Once my father zichrono livracha told me this story about my grandfather z"l. [Being children of 'survivors' my brother and I, as well as most of our friends, knew our grandparents only through the stories we heard about them. I'm so happy for everyone who has and has had the merit of growing up with their zaydies and bubbies.... may they all be well b'ezrat Hashem.]
My zaydie who apparently was a talmid chacham (a Talmudic scholar), was also very poor and lived a life of physical and financial hardship. Nevertheless he devoted as much time as possible to learning. My father z"l started working when he was fifteen years old. He became a traveling salesman, traveling most of the week and coming home on Thursdays for Shabbos. He often had to get up very early in the morning to catch the trains.
"No matter how early I would get up, be it 5:00 o'clock or 4:00 o'clock or even 3:00 o'clock in the morning, I always found my father already sitting and learning the Gemara (a volume of the Talmud)," I heard my father say many times.
Now my zaydie Reb Abish o"h, had a friend who was a wonderfully simple unlearned matzeyveh kritzer (a gravestone engraver). The two of them were good friends, chassidim of the Dzikover Rebbe zt"l, and they would meet every morning and evening in shul. Even though he could not really follow Zaydie's Gemara shiur lessons which he would teach daily between Mincha and Maariv, and even though he worked outdoors standing up all day long, Reb Asher o"h, would always sit down at the table which was covered with large volumes of Talmud, and would listen attentively to the shiur.
Reb Asher, the matzeyveh kritzer was a jolly fellow. Once, it was the month of Adar, and he asked my grandfather, "Reb Abish, how do you fulfill the teaching of the Rabbis, Mi'shenichnas Adar Marbim b'Simcha!!! (when the month of Adar arrives you are to increase in joy)?" Zaydie thought for a moment and he realized that he really didn't do anything special, except that he would celebrate Purim. "I don't do anything particular. But what about you, how do you fulfill the mitzvah?"
"Me... I'll tell you," said Reb Asher, "you know I like to have a l'chayim and say l'chayim after daavening and the month of Adar is still winter and its really cold working outside all day long, so on the first of Adar I have one l'chayim, and on the second day of Adar I have two l'chayims and on the third day I have three....and on the last day of the month I have 30 l'chayims. This is how I increase my joy day by day."
"Now Reb Abish, tell me how do you fulfill the teaching of the Rabbis, Mi'shenichnas Av m'maatin b'Simcha!!! (when the month of Av arrives you are to decrease in joy)?" Again Zaydie thought for a moment and he realized that besides mourning in the traditional ways, over the destruction of the Temple, the first nine days of the month, he really didn't do anything special. "I don't do anything particular. But what about you Reb Asher, how do you fulfill the mitzvah"?
"When the month of Av arrives I start with thirty l'chayims and each I have one less, so by the last day of the month I'm down to one l'chayim...that's how I decrease my joy."
I like to think that my Zaydie and Reb Asher embraced and blessed each other, "L'chayim l'chayim.....(to life to life...)
Whatever you are doing...let it be for a good and joyous life..... mammash be blessed with joy."
