Go find a man by the name of Elyakim bar Shmuel

 – 1 –

The reputation of the Arizal, Rabbi Yitzchok Luria, as a man of G-d, mekubal and holy man, who delved into the secrets of the Torah with his holy disciples in the holy city of Tzfas, had begun to spread. At the same time, there were stories about how he did miraculous things. The masses were struck with awe upon hearing about him.

Word of the tzaddik even spread beyond the confines of the Galil and the Holy Land. In Eastern Europe, the Maharshal, Rabbi Shmuel Luria in Lublin heard of him. It wasn’t with an easy heart that the Maharshal heard the news, since there had already been cases of people who had arisen, who learned and taught the secrets of the Torah to the masses, and even displayed wonders which were nothing but illusions, in order to draw the masses to the edge of the abyss.

“I must distance the people from this man so they are not drawn after him and his questionable deeds, at least before I check out the nature of his actions,” he decided.

Rabbi Yitzchok in distant Tzfas immediately sensed what the Maharshal had decided in Lublin. He knew with his ruach ha’kodesh that to be excommunicated by a great man was no empty matter and he resolved to prevent a cherem.

The Ari called two of his great disciples, who later became famous in their own right, Rabbi Chaim Vital and Rabbi Yisrael Serug, and asked them to go to Lublin and to prove that his teachings were Toras Emes and there was no reason to excommunicate him.

The two willingly accepted the holy mission. The Ari added, “Go in peace and do your work faithfully. As a reward, I advise you to go to the city of Tisewitz which is nine miles distant from Lublin, where you will find a man by the name of Elyakim bar Shmuel. You should know that he is chosen to be Moshiach ben Dovid in our generation. If the Jewish people merit, he will bring them the complete Geula, will build the Mikdash, and gather the Jewish people.”

The two men were thunderstruck by this information and prepared for this trip with trepidation.

 – 2 –

When the two men completed their mission, which is a story in itself, they headed for Tisewitz to see Moshiach ben Dovid, soul of all the generations, within the body of Elyakim bar Shmuel.

They were tremendously excited and they prepared for the encounter in purity and great trepidation.

When they arrived in Tisewitz they first went to the home of the rav of the city, to find out where this Elyakim lived. The rav welcomed them with great honor and asked how he could be of help.

“We seek a man who lives in your city by the name of Elyakim bar Shmuel. We have no further information but we must find him.”

The rav’s brow furrowed as he reviewed the distinguished people in his mind. But he knew nobody by that name. Then he tried to think of the rest of the people in the shul but again, he did not know anyone by that name.

The rav called in the gabbai. The gabbai put on his glasses and went through the list of the community of Tisewitz but did not find the name. Since the rav of the city wanted to fulfill the request of the students of the Arizal, the following Shabbos he announced that whoever knew a man by the name of Elyakim bar Shmuel should immediately come and tell him.

After Shabbos, a merchant knocked at the door of the rav. “I know a man by the name of Elyakim who lives on the edge of the city,” he said. “The man is sickly, thin and pale. He always lies in bed. He and his wife are sustained, barely, by the toil of the wife who digs up mud outside the city and sells it for a paltry sum to the merchants of bricks and mortar. I am almost certain that this is not the man you seek but since you made your announcement, here I am to tell you that I know someone by that name.”

The rav shrugged, perplexed. “Is that who you mean?” he asked the two Torah scholars standing nearby.

“We will go to his house and check him out.”

With the merchant leading the way, they arrived at the outskirts of the city. “Over there,” said the man nervously.

He pointed toward a small house that looked about to collapse, half of which was buried underground. Thick, black smoke lazily rose from a broken down chimney.

The two scholars knew that within this poverty and decrepitude they could uncover a lofty secret. They knocked at the door, went down two steps, and looked within the gloom inside.

They could see a tiny room which was nothing more than a few yards long and wide. In the center was a rickety box which served as a table. Opposite them was a large oven that also served as a bed. They could just make out the figure of a man bundled up in another bed that was on the side of the room.

“Who are you?” they suddenly heard a pitiful groan.

The two men approached the man lying in bed. They looked at him and immediately saw what ordinary men would not notice. “We are students of the holy Rabeinu Yitzchok Luria. He sent us to you. We decree with the power of the holy Torah that you reveal yourself to us.”

There was a long, tension-filled moment of silence. The man raised his head and looked at them discerningly. Then he clapped his hands and said sadly, “What can be done with the Ari and the revelations that he reveals? He does no favor to himself by revealing himself to all and he did no favor to me in revealing the secret …”

There was a tremendous tension in the air. It seemed as if a new light was suddenly revealed to the two guests who stood in astonishment, finding it difficult to contain this powerful G-dly revelation.

The sick man raised his shriveled hand toward them. “The secret has been revealed and I must pass from this world. I only ask this of you – since I will soon no longer be here, I ask that you two deal with my body and not the members of the chevra kaddisha. I also request that on my matzeiva you only write, ‘Here lies an upright and faithful man Elyakim bar Shmuel, Motzoei Shabbos Kodesh 12 Elul 5332.’”

The two nodded their agreement. They knew that it was impossible to turn the clock back and the decree was final.

As the man said, so it was. He soon returned his soul to his Maker.

 – 3 –

Few knew of the untimely passing of the anonymous Elyakim who lived on the outskirts of the city. It seemed as if not for the fact that the rav issued a request the previous Shabbos to find a Jew by the name of Elyakim, even those few would not know of him. Few visited the pathetic home of the widow to console her. She sat alone on the floor, heartbroken.

The two great men, R’ Chaim Vital and R’ Yisrael Serug went to comfort her and to hear about her great husband, though they wondered whether even she knew her husband’s true identity.

The widow felt that she could place her full trust in these two great scholars, and she poured out her heart to them.

“I was young when I married him. He was much older than me. We had no children and were alone all our years together. Although he was a healthy person when we married, a short time later he became ill. Since then, he only knew suffering and pain. Throughout the week, he lay in bed in pain. When I tried to get him to go to a doctor, he said no and I respected his wishes. This went on all week except for Shabbos.”

The two tzaddikim sat up expectantly.

“Shabbos in our home was completely different. I don’t know how,” the widow shrugged in puzzlement, “it was like the house extended on all sides and in the middle was a long table around which sat many beautifully designed chairs. On the table were all kinds of food and drink. When Shabbos began, many guests came to our house who davened with us and ate three meals. Each meal was like a royal feast conducted in a very dignified and relaxed manner, with much pomp and ceremony as befitting royalty. My husband sat at the head of the table, healthy and strong like when we married and his face shone.

“The people would listen to the plentiful words of Torah he would say throughout the hours of the meal and it was apparent that they took great pleasure in hearing him.

“It was only when Shabbos was over, after maariv and havdala, that the house reverted to the way it was previously. The size shrank, the guests left, the magnificent table and chairs disappeared, and the darkness and gloominess returned to dwell in the house. My husband became sick and weak again and returned to his bed, suffering with his pains.  This went on every Shabbos and also on Yomim Tovim.”

The widow finished her story and wiped her tears. She bowed her head and sighed deeply. The two tzaddikim looked at one another with a glow of awe upon their faces.

“Over the years, did you ever tell anyone about Shabbos in your home?” R’ Chaim Vital blurted out in undisguised astonishment.

The woman shook her head. “No. I married when I was young and lacking in all knowledge and understanding. Our first Shabbos, when the guests arrived, I thought that since a groom is compared to a king and a bride to a queen, then this happened to all grooms and brides who build their homes together. It never occurred to me that this was a wondrous thing.”

 – 4 –

“Go, my son, in peace,” concluded the tzaddik, Rabbi Shlomo Chaim of Kaidenov, this story to his son, the chassan R’ Noach of Horodoshetz. “Go to your chuppa with great joy, but for your merit and the merit of the house that you are now going to build, pray at the grave of Elyakim bar Shmuel who is buried in the cemetery in Tisewitz and pray that the neshama of Moshiach ben Dovid be revealed and appear in its full glory.” ■