Rabbi David Leikes cried only one time: the day the Baal Shem died. , the devotion to God. Rabbi David was known for his exuberant, contagious joy. Prayer sent him into rapture; He even turned lamentations of the song. He outlived his wife, four sons and three daughters. At seventy-three he was alone and in mourning. To praise God, one must live, he said, and to live, one must enjoy life in spite of life. And he remarried. An innkeeper who bore him three sons and a daughter. He lived on contentedly to become president of the local rabbinic court and remained lucid until the end. He was 100 years old and on his deathbed when hearing the court deliberating in the next room, he complained, “Why do you leave me out? All my life I was God’s associate in His work down here; is this the time to push me aside?” And so he listened to witnesses, noted contradictory depositions and pronounced his verdict. A moment later his countenance was serene: “Here I am, leaving o...
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