Patience and Peace

In his younger years Rav Yitzchak was a man of means, and he travelled from time to time to the Chozeh of Lublin. On one visit the Chozeh remarked that if a fitting opportunity arose to work as a private teacher, it would be wise to take it. Rav Yitzchak was sure that the Chozeh had someone else in mind. Why would a man of property want the small wage of a tutor? Out of respect he said nothing and went into the Rebbe’s beis medrash.

A moment later a villager from near Ternigrad came to the Chozeh in tears. His sons were growing up coarse for lack of a good teacher, and he would pay whatever was asked for a devoted one. The Chozeh told him that if he could pay forty gold rubles, he should hire the young man who had just left the room. The villager found Rav Yitzchak and offered the sum, on condition that he travel back with him at once. Now Rav Yitzchak understood that the Chozeh had meant him, though he still did not know why. He accepted the Rebbe’s word without a second thought and went.

Before leaving Lublin he wrote to his wife to explain his delay. Her answer came after several days: he had done well to take the position, because the French, then at war with Russia, had marched through their town and plundered all they owned, even the fodder. The boys, however, were slow and grasped nothing. Troubled, he travelled back to Lublin. “Pray for them,” said the Chozeh. He did, and from then on the work went well.

The village had a minyan of exactly ten men, and once one of them refused to join the others because of a grievance. Another villager quoted the words about Yissachar, “He saw that rest was good, and he bowed his shoulder to bear,” and explained that a man who understands the value of tranquility is willing to bear anything. Whoever carries life’s trials calmly, and is never angry at another, has peace.

When his term ended, the villager asked him to stay on. Rav Yitzchak said that since he had come only on his rebbe’s orders, he must ask him. In Lublin the Chozeh told him that his time as a teacher was over, and then asked whether he had heard any worthwhile Torah thought in the village. Rav Yitzchak had no answer. The Chozeh asked again, “Is it possible that in half a year there you heard nothing?” Then Rav Yitzchak remembered the villager’s words about patience and peace and repeated them. “If so,” said the Chozeh, “you have heard a great deal.”

Years later, as a renowned Rebbe, Rav Yitzchak told this story and added that soon afterward he became wealthy again and gave away what he had earned as a tutor. As for the villager’s remark about patience and peace, he said, “I am still working on it today.”