Sack on his back, forbidden to taste hot food even once during the three years of exile, Reb Meir set off into the unknown

Shortly after Freida’s passing, the money was discovered in another part of the house. Apparently, some of Reb Meir’s grandchildren had visited the day the money went missing, and they had lugged the entire bundle of money out of the study during their play and left it somewhere else. Freida had been innocent all along. She just did not have the strength to speak up for herself. And instead of taking her silence as an overwhelming fear of speaking to others, Reb Meir and the others had understood it as an admission of guilt.

Reb Meir was beside himself with grief. He traveled to the holy Rebbe Meir of Premishlan, the great tzaddik who lived in his city. The great tzaddik informed Reb Meir that he had only three options to cleanse himself of the terrible sin: He could either accept upon himself a terrible sickness for three years, die an unnatural death immediately, or undergo three years of galus — wandering.

At first, Reb Meir thought it would be easiest to accept the pain of three years of sickness. He chose that and went home, shaking terribly in fright at the agony he knew would soon come upon him. Sure enough, the sickness came out of nowhere, forcing him into bed. His very bones screamed in pain as sickness ravaged his body, causing him to almost lose his mind from the unbearable pain. He sent a message to the great tzaddik; he had changed his mind and would go through three years of wandering instead.

Sack on his back, forbidden to taste hot food even once during the three years of exile, Reb Meir set off into the unknown.