A Person Drawn By Nature to Elevated Matters

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

There may be a person who is drawn by his nature to elevated matters. When he is sitting idle or is involved in material things, he is not so propelled to supernal yearning for supernal matters of an exalted spiritual nature. Still, when he comes to learn something of a finite nature, then immediately his mind is in turmoil.

This is because the light of his mind—which shines as well in its activity in regard to matters of a finite nature—awakens his power of consciousness. Then immediately his yearning for uplifted and universal matters is activated. He experiences great longings for elevated and universal matters, and as a result he cannot be satisfied with small and limited things.

Kibbutzim Mi’ktav Yad Kodsho II, p. 53

Continued Stories of the Neschizer Rebbe

20. The Neschizer rebbe told the following story.

Once when, as a youth, the Lubliner rebbe went to see the holy R. Elimelech of Lizhensk, a heavy, cold rain fell while he was traveling. Night fell and he got lost.

He saw a house in the forest with lights shining. He entered the house. It was warm and comfortable, and he felt refreshed, after having suffered so much from the rain and cold.

The only other person there was an attractive woman. She tried to entice him to sin, God have mercy, and he did not know what to do, because they were alone. She told him that she was unmarried and halachically pure, and he suffered a great deal from her seductiveness.

He replied to her, “I have resolved never to do anything, even if it is permissible, unless it gives pleasure to God. And what pleasure would He have from this?”

When he said these words, he immediately saw that the entire scene was an illusion meant to test him, and that there was no forest, no house and no woman. Instead, he found himself standing near the road that he had to travel on.

21. Sunday night, 22 Adar 5628.

Rabbi A. told me that he once went to the Neschizer rebbe as he was celebrating the melave malka meal.

The Neschizer rebbe said, “Great is this meal, which is first mentioned in the Talmud.”

He told that once, when the Lubliner rebbe was a young man and not yet famous, he went to the Maggid of Mezerich.

And on Friday night the holy R. Shlomo of Skahl served him and arranged 12 challahs on his table.

The Lubliner was poor and he knew that he would have nothing to eat for the melave malka meal. So he waited for everyone to leave, and then he took a slice from the twelves loaves for the melave malka meal.

When the maggid came to the table, he asked, "Who took a slice?”

And R. Shlomo answered that “it could only have been done by the man from Poland.”

The maggid sent for him, and the Lubliner was very embarrassed, and he told him what had happened.

The maggid put his hand on the Lubliner’s shoulder and blessed him, “May it be God’s will that you eat will the melave malka meal with abundance.”

22. The Neschizer rebbe told the following story.

The Lubliner rebbe told the the Neschizer’s brother, the Ostiler rebbe, “When I came to the maggid, I saw him lying in bed. I saw that this was a being who was solely a simple will, the divine will. And when I came to your father, the holy [Moharam], I saw that he is solely dedicated to Hashem.”

23. The Neschizer rebbe told the following story a few times, including once to the Sasnivitzer.

The Lubliner rebbe once heard a proclamation from heaven, “Mordechai son of Gittel is solely dedicated to Hashem.”

The Lubliner rebbe set out to seek this man. The Lubliner rebbe was informed that this man was in Neschiz, and so the Lubliner rebbe came to Neschiz.

The entire city came out to greet him and honor him.

The Moharam himself went out as one of the people to greet him. He did not make himself known but wondrously concealed himself so that the Lubliner should not have the slightest awareness of him.

The Moharam greeted the Lubliner, who responded in kind. Because the Moharam was among other people, the Lubliner did not sense anything special about him.

When the Lubliner came to the city and was close to the home of the [Moharam], he asked, “Where does the rabbi live?”

The [Moharam] replied, “I live here.”

The Lubliner rebbe was amazed and said, “This is truly something special: to ‘turn your hat backwards’ and keep me from sensing your spiritual level.”

When the Lubliner rebbe left, the Moharam sat with the Lubliner rebbe in his carriage and, said the Neschizer, “[My father] put me on his lap. And my brother, the Kavler, and our brother-in-law, R. Meir Feivel (the son-in-law of the [Moharam]), sat opposite them in the carriage.”

On the road near the village of Aratish, they left the carriage, and the Lubliner rebbe told the [Moharam], ‘Let us go alone, so that no one goes with us.” And so it was.

But I, [told the Neschizer,] accompanied my father, since I was a boy. And I heard the Lubliner rebbe ask Father, “What should I do, since I am the object of controversy in my city? Perhaps this is because my way is to reveal hidden matters. Perhaps that is why I am the object of controversy.”

Father answered him, “Your intent in doing so is certainly for the sake of heaven, and you should not abandon this practice, since it is the service of the Creator, be He blessed. But please tell me: perhaps you have built some building.”

The Lubliner rebbe replied, “No. But I did shingle my roof.”

Father responded to him, “If so, do the following. Remove a certain row of shingles, and the dispute will come to an end.”

Meanwhile, the Lubliner rebbe saw that I was with them. He said, “Didn’t I ask that no one should accompany us?”

Father replied, “What of it? He is only a boy.”

But I contemplated their words deeply.

So did the Neschizer rebbe tell.

24. The Lubliner rebbe told that for a number of years he tied a [cloth] over his eyes and did not look at anything at all. And all of his life he did not look past four cubits.

25. The Neschizer rebbe told that the Maharshal at first opposed the Ari. The Ari sensed this and sent out two of his students on a Friday, who miraculously came in an instant to the Maharshal.

A mirror stood before him, and he saw the students enter behind him. He asked them, “Where are you from?”

They told him that they were students of the Ari, and that they had that day left the Holy Land. To prove that they were genuine, they told the Maharshal that they knew that during his prayers he had been thinking about such-and-such a halachah.

So he believed them.

They went with the Maharshal to a cellar in an underground cave, and they miraculously showed him something similar to the creation of heaven and earth.

The Maharshal replied, “Now I acknowledge that your way is fitting before Hashem. But I shall go on my way, which I am accustomed to.”

26. The Neschizer rebbe used to say in the name of his father, the Moharam, that he did not think highly of any stories of tzaddikim, because many are forgeries and riddled with errors.

But he made an exception for stories about the Baal Shem Tov, because even if a story was not literally true, the Baal Shem Tov had the power to do everything.

27. The holy Neschizer rebbe told the following.

Regarding all of the awesome and wondrous things that we know that my father (the brilliant Moharam) did, including bringing the dead back to life here in Neschiz (author’s note: The holy tzaddik brought back to life a member of my own family), I am not as I am impressed as by the following story.

An agunah, a woman whose husband had disappeared, begged Father at length to free her, and came to him many times.

One time he could no longer bear her troubles, and he replied, “What should I do for you?”

She said, “Is it beyond the rebbe to bring my husband back to me?”

He answered, “And is he here that I can help you? Here is a bowl of water. Maybe he is there.”

In her great faith, she believed that meaningless words would not issue forth from his holy mouth. So she looked into the bowl of water standing there, and she cried out, “Here he is! I can see him sitting in the bowl.”

The Moharam asked her, “How is he sitting?”

She said, “With a yarmulka on his head, without a hat.”

He told her, “Show me the yarmulka.”

She put her hand into the bowl and pulled out the yarmulka.

The story was that her husband was a tailor, who was sewing in a distant courtyard. As he sat before an open window, a wind suddenly lifted his yarmulka from his head and she grabbed it.

After some time passed, he understood that this episode meant something, and his heart inspired him to return home. His wife showed him the yarmulka and he recognized it, and she was freed from being an agunah.

28. The Neschizer rebbe also told the following.

Father had the custom of traveling to the city near the village of Stabichave (near Neschiz) with his servant Eliezer. Father would leave him in secret and roll in the brambles in the forest.

One time, Father told Eliezer to gather certain grasses, because through them thousands of infertile women would be healed.

The servant rejoiced and thought, “Even if each woman gives me only ten gedulim, that will be enough for me.”

When Father came home he told the servant to put the grass under his bed. And when the eve of Passover arrived, Father told him to take the grasses outside.

The servant asked him, “But the master had said that with this, infertile women would be healed.”

Father replied, “They were already helped without having to come here.”

29. The Neschizer rebbe told that R. Yitzchak Lebovner came to Neschiz to Father’s gravesite on his yahrtzeit, on the eighth day of Nissan. At that time the snow was melting. The river here had overflowed its banks and he had to sail on a boat when the river was stormy.

[The Neschizer] asked him, “Why did you risk your life to come?”

He answered him, “It was all worthwhile in order to come for the yahrtzeit of the rebbe.”

[The Neschizer] asked R. Lebovner to honor him by sitting down. But he did not want to, saying, “Will I sit before the son of the rebbe?”

The Neschizer begged him, until R. Lebovner drank some liquor as a sign of respect.

Zichron Tov

The Mellow Sukkah

For Sukkot, a guitar instrumental:

The Mellow Sukkah.

Yet More Stories of the Rebbe of Neschiz

11. The Neschizer rebbe said that “after the holy R. Yaakov Shimshon of Shepitovka traveled the land of Israel, he went to see my father, the holy Moharam. When he came to Neschiz, he said, ‘I heard in the name of the Moharam that there is a strip of land that extends from the land of Israel to here, and it is true, for here I sense the atmosphere of the land of Israel.’ When people reported this to the Moharam, he said, ‘[That is the case] wherever the tzaddik of Israel [?] stays. If so, that land is called the land of Israel.’”[unclear]

Whenever the Neschizer rebbe wanted to miraculously acquire some good fish for the Sabbath or a holiday when it was otherwise unavailable, he would say, “We learn in the name of the holy author of the Ohr Hachaim that 52 years before the messiah comes, fish will leave the entire world and go to the land of Israel. And since Neschiz constitutes a strip of the land of Israel, the fish have to come here.”

And so it was.

12. The Neschizer rebbe always kept the volumes of the Kedushas Levi and Degel Machaneh Efraim on his table, and he was well-acquainted with them.

One time he was brought the holy Derech Pikudechah [by R. Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov]. He leafed through its pages quickly and said, “It contains nothing new [to me].”

We who were standing there did not understand whether this meant that he knew the holy rabbi of Dinov on the physical plane or on the spiritual plane.

Similarly, the Neschizer rebbe once said of the holy R. Elazar of Koznitz, “I love him a great deal for his simplicity.” He concluded: “even though I do not know him so well--but in regard to his simplicity, I love him. From his words “so well,” it appeared that he knew him on the spiritual plane but not “so well”—[i.e., not in the physical world].

This is similar to what the Neschizer rebbe once said about two tzaddikim who are [now] deceased: that they did not know each other in the physical dimension, but it is possible that they knew each other in the spiritual dimension.

And he said of the holy R. Moshe of Korishtshuv, “Si gefelt mir zein hisnahagus--I appreciate his way of acting--since he acts like a [simple] layman.”

We told the Neschizer rebbe at his meal that we heard that the holy R. Moshe of Korishtshuv said before he passed away, “What other neighborhood can boast, as can the neighborhood of the rabbi of Neschiz, that he protects it from the plague that was in the world, God have mercy, for he transformed the decree into inflation?”

And from the expression on the face of the Neschizer rebbe, it appeared that these words were true.

At the time of the plague, God have mercy, in the world in the year 5626 and onward, many times we heard and saw from him how he was involved on behalf of the good of the community. When he was told that the sickness had come to a certain town in the area, God have mercy, he denied it and said that it was not true. He made a motion with his fingers indicating that the sickness would circle around but it would not come to these neighborhoods. And so it was. May his merit protect us.

And when it happened that a person in our town fell ill, God have mercy, the Neschizer rebbe would refer to the illness in a joking fashion and said that it was not the [fatal] illness but rather an illness called hatzka in Yiddish, and that the man would soon get well.

And see this wonder. There was a person in the town of Brisk who was weakened by that illness, God have mercy, and people sent news dispatches by telegraph. Finally there came a dispatch reporting that he was very weak and his body was cold and his pulse was still and he was entering his death throes, God have mercy, and they paid for a reply.

The Neschizer rebbe directed to reply in the gentile language, “Be well.” And this was a wondrous thing, for he had never been heard to say anything in the gentile language. And it was even more wondrous that he would reply to a dying person dying with a confident “be well,” since he would usually reply only in the way of a prayer and blessing.

The people did not change what he directed and replied in that way. And immediately the illness was healed right before the eyes of people who had said that he had no hope unless he took much medicine. Those who stood there relied on the answer of the Neschizer rebbe and did not give him medicine.

And soon afterwards this sick person came to the Neschizer rebbe, having been healed, and he thanked God for His kindness.

13. The Neschizer rebbe told that he saw the Berditchever holding a candle and he caused himself a burn scar.

At times the Neschizer rebbe called the Berditchever “the Zelichover,” because he had initially been the rabbi of Zelichov. And at times he would call the Lubliner “the Lantziter” because he was also rabbi in Lantzit.

The Neschizer was married to the grand daughter [nechdo] of the Berditchever, and the Berditchever supported them for four years. Before the marriage, the Berditchever had stated that he could not promise to support the couple for more than four years, by any means. And this was very unusual. In the end the Berditchever supported him until the [last] day [of the four years] and then he passed away. May his merit protect us and all Israel .

The Neschizer rebbe told that the Berditchever asked him if he knows the Kotzinitzer, and he said “No.” And he asked him again, and he replied “No.” And he told him, “I would very, very much want that you should meet him.”

The Neschizer rebbe decided to travel to him, but then he heard that the Kozinitzer had passed away— may his merit protect us and all of the congregation of Israel.

And the Neschizer rebbe concluded telling this story to the holy rabbi of Sasnivitz, “From the words of the Berditchever I understood that I have a connection in the root of the soul with the Kozinitzer.”

(Author’s note: Israel are “the children of prophets,” for I heard people praise the Neschizer rebbe by saying that “he is like the Kozinitzer in his generation.”)

14. The Neschizer rebbe told that the Berditchever used to go to sleep and then get up at midnight. But the Neschizer had the custom of staying awake until after midnight.

(Author’s note: indeed, that was how I saw him act.)

The Berditchever tried to persuade the Neschizer rebbe also to first go to sleep and then get up at midnight.

One time, the Neschizer rebbe saw the Berditchever get up at midnight, awaken his servant, take liquor and go to the bathhouse, where all the travelers who had no lodging were asleep. He went to a Jew and woke him, saying, “Drink some schnapps.” The Jew agreed, but when he remembered that he had no water to wash his hands and no place to make a blessing, he refused and did not want to drink. The Berditchever then went over to a gentile and woke him, and the gentile drank the schnapps where he was without reciting a blessing to the Creator, blessed be He. And the Berditchever returned with great joy to the house and fervently proclaimed, “Master of the world, see the difference between these and those!”

15. The Neschizer was not accustomed to tell people to fast. Even in regard to rectifying a flaw in the sexual covenant, when a person asked him [for advice], he would only tell him fast some rosh chodesh eves. And he said that a person who wants to fast on the eve of the new month should not be strict in regard to the molad, [the precise astronomical time].

One time the Neschizer rebbe said to two members of his household who did not want to eat in the evening, “Why fast? That is not the main thing.”

And he told that the Berditchever did not think highly of fasting to afflict oneself.

He said that [the desire to fast] comes from the urging of the evil inclination to weaken the mind so as to prevent it from serving God.

And he said in [the Berditchever’s] name that this may be compared to two people who were fighting. One was clever and said, “If I hit the other person in one of his limbs I will only destroy one of his limbs. It is better to strike him in his head, because in that way I will gain victory over his whole body.” Similarly, at times the evil inclination advises a person to fast in order to weaken his brain, and automatically [the evil inclination] attacks him.

17. (there is no #16) The Neschizer rebbe told that in the year before he passed away, the Berditchever rebbe summoned him to teach him the mystical intentions of the lulav and esrog.

And the Berditchever’s children envied him. Why did he teach him and not them?

The Berditchever replied to them, “When the Moharam will ask me in the world of truth, ‘What did you teach my children?’ I will have to reply to him. Therefore, I am teaching him these intentions of the lulav and etrog.”

And they closed the door and he taught him these intentions.

(Author’s note: the Neschizer rebbe used to shake lulav and etrog in his succah by himself.)

18. The Neschizer rebbe told in the name of a certain earlier holy tzaddik that now divine inspiration is not common among us, except for the rabbi of Berditchever at the time that his soul is expiring at the time of the [Musaf] keter kedushah prayer. Then he attains it a bit.

19. I heard from the men of his household that the Berditchever told the Neschizer rebbe not to smoke Turkish tutin [?].

(Author’s note: In his youth, the Neschizer rebbe smoked tutin. At the end of his days, he only did so on very rare occasions. And he quickly drew in and blew out the smoke with great rapidity. For about ten years before he passed away he ceased entirely smoking. One time he was in the town of Stabekhve in the year 5617 at the marriage of his relative with [the family of] the holy R. Yaakov of Apta. The Neschizer rebbe did not have his pipe and he asked for a clean pipe. But before they brought it to him he changed his mind and did not want to smoke.)

Zichron Tov

Yet More Stories of the Rebbe of Neschiz

7. The Neschizer rebbe told that his father was very strict in regard to the laws of Passover.

His son, the Kavler rebbe, wanted to be lenient regarding a Passover matter, and said, “What is the source for being so incredibly strict?”

But his father responded, “My son, do you intend to be wiser than our latter sages, who were very strict regarding the laws of Passover?”

And from then on, the Kavler was very strict regarding the laws of Passover.
And the Neschizer rebbe told that the Berditchever was even more strict in regard to the laws of the Sabbath.

8. Following the Sabbath of the parshah, B’haalotchah 5627 (1867).

The Neschizer rebbe told that the holy R. Gershon Kitiver saw R. Chaim Attar, the holy author of the Ohr Hachaim, in the land of Israel, and told him of his brother-in-law, the Baal Shem Tov.

R. Chaim Attar replied, “I know him, and Israel is his name.”

The Neschizer rebbe also told that the holy Gershon Kitiver asked R. Chaim Attar about a certain student in his yeshiva who, he saw, was at that time unworthy. And R. Chaim Attar responded to him, “It is our way to attract those who are far.”

The Neschizer rebbe also spoke at that time of the statement in the Ohr Hachaim that perhaps Hashem will lengthen time in the days of the messiah so that the length of the days will be extended to better implement the statement, “our joy will like the days of our suffering,” etc.

And the Neschizer rebbe told that a certain publisher whose name was Asher removed in his edition of Ohr Hachaim the words “and his name is Chaim” that are written regarding the messiah. Afterwards, this publisher made a mistake, and in place of the phrase “amen from another man” he put “amen from the man Asher.”

The Neschizer rebbe also told that the holy rebbe of Ishpala once stretched out his hand and said, “Master of the world, I give You my word that the Jewish people will not repent because they are under such pressure, may God have mercy. So why delay sending our righteous messiah?”

9. On Friday night, the Sabbath of the parshah Tavo 5627 (1867), the Neschizer rebbe told that his holy father once said to the departed R. Ber Tirosker in the mother of Elul, “Do you know what today is? Fish in yamim tzittern—fish in the seas are trembling.”

When the Neschizer rebbe told this, one of the people standing there replied, “People say it this way: fish in vasser tzittert—fish in water tremble.”

But the Neschizer rebbe responded that his father had in mind with that specific wording a holy unification.

10. Tuesday night of the parshah of Vayishlach, 14 of Kislev 5628 (1867-8).

The Neschizer rebbe told that the Lubliner rebbe traveled to Mezhibozh to the holy rebbe, R. Boruch.

That Sabbath there was a woman who was having trouble giving birth, and her husband came to the Lubliner, for it is common that when a tzaddik comes from another town there is a great deal of publicity about him.

The Lubliner asked him, “Will you give me the honor of being sandek—of holding the baby on my lap at the circumcision—when you have a boy?”

And he told him, “Yes.”

But the husband went as well to R. Boruch Mezhibozher, who also asked him “Will you give me the honor of being sandek?” And he answered “yes” to him as well.

His wife gave birth to a boy, and on the following Sabbath, the day of the circumcision he hid, because he did not know whom to ask to be sandek.

Finally he went to R. Boruch Mezhibozher and told him what had happened and asked him to advise him what to do.

The Mezhibozher said that he would be sandek, and he added, “No doubt the Lubliner will be here another Sabbath and everything will be fine.”

At the end of the holy Sabbath, when the Lubliner came to take leave of R. Boruch to go home, R. Boruch told him, “Why are you in such a hurry to go home?”

The Lubliner replied, “Because it is so far and I want to be home in time for the holy Sabbath.”

But R. Boruch replied, “Isn’t it not possible for you to have kefitzat haderech, a miraculous shortening of the road? If Eliezer, the servant of Abraham, experienced that miracle, how much more should tzaddikim.” And he pleaded with him to remain with him longer.

The Lubliner said, “Since it is your holy desire that I do so, I will.”

He stayed there for a second Sabbath, and it so happened that there was another circumcision, and R. Boruch honored the Lubliner with the post of being sandek.

Zichron Tov

The Life Within Life

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

As long as a person thinks of nothing but the life within life—within the life that he sees, hears and feels—everything is alive for him. As a result, he comes to a state of the perfection of life within himself.

But if he isolates the Life of all worlds in a separate locus, then the radiance of the life of the entire world leaves him. And it does not return to him until he at last learns that in order to find the Life of the worlds he does not need to seek any particular spot.

Then, as before, he can without any weakness find the life within life inside life itself, within the life before him, in the reality that extends in its beauty and all of its hues before his eyes.

This is true in regard to a person’s soul, which only needs to soar in the breadths of spirituality, to rejoice and take pleasure.

But in our limited life, which is filled with many obstacles, confusions and realms of darkness, the Life of worlds is not revealed to our eyes of flesh.

And so when we wish to draw life into the pathways of this world, which are so difficult and filled with anger, we must raise our eye to the heavens and find Hashem above our world, sitting in the heavens.

But a person who comes to seek God sitting in the heavens in answer to the demand of his soul is making a mistake, because “Hashem God is in the heavens above and upon the earth below—there is no other.” Even in the midst of the world, God embraces and surrounds all, and fills all.

A person who is unaware of the One Who dwells in heaven as being here upon the pathways of actual life is in danger of sinking into the depths of wickedness and he will find no peace, because the pathways of the world require Torah from heaven.
Pinkas Hadapim 1:24

You May Think That You are a Clutch of Lavender

by Yaacov Dovid Shulman

You may think that you are a clutch of lavender,
I do not know if you are.
You shampooed your hair,
You breathed in the 2 a.m. breeze,
You tiptoed through mattresses of sleeping children,
You struck your heart, which grew increasingly broader.

That is all that it takes:
A sky as lickety-split as a postage stamp,
A cousin who lives in the Bronx,
A box of matches,
And the reply from the government ministry
That they cannot repeal the law of gravity.

Perhaps you will meet a chameleon
Or watch the braids of brown ants weaving their fall provisions.
Everyone is happy with his porridge.
All right then. Order blackberry wine
And carry it back to your table with two hands.

The Cessation of Animal Sacrifices and Vegetarianism

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

Animal sacrifices will diminish under the influence of the amount of consumption of completely non-sanctified meat.

This is because the verse states, “When your spirit desires to eat meat…” (Deuteronomy 12:20). And how can a person with a perfected spirit desire to eat the flesh of a living being, since such a person rather sees in the animal a proper instrument to perfect Divine justice by making an effort to improve the animal and impart intelligence to it?

For the sake of the needs of the day, it is possible that there will exist many animals throughout the course of an entire era at the threshold of such perfection that it will accustom them to sacrifice their lives as an offering to Hashem, as a sign of their great awareness of the goodness that accrues and will accrue to them as a result of the service of Hashem that has brought mankind to that point: that he has risen to such a degree that he focuses all of his endeavors upon elevating animals and their honor. And in accordance with the value of the animal’s perspective, they will require that approach--i.e., of being sacrificed.

Alternatively, there will still be a need to continue drawing such energy of the sacrifices into the world so that the worst and most degraded members of the human race will not return to freely choose evil deeds, regressing from ethical perfection. Offering sacrifices makes that possible.

Alternatively, the Sanhedrin may find it proper, in accordance with the power that it possesses to uproot a law from the Torah when that involves non-action (Yevamot 89b), to declare sacrifices of living beings non-obligatory, since the killing of animals for non-sanctified purposes has ceased to be the norm.

The Bible supports this, for the verse speaks of a sacrifice as “bread”: “My sacrifice, My bread for My fires” (Numbers 28:2), yet regarding the same sacrifice the Bible refers to “one sheep” (Exodus 29:39, Leviticus 14:12). This appears to be a contradiction. The resolution is that as long as animals are killed for non-sanctified purposes, one may offer them to God; but when animals are not killed for non-sanctified purposes, sacrifices should be composed of bread.

Our Sages allude to this in saying that “all the sacrifices will be nullified except for the thanksgiving offering, which will not be nullified” (Yayikra Rabbah 9:7)—because it is composed in part of bread. Thus, the verse states, “and the flour offering minchah of Judah and Jerusalem will be sweet to Hashem as in former days and years of old” (Malachi 3:4)--because that which remains fit to be a sacrifice after supernal human perfection is the flour offering.

And, to return to the verse on sacrifices, it speaks of “My sacrifice, My bread” (as noted above), and the following verse states, “And tell them: this is the fire-offering that you will offer to Hashem”—i.e., you realize that ultimately the offering will consist of “My bread for My fires,” “bread of the minchah.” However, at the present, until that time of perfection, tell them to sacrifice sheep.

The matter depends upon whether the sacrifice is considered to be “a pleasing fragrance.” And it will grow clear in the time of perfection that killing animals cannot give a “pleasing fragrance.”

It is possible that, in accordance with the ruling of the Sanhedrin and with verses found in the Prophets, the sacrificial service will revert to being offered by the first-born. Since there is an explicit verse in the Torah that leads to this presumption, such an idea is not to be considered as uprooting anything from the Torah, but rather as upholding the Torah.

The first-born were disqualified from offering sacrifices as a result of their role in the sin of the Golden Calf (Bamidbar Rabbah 3:5). But it is impossible that a sinful matter should last forever, because teshuvah, repentance, preceded the world (Tanchuma, Nasso 11:11).

Therefore, every impression of the sin of the Golden Calf will be rectified, and at that time the sacrificial service will revert to the first-born. The cohanim will of course not be disqualified, since “once they have ascended they do not descend” (Zevachim, Chapter 9).

We may derive that the obligation to offer animal sacrifices is in force only when those who offer them are solely cohanim. Therefore the verse states that in the present era, “[The person bringing the sacrifice] will have it slaughtered on the north side of the altar … [but only] the sons of Aaron, the cohanim, will sprinkle its blood” (Leviticus 1:11). However, when the first-born will also be qualified to serve, then due to the elevation of animals and all of existence, animals will not be used for sacrifices, but only bread and flour-offerings, as a sign of appreciation and elevation.

And in every case that we find a verse in the Torah and apply straightforward reasoning, the Great Court has the power to deliver such significant rulings—and in particular when we add the appropriate verses in the Prophets.

However, this vision refers to days in the far distant future. It is possible that the rectification of the world including with the resurrection of the dead will occur prior to that. And then in truth a number of matters will change in accordance with the quality of the new time.

Only wicked people eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge while it is unripe, for they do not appreciate the great worth of everything in its time.

Machberot Boisk 1:8

Hasidic Tales of the Neschizer, Apter & Other Rebbes

5. On Friday night of Tavo, 5627 (1867), the Neschizer rebbe told that the Berditchever once said, “Master of the world, I do not have the ability to say, ‘And Hashem said, I have forgiven.’ So You say, ‘I have forgiven’—for I do not have the power to say anything.”

6. One time, the Neschizer rebbe was in the town of Ratna for the Friday night Sabbath meal in his house. At his table, we were no more than two of his household. He told at length of the holy R. Avraham Yehoshua Heschel of Apta and Meziboz.

And he spoke of him as well one time on the eve of Rosh Hashanah and also on a Sunday night, the parshah of Balak 5627 (1867), and also on a Monday, the parshah of Bamidbar 5627 (1867), and the eve of the holy Sabbath, Tavo, 5627 (1867) and Tuesday night of Vayishlach, the fourteenth of Kislev 5628.

And from all of those occasions, it emerged that the Apter rebbe used to tell exaggerations.

And the holy Neschizer rebbe said of him (the writer states: either in the name of the Berditchever or in the name of the Lubliner—I don’t recall which) that he knows the secret of the statement of our sages that “We learned an exaggeration.” Therefore he had the ability to tell exaggerations.

One time, the Apter sat at a meal with the holy rebbe. R. Boruch of Meziboz, and he told many exaggerations. The people standing there they looked and thought that perhaps the Mezibozer would begin to laugh at this, and they themselves laughed. But it was not so. And after the Apter left, the Mezibozer said, “Of all of the men of Poland, I have not seen anyone as wise as he, for he has a golden scale in his mouth, with which he weighs each word before he says it.”

And the Neschizer rebbe told that when the Apter was in Berditchev in the great throng that wanted to greet him the Berdichever, the Berditchever] brough the Apter a glass of spirits and a piece of cake.

And after the Apter tasted it, he went into a few houses and he told an exaggeration that in the town of Yass (where he had apartments and a rabbinical post [unclear]), a bridge was built before his mansion, and he told of the wood and the nails in the thousands, in the way of great exaggeration.

A merchant who would go to Yass, Mr. Noach, was standing there, and he nodded his head and said “Yes, rebbe, the truth is as you say.”

And the Apter turned his face to him and asked him, “R. Noach, how do you know that?”

One time, the Neschizer rebbe went to his brother, the Kavler, in Meziboz. The Apter rebbe was led the Neschizer rebbe all of his rooms, in order to show him affection.

The Neschizer rebbe said that he did so purposefully, since the wife of the Apter was bedridden (and it was understood that the Neschizer rebbe would have in mind to pray on her behalf).

The Apter told him that due to his fear of an informer, he had directed that the notes people gave him with their requests should be burned, and they were burned three days in a row. The Neschizer rebbe held himself back a great deal from laughing at this exaggeration since he knew [the Apter’s] holy way.

The Neschizer rebbe told that the Apter said that he had already been in the world ten times. He had been on the level of cohen gadol, prince, king and so forth. And this time he was in the world to rectify the area of the love of Israel, and he was naturally very good. And he said that it appeared to him that he would not have to come into this world any more.

Regarding the work Oheiv Yisrael which was printed, the Neschizer rebbe said that it did not have the taste that the words had had when they were heard from the Apter’s holy mouth literally.

At that time there was also printed the book Nishmat Adam. The Neschizer rebbe praised it a great deal as being good.

The Neschizer rebbe said that [the Apter] acted as a very good leader for the generation: “er iz geven zeiyer a sheiner manhig hador.”

The Neschizer rebbe said that the Apter’s face was similar to that of the Neschizer rebbe’s father, the Moharam.

The Neschizer rebbe told that when the Apter rebbe was in Berditchev, he directed his son, the holy R. Yitzchak Meir, during his meal that if the Neschizer rebbe comes, to bring him before him.

And when the Neschizer came before the Apter, the Apter asked him his opinion about the fact that he had decreed a Monday, Thursday, Monday post-festival fast (bahab).

The Neschizer rebbe told him that in Berditchev people accepted the fast that he had decreed. They confessed their sins, and repented and recited his prayers (maamadot).

The Apter answered him, “If I had the strength to decree one such more bahab fast, it would certainly be very, very good.”

The Neschizer rebbe wanted to ask him about this lack of strength, but he was unable to do so.

The Neschizer rebbe told that when the Apter was staying in the town of Kalbisov, for the month of Nissan he went to Lublin to be with the Lubliner.

The Lubliner asked the Apter if he knew R. Boruch of Meziboz, and he replied that he did. “And it is true that he is a great tzaddik and very wise--but only for himself (nar par zich).”

And the Lubliner asked him if he knew the Moharam.

The Apter answered, “No.” And he asked him, “Tell me about the Moharam.”

The Lubliner answered him, “If you would know the Moraham, you would see that he has Torah, prayer, eating and sleeping—it is all one deed (altz eins)—and he can raise a soul to its root.

(The writer states: one of those standing before the rebbe of Neschiz spoke up: “Is this not as it is written ‘in all your ways know Him’?” But the rebbe of Neschiz answered, “No. This is a greater path, as is stated in the name of Ramban on the verse ‘and cling to Him.’” This is quoted in his work, Toldot Yitzchak, parashah Nasso.)

The Apter decided to go to the Moharam. But after a wagon was prepared for his journey, he was slandered, and he had to go to the kreiz—the secular court system, and the next day as well.

And since there wasn’t much time before Passover he was unable to travel to Neschiz. He decided to go to Neschiz in the summer. But after Passover, the news arrived that the Moharam, the Ark of God, had been taken away on 8 Nissan 5560.

This is what the Apter tell the Neschizer rebbe, and he concluded, “si tit mir zeier bank-- I am filled with yearning that I did not see the Moharam.”

The Neschizer rebbe told that an old woman who sat in the market selling items something told her friend as follows: “I do not know if it was when I was awake or in a dream that I saw my husband, of blessed memory, who passed away a few years ago. He was running, and I began to weep, ‘You left me with orphans and no money!’ But because he was running, he did not answer me. After he came back, he said to me, ‘From now on, you will have an income. And the reason that I did not reply to you before is that I had to smoke the path in order to purify the air because otherwise the tzaddikim who come from the Holy Land cannot bear it. They are coming to see the Apter, who will leave the world soon.’ That was on a Tuesday. And at that time the Apter was still well. And on Thursday the Apter passed away.”

May his merit protect us and all Israel.

And the Neschizer rebbe concluded by saying twice, “This is a fine story.”

Zicharon Tov

הזיקית סגרה ופתחה הכפפות שלה

by Yaacov Dovid Shulman

an attempt to translate my own poem into Hebrew. The English original is directly below.

הזיקית סגרה ופתחה הכפפות שלה
והפנתה גלגלי עיניה הגביעותיות לבחון את העפר הלבן.
היא חיכתה למישהו חכם להסביר לה השמש החמה
אבל לא הצליחה להבין
והתגלגלה לתוך האטד המוכר לה.

החנות מכרה דבש-שמים
הכחול שלו חרך כקלף
ממורח על קרקרים אפויים מעיסה של מחשבות ישנות.

קנוניה של נמלים העבירה מסרים של להבי עשב.
אכלו את הסודות אבל אף פעם לא הבינו אותם.
הם היו, כמובן, עסוקים.

עפר ואתמול מתפשטים על הרחוב,
הנדנדה מתנונדת
ושיר קטן מטפטף מקיר סדוק.

A Chameleon Folded and Opened His Mitten Hands

by Yaacov Dovid Shulman

A chameleon folded and opened his mitten hands
And turned his cone eyeballs to investigate the white dust.
He was waiting for someone wise to explain the hot sun,
But could not understand
And he trundled into the familiar brambles.

The store sold sky-honey,
Whose pale blue burned like parchment,
Spread on crackers made from the dough of old thoughts.

A cabal of ants passed messages of grass blades.
They would eat the secrets but never understand them.
They were understandably busy.

Dust and yesterday are spread across the roadway,
The swing swings back and forth,
And a little song trickles from a cracked wall.

Torah for Its Own Sake

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

The basis of “Torah for its own sake” involves strengthening the might of the Congregation of Israel, which is concealed within us.

The more that we bring forth from [the Congregation of Israel] areas of knowledge and a broadening of feelings, the more do we expand its power and cause its appearance to be radiant.

And we expand the Torah itself, which is the spirituality of the true life of the Congregation of Israel, hidden within us and cloaked within the entire Torah and in its every specific detail.

Orot Hatorah 2:6

More Stories of the Rebbe of Neschiz

Regarding The Service Of Tzaddikim

1. The holy Sabbath, parashah of Eikev 5627 (1867).

The Neschizer rebbe told that the rabbi of Berditchev was always filled in joy, and with that energy he would toil in his prayers and in all of his deeds (as his holy way is known).

The Neschizer rebbe said, “One time I saw him on the eve of Yom Kippur, as he was at the meal. Beautiful melodies poured forth from his mouth, and afterwards his eyes brimmed with just two tears and no more. Afterwards, he was brought a stuffed fish intestines (aksn), and he said, ‘May all of our requests (ask) be filled for good.’ Then he was brought a soup called yakhil and he began to call out loudly, ‘Israel, hope (yachel) in Hashem!’ And he was extremely joyous. And similarly all of his service was filled with tremendous extreme joy.”

2. The parashah of Pinchas 5627 (1867).

The Neschizer rebbe told that in Berditchev there lived a fine man named R. Liba. One winter’s night after the market a person came to his house, seeing that a lamp was still burning in his house.

R. Liba received him and hosted him, and he himself made the bed for him to sleep on. The guest said to him, “Why do you yourself trouble yourself to make place for me to lie down?”

R. Liba replied, “You think that I am making a place for you to lie down. But I am making a place for me to lie down”—meaning that he was preparing himself for the world to come.

3. The Neschizer rebbe also told at that time that when his father the Moharam was learning from the maggid and the rebbe, R. Michel of Zlotshov, an upstanding man came to R. Michel and requested a charitable donation.

R. Michel told the Moharam to give the man the money, and he did so.

Afterwards, a simple man came for a donation. This time, R. Michel himself stood up himself and gave him.

The Moharam asked him about that, and R. Michel answered him that giving charity brings about a holy unification. Therefore, when giving to a worthy person, it is relatively easy to make the unification. But when giving a simple person, it is more difficult to make a unification. And therefore he had to do it himself.

4. The evening of the holy Sabbath in the month of Menachem 5627 (1867).

The Neschizer rebbe told that the holy R. Arele of Zitamir was at first one of the students of the gaon of Vilna, but he did not accept him in his heart.

He heard that R. Levi Yitzchak (later the Berditchever rebbe) had a yeshiva in Zelikhov.

The rebbe R. Arele also came to his yeshiva, and the Berditchever placed him in the fifth place from him and did not acknowledge him. Even when R. Arele asked proper questions, he would not answer him.

R. Levi Yitzchak said that as long as R. Arele had [editor: some 2 or 3 words are at this point erased in the book], he did not want to draw him close.

Afterwards, when R. Levi Yitzchak felt that R. Arele had been properly purified, he drew him close to him, because he was worthy of that. And he learned with him the Gemara, “If a person finds a writ of debt, under what circumstances does he not return it?” And R. Levi Yitzchak explained it to R. Arele as follows: “If a person’s debt or sin has been found out, why doesn’t he return to God in repentance?”

Zichron Tov

The Color of the Fog

by Yaacov Dovid Shulman

The color of the fog,
The odor of the sea
Are filled with unnamed things
And swift felicity.

The windows of the sky
Admit the wrinkled moon
To spill light on the Alps
And on an unnamed dune

That rolls up in the evening
And sifts away at dawn.
An airplane in the jet stream
Dissolves, a breath withdrawn.

Stories of the Rebbe of Neschiz

Matters of Faith

6. One time, the holy rabbi of Sasnivitz came to the Neschizer rebbe, as I—the writer— was standing at the bottom of the house.

Someone from the town was seriously ill. His wife came, stood behind the window, and cried out to the rebbe to pray for him.

The rebbe then told the Sasnivitzer that one time two great tzaddikim were staying together. (Writer: because of woman’s outcries, I could not hear who these tzaddikim were.)

They received a request for help from a woman who was experiencing a difficult childbirth, and they urged each other to help her. Finally, the greater of the two took his kerchief, spread it out like a curtain, looked into it, and said, “Congratulations—she has given birth.” And so it was.

The other tzaddik asked him, “What did you see in the kerchief?”

He answered him, “I did this so that the onlookers would have simple faith, for if I would have spoken in some other way, everyone would have thought, ‘How does the tzaddik know?’ But now there is nothing here that can be understood. And that is the essence of faith: that the believer should know that he has no grasp of the matter and cannot study and investigate it.”

With that, the Neschizer rebbe sent me to visit the sick man—who, after a few days, returned to his health.

Writer: the rebbe demonstrated how the tzaddik had spread out the kerchief and looked at it.


Matters of Clinging to the Divine

1. Tuesday night, rosh chodesh Av 5624 (1864), the parshah of Devarim.

As the holy tzaddik, R. Yehoshua of Sasnivitz (of blessed memory), was sitting before the Neschizer rebbe, the rebbe told the following story about his great father, Moharam (of blessed memory). (And he told the same story on Sunday on the week of the parshah of Balak 5627 [1867].)

One time, Father was lying in bed in the morning before prayers, because he was weak.

Many visitors came to him with various requests to pray on their behalf, and he answered each person in accordance with his concerns and business.

A regular visitor to the house, R. Chaim Leib, who was an intelligent man, stood quiet but obviously wondering. After all of the visitors had left, Father asked him “Why are you standing there wondering?” But he remained silent. So he asked him a few times, “What are you thinking?”

He answered, “I am surprised that even though the rebbe is involved in the upper worlds, he can reply to each individual about his affairs.”

Father answered him, “Know that despite this I did not stop clinging to God. When you recite prayers such as ‘Hear our voice’ and “He Who hears prayer’ you say the words but your thoughts wander; so why should you be surprised if a person can think about the upper worlds and speak words of this world?”

Afterwards, in 5624 (1863-64) the rebbe showed the Sasnivitzer rebbe a passage in the book, Sefer Chareidim, which quotes the Ramban on the topic of constantly clinging to God (in positive commandment 81, section 10; this is cited in Toldot Yitzchak, Nasso.)

And in 5627 (1866-67), when the rebbe finished [writing] this [work] [?], he taught the teaching printed there in the Likutim section on Tanach (Isaiah 55:8) on the verse “My thoughts are not your thoughts,” etc.

2. Tuesday night, parshah of Pekudei, 5627.

The holy tzaddik, R. Y.L. of Parisov, came to sit before the Neschizer rebbe, of blessed memory.

Before the holy tzaddik went home, the [Neschizer] rebbe told him the teaching printed in [his] Likutei Shas (Eiruvin 64) regarding the statement of the sages that “a person should not take leave of his comrade….”

He also told him that when the holy Lubliner rebbe was a student of the holy tzaddik, the rebbe R. Shmelke, R. Shmelke requested that when he is engaged in deep study of halachah and Tosafot, and that leads him to allow his mind to drift away from clinging to God, the Lubliner should remind him by gently shaking R. Shmelke’s sleeves.

The Lubliner said that he never had to do this, for he saw that the holy R. Shmelke was never distracted from clinging to God, heaven forbid, including the time that he was learning.

One time the Lubliner saw that R. Shmelke was deeply immersed in his learning, and he was afraid that he had been distracted from his clinging to God. He wanted to shake his sleeves as the R. Shmelke had told him, but meanwhile R. Shmelke turned to him and told him, “My son, my son, I myself remembered.”

(The writer states in regard to the teaching, “one should take leave only in the midst of words of halachah,” that the rebbe said--in brief--that the letters of the word halachah can be rearranged to form the letters hakalah—the bride. And he mentioned the 24 adornments of the bride. But for my sins I did not merit to hear and recall this.)


On The Topics Of Eating, Sleep, Dreams And Healing


1. Monday night, the parshah of Devarim 5627.

The rebbe told about the holy tzaddik R. Chaim Krasner (a teaching of whose is printed in his name in this book, in the parshah of V’etchanan (3.27) on the verse, “Go up to the head of the peak”).

He was a student of the Baal Shem Tov and afterwards of the maggid of Mezritch. (After the Baal Shem Tov passed away, all of his students became students of the Maggid of Mezritch, because when the Maggid of Mezritch came to the Baal Shem Tov, he said, “A container filled with candles has come before me, and it is only necessary to light them.”)

R. Chaim Krasner lived in the days of the holy tzaddik, R. Nachum of Chernobyl.

The tzaddik, R. Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, at first did not eat any meat, not even chicken, and not even on the Sabbath. R. Chaim Krasner argued with him about this. He said, “For whom were these foods created? Is it only so that gentiles will eat them?” After that, the tzaddik of Berditchev would eat chicken even on weekdays.

2. At the Sabbath morning meal, on the parshah of Bechukotai 5627, the leaders of the generation were together with the rebbe. The rebbe told them in the name of the Karliner that in a person’s heart there can come into being the feeling that a bone is growing. And he is healed by eating onions at the holy Sabbath meal.

3. The Neschizer rebbe also said at that time that since the early authorities speak of the obligation to eat hot food on the Sabbath, and if one does not, then “one must fear lest…,” heaven forbid, the implication is that this obligation to eat hot food causes healing.

4. The Neschizer rebbe also spoke at that time regarding fish that are commonly eaten here (i.e., in his town of Neschiz) on the holy Sabbath.

He stated that the Baal Shem Tov had said that he had been given a choice from heaven as to whether to live in Nemirov, Mezibozh, or a third town. He chose Mezhibozh, since fish are common there and he could acquire them easily for the holy Sabbath.

5. On Wednesday night of the parshah of Teitzei 5627, the Neschizer gave a reason for sleep in the name of the Baal Shem Tov.

In the kabbalistic writings in the name of the Ari, we learn supernal reasons for sleep: that sleep is on the level of small consciousness, with the purpose of rising to expanded consciousness.

The Baal Shem Tov said that this may be compared to a king who had an only son who was very precious to him, whom he sent to war. He asked his son to send home all of the spoils that God awarded him little by little.

His son asked him, “Would it not show greater respect to bring everything at once?”

But his father answered him, “I am afraid that the enemy might overcome you and take it all from you, heaven forbid. Therefore, save it little by little.”

And the meaning is clear.

When a person’s soul engages every day in Torah and performs God’s commandments and good deeds, he must be concerned that his evil inclination will gain in strength and ruin everything, heaven forbid. (The rebbe repeated these words a number of times and praised them, saying that in truth a person must be concerned about this). Therefore, sleep was given, so that the soul rises up and hides these in a well-guarded storehouse.

The rebbe concluded that on the night before the giving of the Torah the Jews slept until God Himself came and woke them, as we learn in the Midrash. The reason that they went to sleep was that they were greatly inspired and prepared for the giving of the Torah, and they were afraid that this [inspiration] might be taken away from them, heaven forbid. And so they hid it in a heavenly storehouse by means of going to sleep.

from Sefer Zichron Tov

Idolatrous, Christian and Moslem Conceptions of the Divine

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

Idolatrous worshippers have envisaged Divinity in degraded ways, which a person’s free spirit transcends. Therefore, they will eventually cease to exist: “and the idols will entirely pass away” (Isaiah 2:18).

The Christians have envisaged [Divinity] as being lowered to [the level of] human perfection. When mankind rises beyond anything which the image of human perfection can reach, this degraded impression of the image of Divinity will be erased.

The Moslems have found no specific passage to the essence of Divine images that can be integrated into a religious framework. Therefore they have had to invoke for everything the authority of their prophet and bring faith in him into their every religious aspect. When the world rises beyond the ideals that can be envisaged in their prophet, that religious power will be uprooted from its foundation.

There is no nation in the world upon whose essence the Divine concept rests except for the Congregation of Israel, whose desire, yearning and goal--which brings about its existence--is the most mighty desire, the most enlightened and the most elevated, forever and ever.

Therefore, the name of Hashem is connected to it “like a chain of a palace key” (Yerushalmi Taanit 2:6).

And just as His name exists forever and forever but grows greater and more sanctified from generation to generation, so too Israel rises forever (Midrash Tehillim 88:6) and never descends. “Do not fear, My servant Jacob, and do not be frightened, Israel. I will make an end of all the nations to which I have driven you, but I will not make an end of you; [even though] I will punish you in measure, I will not destroy you” (Jeremiah 46:28).

Pinkas Rishon L’Yaffo, #115

The Turtle-Head is Sinking in the West

by Yaacov Dovid Shulman

The turtle-head is sinking in the West.
I watch the falcon, eagle and the kite,
The faint footpaths whose courses have been blessed,
The secret soul that only speaks at night,

The bride whose feet leave crimson drops of blood,
The rows of houses, long across the hill,
The radio signals, tumbling in a Flood,
Geraniums upon the window sill.

The praying mantis crouches in the wind,
The wheat fields bow their prayerful, golden heads.
The silver moon is keening that it sinned,
And startled children tumble into beds.

And oh good morning, mystery of streets,
Of treasures underneath the sycamores.
The papers land with news of new defeats
And hidden chambers open their green doors.

Matters of Faith—Stories About the Neschizer Rebbe and His Father, the Moharam

1. Tuesday Night, Tavo, 5627 (1867).

The Neschizer rebbe told that his father, the Moharam, was at first involved in business matters. On every business trip he would earn some money, until he saved enough for an etrog.

One time, he saved six rubles for this purpose. He went to buy an etrog in Brode—he was still living in the city of Leshnov—and he met a water-drawer who carried water with the help of a horse. His horse had died, and he was weeping and groaning.

The Moharam asked him, “Why are you crying?”

When the man told him what had happened, the rebbe stood and gave him the six rubles with which to buy another horse.

The Moharam said, “What’s the difference? The etrog is a mitzvah from Hashem and this too is a mitzvah from Hashem.”

The writer states: I heard that he said lightly, “Everyone makes a blessing on an etrog, and I will make a blessing on a horse.”

But in the end he was brought a very beautiful etrog.

2. The Neschizer rebbe told that his father, the Moharam, said that his offspring would be present at the time of the coming of the redeemer. May he come quickly, in our days.

3. This took place in the summer of 5627 (1866-67) on a Wednesday night, I do not remember the parshah, for I forgot at the time to make a note of it.

The Neschizer rebbe told that the holy R. Yitzchak of Lebovna (of blessed memory) would at first travel to the holy R. Shlomo Karliner.

He was wealthy, but afterwards he lost his money.

He came to the rebbe’s father, the Moharam, and he stood there greatly troubled.

The Moharam asked him, “Why are you so troubled over the loss of money? We can interpret the verse, ‘I will demand your blood for your life from the hand of every living thing’ to mean, ‘So that you may demand of God and pray on behalf of Jewish souls, God will cause all living creatures to bring you your money.”

The writer states: It is known that afterwards many people traveled to the holy R. Yitzchak of Lebovna, and he made a respectable income.

4. The Neschizer rebbe stated told that in Apta there was a rabbi, a great tzaddik before the holy Rayah was there.

This rabbi once stated that he promised bread and borsht without any toil and effort to all who learn Torah.

One person who was a clay digger heard this and believed it. He went home and climbed onto his large oven and sat and recited Psalms, and he did not want to go to his work.

His wife could not persuade him. He did not reveal his reasons to her, and she thought that he had gone mad, heaven forbid.

In he meantime, in order to earn something for the day’s expenses, she sent another man with her husband’s wagon to dig clay, as his partner. And as this man dug, he found a treasure of money and put it on the wagon. But before he got ready to set off with the wagon, the horse ran off with the wagon to the house of its owner, and they discovered the blanket covering the wagon, and saw the treasure. They divided it in half with the digger, and he was very wealthy for the rest of his life.

5. The writer states: I heard a very wondrous thing from a person whom I find to be trustworthy. And I will write it in brief.

Once the Neschizer rebbe was in the city of Vladavke.

At night, he lay in bed, And a few people stood around him.

He told that in the city of Apta there had been a great tzaddik. And in his days there was a man who was learned, wise and handsome, and a merchant in the aristocratic courts.

One time he went to do business in a certain court, and the woman in charge, who was unmarried, she controlled the city of Apta. She gained control of the merchant, heaven have mercy, until in the end he converted, heaven have mercy, and he married the woman. He was very harsh to the people of the city, and he would always state that he wished to return to his religion, [which would incense the anti-Semites]. And in this way he caused many problems for a number of people.

One night as the rabbi was sitting and learning for a few hours, this merchant came and knocked at his door. The rabbi opened it for him, and the merchant told him, “Rabbi, I want to repent.” But the rabbi expelled him because he was afraid of being arrested and falsely charged.

And this happened a few nights.

One time the rabbi grew angry at the merchant when he came to him at night. He raised his stick and said to him, “Go out, or I will beat you with my stick.”

He thrust the stick into the ground and he declared, “Just as this stick will never blossom and give fruit, so will you never repent!” And the merchant left in despair.

The rabbi returned to his learning. But he turned and saw something amazing: for the stick had blossomed and produced fruit. He was astonished, and so with the power of his thought he drew the merchant back to him. And so the merchant came, and the rabbi told him what had happened, and he taught him how to repent.

The merchant sighed heavily and said that he has children with her, but the rabbi told him, “Act on your own behalf.”

So the merchant gathered much money from the property and fled. And as for the children, they died.

[Translator’s note: although this part of the story seems heartless, it may be more acceptable when we consider the highly-polarized, anti-Semitic nature of the environment of those days.]

The Neschizer rebbe concluded by stating a few times that in earlier generations there were tzaddikim who could bring such things about. But now have we ever heard of such a thing? Yet he concluded, “But it is possible.”

Writer’s comment: That is to say, he is not sure, and perhaps today someone could do such a thing.

He said that a few times.

And in the morning the news went about of a local person who fled such a
situation. As for the end of that story, we do not know it, for nothing more has been heard of that man to this day.

from Zichron Tov

Our Thirst for Divine Light

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

When a person comes to purify himself, he can clearly sense the iron wall separating him from his Maker. He thirsts for the Divine light and sees that he is far from it. Moreover, he suffers in his spirit for the fact that his thirst is not a genuine thirst. He wishes to feel the pain of the thirst, to feel in his spirit this true preciousness that he is yearning for to the point of his soul perishing. But to his heart’s dismay, he does not feel that within himself. He wanders like a shadow, suspecting himself of falsehood and self-deceit.

But if he is truly strong, pure in heart and straight upon the path, his steps will not totter. He will do what he must: he will improve his actions, rectify his ways, purify his traits, increase learning and study, arouse feeling by means of the service of the heart, by means of prayer and praise, by means of song and melody, by means of the companionship of good, straight people, by means of dwelling permanently in the Holy Land, by means of constantly speaking in the Holy Tongue--until the light of Hashem will shine upon him, and he will have relief.

Pinkas 81 Piskaot (Jaffa), #72

Degraded and Holy Literature

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

There has been an increase in degraded literature, which comes not because of an intensification of the power of creativity and an increase of the light of the soul, but which comes rather because of the low level of the creator, who cannot make any spiritual acquisition but who instead is outwardly profuse, like the teeming small creatures and swarming things.

There is, on the other hand, an elevated type of person whose profuseness is due to the flow of the light of the soul—for the world of consciousness does not cease manifesting constant, limitless phenomena.

It is impossible to explain and precisely demarcate the line that separates these creations. Such matters are given over particularly to the sense of understanding of the person involved in these creations.

The sense of spiritual scent can distinguish between a new light that wells up from a wellspring of holiness--the cause of whose creation is an intensification of supernal life that illumines lowly life, descending into it in order to raise and improve it--and between the twitching of a creation that is not elevated beyond low physical movements, which comes from a weakness in awareness and ethics that lacks the strength to remain quiet.

Pinkas 81 Piskaot (Jaffa), #67

Tales of the Neschizer Rebbe

1. Monday night of Parshat Shelach 5627 [1866], R. Yitzchak, the Neschiz rebbe and author of Toldot Yitzchak, said that when he was young it was easier for him to serve God fully, because he had more strength and because he felt the impression made upon him of the tzaddikim who were alive in those days. But now in his old age, serving God is more difficult.

2. It was in the year 5623 [1862], I believe, when he was in the town of Ratna after the Sabbath but before the evening prayers, that he complained that the generation is terribly orphaned.

He said that his brother, the Kavler rebbe, of blessed memory, had told how their father had told him, “My son, if a person does not literally feel the pangs of a woman giving birth within fifty miles circumference, in order to pray for her sake, how is he worthy of being called a tzaddik?”

R. Yitzchak said, “I paid great heed to that story.”

And he said, in his humility, “I am not one of those who can feel this. Nor do I know if the tzaddikim of our generation can.”

One of the people listening, from his household, said, “And if a person that knows and feels, does he tell others that he feels?” meaning to say that the rebbe did know and feel, but was concealing it.

The rebbe replied, “Perhaps in my youth, when I was stronger.” And he cut his talk short and directed that they begin the evening prayers, so as not to speak of these matters at length.

And once I heard the rebbe say—and I believe that at that time I was particularly careful to hear the story, and perhaps the first time I didn’t hear it properly—as follows. His father, the brilliant Moharam, told his brother, the Kavler, “My son, my son, in order to be a leader of the generation—a guter yid—one needs a great test: if within a fifty mile circumference there is a woman having trouble giving birth and that tzaddik does not feel her sufferings and birth pangs exactly as she does in order to empathize with her and help her, how can such a person be called a guter yid?” And the rebbe concluded, “When my father said this, I paid very careful attention, to understand why he is saying this before me, that I should hear this. And I understood why he said this.”

And the master hid the rest of the story, but implied that his father had told this for his sake. And it is known that at the time his father was alive, the rebbe was no more than ten years old.

3. The rebbe told as follows: “In my youth, when I recited a chapter of Psalms, I would help a woman having trouble in childbirth in the entire local area. And that much more when Hashem helped me recite five chapters of Psalms.”

The writer states: this implies that this includes even those women having difficult childbirths in the area who did not come to inform the rebbe.

And he suppressed the rest of the story, as was his holy way.

The writer states: Usually, when he could not sleep he would say that this is because of a woman having trouble giving birth in some town. And one time we saw him having a restless sleep and saying, “There must be a good package arriving somewhere—iss muz shoyn zayn ergetz ein gut pekele,” and the next day a messenger came on behalf of a woman who had had a very difficult childbirth at that time in a nearby town.
Zichron Tov

Vignettes of Rav Kook

1. One time, Rav Kook was sitting together with his student R. Shimon Strelitz in his small room. Their Gemaras were open before them, and they were learning. There was a knock at the door, the mailman entered and brought a letter to the Rav. They looked at the letter—it was a check for a million dollars.

The Rav looked at the check with complete indifference. And with a dismissive expression he turned to his student and asked, “What can be done with this?”

The student gathered his courage and told the rav, “Allow me, rabbi, and I will say what can be done with this.”

Rav Kook gave him permission, and R. Shimon began to explain about checks: “If I had a check for a million dollars, I would first of all devote a sizable part of the sum to building the land.”

When Rav Kook heard “building the land,” his eyes shone. His indifference ceased. If so, this money is not completely meaningless, if it can be used to build the land of Israel! And he listened attentively to what his student might add.

“And second,” continued R. Shimon, “I would set aside a significant part of that money on behalf of our Central Yeshiva.”

Now Rav Kook’s brightness was doubled: this money could be used for the sake of the holy renewal, for the establishment of Torah—if so, it is certainly not meaningless.

And R. Shimon didn’t cease, but he added a detailed list all sorts of good things that could be done with this million dollars, as Rav Kook sat and listened.

However, after the student had mapped out a complete plan of what could be done with this money, it turned out this was not a real check, but an American New Year’s greeting card, in the form of a million dollar check.
Shivchei Harayah (told by R. Shimon Strelitz), pp. 221-222

2. One time the Nazir, R. Dovid Hacohen, came to Rav Kook to ask for a match. Rav Kook answered, “If this is what you want, I must certainly be sure to give it to you” (because in general R. Dovid would not ask anyone for favors). And Rav Kook added, “Do you know what? Nothing in this house is mine. The watch isn’t mine [see Rav Kook’s will in Nefesh Harayah]; the chairs are a gift from Williams [one time a man named Williams came to Rav Kook’s house and saw that he was lacking chairs and he sent about twenty chairs to Rav Kook’s house]; the fur coat [for traveling to America] is form the general council.”
Shivchei Harayah (told by Rav Dovid Hacohen), pp. 222-223

3. Rav Kook told his bother’s son, R. Rafael, who was planning to travel out of the country, “Do we have permission to allow you to leave us? But what can I do? You are traveling among people. Tell them our situation. I have to send out letters on the topic of agunos [grass widows], and I don’t have stamps.”
Shivchei Harayah (told by R. Rafael Hacohen Kook), p. 223

4. When R. Chaim Dovid Sobol, Rav Kook’s student, had his first-born child, a boy, he asked Rav Kook to redeem his son in the pidyon haben ceremony, since Rav Kook was a cohen.

The father at that time asked Rav Kook if he wanted silver coins or a silver object.

It was the custom in the land of Israel to give the cohen for the pidyon haben Turkish majidos, which contained an amount of silver in the necessary weight according to the halachah. But Rav Kook told his student that he preferred a silver object, on condition that it contained enough silver as necessitated by the halachah.

The father of the boy bought a silver goblet in the correct weight, carved on it the words “for pidyon haben”, and gave it to Rav Kook during the ceremony.

After that, this goblet replaced his regular kiddush cup on the Sabbath, since this goblet, Rav Kook explained, was certainly his, since the Torah made it his, unlike all of the other goblets, which were given to him out of respect.
Shivchei Harayah, from R. Ch. Sobol, p. 223