ויתן חנו בעיני שר בית הסוהר (וישב לט:כא)

And Yosef found favor in the eyes of the head prison warden.

Reb Shaya’la Kerestirer zt’’l retold a story on his Rebbe, Reb Hershele Lisker zt’’l. 

“My Rebbe, Reb Hershele Lisker zt’’l, used to bestow blessings upon a non-Jew if he saw that this non-Jew would do good towards a Jew in the future.”

Reb Shaya’la Kerestirer was once in the room of his Rebbe, Reb Hershele Lisker, when a distraught woman came crying to the Rebbe that police arrested her husband for no reason and that he was imprisoned in the Great Kalev Prison.  The woman said she was not leaving the Rebbe’s quarters until she obtained her husband’s release.

Reb Hershele told the woman to travel to the Kalev Prison to find the head prison warden and tell him that the Lisker Rebbe commanded that he release her husband.

The woman went to Kalev, found the prison warden, and related the Lisker Rebbe’s message. The head warden was surprised to hear the mention of the Lisker Rebbe, and he immediately told the woman to find her husband.  

As soon as the woman found her husband among the prisoners, the head warden issued his release stating: “Please tell your Rabbi that I released a Jew and fulfilled his request!”

Reb Shaya’la continued the story: “The head prison warden was a poor man before he took on this post.  He once overheard two Jews saying they wanted to travel to the Lisker Rebbe for Shavuos, so he offered his services as the wagon driver.  During Yom Tov, the wagon driver tended to the horses and, from time to time, dropped into the Shul and saw strange activities that he’d never witnessed.

He saw the crowd praying and learning throughout the night and, in the interim, heard wondrous stories from chassidim about their Rebbe.  When the two chassidim wanted to return home after Yom Tov, the wagon driver said he wanted an audience with the Lisker Rebbe.  

The non-Jew asked the Rebbe to bless him with livelihood.  The Rebbe tried to get away with it, but the non-Jew insisted he needed a blessing from the Rebbe.

The Lisker Rebbe asked him if he had ever looked for a job.  The non-Jew replied, yes. The Lisker Rebbe suggested that he apply for a job opening as the head prison warden in the Kalev Prison. The non-Jew replied that he didn’t have the experience nor the fortitude to undertake such a  mighty position—the Lisker Rebbe encouraged him to apply for the job and blessed him with success. The Rebbe also advised him to be friendly to visiting prisoners families, for they would handsomely repay him for his favors.

The non-Jew did what he was told and, within a short time, obtained a high position and became very wealthy.  He was so grateful to the Lisker Rebbe that he gathered many gifts, loaded his wagon, and traveled to Lisk to thank and repay the Rebbe.

The Lisker Rebbe wouldn’t accept gifts from a non-Jew, so he told the prison warden: ‘If you truly want to repay me, promise me that when I ask you a favor, you will willingly comply.’

“And thus,” concluded Reb Shaya’la, “the woman’s husband was released at the Rebbe’s command.”