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Weekly Chasidic Story #749 (s5772-28 / 12 Nissan 5772) Getting the Message A rabbi who also lived in Chernobyl wanted nothing to do with the Chasidim. He even refused to pay R. Mottele, the Chernobler Rebbe, so much as a courteous visit. Connection: Seasonal -- Passover
Getting the Message
In Chernobyl also lived a rabbi who was a significant Torah scholar in his own right. This scholar, however, wanted nothing to do with the Chasidim and their strange ways. He obstinately refused to pay Rebbe Mottele so much as even a courtesy visit. During the week of Pesach, many Jews refuse to eat any food that was not prepared in their own home. However, on Acharon shel Pesach (the Eighth Day of Passover), most people "mish'n zich" [Yiddish: "mixing"], i.e. they eat others' food as well. It is said of the holy Rebbe of Sanz, the Divrei Chayim, known to be extremely fastidious in his strict observance of the commandments, that on Acharon shel Pesach he would eat the food of even those whom he didn't trust all year long! Perhaps this rabbi was inspired by the spirit of mish'n zich, because it was on one certain Acharon shel Pesach that he finally relented and made up his mind to once-and-for-all see what these Chasidim and their Rebbe were all about. He had heard about Reb Mottele's custom of rebuking himself and meaning others, so it was with great surprise and shock that, as soon as he set foot in the Rebbe's courtyard, he heard the Rebbe mutter, "Mottele, Mottele, you must do teshuva-you have partaken of chametz on Pesach!" He realized right away the Rebbe meant him, but for the life of him, he couldn't imagine to what he referred. "Perhaps I didn't pay attention to some minute detail? Perhaps I overlooked some stringency that most people don't even adhere to, but I, being that I'm a Torah scholar, should have been more particular?" he thought to himself. "But what?" He decided he would immediately return home and look into the matter. He searched his house high and low for any sign of an area that might not have been checked or cleaned thoroughly. He asked his wife, his sons, and his daughters, if they had done everything with the same caution as in previous years. They had. He was just about ready to give up when he saw it. There, at the bottom of the huge barrel of water they had drawn and prepared especially for Pesach, lay a huge chunk of bread. Examining the water more closely, he could see its tiny crumbs, barely visible, floating around. He nearly fainted! This was the only water they drank and cooked with on Pesach. This meant that everything they ate had been tainted by it. He was devastated. Broken-spirited, he returned to Reb Mottele, and humbly requested that the Rebbe give him a program through which he could repent for his sin, albeit unintentional. "But Rebbe," he added, "with all due respect, one question gives me no rest. Maybe I was wrong for not coming to visit you earlier, but now that I know that your eyes see all, it means you knew we were consuming chametz all Pesach!-how could you not have sent someone to warn us, and saved us from such a grave sin?" "G-d forbid," said Rebbe Mottele, "that I should
know of a Jew sinning, and refrain from telling him out of concerns for my honor!
Believe me, until you passed through the gate to my courtyard, I had no idea
what was going on in your home. It's only once you came, and in that way formed
a bond with us, that I saw what I saw. Whereupon, I made it known right away."
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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.