As his last few days in this mortal world approached, the Rebbe Reb Elimelech of Lizensk lay in his bed unable to eat. His son the Rebbe Reb Lazer begged his holy father to try to eat something, anything. “Isn’t there anything I can give you?” he asked. “Oy,” sighed the Rebbe, “if only I could get some soup from Malka, the wife of Reb Leibele the water carrier, life would be better.”

As if a jolt of electricity had passed through him, the dutiful Reb Lazer ran down to the ramshackle home of the destitute water carrier. “My father the Rebbe is very ill, and all he can eat he says is some soup you once gave him. Please give me the recipe.” The worthy Malka started to cry, saying, “I have to tell you the whole story. My husband and I always dreamed that maybe, some day, the Rebbe Reb Elimelech would come to visit us, but it was such a foolish dream. We would never have the chutzpa or the audacity to invite such a holy man into our dilapidated hovel.

“Strangely enough, a few weeks ago the Rebbe passed our house. We saw him coming and thought it was our biggest chance, so my husband ran out on to the street. He didn’t know what to say, he just stood there, but the Rebbe is such a special Yid and he understood what my husband wanted. He said, ‘You know what Reb Leibel, I’m very tired, could I spend some time in your house?’ The Rebbe Reb Elimelech came into our home, and it was just like Gan Eden. We didn’t know what to do with ourselves. The Rebbe sat down with my husband. Now my life partner is a good man but not really all that educated. He is just a water carrier with simple ways, he didn’t have anything to say to your Holy Father; he was just happy to have such a tzaddik sitting there with him.

“Suddenly he said to me, ‘Malka! What’s going on here? We have such a special guest; we better give him something to eat.’

“I ran into the kitchen, looked around, and suddenly I remembered that we ourselves hadn’t eaten in days. There was no food in the kitchen. All I saw was salt and a pot of hot water on the stove. What could I do? I took a spoon and began to stir the water, and I davened, ‘Hashem, I have nothing, but if I had something, anything, I would give it to the Rebbe Reb Elimelech. You, Hashem, You have all the tastes of paradise. Can You please put some taste into this water? This is our soup.’ As I stirred the water I cried, and some of my tears fell into the soup.”

Reb Lazer came back to his holy father, and Reb Elimelech said, “Now you understand. With ordinary soup, you can keep from getting hungry. With Malka’s soup you can bring people back to life.”