In the time of R. Judah, the Pious, there lived in Speyer a very wealthy man, who shaved his beard with a razor in violation of the prohibition in our holy Torah.

R. Judah, the Pious, heard of it and rebuked him again and again and forbade him to do it, but the rich man paid no attention and said: "I am a sensitive person and cannot bear to have a beard."

Then the pious man said to him: "If you do not take my warning, then after your death demons (may God protect us!) will come in the shape of large cows and trample upon you. For it says in our holy Law: 'Thou shalt not cut the corners of thy beard nor destroy them' " (cf. Lev. 19.27).

The initial letters of the Hebrew words make the word parol (cows).

When the time came for the rich man to die, the elders of Speyer were sitting by his bedside, and when he died, the people sat down to watch the body, as is customary. R. Judah the Pious came with a letter, on which were written holy names and threw it upon the corpse. Thereupon the dead body rose up and all the people ran away in fright. The dead man began to cry and tore the hair of his head for anguish and scratched his face.

The pious man asked him: "What ails you that you are crying so bitterly and tearing your hair?"

He replied: "Woe unto me that I did not listen to your words and refused to follow

your admonitions."

Then R. Judah said: "What did they do to your soul when it left your body?"

He replied: "When my soul left the body, there came a demon in the shape of a large cow, carrying a vessel filled with brimstone and pitch, into which my soul was put so that I could not get out. Then an angel came and took the vessel with my soul in it from the demon and carried it before the Lord, blessed be He, who created all souls. Then I heard a voice in heaven saying to me: 'Have you studied Homesh (Pentateuch) or Gemara?' I replied: 'Yes.' Then I heard a voice saying: 'Bring him a Homesh.' A Homesh was brought and I was told to read. When I opened the Homesh, I saw the very verse in question: 'Thou shalt not cut the corners of thine head,' which means, you must not cut off the sidelocks. Then they said to me: 'What have you got to say for yourself? You have disobeyed the commandment!' I heard another voice, saying: 'Cast the soul of this man into the depths of hell.' As they were carrying my soul, I heard another voice saying: 'Hold the soul and do not take her into hell yet, for my son R. Judah, the Pious, is a little late' ," which means that the Lord, blessed be He, knew that R. Judah, the Pious, would pray in his behalf to protect him from the punishment of hell.

Then the rich man who had just died said to R. Judah, the Pious, "Dear friend, pray on my behalf that my soul may not go down into hell."

R. Judah prayed, and he was saved from hell. Therefore one should be careful not to commit a sin, for every sin that one commits has a special demon, who brings it before God as soon as the man dies, as you have just read in this story. The demon of this sin is called "cow", and the demon in charge of the sin of wearing sha'atnez (linen and wool mixed) is called Satan.

Therefore every man should take care not to commit sins.