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Hidden Intentions

A story ofRav Yisroel Friedmanהרב ישראל בן שלום שכנא פרידמאןProfile ›

Once Rav Uri of Strelisk and Rav Yisroel of Ruzhin met. Sitting opposite one another, they spoke about the price of wheat, barley and other grains in the market. Rav Eliezer of Taprov, a chassid of Rav Uri, who later became a Rizhiner chassid after Rav Uri passed away, sat there dumbfounded. Was this what these two great tzaddikim were discussing? And Rav Uri asked the going price of grain, and the Rizhiner's answer was wrong.

“Excuse me,” Rav Eliezer interrupted, “but that price is a mistake. It is not the current price.” The Rizhiner raised his eyes and fixed the chassid with a cold stare. “If you have no idea what we are talking about, don't interrupt,” he thundered.

They then ordered everyone present to leave so that they could continue without interruption. The chassidim understood that whatever the two were discussing was clothed and hidden within the seemingly ordinary talk. Afterward, each sent the other his tefillin straps as a gift. Who can understand the ways of such great tzaddikim, or their hidden intentions?

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