If not higher

This is a story I heard at Shabbat services last Friday. It's the rabbi's favorite story of the month of Elul.*

*Elul is the last month of the Jewish calendar before the New Year (Rosh HaShannah) begins on the first of Tishrei. The 10th of the month is the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). The first ten days of Tishrei are called the Days of Awe. We are in awe of the Awesome Creator and Judge of the universe Who holds people to account for their sins the past year and pronounces judgment-who shall live, who shall die, who shall be well, who shall be ill, who rich, who poor, etc., etc. We pray that God act in accordance with His great mercy and forgive us our sins. Now, having the context for the month when this story takes place, I give you, "If Not Higher."

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Once upon a time, in an Eastern European village lived a rabbi. He had been the leader of the small Jewish community there for many years and people came to him with all sorts of problems and he always had time for them. They said he was a holy man and spoke with God regularly, as Moses had. Now, every year, during the month of Elul, the last month of the year, the rabbi would disappear on the Sabbath. The people would wonder where he went. And some would say that he went up to heaven to plead with the Almighty to forgive the sins of the people before the coming Days of Awe (The New Year and the Day of Atonement when even the hosts of heaven were judged). But, as there is in ever community, there was a skeptic. And this skeptic thought, bah! He doesn't go to heaven. Nobody goes up to heaven and comes back. So one year the skeptic decided that he would follow the rabbi and see where the rabbi went every Sabbath during Elul.

On the first Thursday of the month of Elul, the skeptic followed the rabbi back to the rabbi's house after evening services. He hid under the bed and waited to see what would happen. Early the next morning, the rabbi got up, washed his face and hands, said his morning prayers, and then got dressed. But not in his normal rabbi clothes. He put on overalls and a heavy flannel shirt and work boots and a knit cap and gloves and a heavy jacket. And he took an axe from the wall and a long piece of rope from the closet. And he went out. And the skeptic followed at a distance so as not to be noticed. The rabbi did not go towards the synagogue but into the woods. He began chopping down small trees and then sectioning the trees into logs. He gathered the wood into a bundle and tied it with the rope. He worked all through the morning and into the afternoon pausing briefly to drink water and eat a small lunch. Then, with a heave, he pulled the rope onto his shoulder and began walking back towards the town. By now the sun had begun its descent. But he did not go to the center of town but to the poorest section on the outskirts. He went to a small hovel and knocked on the door. A timid voice belonging to an old woman asked, 'who is it?' The rabbi disguised his voice and in a deep, gruff tone said, 'it is I, Vassal, I have some firewood to sell you. Winter is coming and it will be very cold.' The woman said, you may come in, but I'm afraid I don't have any money to buy firewood. The rabbi entered and said, that is ok, I will sell it to you on credit. He then deposited a bundle of wood by the fireplace. The woman said, I am unable to get out of bed to light the fire. So the rabbi put some logs in the fireplace and lit the wood. He stood up and said, I will return next week with some more wood. He then left the hovel, and went back to his home and bathed and went to bed. And the next day, he was back at the woods and chopping and off to another poor person’s house delivering firewood.

And so from then on, every Elul, when the townspeople would wonder, where did the rabbi go on the Sabbath, and some would answer “he goes up to heaven” the former skeptic would answer, ‘yes, to heaven, if not even higher than that.’