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One of the great Sephardic Chachamim of the previous generation was Chacham Rabbeinu Yehudah Tzadka zt”l, Rosh Yeshivah of Yeshivat Porat Yosef in Jerusalem. Rav Yehudah was a tzaddik who was characterized by his love of Torah and talmidei chachamim, as well as his desire and alacrity to perform mitzvos. He lived simply, did not indulge in any extravagances, and encouraged his students to be content without luxuries.

The Medrash Tanchuma states: “Moshe sent to summon Dasan and Aviram, but they said, ‘We will not come up.’ ‘We will not go’ or ‘We will not come’ is not written here, but ‘We will not come up.’ As it says, ‘A fool’s mouth is his ruin!’ (Prov. 18:17) They opened their mouth for a calamity by saying that they would die by going down and not coming up.

Rashi mentions what the spies carried on their shoulders: “Eight of them took a grape cluster, one took a fig, and one took a pomegranate. Yehoshua and Calev did not take anything, for the intention of the others was to present a slanderous report, saying, ‘Just as its fruit is extraordinary, so its people are extraordinary.’ If you wish to know how much one of them carried, learn from the stones they set up at Gilgal: Each man carried on his shoulder one stone from the Yarden and set it up at Gilgal. The Sages weighed them, and each stone weighed forty seah. It is a fact that the load a person can carry on his shoulders is only a third of the weight of the load he can carry when others help him lift it.” (Sotah 34a)

In 1583, Emperor Rudolf II of Austria moved his imperial court to Prague and proceeded to transform the city into one filled with astronomers, alchemists, artists, craftsmen, and humanists. He was fascinated with any sort of new knowledge, whether it was in science or the occult. He was also prone to mood swings and wild dreams, and he became unpredictable in his later years. Emperor Rudolf’s relationship with the Jewish community was positive on the whole — he changed laws to allow Jews fair trials and removed restrictions on trade. But he was most fascinated by the chief rabbi of Prague, the Maharal, R’ Yehudah Loewy zt”l, who was known to be well versed in Kabbalistic knowledge and mystical texts.

Rashi mentions what the spies carried on their shoulders: “Eight of them took a grape cluster, one took a fig, and one took a pomegranate. Yehoshua and Calev did not take anything, for the intention of the others was to present a slanderous report, saying, ‘Just as its fruit is extraordinary, so its people are extraordinary.’ If you wish to know how much one of them carried, learn from the stones they set up at Gilgal: Each man carried on his shoulder one stone from the Yarden and set it up at Gilgal. The Sages weighed them, and each stone weighed forty seah. It is a fact that the load a person can carry on his shoulders is only a third of the weight of the load he can carry when others help him lift it.” (Sotah 34a)

The following story took place just a few weeks ago, and it demonstrates the incredible hashgachah pratis that Hashem bestows upon His beloved.