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
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