Delicious offering

In the middle of the 16th century, a converso from Portugal settled in the holy city of Safed. Deprived in his youth of the opportunity to openly fulfill the commandments, he was happy that he could finally openly confess the faith of his ancestors.

A few years later, while in the synagogue, he heard the rabbi speak of the lehem panim (showbread) that was brought to the Temple every Friday, on the eve of the Sabbath, and which miraculously remained fresh and did not go stale for seven days, until the next Friday. After explaining the numerous laws and rules associated with this sacrifice, and touching on its mystical meaning, the rabbi took a deep breath and said that due to our sins, we no longer have the opportunity to propitiate the Almighty.

Our Jew took these words to heart. Returning home, he asked his wife to bake special challah by Friday. He told her all the laws and regulations he had memorized from the showbread lesson. It was necessary to sift the flour thirty times, roll out the dough in a state of ritual purity and carefully bake the bread in the oven. The Jew explained to his wife that he wanted to bring these challahs as a gift to the Almighty, in the hope that He would accept them as a proper sacrifice and eat them.

The wife did everything as he said, and on Friday afternoon, when there should not have been a soul in the synagogue, our hero made his way there, hiding the bread under his clothes. He rushed around the synagogue and prayed like a prodigal son begging his father for forgiveness. He asked the Creator to favorably accept his sacrifice and to eat such fresh, such appetizing bread with pleasure. After that, the Jew wrapped the loaves, put them in the ark under the Torah scrolls, and hurried back home.

Toward evening, an acolyte came to the synagogue to complete the preparations for the holy Sabbath. One of his main duties was to make sure that the Torah scrolls were rolled up so that the next morning they could be opened in the right place and read without delay. Opening the ark, he was surprised to find some kind of bundle inside. The servant unfolded it and saw two delicious challahs. Of course, he had no idea where they came from, but he decided not to think about it, but just take them home and eat them - they smelled so good and looked so appetizing.

And they turned out to be very tasty, so the servant was extremely pleased with such an unexpected "increase in salary."

In the evening our Jew looked forward to the end of the service. When everyone had dispersed and no one was left in the synagogue, he tremblingly approached the ark and opened it with a trembling hand. There were no loaves! The Jew was happy. Overjoyed, he hurried home to share it with his wife. He innocently declared that, behold, Gd did not neglect the insignificant efforts of such an unworthy person as he, but accepted these two loaves and ate them while they were still warm! "Let's not be lazy," he said to his wife. “First, we have no other way to honor Him. And secondly, we are convinced that He loves bread, so we must please Him every week and do everything as zealously and diligently as we did the first time.

Touched by this sincere zeal, the wife willingly agreed. Since then, every Friday she baked two special challahs in the morning, carefully monitoring the observance of all, even the smallest rules, and in the afternoon her husband took them to the synagogue and passionately asked the Almighty to accept his sacrifice. Accordingly, every Friday the servant took away and ate with appetite two delicious challahs, and in the evening our Portuguese Jew enthusiastically told his wife that his modest offering was also accepted this time.

This went on week after week, month after month.

One Friday, the rabbi stayed at the synagogue longer than usual and stayed there well into the afternoon. This was the same rabbi who had once given a lesson on the showbread. He stood on the beam and thought about tomorrow's sermon. Suddenly, to the greatest surprise, he saw that one of his parishioners entered the synagogue with two loaves of bread, went up to the ark and put them inside. The rabbi realized that the Jew did not notice him, and heard how he passionately prayed to God, asking Him to accept his offering and eat these challah.

The rabbi listened, unable to hide his surprise. At first he was silent, but when he began to understand what was happening, he felt that anger boiled in him. Unable to contain himself any longer, he shouted, "Stop!" Fool! Do you really think that God eats and drinks? Don't you know that it is a terrible sin to attribute bodily or human properties to the almighty God? Do you really think that G‑d is taking your challah? The servant must be eating them!

At that moment, an acolyte entered the synagogue, intending, as usual, to pick up the challah. Seeing the rabbi and some Jew standing in front of him, he was somewhat surprised. The rabbi immediately said to him: “Explain to this man why you have come and who takes away the challah that he brings every week.

The servant was not at all embarrassed and willingly told how it was. He could not understand why the rabbi was so indignant, why he was shouting at his interlocutor, whom the servant knew as a not very learned, but sincere Jew, and why he looked so unhappy.

Under a hail of reproaches from the rabbi, our Jew burst into tears. He was crushed: it turns out that not only did he not fulfill the commandment, but, on the contrary, he committed a grave sin. He apologized to the rabbi and begged for forgiveness for misunderstanding his lesson about showbread. He left the synagogue in despair, burning with shame. How could he be so wrong? And what to do now?

Shortly thereafter, the messenger of Ari (Rabbi Yitzhak Luria) entered the synagogue and addressed the rabbi. On behalf of his mentor, he told him to hurry home, say goodbye to his family, and make final preparations, because by the time he was to deliver his sermon tomorrow, his soul would already have found eternal rest. So, said the messenger, it was decided in Heaven.

The rabbi couldn't believe his ears, and Ari's disciple couldn't explain anything. The rabbi had no choice but to go to the r. Luria, who confirmed everything said by the messenger and added: “I heard that it was because you deprived God of pleasure, the like of which He has not experienced since the destruction of the Temple.” Indeed, it was precisely such pleasure that He felt when a simple, ignorant Jew brought two magnificent loaves to your synagogue every week in order to sincerely, from the bottom of his heart, with joy and trembling, dedicate them to Him, believing that G‑d really takes them to Himself — until those as long as you have not deprived him of this naive faith! You've been sentenced to death for this, and there's no way to overturn it.

The saddened rabbi returned home and told his family about everything that had happened. And indeed, the next day, by the time he was supposed to deliver his sermon, his soul flew off to study Torah in the Heavenly Yeshiva, just as Ari predicted.

Source: The story was written based on the materials of the book “Minhat hahamim” (“Offering of the Wise Men”), the author of which, r. Moshe Chazig (b. 1572), wrote that he heard it from trustworthy residents of Safed who were eyewitnesses of these events.