a nobleman practicing with a bird-hunting weapon, a shot went off by accident and killed the young man.

The senior Rav came back, and the Maharsha told him that another dead man would soon be brought for burial. That, too, came to pass. The Maharsha then explained that the young man had been a gilgul of Achav, King of Yisrael. Just as Achav was killed, so was the young man destined to die, which was why the Maharsha had given him honor and spoken with him at length.

By trailing after him and involving himself in what was not his concern, the senior Rav had held back the attribute of judgment that waited to take the young man's soul. The other dead man, the Maharsha said, was struck down by the destructive force that was waiting nearby, and the senior Rav's actions had caused it.

The senior Rav was horrified and begged for a way to do teshuvah. The Maharsha told him to leave his lofty position and become a simple coachman, and he did so.