123. Reb Shlomo Karliner Chooses To Go On Mesiras Nefesh.

00:03 Good Yontif. Good Yontif. Here's a story with Reb Shloime Carlino. Shloime Carlino had a son. His son married the daughter of a Reb Boruch of Medzhybizh. Reb Boruch of Medzhybizh was the grandson of the Baal Shem Tov. Baal Shem Tov lived in Medzhybizh. He had a daughter, her name was Udel, and Udel had two sons. One of them was Reb Boruch of Medzhybizh. Reb Boruch was a great tzadik. It was in the time of the Alter Rebbe. So the son of Reb Shloime Carlino married the daughter of Reb Boruch of Medzhybizh, and then Reb Shloime Carlino was traveling to the wedding to Medzhybizh. The wedding was in Medzhybizh, and Reb Shloime traveled there. On the way, he traveled past a prison. In that prison sat Reb Nachum of Chernobyl. Reb Nachum Chernobyl was one of the talmidim of the Maggid and also talmid of the Baal Shem Tov, and a friend of the Alter Rebbe. As is well known, Reb Nachum at one point was accused of some false accusation, and he was sent in prison. Just like the Alter Rebbe sat in prison, he also sat in prison. So Reb Shloime Carlino wanted to visit Reb Nachum Chernobyl in prison, so he paid the guards a lot of money that they should let him in to visit for one hour. Just wants to visit. So they let him in, and he sat across from Reb Nachum Chernobyl in the prison cell, and he felt... Reb Shloime Carlino had Ruach Hakodesh. As is well known

01:57 that his Ruach Hakodesh was so strong that people were afraid to think anything evil, anything bad in front of him or in his presence, 'cause he would feel it right away and he would tell them, "Stop thinking these stupid things, which from the Yetzer Hara." He was very, very clear, very open about it. People were afraid to think something bad, uh, when he was around because he would know it. In fact, once a chassid of his was sitting outside his room and he was waiting for Reb Nach- for Reb Shloime Carlino to invite him in. And while he's sitting, he was thinking about some things until he had a thought which wasn't a good thought, like a thought which a Jew should not think about. You know, it wasn't a, a clean and good thought. It was aveira, an aveira thought. And it came into his head, and right away he thought, "Oi, the Rebbe is sitting behind this door. He knows." Uh, then he... Then the chassid thought to himself, "Wow, I'm afraid of the Rebbe. I'm not afraid of Hashem. Hashem also knows my thoughts and that doesn't bother me." So he was very upset with himself that he's o-only afraid of the Rebbe but not afraid of Hashem. Suddenly the door opened up and Reb Shloime s-stuck out his head and said to him, "Well, Hashem can stand it, but I cannot stand it." So Reb Shloime knew his thoughts right away. He says, "A tzadik is, is, is, um, is a

03:38 person." And he... If a tzadik is a, is a person that's so refined, so like a tzadik is a holy person, he cannot stand when somebody thinks about evil things. It bothers him. But Hashem is so big, so great, He's so infinite that He can even stand us even though we think bad things. Anyways, Reb Shloime Carlino was very, very big Ruach Hakodesh-- Baal Ruach Hakodesh, and he was sitting in the prison with Reb Nachum Chernobyl. And he f- in his mind, he felt that Reb Nachum Chernobyl is sitting in prison because he wanted to be in prison. He wanted to be mesir nefesh. He wanted to give his life for the Jewish people. He knew there was a lot of problems for the Jewish people. There was a lot of tzaros in those days, and he thought that by him suffering in prison, he'll take away all the suffering of the Jewish people and, and Hashem will forgive their sins by his suffering. So he was mesir nefesh for the Jewish people. So Reb Shloime Carlino felt that. And Reb Shloime Carlino was probably afraid that he would have mesirus nefesh until Chas ve'Shalom the, the, the, the, the, the Russians in, in, in the prison they, they will actually kill him because that's what he's looking for. He's looking for mesirus nefesh. So Reb Shloime Carlino tried to convince the Chernobyl. He said, "Chernobyl, I don't think you should have mesirus nefesh. We need you. You should stay alive and well and come

05:09 out of prison so that you can continue to lead the Jewish people." But Chernobyl heard this from, from Reb Shloime Carlino. He said to him, "How do you know that I'm here in this prison because I chose to go mesirus nefesh? Who told you that?" 'Cause everybody thought it was just that some evil people made up a story against him, uh, to the government, to the tsar, and that's how they put him in prison. Just the same with the Alter Rebbe. But the emes is, the truth is, Reb Shloime Carlino wanted to go into prison. He wanted to be mesir nefesh for the Jewish people. "So how do you know?" He says, "I asked Hashem that even a malach and a seraf..." Seraph is like a very, very holy malach, a great malach, a burning malach. "That they, they should also not know. Even a malach shouldn't know about my decision to go mesirus nefesh." So Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach says, well, a malach and a tzaddik don't know. But Shlomo ben Yita, that is now his mother's name was Yita. So Shlomo ben Yita, talking about himself, does know. That means there are no secrets from him. And then he said, Shlomo Carlebach said, and when Hashem will help me and fulfill what I want, so when I will have mesirus nefesh, nobody's going to know about it. No one. Not only the malachim are not going to know, but even the tzadikim are not going to know. And so what was he alluding to?

06:52 Because Shlomo Carlebach was actually killed by a Cossack. The Cossack's name was Milus. And he once, one Shabbos, Shlomo Carlebach was davening with great dveikus. It was the middle of Nishmas Kol Chai. And by Nishmas Kol Chai, he usually used to be very, very excited with big kavanas and dveikus. But his neshamah, you know, wanting to be close to Hashem. And the Cossack, the window of the shul was open. A Cossack with a gun passed by the shul. And he saw Shlomo Carlebach by the window. And he shot a bullet inside against Shlomo. And he wounded his leg. And a few months later, from the infection that caused his leg, Shlomo was nistalik. So this is what he was alluding to. He said, when I go mesirus nefesh, nobody will know about it. And then he gave, he had money for his son, for his son's wedding that he was going to take with him to Mezhibush, right? He was on his way to the wedding to Mezhibush. And he had 400 rubles with him. And that was money that he promised Reb Boaz Mezhibush that he will give the chasan and the kallah so they can start their lives together. And he realized that he wanted, he saw Baruch HaKodesh that Reb Nachum Chernobler will stay in prison one more day. And that the next day they were going to release him. But he wanted Reb Nachum to leave today. Because he felt even one extra day of prison for a tzadik like Reb

08:52 Nachum is a terrible thing. And he had to, he gave away all the 400 rubles to the officers and to the government. They should release Reb Nachum Chernobler on that day. That's it. And not wait till the next day. And then he traveled to the wedding. And they released Reb Nachum Chernobler a day earlier. And he traveled to Mezhibush to do the wedding of his son with the daughter of Reb Boaz Mezhibush. And he didn't have a penny. He promised 400 rubles for the wedding. And he didn't have it because he gave it away to save Reb Nachum Chernobler. So Reb Boaz Mezhibush says we can't do the wedding until we have the money. So the Hasidim of Reb Shlomo Carlebach went to collect money from Hasidim all over until they got the money. And then they did the wedding. And then a few years later, Reb Shlomo Carlebach was shot by a Cossack. And everybody, all the tzadikim said that Reb Shlomo Carlebach was Mashiach ben Yosef. And he said Mashiach ben Yosef is not the same as Mashiach ben David. Mashiach ben David will be the Mashiach that will bring all the Jewish people to Eretz Yisrael and win the war against all the evil nations that want to kill the Jews. And he will bring Mashiach and he will be Mashiach, Mashiach ben David. And he will build the Beis Hamikdash. But Mashiach ben Yosef will be another Mashiach before Mashiach ben David. And he will be killed by Goyim. And he

10:24 will, in his death, when he will die, he'll bring, his mesirus nefesh will bring kapara, forgiveness for the averas of all the Jewish people. So many tzadikim said that Reb Shlomo Carlebach had the neshamah of Mashiach ben Yosef. That's why he was killed by a Cossack. What we see from this story is an amazing thing that tzadikim, they decide what should happen to them. And the Friediger Rebbe says this in a sicha, that when the Alter Rebbe went to prison, it wasn't, it's min ha-shamayim that made him go to prison, but they asked him first. Tzadikim don't go against their will. Whatever happens to them is because they agreed to it. Min ha-shamayim, they don't make them do anything which they don't want. The tzadikim agreed to go to prison, and that's when they go to prison. And the truth is, it says this in the parasha. Last week's parasha, in parasha, says, you know, Hashem said to Moshe Rabbeinu, go up on Har Nevoi, you'll see the whole of Eretz Yisrael. And then Hashem says to him, and then after you see all of Eretz Yisrael, umus, and die. You're going to die. Moshe Rabbeinu goes, now umus means it's a command. Umus, you shall die. Go and die. How does a person tell another person to go and die? Or how does Hashem tell a person what must he do to die? You don't do anything to die. You die just because Hashem makes you die. How does it work? How can you

11:59 say a command? Hashem is saying to Moshe Rabbeinu, umus, and you shall die. Something that Moshe Rabbeinu is expected to do something to die. So the Or HaChaim HaKadosh says that Hashem always asks tzadikim first before they die, before they're nistalik, whether they want to die. And if they agree that this is the time for them to go, then they go. And this is what it means, umus. I want you to agree that this is the time for you to go. Because without Moshe Rabbeinu agreeing, he wouldn't have died. It's a great thing that the Friediger Rebbe says that tzadikim, they have, nothing happens to them if they didn't agree to it first. That's what happened here with Reb Shlomo Carlebach. He saw that Reb Nachum Chernobler wanted to go on mesirus nefesh for the Jewish people. That's why he ended up in prison. And Reb Shlomo Carlebach chose to be go on mesirus nefesh so that he can bring a kapara, he can bring an atonement and forgiveness for all the Jewish people's averas and bring only good things for the Jews. A good Yom Tov.