The Secret of the Hungarian Wine: Whoever Merits to Taste the Truth Will Never Be Deceived

Lesson No. 359 | Thursday night, Parshas Ki Savo, eve of 15 Elul 5762 - Lesson for the Anash (our people) groups, Part 2 (Continued from No. 358)

A wondrous 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 is impossible to deceive him again with cheap imitations.

Sometimes it enters a person's mind to take his wife and travel far away, to exist there in great concealment from the world. He thinks he will occasionally go to the marketplace, look at the world, and laugh at its 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 feel that longing—you must search for it with all your strength."

The tzaddik declares and says: "I am a treasure of Yiras Shamayim (fear of Heaven). I do not know why people do not search for me? Why are you not searching for me?"

The Parable of the Hungarian Wine

Rebbe Nachman gave a wondrous parable about this: Once, a great merchant was traveling with good wine, "Ungarisher wine"—Hungarian wine, which was considered the finest wine in Europe in that region. During the journey, the wagon driver turned to the owner and said to him: "Since we are traveling on this road with this wine, and we are suffering such great hardship 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 analogy is to a person who travels extensively with the tzaddik—the tzaddik gives him a taste of the Ohr HaGanuz (Hidden Light). And whoever merits to taste, must taste something genuine, fulfilling the verse, "Taste and see that it is good."

She Senses That Her Enterprise is Good

Our Sages of blessed memory said: "Whoever 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 senses that her enterprise is good; her lamp is not extinguished at night" (Proverbs 31:18).

These are two concepts that depend on one another: The moment "she senses that her enterprise is good"—meaning a person feels the sweetness and goodness of the Torah and the tzaddik—then "her lamp is not extinguished at night." Whoever merits to taste the flavor of the true Rebbe, his lamp will never be extinguished; it will never go out.

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

It is Impossible to Deceive One Who Has Tasted

The continuation of the parable relates that days later, it came to pass that this servant (the wagon driver) was sitting together with a group of wine drinkers in a small town. They were drinking simple wine and praising it highly, saying with confidence: "This is Ungarisher wine! This is fine Hungarian wine!"

The aforementioned servant said to them: "Let me taste." 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 mocked 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 the real wine."

This is the message for all generations: In the future to come, when Mashiach arrives, then they will know how to distinguish the Yayin HaMeshumar (the preserved wine). The others, who have not tasted the truth, can be deceived and sold cheap wine ("Stravitzer") as if it were the good, preserved wine. But our people (Anash) cannot be deceived.

Even if they say to a person: "What, have you gone crazy? Here we do not do Hisbodedus (secluded prayer)!", or if they try to confuse him in various ways, he will tell them: "It is very good that I discovered the truth, it is good that I discovered who you are," and he will immediately flee from the falsehood.

Here in this world, mesirus nefesh (self-sacrifice) is required. Whoever has mesirus nefesh, it is impossible to abandon him. We cannot be deceived, because we have tasted the good wine.

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