The Hill of the Red Heifer

From Yerushalayim the Shinover Rav made his way to Tzfas, where the tzaddik and chassid Rav Shmuel Heller, a descendant of the Tosafos Yom Tov, served as chief Rav. He slept near Teveria and then continued toward Tzfas. The whole city came out to greet him, but they waited for many hours, because the caravan he traveled with arrived long after it was expected.

When it finally arrived, they asked the guide what had delayed them. He told them that the Shinover Rav had stopped to daven at one of the hills, and had been in such a state of dveikus that he stayed in tefillah on the spot for many hours. Rav Shmuel Heller then explained what drew the Shinover Rav to that hill.

It is told that on that hill is hidden the efer parah, the ashes of the red heifer used to purify the kohanim for the avodah in the Beis HaMikdosh. The story goes that an Arab once dug there and found a golden pot filled with ashes. He coveted the treasure and took it home. That night a tall, fearsome-looking Jew appeared to him in a dream and ordered him to return the vessel to its place. “This golden pot is full of the holy ashes of the parah adumah. You must rebury it.”

The Arab paid no attention, even when the dream came back several times. Finally the Jew warned him that his children would die one by one as long as the pot remained in his possession. Still the Arab ignored him, until the last of his children had mysteriously died. Then the Arab himself fell ill, and with his last strength he reburied the ashes, but he tried to keep the gold pot. Only when he felt death close did he bury the golden pot there on the hill, together with the ashes. That, the Rav of Tzfas said, was the spot that drew the tzaddik. He felt its vibrations, and that is where he davened.