Chapter 240 - The Four Chassidim of the Rebbe Maharash.

00:00 We are now discussing the generation of the Rebbe Maharash as leader of the Chabad chassidim, and we’ll look at several kinds of chassidim through a story involving a few of his chassidim. The chossid Reb Michoel Aharon Piserovsky was a businessman of moderate means. He never lacked what he needed; sometimes he had plenty, and sometimes things were tight. He married off his sons and daughters and supported them as householders do. His knowledge of both the revealed Torah and Chassidus was also moderate, though he attended the regular classes and had a regular study session of his own. He was a warmhearted man, with a chassidisher heart, who cared about his fellow. That was Reb Michoel Aharon. Among his acquaintances was the chossid Reb Nochum Lipa Zeltzer, a shopkeeper who knew the revealed Torah and Chassidus. He studied Mishnayos and Likkutei Torah in the shul and spent a long time davening on Shabbos, as chassidim do. He had a large family, with sons and daughters of marriageable age, and at that time his financial situation was extremely difficult. The chossid Reb Leib Pazin was a shopkeeper in Vitebsk. So we already have three chassidim: Michoel Aharon Piserovsky, a businessman who lacked nothing; Nochum Lipa, a shopkeeper who did lack what he needed; and the third, Leib Pazin. He was a shopkeeper in Vitebsk, well-off and successful in business. He had already acquired several substantial houses and had a reputation as one of the wealthy men who ran his household on a generous scale. He did not have the best temperament, but he gave tzedakah freely and engaged in acts of kindness. People said he set aside maaser. His home was open to chassidim and men of good deeds. That was Leib Pazin. His knowledge of the revealed Torah and Chassidus was limited, but he deferred to Torah scholars, valued chassidim, and took part in study sessions even when he did not properly understand the material. Among his acquaintances was the chossid Shmuel Brin, one of the well-known chassidim of Vitebsk.

03:00 Shmuel Brin was known for his intelligence and talents, his knowledge of Torah—both the revealed Torah and Chassidus—his eloquence, education, wisdom, and understanding of trade and business. He was very busy with his contracting business. Even so, he had a fixed time to study every day, concentrating mainly on in-depth study of Gemara, Choshen Mishpat, and Chassidus. Shmuel Brin’s business fortunes rose and fell—sometimes up, sometimes down—but he paid little attention to those small fluctuations. Then, in the year 5640, 1880 by their reckoning, unrest among the nobles, estate owners, and forest owners in the Vitebsk and Pskov provinces, and a dispute between the nobles and the village peasants, led the peasants to stop working in quarrying and transport. Shmuel Brin’s business was thrown into crisis. He was also caught in a swindle by dishonest merchants, lost all his money, and was left deeply in debt. Okay, so we have four chassidim of the Rebbe Maharash, in two pairs of acquaintances: Michoel Aharon and Nochum Lipa, and Leib Pazin and Shmuel Brin. Before Pesach, Reb Michoel Aharon and Reb Leib Pazin happened to be in Lubavitch. They had come to spend Shabbos with the Rebbe Maharash. When Michoel Aharon Piserovsky entered yechidus with the Rebbe Maharash, the first thing he did was mention his friend Nochum Lipa Zeltzer. He told the Rebbe how difficult his circumstances were and how his sons and daughters were of marriageable age. He spoke about him at length and pleaded for mercy on his behalf. When the Rebbe Maharash blessed Nochum Lipa that Hashem should help him and bring him from hardship into relief, Michoel Aharon begged the Rebbe to promise that his blessing would be a guarantee. After that, Reb Michoel Aharon spoke about himself. As he presented his affairs, the Rebbe saw that his business was in a very poor state. He was impoverished and in debt. The Rebbe Maharash said to him, “So that’s the situation you’re in. You’re not exactly better off than Nochum Lipa.”

05:45 Michoel Aharon said to the Rebbe, “A person knows what he deserves, so there’s no reason to complain, and I’m content.” The Rebbe Maharash placed his holy hands over his eyes, reflected for a short while, and said to him, “One who prays for his fellow is answered first. May Hashem grant you success.” “What do you think happened?” Reb Michoel Aharon Piserovsky later told Reb Meir Mordechai Sharnin about that yechidus. “Nochum Lipa began to prosper. Avraham Sholom, the flax merchant, suggested that in addition to his shop, Nochum Lipa should trade in flax. Avraham Sholom’s reliability in the flax trade was well known, and within six months Nochum Lipa became very wealthy. I, too,” said Reb Michoel Aharon, “began earning more than usual, both from my business and from other sources. I also suggested to Chaim Yonah Ginzburg that he would do well to arrange a match between his daughter and Yaakov Levin Horowitz. The Horowitz family accepted my suggestion and paid me a generous matchmaker’s fee, something I hadn’t counted on beforehand. By the end of the year, I bought two houses across the river, with large lots, in accordance with the Rebbe’s instruction and consent.” So that was Michoel Aharon’s yechidus. Now Reb Leib Pazin, Shmuel Brin’s friend, entered yechidus. He spoke about himself at length, describing his circumstances and situation, and asked for a blessing. After he finished, he sighed and said that Reb Shmuel Brin’s situation was dire. He added, “Surely Hashem is right, and whatever He does is as it should be, but he is to be pitied very much.” The Rebbe Maharash placed his hands over his holy eyes, became absorbed in thought, and did not answer him. After Pesach, a fire broke out on the street where Reb Leib Pazin’s flax warehouses stood. Everything burned, a loss of tens of thousands of rubles. At exactly

08:40 the same time, a fire also broke out at his property across the river, and his shop burned down with all the merchandise inside, worth about twenty thousand rubles. None of it was insured. A few days later, Leib Pazin traveled to the Rebbe Maharash to tell him everything that had happened. When he entered, he wept bitterly, saying that he had lost about fifty thousand rubles in the two fires, and lamented his plight. The Rebbe Maharash looked at him seriously and said, “When Shmuel Brin lost all his money and was left destitute, you found comfort and justified Heaven’s judgment. But when it touched your livelihood and your shop, you turn worlds upside down, and you find no comfort in the two houses and the shop you still have, or in the sums you hold in government bonds. Apparently, ‘I’ and ‘someone else’ are two separate things.” When Reb Leib Pazin left the Rebbe Maharash’s room, he reflected on the holy words he had heard and understood that all this misfortune had befallen him because of his sin in the way he had spoken about Shmuel Brin’s situation. For two days he went about as though beside himself, not knowing what to do. He decided to enter yechidus with the Rebbe Maharash again and ask how to make amends for what he had done. When he entered, he was so overcome that he could not utter a sound. Once he had calmed down a little, he asked how to do teshuvah and make amends, and resolved from then on to concern himself with the welfare of others. The Rebbe Maharash told Leib Pazin, “It is a tradition in the name of the Baal Shem Tov that anyone who passes judgment on his fellow, whether for good or for bad, passes that judgment on himself. If he says that because of a good deed or a good word someone said or did, he deserves Hashem’s help with what he needs—or if he says that because of something wrong his fellow said or did, he deserves such-and-such—then with every such statement he passes judgment on himself, whether for bad or

11:18 for good. One who justifies Heaven’s judgment upon another person without feeling his pain and pleading for mercy on his behalf thereby brings an accusation against himself, causing his own deeds and words to be examined. But one who shares his fellow’s pain and pleads for mercy on his behalf receives his reward.”