Weekly Chasidic Story #1160 (s5780-23/ 6 Adar, 5780)

The Haunted Bride

When the Avnei Nezer heard about the threat of a 'summons' to the Heavenly Court, he grew excited and roared.

Connection: Seasonal -- 11 Adar (this year: Shabbat, March 7) is the 110th yahrzeit of the first Sochatchover Rebbe

Story in PDF format for more convenient printing.

The Haunted Bride

There was once a chasid from Warsaw whom everyone nicknamed Der Kleine Moisheleh ('the Small Moses'), who arranged a match for his daughter. Soon after, though, the family discovered that the chatan had a lung disease, and when the kallah found out, she refused to continue with the engagement. The father of the kallah received permission from a Bais Din (rabbinical court) to dissolve the betrothal.

When the chatan heard this, he suffered such great distress that the anguish amplified his disease. His condition worsened from day to day, until finally he died, sick and heartbroken.

Afterwards, the former bride also grew ill. As she lay in her sickbed, she complained that the departed spirit of her former chatan kept vigil at her side, constantly imploring her to follow him, insisting that he was summoning her to the Heavenly Court.

This continued for some days and her condition worsened, until her father was so worried and the doctors began to despair of her ever getting better. Her father decided to travel to the Sochatchover Rebbe, R. Avraham Bornstein (often referred to as "the Avnei Nezer" after the title of his monumental work on Jewish law). When the holy Rebbe heard how the departed chatan stood by her bed ordering her to follow him to the Heavenly Court, he grew excited and roared:

"Heh! The halacha (Torah law) is that we rule that he who sues in rabbinical court must follow the sued to the court in his locale! Now go back home and tell your daughter in my name that if the departed chatan returns, she should tell him that in Sochatchov they say that if he has any reason to sue her in rabbinical court, he should take the matter up with me right here in Sochatchov. There is no justification to force her to the Heavenly Court. She should repeat this to him three times."

And so it was. She did so and after the third time he never returned. She recovered and never saw or heard him again.

* * *

#2 Like Father, Like Son
The Sochatchover's father, Rav Ze'ev-Nachum, was the chief rabbi in Biala. His future father-in-law, Rabbi Menachem-Mendel of Kotzk, once revealed to Rav Ze'ev Nachum how he merited having such a holy son:
It was Purim, and all over the world the Jews rejoiced. So much so that even all the greatest scholars, those special Jews who sat and studied Torah day and night, were also busy with the Purim mitzvot and joyful celebrations. No one was studying Torah!

No one, that is, except Rabbi Ze'ev Nachum. Since the world cannot exist if there is no Torah, Rabbi Ze'ev Nachum was at the time supporting the entire world!

Meanwhile, in Heaven there was a great uproar, because no one was studying Torah…until they discerned Rabbi Ze'ev Nachum, causing great delight Above. It was decided on high that his reward would be a gifted son, a child whose light of Torah would illuminate the entire world that he had saved. This was the reason his first-born son would grow up to be such a great scholar and spiritual leader. So revealed the Kotzker.

Even in his youth, the Avnei Nezer's power in Torah study was already apparent. He once sat learning Torah in the Beis Midrash study hall when a crowd of crying Jews came in. The crowd began to tearfully recite Psalms and pray for the healing of a terribly sick Jew whose end was near. Perhaps Heaven would have mercy!

Their cries and loud tefillos disturbed the Avnei Nezer's learning. "Listen," he told them, "if you promise to pray quietly and not disturb my study, I in turn promise you that he will recover." The crowd heeded the young Torah scholar and, amazingly, the dying man recovered!

* * *

#3 Abraham and Sarah Revisited
The Divrei Chaim of Sanz tested the young genius as a possible suitor for his daughter. Afterward he remarked, "Even though he learns like the Noda BeYehuda (the remarkable Torah scholar, Rabbi Yechezkel Landau, 1713-1793), I cannot take him as a chatan for my daughter - he is too sharp for me!" *

Instead, the Kotzker Rebbe took him for a son-in-law, and as they stood under the chupah (wedding canopy), the Kotzker intoned, "May it be Your will, G-d Al-mighty, that his sick, weak body be able to hold such a great, genius mind!"

Not long after they were married, the Kotzker's daughter, the Avnei Nezer's wife Sarah, burst into her father's home, crying uncontrollably. Amid sobs she explained that her young husband had contracted pneumonia and was coughing up blood.

"No need to worry," the Kotzker told her, "he will live a long life. He is named Abraham and you are Sarah, and the verse says, "Avraham and Sara were old, coming along in days…"(Gen. 18:11).

Indeed, this blessing was fulfilled; the Avnei Nezer's wife lived until age seventy-two.
Soon thereafter, the widower grew weak and sick, and realized that the verse that his father-in-law had blessed them with had tied him to Sarah's life span. Now that hers had ended, his blessing was up as well. When the Imrei Emmes Rebbe of Gur (R. Avraham Mordechai Alter, 1866-1948) came to console him on his wife's passing, he related the above story, his father-in-law's blessings, and the explanation of how he realized that now his end was near as well.

On the last day of his life, he arose early. His son and family were at his bedside. His condition had rapidly deteriorated since his wife's passing and they saw he was breathing his last. He motioned them to help him and he prepared and purified himself, and donned his tefillin for the final time. As he davvened the Shemone Esrei prayer, he grew weaker, and when he reached the blessing of mekabetz nidchei amo Yisrael ("Who gathers the exiles of the Jewish nation"), he motioned for them to remove his tefillin. A light of peace and tranquility shone from him as he recited this blessing, and he passed away with a 'heavenly kiss' (i.e. gently).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Source: I don't remember how this story came to me. I did a deep edit. The source credits following are from the original author: Al HaTzaddikim ve'al HaChassidim, p. 186-191, Abir HaRo'im 7, B'darchei Polin HaAveilos.

Biographical notes:
Rabbi Avraham Bornstein of Sochatchov [6 Cheshvan 5600 - 11 Adar 5670 (Oct. 1839 - Feb. 1910 C.E.)] was a descendant of the 17th century Torah giants, the Ramah and the Shach. Years before his bar mitzvah he was recognized as a Torah genius. At age 13, he married a daughter of the Kotzker Rebbe. In 1883, already a leading authority in Jewish law, he became the rebbe of thousands of chasidim and the founder of the Sochatchover dynasty. His writings include the classic, Avnei Nezer (seven volumes of posthumously-published responsa), and Eglei Tal (on the laws of Shabbat). He was succeeded by his only son, R. Shmuel (1856-1926), author of Shem MiShmuel.

Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotsk [5547 - 22 Shevat 5619 (1787 - Jan. 1859 C.E.], although born into a non-chasidic family; early became a disciple of R. Yaakov Yitzchok [the "Seer"] of Lublin, R. Yaakov Yitzchok [the "Yid HaKadosh"] of Pshischah, and ultimately of R. Simcha Bunim of Pshischah. Superficially stern, he practiced and preached a zealous and unrelenting search for truth, whose prime enemy is self-centeredness. His oft-quoted aphorisms are characteristically pungent and unsugared. Stressed earnest Torah study. Spent the last two decades of his life in isolation. After his passing, the majority of his followers recognized his disciple R. Yitzchak Meir of Ger as their rebbe.
[from Uri Kaploun in "A Treasury of Chassidic Tales"]

Connection: Seasonal -- 11 Adar (this year: Shabbat, March 7) is the 110th yahrzeit of the first Sochatchover Rebbe.

* Postscript, thanks to subscriber Reuven Ansh of Jerusalem:
I heard an additional part to the story which explains why the Sanzer Rav said he was too sharp for them:

It was normal practice for the father of a Kallah to test the prospective son-in-law in learning. Although the Avnei Nezer answered the questions sufficiently, the Sanzer Rav decided he would like to give an additional test, to which the Avnei Nezer responded, "if so, I would also like to test the Rav"! Everyone present was astounded at his nervy request. He explained himself as follows:

"In truth, just as the prospective father-in-law may test the prospective son-in-law, so too, one should also have the right to test the prospective new father-in-law. However, it is accepted that this is not necessary, since one can rely on the test that his father-in-law already gave to him before his own shiduch. Here, though, since you do not want to rely on my first test, then I also do not have to rely on the first test you were given by your father-in-law, and therefore I have the right to test you again also"!

And this is why the Sanzer Rav stated that he was too sharp for them.

Yerachmiel Tilles is co-founder and associate director of Ascent-of-Safed, and chief editor of this website (and of KabbalaOnline.org). He has hundreds of published stories to his credit, and many have been translated into other languages. He tells them live at Ascent nearly every Saturday night.

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