Chapter 59

Afterward I went out to see how the child was faring (for several hours I had known nothing whatsoever about how he was faring or what his condition was, and so forth). My wife told me that, blessed be Hashem, his condition was much better and that he was sleeping. I rejoiced over this as over all the wealth in the world and thanked Hashem, blessed be He, greatly for it. I accepted upon myself to fulfill my vow—to rejoice and dance throughout the night, as stated above—and reentered beside the holy tziyun. Meanwhile, an announcement was made that everyone should go to conduct the hadlakah.

All of us went out with drums and dances. The musicians had already been playing in the courtyard since evening, and the entire place was filled with dance circles and dancing—of Jews and, lehavdil, of non-Jews as well. They sang, ‘Kulla hada mishan tzadik’ [‘All this is in honor of the tzadik’] and ‘Hada vehada mishan tzadik’ [‘This and that are in honor of the tzadik’]. The musicians played an abundance of music of every kind, and the people danced every manner of dance.

We all ascended to the roof to conduct the hadlakah. Together we kindled it, casting articles and olive oil into the fire, and there we danced a great dance to the song ‘Bar Yochai,’ and so forth, and to the other aforementioned hymns. Each time, my friend Rabbi Tzvi Aryeh received money with which to purchase more olive oil to pour into the holy hadlakah. We spent a long time in this manner. Afterward we kindled the hadlakah of Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, may his merit shield us, Amen, likewise with great splendor and beauty, its privilege having been purchased for a large sum. We danced in a circle around the hadlakah. Spirits, wine, lekech [cake], and delicacies were also distributed to everyone, and Mi Shebeirach blessings were recited for the people abroad and the people of Eretz Yisrael, and so forth.

Amid the rejoicing I too pleaded extensively for the child and rejoiced greatly over the salvation that Hashem, blessed be He, had wrought for us. We then went to the second roof and kindled the hadlakah of the Tanna Rabbi Yitzchak. From there they wished to leave the courtyard and go kindle the hadlakah of Rabbi Yochanan HaSandlar, whose tziyun was a short distance from the courtyard, near the Arab village. Before doing so, I entered to see how the child was faring and saw that, blessed be Hashem, he was almost entirely well.

My wife told me that his condition had improved completely and that she had literally witnessed a resurrection of the dead with her own eyes. She said that she would forever remember these kindnesses that Hashem, blessed be He, had performed for her through the power and merit of this holy tzadik, the divine Tanna; that she would fulfill her vow to prepare a meal; that, with the help of Hashem, blessed be He, she would also come to Meron to make the child’s peyos; and that the name of the tzadik and the name ‘Meron’ would always be precious and important in her eyes. I saw the child sitting with a black cap upon his head, full of charm, playing and amusing himself with his mother and the other women. I rejoiced over this as over all the wealth in the world, thanked Hashem, blessed be He, with all my heart and soul, and accepted upon myself to rejoice throughout the night, as stated above.

I went outside to accompany the multitude to the hadlakah of the Tanna Rabbi Yochanan HaSandlar. I encountered the manager of the Egged company in Tiberias, an observant man and a Karliner Chassid. He was a friend and acquaintance of ours and of all the members of our fellowship, and throughout his life he would become aflame and filled with fervor at the hadlakah in Meron.

With intense yearning he told me how he remembered the hadlakah in the days of Rabbi Yisrael Kardoner, of blessed memory, a member of our fellowship, and so forth: how Rabbi Yisrael’s face would blaze like a flaming fire from love of the tzadik; how great his righteousness and uprightness were; and how on Lag BaOmer he would literally pass entirely beyond ordinary human bounds, and so forth. The aforementioned man likewise expressed yearning and spoke with me about the members of our fellowship and about Rabbi Alter Ben Tzion, who had always sacrificed himself in order to come to Meron, to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, may his merit shield us, Amen, but was now ill and unable to come, and so forth; he said that one had to plead that Rabbi Alter should be granted healing, and so forth.

I told him about the miracle that had occurred with my child: how the child’s condition had been such that he had almost ceased to possess the breath of life, Heaven forbid, and how his condition had now improved completely, and so forth; and that I was therefore obligated to rejoice and dance throughout the night, and so forth. Meanwhile we reached the grave of the divine Tanna Rabbi Yochanan HaSandlar, of blessed memory, and conducted the hadlakah there amid a multitude.