Shalom All,

Two days ago we celebrated the Jewish holiday of love - T"u B'Av. I thought it would be a good idea to share a beautiful love story with you, in honor of the holiday. Some have you have heard it from me already, but it is such a moving story that it is beautiful even second time around...

Tzfat is known as the birthplace of the Kabbalah. It is no surprise that its inhabitants feel sometimes that they can speak with heaven itself. One night, one of Tzfats great Rabbis who was growing very old, heard the angels tell him that he would soon be going to heaven. Excited by the prospect of meeting the great scholars of the past, the dreaming Rabbi asked the angels who will be his neighbor in heaven. The angels answered: Go to road such-and-such, in house number 7 you will find your heavenly neighbor.
When morning came the Rabbi hurried to the address given to him in his dream, excited to see who his heavenly neighbor will be. When he got there he found a small butcher shop. The butcher was a large, simple Jew, dirty with blood, smelling of dead animals, talking about his work day. The Rabbi felt that there must be a mistake, it just can't be - a scholarly man as he is, will be the neighbor of an ordinary butcher in heaven?! but even as he was thinking, he could hear a voice: "This is your heavenly neighbor".

Slowly, the Rabbi walked in and addressed the butcher: "Are you a great Torah scholar?"
The butcher laughed:"Who? Me?? No, I'm just an ordinary guy..."
The Rabbi continued:"Do you give much to charity?"
The butcher thought: "Whatever I can...nothing special."
The Rabbi, desperate, continued:"Is there anything you can tell me about yourself?"
The butcher appologized:"I would love to stay and talk, but I am in a great hurry: I must prepare a special meal for an anniversary."
The Rabbi asked:"Really? And who is celebrating?"
The butcher answered:"Oh, it is a great Simcha! a couple of years ago, I found a young Jewish girl on the street...she had lost everything, her family was killed in a pogrom, and she managed to escape and make her way all the way to Tzfat with nothing but her clothes. She refused to speak, she was in a state of complete shock. Of course, I opened my house to her. When my son saw her he fell in love with her. After a few months, he expressed his wish to marry her. I asked her and she slowly nodded her head, looking at the floor. So we made all the arrangements necessary, prepared a huge feast and festival..."
"Oh!" exclaimed the Rabbi "So it's your sons anniversary!"
"No, no" the butcher laughed "the day of the wedding, just as we were preparing for the Chupa, I noticed a young scholar who had just arrived in town, sitting sadly with the other guests. I walked up to him and asked - why are you so sad? It's a wedding! Cheer up!
The young scholar looked into my eyes and slowly said: this was supposed to be my wedding.
He then told me that the girl who was about to marry my son was supposed to be his bride, that the families had settled it before the pogrom.
I looked into his eyes and saw all the love and sadness in them, then into the eyes of the bride-to-be and saw all the love and longing for this man. It was obvious that they were in love and meant for each other. So I told my son that he couldn't marry this girl..."
"You cancelled the wedding??" The rabbi asked, astonished.
"Oh, no, we had a GREAT wedding - only the groom was different! We all celebrated the entire night, and the young couple is so happy, that I decided to give them an aniversary dinner. If you will excuse me now, it has been an honor meeting you but I must go..."
"No" the Rabbi said firmly "it was MY honor to meet YOU."
The Rabbi left, smiling, and on his was him he lifted his eyes to the sky and said: "Thank you."

I guess it's true, and even though it wasn't a Jew who said it, he was right: All you need is love...

Shabbat Shalom,
Liat