Devarim: 5782 - Rabbi Shimon Zonnenfeld from Nachlah with a wonderful story told by the Gaon Hachossid Reb Yoel Kahn z"l: how in Belz decrees were annulled, and how our Rebbeim brought this about…

00:00 A chossid of the Tzemach Tzedek, on his travels, came to the Sar Shalom of Belz, the first Rebbe of Belz. When he returned to Lubavitch, the Tzemach Tzedek asked him what he had heard there. So he told him: The Sar Shalom of Belz had entered the beis midrash and announced to the chassidim that he wanted to divorce his wife. They asked him why, and he said, “Because she spoiled my food.” There is a dispute in the Gemara between Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel. Beis Shammai says that a man may divorce his wife only if he finds something indecent about her. Beis Hillel says he may do so even if she spoiled his food. Since she had spoiled his food, he wanted to divorce her. The chassidim tried to dissuade him, to stop him from divorcing his wife over that, but he insisted and divorced her. Then one of the chassidim came to him and said, “Beis Hillel’s view that a man may divorce his wife even if she spoiled his food applies when they have many problems in their marriage, and then she also spoils his food. But if they are living together peacefully, with no problems at all, and she merely spoiled his food, that is not what Beis Hillel meant.” He said, “Oh, that’s what I’ve been waiting to hear!” The chassidim understood that the whole story was about Hakadosh Boruch Hu and the Jewish people: Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted to divorce the Jewish people because they had spoiled His food. And what that chossid said—that if they are living together peacefully, spoiled food alone is no reason for divorce—was what he wanted to hear. The chossid who told the Tzemach Tzedek this story then asked him whether our Rebbeim also use stories like these

02:05 to avert accusations against the Jewish people. The Tzemach Tzedek told him, “We do it through a maamar of Chassidus.” Sometimes our Rebbeim deliver a maamar of Chassidus and include words that seem to have no connection to the subject. Through this, they avert accusations and decrees that had been hanging over the Jewish people. He gave several examples. One well-known example was in 5713, when the wicked Stalin died. It happened while the Rebbe was telling a story and then delivering a maamar of Chassidus, and through this he brought about Stalin’s death there in Russia. He gave several other examples. So...