Welcome to the Daily Holy Story. The pasuk (verse) says, which means that the Jewish people get up early in the morning to do the service of Hashem, put on tefillin (phylacteries), and do mitzvot (commandments). The intelligent thing is to go to sleep on time and get up on time. In the olden days, there used to be what's called a me'orer, a human being that was an alarm clock, to wake up the people to serve Hashem.
One time, a me'orer by the name of Rabbi Shalom was hired to wake up the people to serve Hashem. One day, an irreligious individual threw a pail of water on Rabbi Shalom while he was waking up people. A wonder happened the next day, and the man passed away. But the story wasn't over. The next day, when Rabbi Shalom was waking up people, a big black dog began to follow him, crouched next to him, and started to wail. The black dog followed him all around until he finished his job. The next day, the same thing happened. For five or six days, every day, this black dog was following him around.
Rabbi Shalom went to the rabbis of Yerushalayim to tell them what happened, and they sent witnesses to see if it was really true. It was wondered when they saw that the dog was following him around. When they called out the name of the irreligious person who threw the pail of water on Rabbi Shalom, the dog started going crazy and running towards the window of his house. It was clear to everybody that the nefesh, the soul, of that irreligious man went into this black dog.
They gathered all the rabbis of Yerushalayim together with Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, who was old and about to leave the world. But he knew the family of Rabbi Shalom and the family of that irreligious man. Rabbi Sonnenfeld went to the family of the irreligious man and told them, “Your father did a very serious sin. He tried to quiet the me'orer, the human alarm clock, that was waking up Jewish people to serve Hashem. And his neshama (soul) went into the black dog that disturbed the sleep of those who wanted to rest in order to get up in the morning to serve Hashem.”
Rabbi Sonnenfeld told them that there are many Jewish people in Yerushalayim who get up in the morning and learn all night also. He said, “You should ask for forgiveness from Rabbi Shalom. From now on, you should provide hot drinks at night for the people who learn Torah. In the winter months, you should provide wood for heat.”
The members of the family accepted what Rabbi Sonnenfeld said. He turned to Rabbi Shalom and told them, “When you meet that black dog again, say in the name of Rabbi Sonnenfeld, Rav Yerushalayim, and in the name of the Bet Din (Jewish court) that your neshama is forgiven. We forgive you for the avon (sin) you did.” Rabbi Shalom did that the next day, and the black dog never returned. Thank you for listening. And have a lovely, lovely day.