The Derech Eretz of a Clock

The Tosher Rebbe once related that Rav Yechezkel of Shinova had a custom of telling the following story about the Ateres Tzvi of Zidichov.

On Shabbos, at shalosh seudos (the third Shabbos meal), the Ateres Tzvi would speak words of Torah. When the clock began to chime, he would silence it by calling out, “Sha, derech eretz” (Silence, have you no manners?). The clock would then freeze in the middle of its chime and would not run again until the Torah at shalosh seudos had ended. This happened quite often. When the Torah was finished, the clock went on chiming and ticking from where it had stopped, making up whatever it had missed during the pause.

The Shinover Rav would conclude the story with these words: “See how even an inanimate object such as a clock showed derech eretz (manners) toward the words of the tzaddik.”