However, the next day, at the afternoon Shabbos meal, everything changed. The man was visibly cold to his guest and behaved in an almost hostile manner. Whenever he placed food before the Chasam Sofer, he did it in a way which demonstrated his ill feelings for all to see. The Chasam Sofer wondered what he could possibly have done that had irritated his host so much; but could not come up with anything. Finally, in keeping with the teachings of the Torah, he asked the fellow what he had done that had upset him.

The man replied with restrained anger in his voice. "Last night, I thought I was hosting one of the most prominent Rabbis in Israel, and it was the greatest honor for me to do so. But today, I noticed that you sat down to eat the Shabbos meal without making Kiddush! I can only assume, then, that you must be one of the secularists who are trying to destroy our holy Torah by making changes and modernizations. Therefore, I will continue to feed you, as I would to any Jew, but I certainly won't afford you the honors reserved for trustworthy Rabbis of the community."

The Chasam Sofer tried to contemplate how the man had come to the conclusion that he ate the Shabbos meal without Kiddush. Finally he realized what had occurred. On Friday night, the Kiddush consists of three parts: 1) the recital of a chapter of the Torah concerning Shabbos; 2) the blessing over the wine and 3) a blessing over the holy day. While there are varying customs concerning whether or when one should stand during the recital, everyone agrees upon the basic text.

Not so on Shabbos morning. Essentially, all one must do is recite the blessing over a cup of wine before he eats his meal. However, there are various customs whether or what to say besides that. This Polish Jew probably recited several paragraphs before making the prayer over the wine. The Chasam Sofer's custom, on the other hand, was to merely say the blessing. The unlearned Jew did not know that there were varying customs and, seeing his guest do things differently from the way his father had taught him, the "right way"; he assumed that this was some secularist person who was destroying the foundation of tradition handed down from father to son for generations.

Rather than get upset with the simple man who had not deferred to the superior Torah knowledge of the leading halachic authority of his time, the Chasam Sofer was rather pleased with the dedication and the zeal of his host whose love of authentic Torah Judaism knew no bounds. The venerable sage remarked to the students who accompanied him, "If this is the intensity of the commitment of a simple Jew in Poland, then true Torah observance will never falter here but will flourish from generation to generation!"

Chazak, chazak venischazak.