A Son Like the Viledniker

It is told that the Viledniker once heard that the wife of one of his chassidim had gone back to live with her parents. He was heartbroken. He called the woman to him and said, “I want you to know that your husband loves you very much. He sits up all night in shul, saying Tehillim and davening that you should come back to him, because he loves you so much. So I am begging you, please, go back to your husband who loves you.”

She answered, “Rebbe, let it be clear to you. I did not leave my husband because I do not love him. On the contrary, I love him very much. But Hashem has not yet blessed us with children, and a house without children is more desolate than the Bais HaMikdosh. A house without the laughter and the crying of children is so lonely and so empty. I could not bear it any longer, and so I went back to my parents’ home. But Rebbe, if you want me to go back to my husband, bless me with children.” She was a clever woman, and she added, “Rebbe, if you bless me with children, bless me to have a son like you.”

The Viledniker smiled and said, “I will be very happy to bless you to have a son like me, but you must promise me something. If you will be a mother like my mother, then you will have children like me. Let me tell you about my mother.

“My father passed away when I was seven years old, and my brother was only five. My mother took care of us, and she was so good to us, so sweet and so holy. One morning she woke up and said, ‘Yisraelke, my dear child, please bring me a siddur. I have to daven, but I am too sick to get out of bed.’ I brought her the siddur, and she held it in her holy hands. And she said, ‘Master of the world, Tatte Zeese, Heilige Tatte (Sweet Father, Holy Father), I am so sick that I cannot even daven. But Master of the world, You know the truth. If I do not take care of my children, there is nobody else who will. So just for the sake of my children, Tatte Zeese, make me well.’ I swear to you, she got up, and she was well.

“Let me tell you one more thing about my mother. Think how many tears she shed and how many tefillos she offered when she kindled the lights before Shabbos. I was very small, yet I knew that the only one who prayed more than my mother was the Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur in the Holy of Holies. One Friday she was crying so much, and she must have bent over the candles, that her tears fell onto them. When she opened her eyes it was already Shabbos, and there were no more candles. Her tears had put out the flames. She said, ‘Master of the world, Heilige Tatte in Himmel (Holy Father in Heaven), I cannot live without the light of Shabbos. How can I have Shabbos without my Shabbosdike licht (Shabbos light)? But it is already Shabbos, so I am begging You, Master of the world, rekindle my light, rekindle my Shabbosdike licht.’”

The Viledniker told the woman, “I swear to you, I saw a hand coming down from Heaven and kindling the lights of Shabbos.”