30. Sunday night, 22 Adar 5628.
Rabbi A. told me that he heard the Neschizer rebbe tell a story about his father, the Moharam, which I will repeat in brief.
Once a whiskey merchant from near the town of Tshihan came to the area of Neschiz to do business, and heard that the great [Moharam] lived there.
He came and spent the Sabbath there. When the Sabbath came to an end, he hurried to go on his way.
The great Moharam stopped him, but after the man begged him to give him leave to go, the Moharam did so.
On the way, the “external forces” misled him, God have mercy. They showed him the illusory image of a courtyard, and there he bought whiskey. Afterwards, he found himself standing in a pool of water and saw that everything had been an illusion.
He returned to the Moharam, who reminded him that he had tried to prevent him from going. Nevertheless, the Moharam had pity on the merchant and sent him to a certain ruin in a certain town. He went there and recognized the “external forces.” They told him that in respect to the Moharam they had to obey, and they returned his money to him, plus an additional amount.
31. The Neschizer rebbe told another story in which the husk of sexuality clung to a man in the shape [of a woman], God have mercy, and enticed him to sin, God have mercy.
And so the man went to the Moharam to plead for his soul.
The Moharam was aware that this man was coming, and he sent a warning to the whole town to close its doors at night and not open them for anyone.
That night, the afflicted man came to the town and pleaded that the innkeepers let him in, but they refused.
He went and lay down on a dry thatch of grass in order to go to sleep when the image came to him, God have mercy, and asked him, “Come down to me.”
He asked it, “Why is it that you always come to me but this time you are asking me to come to you?”
It replied to him, “Because of some of the grass that you are lying on, I cannot approach you.”
He asked it, “Tell me which it is, and I will throw it away from here.”
It told him which it was, and he took it, so that it protected him.
The Moharam had foreseen and brought this all about, because this was the way in which that man’s salvation had to come about.
32. The Neschizer used to inquire about the well-being of R. Shalom of Belz.
Once it was heard that he was having a problem with his eyes and that he wanted to undergo medical treatment.
The Neschizer directed him by [sending a message with] a traveler to make no effort to heal his eyes.
And it is known that in his old age he was blind.
Later on, the Neschizer told that one of the tzaddikim sitting in the heavenly Sanhedrin was elevated to a very high level (author’s note: “Israel are the children of prophets,” and the people who heard the story think that he meant his brother, the holy rebbe of Kavle, who passed away on 27 Elul 5597 [1837]) and someone else had to take his place. In heaven they wanted the Belzer to pass away and take his place in the heavenly Sanhedrin.
“And since I knew that the world needs him, with my prayer I caused his eyesight to be removed, so that it would be as though had passed away, in order that he may remain in this world.”
(Author’s note: I heard in the name of a tzaddik of our generation, may he live to a length of good days, that these two tzaddikim had a soul connection. I also heard that the Belzer too passed away on 27 Elul.)
33. In the year 5618 (1857-58) the Neschizer rebbe was in the town of Alik.
One time he was wearing his tallis in preparation for prayer.
One of his aides entered and told of a person whose actions were improper.
The Neschizer rebuked [the aide]. He took hold of the doorknob and told the aide, “You have been in my home for several years. You must know that when a person takes hold of my doorknob I immediately know and feel what he has done since the day he was born. But what can I do? It is written that the Holy One, blessed be He, ‘has not gazed upon sin in Jacob.’ If the Holy One, blessed be He, has not gazed at the evil part, how shall I gaze at the evil part? It is my way to look only at the good in a person, because if I were to look at the evil, I would never let anyone come into my house.”
(Author’s note: I heard that when the Neschizer decided to leave Berditchev and become a leader in Neschiz, Hashem, be He blessed, accepted his prayer that he never see the evil in anyone but only the good.)
34. Once, when the Neschizer was sitting at a meal, a member of his household came in and grew self-important as he spoke with the Neschizer rebbe.
The Neschizer replied, “Do you know before whom you are talking? I come from the seed of the kingdom of the house of David, and heaven only acts with my permission in an area around me to a distance of four hundred square miles.”
from "Zichron Tov"
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