Weekly Chasidic Story#1466 (5786-17) 23 Tevet 5786 (Jan.12, 2026)

"Holy Murderers and a Crazed Jew"

He had been a normal, sensible religious Jew with a wife and family until one day he suddenly lost his mind and began screaming and thrashing about for no apparent reason.

Why This Week? The 24th of the Jewish month of Tevet [2026: Tuesday, Jan. 13] is the yahrzeit of Rabbi Shneur-Zalman, founder and first Rebbe of Chabad Chasidut.

Story in PDF format for more convenient printing.

Holy Murderers and a Crazed Jew

This English rendition is ultimately sourced in a story told by the Lubavitcher Rebbe in a public gathering on Shabbat Bereshis 5735.

Some 250 years ago in Russia, near the area where the first Rebbe of Chabad, Rabbi Shneur Zalman, lived, there was a crazy man. He had been a normal, sensible religious Jew with a wife and family until one day he suddenly lost his mind and began screaming and thrashing about for no apparent reason.

His family was shocked, his friends tried to help, his neighbors shook their heads in pity and the Rabbis prayed, but it didn't help. So they collected money and went for professional help.

But the doctors also were at a loss and couldn't figure out what to do. They just scratched their heads and shrugged their shoulders and said that perhaps it would just go away as suddenly as it came. Or perhaps they had to be patient and gradually he would improve. But the years passed and he didn't.

To have him committed to an asylum was out of the question. There he would be treated like an animal and would be thrown together with dangerous maniacs.

Then someone suggested that they try the [founding] Rebbe of Chabad, Rabbi Shenur Zalman. So they bound him, got him into a carriage, and after several hours were in the town of Liozhna entering the Rebbe's office.

In the presence of the Rebbe the madman was fairly still, once in a while giving a grunt or some other non-human sound and occasionally waving his hands, but surprisingly, when the Rebbe said he wanted to tell them a story and asked them to be seated, he sat and they untied him and he remained relatively still.

The Rebbe began. "It says in the Talmud (Gittin 57b) that when Nebuchadnezzar conquered Israel and his troops entered the First Temple to destroy it, they noticed there was a pool of blood bubbling on the floor of the Temple courtyard. The commanding general then gathered the Kohanim ('priests') and asked for an explanation. They explained that it was the blood of a little-known Jewish Prophet called Zechariah [not the famous one who lived years later in the beginning of the Second Temple]."

When he saw they were all paying attention, the Rebbe continued.

"Now, please listen closely. The accepted story is that the Jews stoned him to death because he stood in the Temple courtyard and told them things they didn't want to hear--enumerating their sins and threatening them with death and exile if they didn't repent.

"But, in fact, that is not what happened. The story is quite different. The motive in killing him was much more positive."

The Rebbe looked at the crazy man and then at his family to make sure they were listening and continued.

"The fact is that only a few men stoned Zechariah and they were 'tzadikim--totally righteous Jews--perhaps the only Jews that had not sinned in those days. And they stoned him in order to save everyone else.

"The fact is, he did not anger anyone; he didn't even speak. As soon as he stood before the crowd, these holy men understood what he was about to say.

"They knew that he was about to prophesize the destruction of the Temple and the exile of the Jews to Babylon. And they also knew that because his words were prophesy, as soon as they would be uttered the decree would be sealed unless the Jews repented. But they were aware that the Jews weren't ready to change their ways.

"So they decided that they had to make the ultimate sacrifice even if it would cost them both this world and the next! They knew that by killing him they would die as sinners … but so great was their brotherly love that they didn't care about themselves; only about stopping that prophesy and possibly averting the decree of death and destruction.

"But perhaps you will ask why didn't the prophet Zacharia himself refuse to make his prophesy? Certainly, he had no less love for his fellow Jews than those who killed him. Why didn't he just keep quiet?

"If you try to explain that if he did so he would be punishable by death [which is the law regarding a prophet that refuses to prophesize]. If so, then why didn't he give his life as those who killed him were willing to do?

"The answer is that a true prophet is nothing more than a conduit for G-d's messages and he knows that G-d is good. In other words, his entire essence exists only to give over his prophesy with no worry of its repercussions [which was the mistake of Jonah the prophet].

"But those who killed him did worry and they felt they had no choice but to make a desperate attempt to save the Jewish people from tragedy and exile. So they murdered him.

"Now, the tortured souls of those Tzadikim who 'executed' Zechariah have been in limbo for almost 2500 years; they couldn't enter heaven because of their sin of murder. And the gates of hell also would not admit them because of their pure intentions. So they have been waiting to be rectified

"That is why you came to me." The Rebbe concluded.

"These souls entered your father's body and made him insane in the hope that someone could find some redeeming quality in their sin and free them. And that is what I did.

"When I presented a zechut (merit) on their deed, I made a 'Tikun' (rectification) on their souls and now both they and your father are released."

Suddenly the insane man closed his eyes briefly, smiled with relief and began to breathe easily. He was cured!

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Source: Modified and supplemented by Yerachmiel Tilles from the free translation of R. Tuvia Bolton from Ma Sheseeper li HaRebbe (vol. 2 pg. 32),based on the telling by the Lubavitcher Rebbe in Tishrei 5735 (Oct. 1976), as posted on lchaimweekly.org in 5770 (2010).

Why This Week? The 24th of the Jewish month of Tevet [2026: Tuesday, Jan. 13] is the yahrzeit of Rabbi Shneur-Zalman, founder and first Rebbe of Chabad Chasidut.

Biographic note:
Rabbi Shneur-Zalman [18 Elul 1745-24 Tevet 1812], one of the main disciples of the Maggid of Mezritch, is the founder of the Chabad-Chassidic movement. He is the author of Shulchan Aruch HaRav and Tanya as well as many other major works in both Jewish law and the mystical teachings.

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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