An impoverished orphan, willing to settle for Baruch Mordechai’s outstanding yiras shamayim despite his lack of erudition, agreed to the betrothal. The wedding was arranged and celebrated by the community members with much elation and enthusiasm.
When R’ Bardaki passed on to a better world, Baruch Mordechai was left without any means of support. After much deliberation with his wife, it was resolved that he would eke out a living by taking on the occupation of water-carrier, hauling water from wells to private homes. And so he invested in the required tools of the trade – stick, rope and pails – and went on to become a conscientious bearer of water. For three hours each day, he diligently earned his wage, spending the rest of his time doing what he loved best: swaying in front of a sefer.
Forty years thus went by, with Baruch Mordechai tirelessly toiling for his living while maintaining his modest existence. And then an incident occurred that caused him profound agony. The Gaon R. Yehoshua Leib of Brisk came to settle in Jerusalem. As was his modus operandi, Baruch Mordechai approached the Brisker rebbetzin to offer his service to her household. The rabbi, however, intervened and declined to have the water-carrier lug water for his family’s needs.
Encountering the rebbetzin one day, Baruch Mordechai’s loyal wife lamented the rebbe’s rebuff of her husband’s services, to which the rebbetzin remarked that the rabbi was a keen judge of character and “knows whence he speaks.” Such sentiment did little to mollify the pious woman’s heavy heart, leaving her ever more pained and perplexed.
“Ein simcha ailah b’yayin” – There is no true rejoicing without wine (Talmud Pesachim, 109a). “V’yayin yesamach levav enosh” – And wine gladdens the heart of man (Tehillim 104:15). A moderate consumption of wine uplifts the heart, chases melancholy away, and serves to sharpen the intellect (Radak).
On Purim in the year 5253 (the twelfth of March, 1493), a large crowd of chassidim gathered at the Purim seudah of the gaon R’ Schneur Zalman of Lublin. The holiday was commemorated with feast, song and dance – and the drinking of wine that flowed unabated. Among the throng of lively revelers jostling their way to the rebbe for a l’chayim was none other than Baruch Mordechai, who suddenly called out in a loud voice, “Rebbe, Rebbe, today is seventy years since my bris!”
R’ Schneur Zalman responded by offering the chassid an oversized goblet of wine in honor of the milestone occasion. Unaccustomed as he was to imbibe in this fashion, Baruch Mordechai was in a quandary. But the rebbe had instructed him to drink, and so drink he must. After guzzling down a quart of the prime vintage, Baruch Mordechai found himself inebriated to the point of “ad deloi yodah bein arur Haman l’Baruch Mordechai” – being unable to distinguish between cursed Haman and blessed Mordechai
As the tumultuous crowd elbowed and shoved him aside, he leapt onto a nearby table and pranced about in a slovenly manner. The Lubliner Rav raised his holy eyes to meet those of Baruch Mordechai, as he sternly admonished him, “Out of respect for the sanctity of Purim, say something worthwhile!”
