Hide and seek

The grandson of Rabbi Baruch, Yehiel, burst into tears in his room.

“Yehiel, Yehiel, why these tears? Why are you crying?”

“My friend cheated, it’s not just grandpa, it’s not fair for a friend to cheat!”

“But what did your friend do?”

“We were playing hide-and-seek. I hid so well that he could not find me; so he stopped playing, he did not look for me anymore. Do you understand, grandpa? I hid and he did not look for me. It’s not fair!”

Rabbi Baroukh, upset, began to caress the boy’s head, and tears flowed from his eyes:

“God, too, Yehiel,”he murmured, “God is sad too. God hides, and human beings do not seek Him. Do you understand, little Yehiel? God hides and humans do not even bother to look for Him. “

Source: Elie Wiesel

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Hide and Seek (alternate version)

There’s a great Hasidic story about the teacher Rabbi Zolman. One day his six- or seven-year-old son came bursting into the house, just sobbing, crying his heart out. He said, “Daddy, we were playing hide and seek,” …he may have addressed him in Hebrew… “Abba, Daddy, I was hiding way out in the woods, and I waited out there, behind the trees for hours. I didn’t know that the kids had decided not to play anymore. They didn’t come and tell me, and I waited out there.”

That wise and wonderful rabbi took his little boy in his arms, and he rocked him and said, “Ah, my son, that’s the way it is with God. God plays hide and seek with us. God hides behind the trees, but we have quit playing the game.”

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