Reb Levi Yitzchak and Chametz

Reb Levi Yitzchak and Chametz

One year, shortly before the first Pesach Seder, the holy Rebbe, Reb Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, took several of his students into town. He knocked on the door of a local store and asked to buy cigarettes. The storekeeper replied, "I don't have any. Don't you know that they are illegal?" Reb Levi Yitzchak was persistent and again asked to buy cigarettes. After several requests, the storekeeper produced the cigarettes and was willing to sell them.

Reb Levi Yitzchak then approached a man walking down the street and asked if he had a cigarette. "Don't you know that they are illegal? I can get thrown in jail for possession!" Again, after several requests, the gentleman displayed his stash and offered one to the Berditchever.

Reb Levi Yitzchak then sent his attendant to a Jewish home to ask if they had a small piece of bread. "G-d forbid!" was the reply, and not knowing why the attendant was asking, continued to explain, "On Pesach we are forbidden to have any bread or chametz in our home." The attendant went to a second home and a third home, and the reply was the same.

When the attendant returned empty-handed to his Rebbe, Reb Levi Yitzchak held his hands up high and exclaimed, "Master of the Universe! The Czar forbids the importation of these cigarettes. He has soldiers and policemen to help enforce this law. But yet these cigarettes are on the streets and available to all, somehow smuggled across the border.

"Three thousand years ago, You commanded Your children not to bring bread into their homes on Pesach. You have no soldiers or policemen, yet there is no bread to be found in all of Berditchev. See how powerfully Your children love You!!"

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