Rav Yehuda Leib Yaltushkov

How He Came to Be Called Leib Sarah's

It is told that Sarah, the daughter of a Jewish innkeeper, was a girl of great beauty. Yet her beauty never turned her head. She remained modest and G-d-fearing, obedient to her father and a right hand to her mother.

One day the son of the local landowner caught sight of Sarah and fell in love with her at once. That evening he came to his father. “Father,” he said, “I have seen a Jewish girl I must have. If I cannot have her for a wife, I will surely die of heartbreak. You must get her for me.”

“Who is she?” his father asked with concern. “The daughter of your Jewish tavern keeper,” the son replied. The landowner could not bear to see his son unhappy. The very next day he summoned the tavern keeper and demanded his daughter. “I would rather not think of what will happen to you if you refuse,” he warned.

“Let me go home and think the matter over,” the Jew said in anguish. “I will bring you an answer in a week.”

He returned home in despair. How could he break such news to his good, pious daughter? She too, he was sure, would rather die than marry a gentile. The family gathered to find a way out, and in the end it was Sarah who thought of the plan.

“Father, what about Rabbi Yosef, the old melamed?” she asked. He was an elderly man whom the innkeeper had hired to teach his young sons, and he had been with the family for several years. “What about him?” her father asked in confusion. “Why can I not marry him?” said Sarah. “Then we will run away from here, and hopefully the landowner will be powerless to do anything. Besides, his son will surely lose interest in me once I have married an old man.”

The tavern keeper did not wish to see his lovely young daughter married to a man older than himself, but he could see no better way out. The old man was called, and he had no objection to marrying Sarah, even though he might be risking his life. The two were married quickly and quietly and left for a nearby village.

Three days later the landowner came for his answer. He was shocked to learn what Sarah had done to escape marrying his son. After making his own inquiries and learning that the marriage had been her own idea, he chose not to pursue the matter. Still, he found it hard to believe that a beautiful young girl would prefer an old man to a young, wealthy and handsome nobleman.

Sarah's husband was a tzaddik nistar. He had known all along that his employer's lovely daughter was destined to be his wife, and he had come to that village as a melamed to wait for the right time. He had had his doubts, fearing that her beauty might lead her astray, but in the end everything turned out for the best.

Right after the wedding, the melamed took his young bride aside and made her a promise: “Since you had the moral strength to choose an old man instead of a young duke who would have given you a life of luxury and ease, you will be blessed, and your name will spread all over the country. I promise you that you will bear a child whose light will shine far and wide, who will commemorate your name all his days.”

The following year a son was born to them, and they named him Arye. As he grew, it was clear that he was destined for greatness. His father did not live long to enjoy his young treasure, and it was Sarah who raised him, teaching him good deeds and making sure that he learned Torah. She lived to see him called by her name: Reb Leib Sarah's, as he was known ever after.

The Trusting Chassid

It is told that a chassid named Reb Zalman was all set to travel to nearby Berdichov on business. With his money in hand, he went to the market to find a wagon driver who could take him to Berdichov and back. He had just begun talking with one of the wagon drivers when Reb Leib Sarah's came up to him.

“What brings you here?” Reb Leib Sarah's asked. Zalman explained that he was on his way to Berdichov to buy merchandise. “I am in desperate need of a large sum for three months,” said the tzaddik. “Please lend me your money.”

It was impossible to refuse the tzaddik, especially knowing that he used his money to support tzaddikim nistarim. Zalman handed over the sum, down to the last coin he owned. Reb Leib Sarah's saw the struggle on his face. “Do you have any merchandise left in the shop?” he asked. “A little,” Zalman admitted. “Very well. Go and sell that.”

Zalman went back to his shop. When his wife asked why he had not gone to Berdichov, he gave a weak excuse. Over the following days he managed to borrow enough to make the badly needed trip to Berdichov and restock his shop.

Some three months later a stranger came into the spice shop to make a purchase and took out a purse full of silver coins. In his hurry he left the purse on the counter and rushed out with his goods. Zalman ran after him, but the man was gone. He searched everywhere without finding a trace of him, so he put the purse away for safekeeping in the hope that its owner would return, and went to shul for Mincha.

On the way, whom should he meet but Reb Leib Sarah's. “Did you get your money back?” the tzaddik asked, speaking of the loan. Zalman shook his head, but then he realized that the tzaddik must mean the purse left in his shop. He hurried home and asked his wife whether anyone had come to claim it. “No,” she said. Zalman took out the purse. It held exactly the sum he had lent Reb Leib Sarah's.

Zalman hurried to find the tzaddik and thank him for repaying the loan. “Now is a favorable time,” said Reb Leib Sarah's. “Ask me anything you wish.” Zalman thought for a moment. “I would like to see one of the lamed vav (thirty-six) hidden tzaddikim,” he said at last. “That is a very difficult thing for me to grant,” the tzaddik replied, “but I must keep my promise. Go home now and prepare food for several days. You will be going on a journey with me.”

They set out, crossing hills and valleys and passing through many villages, until at last they came to a city. “Ask for the tailor whose mending shop is on that street,” Reb Leib Sarah's said. “That tailor is one of the thirty-six hidden tzaddikim. Tear your coat and go in to have it mended.”

Zalman did as he was told. As he reached the shop, he noticed a fine coach standing at the door, and inside he found a distinguished rav sitting and talking with the tailor. “What can I do for you?” the tailor asked. Zalman showed him the tear, and within minutes the coat was mended perfectly.

When Zalman put down a ruble in payment, the tailor objected. “That repair is not worth even a few pennies. Why do you pay me so much?” He refused to take the coin. Zalman insisted just as firmly: “I am traveling through these parts, and your quick service is worth at least that much to me. I will not take any change.”

The rav seated at the side now spoke up. “If this man says that in his circumstances the job is worth a ruble, then you may surely take it.” The tailor finally accepted the payment, and Zalman went back to Reb Leib Sarah's. “Do you know who the tailor's visitor was?” the tzaddik asked. “It was Rav Mordechai of Chernobyl.”

In Praise of the Baal Shem Tov

Reb Leib Sarah's once sat with a friend, and the two were telling stories of tzaddikim. When they began to speak of the Baal Shem Tov, his whole body began to tremble.

“You speak of this great tanna. I will tell you what he was. Had he lived in the times of the Geonim, he would have been a Gaon. In the generation of the Amoraim he would have been an Amora, and in the era of the prophets he would have been a prophet. Had he lived in the age of the Avos, he would have been a significant figure. What do I mean by this? Just as we say ‘the G-d of Avraham, Yitzchok and Yaakov,’ so would we have said ‘the G-d of Yisroel.’”

Why the Angels Came to Lot as Angels

“And the two angels came to Sodom” (Bereishis 19:1). When angels visited Avraham, they appeared as human beings. Why, then, did they come to Lot in their true form as angels? Avraham, famous for his hospitality, treated everyone who came to him alike, honoring simple people as much as those considered important. Had Lot seen mere human beings at his door, he would never have let them cross his threshold.

Bereishis 19:1