No Candles in Belz

It is told that the Bach was so poor, and his wages as Rav of Belz so meager, that he could not afford to buy candles. At night he had no choice but to learn and review by heart in the dark.

The townsfolk were stingy, and they also lacked the middah of judging others favorably. When they saw that the windows of the Rav's home were always dark at night, they assumed he was asleep. They decided that any rav who was not awake at night engaged in Torah was not worthy of serving as the Rav of Belz.

The Bach was invited to serve as Rav in Shidlov, and he gladly accepted. As he left Belz behind, he said to the ungrateful townspeople, "The reason Sodom was overturned was not that Hashem could not think of another punishment. Hashem punished them measure for measure. Their way was to turn everything upside down and backwards. Instead of worrying about the Rav's livelihood, so that their Rav could worry about their spiritual state, they worried about his spiritual state and whether he learned enough Torah, and they expected the Rav to worry about the material state of the townsfolk and their poor. Therefore they were punished measure for measure, and the city was overturned."