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 | Blogs > kabbalah69 > etz chaim > The Bitter Herb - a tale of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov |
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It once happened in Old Russia, that two beggars, a Jew and a Christian, were sitting together in the homeless shelter, comparing notes about when and where to get the best handouts. The Christian, whom we shall call Ivan, was saying that the churches gave out a lot of free goodies in Easter baskets. But the Jew, whom we shall call Jacob, said that the best time to get really good handouts was at Passover time. "It's written right there in the Haggadah," Jacob said. "It says: 'Let all who are hungry come and eat!.' And they really mean it, too. It's a long-standing custom among the Jews to invite a poor person home to the seder feast. And you have never had such wonderful food as they make for the Passover seder!" Ivan was curious to try a Passover dinner, so Jacob agreed to talk to the rabbi and make some arrangements. In those days, you couldn't just bring a non-Jewish friend to a Passover seder. No indeed! The Tzar's spies were everywhere, looking for excuses to persecute the Jews. Since the theme of Passover is about freedom, there was bound to be some criticism of the government around the table, and it was just too risky to have a Russian gentile overhear that! In order for Ivan to go to the seder, he would have to pass for a Jew. Ivan already had a nice thick beard, so, with a change of clothes, he looked quite Jewish already. The problem was, that the seder would be conducted in Hebrew, and the discussion would be in Yiddish -- and Ivan didn't know either language. So Jacob suggested that Ivan should pretend to be deaf and unable to speak. "When they talk to you, just point to your ears and your mouth and shake your head 'No.' That way, they won't expect you to understand the words. Just watch carefully, follow the leader, and it will be OK." So that's what they did. After the evening service at the synagogue, Jacob went up to the rabbi and said, "My friend, er, uh, Isaac here, is from out of town. He's deaf and can't talk and has a very hard life. I'd like you to fix him up with a really nice seder at a rich man's house, so he can have a good Passover meal. Me, I'll just go to the usual place where I go every year, since it might be an imposition to ask somebody to feed both of us." "OK," said the rabbi. "The Greenbergs are still looking for a poor guest to invite to their table -- he can go there." So Jacob pointed out Mr. Greenberg to Ivan/Isaac and told him to follow the man home. Which he did. Jacob, in turn, went to another local family that had already invited him earlier. About two o'clock in the morning, Jacob came back to the homeless shelter, feeling pretty good and singing merrily. After all, he had had four cups of wine and a big feast, and the woman of the house had insisted that he take a big bag of leftovers. So he was in a very good mood indeed! But when he got to the shelter, there was Ivan, stone cold sober and looking very angry. "You call that a feast?" Ivan shouted angrily. "You Jews are crazy! If that was a feast, I'd hate to see what you call starvation!" "tell me what happened," Jacob said, puzzled. "Well," said Ivan, "I did what you told me, and followed this Greenberg fellow home. The table was set with the finest china and silver, fit for a king. I thought to myself, 'Oh boy, oh boy, this is really going to be great!' Sure enough, we gathered around the table and stood for a long toast, then drank a full cup of wine. It was really good wine, too! Since I had not eaten anything all day, the wine went straight to my head, and soon I was feeling pretty good." Then what?" said Jacob. "They brought out a plate with some little slices of boiled potato on it. Everybody made some kind of blessing, then daintily dipped one piece of potato in some salt water, and ate it. So I did the same. Then Mr. Greenberg broke one of the matzahs in two, wrapped the bigger piece in a napkin and set it aside, and put the other piece back on the plate. Then they started talking. And talking. And talking. It went on for hours. By now the effects of the wine were wearing off, and I was getting thirsty again. But when I pointed to the bottle and the cup, they kept shaking they heads 'no.' Finally, when I was about to faint from hunger, they served the matzah." "So nu, did you like it?" Jacob asked. "Like it?" replied Ivan. "It was awful -- it tasted like hem-stitched cardboard! Dry as a bone, too. And I was still hungry. So I thought to myself, man, are these Jews stingy! The next thing that comes down that table, no matter what it is, I'm going to take a big handful. Sure enough, a plate of something whitish came along, so I grabbed a big handful and stuffed it in my mouth. Ai-ai-ai! It was pure grated horseradish! I felt like flames were coming out of my ears! So I let out a scream, ran out the door, and came back here. Like I said, you Jews are crazy!" Jacob shook his head sadly. "Ivan, my friend, it's too bad you didn't hang in there just a little bit longer. Because after you eat the bitter herbs, then comes the feast!" |
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6/14/2008 2:29 pm |
yeah that is one unbelieveable story.
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4/11/2008 3:37 am |
I like the story, it's nice to tell stories around the seder table ! thanks for sharing
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