R' Zerach Braverman headed for the family store. His wife,
Feige Leah, was tending customers. As he neared the store, he
overheard her talking to some women and was surprised to hear
angry voices.
"I gave you my husband's overcoat to dye. You said it would
come out like new, but the dye faded immediately and now we
have to buy a new one."
For a moment, the store was quiet. Then another voice
complained, "I wanted to spare myself buying a new dress by
dyeing my head kerchief, but after the first washing, all the
dye faded and it looks awful, now."
"Friends of mine said that they gave some clothing to the
Arab dyer to be dyed and they came out perfect. Just like
new! Not one garment faded as soon as this." An angry voice
rose an octave. "And their prices were much better,
besides!"
In a tired voice, Feige Leah, replied, "Why don't you just
leave those items here and I'll see what can be done."
The woman left the store, still grumbling, and then R' Zerach
entered. His wife was happy to have someone upon whom to
unburden herself and told him about the customers'
complaints.
"I heard the exchange," he said, raising a hand to stop the
verbal flow. He looked at the garments on the counter and
nodded. "Your customers are right. This is a poor job of
dyeing. We must find out the Arab dyer's secret and improve
our process."
"Do you think that they are going to be kind enough to tell
me their secret? I am the competitor, after all. Even if we
paid dearly for the information, they would probably just
make something up and take our money, anyway." Feige Leah
sounded exasperated.
R' Zerach was determined to try and find out the professional
secret. He went to a neighbor of the Arab dyer, handed him
some money and told him to go and find out the information.
The man returned and said, "The dyers don't allow anyone to
see the process of dyeing. It seems to me that they're using
lime, perhaps too much. It is quite possible that the dyeing
process spots the walls with dye and they must whitewash
them. On the other hand, I don't see any ladders or any
brushes. So I do suspect that lime is being used in the
process of dyeing."
R' Zerach took this piece of information back to his wife.
She was skeptical but R' Zerach was determined to try. "We'll
begin with small amounts of lime on small articles of
clothing and hope that by trial and error, we will hit on the
formula."
"That is, if the neighbor was not lying altogether," Feige
Leah said with a shrug.
They tried the method. A few drops of lime was inserted in
the dye mixture but the result was disastrous. They had to
throw the whole concoction out, having wasted both the dye
and the lime.
"I think I'll go over to R' Yehoshua Leib Diskin and ask his
opinion," said R' Zerach.
"What can he know about dyeing clothes?" Feige Leah asked in
puzzlement. "This is not a halachic question!"
"Well, then you don't know the Maharil. He is a genius not
only in Torah but is knowledgeable in every single thing you
can imagine. Just listen to this: Yesterday, I heard it told
that as he was walking near the city gates, he glanced at one
section of the wall and said to his companion, `You see that
part over there? It has so many and so many stones.' People
walking with him were astounded and asked, `How were you able
to count so many stones so quickly?' He replied that this was
a gift that some people possessed.
"He explained to them that we learn it in the Torah, even.
`It says that Yaakov Ovinu raised his eyes and saw Esov
approaching with four hundred men.' Now the Torah is very
accurate, and we cannot help wondering how Yaakov could have
arrived at such an exact number just by raising his eyes.
"The answer," noted R' Zerach, "is that Hashem can bestow
such a gift upon a person, a power to be able to calculate
certain things in a flash. And since the Maharil possesses
this gift, and is a very wise man in every field, I am
convinced that he is the man to help us in this matter as
well. Besides, Feige Leah, don't you know that everything can
be found in the Torah if you know how to look for it?"
Not wasting a moment, R' Zerach walked over to his esteemed
rov, R' Yehoshua Leib Diskin, and unburdened himself to him.
"What can we do to improve our dyeing process?"
"You say that the Arabs are successful, and also, that they
probably use lime. It is very likely that this is their
secret, and the fact that you failed in your experiment only
shows that your application was wrong. In principle, the idea
is good. For your next attempt, I would advise you to put
some dry lime in a cloth bag. Tie it securely and place it in
the dye while it is brewing. Make your experiment with a
little dye and a small amount of lime, to begin with, and
examine your results."
R' Zerach followed the instructions and the results were
excellent. The colors came out perfect and the clothes dyed
with them lasted even longer than the competitor's. The Jews
of the Old City were overjoyed in being able to patronize a
Jew and in extending the life of their clothing which meant a
very important saving for the impoverished community.
