(Today's Torah message is dedicated in appreciation of Moshe Reuven ben Bentzion Eliezer. May Hashem bless him in the most revealed and unlimited manner.)
One day, Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov instructed one of his followers, "If you want to learn how to be a pious man go to the city of Odessa. There, in a narrow lane in the harbor district, there lives a certain longshoreman. Go stay with him and from him you will learn the meaning of piety."
The follower eagerly traveled to Odessa and located the man the Baal Shem Tov had described. He offered the man a modest sum in return for a few weeks' lodging, and settled in to observe the conduct of his pious host.
The visitor expected long hours of prayer each morning, followed by study by candlelight through the night..but he was disappointed. His host proved to be a simple Jew, who arose early each morning, prayed simply and quickly, and went off to work at the docks. In the evening, he would return, recite the evening prayers, eat his simple meal, and go to sleep. And so, the follower spent the better part of the week growing no wiser.
Now the dock worker's garret consisted of a single dim room, its only window, a small pane set high in the wall. One day, while his host was away at work, the restless and curious visitor climbed up onto a table to look out the window. To his dismay, he found himself looking out into a backyard where all sorts of criminal activities seemed to be going on.
When his host returned that evening, the man asked him: "Tell me, how can a Jew live in such proximity to neighbors as these? Couldn't you find a place to live that is not back to back with such an establishment?"
I've lived here for twenty years," answered the longshoreman, "and not once did it occur to me to look into strangers' yards to see what they were doing. You, on the other hand, are hardly here a few days, and you're already climbing on tables and spying on every sinner in the neighborhood."
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