Strong, Black Coffee

Many years ago, in a small village, lived a very old man.

One morning, the man woke up and felt very sick. The doctor was called to the man’s house, to take a look at the man.

The doctor said that the man was in a very dangerous condition, but he did not know what was wrong. He said: “Why don’t you call the doctor from the big city. He will probably be able to figure out what is wrong with this man.”

A few people went very quickly to the big city to call the doctor. They came to his office and they were let in. They said to the doctor: “Doctor, we are from the next town. In our town, lives an old man who is very sick right now. Our doctor does not know what is wrong with the man. Please come with us and examine the old man.”

So, the doctor took his things and went with the men to the next town. They came to the old man’s house, and the doctor had a look at the old man. The doctor said: “This man’s condition is very grave. There is nothing I can do to help.”

The people there did not know what to do. All they could do, is go to their Rebbe and ask him for a brocha. That is what they did. They went to their Rebbe, who was a very great tzaddik, and they explained the situation to him.

The tzaddik said: “Give this man strong black coffee, and Hashem will help that he will have a refua sheleima.”

They rushed home and right away started to prepare the coffee. The two doctors who were still there, were very surprised to see what was going on. They said: “What are you doing? This man is sick, so you go to ask for a brocha, and now you are making coffee. What did the tzaddik say?”

“Well,” said one of the men, “the tzaddik told us to give the man strong black coffee.”

“What??!!” exclaimed the doctors. “That is the worst thing for such a man!”

But since the tzaddik said that they should give the man strong black coffee, that is what they did. The man drank the coffee, and sure enough, within a few minutes, he was completely cured!

The doctors were especially amazed! Here, the old man was given something that was the worst thing for him, and he was cured.

Everyone was happy that the man was cured, and life in the little village returned to normal.

Then,…

One day, a few years later, another man got very sick. The doctor was called, but he said that there was nothing he could do to heal this man.

Everyone knew that it was the same sickness that the old man had a few years ago, so they decided to give the man strong black coffee, just like they had given the other man.

The doctor agreed, because he had also remembered what had happened with the old man. He thought that they had nothing to lose, but they really had a lot to lose.

They prepared the coffee and gave it to the man. The man drank some of the coffee, but he only got worse. The more coffee he drank, the sicker he became.

A few people were sent to the tzaddik. They told the tzaddik that they had given the man strong black coffee, but it did not help.

The tzaddik said: “What? Why did you give him coffee? That is the worst thing for him to have.”

“So what can we do to save the man? Very soon he will die,” they said.

“Okay,” said the tzaddik. ”Go home, and give this man strong black coffee. With Hashem’s help, he will recover.”

So, they did as the tzaddik said. They went home, and started to prepare the coffee. The doctor did not understand.

“Why are you making more coffee? Didn’t you see how much sicker the man got when you gave him coffee?” asked the doctor.

The person preparing the coffee was not so sure himself if he should give the man coffee. After all, the tzaddik himself said that coffee was the worst thing for such a person. But again, the tzaddik had also said to give the man coffee.

So, the man was given the coffee, and … he was cured from his sickness.

What do we learn from this story?

It was only through Hashem’s brocha that these two people were healed.

Music Around the World

The following story took place during the time of the Spanish Inquisition.

During the Spanish Inquisition, many yidden had to be secret yidden. They were called “Marranos.” They had to pretend that they were not yidden, otherwise they would be severely punished. Many times they were publicly burnt at the stake.

They would learn Torah and do all the mitzvos in concealment. They had secret minyanim in special hidden basements. Everything they did was in secret.

Our story begins when it was getting close to Rosh Hashana. Of course, one of the things that we do on Rosh Hashana is hear the shofar sounded, but how were the yidden of Spain going to hear the shofar?

The yidden of Spain could not sound the shofar in their “shul,” otherwise their secret would be discovered, and their lives would be at risk. So where could the yidden get together and blow the shofar without getting caught?

There was one Marrano who realized that this was a problem, and he thought of a solution. What would this Marrano do? Well, he was a conductor of an orchestra. It just so happened, that on Rosh Hashana there would be a concert.

The yid was not able to say: “I cannot come to the concert because I am Jewish.” Any other excuse would not work either, because there were spies everywhere and they were looking out for yidden. So, the man would have to participate in the concert.

But that is exactly where the solution for the shofar problem was. The concert was called “Music Around the World.” The concert would feature musical instruments from places around the world.

The man thought to himself: “I can get someone to blow the shofar as part of the concert. Nobody will know what the shofar is and they will think that it is just another musical instrument—a ram’s horn! That way, everyone will get to hear the shofar on Rosh Hashana, right under the inquisition’s noses!”

So, the man arranged for another yid to blow the shofar as part of the concert. Nobody knew that this man was a yid either.

Soon the word got out to all the yidden thay they should attend the concert, and buy the tickets in advance. This information was passed along in secret, of course.

As Rosh Hashana was approaching, all the yidden had obtained tickets to the concert, “Music Around the World.”

On Rosh Hashana, all the yidden attended the concert. At the concert there were all types of strange instruments. And then… there was a solo… the shofar!

The goyim thought: “What a strange instrument! Oh, but that is what this concert is about—‘Music Around the World.’” Of course, the yidden knew that they were listening to the shofar being blown on Rosh Hashana!

That is how the yidden heard the shofar being sounded on Rosh Hashana during the Spanish Inquisition.