Imrot Tehorot: Shabbat
The 29th of Nissan is the Yahrtzeit Rav Moshe Pallier of Kobrin (1784-1858). A close follower of the Rebbe, Rav Mordechai of Lechovitch and his son, Rav Noach, he became the first Rebbe of the Kobrin dynasty in 1833.
His teachings are collected in Imrot Taharot.
Once Rabbi Moshe of Kobrin came to visit the rabbi of Rizhyn on the eve of the Shabbat. He found his host standing in the middle of the room, his pipe in his hand and clouds of smoke wreathing around him. The rabbi of Rizhyn immediately began to tell a story:
There was once a man who lost his way in the woods at twilight on the eve of Shabbat. Suddenly he saw a house in the distance. He walked toward it. When he entered he found himself face to face with a robber, a fierce-looking robber, and on the table in front of him lay a gun. The robber jumped up, but before he could get hold of the gun the man had seized it, and quick as lightning he thought, “If I hit him, it will be well. If I miss, the room will at least be full of smoke and I can escape.”
When the rabbi of Rizhyn reached this point in his story he put down his pipe and said, “Shabbos!”