It was a holiday, and the Hasidim had gathered to pray and receive communion—to receive satsang—with their master.
One man came with a mentally retarded child. He was a little worried about this child: lest the boy throw something out. And he looked after him.
When the prayers were said, the boy said to his father:
- I have a whistle. Can I play on it?
Father said:
- Under no circumstances! Where's your whistle? “He was afraid that the boy would not obey his ban.
The boy showed his father which pocket the whistle was in, and his father looked after that pocket. But when the dancing began, the father forgot about everything and began to dance.
When everyone began to pray to God and dance, the boy could no longer hold back. He took out a whistle and blew it as hard as he could. Everyone was shocked! But the Baal Shem approached the boy, hugged him and said:
- Our prayers have been answered. Without that whistle, everything would have been in vain, because that was the only spontaneous thing that happened here. Everything else was a ritual.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru