Moshe Galante (Galanti)

The Secret of the Sheik in Damascus

It is told that on one of his missions to Damascus, Rav Moshe heard of an Arab sheik who was said to have miraculous powers of healing. Like Rav Chaninah ben Dosa, the sheik would say of a sick person, "This one will live, this one will die," and his words came true. He was also said to be expert in the seven branches of worldly wisdom. Rav Moshe was well versed in those branches himself, so the sheik's learning did not impress him. What troubled him was that the sheik seemed to know something that is not in human hands. Chazal teach that the key to life and death is held by Hashem alone, and even Rav Chaninah ben Dosa could only sense whether a patient would recover. "Is this non-Jew so holy that the Book of Life and Death is revealed to him?" Rav Moshe wondered. "I serve Hashem, learn Torah and keep mitzvos all the time. Why am I not given the same privilege?"

His curiosity grew until he sent the parnas, the most influential Jew in Damascus, to tell the sheik that a very wise Jew from Yerushalayim wished to meet him. The sheik, who had heard of Rav Moshe, gladly agreed. He received him in his villa, a place of many courtyards, rooms and gardens, which he rarely left. To test his guest, the sheik asked one difficult question after another about one of the branches of wisdom, and Rav Moshe answered each of them thoroughly and to the point. The sheik had always believed that he alone mastered this knowledge, and he was delighted to find an equal. He invited Rav Moshe to return, first once a week, then every other day. Each meeting took up another of the seven branches, and each time the bond between them grew.

At last the sheik confessed that he lacked some preparatory details of the final branch and could not use it fully. Rav Moshe said he knew it well. The sheik fell at his feet and begged to be taught, offering any price. "Heaven forbid," said Rav Moshe. "This is not for sale. But I will teach you if you teach me a different wisdom. You can pray for a sick person and see into the Book of Life and Death. That I lack."

The sheik answered that it was forbidden to reveal this to any person, for he had sworn to his forefathers to keep it secret. Rav Moshe replied that he too was sworn not to teach his wisdom, yet since the exchange would bring great benefit he held that it did not break his oath. The sheik should see it the same way, since he was not selling the secret but trading knowledge. After a long silence the sheik agreed, but warned that the risks to Rav Moshe were great. "I will do whatever you ask, however hard," Rav Moshe said.

The sheik told him to return home and, at sunset, take a vow to fast for two days. At his last meal he was to eat no meat and drink no wine. Afterward he was to immerse in water and put on fine clothing, spend the two days thinking about teshuvah and immerse often, and come back on the third day. Rav Moshe kept every condition exactly. At the start of the third night he even decided not to break his fast, so that he would meet this wisdom in true humility. When he arrived the next morning he looked weak and worn, and the sheik saw that he had done everything asked of him.

The sheik led him to a locked room that only he could open, and from there through a second locked door into a magnificent garden. In the middle was a spring that flowed into a pool, with butterflies in the air, and beside it a bench with two white cloaks. They immersed in silence and put on the cloaks. Hidden behind a grove stood a beautiful building with double doors of engraved silver. "Follow me with utter fear and trembling," the sheik whispered. Inside, the fragrance was otherworldly, and a curtain sewn with precious stones hung at the entrance to a chamber. The sheik bowed to the floor seven times before it.

Rav Moshe froze, wondering whether an idol stood inside. The sheik motioned for him to bow. Dizzy, with his eyes shut, he fell to the floor and whispered, "I shall place Hashem before me always." He had never felt such awe. "Now you may go in," said the sheik, "and there you will find the secret." Rav Moshe pushed aside the curtain and entered. Tapestries of gold and silver hung on the walls, and on the wall opposite was a tablet engraved with a menorah. Above it were the words Shivisi Hashem lenegdi samid, and the Name of Hashem was spelled out in large letters. Rav Moshe was overjoyed. His bowing had not been in vain, because the words he had spoken were written there. He bowed again and went back out.

In the garden he told the sheik that he had found nothing beyond what his eyes had seen. The sheik explained that the four large letters were the Name of the Creator. When he is asked to pray for a sick person, he immerses in the pool, enters the chamber, prays with his whole heart, then opens the curtain and looks at the tablet. If the Name shines and sparks of light seem to come from it, the person will live. If it is dark and unclear, the person will die. "Now I have told you a secret that no other human being knows," he said.

Rav Moshe returned home and wept. "Woe to us on the Day of Judgment," he said. "Look at this non-Jew. Because he honors the Name of the Creator so much, heavenly secrets are revealed to him. We, the Jewish people, are even more worthy of having Hashem reveal them to us. What can we answer when we look at how we treat the Name of our Master?"