A woman came to the Besht to ask for a donation, holding a child in her arms. The Besht asked her to sell him the child, to remain his (the Besht's) child. The woman refused, explaining that the child is her livelihood – when she is seen with the child in her arms, [people] they have mercy on her.

The Besht offered her a room in his household as well as clothing to convince her to leave the child with him. She agreed, however, and said that she would have to wash the floors. "No", replied the Besht, "I want you and your child to stay with me only as honored guests".

The Besht raised the child – he grew to become a fastidious student – and was considered a genius (Illuy). Everyone called him the Besht's child.

The 'whole world' came to the child's Bar Mitzvah. The affluent as well as Rabbis fought over him; the finest and wealthiest marriage proposals (shidduchim) were offered to the Besht – but the Besht said that he was not yet looking for a prospective mate (shidduch) for the boy.

When the guests left The Besht called in R' Wolf Kitzis and bade him to go to a village wherein lived a teacher with five very unseemly daughters and to arrange a match (shidduch) with the eldest daughter. He also told him to underwrite expenses for the wedding, wedding clothes for the groom and bride, and also for the whole family.

1. Wolf Kitzis came to the teacher with his mission –

– and the teacher started crying – “It is not enough that I am a pauper with 5 girls to marry off – but you come here to make fun of me.” But when R' Wolf convinced him that he was serious – he agreed – [when he realized] that the Besht was fully committed – he replied – I'm committed too – and they immediately sealed it with a handshake. But when R. Wolf saw the bride, he became quite distraught (lit: dark before his eyes) – she was so old and unseemly. It made him so unsettled – that he completely forgot to settle upon a wedding date.

When he returned to the Besht, the Besht asked him if he had settled upon a wedding date. R' Wolf began to weep, saying what a misfortune it would be to go ahead with the shidduch.  However, the Besht just told him to go back and settle upon a wedding date – so R' Wolf obeyed.

To the wedding came a large and respected multitude. The Besht himself went to receive the bride and the in-laws and the joy was immeasurable. However, when the crowd saw the bride, tremendous weeping befell them and in sadness overcame them. He ordered them three times to rejoice before the groom and bride, but the people did not obey. The Besht himself called out “I know you are very distraught but listen to the story I want to tell you about the lineage of the groom and the bride.”

Once upon a time, there was a king – a great oppressor of the Jews who did not allow any Jews to live in his land. The king had an only child. One time the King's son went out to the woods and noticed a small cabin in the woods from which

shone a great light. He dismissed his retinue and went to the cabin. As he approached, he heard a sweet melody the likes of which he had never heard before in his life. When he opened the door, he saw a soldier sitting bent over a Gemara while singing a melody (this was a Lamed Vavnik) [=one of the 36 hidden tzaddikim].

The king's son asked him to teach him the melody. The soldier did not want to because he was a Gentile. If he insisted on learning it, he would have to be circumcised. The king's son agreed to take eight days off from his father to be circumcised. After this, he settled down to study and made great progress.

After six months, the '36er' stopped, telling the king's son that he could no longer study with him because he was married to a Gentile. He then assured that he would separate from his wife, who was a princess and whose father was also an oppressor of the Jews.

His wife sensed something and refused to leave him alone until he told her the secret and she too converted (lit: became a Jewish child).

Meanwhile, he continued in his studies until the soldier saw that he no longer had ample Torah to teach him – he sent him with a letter to his Rebbe. There, he continued to progress – until he became a great man within Israel.

After a while, the Rebbe also halted him, telling him that he could not progress further because he had been born a Gentile.

What then is to be done? – he must leave this world and

be created from anew. He agreed to it but he wanted an assurance from his Rebbe that in his new incarnation, he should not fall into such hands that would ruin what he had already accomplished until now. His Rebbe promised him that his achievements would not become sullied.

When he took his leave from his wife – she wanted nothing else but to take her leave from this world as well –he had to guarantee (lit: shake hands) – that in his new incarnation, he would take her back.

The Besht concluded: Well, Yidden, do you now wish to tear asunder the agreement this couple shook hands over? – this is the Prince and this is the Princess – Let's rejoice before the groom and bride!

(The story was heard from the Bohusher Rebbe)

Y.F.

Aizik Bronstein