Measure for Measure

In the days before the war, there were almost no private yeshiva buildings; the yeshivos learned in the local shuls and Botei Medroshim of the town or city where they were located. Once, one of the gabbo'im of the shul where the Mashgiach's yeshiva studied was bothering and disturbing the talmidim. He did so often, until his interference became simply unbearable. He constantly interrupted their studies, and one day he kicked them out of the shul in the middle of the learning seder. With no choice left, the yeshiva relocated to a different town and shul.

For years afterward, whenever the Mashgiach met anyone who came from that town, he asked about the town, its shul and the welfare of the gabbai. Then one day someone reported that the gabbai had died.

"And how did he die?" asked the Mashgiach.

They told Rav Chatzkel that it was on Yom Tov, in the middle of Birkas Kohanim, that his heart stopped and he died. In Chutz La'Aretz, Birkas Kohanim is a special occasion that takes place only on Yom Tov, and the shul was in a quandary about what to do. To interrupt the Kohanim in the middle of Birkas Kohanim was impossible, yet there was a dead body in shul and the Kohanim were forbidden to become impure from tumas meis. They had no choice, and decided to take his body and place it outside the shul.

When the Mashgiach heard this, he replied, "This is the story I have been expecting to hear for some time now. I knew that something like this must happen. Just as he did, so was done to him. When he expelled the talmidim from shul, I knew that midda kenegged midda, measure for measure, Hashgocha Protis would see to it that he too would be thrown out of shul one day."