A Peasant at the Seder Table | Rabbi Aharon Weinberg

One of the greatest Tzaddikim that we had was the Heiliger Rebbe, R' Bunim from Peshischa. And many of his Talmidim wanted to be at his Seder night table. But he had a custom that he would not allow nobody to come, only a group of selected Talmidim. And it was one of his Chasidim who was a businessman, who so wanted to be, arranged it so to be that he got to the city of Peshischa a day before Pesach, and he made it like if he got stuck, and then he sent in a request to the Rebbe, R’ Bunim, Please, can I be by your Seder table, because I'm stuck in Peshischa. I have nowhere to go. And the Rebbe answered him: I'll allow you this time to come, but only under one condition, that you make a vow, you promise to me you're not going to tell nobody anything that you see at my Seder night table. And the Chosid promised to the Rebbe. A few years had passed and the Rebbe, R’ Bunim, passed away from the world. And then the Talmidim and the Chasidim surrounded him and asked him, Please, give us over something. So he said the following. When it came the moment that they opened the door to שפוך חמתך, in walked a peasant, a farmer, dressed with very dirty clothing, on top of his jacket he had a tight, thick rope, and he walked up straight to the Rebbe, and they started having a discussion in Polish about the wheat, about the vegetables, and they got into an argument about the prices and when they should sell it. And then the Rebbe got up and walked him out the door. When the heiliger R’ Mendel of Vurka, זכותו יגן עלינו, who was one of the Talmidim of the Rebbe, R’ Bunim, heard this, he was stunned, he was flabbergasted. And he said: Really? I saw a very royal prince walking in with beautiful clothing, a very aristocratic person. And he walked up to the Rebbe, and they had such a beautiful, soft discussion. So eloquently they spoke to each other. And then the Rebbe walked him out, as well. And then the Rebbe, R’ Mendel of Vurka, זכותו יגן עלינו, started to cry and he said, I guess this was Eliyahu Hanavi himself. And if you saw him in the image of a peasant, and I saw him in the image of a royal prince, is it humanly possible to imagine in what image the Rebbe saw him? Which means you could see Eliyahu Hanavi in many images, in many levels. So, too, we have to remember that every single Yid could be seen with a view of many levels, of many images. The Zohar Hakadosh says that Leil Haseder, the Ribono shel Olam and the whole Pamalya shel Maalah, all the Mal’achim and Srafim come down to each and every Jewish home. And as the Pasuk says in Yechezkel, So it was the night that we left Mitzrayim then, and so it is forever. As we say in the Haggadah, The Ribono shel Olam comes over us and looks at us and He sees us. And we have to remember, Sometimes we see each other, a family member, a child, or we see ourselves in an image that's so low, that's so not nice, because we know who we are, we know our weaknesses. We have to remember if we come in front of a Tzaddik, we appear with such beauty, because the Tzaddik could look into the inside of our Neshama and see the beauty of the Yiddishe soul. The Mal’achim see us even with a more glorious view. But it's impossible to describe and imagine with what glorious beauty the Ribono shel Olam looks at us and sees us. He tells us: בני בכורי ישראל. You're a royal prince. You're the most beautiful thing there is. And this look of the Ribono shel Olam on us infuses us with strength and with Koach, consciously and subconsciously on this night. And let's utilize the opportunity to make a change, to remember who we really are and continue this view and look upon ourselves forever and ever.