המול לכם כל זכר (לך יז:י)

Every male among you should be circumcised.

When Rebbe Shulem of Kaminka zt’’l traveled to Belz, a simple villager asked him to write a kvittel for him so he could give it to Maran the Sar Shalom of Belz zt’’l to be blessed. The farmer was a simpleton and asked Reb Shulom Kaminka to write that he has a flour mill that doesn’t grind the wheat, and when it does grind the wheat, he doesn’t earn money from it since the labor is more than the profit.  And when he does earn some money, he doesn’t merit any brachah from the earnings.

Reb Shulem wrote the kvittal as follows: “יש לי מילה ולא מל, מל ולא פרע, פרע ולא מצץ דמיה – I have a mill that doesn’t grind. When it grinds, there is no profit; when there’s profit, there’s no brachah.”  He wrote it with spiritual humor, referring to the mitzvah of Bris Milah.

When Maran read the kvittel, he asked the village Yid who wrote the kvittel, and the villager explained who the person was and how he looked. Maran immediately

understood that Rebbe Shulem of Kaminka wrote the kvittel. Maran said to check if the villager was circumcised according to Halacha, but he wasn’t. A repeat Bris was performed for the village Yid, and from then on, he merited success in his business.

Filed under Parshas Lech Lecha | The Holy Sar Shalom