On the festival of Shvuos, when we commemorate the giving of the Torah, we read the vision of the ‘Merkavah’ of the prophet Yechezkel.
What exactly is this ‘Merkavah’ – Divine chariot, and how is it connected to the giving of the Torah?
Being too small, the schnell-tzug (express train), the tiny village of Kerestir, Hungary, did not merit a station of its own. The frustrated passengers were forced to remain on the train until Uhjel and then return to Kerestir by foot or wagon.
Reb Shayele of Kerestir made a special request to accommodate Kerestir, in particular to accommodate his visitors to his weekly Melava Malke meal after Shabbos, but it was to no avail.
The following week after Shabbos, as the train made its way through the Zempelin region, the engine gave a sudden hiss, the breaks creaked and eventually the train came to a complete standstill. Both the driver and engineer tried to move the train forward – but to no avail. There did not seem to be anything wrong – but the train simply would not move. Eventually the doors were opened and the passengers who were headed towards Kerestir took advantage of the situation and made their way by foot to the nearby Kerestir.
Moments later the train began to work again!
The exact same scene followed the following week.
The issue was noted and the authorities suspected the Jews of Kerestir were making a protest. An investigation was made but the Jews insisted that there was no sabotage – instead it was simply an effect of the Rebbe’s will.
After four consecutive delays, each week after Shabbos, and after confirming that Reb Shayele really had such powers, Kerestir was finally granted its own stop!
One time Reb Shayele had a visitor who began to get agitated about the late hour, worried that he would miss the train home, but Reb Shayele did not appear to be too concerned. Finally he told the visitor, “My righteous Rebbe of Liska, had the power to hold up a train for however long he wanted. I do not have such powers – but for 10 or 15 minutes I can manage.”
After the meeting, the visitor rushed off and just caught his train – which was running 15 minutes late!
In 1970 – over sixty years later – Reb Menachem Mendel, a grandson of Reb Shayele travelled to Kerestir. As the train approached Kerestir, the conductor called out ‘Bodrog-Kerestir’. Reb Mendel found it strange that only this small station was announced. He asked the elderly conductor for an explanation.
The conductor explained that all those years ago when the station at Kerestir was built, the train simply refused to move until all of the Rebbe’s visitors descended. One week the train seemed to have broken down completely. The conductor began to painstakingly investigate. He found a sleeping Jew in one of the chariots.
“Where are you headed?” the conductor woke the Jew.
“To Kerestir” the Jew replied.
“Here we are” announced the conductor.
The Jew descended and suddenly the train worked again!
“Now I don’t take any chances,” replied the elderly conductor, “I simply announce ‘Bodrog-Kerestir’ to make sure nobody holds us up!”
Some ‘chariots’ work according to the regular rules of chariots, but others are above the laws of nature.
We have been taught that the forefathers are the Divine chariot [1]. Through their connection to spirituality, they lived their lives above the laws of nature.
We have been further taught that when we received the Torah and G-d’s presence dwelled amongst us, at least in some respects, all of the Children of Israel became like the forefathers [2].
Perhaps this is why, in commemorating the festival of the giving of the Torah, there are no unique commandments. The commandments involve using the physical to connect to the spiritual. But the Torah is about using the spiritual to influence the physical.
The more we train ourselves to connect to the Torah and spirituality, instead of being subject to the rules of nature, we will be able to rule over nature! [3]
Have a supernatural Shvuos,
Dan.
Additional sources:
Stories: Reb Shayele, p. 219-224
[1] Bereishis Rabba 48:7 [2] Ramban, intro. to Shemos [3] See also Ramban, end of Bo
