It was Rosh Hashanah in Berditchev. The morning prayers were over, and the congregation anxiously waited in the synagogue for Reb Levi Yitzchak to arrive and blow the shofar, but he didn’t appear to be coming. Finally, after four hours, the Berditchever arrived, smiling broadly. The chasidim were curious to hear what had been the cause of the delay. The Berditchever walked up to the podium and addressed the chasidim, ready to explain what had occurred in the past few hours.
Reb Levi Yitzchak had been aware that there was a bad decree on the Jewish People in the Beis Din shel Maalah (the Heavenly Court). Unfortunately, it seemed that klal Yisrael (the Jewish Nation) was not going to be blessed with a good year. There was nothing Reb Levi Yitzchak could do to annul the bad decrees. He prayed to Hashem, pleading with Him to heed the prayers of klal Yisrael on the Day of Judgement and reverse the decrees, but to no avail. It looked like his pleading, and klal Yisrael’s tefillos (prayers) for a good year, were going to be in vain. The Berditchever did not want to admit defeat, but the situation seemed hopeless. It seemed the din (judgment) was irreversible. Suddenly, a small prayer reached the Beis Din shel Maalah (the Heavenly Court) that caused a tremendous commotion in heaven.
There was a group of Cantonists, children who were forcefully conscripted into the czar’s army for 25 years, who had gathered together to try to daven (pray) on Rosh Hashanah. Although they didn’t recall much of the davening or have a machzor (prayer book) to pray from, they still tried valiantly to piece together some semblance of the tefillos from their vague and distant memories.
In the middle of their informal davening, one of the Cantonists stood up and cried out to Hashem: “Master of the Universe, what do all Jews ask of you on Rosh Hashanah? They ask for three basic things: children, life and parnasah (livelihood). But we Cantonists don’t need any of those things. Unfortunately, we are in service here for many years and cannot think of getting married or having children. Our lives seem wretched and worthless in this difficult situation, so we will not bother to ask for life. As far as our livelihood is concerned, the czar supplies us with our basic needs, and we have no use for anything more.
“Therefore, Master of the Universe, since we have nothing to request for ourselves, we ask for only one thing: Yisgadal v’yiskadash shmeih rabba—Your holy name should be great!” This impromptu, heartfelt prayer from an unlearned and miserable boy whose only wish was to bring greatness to Hashem’s name, pierced the heavens and destroyed all the bad decrees for the Jews for the coming year. “And now,” the Berditchever concluded, as he lifted his shofar, “since we have been assured of a good year, I am finally ready to blow the shofar.”
