161. The Strange Promise Of The Tzadik Nistar

00:16 Shalom Aleichem, kinderlach. I wanna share with you an amazing story, a beautiful, beautiful story told by the previous Rebbe in his Sefer Hazichronos. What a story. The city of Poznan, or Poznań, was a city where the Maharal lived, and some of his family members, his children, grandchildren lived in Poznań including Reb Moshe. Reb Moshe was the grandfather of Reb Baruch, the Alter Rebbe's father. Reb Baruch, the Alter Rebbe's father, was a grandson of Reb Moshe, who was a grandson of the Maharal. Uh, Reb Moshe had a teacher, a Rebbe, a Rosh Yeshiva. His name was Reb Asher Yeinison. They called him Reb Asher Yeinison, the eysenekop, the, the, the, the, the, the powerful brain. He was very, very smart, and he knew the, the whole Gemara, Shas, Bavli, Yerushalmi. He was, like, exceptionally smart. He knew so much that people much older than him were, like, in awe of him. This Reb Asher Yeinison got his name from a very interesting story. Story's like this: His father of Reb Asher Yeinison, his father and mother was Reb Yisroel Chaim and his wife. Reb Yisroel Chaim lived in Poznań for many years. He was, um, a simple Jew. Poznań had many big chachomim, rabbonim, gaonim, big talmidi chachomim. It was, it was a very famous city with yeshivas. Uh, Reb Yisroel Chaim was a, just a ordinary, simple Jew, but a tremendous, tremendous baal chessed. He did so much kindness, especially with children. The story is told that Reb Yisroel Chaim would come every Friday to

02:27 the chadorim, to the cheder, where all the children were learning, and he would bring sweets like cookies and raisins and almonds, and he would distribute it to all the kids. And he would tell the kids how they remind them that they should come to shul tonight, on Friday night for Kabbalat Shabbos, and also for Shabbos morning, for Shabbos day, for Shacharit and Musaf. And when they would come Friday night, he would gather all the children around him because the children loved him because he bring them always sweets to the cheder. And he would say, "It's Lekovet Shabbos Kodesh. Here, take these sweets. Lekovet Shabbos Kodesh." So when it came Shabbos, they all wanted to come to shul, and he would gather them together around him, and he would say with them, "Amen Yehe Shmei Rabba" when the chazan said Kaddish and Baruch Hu U'Baruch Shemo, and he made them say Borchu with him and Krias Shma. And, um, and, you know, he did a lot of good things for these kids. Another thing he did that if there was a woman who gave birth, as you know, before, let's say, uh, there was, um, uh, b-baby boy, before the bris, he would gather all the children in the city, and they would go over to the house of the baby, and they would say pesukim and Shema and, and all kinds of things. And of course, he would give the kids sweets as well, so the kids would love to come. And whenever there was

03:49 a child who didn't have a father, chas v'Shalom, a mother, he would treat him like his own child. He would take care of him. Everything he needed, he would take care. He literally did everything he could. He himself had a store, a grocery store, and from that he made a parnasah. Unfortunately, Reb Yisroel Chaim and his wife themselves didn't have any children because they did have children, but the children died very, very young at a very early age when they were babies. Unfortunately, this happened many times by him. Wife gave birth, and shortly after, the baby died. Reb Yisroel Chaim and his wife were such people that something so terrible that happened to them, they didn't complain to Hashem. They didn't say, "Hashem, why are you doing this to me? We're doing such good things. Why are doing par..." No, they never said that. They were mekabel ba-ahavah. They accepted whatever Hashem decided to do with love. Said, "This is what Hashem wants, probably that's the way it should be. This is what Hashem wants to happen." Hashem gives children, and He takes. He never complained. Now, Reb Yisroel Chaim and his wife had one son that was born at some point after losing a number of children at a very young age when they were still infants. But he had one son that was born to him. His name was Simcha, and he actually lived till he was five, five years old. Then the parents said, "Wow, he's living till five years old. Maybe

05:18 he will live to grow, uh, grow old." But unfortunately, Hashem had different plans, and Simchaleh, when he was five years old, got very, very sick and shortly after that passed away. It was a big shock in the whole community. Everybody knew what Reb Yisroel Chaim and his wife went through for so long, having child after child being born and then die right after that. And now Simchaleh, which they hoped would, uh, grow up to be a healthy, grown-up human being, person, Jew, they, they lost when he was five. It was Friday, the levaya was on Friday, and Reb Sol Chim obviously could not go to the Chadurim as he went every Friday to give sweets to the children to cover Shabbos Kodesh and invite him to shul for Shabbos because he had to go to the levaya of his own son. And the whole city came to the levaya, everyone, the Rabbanim, the Geonim, the, the simple people, everybody was there because everybody felt so bad for Reb Sol Chim and his wife. Everybody knew how much they went through, how much pain and suffering they had. And now their Simcha had died, so everybody really, really felt ve- bad for them, and they came to the levaya. And of course, it was Friday, early afternoon, it was getting late. Shabbos is, uh, you know, is in a few hours, so they wanna do the levaya on Friday. So they had ready to bury Simcha, and ev- people were crying, everybody was crying, except, except

06:59 Reb Sol Chim and his wife, they were very strong. Reb Sol Chim said loud to everybody, "It seems we wanted to walk with our son to the chuppah when he grows up and see him married and have children, but Hashem decided that we need to walk him to the kever, to the grave. And you know what? If it- that's Hashem's will, Hashem natan veHashem lakeh. Hashem gave a child, Hashem took away the child. May Hashem be blessed. He knows what is right, and that's it." So they didn't cry. They were strong. Of course, they had a lot of pain inside, but they w- didn't want to feel like, you know, Hashem has done something wrong to them. They accepted if this is what Hashem wants. But every-- but a lot of other people were, like, crying and felt very upset. Why is this happening to them? They didn't feel that way. Now, in Poznan, there was a man by the name Asher Yonason, a very old man. And Asher Yonason was also at the levaya. Nobody noticed him because people thought he was a little crazy. Asher Yonason came to Poznan some fifty years before. And at that time, he was maybe forty, a little older than forty, but he was very strange. He didn't come... He came to the shul just to daven, and the rest of the time, we-- people hardly saw him. And when people tried to talk to him, he wouldn't answer. He never talked to anybody. Nobody ever heard him

08:49 speak to anyone. And if people tried to speak to him, he would just look at them strangely and then walk away as if they didn't talk to him. This Asher Yonason was alone. Nobody knew where he came from. He lived in the attic of the shul. That was his place. That's where he spends his days. That's where he was there at night, during the day. Nobody went to check to see what he's doing there. They never saw him downstairs except when he came for Shacharis, early minyan Shacharis for Zikin, yeah, early by sunrise, the earliest minyan. He would come down from the attic and daven the minyan, then go right back up, and he would stay there the whole day and the whole night. Nobody knew where he gets food. He didn't work. It didn't seem that he was working, earning a living. And when people tried to invite him and give him food or invite him to their house, he would just not answer. He, he didn't go. Even for Shabbos and Yom Tov, never accepted any invitations. Very strange man. Most people thought he was a little bit crazy, and the little children would run after him and laugh and, and throw things at him and as if he's some kind of meshuggener. And, and so that's it. And people stopped paying attention to him because they thought, you know, this is a crazy man who's, uh, something wrong with him. He doesn't talk, he doesn't, and, and he looks at people in

10:14 strange ways. He just doesn't do anything. And nobody knows what he's doing in the attic. People didn't know that Asher Yonason really had a connection to Rebbe Eliyahu Baal Shem. Remember there was four Baal Shems? And I already told you a story about how Rebbe Eliyahu Baal Shem was born. Rebbe Eliyahu Baal Shem was the first of the four Baal Shems. The last one was Rebbe Yisroel Baal Shem Tov, the f- who was the, started Hasidus, right? The Rebbe of the Mizratch Maggid. Uh, but the first one was Rebbe Eliyahu Baal Shem. Rebbe Eliyahu Baal Shem came to Europe, um, and he, and he, and he started spreading Kabbalah, which became later the teachings of Hasidus, but many people didn't like it. Many people said, "No, you shouldn't teach Kabbalah to people." Anyways, there was a big machloket, big, you know, f- fight amongst different Jews all over Europe, the Rabbanim, whether we should allow Rebbe Eliyahu Baal Shem to spread the teachings of Kabbalah or not. And nobody knew that Asher Yonason had something to do with that, with that, uh, machloket, with that, uh, fight, that he was actually related to Rebbe Eliyahu Baal Shem, but, but, but he, he acted like a meshuggener. This Asher Yonason showed up at the levaya, but nobody noticed because nobody noticed-- nobody paid attention to him anymore after fifty years of acting like a meshuggener. They- they're like, "Crazy man, that's it." To everyone's surprise, at the levaya, while people were standing around the kever, Asher

11:52 Yonason suddenly moved forward and pushed his way through the crowd, went to the front right next to the kever, and turned around to the people and started talking. And what did he say? He said, "Listen, Rabbi Yisroel, everybody listen carefully. I need to say something to you." He says, "For fifteen years, for fifteen years, the Satan was jealous of Rabbi Sol Chaim and his wife because of his incredible actions of Ma'aseh Tovim, of good things that he did in the community. Because he was-- always trusted Hashem, and loved Hashem, and feared Hashem, and he always did so much with little kids, helped them become more connected to Torah and mitzvahs, and helped them out to wear their yarmulke, and explained to them why they should wear their tzitzit, and give them candy, and said Amen Yismeu Rabba with them. He was so devoted to the Jewish children, and the Satan realized that this Rabbi Sol Chaim is gonna give him a lot of trouble." Because you know when a lot of children do so many mitzvahs and say so many times Amen and Amen Yismeu Rabba, what creates in Shamayim is a g- tremendous light of Kedusha. And that light of Kedusha comes down into the world. And when it comes into the world, that brings Mashiach. And when Mashiach comes, what's gonna happen to the Satan? The Satan is gonna go away. He's gonna disappear. The Satan's afraid of that. So when he sees Rabbi Sol Chaim, he's doing so much good with little

13:31 children, he decided, "I gotta do something against him. I gotta, gotta-- I gotta trap him in my trap." How is he gonna do that? He went in front of the Beis Din Shel Ma'alah in Shamayim, to the Beis Din in Himmel, and he said to the Beis Din that, "This Rabbi Sol Chaim, which everybody thinks is so great and so special, well, I'm not so sure he's so special. I think I wanna test him to see whether he really trusts Hashem when he has difficulties. It's easy to trust Hashem when you have everything going for you. You have money, you're fine, this, that. But when there's tzaros, there are problems, and you suffer from things, and you still trust Hashem, that is a sign that you really, really have a real love for Hashem and a real trust of Hashem. So I wanna test him." And how is he gonna test Rabbi Sol Chaim? He's gonna make his children die. He's gonna have children, they're all gonna die. And then we're gonna see if Rabbi Sol Chaim gets really angry at Hashem for doing this. And then if Rabbi Chaim does that, Rabbi Sol starts getting angry at Hashem and says, "Oh, okay. If that's the case, then I don't wanna do mitzvahs so much. I don't wanna help the children anymore. Look what Hashem is doing to me. Instead of helping me because I'm so nice to the kids, I'm so good to the children, He should help me with my children. No, instead

14:49 my children are dying." No, he didn't say that, but the Satan was hoping he would do that, so then he can trap Rabbi Sol Chaim in his bag and make him into an evil person. But it didn't work. "But," says Asher Yenison, "I am going to die in two months from now. I'm ninety-four years old today. In two months from now," he says he's gonna die, "and when I go up to Shamayim, I'll take the Satan to Din Torah in front of the Beis Din Shel Ma'alah, the Beis Din in Shamayim, and I will tell them it's not fair that the Satan would take a right Yid, such a Yid like Rabbi Sol Chaim and his wife, such special people, and put them through such terrible tzaros, such terrible things that they had to suffer so much. It's not right. It's not fair. And I will daven to Hashem up there that Rabbi Sol Chaim and his wife should have a child, a son who will grow up to be a big Talmid Chacham, a gaon. And he turned to Rabbi Sol Chaim, "I promise you that when I go up there, I will daven that you have a son who will live for a long time, a long life, and he'll become a real big, big gaon. Everybody will know about him. On one condition, though," he says to Rabbi Sol Chaim and his wife, "you have to name him after me, Asher Yenison." And with those words, he stopped talking, and he went

16:24 back to the back of the crowd. People were shocked. Nobo-nobody ever heard him speak like this. He never spoke almost nothing. He never spoke at all. But here he give this very strange speech. So some people thought, "Ah, now we know he's really crazy. How does he know he's gonna die in two months? How can a person say, 'I'm gonna die in two months'? And then the Satan, he- he's gonna take the Satan to Din Torah. What kind of meshugana is this?" Others thought, "No, maybe he's a tzadik nistar. Look, look at him. Uh, maybe he's a tzadik, a hidden tzadik, and we didn't know. We thought he's a meshugana." People were divided, didn't know what to say. Um, some people tried to talk to him now and ask him questions. He went back to his normal self, stopped answering people, looked people in a very strange way, like as if he doesn't understand what they're saying to him, like a dummy. Then he would, like, act crazy. And that's it. Everything went back to normal. People went back to the city, and, um, Rabbi Sol Chaim and his wife, they were from those that believed that what he said may be true. They wanted to believe it because he promised them a child that will be a big, big Gadol B'Yisrael, that will be a great, great gaon and a big leader of the Jewish people. So they wanted to believe it. But Asher Yenison became strange again. He acted strange. Rabbi Sol Chaim

17:56 and his wife tried to invite him to their house and, and to tell him how much they appreciate his brocha, but he would, like, not, not even respond to them. He went about his business. He just went up to the attic, sat there for days and days and days. And, and when they saw him downstairs, he wouldn't answer anyone Once Reb Yisroel Chaim's wife stood at the bottom of the staircase of the attic. She waited for, for Asher Yenison to come down, and when he came down, she started crying. Says, "Reb Asher Yenison, I, I, you promised us this son, please give us, uh, tell us what to do with this son. Uh, w- when, when I, when I become pregnant with him, what do I need to do? How should I behave? And, and he's gonna be such a special child. I wanna know how to raise him." Reb Asher Yenison just turned away and just walked away like he doesn't know what she's talking about. Two months passed. And one day, Reb Asher Yenison came down for davening in the morning, and in the morning before the minyan went away, people finished davening, they were gonna go home, he went quickly up to the bimah and make big-- pounded on the bimah, "Everybody should be quiet." He said like this, Asher Yenison says, "Today, I'm leaving you. I wanna ask forgiveness anybody who I offended, please forgive me." And, um, people were sh- like shocked. They thought he's saying he's leaving them, maybe

19:31 he's moving to another city, and that's it. And then he walked out, went to a store, and bought three candles. Then went back to the shul and saw somebody sitting and learning, and said to him, "Listen, I'd like you to go quickly to the Chevra Kadisha, tell them that Asher Yenison is about to die, and that they need to come to take his body and bury it, and he wants to be buried in the very far corner of the cemetery so he wouldn't take anybody's spot. And also, it's a place where there are rocks around him, so he's-- there's nobody buried next-- he will be alone. There'll be nobody buried next to him." He said like, "I can't stand the smell of the people that are buried there, who, when they were alive, they ate so much taivas. They f- they ate, like, food, and they, and they stuffed themselves with all kinds of tasteful stuff, and they, they, right? They're, they're, they're, they're like grub. And, and i- I can smell the, the, the, the, the smell of, of, of, of klippah, of bad things. I, I can't stand s- being buried next to, very close to other people." He wants to be in a corner alone. And so, this, this young man looked at him. He says, "This is strange. He looks like he's perfectly healthy. It's not like he's dying. He's walking around." But he said he's dying. He says that, "Go tell the Chevra Kadisha." The man went to tell Chev--

21:01 And also, he said to him, "Tell the Chevra Kadisha that I have three candles. I want them, after he dies, Asher Yenison dies, they should light one candle on the right side of his head, the other candle on the left side of his head, and the third candle a- ab- above his head." When the Chevra Kadisha came to the shul, Reb Asher Yenison lied down on a bench, and he said, "Give me my bag." They took his bag. He, they took out tachrichchim, which you dress a, a, a mess, a dead person with. Gave it to the Chevra Kadisha, "You should dress him in this." Then he put his hand again in the bag, took out a few gold coins, says, "This is for paying for the kever that you're going to make for him." And he stretched out. He gave everybody brachos. Everybody who was around him, he gave brachos. And then he said, "" And with a smile on his face, his neshamah departed. Everybody was in great shock because they realized two seconds before he was perfectly healthy, walking around, and he's just saying he's going to die, which didn't look like it. They thought he was just crazy. But now he stretches out and he goes. Now everybody realized that this was indeed a tzadik nistar that nobody knew about. And they took him to levaya. Everybody came to the levaya, of course, such a big tzadik. And the-- normally, the minhag is that, uh, when you bury someone, um,

22:38 somebody relatives comes to the kever and says Kaddish. But here, there was no relatives. He didn't have any relatives. So nobody knew what to do. Who's gonna say Kaddish? Suddenly, a man in the crowd, his-- they called him the One-Eye Carpenter. He had one eye that he was blind on. He, it was always closed. Nobody knew who he was. He showed up 12 years ago in Poznań. Nobody didn't even know his name. He was all alone. He used to build, like, uh, wooden stuff like a carpenter, but he would never-- people never paid attention to him. And nobody knew that he knows this Asher Yenison. But for some reason, he decided, he went forward, says-- he started saying Kaddish, and he actually said Kaddish for Asher Yenison for the next 11 months, and even davened for the amud. Nobody had no idea why, what his relationship is with Asher Yenison. Nobody knew. After a few months, uh, after a few months after Reb Asher Yenison died, and what's nice is before he died, he told the Chevra Kadisha to remind Reb Yisroel Chaim of what he told him at Reb Yisroel Chaim's son's levaya, that Reb Yisroel Chaim, his wife will have a child, and they should give him a name after him. A few months after Reb Asher Yenison died, Reb Yisroel, Reb Yisroel Chaim's wife became pregnant. At first, they kept it a secret, and then everybody saw she was pregnant, and everybody remembered what Reb Asher Yenison, the tzadik, the hidden tzadik,

24:26 tzadik nistar said. A baby was born, a baby boy was born, and of course, the parents took good care of him, and they gave him a name, Asher Yenison, as they promised. When the child was eight years old, he was so mature and so smart like a 12-year-old. He was exceptionally bright. And when he was 10 years old, he already finished yeshiva ketana. And the yeshivas, the rosh yeshiva said, "I can't teach him anymore. He needs-- He should go off to a big yeshiva there where he can learn on his own." And slowly, this Asher Yenison went to other yeshivas, became a big, big gaon, and eventually he moved back to Poznań, married one of the rich man's-- rich m- rich people's daughter, and the guy supported him, and he sat and learned for 10, 10 years, sat closed in a room and learned day and night and became even a bigger gaon. Everybody all over Europe heard about Asher, of, uh, this young Asher Yenison, the big gaon. Eventually, the community wanted him to open a yeshiva in Poznań, and Reb Moshe, the grandson of the Maharal, and also was the grandfather of Reb Boruch, the Alter Rebbe's father, was one of his talmidim. That's the story of Asher Yenison.