R. Pinchos Reizes

00:07 If you enjoy this podcast, please consider clicking on support the show in the show notes and support us in a monthly way will give us, uh, chizuk and the ability to continue. The Hasid, Reb Pinchas Schick from Shklov, which is known as Pinchas Reisus, was born to his father, the Gaon Reb Chanoch Henoch Schick, which was the Rav of Shklov. When he was young, he learned by the Gaon Reb Yosef Kolboi, and he was his talmid muvhak. When the Alter Rebbe came secretly to visit Shklov, Reb Pinchas followed the Alter Rebbe. The Alter Rebbe was sitting then in a bes medrash, and he started to show off his lamdonus to the biggest lamdonim in Shklov. However, he refused to identify himself. Reb Pinchas later years related about a tremendous hispalus that the lamdonim had from the wonderful explanations of the guest, the anonymous guest, which later on they found out that it was the Alter Rebbe. Some years afterwards, when in the year of tof kuf mem gimel, there was a famous big vikuach, debate in Minsk between the big misnagdim and the Alter Rebbe. At that time, the Gaon Reb Henoch Schick, Reb Pinchas' father, already was telling people, "My Pinchas says that he's going to travel to the Hasidim." And take after Sukkot, he came to Lizhensk to the Alter Rebbe together with a few ingalait from Shklov. And years later, he related that the first time he was then in Lizhensk with Alter Rebbe, when he came to Hakafot, he said, "The

01:42 Hakafot by the Alter Rebbe made a complete revolution within me. I became a new person. For the first time in my life, I had a tziyyur how did a Yid feel himself in Beis Hamikdash when he was oilu l'regel and he saw a gilo Shel Chinuch in Beis Hamikdash." In the later years, Reb Pinchas was from the gedolei Hasidim of the Alter Rebbe, and in the year of tof kuf mem vav, he was sent by the Alter Rebbe together with a few of his friends for a secret mission to the cities in Lita to awaken Yidden to learn Chasidus and to be mekarev them to Chasidus. Fiddick Rebbe once related about the reason why Reb Pinchas got the nickname Reb Pinchas Reisus. Reize was his mother-in-law's name. His mother-in-law, Reize, had three son-in-laws. She was a very wealthy woman, and she lived in Shklov. When the Alter Rebbe came for the first time to Shklov, she saw the following scene. A person came to the city. He represents himself as a Maggid from the area of Vitebsk. He's riding on a simple horse without any advertisement. He's speaking in Torah with the goyim of Shklov, and he could answer any question that they ask him. And for all the questions that he asked the goyim, only on one they were able to answer. Three others, they were not able to answer. When she saw that, she told her son-in-laws that, "Whoever from you is going to travel to the Alter Rebbe to learn, I will

03:02 give him all of my fortune." Reb Pinchas agreed, and he traveled to Lizhensk. And the first time that he came to the Alter Rebbe, the Alter Rebbe wasn't home because he traveled from city to city to darshan for prushie to Yidden. That is because a rumor was spreading around the country that the Lizhener Maggid only accepts goyim and not simple Yidden. So to show that it's not so, he traveled around to speak to simple Yidden. So since he wasn't there, Reb Pinchas then waited for four months in Lizhensk until the Alter Rebbe came back, and then he stayed by the Alter Rebbe for additional three months. Afterwards, he came back to Shklov, and he brought to his mother-in-law a letter that confirms that he was there by the Alter Rebbe for three months, and she tacky gave him her whole fortune. Reb Pinchas took all the money, and he gave it to the Alter Rebbe, so he should give it to tzedakah for whatever he wants to give it to. And the Alter Rebbe then benched him with wealth that he should have Torah and gedolah. Reb Pinchas asked for something else. We're not sure what it is, but for that thing that Reb Pinchas asked, the Alter Rebbe was silent. After the passing of the Alter Rebbe, the sons of the Alter Rebbe printed the Shulchan Aruch, and Reb Pinchas took a big part in it. It is told that the Alter Rebbe and the Mitteler Rebbe were very much mechabev Reb Pinchas, and

04:22 they revealed before him all their deep secrets, and he was their right-hand man to do anything that needed to be done. Reb Pinchas was very meyakir the ma'amarim of the Alter Rebbe. The ma'amarim were very precious to him. And as soon as he would hear them, he would write them down. And the Alter Rebbe once said about him that he's a be'er sud she'eino me'ab et tipo, a well that does not miss any drop. Once our Rebbe by a fabregin was explaining a ma'amar in Torah Or on Parshas Ki Tisa, which in that ma'amar in Torah Or part of the ma'amar is missing. So when the Rebbe spoke about it, the Rebbe said, "The Fiddick Rebbe said that because of the big dveikus of the Alter Rebbe, while saying Chasidus, sometimes he would roll on the floor while continuing to saying the ma'amar. And the head choizer, Reb Pinchas Reisus, would roll after the Alter Rebbe so he could hear the words that he was saying while he was rolling on the floor." So it seems like in this ma'amar in Torah Or, either Reb Pinchas wasn't there, that's why we don't have those few words, or they didn't manage to roll after the Alter Rebbe in time. In another place, it is told that HaRav HaKadosh Reb Baruch, which was the father of the Alter Rebbe, visited a few times by his son, the Alter Rebbe. But he didn't agree that anybody should know who he was. Just once, after the Alter Rebbe begged

05:43 him, he agreed to reveal to the family and to the moshav ethalmidim a little bit of divrei Torah, and that they should know that he is the Alter Rebbe's father. So the Hasidim, Reb Pinchas Reisus and Reb Moshe Vilanker, were amongst those chashuve talmidim who got to know the Alter Rebbe's father and heard divrei Torah from him And they were very happy about it for the rest of their lives that they were sterne to see how HaRav Hakadosh Baruch and to hear from him Divrei Torah, which those Divrei Torah were very, very deep, but he didn't allow them to share it with anyone. The Fzik Rebbe once related, Rebbe Pinchas Reisus would travel to the Alter Rebbe for four months every year, Elul, Tishrei, Nisan, and Sivan. Once Rebbe Pinchas was sick, so he couldn't travel for Tishrei to the Alter Rebbe. Afterwards, he felt better since the winter arrived earlier than usual, so he stayed in Shklov. When it was time for Shemini Atzeres, when Rebbe Pinchas was sitting in a sukkah, he suddenly called out, "Oi, Rebbe," and he told the people around, "The Rebbe just thought about me." In that same moment, the Alter Rebbe was sitting in his sukkah, and in the middle of the siddur he said, "Pinchas Reisus needs a refuah in his body. What I cannot give him, I'm not gonna give him. But healing for his body, that is something that I could give him." And the young elite from Shklov which came to the Alter Rebbe

07:13 and were present in the sukkah were wondering about the fact that Alter Rebbe mentioned Rebbe Pinchas in the middle of the siddur. After Yom Tov when they returned home to Shklov, they right away went to Rebbe Pinchas and they asked him for a mashke, and he gave them. And while they were sitting by the fabregin, they realized that at exactly the same moments that Alter Rebbe mentioned Rebbe Pinchas Reisus, that's when Rebbe Pinchas in his home called out, "Oi, Rebbe." So they laid him on a table and they taunted, "Hey, what do you have Ruach Hakodesh? What do you get to such levels?" So Rebbe Pinchas answered them, "It's not me. It's not like I have Ruach Hakodesh or anything. It's just that when I was by the Alter Rebbe by yechidus for the first time, I gave over my nefesh to the Rebbe. And in my second yechidus, I gave over my ruach. And in the third yechidus, I gave him over my neshamah. And since I gave the Rebbe my nefesh, ruach, and neshamah, it's the Rebbe." And the Fzik Rebbe ended off by saying, "This is the meaning of Hergesh Pinimi." Once the Mitteler Rebbe said about Rebbe Pinchas Reisus, he himself doesn't know how wealthy he is. Rebbe Pinchas did not have any children, and Reb Bil-a Paritcher wanted that he should divorce his wife, but the Mitteler Rebbe didn't agree. And he said, "With his davening, he created Ba'al Teshuva le'ein shiur." Reb Bil-a Paritcher related that when Rebbe Pinchas

08:37 would daven, it created a psicha salev, a opening of the heart by anybody who listening to his davening, even by simple people. Even though Rebbe Pinchas's father, Reb Henech Sheek, was not a Hasid, however, he ended up giving a haskamah to the Hilchos Taharas Hamikdosh that the Alter Rebbe wrote. Why? The story goes like this. When the Alter Rebbe wrote Hilchos Taharas Hamikdosh, he wanted to be mefarsem the sefer anonymously. So he gave it to Rebbe Pinchas Reisus, so he should copy it with his own handwriting. And he told him, "If you will be zoche, you will be a shliach for a big mitzvah." Okay, so Rebbe Pinchas took it home, and he was copying the Alter Rebbe's, uh, Hilchos Taharas Hamikdosh. One day he was sitting in his room and he was learning Hilchos Taharas Hamikdosh deeply, and his father came into the room. And even though he was a little bit upset at his son that he became a Hasid, he still liked him a lot and he liked to, uh, speak with him in Divrei Torah. So now the father walked into the room and he thought that his son, Rebbe Pinchas, is reading Chidushei Torah that he himself wrote. So he wanted to see the Chidushim that his son wrote. So he took the writings, which was really Hilchos Taharas Hamikdosh, and he borrowed it. A few days later, he gave it back to his son and he said, "This is really amazing. I think you should print this and publicize

09:55 it. And the geonus in the Kuntras Achron is unbelievable." So Rebbe Pinchas said, "I agree with a condition that you will write haskamah. And in the haskamah, you should not write the name of the author. And then I will print it and I will pay for it." So his father agreed, and he wrote a haskamah to the sefer without mentioning the name of who wrote it. And Rebbe Pinchas printed it. The sefer became famous very quickly, and the 4,000 copies which were printed in the first print were sold real quick. Even the Gra was meshabeach the sefer. And then after a year when they found out that the sefer was really written by the Alter Rebbe, the Misnagdim were really upset about it. Reb Shmuel Greenbaum related that once Reb Shmuel Munkes came to Shklov, and he walked into the home of Rebbe Pinchas Reisus, which was a big gvir. And he had a whole big house with many rooms. Rebbe Pinchas wasn't home at that time, and his wife was also not there. So therefore, Reb Shmuel just made himself comfortable. He walked into the bedroom and he lied down on the bed, and he didn't bother taking off his muddy shoes, his muddy boots. When Rebbe Pinchas's wife eventually came back home and she walked into the bedroom, she saw a poor person lying on the bed with his muddy shoes. She didn't say anything, but when her husband came home, she said, "s- this stranger is in the room with muddy boots."

11:16 So Rebbe Pinchas walked into the room, and when he saw Reb Shmuel, which was a good friend of his, he said, "Shmuel, it's not derech eretz to lie on a bed with boots full of mud. If you want to rest over here, just take off your shoes." When Reb Shmuel heard that, he got up and he said, "For this the Rebbe put so much effort into you? Such thing like mud on a bed is something that bothers you? I don't want to be in your house." And he left Rebbe Pinchas's house. So Rebbe Pinchas ran after him, asking him, "No, Sh- Reb Shmuel, please come back. Don't go away." So Reb Shmuel turned around and he said, "Okay, I will come back to your house on condition that you take a stick, like a broomstick, put it between your feet, go to the city square, and ride on this broomstick as if you're riding a horse, just like the little kids do." And Rebbe Pinchas was like the gvir of the city, and he was one of the most chashuve people in the city. But he was mekayam the condition. He was mekayam that night just to get Reb Shmuel back to his house. And when Reb Greinen related that, he would end off, from here we could learn on the godless of Reb Pinchas. Even though really in his madrega, he was on a higher madrega than Reb Shmuel Munkes, both in Torah and in Avodas Hashem. Still, he had a complete bitul to

12:32 Reb Shmuel, and it was so important for him that Reb Shmuel should be in his house. When Reb Pinchas passed away, he was in Lubavitch. So the Mitl Rebbe came out to his levaya and he said, "The general of the Hasidim passed away. They found ninety thousand ruble in his house after he passed away, and he left it for tzedakah. And in his tzavah, he wrote that he's asking to give to the Hasidim twenty-five ruble, so they should buy mashke, so they should have what to drink during the shiva, so they shouldn't be so sad.