The Boy Who Led His Father Through the Street

Friday, 12 Cheshvan 5787
From "MiShulchan Shlomo" · Issue 301 · Parshat Lech Lecha · 🕯️ Shabbat candle-lighting and end times

Yaniv ZadokFrom the heart, for learning and for action

Inspired by the holy writings "MiShulchan Shlomo" (Issue 301, Parshat Lech Lecha), by our master and teacher the Yanuka, the Gaon Rabbi Shlomo Yehuda shlit"a, a hidden mystery of our generation.

There are people who pass us every day, and we don't see them. Not out of malice, simply because they don't ask. They don't knock on the door and they don't stand there holding a sign. They keep walking, with whatever they're missing, quietly.

There's a story that belongs at the Shabbat table, about one man who did see.

🚶 In the street, on an ordinary morning

It is told that the Maggid of Dubno, Rabbi Yaakov Kranz, was once walking in the street and saw a boy leading a blind man. From their clothes it was clear they were very poor.

The Maggid stopped, asked how they were, and asked where they were going. The boy answered that the blind man was his father. His mother had passed away a few years earlier, and now he was leading his father to the soup kitchen, the place where meals were handed out to the poor.

With two questions the Maggid understood everything. Their financial situation, and what lay beneath it: a boy who had grown up too early, and a father who depended on his young son.

And he didn't give them a coin. He invited them to his home.

🏠 From one meal to a home

At the Maggid's home they were given a good, filling meal, far more than they would have received at the soup kitchen. And in the middle of the meal the Maggid asked them: perhaps you'll live here, with me, permanently? I'll take care of everything you need, and I'll raise the boy like a son.

They agreed. And so they moved into his home.

The Maggid sent the boy to study with a teacher, like every boy his age. A few years later the father passed away too, and the boy remained in the Maggid's home like an only son. When he grew up, the Maggid sent him to yeshiva and watched over his learning. The boy was diligent and persistent, and became a prodigy among his peers. And when the time came, the Maggid married him to a fine bride.

The boy's name grew more and more famous, until he was appointed rabbi of the city of Brody. This was Rabbi Shlomo Kluger, whose Torah is studied to this day.

And all of it began with one man who stopped in the street and asked, "Where are you going?"

👀 Seeing, before helping

There are three moments in this story, and it's worth separating them.

The first moment is seeing. The street was full of people, and the boy and his father passed through it every day on their way to the soup kitchen. But the Maggid was the one who stopped. He didn't wait to be asked.

The second moment is understanding. He asked, he listened, and he understood not only what they lacked right now, but what their situation truly was. A boy who leads his father every day is not just a hungry boy.

And the third moment is giving more than was asked. They were on their way to a meal. They received a home.

Most of us get stuck at the first moment. Not because we don't care, but because we're in a hurry, and because the one who truly needs help usually doesn't look like someone who needs it.

🤲 Those who groan in silence

This story is told to teach one thing: every person has a duty to turn their eyes and heart to the needs of those around them. Because there are people who groan in their want, and have no one to save them.

Notice the word "groan". It isn't a scream. It's a quiet sigh, the kind you can barely hear. Someone who screams, someone will eventually hear. Someone who groans quietly, sometimes no one ever hears.

And the reason they're quiet is usually not a lack of need. It's shame. It's hard to ask. It's hard to admit that something is missing. The boy in the story didn't ask the Maggid for anything. He only answered a question.

And so whoever waits to be asked will miss exactly the person who needs it most. Great kindness begins with a question, not with a request.

🪙 A coin or a home

And there's one more thing the Maggid teaches us. There are two kinds of help.

There's the help of a coin. You give, you feel good, and you keep walking. It matters, and it's good. But it ends the moment you've given.

And there's the help of a home. You bring the person inside, to the table, into your life. That's a commitment. It doesn't end with one meal.

Not everyone can open their home to a boy and his father. But between a coin and a home there are many levels. A standing invitation to Shabbat dinner. A phone call once a week to someone who lives alone. A regular ride to the doctor. Each of these is a small room in the home.

🌿 From Avraham, who sat at the entrance of the tent

It's no coincidence that this story comes precisely in the week of Parshat Lech Lecha. Avraham Avinu is the root of the trait of kindness. And in next week's parsha we see him sitting at the entrance of the tent, in the heat of the day, waiting for guests. He didn't wait for them to knock. He ran to them.

Avraham's kindness isn't only giving. It's attention. An eye that looks for whoever is passing on the road, and a heart that understands what they need even before they say it.

And the Maggid of Dubno walked the same path. He didn't ask himself whether this was his job, or whether someone else would take care of it. He saw a boy and a father, and opened his home.

🕯️ For the Shabbat table

You can tell this story tonight to your children, and ask them a simple question: who do you think this boy would be in your class? Who passes by every day, and nobody notices them?

And sometimes the answer is surprising. Sometimes a child says a name, and we discover they saw long ago what we didn't.

The Maggid didn't know he was raising a great Torah scholar. He only knew there was a boy who needed a home. We never have any idea what will grow from the person we bring home.

Shabbat shalom u'mevorach 🌹

🕯️ Shabbat times · Parshat Lech Lecha 5787

🕯️ Candle-lighting

Jerusalem	17:22
Bnei Brak	17:40
Haifa	17:41
Be'er Sheva	17:42

🍷 Shabbat ends · Havdalah

	Shabbat ends	Rabbeinu Tam
Jerusalem	18:32	19:11
Bnei Brak	18:30	19:07
Haifa	18:31	19:08
Be'er Sheva	18:32	19:10

Times taken from Issue 301 of MiShulchan Shlomo.