Faith in Tzaddikim

A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words

A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words

My student, Refael Amar, related the following amazing story. It taught me how far trust in the Sages can reach.

I once had occasion to travel to Morocco with my business partner, who is a pilot in the Israeli Air Force. He had just recently begun embracing Judaism. I suggested that we visit the burial site of the tzaddik, Rabbi Chaim Pinto, zy”a. My friend agreed and we traveled to the cemetery in Essaouira.

The Arabic guard at the cemetery handed us a Sefer Tehillim and led us to the grave. My friend noticed the guard holding a piece of paper. His curiosity aroused, he turned to the guard, and asked him, in English, what he was holding. The guard replied, “I carry a picture of the tzaddik, Rabbi Chaim Pinto, which I once received from his grandson.”

My friend turned to me, and, speaking lashon hakodesh so that the Arab wouldn’t understand, said, “Let’s try to buy the picture off him. We’ll offer him a huge sum. He’ll surely agree to sell it to us.”

The pilot offered him a nice amount of money, but the guard would not sell it to him for any price.

No matter how much he was offered, the guard stubbornly refused to part with this picture. The pilot finally offered four thousand dollars. This was enough to purchase a home in Morocco, but the guard stood his ground and refused to hear of selling the picture.

Finally, in defeat, my pilot friend turned to me, and said, “See how much faith this gentile has in the tzaddik. This faith surely runs deep in his blood, from generations bygone. Although the picture he holds is old and worn, he adamantly refuses to part with it.”

There is no doubt that the simple faith of this Arab in the tzaddik was implanted within him due to miracles he witnessed in his merit. Therefore, this picture is worth everything to him.

  1. The tzaddik, Rabbi Chaim Pinto Hakatan, zy”a

If this guard, a simple gentile, could reach such a great level of faith in the power of the tzaddik, foregoing tremendous sums of money merely to keep his photograph, all the more so should we believe with perfect faith in the power of the tzaddikim and their merits.

 

A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words

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Additional sections

Activity of the Rav

Shiur at Kollel Kol Haim in Raanana - Parashat Shelach Lecha

Activity of the Rav

the Tzadik Rabbi David Pinto shlitah gave a shiur in the city of Modiin

Activity of the Rav

Shiur at Kollel Kol Haim in Raanana, marking the shlochim of the soldier

Activity of the Rav

Shachrit (morning prayers) in the established Chevrat Pinto, Mexico

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