פינחס בן אלעזר בן אהרן הכהן…(פינחס כה:יא)

The Gaon and Tzaddik Reb Pinchas Horowitz, the Baal Hafla’ah zt”l, was one of the greatest talmidim of the Mezritcher Maggid zt”l. In his younger years, he served in rabbinic positions in various towns throughout Poland, where he lived in great poverty. Years later, he left his hometown and moved to Frankfurt am Main, where he was appointed as a Rav. There, he lived his final years in abundance and honor until his passing on ב’תמוז תקס”ה.

An old acquaintance from Poland once came to visit him in Frankfurt and was struck by the Rav’s newfound prosperity. He remarked, “I am happy to see the Rav now living in comfort, after having endured such poverty and hardship in the towns of Poland.”

The Baal Hafla’ah smiled and responded, “When Pinchas is at home—in his birthplace—it is usually bein ha-metzarim (tight and narrow).” (Parshas Pinchas is typically read during the Three Weeks, known as bein ha-metzarim, a time of national mourning and constriction.) “But when ‘Pinchas’ is in a foreign land, it is usually like Yom Tov.” (The Yom Tov readings are found in Parshas Pinchas.) With this play on words, he alluded to the idea that while living far from his homeland, he experienced abundance and joy, much like a Yom Tov.