36. A Tzadik Who Saw The Future But Couldn’t Tell Anyone

00:16 Hello, kindele. Good Yom Tov. We're in the midst of days of Chasidishe Yomim Tovim, which is 10 Kislev, the yahrtzeit of the Mitteler Rebbe. Yud Kislev, the chag haGeulah, the redemption of the Mitteler Rebbe from prison. And then to Yud 10 Kislev, the redemption of the Alter Rebbe, uh, of prison, also the yahrtzeit of the Maggid of Mezritch. And it says in the sichos of the Rebbeim that these days all the way from 10 Kislev till Yud 10 Kislev is one long Yom Tov. So we're in the middle of a long Yom Tov till Yud 10 Kislev, and then comes Chanukah, of course. Again, a Yom Tov. This month is full of Yomim Tovim. But this is special. The special Chasidishe Yomim Tovim is because the Rebbeim had mesirus nefesh. They went to prison because they wanted to reveal Chasidis to us, and Chasidis was the greatest thing the world has ever had because it gave every Jew the possibility to serve Hashem with such joy, with such des- with such pleasure and desire. You can learn Torah and do mitzvos because you enjoy it, not just because you have to do it, because your tatty mammi tells you, because you just feel how great it is to do a mitzvah. And the only way you learn Chasidis is you get that feeling. So that's why it's such a great Yom Tov, because they went to prison because they revealed that very, uh, you know, part of Torah, the part of Torah that gives us

01:47 a whole new level of understanding and appreciation of Torah and mitzvos. So it's a great Yom Tov. So I'll tell you a story about the Mitteler Rebbe and the Alter Rebbe because this is the days when we celebrate their geulah. The Mitteler Rebbe once asked the Alter Rebbe a question, a very interesting question. He said, "Tatty, did you ever see the Arizal?" The Arizal lived many, many years before the Alter Rebbe, hundreds of years. The Arizal was already in Gan Eden a long time. "But did you ever see the Arizal either in your dreams or even awake?" As you know, tzaddikim sometimes are able to see the neshamas of other tzaddikim alive, I mean, as if they're in a body. But of course, it's their neshamah coming down and dressing up in, in a body that looks like them, and they're able to learn Torah from them. "Did you ever see the Arizal either in a dream or awake?" And the Alter Rebbe said, "I'll tell you what happened once, and then you'll get your answer. I was once sitting in the Beis Midrash of my rebbe, the Maggid of Mezritch, and the Maggid was saying a ma'amar and teaching us Torah. I was sitting with all the talmidim together, and in middle of the ma'amar, the back door opened up, and a young man, a stranger, just walked in. And I see that this young man is listening very intently to every word the Maggid is saying. He's listening to the entire ma'amar until

03:12 the end. And when the Maggid finished his ma'amar, this young man, this stranger, just left the shul. I could never even say, 'Shalom aleichem' to him, ask him who he is. It was very strange. I asked my-- one of my friends, the holy talmidim of the Maggid. They were all great tzaddikim. I asked him, 'D- do you know who this young man was who came in, in middle of the ma'amar?' And they said, 'I didn't see a young man. I didn't see anybody.' The other-- None of the talmidim, he asked everyone, nobody saw anything. They didn't see anyone come in. So I realized this is strange. I saw someone coming in. I clearly saw. I wasn't dreaming. I could see someone come in, and he listened, and then he left. So I went over to my rebbe, the Mezritcher Maggid, and I asked him, 'Who is this young man that came in to listen to your ma'amar and then he left? And you rose in the middle of the ma'amar when he walked in to give him respect. I saw you rise slightly, and then you continued the ma'amar.' So the Mezritcher Maggid said, 'Oh, you did see him?'" In other words, the Maggid seemed surprised that the Alter Rebbe was able to see him, because the other talmidim clearly did not see him. "'If you saw him, then I will reveal to you who he was. You merited, yaidus chus, to see the Arizal.'" That was an answer to the Mitteler Rebbe's question. Did

04:35 the Alter Rebbe see the Arizal once? Yes, he did see him when he was still l- learning in Mezritch as a young man. He saw the Arizal coming in to the Beis Midrash. Now th- now that we're on this topic, um, I wanna tell you something else, another story with the Maggid, because it tells you, you know, great tzaddikim are able to see things. Sometimes they can see neshamas from Gan Eden that come down into the world, which ordinary people that are not so holy, they're not so great, they can't see them. Great tzaddikim can see things about other people that nobody else can see. But there is, you know, a danger in revealing that. A tzaddik who sees these things is not always supposed to tell everybody what he sees. So sometimes certain people see things and others don't see it. Those that see it are supposed to keep it secret. Sometimes they're allowed to tell it when it's needed. Sometimes a tzaddik tells a person, a Hasid, um, "You know, I see on you that this and this is gonna happen to you. Maybe you should do this and this. You should do teshuva and Hashem will change it." But in generally, tzaddikim don't always tell. Most of the time, they don't tell what they see, because they're not supposed to. You know, because it says about Moshe Rabbeinu, "Bechol beit sin ne'eman hu." Hashem said great praises about Moshe Rabbeinu. To Aaron and to Miriam, to his brother and sister, Aaron and

06:04 Miriam, Hashem said, "You know, Moshe is very great. You should respect him." "Bechol beisi ne'eman hu." "He's very trustworthy in my house." And, uh, the Gemara says it means that Moshe Rabbeinu had Nevuah, and he could see everything about everybody. He could see the future about every person. But he was quiet. He didn't say it to everybody. He kept quiet. Not everything he saw, he had to tell. So here is a story with the Maggid that shows this point. The Maggid, uh, was once visited by a young man who came to see... You know, the Maggid was a great tzadik, great Rebbe, very famous. A lot of people, uh, wanted to come and hear from the Maggid. You know, they wanted to see who is this great Maggid they heard so much about. They wanted to hear his Torah to see if maybe they should become his Hasid or his Talmud. So once there was a, a young man that came to visit the Maggid, and, uh, the Maggid told the Talmidim secretly, "Tell-- I want you to do everything you can to make sure this young man does not go back home today, that he doesn't go home today. Make sure that all of... And, but also, do not tell him that I'm the one who told you to do that. Just do it on your own. Don't tell him that it comes from me. Just tell them, tell the man not to go home." But he was planning to go home, this young

07:29 man. So it wasn't easy. Uh, he didn't understand. The young man saw the older Talmidim coming up to him saying, "No, no, don't go home today. Don't go home today. Wait a few weeks. In a week or something, but don't go home today." He didn't understand why they ask him so much to go home, not to stay there. He wasn't such an important person or something that they needed him. Why would they ask him to stay? So he decided, "You know what? Let me go into the Rebbe again, to the Mezritcher Maggid. I'll go to Yechidus, and I'll tell him, 'Rebbe, I'm leaving today,' and if he gives me a bracha, 'Yeah, go in peace and, and safe travels,' then I'll know I should go. I shouldn't listen to the Talmidim. So if the Rebbe tells me to stay, I will stay, of course. But if he tells me he wishes me well and tells me I should have a safe trip, then I'll go." So the young man went into the Maggid and asked a bracha, "Rebbe, I'm, I'm leaving back home today. I had a nice time here. Um, I want a bracha to have safe travels, I should travel, uh, peacefully." And the tzadik, the Maggid of Mezritch said, "Yes, go peacefully. Have a safe trip." The young man went out of Yechidus and went and told the Talmidim of the Maggid that he's going home. The Rebbe wished him well. The Talmidim of the Maggid were a little bit puzzled. The

08:47 Rebbe told them to, to make sure that the, they stop him from going home, but, but he himself is wishing him a safe trip. Like, it, it seems like contradiction. So they went back. So they went into the Rebbe and they asked him, "Did the Rebbe change his mind? Because he tells us that you told him to go have a safe trip." So the, the Maggid says, "No, no, no, no. You run quickly. Try to stop him before he leaves. He shouldn't leave today. At all costs, try, do everything you can to stop him from going." That, that was very strange. He's telling him one thing, he's telling them another thing, the opposite. So Talmidim went back and they begged, uh, their friend that he should stay with them another little bit. "Please stay another few days." The young man was very surprised. He says, "I told you the Rebbe told me to have a safe trip. Why are you trying to convince me not to go home?" So after they kept begging him, "No, don't go, don't go, don't go," he decided to go in again to the Mezritcher Maggid, into his room, and to ask him again, "Did you change your mi-- I mean, should I change my mind and stay here?" And the Maggid says, "No, no, no. Have a safe trip. Have a safe trip." Oh, and the young man was very happy. The Rebbe said he should have a safe trip. So he said, "Goodbye, everybody. I'm leaving. The Rebbe

10:15 gave me a bracha that I should go and leave in peace. I should have a safe travels." The Talmidim of the Maggid still tried to convince him, but he didn't pay attention to them, didn't listen. He packed up all his bags. He took some food, went onto his wagon and waved goodbye and left. The Talmidim felt disappointed because they weren't able to do what the Rebbe wanted. After a week, uh, the news came to Mezritch, very sad news that this young man had passed away. When Talmidim understood suddenly why the Rebbe told him not to leave, they should try to stop him from leaving, because had he stayed in Mezritch, he probably would have been saved and not have died. So they went to the Rebbe, but they were very puzzled. If the Rebbe knew that if he goes home, something terrible is gonna happen to him, why didn't the Rebbe tell him openly, "Don't go, because if you go home, uh, something bad is gonna happen to you." Or at least tell him, "Don't go home." Why did the Rebbe tell him, "You know what? Have a safe trip." And us, he told us to convince him not to go. Why? Why couldn't he tell him directly and tell him, "Don't go"? So the Mezritcher Maggid answered that passuk I mentioned to you before. What does it say about Moshe Rabbeinu? "Bechol beisi ne'eman hu." Can you repeat that passuk? Say it with me. "Bechol beisi, bechol beisi ne'eman hu." In all my house,

12:00 he's faithful. That's, um, a passuk that tells us about the greatness of Moshe. That although Moshe was such a navi, he could see everything on every person. He could see the future of the world, everything. He did not say anything to people, only what he was told to reveal to the people, right? He told the people to go in the Yam Suf, and it will split, and it split. He told the Yidden that Hashem will take them out of Mitzrayim, and He did. But those are things Hashem told him to reveal. But he knew a lot, a lot more things that he never revealed to anybody, right? Same thing with every Rebbe. A Rebbe, a tzadik can see a lot of things. People would go in front of the Rebbe. The Rebbe could see in you everything that you did and everything that you thought. But the Rebbe wouldn't tell you, "Hey, you, you did this wrong thing the other day to your sister, to your brother, and, uh, well, you know, you should better, better ask, you know, say sorry." Right? The Rebbe didn't do that, even though the Rebbe could see things on, on every person. Because a tzadik who sees things is made to promise in Shamayim that he will not reveal everything he sees. The Alter Rebbe once said to the Tzemach Tzedek, when the Tzemach Tzedek wanted to have Ruach Hakodesh, where he could see things, he told him, "I'll show you how to have Ruach Hakodesh, but you should

13:17 know it's dangerous. Because if you see things and you... Sometimes a tzadik sees terrible things are gonna happen to a person, and you're so eager to help the person to save him, don't do this because this is gonna happen to you." But min Hashamayim, they don't let him reveal it. And it's very hard because you feel like, "I know something that can save the person if I tell him that." But min Hashamayim, not everything allows that. Hey, you have to let Hashem run the world. Hashem knows why He's doing things. Even bad things have a reason, and Hashem needs to do things. Unless Hashem tells you, you can reveal it. So that's when a Rebbe, a tzadik, a navi can reveal things that he sees, because he was told by Hashem, "It's okay for you to reveal." This story that I just told you was told by the Rebbe in the year Taf Shin Yud in a sicha.