Each Man in His Tent

The holy R. Yosselle of Yampla served as a rebbe—a gutter yud—even in the lifetime of his father, Rabbeinu, the rebbe, R. Michele, the maggid of Zlotshov.

And it once happened that the news came that the Polish government had passed a decree to expel all of the Jews who resided in the villages.

And so the residents of the villages gathered together to take counsel, and they chose from amongst them two men to travel to the tzaddikim of the generation to pray on their behalf and soften the judgment against them, so that they would not be exiled, heaven forbid, from their income and their homes.

And the two men, the representatives of the village residents, traveled to the holy rebbe, R. Michele. And they put their request before him that he pray to God on their behalf, and they spent the Sabbath there with him. And no doubt the holy rabbi blessed them.

After the Sabbath, they traveled from there and came to the holy R. Yossele, his son. And they also placed their request before him. And they spent the Sabbath with him as well.

And at the Friday night meal, as he sat at his holy table and the other people sat before him, the messengers also sat at the table. And he began to recite the Sabbath song, Kol M’kadesh Sh’vi’i:

Whoever sanctifies the seventh, as is fitting for him,
Whoever keeps the Sabbath properly so as not to violate it,
His reward is exceedingly great, in accordance with his deed,
Each man in his tent, and each man alongside his pennant.

And he said, as if to himself, “What is the meaning of these words? We have to look at this carefully.

“One, why does the author repeat his idea in different words? First, ‘whoever sanctifies the seventh,’ and afterwards ‘whoever keeps the Sabbath’—they seem to be saying be the same thing. Why did he repeat the same idea in different words?

“The verse states ‘as is fitting for him,’ and then ‘whoever keeps the Sabbath properly so as not to violate it.’

“Then it states, ‘his reward is exceedingly great’—meaning, greater than if a person just keeps the law. But then it ends, ‘in accordance with his deed’—meaning that he did no more than keep the law. So that seems to be a contradiction.

“And as to the conclusion of the stanza too: ‘each man in his camp and each man alongside his pennant’—what does that have to do with the preceding lines?”

The holy rebbe explained that there are two levels. The first is a high and elevated level, when a person sanctifies even the seventh hour of the day. And just as the day of the Sabbath, the seventh day, sanctifies the six days of the week that precede it, so too this person sanctifies all of the hours of the day, for the seventh hour sanctifies the six hours that precede it. And on every day of the week he acts in this holy way, sanctifying the seventh hour in such a way that the seventh hour sanctifies the six preceding hours.

And there is a second, lower level: that a person sanctifies the Sabbath day itself so as not to violate it, heaven forbid, so that the seventh day is sanctified, in contrast to the six days of the week. And that level is of course lower.

And that is the meaning of the author of this song.

“Whoever sanctifies the seventh as is fitting for him.” By sanctifying the seventh hour, he sanctifies all the hours of the entire day. And that is of course “fitting for him.” To be on such a high level is certainly fitting for an individual—it is not expected of everyone.

“Whoever keeps the Sabbath properly so as not to violate it”—i.e., the second level, that this person keeps the day of the Sabbath so as not to violate it, which is the level of all good Jews.

“His reward is exceedingly great.” That refers to the person on the first level, who sanctifies everything and not just the Sabbath. “His reward is exceedingly great,” going beyond the letter of the law.

And so “in accordance with his deed.” That is, that whatever he says and decrees with his mouth, so will he accomplish. His voice will be heard in heaven that thus will it be.

And the rebbe concluded, “Thus, I say, ‘Each man in his camp and each man alongside his pennant’—meaning, that no Jew will move from his place.”

No one at the table understood what these words were about except for those two messengers, who understood clearly that he was speaking for them, and that he had issued his decree for them.

And after the Sabbath, when they came to the holy rebbe to take their leave, he blessed them and promised them that with God’s help, they would not be moved from their place, and that the government’s decree would be annulled, just as he had decreed on Friday night in speaking of the stanza of Kol M’kadesh.

And the messengers truly believed that his judgment of their case would stand in heaven.

And they returned and came to his honorable father, the holy rebbe, R. Michele, and told him all of this about his holy son.

He rejoiced greatly at this and said, ‘Behold, ‘greater is the power of the son than that of the father.’ His decree is accepted in the upper world. I did not give you a blessing, for at the time of my blessing, I was not completely sure. Now it is clear to me that his blessing has been accepted, with his judgment in heaven above, and so you may be assured that all of the judgments against you will be nullified, and you will not moved from the place of your sustenance, with the help of Hashem, be He blessed.”

And so it was.

Sipurei Tzaddikim, number 49