The Chortkov Kloiz
The following story was related by Reb Shlomo Zalman Horowitz zt'l, the Rov of Potik. A young man returned home one day to find that his wife had disappeared. They had been unhappily married for some time, so he thought that she must have run away. All his efforts to locate her were in vain, and after a time he decided to obtain a heter me'ah rabbonim so that he could remarry.
When he had obtained 96 signatures, he decided to ask the Rebbe for a brocho that he should soon find a suitable shidduch. When he told the Rebbe his story, the Rebbe said to him, "I advise you to go to Reb Leib the dayan of Toyest to obtain his signature."
The man was surprised at the Rebbe's words, for although the dayan of Toyest was a respected talmid chochom, the Rebbe had absolutely no connection with him. When the young man arrived in Toyest and told the dayan that the Rebbe had sent him to him, he was also surprised. After the young man told the dayan his name, he exclaimed, "When were you in Chortkov?"
"Yesterday afternoon at 12 o'clock I spoke to the Rebbe and that's when he told me to come here," the young man replied.
The dayan could hardly believe his ears. Just yesterday at that exact time, the postman had delivered a letter from a woman in America. The woman wrote that she ran away from her husband to America, and now she regrets the anguish she caused him and therefore she would like the dayan to seek out her husband and let him know that she is ready to accept a get. The woman who had written the letter was none other than the man's wife!
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Chazal tell us that a tzaddik decrees and Hashem fulfills. The Shtfonester Rebbe, Reb Menachem Nuchem zt'l would say: "When my holy brother from Chortkov takes his Tehillim in his hand, Hashem says to him: Dovid Moshe, My son, the whole world is yours, do with it as you please. Now, if I were in his position, I would know what to do. He however is such a faithful and trustworthy servant that he returns it to Hashem just as he received it."
An example of the Rebbe's faithfulness can be seen after the petiroh of his eldest son, Reb Nochum Mordechai. Not long after Reb Nochum Mordechai's petiroh, the Rebbe's second and last child, Reb Yisroel, also fell ill with the same illness that had claimed his brother. Reb Yisroel's condition was critical and the doctors had already given up hope on him.
The Rebbe went to visit his sick son. As Rebbe left the room, he was overheard muttering to himself, "If this is Your wish Hashem, that he should also join his brother, I won't say anything."
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Although the Rebbe was very exacting on himself, when it came to others his kindness was legendary. He never refused any request made of him, he never lost his temper or even showed the slightest sign of anger. He greeted each person warmly and granted his gentle heartfelt brochos. "I decided as a child of seven, not to annoy any creature," he used to say.
When he was asked: What would you do if a goy were to molest a Yid and you were asked for help? He replied: "I would pray to Hashem for the Yid to be saved and not for the punishment of the goy."
Once, the Rebbe was in a terrible state. For days he had been pacing up and down in his room deep in worry. Seeing the Rebbe's nervous state, his gabbai asked him to rest a little bit. The Rebbe answered him, "It is easy for you to ask me to rest! How can I rest when my whole being is in a torment of indecision over the future of a Yid who needs my help, but I am unable to help him? How can I possibly rest?"
The Longest Lived
Of all the Ruzhiner's children, the Rebbe was zoche to live the longest, outliving all his brothers by more than twenty years. During these years the Chortkover chassidus grew by leaps and bounds. Many of his brothers' chassidim preferred to be with the sole survivor of the Ruzhiner's sons and came to Chortkov, rather than going to the son of their previous Rebbe. The Rebbe became universally recognized as the tzaddik hador.
Tens of thousands came from all over to spend a Shabbos with the Rebbe and to taste for themselves the kedusha which permeated the air in Chortkov. Among the masses were many gedolim who also flocked to Chortkov to bask in the Rebbe's holiness.
From Hungary came the Minchas Elazar of Munkatch and his father the Darkei Teshuva, the Satmar Rebbe, Reb Yoel zt'l and his shver the Atzei Chaim. From Poland came the rebbes of Ostrovza, Amshinov and Radomsk and from Lithuania came the rebbes of Slonim and Karlin. Galicia was also well represented with the famed rebbes, the Chakal Yitzchok from Spinka, Reb Shlomke of Zvehil and Reb Yisroel of Modzitz to name but a few.
Side by side next to the rebbes sat the greatest poskim of the era, the Maharsham, Reb Meir Arik, Reb Shlomo of Felestein (author of Ginzei Chaim), Reb Shmuel Bornstein, author of the classic Minchas Shabbos, Reb Meshulam Roth of Chernovitz and Reb Meshulam Katz of Tarnov.
When the famed gaon and poseik, Reb Avrohom Yaakov Horowitz (author of the classic sefer Tzur Yaakov) would arrive in Chortkov on one of his regular visits, he would get off his carriage at the town gates, and from there until the Rebbe's house he would continue on foot as a sign of respect.
The Rebbe's influence spread far beyond Europe to the shores of faraway America, where a large number of Chortkover chassidim had settled. Daily, letters arrived in Chortkov asking the Rebbe to send to America shochetim, rabbonim and teachers. Similarly, the Rebbe was often called upon to solve problems that had cropped up in America and awaited his decision. In no small measure, a large portion of the credit due for the beginnings of orthodox Yiddishkeit in America can be laid on the Rebbe's shoulders.
One example, typical of many, was the city of Galveston, Texas. Lacking an ehrlicher shochet, they turned in desperation to the Rebbe to help them. The Rebbe called in one of his finest young chassidim, Reb Yaakov Geller, and instructed him to move to Texas. Although Rav Geller was not at all keen to leave Galicia, he could not refuse the Rebbe's request.
The Rebbe's gabbai, Reb Hershel Rapport gave the young scholar a letter in which he wrote: "With the consent of our holy Rebbe shlita, Reb Yaakov Geller is travelling abroad in order to save our fellow brothers from having to eat meat which was slaughtered by unreliable shochetim. Therefore, I was instructed by the holy Rebbe shlita to give him this letter as proof so that when he arrives there, he should be properly cared for so that he should be able to carry out his holy work with a clear mind."
Rav Geller was indeed instrumental in strengthening Yiddishkeit in Texas until his petiroh in 1930.
All his days the Rebbe longed to settle in Eretz Yisroel. A number of times he even prepared himself to go but each time something else cropped up and he had to drop his plans.
Through the Rebbe's efforts, groups of his chassidim moved to Eretz Yisroel where they founded a number of shuls. Two of the shuls—in Yerushalayim and Tzfas—still function to this day.
Final Months
If the Rebbe's lifestyle was saturated with kedusha, all the more so in the final months before his petiroh. It was clearly evident that he was preparing himself to leave this world. His every conversation centered on stories about the petiroh of various tzadikim. On his last Erev Yom Kippur he called his only son Reb Yisroel zt'l and told him: "On Yom Kippur the Cohen godol would enter the holiest place on earth—the Kodesh Hakodoshim. Can you imagine what it must have felt like to be inside there, together with the Shechina? O, my heart is longing to also enter into the Holy of Holies, to be reunited with the Shechina."
Straight after Yom Kippur the Rebbe fell ill, the chassidim who realized that their crown was about to be removed from their heads, implored Heaven to have mercy on their holy Rebbe, the last one of the Ruzhiner's children. The Rebbe's condition deteriorated from day to day.
Normally the Rebbe would have an aliya to the Torah on the first day of Sukkos. When the gabbai asked the Rebbe if he wanted an aliya this year as well, the Rebbe thought for a moment and said: "An aliya! Yes, yes, I want an aliya but not today. On the last days of Sukkos I'll have an aliya."
Sunday afternoon erev Hoshanna Rabba, the Rebbe called his gabbai Reb Hershel Rapport and asked him: "Hershel, perhaps you can tell me why it has become so dark?"
"I haven't noticed that it has become dark," the gabbai replied.
"You haven't noticed! How can that be, a real darkness has descended on us," the Rebbe said a second time.
When the night of Hoshanna Rabba arrived, the Rebbe asked for a siddur and for over an hour he davened with intense kavono. "It's never too late to pray for the salvation of Yidden," he told those around him.
With his last strength he appointed his son his successor, and then, closing his eyes, he started to recite the tefillah, `Nishmas kol chai.' As he finished the tefillah with the words `leDovid borchi nafshsi es Hashem,' his holy neshomo ascended upwards.
Zechuso yogeyn aleynu.
