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Weekly Chasidic Story#1470 (5786-21) 22 Shevat 5786 (Feb.9, 2026) "Challenging the Angel of Death" Rabbi Eliyahu-Chaim Meisels suddenly appeared in the middle of the day, wrapped in the special white kittel (long thin robe) that he only wore on Yom Kippur and, still wearing his Tallis and Tefillin, walked silently into the cemetery and lay down inside the front gate. Why This Week? Ex. 23:26 in the Weekly Torah Reading. Story in PDF format for more convenient printing
Challenging the Angel of Death
Lodz was a city dominated by a clique of prosperous, assimilated industrialists and merchants. In addition to overseeing the provision of basic religious needs, the Rav worked energetically to convince many of these wealthiest assimilated members of the community to join in organizing a series of institutions to serve the growing numbers of impoverished Jews drawn to economic opportunities in Lodz. Stories about R' Elya Chaim credit him with preventing pogroms in Lodz and protecting Jewish interests in the city and beyond. One specific story stands out, and it was spoken of with awe and incredulity among the citizens of Lodz. The incident is recorded in old Chevrah Kadisha ('Burial Society') records from that time-period. In the late 1800's, a calamitous plague [most likely Typhus] broke out in the city of Lodz, affecting its residents and the nearby environs. The plague swept across the area felling Jews and gentiles alike. Accounts from local newspapers from those days reported that the plague prowled among the citizens and villagers in a terrifying way and there was almost no house without someone ill. Mortality was huge and carpenters around the city and nearby towns did nothing but build coffins. "People walk around apathetic because there was no way to prevent the plague," wrote one Polish newspaper. Another delivered an even more dramatic account: "Funerals usually take place without crying, because often the whole family of the deceased lies in a fever and there is no one to cry over the coffin. It often happens that a mother lying unconscious in a fever does not know that her dead child is being taken away from the house." Often death came very quickly. "In the morning you are healthy, in the evening you are gone" one could hear constantly back then. R' Elya Chaim remained healthy throughout the terrible days when the plague ravaged his community, but not because he isolated himself. Rather, he worked above and beyond to care for and assist all those in need. He called for public fasts and demanded even more charity from those who could afford it. He rarely managed to sleep; he was always being called from house to house to soothe his constituents, and unfortunately often, say Viduy ([the final] Confession Prayer] and recite the Shema Yisrael with them before they passed away. Finally, R' Elya Chaim decided that enough is enough, he must be more proactive if he wished to remove this terrible catastrophe from among their midst. One day, he suddenly appeared in the middle of the day, wrapped in the special white kittel (long thin robe) that he only wore on Yom Kippur, and still wearing his Tallis and Tefillin. As curious bystanders watched in awe, R' Elya Chaim marched to the Lodz Jewish cemetery and halted as he reached the front gate. In an ethereal voice that sounded almost other-worldly, he announced: "I will not allow the Malach HaMaves (Angel of Death) to take one more person from my city. Hear me now. It is either you or me! Either you go or I will go!" With that, he walked silently into the cemetery and laid himself down inside the front gate. He took out a sefer Tehillim (Book of Psalms) and began to read and pray with copious tears streaming down his cheeks that the Al-mighty remove the plague from the city. He didn't care if onlookers watched him with their jaws agape. He needed to stop the plague right now and he intended to make sure that happened. Members of the Chevra Kadisha were called and they were the first ones to testify that their great and holy rabbi's efforts bore fruit. R' Elya Chaim had insisted that he would not leave until the plague was gone and he did not have to wait long. Within a short while, the infections began to drop, and soon after that nobody was becoming sick anymore. Also, those who were already sick started to get better and their symptoms faded, almost overnight. People in Lodz would comment, with a mixture of love and devotion, that their holy Rabbi literally forced the angel of death to leave the city of Lodz. ======================
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Why
This Week? Ex. 23:26 in the Weekly Torah Reading.
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.