if you have five minutes...a beautiful story I heard last shabbos...

Every body knows how much Reb Levi Yitzchak of Barditchev loved his fellow Jews. In fact, Reb Levi Yitzchak would do anything he possibly could just to do a favor for another Jew.

Once, in his town, there was a simple Jew by the name of Shmulik. Now Shmulik was a hard working & G-d fearing man, but as hard as he worked, and as much as he feared G-d, he never managed to scrape together more than a few rubles to feed his family.

One day, Shmulik stormed into shul and demanded to see Reb Levi Yitzchak.
“Reb Levi”, Shmulik said, “I need to you to make a Din Torah”.
“And who has done you injustice, that you want to take to a Din Torah?” inquired Reb Levi.
“I want to take the Riboneh Shel Olam to a Beis Din!”
Well, you could imagine, that its not very often that the Riboneh Shel Olam gets taken to a Din Torah, and Reb Levi immediately became very excited. A date for the Din Torah was set, and soon enough, the whole entire Barditchev were gathered in the court house in anticipation of a most peculiar and unique Din Torah.

Usually the defendant and plaintiff would sit next to each other, but in this case, Shmulik sat down, and a Talis was draped over the chair next to him to represent HaShem. Reb Levi Yitchak walked into the room and with a great big smile on his face and asked Shmulik to begin.
“Reb Levi Yitchak”, Shmulik said,
“I am a hard working man. I have four daughters and would like to marry them off, but I can’t possibly afford a dowry. HaShem isn’t supposed to give a man a test greater than his capabilities, but in my case, he has! I claim that HaShem is guilty for not giving me the opportunity to perform this important mitzvah.”

Reb Levi Yitchak then asked to hear HaShem’s side of the story. The court immediately became quiet. Reb Levi closed his eyes, turned toward the chair with Talis and stood still for about twenty minutes.

At this point in a regular Din Torah, both the defendant and plaintiff are asked to leave the room while a decision is being reached. However, this was no regular Din Torah, and Reb Levi Yitchak couldn’t ask HaShem to leave the court room, because after all HaShem is everywhere! So he allowed Shmulik to stay in the court room as well. Finally, Reb Levi Yitchak and the Beis din announced that they had reached a Psak Din.

“We hereby find the Rinoneh Shel Olam guilty, and order him to pay Shmulik four thousand rubles within the next thirty days!”

Happy, but not fully convinced, Shmulik asked Reb Levi Yitchak if he could have it writing. Reb Levi Yitchak took out a piece of paper, wrote on it, placed into an envelope and handed it over to Reb Shmulik.
By now, Shmulik was so overjoyed he ran off into the forest dancing and singing his heart out. All of a sudden, straight out of no where came a fierce wind, that almost knocked poor Shmulik off his feet. Before he knew it, Shmulik’s jacket blew open and out flew his precious letter from Reb Levi Yitchak. Shmulik couldn’t believe it! He felt cheated, and robbed! Wasn’t it bad enough that HaShem made him poor, now HaShem wants to take away his victory as well!
Shmulik began running like a wild man chasing after his letter. The wind kept on blowing, and the letter kept sailing through the air, until it flew right through the window of a pasing carriage.

Shmulik caught up to the carriage, opened the door, and demanded that he get his letter back! Shmulik didn’t know that the carriage belonged to a Polish nobleman by the name of Gorki. A Jew in Poland could not just demand things from Polish nobleman! When he demanded the letter back, the nobleman became suspicious and asked him why it was so important. Could you imagine shmulik trying to explain to this nobleman what the letter was all about? The court case? HaShem? He would never understand! Seeing that Shmulik was not willing to divulge the contents of the letter the nobleman decided to take it into his own hands. He opened the letter and in great surprise saw the following:

Dear Gorki,
In front of you is a simple Jew, he is hardworking but extremely poor. He needs to marry off his four daughters but cannot afford to pay a dowry. Could you please give him four thousand rubles to help him perform this very important deed?
Signed,
G-D

Unaware of what the letter really said, Shmulik began to explain but as he began talking Gorki motioned for him to stop. Without another word, Gorki reached into his pocket, took out a pouch of golden coins and handed them over Shmulik.

The end.