Whenever Mekubal Rabbi Raphael Shlomo Laniado—the Chief Rabbi and Av Bet Din of Aleppo—saw a Jew's funeral, he would always join the procession and walk four amot with it in order to fulfill the mitzvah of levayat ha-met—accompanying the deceased.One day, Rabbi Raphael Shlomo's son, Rabbi Ephraim, witnessed the familiar scene: his father once again joining such a procession. He was not surprised that his father had joined despite the pouring rain.What truly stunned Rabbi Ephraim was that his father continued walking with the procession behind the coffin for more than four amot—all the way to the cemetery—remaining there, soaked to the skin, until the deceased had been laid to rest.During the eulogies, Rabbi Ephraim tried to discern some greatness in the deceased, some reason why his father had shown him such honor, but he found nothing.The man had been a simple water carrier, an unimposing and quiet person who seemed to have done nothing to deserve the honor shown to him.Later, Rabbi Ephraim finally asked his father about it. Rabbi Raphael Shlomo did not want to answer at first, but then explained: “You see, my son, when I joined the procession, I thought that, as usual, I would walk four amot. But suddenly I saw thousands of angels walking alongside the coffin and singing Tehillim. Among them was one angel whose face closely resembled that of King David himself.“Could I have turned around and left after seeing such a thing? Of course, I accompanied the body and the angels all the way to the cemetery, in order to pay my final respects!”Rabbi Ephraim was stunned. What could this simple water carrier have done to deserve the accompaniment not only of Aleppo's greatest talmid chacham, but also of the malakhim, the angels themselves?Rabbi Ephraim made a she'elat chalom—a request for an answer in a dream—a procedure through which Heaven would reveal the answer to this mystery in his sleep.His request was answered, and in a dream the water carrier himself appeared before him:—“I am merely a simple water carrier,” he said,—“and I can barely even read. But in my youth I memorized the first book of Tehillim. Every day, after finishing work, I would go to the Beit Knesset, find a quiet corner, and carefully recite every word of the first book of Psalms, not allowing anyone to interrupt me. It is solely in the merit of Tehillim that I was granted such honor at my funeral.”
Source:(Перевод покниге «Storiesof Spirit and Faith» Rabbi David Sutton)
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