Extreme Hiddurim

R’ Hillel Paritcher was a fanatical mehader bemitzvos, to an extreme (for example, he didn’t sit on a chair because of a concern for shaatnez etc.). He once remarked, that the driving force between all of his extreme hiddurim is his desire to understand a vort chassidus.

Seeing the Rebbe

The Frierdige Rebbe often suffered from ailing health, and did not spend time visibly with the Chassidim. Thus, many months could pass, with the average chosid not having any opportunity to see the Rebbe. The exceptions were prominent Chassidim or illustrious guests, who would be invited to join the Rebbe for meals on occasions.

Once, R’ Bentzion Shemtov and R’ Avrohom Paris were returning from a meal that they had spent with the Rebbe. They were going downstairs to join the rest of the Chassidim, who were sitting in shul, saying Tehillim for the health of their beloved Rebbe. Presently, R’ Avrohom Paris turned to R’ Bentzy Shemtov, saying: “Ay, Bentche, if only we could see the Rebbe the way all of the other Chassidim see the Rebbe!”

“Avrohom, what are you saying”, Rabbi Shemtov asked him puzzled, “we are the ones who just had the great zechus to see the Rebbe and spend time with him, it is the other Chassidim who are missing out?!”

“No, R’ Bentzion, you don’t understand”, he explained, “we sat at the Rebbe’s table, witnessed him eating and drinking, in what appeared to be a physical manner – the same as us - and we can easily be led to viewing the Rebbe with the limitations of our human perspective. In contrast, the Chassidim sitting downstairs are viewing the Rebbe with the untainted view of their mind’s eye, and they are seeing him as a Rebbe; - a holier loftier more spiritual person. I was wishing that despite the fact that we watched the Rebbe in a physical sense, we should nonetheless view him in the pure sense, as we should see our Rebbe!

It wasn’t a dream, it was reality

This story took place with a woman in Australia, it is written in first person, in the words of the woman with whom it happened:

“I hadn’t been feeling well for some time, and when I finally underwent comprehensive tests, I was presented with the worst possible news: The doctor informed me that I was suffering from a rare, but very serious, blood disease, one that is in fact much worse even than leukemia r”l. His prognosis was that I had at best a few days left to live. I lay in the hospital, miserable and depressed, and prepared for the end. My only brother, with whom I was very close, hadn’t visited me, feeling himself unable to face either me or my situation.

One night, I had a dream. In my dream, I saw myself standing at the beginning of a long dark tunnel (this is in fact a very common form of near-death experience). At the other end of the tunnel, I saw my grandmother (who had already departed from this world), and she was beckoning to me. I felt as if there was a powerful force drawing me towards her. Although I understood the significance of joining her, I was myself also agreeable to do so, eager to leave my misery and suffering behind.

Suddenly, I saw a man with a grey-white beard, standing behind me on my side of the tunnel (I subsequently identified him as the Rebbe). “Don’t go”, he called to me with great urgency, “hold on tight!”

I began to hold on tight (although it is not clear to what I was holding on), and then I awoke. I was visibly excited about what I had seen, to such a degree that, a nurse who came in to my room just then, questioned me about the cause of my excitement. I was, however, too uncomfortable to share my experience with her, and remained silent. Yet, shortly afterwards, when my mother entered the room to visit me, I shared the whole story with her.

My mother listened, without interruption, then said to me: “Wait, I’m going to call in your brother”. My brother was in the waiting room, having forced himself to come to take advantage of, what he believed to be, his last opportunity to see me alive. As soon as my mother returned to the room with my brother, she instructed my brother: “Tell her what you dreamt last night”.

My brother immediately began to relate: “Last night, I dreamt that I saw you at the beginning of a long dark tunnel. Suddenly, I saw grandmother at the opposite end, beckoning to you. I was filled with fear, when suddenly I saw the Lubavitcher Rebbe standing behind you, telling you to stay put and hold on tight. Then I awoke”.

We marveled at the fact that we had the identical dream, and I was filled with new hope and optimism.

Needless to say, I recovered. A few month later, when the worst was already behind me, I decided that I should pay a visit to the Rebbe, and express my appreciation. Accompanied by Rebbetzin Groner (wife of Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Groner), we took the trip from Australia to New York, and came to the Rebbe (while he was distributing dollars?).

When I was in front of the Rebbe, someone said ‘This is the lady who had the dream”. The Rebbe immediately responded “It wasn’t a dream, it was reality!”

Ver zainen zei

There was a Lubavitcher yungerman, we’ll call him Yossel, who had a neighbor and acquaintance who was of Hungarian descent, who – since the war – had become lax in his practice of Yiddishkeit. This neighbor was planning a simcha in his family – his daughter was soon to be wed – and he approached Yossel to ask if he could arrange for him a yechidus by the Rebbe. Yossel was surprised, not knowing his neighbor to be of the Rebbe-frequenting type; nonetheless, he was, of course, happy to oblige, and scheduled a yechidus for a few weeks hence.

A few weeks later, Yossel suddenly received a very curious phone call from the mazkirus of the Rebbe: “The gentleman for whom you arranged a yechidus did not complete his yechidus, he left, abruptly, in the middle. We are also calling to inform you that there is a check for this individual that he can pick up from our office”.

Yossel was, understandably, intrigued, and immediately set out to locate his acquaintance, in an effort to get to this bottom of this bizarre story. When he found him, and went into the room to speak to him, the fellow took one look at Yossel and burst into tears. “Your Rebbe”, he exclaimed passionately, “is like no other!”, and he proceeded to share the following remarkable experience.

“A you know, I am the proud father of 3, the oldest of whom is destined to get married in the near future. What you are, surely, unaware of, is the fact that recently my business suffered several significant setbacks, leaving me in debt, and overwhelmed by the financial burden of the upcoming wedding.

“Knowing from my pre-war experiences about the Chassidic way of dealing with difficulty, I decided that I would have no recourse but to approach all of the Rebbes, and beg for their assistance. I wrote a kvittel, describing the difficulty in which I find myself, and, armed with it, I proceeded to the doors of all of the prominent Jewish leaders in the country. However, in order to increase the impact of my story, I altered the facts slightly. Believing that being the father of a larger family would elicit more sympathy, I described myself as a father of 10 rather than three, and, in my kvittel, I added 7 bogus names to the 3 genuine ones of my existing children.

“Armed with this kvittel I made the rounds of all of the Rebbes (and here he proceeded to list for Yossel the names of all of the Rebbes then in America), and all of them expressed their sympathy and made some contribution.

“When I came to your Rebbe, however, I was in for the shock of my life. As I was sitting in the room, and he was reading my kvittel, as soon as he finished reading the first 3 names, he pointed to the remaining seven, and, turning to me, asked ‘ver zennen zei’ [and who are they]?!!’

I was so overcome with an intense feeling of shame at having been exposed, that I could not contain myself, and ran from the room!”

Tekia Child

On Rosh Hashono of the year of 5734, while most of the tekios went as usual, when it came to the final tekiah, it appeared ‘not to go’. The Rebbe was repeatedly ‘trying’ to blow this final tekiah through various efforts – turning over the shofar and blowing from the opposite side, wiping it off, shaking it out etc. But all of this appeared to be to no avail. The shofar did not produce any sound.

During the emotional wait for the last tekiah that year, there was one chosid in the crowd who was experiencing turmoil in his own life. Having been married already for a few years, he had not yet been blessed with a child. Moved by the troublesome tekiah and by the unseen adversaries that the Rebbe was clearly facing, this chosid burst into tears, and began to cry about his own personal troubles as well. Then and there, he resolved that if he would be blessed with a child, he would take pains to ensure that the child was never exposed to any secular publications (apparently in the home of this particular chosid, the presence of secular reading material was commonplace). He further resolved to cancel any subscriptions he had to magazines etc. that fall under that category.

Immediately following the hachloto of this chosid was when the final tekiah was finally successfully blown! The yungerman took this as such a clear indication that his emotional teffilah was indeed answered, that immediately after Rosh Hashonoh he went about carrying out his side of the deal; - cancelling his subscriptions and removing “foreign presences” from his home. Sure enough, within the year he was the ecstatic father of a newborn son!

The chosid never informed the Rebbe of his hachloto during those tense moments on Rosh Hashono. The first time he brought his son the Rebbe for kos shel brocho, the baby was about a year old. Presumably it was a shock to him when, after pouring the wine, the Rebbe suddenly turned to him and asked: “Ah, dos iz di tekiah yingeleh?” [this is the tekiah child]!

Tone of voice

R’ Meir Schapiro, founder of the illustrious Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin, travelled far and wide to raise the vast funds that were needed to maintain his Yeshiva. During the course of his travels, he had many interesting encounters, amongst which was the following: Once, when R’ Meir Schapiro approached a wealthy man for a donation, he was met with a challenge: “It says in the mishna ‘this is the way to study Torah, you should eat bread with salt, drink water, and sleep on the ground and toil in Torah.’ How, then, can you expect people to give you money to provide your students with luxurious sleeping accommodations and abundant food?!”

With a twinkle in his eye, R’ Meir responded with a story (though not historically accurate):

Once, the Alter Rebbe, in an effort to try to extinguish the flames of controversy between Chassidim and misnagdim, decided to personally visit the Gra (the Vilna Gaon) in an attempt to placate him. It was not long after Pesach, when the Alter Rebbe arrived at the doorstep of the Gra, seeking conciliation. The Gra, however, was incensed.

“Just today”, he thundered while banging his fist on the table for emphasis, “I was informed that the local Chassidim had the audacity to recite the Halel in their minyan on the first night of Pesach. How dare they?! Don’t they know that Rema states unequivocally that this is NOT our custom?! Such insolence is unforgiveable!!”

The Alter Rebbe responded with a gentle voice and a smile, “And were you present when the Rema made this statement? Why do you assume that the Rema proclaimed it in a thunderous voice, while banging his fist on the table?! Perhaps, rather, he said it in a respectful, apologetic and admiring way: ‘Regretfully, we, Ashkenazim, unfortunately never had that beautiful practice of reciting the Halel in shul on the night of Pesach”.

“I say the same to you”, R’ Meir concluded to his challenger, “why do you read the mishna as a demand and directive? Perhaps, rather, it is said in a regretful tone ofvoice: ‘How sad and unfortunate it is that this is the way of Torah, that the Torah students are neglected and deprived to such a degree, that they end up eating bread and sleeping on the floor etc., and yet they continue to diligently toil in Torah!”

R’ Eizik Homler

R’ Eizik Homler was one of the prominent Chassidim of the early generations of chassidus. Although a yungerman in the times of the Alter Rebbe, he was already a chosid of note then and recognized by the Alter Rebbe (who once invited him in to a maamar that was being said exclusively before the elder Chassidim, remarking “a yungerman ken veren an alter man”). He was later a distinguished chosid of the Mitteler Rebbe and the Tzemach Tzedek.

Once the Tzemach Tzedek sent R’ Eizik on a mission to R’ Yisrael of Ryzhin (there was a very close relationship of great love and affecrion between the Tzemach Tzedek and the Ryzhiner, and the Tzemach Tzedek would refer to R’ Yisrael as the ‘heilige Ruzhiner”). On Friday, R’ Eizek was conversing with the Ryzhuner, who was smoking a pipe.

The holy Ryzhiner had the custom that from chatzos on Friday he would accept the holiness on Shabbos upon himself, and refrain from any work. Thus, as the hour of midday arrived, the Ryzhiner removed the pipe and pushed it aside. At the same time, his face changed it’s appearance to such a degree that, as R’ Eizik later testified, had he not known who it was he would not have recognized him.

R’ Eizik later related: “As I witnessed this, I felt intense shame, such a shame as I had not felt in my entire lifetime. For I clearly saw how this Tzaddik is ascending to higher realms, while I am remaining down below”.