In 1933, Rabbi Yisrael Bekmeister (1877-1954) published a twenty-page collection of
hasidic tales. The collection included a fascinating tale that speaks to assessing the past
year, as we approach the High Holy Days.
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Bekmeister’s slender booklet included fifteen tales and was designed as the first part in a
series. The author was a rabbi and an educator, but he liked to refer to himself as a maggid
(preacher). In the introduction to the booklet, Beckmeister wrote that he had already
collected some 250 tales. The title page of the first edition promised, “The other parts
will appear soon.” Alas, Bekmeister did not publish subsequent volumes. Beckmeister
also promised to include “many pictures.” In this first instalment, only one image was
included – that of the Baal Shem of London, Hayim Samuel Jacob Falk (1708-1782), an
image often mistakenly identified as the Besht. Regrettably, Bekmeister made this same
mistake.
Also on the title page, Bekmeister identified himself as the author of several works:
Kedushat Yisrael – on the Torah; Mo‘adei Yisrael – on the festivals; Bar Yohai; and more.
Only Bar Yohai (Tel Aviv 1931) was printed in the author’s lifetime – a sixteen-page
pamphlet dedicated to Lag Ba-‘omer that includes customs relevant to that day and
stories about Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai. Other volumes were published posthumously.
Following a brief introduction, Bekmeister warned others not to print this book “in any
language whatsoever and in any place at all.” To bolster his admonition, Bekmeister
referred to both Jewish law and state law. Despite the clear warning, the booklet was re-
issued in 1968, 1984, and 1987. In these printings, the warning was erased, but perhaps
permission to reprint had been procured from Bekmeister’s descendants.
In 1969, Bekmeister’s son, Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Bekmeister (1906-2007), reprinted
the original collection together with another 302 tales that his father had left behind in
manuscript. A second edition of this full work was printed in 1975, which included
Bekmeister’s autobiography.
Following its appearance in 1933, Bekmeister’s tale of preparation for the High Holy
Days quickly became a classic.
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One Yom Kippur eve, Rabbi Elimelekh of Leżajsk (1717-1787) said to his students: “If
you want to know how to do kapparot, you should go to the tailor who lives at the edge
of the city.”
Kapparot, meaning “atonements,” refers to the ritual traditionally performed before Yom
Kippur. It involves waving an item over the head while reciting biblical verses (Psalms
107:10, 14, 17-21; Job 33:23-24) and then declaring that the item takes the place of the
person – “This is my exchange, this is my substitute, this is my atonement.” Two items
are commonly used: either a chicken that is then ritually slaughtered and donated to the
needy, or money which is donated to the needy. In both variants, the charity serves as an
atonement. As for the person who performed the ritual: “I will enter and proceed to a
good long life and to peace.”
Rabbi Elimelekh’s disciples would have expected to see one form of this pre-Yom
Kippur ritual at the tailor’s home. Before dawn on the morning before Yom Kippur, the
students went to the tailor’s home and stood at the window. They peered inside and saw
that tailor and his children prayed with simplicity; just like all the tailors. There were no
noticeably kabbalistic forms, ecstatic prayer, deep meditative states, or unique rituals.
After they finished praying, they all dressed in Sabbath finery, lit candles, and set the
table with all manner of delicacies. The family then sat down at the table with great joy.
The tailor opened a cupboard and took out a book that listed all the sins that he had
done since last Yom Kippur.
“Master of the universe,” said the tailor, “The time has arrived today to make an
accounting between us for the sins we have done, because it is the time of atonement for
all Israel.” The tailor then began to detail each sin that he had committed during the year,
as they were inscribed in that book.
After he concluded, he took out of the cupboard a book that was bigger and heavier than
the first book, and he said: “Master of the universe, first I considered the sins that I
committed, and now I will enumerate the sins that You committed.”
The tailor then began to detail all the pain and suffering, tragedy and grief, and the
sickness and financial loss that happened to him and to his family over the whole year.
When the tailor finished listing God’s sins, he said: “Master of the universe, if we truly
and honestly do the calculation, You owe me more than I owe You. But I don’t want to
get into a the details of the calculation with You, because today is the eve of Yom Kippur
and everyone must make peace with his fellow. And the therefore, we will forgive You
for the sins You have committed against us, and You too will forgive us for the sins we
have committed against You.”
The tailor then poured a glass of vodka, recited the blessing, and declared in a loud voice:
“l’haim, to life! Master of the universe, behold we forgive each other for all that we have
sinned one to another. And all the sins – whether they are our sins or whether they are
Your sins – are cancelled and nullified; as if they never existed.”
The narrator then described the scene – And then they ate and drank with great joy –
before turning back to Rabbi Elimelekh’s disciples who were crouching outside the
house and following what was going on.
The students returned to Rabbi Elimelekh and told him all that they had seen and heard,
and they said that the words of the tailor were – in their estimation – very harsh and
extremely impertinent towards Heaven.
The holy Rabbi Elimelekh of Leżajsk responded: “You should know, that the Holy One
blessed be He – He Himself together with His heavenly entourage – come to hear the
words of the tailor that are said with great simplicity.
“And from the tailors’ truthful words,” – referring to the fact that God’s sins against us
are more heinous than our sins against God – it becomes [a time of divine] will and
rejoicing and great joy in all the mystical spheres.
The writer is a senior faculty member at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies and is a rabbi in Zur
Hadassa.
