Weekly Chasidic Story #1381 (5784-38) 19 Iyar 5784 (May 27, 2024)

"A Most Extraordonary Opportunity - Refused!"

The Rebbe Reb Elimelech of Lyzhinsk said: "Tell me, why is your rebbe, Rabbi Aharon-Leib of Premishlan, so conceited?"

Why this week? See the first three words of this week's Torah reading, Behukotai, with the explanation of Rashi. See also the next-to-last Mishna in this week's chapter of Pirkei Avot, 5:21. (See also the last clause in Avot 4:10)

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A MOST EXTRAORDINARY OPPORTUNITY - REFUSED!

A certain merchant who was a chasid of Rabbi Aharon-Leib of Premishlan [1] had occasion to pass through Lyzhansk in the course of business. It would be a pity, he thought, to be so far from home and not to utilize this opportunity to visit one of the towering figures of the generation, the Rebbe Rebbe Elimelech of Lyzhinsk, In order to be able to do this in a clear and focused frame of mind, he first settled his various business affairs in the district, and arranged to be back in town for Shabbos. On Friday morning, after immersing himself in the mikveh (ritual bath), he went to greet the rebbe.

Rebbe Elimelech welcomed him, and then said: "Are you not one of the chasidim of Rabbi Aharon Leib of Premishlan? Tell me, now, why is your rebbe so conceited?"

And Rebbe Elimelech repeated the phrase in the hearing of all those who happened to be present: "So conceited! So conceited!"

And not only then, but again and again at each of the Shabbos meals - until the merchant's joy at the privilege of meeting the exalted tzadik turned to distress.

Nor did his departure from Lyzhinsk lighten his burden, for when he came to Rebbe Elimelech to receive his parting blessings, he was told: "When you come home, please tell your rebbe in my name that he should not be so conceited."

His arrival home threw him into a quandary. Rabbi Aharon Leib was certain to ask him, as he always did whenever his chasidim came home from a journey, whether he had anything of interest to report. He would have to say that he had met Rebbe Elimelech. Rabbi Aharon Leib would then ask, naturally enough, whether he had seen or heard anything noteworthy or quotable. He would then have to say…

But how could he ever bring himself to mouth such words? At length, realizing that there was no way out of fulfilling the explicit instruction of Rebbe Elimelech, he spoke to his rebbe and withheld nothing.

"Woe is me!" said Rabbi Aharon Leib. "Who knows how I have sinned in the sight of G-d, and what blemish the tzadik has discerned in me? Indeed, I am in such a sorry state that I do not even sense what my sin is, and therefore do not even know how to go about repenting!"

Calling in his wife, he said: "The tzadik of Lyzhinsk sees that I am a sinner. I must journey there at once to find out from him in what way I have transgressed, otherwise I will not know how to repent. But the road to Lyzhinsk is a long, long road, and even when I finally arrive there I know I will no longer have the strength to look after myself."

The rebbetzin assured him that she would share the rigors of the journey with him and see to his needs. They hired a wagon, trundled along for six whole says, and arrived at Lyzhinsk just in time for Shabbos. A sinner such as himself, thought Rabbi Aharon Leib, would certainly not be granted admission to the Friday night table of the tzadik, so he asked his wife to go out to the market place to buy a bottle of wine and two loaves of challah, while he himself went off to find the local mikveh, so that he could immerse himself for purity's sake in honor of the holy day.

Entering the rebbe's house, he found himself among hundreds of chasidim who were also waiting to receive his greeting of Shalom. He made his way through the crowd and extended his hand to receive the rebbe's handshake, being careful to keep his head bowed so that the tzadik should not see his face. Rebbe Elimelech, however, sensed at once that this was Rabbi Aharon Leib, and wanted to call him back, but the guest had already hurried off to his lodging place. From there he went to a nearby shul for evening prayers, then back to his modest little room, there to sing Shalom Aleichem, the hymn that welcomes the ministering angels who on Shabbat eve accompany every Jew on his way back from shul.

At the same time, Rebbe Elimelech asked his shames (attendant) and his chasidim to search through the whole town until the found the guest from Premishlan. When they returned without having found him, Rebbe Elimelech stood up and protested: "A guest of the stature of Rabbi Aharon Leib is here with us in town; will I not have him at my table for Shabbos?!"

He again gave the order that his chasidim were to search through the whole of Lyzhinsk, from house to house, room by room, until they found this same Rabbi Aharon Leib, and to inform him that he himself would not sit down to conduct his Friday night tish ('table' opened to the public after they first finished their own meal) until his guest joined him there.

Again they set out, and searched once more, until they found him at his lodgings in the low-roofed cottage of a penniless melamed (teacher) on the outskirts of town.

They gave him the message and brought him to the rebbe's table, where Rebbe Elimelech expressed his delight at his arrival by giving him a seat of honor by his side. Surprisingly, though, several times in the course of the meal he said: "Who would believe that Rabbi Aharon Leib should be so conceited!"

And, as before, not once, but at every one of the Shabbos meals he repeated this comment in public.

When the day of rest was over Rabbi Aharon Leib called on the rebbe in order to take his leave - but first to find out just what was the conceit that he had perceived.

"Why, is there any conceit greater than this?" answered Rebbe Elimelech. "On many occasions Eliyahu the Prophet has come to me with the complaint that you do not want to learn Torah from his mouth. He, the Prophet Eliyahu, wanted to teach you Torah, and you refuse! Think how many tzadikim have longed and yearned for this privilege - and you decline the offer! In any case, I promised Eliyahu that I would try to persuade you to change your mind."

"I apologize that even after your persuasion," answered Rabbi Aharon Leib, "I cannot agree."

"Why so?" asked his host.

"Because my desire," said the guest, "is to do my own hard work in the study of the Torah. For how does King David express it? 'When you eat of the labor of your hands, happy shall you be, and it shall be well with you." (Psalms 128:2)

"And the same lesson we learn in the Talmud: 'The Torah truly becomes the possession only of him who gives his very life in the effort of its study.' For this reason I have not been taught by him, not will I be taught by him. I will only pray to the Almighty that He give me the strength to toil always in the study of his Torah."

The tzadik gave him his blessing, and Rabbi Aharon Leib made his way back to Premishlan, where he continued to serve his Maker by an honest day's labor, day by day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Source: Modified and supplemented by R. Yerachmiel Tilles from the English edition of Sipurei Chasidim. The original Hebrew was composed and published by a leading Torah GIANT of the 20th century, Rabbi Shlomo-Yosef ("Shay") Zevin [1890-1978] in 1955. [The translation into English by Reb Uri Kaploun was published by Artscroll in 1980 and titled by them "A Treasury of Chasidic Tales."]
As an introduction to the above story, Rav Zevin reports (and R. Kaploun translates):
I encountered this story in a manuscript written by the hand of Rabbi Raphael Wolf of Skoli, Galicia, who died in Jerusalem early in 1929 at the age of ninety years plus. Rabbi Raphael heard it from an elder chasid of repute by the name of Rabbi Alter of Yazlivitz, who heard it from the mouth of the tzadik Rabbi Meir of Premishlan (who died in 1850), son of Rabbi Aharon Leib, the protagonist of this story.

Why this week? See the first three words of this week's Torah reading, Behukotai, with the explanation of Rashi. See also the next-to-last Mishna in this week's chapter of Pirkei Avot, 5:21. (See also the last clause in Avot 4:10)

Biographical notes:
Rabbi Aharon-Leib of Premishlan [? - 2 Adar 1783] was the son of an elder disciple of the Baal Shem tov. He himself was a follower of Rabbi Yehiel-Michil of Zlotchov and then the Rebbe Eliemelech of Lyzhinsk, and the father of the very well-known and wildly popular tzadik and chasidic rebbe, Rabbi Meir of Premishlan, whom he named for his deceased father.

Rebbe Elimelech of Lyzhinsk [5477 - 21 Adar 5547 (1717 - March 1787)], was (along with his brother, Reb Zusha) a major disciple of the Maggid of Mezritch, successor to the Baal Shem Tov as the leading Rebbe of the subsequent generation in Poland-Galitzia, most of the great Chassidic dynasties from that region stem from his disciples. His book, Noam Elimelech, is one of the most popular of all Chassidic works. [It is told that before he died, Rebbe Elimelech bequeathed the sight of his eyes to the Seer of Lublin, the spirit of his heart to the Kozhnitzer Maggid, the soul of his mind to Rebbe Menachem-Mendel of Rimanov, and the power of speech to Rebbe AvrahamYehoshua-Heshel of Apt. Other major disciples included Rabbi Naftali-Tzvi of Ropshitz, Rabbi Mosh-Leib of Sassov, and Rabbi Klonymo-Kalman Epstein, known as the Maor VaShemesh]

Footnote:
[1] Father of the very well-known and popular tzadik and Chasidic rebbe, R. Meir of Premishlan.

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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