The city of Salé, in the country of Morocco, was home to Rabbi Chaim ben Attar, better known as the Or HaChaim HaKadosh. Every Thursday, the Or HaChaim would slaughter a calf or two and divide the meat among his students and poor Talmidei Hachamim, poor rabbis. One week, one of the wealthy men in his city went to buy meat for Shabbat from the local slaughterhouses, but wherever he went, there was no kosher meat available. He heard that the Or HaChaim slaughtered his own meat. Thinking he could purchase meat from him, he went to the home of ben Attar. He saw Rabbi Chaim and asked him to please say, tell him some of his meat. The Or HaChaim told him, “It’s not for sale. It’s only for my students and the poor rabbis of the city.” As they were talking, the rabbis began to enter the home, and the Or HaChaim started to distribute the meat he had slaughtered to his students and the rabbis. One rabbi, who was very poor, walked in wearing tattered clothing. The rich man saw this. He looked at him and said, “This is a rabbi. He looks like the sole of a worn shoe,” embarrassing the poor rabbi in front of Rabbi ben Attar. Rabbi ben Attar, who did not want to have any kind of conflict with the rich man, remained silent.
That night, when the Or HaChaim went to sleep, he had a dream. In his dream, the heavens told him that because he had not protested the embarrassment of a rabbi, he was being punished by going into exile for one year. Immediately, early the next morning, the Or HaChaim put on poor man’s clothing and began to go into exile. He traveled from town to town, never staying in one town for more than one night. For one year straight, he was in exile, until the last Shabbat, which was the Shabbat of Bechukotai. He began traveling to a city, a small village. As he approached, going through the forest, he was very tired and slumbered under one tree. His mind began to float. All of a sudden, a spirit of holiness came over him, and he thought of fourteen different explanations to the first Pasuk (verse) in Parashat Bechukotai. Now mustering some energy from his spiritual enlightenment, he began to approach the city to spend Shabbat. As he approached, another spirit of holiness came over him, and on Shabbat he thought of another fourteen explanations on the first Pasuk of Bechukotai. As he was about to enter the city, another spiritual uplift came upon him, and he thought, for a third time, of another fourteen explanations to the Pasuk of Bechukotai. That made a total of forty-two explanations on one Pasuk. Hurriedly, he went to the local synagogue in the town where he was going to spend Shabbat.
The shamash (synagogue attendant) saw him in poor man’s clothing and thought he was a poor man looking for charity. Having mercy on him, he welcomed him into his house for Shabbat, not realizing that this was one of the holiest men in the world at the time. Friday night came, and they had their meal in the home with Kiddush (sanctification over wine). After Birkat Hamazon (Grace after Meals), the shamash of the shul (synagogue) took the Or HaChaim, the poor man, to shul to listen to Divrei Torah, the words of Torah, from the local rabbi of that town. That rabbi happened also to be a very holy man. The entire congregation sat waiting to hear the words of the holy rabbi. The rabbi began to speak and gave fourteen different explanations to the first Pasuk of Bechukotai. At the conclusion, he told the Kahal, the congregation, “These fourteen explanations were revealed to me from the heavens in the name of the holy Or HaChaim HaKadosh.” The poor man, who was the shamash’s guest, then blurted out, “Yes, true, so said Chaim ben Attar,” without mentioning the title Rabbi. The entire congregation turned to him in bewilderment and annoyance. What kind of nerve was this, to speak of the Or HaChaim in such a fashion? Hurriedly, the shamash took him out of the synagogue and took him home.
The next morning, they went to the synagogue and prayed. Again, the rabbi got up to give Divrei Torah. He gave another fourteen explanations to the first Pasuk of Bechukotai. At the end of his sermon, he told the congregation, “So was revealed to me from the heavens in the name of the Or HaChaim HaKadosh, Rabbi Chaim ben Attar.” Then the poor man in the back, who was sitting with all the poor people, said out loud, “Yes, so said Chaim ben Attar.” The rabbi got up, and the crowd turned around, wishing to get up and lynch him. But the shamash pleaded with them and told them, “Leave him. He’s a poor man who has probably lost his mind.” He hurriedly escorted him out of the synagogue.
When it was time for Seudah shlishit (third meal) and to go to synagogue to pray Mincha (afternoon prayer), the shamash could not prevent his poor guest from coming to synagogue. But he pleaded with him to act properly and not blurt out what he had the first two times. Sure enough, they came to synagogue, and the rabbi got up, shining with burning holiness, and began his sermon for a third time, with 14 more explanations on the Pasuk of Bechukotai. At the end of his sermon, he once again said, “So was revealed to me from the heavens in the name of the Or HaChaim HaKadosh.” And the poor man, the poor guest of the shamash, once again said, “Yes, true, so said Chaim ben Attar.” This time, the rabbi had no more patience. He instructed his men to lock the poor man up in a room as punishment for the disrespect he had shown the Or HaChaim.
The congregation finished the night by praying Arvit (evening prayer), and everybody departed the synagogue to go home for the evening. As everybody left, all of a sudden, a terrible storm began, and it seemed like the end of the world. There were winds and hurricanes, and the rabbi was bewildered. How could it be that on such a holy Shabbat, such a holy Shabbat, such a holy Shabbat, there should be such a calamity in his town? He decided to do she'elat chalom, to ask in a dream why this hurricane was coming. When he went to sleep that night, they came to him in a dream and told him, “You should know that the Satan (the Adversary) cannot leave Shabbat as long as the Or HaChaim HaKadosh is locked up in a room by you, and the Satan has the power to destroy your town. The Satan can no longer go to his work on Motza'ei Shabbat, on Saturday night. Therefore, he is going wild and wants to destroy your town.”
When the rabbi heard that, he hurriedly got up, went to the room where the Or HaChaim HaKadosh was locked up, and begged him for forgiveness at his feet. The Or HaChaim, of course, forgave him. The entire town escorted him out, and he realized that this was the end of his exile and went back home. The Or HaChaim wrote all 42 explanations of Bechukotai in his famous book Or HaChaim on the Torah. Have a wonderful, wonderful day.