"If Not Higher." Isaac Loeb Perez.

One-minute review: A Jewish holy man, a “Rebbe” (a Rabi?) disappears and everyone wonders where he is. He is doing charity work, dressed as a peasant, helping the peasants to have warmth when they are cold. He cuts the wood, lights the fire for the impoverished sick woman. He is followed in his travels by a skeptical Lithuanian Jew. Later when the Lithuanian is asked if the “Rebbe” goes to heaven each day that he leaves, replies, “…if not higher.”

75 Short Masterpieces: Stories from the World’s Literature. Ed. Roger B. Goodman. New York: Bantam Books. 1961. These summaries do not do justice to the vividness of the stories. RayS.