It is known that the Rebbe Maharash conducted himself with great displays of wealth. This was the case even during the lifetime of his father, the Tzemach Tzedek, and was in contradistinction with the manner of avodas Hashem of his predecessors. [Once, someone brought, as a gift to the Tzemach Tzedek, a fancy sleigh for travel in snow (I guess the equivalent of a Yamaha Snowmobile). The Tzemach Tzedek said to him: ‘I have no use for this. Give it, rather, to my son, the Maharash. He can use it’].

On a few occasions the Rebbe related about the daily practice of the Rebbe Maharash: Every day, the Maharash would get into his coach, and be driven out of town, and would only return after an hour or so. The non-Jewish coachman was sworn to secrecy, regarding the nature of these trips.

Chassidim, however, have a way of discovering information that they seek. Thus, they once found a way to loosen the tongue of the coachman, and he began speaking. ‘I don’t understand your Rebbe’, he exclaimed. Every day, I drive him into the woods, and he sits down under a tree and begins to weep. Suddenly, ants gather from all directions and start crawling all over him and biting him, but he completely ignores them, and continues to weep. Presently, he stops crying, and, as if by some pre-arranged signal, the ants disperse. He gets back into the coach, and we return home. This repeats itself every single day.

‘I don’t understand him’, the coachman concluded, ‘why is he crying? He has a family, he has a nice house, and he has this fancy coach, being drawn by four white horses (the equivalent – at that time – of a Bentley), why on earth is he crying?! The only answer is that he’s greedy. He’s not satisfied with everything that he has, and he craves for even more!’