Anim Zmiros

The halacha and minhag is to daven early on the day after Yom Kippur. In one shtetl, when the townspeople came to shul that day (known as G-t’s tog) to daven, they found a Poylishe chosid dancing at the amud, singing a niggun to the words of the shir hakavod (anim zemiros). It turned out that he had been so preoccupied with his singing, that he danced through the night, and completely forgot about going to break his fast!

He had spent the entire Yom Kippur being in such a lofty spiritual state that he was similar to an angel (as chazal tell us). Therefore, although he was aware that once Yom Kippur had ended it was the Will of Hashem that he return to being involved in worldly matters, nonetheless he was so overcome with yearning for the state that he had been in during this holiest day, that he tried to extend it a little bit longer, and before he knew it it was the next day!

There were rumors going around that the chossid in the story was the Rebbe. When Reuven Dunin came for yechidus he decided to clarify this once and for all, so he asked the Rebbe if the rumors were true. The Rebbe answered him that they weren't and that the story happened with someone before the times of the Baal Shem Tov and he wasn’t even a poilisher chossid. The Rebbe then proceeded to recount the entire story.

“There lived a rich man that made it his business to go around and do pidyon shvuim. One day he was passing by the local dungeon and he heard some cries. Right away, he headed to the poritz, ready to free the man in captivity. The poritz told him that this man is not going to be freed and named an exuberant amount. The rich man was hesitant. Coming back home, his conscience started bothering him. He then proceeded to make a calculation of the value of his entire estate possessions. The value of the entire estate came out to be the exact amount that it would take to free the Jewish man. He went ahead liquidated all of his possessions. Coming to the poritz, he handed him the necessary sum. The poritz burst out laughing as he opened up the dungeon. The man had already passed from this world.

Feeling very dejected and upset over throwing away all of his possessions, the now poor man wandered off and found a place to sleep. As he slept, he had a dream:

In his dream, there was a message from Up Above, and the message was that his money was not wasted. On the contrary, his actions deserved a reward. And he got 2 choices:

1.      Get back his riches plus much more

2.      Get a taste of gan eden while still in this world

This man picked the latter choice. And it was then, when he was singing anim zmiros, that he was experiencing the revelation of the olam haemes.”

The Rebbe concluded:

“With the choice that he made, we see that this man was not a chossid and that he lived before the times of the Baal Shem Tov. Had he been a chossid, he would’ve chosen the money in order to be able to continue doing pidyon shvuim”