The Berditcher [Rabbi Levi Yitschak] began his discourse, “A world turned topsy-turvy I see
before my eyes. In years gone by, the
Jews spoke the truth in the streets and the marketplaces, but in the House of Prayer
they told a lie. It is the other way
around now. On the streets and in the marketplaces
they all speak falsehood, but h in the house of Prayer they tell the truth.
“A riddle?”
“The explanation: honesty and good faith were the torches
lighting their paths in the olden days.
And so they made good the Scriptural world of a righteous aye and nay,
and all their trading was done in good faith.
But when they came into the House of Prayer, they would beat their breasts
and say” ‘We have defrauded, we have robbed.’
That was then a lie, for they had been true to God and their fellow
man. Today it is the reverse: in the
trading place, they lie and defraud, and in their confessional prayer, they
speak the truth.” –Newman, Hasidic Anthology
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