57. A Bright Light Over Shimshon Dokshitzer’s head

00:15 Here, kindelekh, is the other story of the Tzemach Tzedek that the Friediger Rebbe tells in one of his sichas. In the time of the Tzemach Tzedek, there were many different Hasidim. There were Hasidim that were very learned, great, great gaonim, talmidei chachamim, rabbonim in different cities. There were also great tzaddikim, great Hasidim, and they would all come to the Tzemach Tzedek. Tzemach Tzedek, they said, had about 100,000 Hasidim in Russia. That was a lot of Hasidim, 100,000. So one of the Hasid- some of the Hasidim were very simple people. Not may- everybody was very learned. Some Hasidim were very, very strong Hasidim of the Tzemach Tzedek, but they didn't know how to learn a lot. They were just hardworking people. Some of them were shoemakers, some of them were tailors, some of them were, were just shopkeepers. They had a store. They, they... Some were fishermen. But they all were very, very committed and devoted to the Tzemach Tzedek, and they would come to him. And when the Tzemach Tzedek would say a maamar, they didn't understand much what he was saying because it was too much for them. They weren't so learned. But they still came to the Tzemach Tzedek for Yom Tov or for Shabbos, and they got all excited just seeing the Tzemach Tzedek. And just listening to the Tzemach Tzedek saying a maamar, even if they didn't understand what he was saying, but they-- hearing the words coming out of the holy mouth of the ba- of the Tzemach Tzedek made

01:45 them so excited. One of them was a Hasid by the name Shimshon. Shimshon came from a city called Duczyszce. And Duczyszce was in, in Russia, and he, like many other Hasidim, would come to the Tzemach Tzedek once a year or twice a year for Yom Tov. In those days, it was the custom that if a Hasid came to the Rebbe, uh, for Yom Tov and then he came back home, and many Hasidim who weren't able to go for Yom Tov to the Rebbe, they wanted to hear what the Rebbe said, the maamaruim he gave over. People wanted to hear. So what the custom was, the entire city, all the Hasidim, would get together when the Hasid came back from Lubavitch, and they would make a big farbrengen, and everyone would get dressed in Shabbos clothes as if they're going to the Rebbe. And this Hasid who just came back from the Rebbe would recite and say over the maamar and the sichas with the Rebbe, which he heard by the Rebbe, and everybody would get all excited. Now, this Shimshon was a very simple man. He owned a store in the marketplace in Duczyszce. Didn't have much time to learn, so he didn't understand what the Tzemach Tzedek was saying. But he did remember one thing. When he came to Lubavitch and he heard the maamar, the maamar he remembered, the maamar always starts with a pasuk. The Rebbeim normally, th- and generally, when most of the time when the Rebbe starts a maamar, he

03:07 starts with a pasuk, and then he says a whole maamar about this pasuk. So he, Shimshon, couldn't remember. The maamar lasted for an hour. He didn't understand and didn't remember much of it. But he remembered the pasuk, and maybe, uh, the first question that the Tzemach Tzedek was asking on that pasuk. That's all he remembered, right? But he also maybe remembered maybe, uh, in maybe a half an hour into the maamar there was a, like a line that the Tzemach Tzedek said from a Midrash. He could remember that Midrash. So Shimshon, when he came back to Duczyszce from Lubavitch, and the whole community got together, and they knew that Shimshon is not a big talmid chacham. He can't remember and understand everything Tzemach Tzedek said. So, but they still got together, and Shimshon would repeat whatever he remembers, even if it's one line. It was still an exciting thing that, uh, here is a Hasid who went to the Tzemach Tzedek. He saw with his own eyes the heilige face, the holy face of the Tzemach Tzedek, and he heard with his own ears the holy words of the Tzemach Tzedek. It's exciting. We wanna see, hear from him what he heard, what he saw. It was-- everyone was all excited. And they got together, and they made a big farbrengen with a lot of food, with, with mashke and herring and food, and, and it was a big celebration. And Shimshon would dress up in his kapote, Shabbos kapote, and his gartel and his

04:28 hat. He had a special hat which he went to Lubavitch with that hat, and he dressed up in that hat. And when they made this farbrengen back in Duczyszce when he came back after Lubavitch, he would sit down at the head of the table, and everyone would sing Nigunim. And then we said, "Nu, Shimshon, now it's time for you to repeat the maamar, whatever you heard." Shimshon got really red in the face from all excitement. He's now going to repeat the words of the Tzemach Tzedek, and he just imagined the moment when he was standing there in awe, trembling in front of the Tzemach Tzedek, hearing every word. He knows he didn't understand much, but whatever he remembered, he's going to repeat as if he's standing there now. And his face turned really red from excitement, and then he started saying with his eyes closed with great excitement, mmm, "Buchu lam b'briz yachad." He said a, said a maamar. "Tiku bachodai shofar bakeil hayom chagenu." He remembered the pasuk. He remembered the first pasuk that the maamar began with. Eh, maybe he remembered maybe a, a statement from the Gemara which the, the Tzemach Tzedek cited, but that's it. The rest of the maamar, which lasted an hour, an hour and a half, he couldn't remember. But it didn't matter. He repeated what he remembered. But he remembered one other thing. What did he remember? In the maamar, in the middle somewhere during that hour, he remembers that in the middle, the Tzemach Tzedek mentioned

06:04 a Midrash from Chazal, from our sages, that the Midrash says- That when Avraham Avinu lived here on the earth, Avraham Avinu, as we know, did so much Chesed. He built a big place for people to come and eat for free in the middle of the Midbar, right? We all know that the great things that Avraham Avinu did, Hachlasas Orchim, and, and he treated everybody nicely. So you know that in, in Shamayim, we know there is Sefiros, Sefiros. You ever heard of the word Sefiros? You ask your tati, or you ask your zeidi, or you ask your teachers what Sefiros are. Sefiros are like things, very holy things that Hashem created the world with. These are very holy lights that Hashem created the world with those lights. And each one of those lights has a name. And one of those lights is called Chesed, kindness, the light of kindness. And from that kindness, that light of kindness, Hashem created a lot of things in the world, including kindness in this world. When people do kindness, it comes from that light of kindness that's in Shamayim, in the heavens, in the higher spiritual world. So it says in the Midrash that kindness, Chesed, that light, that G-d, that special holy, holy light of kindness came to Hashem and said to Hashem, "When you cr-- from the time you created Avraham Avinu, and he's doing all this Chesed in the world, I have no job to do. I'm supposed to be kindness. I am kindness. My name is

07:43 kindness, right? And I'm the light of kindness. I'm the source of all kindness in the whole world. And yet Avraham Avinu does so much more than I do. Why do I need to exist? I don't need to exist anymore. Avraham is already here. He's doing more kindness than anyone." And the Tzemach Tzedek explained what the Middas HaChesed, this light of kindness meant, that you should know that of course kindness in Shamayim is a very holy thing because it's kindness in Shamayim. It's holiness. It's, it's a very, very spiritual. But when a Yid does kindness here on Earth, let's say you give a poor man a dollar so he can buy some food so he wouldn't starve. Now that's a physical kindness. You do something physical, give somebody food. But you know what? To Hashem, that's more, more precious. Hashem likes that a lot more. Hashem loves it when people do kindness here in this physical world, do here, right here, giving kindness and being nice to another child. You see in a classroom, you're in class, and a child is struggling and needs help, and you reach out to him, you be nice to him. Chas v'shalom, you're not mocking them. That's terrible, terrible, making somebody feel bad. But you instead, you do be nice to them. You give them... They need a pencil, you help them with a pencil. You need-- they need help learning and reviewing, understanding what was taught in class, then you go in and help them. But you're being nice

09:13 to them and kind to them. And Hashem says when He sees one child doing this to another child, Hashem, He says, "Oh," has so much joy and happiness, more than the kindness of the Sefirah of Chesed in the heavens, in Shamayim. Much more than that. And the Tzemach Tzedek went and explained this whole concept. What does it mean that only kindness here on Earth, here in this physical world, what one child does with another, what one Jew does with another, being kind to each other in very physical things, money, food, being-- just being nice to someone, that's-- Hashem loves that more than anything. And this Chassid Shimshon understood that. That's the only thing he understood in the Bible. So he said it over. He said it over to his, to his, to his, to the Chassidim in, in Dudchitz, and he explained what he remembered the Tzemach Tzedek said. Everybody sang Nigunim, and it was great. Everybody was happy, and that's it. Next day, Shimshon goes to his store. His store is in the middle of the marketplace, and there are other stores around. Most of the stores are owned by Jews. Some are fishermen. They sell fish. Somebody sells meat. Somebody's a tailor. He, he dr-- he sews up suits and clothes for people. Somebody's a cobbler. He fixes shoes. Everybody has their own little store. And Shimshon also had a store. He sold groceries. Now, Shimshon, when he heard the Tzemach Tzedek say how special it is to Hashem when a Jew helps

10:42 another Jew, and those kindness to another Jew, it's-- the so much so that Chesed Havatzilus, Chesed, the, the, the, the kindness in Shamayim, the very spiritual kindness, the light of Hashem, which is called kindness, is jealous of the kindness that a Jew does here on Earth because he sees how much more important and how much Hashem loves more the kindness that a Jew does here in the world. So Shimshon heard this, he got all excited. So he decided, "You know what? I'm gonna do kindness." So he goes over to the next store to Yossel. Yossel is the fisherman. Says, "Yossel, oh, smells like fish here. You're selling a lot of good fish. Listen, Yossel, maybe, uh, you can use a loan. I can loan you maybe, uh, twenty rubles, and then you'll be able to buy more fish, and you'll be able to sell more fish. Can you use a loan? If I can give you a loan, maybe I can help you with something." And Yossel said, "No, I don't really need. I mean, I think I have enough fish. It smells fishy enough here." And Shimshon says, "But maybe, maybe if I give you ten more rubles, you'll be able to buy a few more fish, and you'll be able to sell more. You wouldn't have to go back to the river and do some more fishing. You'll be able to sell more fish without going back to the river." And Yossel says, "Well, maybe you're right. Maybe, maybe, yeah." So Shimshon says,

12:01 "Here, here's ten rubles. Whenever you can, you give it back to me. Don't worry about it. Uh, you, you wait. Until you have the money, you can, you can hold on. Use the, use the money, and then when you have the money, you give it back to me." And so Yossel says, "Shimshon, thank you." Well, can't say thank you, but he says, "Listen, Shimshon- Why do you want me to take a loan from you? Why are you so eager to give me a loan and to help me? Uh, it's very unusual. Normally you don't do that. Why is it today so different that you come to me and you ask me, "Please take a loan"? And, uh, Shimshon says, "Listen, I was just by the Rebbe, and I heard a maamar, and in the maamar, the Rebbe said that the, the Malachim, the Sephiros, Chesed of Hashem, the kindness of Hashem, which is the light of Hashem's kindness, is jealous when a Jew does a mitzvah, a kindness with another Jew. Even the Malachim can... They, they're, like, so jealous that a Jew here in this world can do such a thing that Hashem loves so much." So Yossel said, "Ah, that's interesting. Well, thank you for sharing that with me." So then Yossel goes to the next neighbor, another store. He sells, um, shoes. Says, "Yankel." "Oh, a nice, nice store with a lot of shoes." "Yankel, maybe you need a loan. I, can I give you a loan of 10 rubles? Maybe you

13:26 can buy more, you know, shoes, and you can sell more shoes." Yankel says, "Well, well, I don't know if I need any more. No, I think I have enough." So then, uh, Yossel says to him, "Hey, listen, uh, maybe if I give you 10 rubles, then you'll take the 10 rubles, you buy a few more, and maybe a customer will come and buy a lot from you. Suddenly you'll need a lot of shoes, and it might help you." And Yankel says, "Oh, maybe, maybe you're right. Okay, thank you." And, and Yossel says, "Whenever you have the money, you can give it back. Don't worry. Whenever you have the money." Yankel asks Yossel, "Why are you so anxious to give me a loan?" And Yossel tells him, "You know what I just heard from Shimshon? He was by the Rebbe, and he heard the Rebbe say how Hashem loves, absolutely loves it when a Jew does a kindness with another Jew. You're nice to another person. So I wanted to do it because I want to make Hashem happy." So Yankel goes, "Ah, that's amazing. Thank you for sharing." And Yankel goes to Chaskel. Chaskel is selling meat. And Yankel says to Chaskel, "Oh, how are you doing, Chaskel? Good morning. Good morning. Chaskel, maybe you need a loan. Can I give you a loan of 10 rubles?" And so one storekeeper went to the next storekeeper. Pretty soon, the entire marketplace, everybody's giving loans to each other because everybody wants to do more kindness, more

14:46 kindness because they heard what the Rebbe said, that the Sefiras HaChesed and all the Malachim and the Saraphim and all the great... They're all jealous when a Jew does a kindness. Just offering a loan of 10 rubles. Physical thing, yes, but Hashem loves it. This is what the greatest joy Hashem has is from that. Not from the Malachim that sing to Him all, all night long, and not from the Sefiras HaChesed, which is so bright and, and pure and holy. That's, that's not what Hashem gets joy from. He gets joy from this. And everybody keeps every day giving loans to each other. A year passes, and Shimshon gets ready to go again to Lubavitch, to the f- to the, to the Tzemach Tzedek. Shimshon's all excited. He's gonna hear another maamar. Who, who knows how much he's gonna remember? He arrives in Lubavitch, and the Tzemach Tzedek is sitting in his room. He's watching through the window the throngs of Hasidim, many Hasidim coming from all over Russia. It's before Yom Tov. They wanna spend Yom Tov with the Rebbe. And suddenly the Tzemach Tzedek looks out and sees something, and he tells the Rebbe Maharash, "You see that guy? His name is Shimshon. I'd like to see him. Can you please tell the gabbai to, uh, invite him to my room? I wanna have yechidus with him." Okay, so the Rebbe Maharash tells the gabbai. The gabbai goes out and he looks for Shimshon. "Anybody know where Shimshon, Shimshon..." No one knows who he

16:21 is. He's just a simple guy. No- nobody heard of him. Finally, finally, Shimshon hears his name being called. Says, "The Rebbe wants to see you." Shimshon, "Wow, the Rebbe wants to see me?" Like, was so afraid. "The Rebbe wants to see me? Oh." So he gets ready, puts on his kapote, goes on with a gartel, goes into yechidus. And the Rebbe says, "Shimshon, you know, I saw you last year. How was your year?" He said, "Rebbe, you know, I try my best. You know, I, I learn Torah every morning and every night. I work very hard, but, um, in the morning I get up and daven with a minyan, I say tehilim, and then I go eat breakfast, and then I go to work." Says, "Tell me, Shimshon, something special happened this last year?" He says, "I don't know. Everything is the way it always was. Nothing special. I don't think anything special. I daven, I learn as much as I can. I mean, I'm not a learned man. I'm a simple person, but I try my best, and I come back to Lubavitch to get some more strength and be inspired by you." So the Tzemach Tzedek said, "Yeah, but tell me something that happened. There must be something special, different that happened this last year, more than the years before. Tell me what it is." And Shimshon says to the Tzemach Tzedek, "I can't think of anything." Finally, the Tzemach Tzedek asked him again and again and again, and then he says, "Oh,

17:39 well, maybe, you know, Rebbe, since I came back last Yom Tov to Dokshitz, I got together, we had a farbrengen, and I told them what I heard here in Lubavitch, and I told them that the Rebbe said that Hashem has a very, very special joy when He sees a Jew doing a favor to another Jew, so much so that it makes the Malachim jealous. It makes the Sefiras HaChesed, the light of Hashem, which is called Chesed, is jealous of the Jew that can do such a great thing that makes Hashem so happy. And pretty soon I started offering loans to other people. Everybody started loans... I told people why I'm doing it, so they also got excited, and they also got excited, and everybody got excited, and everybody starts giving loans to each other so they can be nice to each other." So the Tzemach Tzedek said, "Ah." He smiled. Tzemach Tzedek smiled. "Oh, now I understand." He told him, "You can go." So Rebbe Maharash asked him, "What did you see?" So he said to him, "Listen, when I looked out the window and Shimshon came into Lubavitch with so many Hasidim, I saw something special over his head. I saw over his head a pillar of very, very bright spiritual light, and it's a light that was shining from the Sefirah of Chesed in Shamayim. That holy light of Hashem called Chesed, kindness, which is the source of all kindness in the world, that light was shining over his head. It was this

19:11 huge pillar of light going all the way to the heavens. And I said, 'Shimshon, he's just a simple Jew. How does he deserve and merit to have such a great light over his head?' I needed to find that out, so I called him in, and now I understand. He went back to Dokshitz and made the entire town, everybody get involved every day in doing Chesed. And as a reward, Chesed was shining over his head." This is the Tzemach Tzedek having the glasses of the Baal Shem Tov, was able to see this.