Welcome to the Daily Holy Story.
One year before Sukkot, in the city of Berditchev, there were no etrogim (citrons) to be found—not even one etrog for all the people in Berditchev. So, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak from Berditchev told his people to try to find an etrog in the streets of Berditchev. Lo and behold, his chassidim (Hasidic followers) went out and found a man who had an etrog. The only problem was that he was traveling through Berditchev to go to his hometown and spend Sukkot with his family. They asked him to stay in Berditchev, but he didn't agree.
So they brought the man to Rabbi Levi Yitzchak. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak begged him to stay. The man said, “No, I have to go to my family to spend Sukkot with my wife and children.” Rabbi Levi Yitzchak promised him, “I promise you, you'll have wealth and many children.” The man said to Rabbi Levi Yitzchak, “I already have children, I have a wife, I have the money I need, I pay my bills. I want to go back home.” Rabbi Levi Yitzchak turned to him and said, “You know what? If you stay in Berditchev with your etrog so that everybody in this town can use it on Sukkot, I promise you that you will be next to me in Gan Eden.” When Rabbi Levi Yitzchak said that, the man was moved, and he agreed to stay in Berditchev for Sukkot.
When Sukkot came and everybody had an etrog to use, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak went to all his chassidim and told them, “Make sure that on the first night of Sukkot, nobody invites this man to their Sukkah (booth). Do not allow him into your Sukkah.” On the first night of Sukkot, after the man went to shul (synagogue), he came back to his hotel and saw wine, candles, challah (braided bread), and hot food in the room. He wondered to himself, “Is there no Sukkah in this hotel?” He went out and saw the Sukkah with the hotel owner and his whole family inside. He tried to enter the Sukkah, but they stopped him. They told him, “You can't come in.” He asked, “Why?” They told him, “You can't come in. Not in the Sukkah.”
So he started going from house to house in Berditchev to try to get into a Sukkah. Nobody would let him in until he finally found out that Rabbi Levi Yitzchak in Berditchev had ordered that he not be allowed into any Sukkah. He ran to Rabbi Levi Yitzchak's house and said, “Rabbi, Rabbi, I want to eat in a Sukkah. Please, let me into the Sukkah.” Rabbi Levi Yitzchak turned to him and said, “If you want to eat in my Sukkah, then you have to forgive me for the promise I gave you that you'll be next to me in Gan Eden.”
The man was perplexed. “What am I going to do? On the one hand, I want to be next to Rabbi Levi Yitzchak in Berditchev in Gan Eden. On the other hand, I never had a Sukkot in my life that I didn't eat in a Sukkah. What am I going to do?” He turned to Rabbi Levi Yitzchak and said, “You know what? I give up the promise of Gan Eden. I won't be next to you in Gan Eden. I want to eat in the Sukkah.” Immediately, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak opened the door of the Sukkah and let the man in.
After the man ate in the Sukkah, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak called him over the next day and said, “Now, I want you to know that when I promised you a place in Gan Eden next to me, you were going to earn it free. Hefker (free). Why? Because you just stayed in town with your etrog. But now that you were willing to give it up because of the mitzvah (commandment) of Sukkah, now you earned the Gan Eden next to me, and I give you back the promise that you will be next to me in Gan Eden. Because you did a mitzvah with Mesirut Nefesh (self-sacrifice).”
Thank you for listening and have a lovely, lovely day.