STORIES FROM THE LIFE OF SAGES


spoiled psalms


A God-fearing man used every Saturday to read the entire book of Psalms, and then relax. One day while reading the Psalms to his friends came to visit. They started talking, and he began to answer them directly during reading time, sometimes even stopping for it in the middle of the verse. At some point he got angry at someone - also in the time of reading the Psalms. After finishing the book, he, as usual, went to rest.


And he had a dream: there were two angels in white in front of him and stood on his right. And then there were two angels in black and stood on the left. White angel holding a book in his hands. They said, "Look, here's the Psalms that you read today." Jew opened the book - and it was dark in the eyes! Together with the holy lines of King David in the book were written all the talk that he was in the time of reading the Psalms, and in some places even swearing appeared! All this was recorded in a row, and the Psalms instead turned out some muffled jumble. And in some places, it even seemed that there is no written glorification of the Creator, and the idols! Jew realized that those were the times when he was angry - in fact, our sages said that the one who gives the anger to rule over them, as though they served idols! He shuddered at what he saw. The angels asked, "Do you want that we presented today your reading before the Throne of Glory of the Most High?" He shuddered: "No way!" Suddenly the black angels who stood to his left, snatched the book from white angels and hastened to raise her to the throne of glory. Jew cried, pleading with them not to do this, but they turned a deaf ear to his pleas. And then he woke up.


In fear, he hastened to tell all his rabbi, a great sage. He listened to it and said, "This is a very serious offense - you can not mix the holy sayings and everyday conversations. But as you sincerely repent, Arise, and let you testify about the Creator of the world, that from now on you will never interrupt the either during school hours or at the time of reading the Psalms. " Our Jew immediately assumed this obligation. And on Saturday night, he saw another dream: white angels chased black, caught up with them, they took away spoiled the book and buried her out of sight. Since then, this person strictly follows the rule never to speak during prayer and study on extraneous issues.


In the book, "A branch of a family tree"