The Chozeh's Bed

Rav Pinchos of Ostila told how his father, Rav Yosef, once learned that the Chozeh of Lublin would be passing through Ostila. Rav Yosef greatly wished that the Chozeh would choose his home for a rest stop, and he began advance preparations to host his important guest.

He knew that the Chozeh's custom was to lie down as soon as he arrived, to recover from his journey. So Rav Yosef hired a carpenter who feared Heaven to build a new bed expressly for this purpose. He explained his intentions: "When the holy Chozeh lies down on another's bed, his holy senses are attuned to the spiritual vibrations of the bed. If he finds fault with the impression left by the bed's previous occupants, he will complain that the bed is painfully pricking him, as if with spikes. Therefore I ask you, please immerse yourself in the mikvah every day before you begin your work, and as you work, think clean, pure thoughts."

At first the carpenter was afraid to undertake such a delicate task and worried that he was not up to it. Eventually Rav Yosef convinced him to carry through with the job, and the carpenter began work on the Chozeh of Lublin's new bed. Still feeling unworthy, he nevertheless carried out the task. But as he worked, he was constantly disturbed by the thought, "What a holy tzaddik will be resting on this bed."

Finally the bed was finished, and the carpenter brought it to Rav Yosef, who was overjoyed. He made up the bed with brand new linens, pillows and blankets, and he locked the room so that no one would enter and touch the bed or lie on it, even by accident.

After a few days the long-awaited moment arrived, and the Chozeh came to Ostila. He was invited to rest in Rav Yosef's home. "Please, Rebbe, come; I have prepared a room and a bed for you to rest from the long, tiring trip." To his host's delight, the Rebbe of Lublin accepted, and Rav Yosef led him to the room with the new bed.

No sooner did the holy tzaddik lie down than he jumped up and cried out, "Gevald! Es shtecht mich. Oy, the bed is stabbing me!"

Rav Yosef was greatly astonished. How could this be? Still, he tried to find a solution and said, "Please, Rebbe, rest in my own bed." The Chozeh of Lublin lay down in Rav Yosef's bed with a sigh of satisfaction. "Ahhh. Now that is better. This bed is massaging all my tired limbs; I can feel the purity and sanctity seeping through me." Soon he was fast asleep, resting peacefully in Rav Yosef's own bed.

Rav Yosef was puzzled by all of this, and when the Chozeh woke, he put his question to the tzaddik. "Rebbe, I assure you that I had this bed made brand new, especially for you. I kept the room locked, and no one has entered it and no one has ever used this bed before. In fact, I hired a Jewish carpenter who feared Heaven to build the bed with the best of intentions. What could have gone wrong?"

"No, no, Heaven forbid," answered the Chozeh. "It is not that the bed is not kosher; it most assuredly is. But every time I lay down, I felt sadness overtake me, and it pained me as if I were being poked. This bed was made by a Jewish carpenter who feared Heaven, indeed, but he worked on it during the nine days between Rosh Chodesh Av and Tisha B'Av, and as he mourned the destruction, his dark thoughts left an impression on the bed. That is what I cannot bear; I sense pain and suffering on that bed."