The Tailor's Kindness

It is told that Rav Yechezkel Shraga was waiting at a train station beside a tailor named Berel when the sound of weeping reached them. The Rebbe asked who it was, and Berel went to see. A little girl had lost her purse and could not pay for her ride home. Looking at Berel in an unusual way, the Rebbe suggested that he cover her fare, because someday the favor might return to him. Berel bought the ticket, and the girl thanked him, her cheeks still wet.

Some time later an army general visited Berel's workshop and ordered uniforms for his whole unit. It was a big job, and Berel was overjoyed. Wanting a larger profit, he trimmed the cloth and made every uniform shorter than the standard length, expecting that nobody would check. The general checked. Furious, he dispatched a squad of soldiers to seize the tailor.

Berel spotted them approaching and fled through the rear door, straight to the Shinover Rav, and poured out the whole affair. The Rebbe told him to travel to Vienna and present himself to the officer handling his case. Finding out who that was took effort. A stranger finally copied down a name and address for him, but cautioned that the man was cruel and had no love for Jews. Berel went regardless.

A small girl answered his knock. She was the very child from the station. She dashed back into the house, shouting for her father to come and meet the man who had helped her when her purse was gone. The officer clasped Berel's hand and said he had long wished to express his thanks but had never learned who the man was. Berel described his predicament. The officer forgave him, assured him that his payment would be made in full, and remarked that he had always found the old uniforms overlong, since the men stumbled over them while running.

Riding home, Berel recalled the Rebbe's odd glance at the station. The Rebbe, he realized, had seen all of it in advance, including the road Berel would need to take when danger came.