The Neschizer Rebbe: "Do Not Curse Anyone"

from Zichron Zot (Mei-Avdut Hatzaddikim 38), 1892

         I have decided for a reason known to me to add here the following story of the Neschizer rebbe when he was in the town of Ratna.

            Mr. Yosef of Ravne came to him before going on to travel to the Holy Land. He told him a story, and after he left, the Neschizer told it [from his own perspective] as follows.

            In the year 5618 (told the rebbe), I was in a certain town where a new synagogue was about to be built. I was asked to attend a ceremony to mark the placing of the cornerstone.

            My carriage was harnessed to go from my lodgings to the synagogue site. Usually I would walk in front and the carriage would follow afterwards. But this time Hashem sent me the idea that I should send my carriage ahead of me, while I and the other people followed behind.

            (Author’s note: I recall all of this as though it were happening today, because I was there.)

            There was a person there who was enticed to do evil. There was a bridge along the way, and he secretly sawed through its pillars so that when I traveled over the bridge the sawn posts would break and the bridge would be destroyed.

            (As is known, many people would ordinarily hold onto his carriage, and so it would be very heavy.)

            But with Hashem’s kindness, since I had given word that the carriage should travel in front, when it went over the bridge and the pillars began to move to the side so that the bridge began to break, tipping over the carriage, the people accompanying me were told to go to the other side of the bridge.

            After that, the Holy One, blessed be He, made it known that the person who had done the sawing had gone insane. [This happened because] he confessed his sin in public. As a result, he was taken to the paupers’ hospital.

            R. Yosef went there and saw him when his mind was clear. The sick man told him that all of this occurred to him in punishment for something that he had done.

            When the Neschizer rebbe told this story, a member of his household, [his aide,] said, “So should all of Your enemies be destroyed, Hashem, and all those who intend evil to the master.”

            The Neschizer replied, “Why do you curse?”

            The aide answered, “Am I not speaking properly? Certainly this should happen to whoever contemplates doing evil to the master even if he does so just once a year.”

            The Neschizer answered him angrily, “Hashem does not listen to curses from the mouth of a person who likes to drink a little whisky and then lie down to sleep.”

            The aide responded, “If so, then let Hashem be zealous on behalf of the honor of a person who does not drink whiskey and who does not love to sleep”—with which he alluded to the honorable Neschizer.

            The Neschizer replied, “Such a person does not curse and is not pleased with your words.”

The Neschizer Rebbe: The Walls of His House

      The Neschizer rebbe treated the walls of his house, which had been home to his father and brother with especial holiness and great love.

      In the year 5618 [1867-68], when he was in the town of Kalk, he gave orders that the house in Neschiz should be repaired, because it was getting very old.

      When he returned from his trip and saw that the walls had been raised as part of the repair process, he was upset and said that it was not right to move the house.

      And regarding the wooden window frames (reimen), he also gave orders not to remove the old ones and make new ones. Rather, where the old ones rotted, he commanded to cut away the rotted part and put a new piece there, and paint them so that the repair would not be noticeable.

Zichron Zot (Mei-avdut Hatzaddikim, 37) , 1892

Poem: The Moon Rose

The moon rose in the swinging sky

And glittered at the fox

Who turned his pointy nose and sniffed.

A cat turned on the rocks.

The ocean turned upon the shore,

The boy turned on the gutter,

And musty men in dusty rags

Turned up to rage and mutter.

Oh in the apple of your eye,

Oh in the woods medieval

The woodman struck, the cages shook,

The king decried upheaval.

The Neschizer Rebbe: The Mysterious Purim Visitor

(Story translated from an authentic Hasidic text, first published in 1892)

            Also on Purim 5627 [1867], the Neschizer Rebbe quoted the book [unclear] that a person should write the word Amalek or Haman and then erase it, in order to perform the positive commandment of wiping out the memory of Amalek.

            Regarding the custom mentioned in the Shulchan Aruch (690) that “a person should bang when the megillah reader says ‘Haman,’ etc., and we should not eliminate or mock any custom, for they were not established without reason,” the Neschizer rebbe told that one time a law was passed forbidding Jews from making noise when Haman is mentioned during the megillah reading.

            But during the megillah reading, very loud striking noises were miraculously heard in the synagogue.

            I believe that the Neschizer rebbe told that an old man who was doing the striking appeared. The other Jews begged him not to make noise so that they would not be endangered, but he told them not to worry.

            The gentiles searched for the man making noise, but they did not find him.

            And so the other Jews themselves went back to making a great deal of noise when the word “Haman” was read, and the decree was rescinded.

Mei-avdut Hatzaddikim 36, Zichron Tov

The Neschizer Rebbe: The Story of a Torn Ear

            The Neschizer rebbe was told that a certain person was learning forbidden literature.

            The Neschizer rebbe said to that man, “Tell me the truth about what I have heard about you.”

            The man answered, “Heaven forbid, I am only learning books on grammar--dikduk.”

            The Neschizer answered him, “That is connected to the idea of the ‘sufferings of poverty’--dikdukei aniyut.”

            The man also said, “I sometimes study the Kuzari.”

            The Neschizer said, “It is fitting to learn Talmud with the comments of the Rosh. Also learn the Duties of the Heart, but skip the Gate of Unity.”

            And the Neschizer said, “It is clear to me that when I learned a page of Gemera my eyes would be illumined by that.” And he directed the man to recite Zohar on Sabbath morning before prayers.

            Also when the completion of a tractate was made in his presence on the Three Weeks, to make it possible to eat meat, he would at times ask the man who had completed the tractate, “Do you learn Talmud with the Rosh?” People were not sure if he meant the work Ashri by the authority called the Rosh, or if he meant, “Did you learn using your head (‘rosh’)?”

            The Neschizer also very much recommended learning the Shnei Luchos Habris.

            He told a story that the author of the Shnei Luchos Habris had a student in his yeshiva who had difficulty paying attention.

            One time the Shlah struck him and tore his ear. The student ran away and joined a band of thieves and became their leader, and he lived in the forest.

            Hashem brought it about that the Shlah was so immersed in his thoughts of Torah learning that he lost his way in the forest and he came to that very forest, to that very house.

            The student recognized him, but the Shlah did not recognize the student. And he stayed there on the holy Sabbath. After the holy Sabbath was over, the student told him, “Know that I am your student, So and So.” And in proof he showed him his torn ear. And he said, “If you can show me a way to repent, fine. But if not, I will kill you.”

            The Shlah gave him a regimen of repentance: to place a small snake in a bottle and hang it around his neck and feed it every day for seven years from everything that he himself eats and drinks. Afterwards, the snake will arise and kill him, and that will be his atonement.

            And with this regimen of repentance, the student became a perfect tzaddik.

Zichron Tov

Rav Kook On: Bringing Light to the World

The greatest spiritual illumination that can possibly rest in a person’s heart for the good is that he will always find himself desiring to act from his good side on behalf of all of existence.

The more that his awareness embraces reality, universally and in its details, in its spirituality and in its physicality, and the more that its order and structure are comprehensible and clear to him, the more well-founded will be his supernal love and the tendency of his will, so that he may, as best he can, do good for all.

The stronger that this thought grows, the more Divine it is. Then the supernal, Divine light is present. Kindness is revealed in the light of wisdom and illumines the face of [this] person and causes his soul to grow.

When this supernal thought grows stronger, with all of its conditions, when it proceeds in its order, it paves pathways in a person’s heart of how to tend in actuality to the universal good.

And when no knowledge and intellect suffice for this, immediately a holy spirit and a Divine, supernal light rest upon him. And when this grows very strong, it gives power to bring about miracles and wonders in heaven and on earth.

*

When universality is established very well in a person, he rises to the heights of spirituality.

He then hears and heeds the great being of spiritual matters, the strength of their existence and the multitude of life and activity within them, and he becomes entirely supernal and spiritual.

Since he is in the spiritual world, distances are nullified for him. They no longer form a barrier before him.

And all of existence appears before him in one glance and flight.

And the desire to do good with the entire world of action is a single matter.

The universal thought lifts everything, and in the light of thought that envelopes everything, he in truth shines upon everything.

All of being is filled with light as a result of his light. Everything is elevated by means of his elevations.

*

When the person descends from his heights and the world of action, which is defined and limited, forms a barrier before him, he then arranges his positive qualities in stages.

He knows that he requires, in the greatness of his spirit, a self-elevation, so that he will be uplifted, whole and elevated, so that he will have the ability to perform all good with the ultimate, broadest outreach.

He goes with the line: his person, his family, his tribe, his nation, his type, his classification—all that is found in his world, which is to say, in his physical reality.

Afterwards he goes and envisions, yearns as he grows elevated that all of these will participate in the improvement of the all, of all that is higher than space and more elevated than time.

And this thought itself strengthens him, causes him to grow and raises him beyond all deeds.

He goes forth to his people and speaks and acts, impresses his action upon his generation, and leaves an eternal remembrance for all generations.

He lives with eternity.

That which he will do while he is still in the corporeal sphere is a slight beginning in doing good to the all. But it is well-arranged and placed in regard to the state of the living world and existence within the boundaries of time and space.

These things themselves, in their essence and uplifted states, will be taken along with his eternal being, his essence that lives with the all.

His Divine longing will be revealed in every generation, from the supernal heights to the lowest depth.

His people will draw forth his spirit, the good spirit, to the all—with feeling if not entirely with clear understanding. They too will yearn for Divinity, for good, and beyond these heavens there will flash onto them constant brilliant flashes.

If they are not fit to rise to those heights, they will descend many descents. They will stumble as they walk. But although seven times will they fall, they will arise.

The supernal spirit, in the heights of eternity and might, places upon them the spirit of the living God, until the graves will be opened and dry, scattered bones will rise and be revived, and a very great army will stand upon its feet.

            Kibbutzim Mi’ktav Yad Kodsho II, p. p. 70

Rav Kook On: A Person Who Has an Ethical, Poetic Spirit

A person who has an ethical, poetic spirit constantly yearns to engage in general principles, because they contain all of the wealth that is divided afterwards to all of the individual details.

And out of the abundance that gathers in his soul due to the brightness of the general principles, a person can make use of the details clearly when they are called upon.

Contrarily, a person whose spirit is dry and this-worldly cannot bear the vast light in the general principles. He tends always to choose details for himself. And from the details, he comes to the general principles.

A person through whose soul the supernal light penetrates is aware of the entire process of the general principles: of how they proceed within the smallest details. Therefore, with all of his love for the principles his love for the details is not diminished, “and he lovingly derives from every crown upon a letter mounds upon mounds of laws.”

Kibbutzim Mi’ktav Yad Kodsho II, p.69

Rav Kook On: Depression and Divine Light

The depth of the depression that embitters the soul to the very essence of life has been formed in the nature of [a person’s] supernal spirit so that it may have a receptacle that will be filled with Divine light.

The only thing that will support and revive the soul when it is faint, when it is completely discouraged, when it is filled with anger at itself, when it sees itself in its emptiness and imperfection, is Divine light.

That Divine light is not an awareness that [the spirit] acquires only through measured and step-by-step logic, which is as nothing. It is true that the soul cannot be empty of that intermediate trait of awareness. However, it is not with this that [a person] will penetrate to the Divine light that he needs for his life, but [with] the light that radiates from the supernal light in the depth of [his] soul, as the soul inherently realizes that only it itself recognizes its own happiness and light via [that light], just as [the soul] alone recognizes the times that it sees its own dark situation, its suffering and sadness.

“The heart knows its own bitterness, and no stranger can mix into its joy” (Proverbs 14:10).

Kevatzim Mikhtav Yad Kadsho II, p. 69

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