A Nation That Creates Angels - Stories of Tzadikim
"Whenever we cleanse the house of chametz, we create an angel." (Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev)
One day, as Rebbe Maharash was traveling through Berditchev, he saw a group of elderly Jews from Tolna carrying buckets of water to clean the walls and floor of the shul. When the Rebbe asked why such distinguished men were doing this work themselves, since it could be entrusted to younger chassidim, they replied: "We do it ourselves because we want to have healthy angels to assist the protective angels that emerge during the sounding of the shofar."
The prayer of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev:
"Dear Father, Compassionate Father! Just in case, if the angels that emerged from the sounds of the shofar that I have just blown, Levi Yitzchak ben Sarah Soshe, turned out to be weak angels, may their place be taken by holy, healthy angels created through the labor of Your people during their preparation for Pesach. For they cleansed their kitchen utensils in order to fulfill their mitzvah before You as perfectly as possible through: Kratzen (cleaning), Shobben (scraping), Riben (rubbing) - in a word, Kasherren (kashering)."
The first letters of these Yiddish words spell the word Kosher.
