The Coachman's Helper

Rav Ovadia Yosef used to tell this story about the Beis Halevi to illustrate the Mishnah in Avos: "Apply yourself to the study of Torah, for it is not something you can just inherit" (Avos 2:17).

When Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik was still a bochur in the Volozhin yeshiva, he heard from his uncle, Rav Yitzchok, about the great gaon Rav Shlomo Kluger, and about his greatness in Torah and yiras Shomayim. He longed to meet Rav Kluger, to discuss Torah with him and to bask in his presence. The difficulty was that Rav Kluger lived in Brodie, in Galicia, very far from Volozhin, and the young Yosef Dov had no money and no way to get there.

One day he overheard guests at the yeshiva discussing their travel plans and saying that they were headed for Brodie. He thought of a plan. He went to the coachman and offered to work as his helper. "The journey is long, and surely you need extra hands," he said. "I can take the reins so you can rest, and help you feed and harness the horses when we stop."

The coachman looked at the pale, thin yeshiva bochur, who had clearly never done hard physical work, and doubted that he could manage. "And what wage are you asking?" he asked.

"I need to travel to Brodie, so I am willing to work for nothing. My only pay will be a bed when we stop for the night and some simple food for the road." Free help appealed to the coachman, and he agreed. "Let us start by harnessing the horses and getting the wheels ready for the road."

Yosef Dov had never done manual labor. His soft hands, so used to turning the pages of the Gemara, soon bled from the hard leather harness and were burned by the hot tar smeared on the wheels. But he did not complain. Exhausted, he held the reins while the coachman dozed, and his mind reviewed the Torah he was so eager to discuss with Rav Shlomo Kluger. He was so absorbed that the horses wandered off the road. The jolt woke the coachman, who grabbed the reins in alarm and steered the horses back.

"You lazy slouch," he shouted, and he slapped the young bochur across the face. "That will teach you to keep the horses on the road." Yosef Dov said nothing. He accepted the rebuke and resolved to work harder.

After several hard days they reached Brodie. The young bochur knew no one there and began asking for the home of Rav Shlomo Kluger. When the door opened, the household found a dirty, unkempt, ragged youth, not the yeshiva bochur he claimed to be. "You say you are a grandson of Rav Chaim of Volozhin?" the servants asked doubtfully. Even Rav Kluger had his doubts, for the youth's torn clothes and cut, dirty hands looked far more like a coachman's than a talmid chacham's grandson. "Where is your letter of introduction?" he asked.

Yosef Dov had none, but he asked to prove himself another way. "Let me instead tell you the answer I prepared to a difficult Rambam." As he spoke, his Torah knowledge convinced Rav Kluger that he was who he said he was.

"Forgive me for mistaking you and for doubting your word," said Rav Kluger. "Your Torah is true, and to make it up to such a budding gaon and talmid chacham, you will have the honor of giving the derosha in my place this Shabbos in shul."

Brodie was full of talmidei chachamim, and the whole town, young and old, packed the shul to see and hear the young prodigy whom Rav Kluger had honored. Everyone came, even the coachman. When he saw who stood giving the Shabbos derosha, he nearly fainted. He burst into tears, came to Yosef Dov and begged forgiveness. "I am so sorry that I treated you so harshly and even slapped you."

Rav Yosef Dov forgave him wholeheartedly. "If you had slapped me for not knowing Torah, and called me a simpleton who does not know how to learn, you would be liable," he said. "But you told the truth. When it comes to handling a coach and driving horses, I am a true am haaretz."