Tales of the Hasidim by Martin Buber

Author:Martin Buber [Buber, Martin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-83407-2
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2013-04-30T16:00:00+00:00

The Rabbi of Lublin and the Iron Head

Rabbi Azriel Hurwitz, rav of the city of Lublin, who was also known by the name of Iron Head, kept plaguing Rabbi Jacob Yitzhak with constant objections and reproaches. Once he said to him: “You, yourself, know and admit that you are no zaddik. Then why do you guide others to your way, and gather a community around you?”

Rabbi Jacob Yitzhak replied: “What can I do about it? They come to me of their own free will, rejoice in my teaching, and desire to hear it.”

Then the other said: “Tell all of them, this coming sabbath, that you are not one of the great, and they will turn from you.” The zaddik agreed. On the next sabbath, he begged his assembled listeners not to give him rank and honors that were not his due. As he spoke, their hearts were set aflame with humility, and from that moment on, they followed him even more fervently than before.

When he told the Iron Head of his efforts and their result, the rav reflected, and then said: “That is the way you hasidim are: you love the humble and eschew the haughty. Tell them that you are one of the elect and they will turn from you.”

Rabbi Jacob Yitzhak replied: “I am not a zaddik, but neither am I a liar, and how can I say what is not true!”

On another occasion, Rabbi Azriel Hurwitz asked the Seer: “How is it that so many flock about you? I am much more learned than you, yet they do not throng to me.”

The zaddik answered: “I too am astonished that so many should come to one as insignificant as myself, to hear God’s word, instead of looking for it to you whose learning moves mountains. Perhaps this is the reason: they come to me because I am astonished that they come, and they do not come to you, because you are astonished that they do not come.”

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