Reprinted from Connections Magazine
Transcribed by Reb Shmuel Chayim Intrator

The holy Sokolover was once asked to tell who was the most real
Jew that he ever met. The Rebbe told the Hasidim the following
story.

When I was fourteen years old and got married to the daughter
of the old Sokover Rebbe I moved from Kotzk to Sokolov. I
went into the Shul looking for one real Jew. Because I learned
from my Zeide, the Holy Kotzker, that G-d only loves that
which is real. I walked along the first few rows of the
Shul and saw great scholars, rich people and exalted people.
But they were not for real. I thaen walked in the back rows
among the poor, and yes, they were sweet but still were
not real. I felt really sad thinking that I might have
to spend my whole life in a city where there is not even
one real Jew. Suddenly, my eye fell upon this one Jew
standing behind a heated oven and reciting the psalms.
I saw G-d's glory upon him. He was really praying. He
knew how to stand before G-d, before the only one. His
light was showing, gevalt, was he real. I went up to him
and I asked him, who are you and he said Moshalah, Moshalah,
the water carrier. I tried real hard  to become friends with
Moshalah but he never responded. He  was so humble that he
couldn't imagine that I, the son-in-law of the rebbe would be
his friend. Whenever I asked him, "Moshalah, how are you?"
he would just answer,"I am fine", and would continue to pray.
One cold winter night, as I took a walk to the outskirts of
the city and as I was walking back, I passed
by this broken house and through an open window, I saw
Moshalah, the water carrier standing in the middle of a
circle of shoemakers, tailors and water carriers, holding
a glass of wine in his hand as they danced around him.
I swear to you I saw G-d's glory shining upon Moshalah's
face. I realized that this must be his house and so I
decided to walk in on his party. As I entered, Moshalah
met me at the door and said,"Rebbe, what an honor." I
responded,"Moshalah, believe me, it is my honor to be in
your home. Tell me, why are you celebrating?" It was
obvious that none of those present knew the purpose of the
celebration and so they all gathered around as he began
to tell them his story. This is what he said.

"I want you to know I grew up on the streets. My
parents died when I was five years old.  I only knew
a little bit how to pray. No one ever took the time
to teach me how to pray. But, you see I am a
strong person. I carry water. I married a woman
who believe me, when I married her, she was the most
beautiful woman in the world. But now she is not beautiful
anymore. She is filled with grief and pain. We have
children and when they were born, they were angels. They
are not angels anymore. They cry all day for food. The
pain in my house is unbearable. Rebbe, I want you to know
every night, I wake up at three in the morning and bring
water into the synagogue for the people to wash their
hands. I do not do this for money but to have the honor
to bring water to cleanse the people before they pray.
I am alone in the synagogue then and so I open the holy
Ark. I cry to the almighty and say, 'G-d in heaven, Rebono
Shel Olom, Master of the world, I am Moshalah, the water
carrier from Sokolov. I am telling you, G-d in heaven,
I can't live like this anymore. I can't bear the pain.
I can't bear the hunger. Please, give me a thousand rubles
so that I can start my life anew and feed my children.'
You know Rebbe, I have been doing this for years and years
and to tell you the truth, I gave up believing that G-d
would ever listen to me. Just out of habit, I continue to
come every morning. Yet, two days ago, the most
unbelievable thing happened to me when I walked into
the synagogue. I saw one thousand rubles lying on the floor.

So, I open the holy Ark and said, 'G-d,
Master of the universe, thank You, thank You so much for
listening to my prayers. It is true, You are the Master
of the world and You listen to the prayers of every human
being.' I added, G-d, 'Let it be a secret between me and You
for three days.' I was just ecstatic. Rebbe, you know how
heavy the water is? Well, it was not heavy two days ago.
I danced with the water from house to house. Suddenly,
everything was paradise. I came home later and I swear
to you, my wife looked as beautiful as on her wedding day
and my children were angels again. Everything was beautiful
and all day long I blessed people, I blessed G-d.

At night I returned to the synagogue and I saw a great
commotion there. Do you remember Rebbe, two weeks
ago, Avramalah died and left a wife, Chanalah, and eleven
children. The whole community had collected a thousand rubles
for Chanalah. She was standing by the door and said that
she lost the thousand rubles. I went back behind the oven
to pray but I automatically closed my prayer book. I said,
'G-d in heaven, this is the last time You will see me in
the synagogue. If You want to give me a thousand rubles,
do You have to take them away from Chanalah? G-d, You are
cruel. I don't want to know You anymore. I do not want to
be Your servant anymore.' I went home and I felt miserable.
My wife looked ugly again and my children looked terrible.
I hated the whole world. I did not want to know anyone
anymore. I went to sleep. But, how could I sleep? I put
the pillow over my face. I did not want my wife to see
how much I was crying. Late, late at night, suddenly I
heard my own soul crying, 'Moshalah, the water carrier,
what happened to you? All you life you trust in G-d.
You believe in G-d and now when you need Him the most,
why don't you turn to G-d. Why don't you pray to the
One; to the only One who hears every prayer.' Rebbe,
like never before, I poured out my heart before G-d and
said, G-d, 'I am begging You, please, let me hear Your
voice, tell me what to do?' Rebbe, I swear to you, I
heard G-d's voice and G-d said to me, 'Moshalah, the water
carrier, get up fast and bring the money to Chanalah, the
wife of Avramalah. The money is not yours. It's hers.'
Suddenly, I was back in paradise. Everything was good
and beautiful again. I got dressed fast. I ran down to
Chanalah and I knocked on her door and told her that I found
her money. Well, if you would have seen her eyes when she
said, thank you Moshalah, you would have known that even
if G-d would have given me all the rubles in the world,
it wouldn't compare to what I felt at that moment. So,
tonight, I am celebrating, thanking G-d for answering my
prayers. Thanking G-d, for He gave me the strength to
return the money."

The heiliger Sokolover, when he told over
the story to his hasidim would say, "have you ever heard
G-d's voice? I don't know. But I do know someone who
heard G-d's voice. Moshalah, the water carrier, the holy,
Moshalah, the water carrier. Have you ever seen a real
Jew? I did. I saw Moshalah, the water carrier."