“Do you know who rescinded the celestial decree that would have unleashed catastrophe to our people?” the Baal Shem Tov asked Rabbi Nahman of Horodenko. “I'll tell you. Neither you nor, nor the sages nor the greatest spiritual leaders. Our prayers, our fasting were all in vain. We were saved by a woman, a woman of our people. This is how it happened: She came to the synagogue, tears running down her face and addressed the Almighty, “Master of the Universe are You or are You not our Father? Why will you not listen to Your children imploring you? You see, I am a mother. I have plenty of children, five. And every time they shed a tear it breaks my heart. But You, Father, have so many more. Every person is your child and every one of them is weeping and weeping. Even if You heart is made of stone how can You be indifferent?
“And,” the Baal Shem Tov concluded, “God decided she was right.”
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