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RABBI ABRAHAM DAVID (From “ Or Haganuz ” by M. Buber) Rabbi Moshe Leib of Sassov was a devoted follower of the tzadik of Berdichev. His student, Rabbi Abraham David, who later became the Rabbi of Buczacz, pleaded with his rabbi to permit him to travel to Berdichev, for he longed to observe the tzadik 's ways closely. But his rabbi refused to comply with his request. “We read in the Book of Daniel,” he said, “of the court attendants, 'who are unable to stand in the king's court.' Our sages interpreted this to mean that against their will they abstained from laughter, sleep and other things. And the work of Rabbi Levi Yitzhak is, that he burns with an eternal flame. Everything he does deepens his burning soul. Therefore, no one can stand close to him unless he is certain that he will be able to resist laughing when he sees the strange movements of the holy man as he prays and as he eats.” The student promised the rabbi that he would not laugh, and so the rabbi of Sassov gave him permission to travel to Berdichev for the Sabbath. But when he saw the tzadik sitting down at the table and his strange grimaces, he was unable to control himself and burst out laughing. He was immediately seized by a kind of madness and the laughter went wild and did not stop, until they had to take him away from the table and send him with a guard to Sassov when the Sabbath ended. When Rabbi Moshe Leib saw him, he wrote to Rabbi Levi Yitzhak: “I sent you a whole vessel and you returned it to me shattered.” The illness continued for thirty days, and then Rabbi Abraham David was suddenly healed. Since then, he holds a thanksgiving feast every year, and during the feast he tells all the details of the tale, and concludes with the quote: “Give thanks to God for He is good, His kindness endures forever.” |