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Lately, I have come across stories of the early Chassidim, those who lived during the time of the Alter Rebbe (founder of the Chabad movement), and even earlier. Those were amazing times, and I don’t know if we can really grasp them. But, I want to recount two stories, because they open up history for us…I am not convinced that it is possible to understand the mentalities of our forebears back then, but these stories open a window on their lives…as it happens, there are currently many people in Israel leading outdoor lives at various “protests” regarding living conditions in Israel, so the following story fits right in…

The first is an episode from the life of R’ Isaac of the town of Homel. He was a famous follower of the Alter Rebbe, of his son the Mittler Rebbe and of the Tzemach Tzedek (grandson of the Alter Rebbe, and the third Rebbe of Chabad). R’ Isaac was gifted intellectually, and became the top student of his rabbi, before he joined the Chassidim. At one point, his rabbi was unable to understand a certain passage of the Talmud, together with its commentaries and explanations. He fasted and underwent much penitence in order to achieve proper understanding of this passage, but it nevertheless eluded both him and his students, causing them much consternation. After some time, a wretched looking man in ragged clothes appeared in the study hall of the rabbi, and asked R’ Isaac to take him to his rabbi, because he wanted to speak with him. R’ Isaac, looking at the man, told him that it would be beneath his dignity to do so, and designated one of the younger students to take him in to speak with his rabbi.

After some time, R’ Isaac’s rabbi emerged from his study, beaming with great joy and happiness. He reported that he had been visited by none other than Eliyahu the prophet, who had revealed the true meaning of the Talmudic passage, allowing him to understand it and teach it properly to his students. R’ Isaac, realizing what had occurred, was full of anguish and remorse over his “arrogance” in failing to escort the man in tattered clothing (who turned out to be Eliyahu the prophet) in to speak with the rabbi. He cried bitterly and asked for a regime of penitence and tshuva, to make up for his haughty attitude. His rabbi instructed him to go into “exile” for three years, during which would walk from town to town with fellow Jewish vagabonds, some of whom were also great Torah scholars as he was. R’ Isaac recounted that among them there were some who would not reveal their names, and as a result, he did not reveal his name to them, either. But, they would constantly review and discuss their Torah together. R’ Isaac himself knew the entire Talmud by heart, together with the commentary of Rashi, so it was not difficult, even as he traveled, to review and discuss Torah. But, from time to time he also wished to cite passages of the Tosafot, generally the grandchildren and offspring of Rashi, who further developed and commented upon the Talmud. Unfortunately, he did not know all of the Tosafot by heart, but there was another Jew among the vagabond travelers who did know all of the Tosafot, and R’ Isaac was greatly pleased to wander “in exile” together with him…(from “Branches of the Chassidic Menorah,” published by Sichos in English)…

(writer’s note: This story is intriguing for its suggestion that “exile” was a form of penitence in those days. Surely, the living conditions in their homes could not have been much more pleasant than “exile,” one would think. Moreover, why were there constantly groups of learned Jews “on the road”? What was to be achieved by wandering from town to town? There were a certain number of righteous men from the Ba’al Shem Tov’s secret society who went from town to town and helped out other Jews, and there were some who made their living is itinerant peddlers, but from the description, it does not seem that these were the Jews whom R’ Isaac encountered during his “exile.” Food for thought…)

Here is another story from an even earlier period: this story is translated from the book I have been quoting the last few weeks, the Ilana deChaya (“Book of Life”). It is a compilation of words of Torah from R’ Menachem Mendel of Rimanov, a Chassidic master of the nineteenth century. On this week’s parsha (Ve’etchanan), he quotes a story from his grandfather, R’ Natan Nata Shapiro, also known as the Megaleh Amukot (“revealer of depths”), from his book of the same name. R’ Shapiro was a towering Torah giant of the seventeenth century. He was the Rav of Cracow, and considered to be not only a huge Torah scholar but also a tzadik, or saintly man of righteous character, to whom others would go for advice and blessings. His words of Torah reveal him to be a master of the third level of Torah study, called remez, or “hints.” In fact, many of his words are virtually unfathomable for their depth, so it is somewhat ironic that his book is called “Revealer of depths.” On this parsha in particular, he wrote 252 explanations of the first word alone – Ve’etchanan. In the following story, he manages to elicit yet another explanation, but from someone else…

R’ Menachem Mendel writes on the verse, Ӆand God said to me, enough! Speak to me no more of this matter” (Deut. 3:26), the following: “It happened that in the days of my grandfather, the Megaleh Amukot ztz’l, a young man, one of the thirty-six righteous tzaddikim, came to his city. Nobody knew about him, but he got himself hired to a local store-owner, assisting in the store. He made a condition with the store owner that he be able to go in the evening and the morning to pray in the local shul. Soon afterward, the store owner became successful and he saw blessings in his business.

Once, the young man happened to go pray, and while he was out, several merchants came together with many people from afar and entered his store, and the storekeeper was unable to fulfill all of their requests. He went in anger to the local shul to see why the young man had failed to arrive in time. He said to himself, “if he is praying at length, I will forgive him, but if he is not using his time well, I will take revenge. Upon arrival at the shul, he found the young man standing and looking above, as if staring at the shape of the ceiling. No words came from his mouth. The storeowner came and slapped him across the face. His fellow Jews who were praying there gathered to investigate the meaning of this act, and the storeowner was embarrassed and returned to his store. Meanwhile, the young man, after finishing his prayers, did not return to the store, but went to see my holy grandfather ztz’l, the Megaleh Amukot, who knew him from previous encounters, to request permission to part ways with him.

My grandfather was very bitter, asking him, “why would you leave us,” but all of his entreaties were for naught, and he was unable to persuade the young man, who was ready to go on his way. And my grandfather ztz’l said to him, ‘At least do not go without telling me a word of Torah, so that I will remember you forever. I have labored on my sefer, the Megaleh Amukot and on parshat Ve’etchanan I have produced 252 different explanations on this verse, equal to the phrase rav lach (“enoughŔ) – say something on the subject that I have not said already.’

The young man answered that he wished to present another hint that was not found in any other book: ‘In the supernal worlds, there exist four ‘holy animals’ (angels) that uplift the supernal chariot. The ‘throne of honor’ also has four legs, about which the sages ztz’l said that they represent the forefathers. Yet, there are only three forefathers. For that reason, Moshe Rabeinu requested to enter the land of Israel, for by so doing, he would become the fourth “leg” of the chariot. But, God said to him, ӅSpeak no more of this matter,” since I have already prepared my servant David to be the ‘fourth leg.’ And we see this hinted in the acrostic, Ben David B’regel Revi’i [“the son of David is the fourth leg”] – in which the first letters in Hebrew spell the word b’davar (“of this matter”). This Hebrew word is part of our verse, “Speak to me no more of this matter”. With this, the young man took his leave – the “man of truth” went on his way.” [In this manner, the young man both explained why Moshe was unable to enter the land of Israel, and why he, the young man, had to leave the city].

(writer’s note: In this poignant story, we see something similar to the first story of R’ Isaac – the themes of unknown Jewish personalities, disguised as simple men, who are really righteous miracle workers. As well as the implied theme of one who wonders from one place to another…)

From “Branches of the Chassidic Menorah” (R’ Shimon Neubort, Sichos in English, 1998) and from Ilana deChaya of R’ Menachem Mendel of Rimanov