Two brothers who were both famous hasidic rebbes, Reb Elimelekh of Lizhensk and Reb Zusha of Anipoli, were once arrested on false charges.

As the guard threw them into the cramped cell, already full of criminals and thugs, he pointed to a bucket in the corner and laughed as he told them this was their toilet.

Reb Zusha broke down and flung himself at the door of the cell, weeping.

Reb Elimelekh was taken aback. This was not like Zusha, who had pure faith that everything God did was for the good.

“Zusha, pull yourself together!” Elimelekh cried to his brother. “This is a Ḥillul Hashem (a desecration of God’s name); everyone thinks you have lost faith and hope!”

Reb Zusha turned to his brother and asked him tearfully, “How can you not cry? We are stuck here in this cell with this bucket, and because of it, the halakha is that we cannot study Torah or daven, or even think about Torah. What are we going to do? How can we live without any Torah, mitzvot, or prayers?”

Reb Elimelekh thought deeply about the situation and then he jumped up in joy. He explained excitedly to his brother that by not learning or davening, they were actually keeping the halakha to the letter of the law! So in fact all of their non-learning and non-davening was serving God in the most challenging way for them. “It’s incredible,” he said. “Every second that we are here, we do a mitzva by not studying Torah. When else will we ever have such a holy opportunity to serve God by not serving Him?”

Reb Zusha’s face lit up, and he began to smile, and then laugh, and then dance. He picked up the bucket and began to dance with it, elevating it above his head as if it were a sefer Torah on Simḥat Torah! “How fortunate are we that we get a mitzva with this! How incredible is God that He gave us such a commandment!”

When their cellmates saw this bizarre behaviour, they thought the brothers had lost their minds. But one of them suggested that the Rabbis were praying to their God for a miracle to set them free, and before long they had all joined in, making circuits around the cell, dancing with the bucket.

When the guard heard all the commotion and saw what was going on, he soon put an end to it by confiscating the bucket. “From now on, anyone who needs to relieve himself will do so outside the cell!” he barked at them.

The cellmates collapsed in disappointment, but the brothers continued to dance, this time reciting at the top of their voices words from their holy Torah with pure joy, “Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem eḥad,” for now they were permitted to learn the sweet words of their beloved holy Torah once again!