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 Teaching for Simchas Torah by Reb Shlomo Carlebach 

10/06/2023 01:47:03 PM

Oct6

Transcribed by Stuie Wax

The heilege (holy) Porisover Rebbe had a chassid, a tailor who made just enough for bread and herring. A nobleman came to a shop, took a liking to him, and appointed him his tailor. When you are the tailor of the nobleman, you don't need a Rebbe, and you don't eat bread and herring anymore. He kept away from Yidden, kept his nose in the air, and was a very outstanding tailor.

One day, the nobleman came with material from Paris, and he said to the tailor, "This is the best material I ever bought, and I want you to make me a quilt like you never made before." The tailor thought," I am the best tailor in the world. I once was a chassidisher Yid; all I had was bread and herring, and now, thank G-d, I have bagels and lox."

He made the suit, and it really was beautiful. He brought it to the nobleman, who put it on and couldn't get it off fast enough. He yelled at the tailor, "This is the most terrible suit I ever wore." Cursing him, he took out his pistol and said, "If I ever see you again, I'm going to kill you," and he took the suit and threw it out of the window. The tailor picked it up and ran for his life, thinking it's time to go to the Rebbe again.

He said to the heilige Porisover, "Rebbe, believe me, it's a beautiful suit. What did I do wrong?" The heilige (holy) Porisover replied, "I'll tell you what. Undo the suit, and then put it together the same way. Just put it together, and tomorrow night take it to the nobleman, and G-d be with you." The tailor was up all night, crying over every stitch. 

The next day, he brought it to the nobleman and said, "Please give me just one more chance." The nobleman put it on and said, "This is the masterpiece of the world. I never had such a suit. You outdid yourself," The tailor went back to the Rebbe. "Rebbe, what's going on?" The Rebbe said, "I want you to know, that arrogance smells so bad. Even for a person like the nobleman, the smell was so bad he couldn't stand it. There was no other way; you had to start all over again. This time, when you put the suit together, you cried over every stitch, all your arrogance was gone and you pleaded: "Master of the World, have compassion on me. I have a wife and children. Please, God, let the suit be  beautiful." And anything you do with great humility, with tears, and with prayers, is so beautiful, so good."
 
You know, friends, once a year, the Ribono Shel Olam tells us, take everything apart and put it together again. On Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, when you do teshuva, you take everything apart. The whole world is falling apart; everything is wrong. And then comes Succos. I build the Succah and put my life together again. But do you know what I do over every stitch? I yell, "Master of the World, this is the best I can do for You, but I'm begging You help us." And on Simchas Torah, I put on this new suit and go back to my house. Suddenly, I realize the world is so beautiful; there is no day when there is more humility in the world, for this is Moshe Rabbenu's day.
 
On Simchas Torah, every Jew dances with children, and the biggest Rosh yeshiva dances with Moishele The Water Carrier, and it's clear to him: Maybe Moishele knows the Torah better than I do. Maybe the way I put my sefer (book) together was with a little bit of arrogance, and this smells so bad. So on Simchas Torah, everybody is taking the sefer apart and putting it together again gevalt, what a Torah it is, and when we put this Sefer back, we are Mamash putting it together with humility and with Joy, and the fragrance is so Awesome!

Good Yuntif!

Tue, December 3 2024 2 Kislev 5785