LAMED SHAPIRO

ONCE UPON a time there were a rebbe and a rebbetsin.

When the rebbe studied Torah the rebbetsin would say she
heard angels chanting, and when the rebbetsin cooked fish for the Sab-
bath the rebbe was certain that he smelled the odors of Paradise. Both
the rebbe and the rebbetsin were equally good, pious, and wise. If there
ever was a difference between them, it was that the rebbetsin could al-
most issue rabbinical judgments, while on the subject of cooking fish
the rebbe claimed no knowledge.

God had closed the womb of the rebbetsin. The rebbe would sit in
one corner, the rebbetsin in another, and they would plead to God in
silence:

Creator of the Universe, heed the prayer of your servant and bless
me with a son, so that I may teach him your Torah and good deeds . . .

Creator of the Universe, Lord of the World, hearken to the prayer
of your servant and rejoice me with a child, so that I may plant good
ways in him and teach him to do your will . . .

And the rebbe would sit down by the side of the rebbetsin and say,
"When our son begins to talk, I will myself teach him how to read and
the meaning of the words."

And the rebbetsin would add, "When our Kaddish awakens I will
say morning prayers with him, and before he goes to sleep evening
prayers."

And so the years flew by, and the townspeople began to whisper
among themselves, "If a woman has no children after ten years of
marriage, the husband must not live with her."

And this was told to the rebbe, and the rebbe answered, "I will not
send my wife away, and God will yet give me a son."

The townspeople grumbled and thought of removing the rebbe, but
later they decided that if the barrenness of his wife didn't trouble him,

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