The Secret of the Hungarian Wine

Lesson #359 | *Friday Night, Parshas Ki Tavo, Eve of 15 Elul 5762 - Lesson for Anash (our community) groups, Part 2 (Continued from #358)

A wonderful parable about the merchant and the fine Hungarian wine, illustrating the power of connection to the true Tzaddik. The moment a person tastes the true flavor of Torah and holiness, it becomes impossible to mislead them with cheap imitations.

Sometimes it enters a person's mind to take his wife and travel to distant places, to be there in great concealment from the world. He thinks he will occasionally go to the market, look at the world, and laugh at the vanities. But the Tzaddik tells him: "A time will yet come when you will long for what was and what you left behind. If you do not long for it – you must search for it with all your strength."

The Tzaddik declares and says: "I am a treasure of fear of Heaven; I do not know why they do not search for me? Why do you not search for me?"

The Parable of the Hungarian Wine

Rebbe Nachman gave a wonderful parable regarding this: Once, a great merchant was traveling with good wine, "Ungarisher Yayin" – Hungarian wine, which was considered the finest wine in Europe in that region. During the journey, the wagon driver turned to the master and said to him: "Behold, we are traveling on this road with this wine, and we are suffering such great distress from the journey; let us taste a little. We are going through so much suffering, let us taste at least a drop of wine."

The merchant agreed and gave them a taste of this good wine. The moral refers to a person who travels a great deal with the Tzaddik – the Tzaddik gives him a taste of the Hidden Light. And whoever merits to taste it must taste something real, in the aspect of "Taste and see that [Hashem] is good."

She Perceives That Her Merchandise Is Good

Our Sages of blessed memory said: "One who derives benefit from words of Torah takes his life from the world." If we merit to taste the true flavor of the Torah, we will understand the verse:

"She perceives that her merchandise is good; her lamp does not go out at night" (Proverbs 31)

These are two statements that depend on one another: The moment that "She perceives that her merchandise is good" – that a person feels the sweetness and goodness of the Torah and the Tzaddik – then "her lamp does not go out at night." Whoever merits to taste the flavor of the true Rebbe, his candle will never be extinguished; it will never go out.

Just like that poor man in another story, who ate the grass and finally found a diamond, so too is the person who has self-sacrifice (mesirus nefesh) for drawing close to the Tzaddik – in the end, he succeeds and finds the treasure.

One Who Has Tasted Cannot Be Misled

The parable continues to relate that after some days, it transpired that this same servant (the wagon driver) sat together with a group of wine drinkers in a small town. They were drinking simple wine and praising it greatly, saying with confidence: "This is Ungarisher wine! This is fine Hungarian wine!"

The aforementioned servant said to them: "Let me taste it." They gave him a small glass; he tasted it and immediately told them: "I know that this is not good wine, and it is not 'Ungarisher' at all." The people scolded him, pushed him, and disparaged him, but he stood his ground: "I know that this is not Hungarian wine at all! I bought from a great merchant and I tasted from the real wine."

This is the message for the generations: In the future to come, when Mashiach comes, then they will know how to distinguish the Preserved Wine. Regarding the others, who did not taste the truth, it will be possible to mislead them and sell them cheap wine ("Sterbitzer") as if it is the good Preserved Wine. But they will not be able to mislead Anash (our community).

Even if they tell a person: "Have you gone crazy? Here we don't do Hisbodedus!", or try to confuse him in various ways, he will say to them: "It is very good that I discovered the truth, good that I discovered who you are," and he will immediately flee from the falsehood.

Here in this world, self-sacrifice (mesirus nefesh) is required. Whoever has self-sacrifice, it is impossible to leave him. They will not be able to mislead us, because we have tasted the good wine.

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Part 1 of 4 — Lesson #359
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