A compilation of stories on the topics of Galus and Geula, from the book “U’Meivi Goel.” * Presented for 9 Av, at which time the Sages say that Moshiach was born.
MOURNERS’ WEDDING FEAST
R’ Yechiel Michel of Zlotchov, before he was revealed as a tzaddik, lived in Yampol which is near Mezhibuzh, the town of the Baal Shem Tov. Among the Baal Shem Tov’s Chassidim was a businessman who dealt with animals. He would often visit the Baal Shem Tov in order to receive his bracha for his business ventures.
One day, the businessman went to say goodbye to the Baal Shem Tov. This time, the Besht made a special request. “When you go to Yampol, please give my regards to R’ Michel.”
The businessman was happy to fulfill the Rebbe’s request and when he arrived in Yampol, he looked for the tzaddik, R’ Michel. However, he could not find him. Nobody in town knew of a tzaddik by that name. “You must be mistaken,” they said as they shook their heads.
Disappointed, after so much effort, he went to the beis midrash to rest a bit. As a last attempt, he went over to one of the worshipers, a simple man, in the hopes that he might know the tzaddik by the name of R’ Michel.
The man wrinkled his brow and then said, “There is someone by the name of Michel, but he is not a rabbi, far from it. Children call him ‘meshuga.’ Nu, what should you say about someone who bangs his head on the wall when he davens until blood flows?”
The businessman realized this was the man the Besht had meant. “Show me his house. I want to speak to him.”
“That won’t be easy,” said someone who had overheard their conversation. “He spends all day bent over his s’farim and if you don’t ask him for something to eat, he won’t even look at you.”
The businessman asked that they show him the way to the man’s house anyway.
He was taken aback when he arrived at the house and saw the horrifying poverty in which R’ Michel and his family lived. The dilapidated hut looked about to collapse. The windows were broken, and little children, dressed in rags, toddled in front of the door. For a moment he thought maybe he was mistaken and this wasn’t the man the Besht meant, but there was nobody else by this name in the town.
When he entered the hut he found R’ Michel at a broken table with a book of Kabbalah open in front of him. R’ Michel was unaware that someone had walked in, so the businessman went over and whispered in his ear, “Reb Yid, I am hungry. I’d like to eat.”
R’ Michel jumped up and warmly welcomed his guest. Then he began to scrounge about in the cupboards. Perhaps a morsel of food remained that he could offer the guest. But there was nothing, so he took one of his s’farim and gave it to the shopkeeper as collateral. In exchange, he bought bread and herring.
After the businessman ate, he said to his host, “Regards from the Baal Shem Tov.”
R’ Michel inclined his head submissively and humbly.
Before the businessman left, he dared to ask, “R’ Michel, I see that you are a holy man. All you need to do is pray to Hashem and your situation would improve. Why do you live in such dire poverty?”
R’ Michel looked pensive and after a moment, he responded. “This can be compared to a mighty king who married off his only daughter. On the night of the wedding he made a feast for numerous guests. He provided each of them with a menu of the delicacies that would be served. All rejoiced.
“Then suddenly, shortly before the guests sat down to eat, the bride died and the great joy turned into deep mourning. Many of the guests immediately got up from the wedding feast and returned home without tasting any of the dishes that had been prepared for them.
“However, some of the guests who were known as gluttons figured that since they were invited to a feast, they didn’t intend on missing it! They remained seated and did not get up until they had finished eating the entire meal, desserts and all.
“We, the Jewish people, are guests who are invited by Hashem to a feast that He made for Yerushalayim-Tziyon, the kalla. But after our Beis HaMikdash was destroyed, and Tziyon the kalla was taken from us and is held captive by our enemies, we can no longer rejoice and take pleasure in all the tasty delights. We will sit as mourners until Hashem reclaims Tziyon and returns her children to dwell within as in the past.
“The Sh’china is still in galus,” concluded R’ Michel, “should I then conduct myself as those gluttons?!”
THE KING ON THE ROAD
R’ Elimelech of Lizhensk said:
I once heard a wonderful parable from the great Mezritcher Maggid about why, when we are in this bitter galus, we see that people merit ruach ha’kodesh more than in the days of the prophets. Back then, they needed tremendous preparation to merit the lofty level of prophecy!
This can be compared to a mighty king who sat on his royal throne in the capitol city. His palace was a place of great pomp and magnificence. Whatever his heart desired was available in the palace.
One day, one of his simple subjects went to the king and invited him to a feast he had prepared for him in his home. The king declined, as it wasn’t fitting for his honor to leave his magnificent palace in order to go to the home of an ordinary subject, despite the special meal that had been prepared for him.
It is quite different if the king is on the road and the sun is about to set and he wants to rest in order to gather strength for the continuation of his trip. Surely, the king will not be choosy about his accommodations, and even if he finds humble lodgings, as long as they are clean and neat, he will be willing to spend the night there.
So too when the Mikdash stood the Sh’china dwelled therein and light emanated from there to the entire world. Therefore, in order to deserve ruach ha’kodesh and prophecy, it was necessary to work hard.
But now the Jewish people are immersed in a terrible exile and the Sh’china rolls in the dust and seeks a place to rest. Even if she were to find humble lodgings, if it is free of sin, the Sh’china would gladly lodge there.
UNTIL THE NOSE
The Rebbe related:
There were two brothers, one utterly destitute but G-d fearing, and the other very rich but irreligious. The wealthy man did not have daughters. The poor man had a few daughters who were of age to marry and he needed a large sum of money in order to pay for the weddings and dowries.
The poor man traveled to his wealthy brother to ask him for help. When he arrived he found his brother in a good mood and desirous of showing off his wealth. He began leading his poor brother through all the rooms of his mansion.
Although the poor brother was not enthusiastic about this display, he had no choice because he knew that if he returned home without money, he wouldn’t hear the end of it from his wife and daughters. So he followed his brother around apathetically, seeing all the ornaments, lavish wall hangings and fancy furniture.
The wealthy brother was offended at his lack of interest and said, “So, what do you say?”
The poor man said, “If you give me the money, fine; otherwise, I’m leaving. I have no reason to be here.”
The rich man was upset. “What do you mean? I’m showing you my wealth and you want to leave?!”
The poor man responded with an analogy. “There is a creature that spends all year in the mud where it finds its sustenance. It lacks for nothing and its only concern is why it is immersed in the mud only to its nose and not above it.”
The Rebbe said, “My father-in-law, the Rebbe, said in the name of his father, that it wasn’t because we desired it that we were exiled from our land and it won’t be because of our desire that we return to Eretz Yisroel. Hashem exiled us and He will take us out of galus and lead us to Eretz Yisroel with Moshiach Tzidkeinu. We all need to know that only our bodies are in galus but not our souls.
“The reason he prefaced ‘it wasn’t because we desired it that we were exiled from our land’ to ‘only our bodies are in galus but not our souls,’ is that if we went into galus by our own volition, since people don’t think alike, it is possible that a person might want to enter galus more than he is already. Much like the wealthy man who is not content with mud up to his nose, because [as the Sages say] his G-dly soul rests upon his nose, and he wants to be in the darkness of galus even above his nose, i.e. that his neshama should also be in galus. So he is told, Hashem made the galus and galus only pertains to our bodies and not to our souls.”
(Sicha 13 Tammuz 5715)
EREV SHABBOS AFTER CHATZOS
The tzaddik, R’ Menachem Mendel of Riminov once spent Shabbos in Lvov in order to spend time with his many Chassidim who lived there.
One Friday at noontime he was sitting in his room. He sent his assistant to the marketplace to see whether the townspeople had already welcomed the Shabbos.
The assistant soon returned and said, no, the stalls were still open and buyers and sellers were busy rushing back and forth.
An hour later the Rebbe sent his assistant to the marketplace again. “Shabbos is approaching. Maybe now they are ready for her.”
The assistant returned with the same answer. “They say the day is long and why should they hasten the coming of Shabbos?”
As the day was coming to an end a whistle was heard, announcing the imminent coming of Shabbos. Stores closed, stalls were taken down, and people rushed home.
The tzaddik said to his assistant, “That is how Moshiach will come. People will be preoccupied with business and work when suddenly the shofar will sound and announce the Geula.”
THAT IS HOW THEY WILL DANCE
On one of the days of sheva brachos for the Rebbe Rashab, a seudas mitzva took place in the back yard of his father’s home. There were numerous people and the Rebbe Maharash was in an uplifted mood. His face shone with happiness and it looked as though the Sh’china rested on his holy face.
With the conclusion of the maamer Chassidus on the verse, “Ki al Kol Kavod Chuppa,” the Rebbe danced and then went up the steps to a balcony from where he viewed the Chassidim dancing in dozens of circles in the yard.
R’ Zalman Aharon, the Rebbe’s son, and R’ Moshe Aryeh Ginsberg, his son-in-law, said that after a while the Rebbe said to them, “Look, my children, at how the Chassidim rejoice with the simcha of a mitzva. This is how the Jews will dance in the streets with the coming of Moshiach.”
THE SONG THAT THE LEVITES SANG
A group of Chassidim who were well-known baalei menagnim (singers of niggunim) went to R’ Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk for Shabbos. One of the niggunim in their repertoire was exceptionally sweet. Friday night at the seuda R’ Menachem Mendel motioned to them to sing.
They began to sing the special niggun but the Rebbe immediately hushed them and indicated that they should sing something else.
This repeated itself at the other Shabbos meals and greatly surprised the Chassidim.
The next day, which was Rosh Chodesh, R’ Menachem Mendel sat with his talmidim at the seuda and asked the baalei menagnim to sing the niggun that he had rejected throughout Shabbos.
As they sang he cried bitter tears. When they finished singing, he said that this niggun was one of the tunes that the Levites sang in the Beis Mikdash. This is why he had not permitted them to sing it on Shabbos, so as not to be sad on Shabbos about the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash and the exile of the Sh’china.
AN INVITATION TO THE BEIS HA’MIKDASH
R’ Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev was constantly in a state of anticipation and preparation for the coming of Moshiach. Before the great wedding in Zhlobin, in which the grandchildren of the Alter Rebbe and R’ Levi Yitzchok wed, a draft of the invitation was brought to R’ Levi Yitzchok. When he saw where the wedding would take place, he ripped it up and said it should be rewritten thus:
“The wedding will take place, G-d willing, in Yerushalayim the Holy City at the Beis HaMikdash, may it speedily be rebuilt. If Moshiach Tzidkeinu does not come, G-d forbid, by then, the wedding will take place in Zhlobin.”