Sukkos: 5783 - Rabbi Shimon Zonnenfeld with a wonderful story from the Rebbe Maharash for the yahrzeit on 13 Tishrei, and in honor of the Ushpizin of the Rebbe Maharash on Sukkos. Delivered at the conclusion of the Daf Yomi shiur of…

00:00 Speaker 1 So, please.

00:03 Speaker 2 13 Tishrei was the day of the Rebbe Maharash’s passing. I heard an amazing story about the Rebbe Maharash from a source who—this person heard it from someone who was there when it happened. I heard it from my father-in-law, who heard it from a Jew who was there at the time.

00:26 Speaker 1 Rabbi Posner.

00:27 Speaker 2 Yes. In Lubavitch, there was a baal tefillah who was supposed to lead Kol Nidrei on Yom Kippur. He was supposed to say Kol Nidrei, but he fell ill. He became dangerously ill. So they came to the Rebbe Maharash and asked him, “We need to appoint someone else as baal tefillah. Who should we appoint?” The Rebbe said, “He will lead the prayers.” Another day passed, and then another, and his illness got worse. They asked the Rebbe Maharash again. He said that he—he would lead the prayers. Erev Yom Kippur arrived. The man was lying there, already at death’s door. They told the Rebbe Maharash, and the Rebbe said that he should immerse in the mikveh and go say Kol Nidrei.

01:20 Speaker 1 Impossible.

01:21 Speaker 2 Impossible. This man was lying in bed, dying; he was already halfway to the World of Truth. But the Rebbe said he should go immerse in the mikveh, and the time for Kol Nidrei had already arrived. Some young men there heard what the Rebbe had said. So they came to his house, took him together with his bed, and carried him to the mikveh. The man who told this to my father-in-law wasn’t a chossid at all, but he was the son-in-law of someone in Lubavitch. He heard what was happening and shouted at those young men, “You’re murderers! You’re killing the man! What are you doing?” But the Rebbe had said it, so they didn’t ask him. He went along to see what would happen. They took the man with his bed to the mikveh and immersed him, bed and all. After one immersion, he came out, got dressed, and said Kol Nidrei. He was the baal tefillah. And my father-in-law heard this from that very man who stood there, the son-in-law who saw it himself.

02:34 Speaker 1 Beautiful. Amazing, with joy.