A Story Within a Story

The Story of the Levush

Rabbi Wildman relates a story that happened to the Levush (Rav Mordecai Yoffe, 16th-17th century). Then a rabbi in a small town, he was invited to become the chief rabbi in Posen. Delegates from that town brought the necessary paperwork appointing him to that position. The Levush accepted the documents but he informed the delegates that he wouldn’t be returning with them because he hadn’t yet learned how to intercalate the leap years and there was no one in their area capable of teaching him. Therefore, he would first travel to Venice in order to acquire this knowledge from the Sefardic rabbis, who were proficient in it.

The Levush ended up in the court of the esteemed Rav Aboab where he studied for three months.[1] Towards the end of their time together, they were studying and Rav Aboab’s young son recited a bracha over a piece of fruit. The members of Rav Aboab’s household all responded amen but the Levush, who was from an area where people were not careful in this matter, wasn’t paying attention and didn’t say amen.

This was an unthinkable breach, so Rav Aboab excommunicated his student for thirty days. At the end of this ban, the Levush returned to appease his teacher but Rav Aboab wasn’t interested. The Levush asked what he did that was so terrible to make Rav Aboab that angry. Rav Aboab replied that when the Levush neglected to answer amen, he was deserving of Divine execution. Therefore he does forgive him but there’s a condition: wherever he would teach, the Levush would have to instruct the people as to the great sin of neglecting amen. Furthermore, the Levush was to instruct all of his descendants that they should repeat the following cautionary tale.

Rav Aboab’s Story

Before the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492, there was a city that included a substantial Jewish community. The ruler of that city often thought to expel the Jews but he was always dissuaded by a particular rabbi who was pious and humble.

On one occasion, the ruler became angry with the Jewish community and resolved to expel them. The community approached the rabbi and asked him to intervene. He agreed, he said, but he was about to daven mincha so he would go immediately after. The people pleaded that the need was so urgent and there would still be time to daven mincha later, so the rabbi acquiesced.

The rabbi went to the palace and, sure enough, the ruler was pleased to see his friend. While they were speaking, the local priest (an enemy of the Jews) arrived. The priest started to bless the ruler with a lengthy benediction in Latin. The rabbi, figuring he had a few minutes, stepped aside to recite mincha. When he saw the Jew was occupied, the priest wrapped up his prayer and everyone said amen – except for the rabbi davening in the corner.

At this, the priest feigned outrage. “What a calamity!” he cried. “The blessing on our benevolent ruler will not be fulfilled because that Jew didn’t answer amen to it!”

When the ruler heard this, he flew into a rage and ordered the rabbi executed, after which he expelled the Jewish community as he had planned.

When one of the rabbi’s colleagues heard about how his friend had been executed, he knew that something was amiss. The deceased was known for his piety, so he must have committed some unknown transgression to warrant such treatment. The colleague undertook fasting and prayer in an effort to understand why his friend deserved such an end. Eventually, the executed rabbi appeared to his colleague and explained his fate.

“My whole life, I distanced myself from sin. Once, however, my young son recited the bracha over bread. I heard it and yet I didn’t respond amen. God restrained His wrath from me until I stood before that earthly ruler and didn’t respond amen to the benediction, recalling my sin. Therefore, tell your descendants and all mankind this story so that they will know the importance of answering amen!” Having completed his tale, the wraith disappeared.

Back to the Levush

Rav Aboab finished telling this story to the Levush. “Now you see why I excommunicated you,” he said. “It was an alternative punishment for you, in lieu of a Divinely-decreed demise. So remember to always lecture on the importance of answering amen!”

Sefer HaGan, where this tale appears, concludes that one should review this story once a month and inform others of the dangers inherent in neglecting even the amen of a child’s bracha. This is all the more true of the repetition of Shemoneh Esrei as recited in shul. [II, 16]

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1. I’m not sure exactly who is meant. Rav Shmuel Aboab was only two years old when the Levush died; his father, Rav Avraham Aboab, didn’t live in Venice. One source says it's Rav Yitzchak Aboab AKA the Mahari Abuhav, but that also doesn't fit the timeline.

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