The Bed

As much as Rav Zev Wolf tried to hide his greatness and pretend that all his decisions and actions were based solely on deduction, there were incidents that betrayed his loftier perceptions. One example was when he stayed in Sovota at the home of a wealthy chassid, Yisroel Lassman. The devoted chassid honored Rav Zev Wolf by giving him a large, well-furnished room with a fine bed.

All that night strange sounds came from Rav Zev Wolf's room, the sound of pillows and blankets being tossed and moved. In the morning they found that Rav Zev Wolf had arranged the pillows and blankets not on the new bed but on the floor. The bed had not been slept in.

The next day Rav Zev Wolf asked that the bed be removed. Reb Yisroel agreed. He explained, to the wonder of the chassidim, that he should have known better than to buy a bed from a Polish nobleman who had used it for many years. But how could Rav Zev Wolf have known that?