how the גאונים of Drivin became Chassidim

00:01 Le'ilui nishmas HaRav Reb Menachem Mendel Oliver Shalom Lando Ben HaRav Israel Sheyichyeh. Dedicated by the Schulman family. This is a story that the Pilik Rebbe related that tells how the city of Driven became Hasidim. And the Pilik Rebbe says like this, "The Mitteler Rebbe praised the Hadrucha, the guidance, of his first Melamed, Reb Israel Dov, because he guided him to always hear Hasidishe Ma'asis, and he gave the Mitteler Rebbe a big chayas in hearing Hasidishe stories. One time, the Mitteler Rebbe found a few Hasidim sitting and, uh, telling each other, uh, Hasidishe Ma'asis. And, uh, he overheard that the Hasid Reb Chaim from Driven says that in Driven were very big Talmidei Chachamim, and the biggest Talmidei Chachamim in Driven previously were all big Misnagdim. And there was a very small amount of Hasidim in Driven in the beginning, was just about a minyan. A minyan of young elite who were being, uh, supported by their father-in-laws. "So me," says Reb Chaim, "I was one of those, uh, young elite, and all of us learned by the goen Reb Zerach Meir Gribeler. Reb Zerach Meir was a 60-year-old, uh, Yid, which learned nonstop, and any Inyan that he learned was a whole Sugya by him with many details, and the Ge'onim of Brisk and Vilna gave him the title Reb Zerach Meir Gribeler, The Digger," meaning because he went very deeply, uh, into any topic. So when the goen Reb Zerach Meir would say a Shiur, the, the oldest Ge'onim of Driven would listen because

01:49 he was a big Ba'al Mechadesh. He said a lot of, uh, deep Chidushim, and he explained things very well. And then whenever Reb Zerach Meir would give a Shiur, he would start off by saying, "Pay attention and hear Chidushei Torah, the Tana'im and Amora'im are rejoicing with them in Gan Eden." And he would praise himself before each Shiur. So once, when the goen Reb Zerach Meir was about to start giving a Shiur, a stranger walked into the Beis Medrash. He put his, uh, sack on the side. He washed his hands. Us, the young elite, we went over to him. We greeted him, gave him a Shalom Aleichem. In the meantime, Reb Sholom Shloime, which was one of the Hasidim, which was a store owner, also walked in, and when he saw the stranger, he gave him a Shalom Aleichem, and he asked him if he ate already and invited him to come to his home to eat. So the stranger answered that, uh, he already ate, and he sat by the Shiur. He sat next to the table to hear Reb Zerach Meir's Shiur. But soon as he sat down, the Zkenim, the big Ge'onim, and the goen Reb Zerach Meir himself told him that he should get up and go stand on the side, and he shouldn't sit right next to the older Ge'onim because they told him a person needs to be Makir Es Mekomo. A person needs to know his place. The stranger didn't answer anything. He got up, and he stood

03:09 on the side. The, then the goen Reb Zerach Meir star- started the Shiur, but first he gave the whole famous Hagdama, where he would, uh, praise himself and say that the Tana'im and Amora'im are going to rejoice in Gan Eden with his Shiur. And then he gave a Shiur. He gave a Shiur on the Mishnah in Baba Basra of a Maaki Es Chaveiro Mishlo Shel Choso. If somebody has a field, and, and then, uh, his friend has, uh, three fields surrounding his field, how do they, um, deal with that? So when Reb Zerach Meir the goen finished explaining the Mishnah, which took a very long time, the older Ge'onim said with tremendous excitement that such Chidushei Torah must be that the Tana'im and Amora'im are very much rejoicing with them in Gan Eden. The stranger which stood on the side and heard the Shiur then, uh, spoke up, and he started to Opshlag. He started to disprove everything that Reb Zerach Meir said in the Shiur. First, he repeated Ba'al Peh everything that Reb Zerach Meir said, and then he disproved everything. And everybody present, everybody listening, including Reb Zerach Meir, were very confused and amazed, and they just sat there quietly. And then when the stranger finished disproving everything, he said that, "I was once in a small shtetl, and over there I heard how a jungerman who's a Rosh Yeshiva learned this Sugya. So let me tell you how he learned this Sugya." And for the next few hours, the stranger taught them

04:41 the Sugya the way he heard it from that jungerman in that shtetl. The Zkenim and the goen Reb Zerach Meir were very, very amazed. Afterwards, they, they got up from their places. They gave him a honorable Shalom Aleichem, and they asked him to sit by the table. So the stranger answered, "A person needs to be Makir Es Mekomo. A person needs to know his place." "The guest," said Reb Chaim Drivener, "was the Hasid Reb Menachem Zacharyah, and he stayed in Driven for a few years, and the Ge'onim of Driven all became Hasidim of the Alter Rebbe. The Mashpia Reb Menachem Zacharyah, when he was there in Driven, he was very much careful. He very much looked after the Chinuch and the Hadrucha of the kids of the Hasidim." And that's the story.