172. The Chosid Who’s Life Was Saved Through Simcha

00:16 Speaker 1 Shalom Aleichem, kindalech. I wanna share with you a story that was told by a great Hasid. His name was Reb Simcha Gorodetski. Eh, Reb Simcha Gorodetski was a Jew who lived in Russia under communism at big Mesirus Nefesh, was a Lubavitcher Hasid, Hasid of the Friediker Rebbe and the Rebbe, and he told that story. There was once a Hasid of the Alter Rebbe who had a partner in a business, a Misnagid. The partner was a Misnagid. They owned a farm, and on that farm they grew a lot of vegetables and all kinds of, uh, grains and wheat and barley, and they would... They had a big farm, and they would bring the fruits and the vegetables and the grains, everything they grew on the farm, they would bring it to all the villages. All the peasants would buy from them their grain. And the peasants, uh, needed the, uh, the Jews. They needed the two farmers, the Jew, because that was the only source of food that they could get is from these Jewish farmers. Often these goyim would pay in advance before the, the grain and the vegetables grew. They would give them money in ad- in advance so that when the fruits and the vegetables and the grains grows, then it'll-- they'll, they'll already have prepaid. So all the villages around the farm were really waiting every year for the Hasid and the Misnagid, the two partners, to bring their fruits and vegetables and all their grain from the field and sell it

02:09 Speaker 1 to the villages. One year, something bad happened. The farm didn't produce anything. It was very little rain that year, and when there's no rain or very little rain, then the field doesn't grow anything. So they didn't know what to do, but came the time when they usually go to the villages to sell their fruits, they didn't have anything. Nothing grew on the field. So the, the Misnagid became very scared, and he said to the Hasid, "What are we gonna do? I mean, if we don't bring them fruits and vegetables and grain, they'll starve, and they will get very mad at us, and they're, they're peasants, right? They don't like Jews, and they'll kill us. So what are we gonna do?" So the Hasid said to the Misnagid, "You know what? Let's go. We'll go to the villages." And there was ma-- one main village where all the peasants would get together. "And we'll go there with our wagon, even though the wagon will be empty because we have nothing in the wagon, but we'll go anyways. We'll pretend we're going to the-- to sell them all our goods, all our grain and vegetables." So the Misnagid said, "W-w-w-w-w-why should we go? If we go, they'll kill us. They'll see there's nothing in the wagon. We're just fooling them." So the Hasid said, "No, we need to go." And the Misnagid had no choice. He went with the Hasid. Now, the Hasid, of course, was very sad. He was very nervous. What are we gonna say?

03:46 Speaker 1 But he decided to go anyways. On the way, the Hasid started singing Nigunim, happy Nigunim. He got so excited, the Hasid, that he started dancing in the wagon while the horses were pulling the wagon. He started dancing and dancing and singing. And the Misnagid is looking at this Hasid, his partner, the Hasid. He says, "Wait, he went meshuggah. He went crazy. Why is he dancing? We're in such big trouble now. We're going to meet the Goyim who are going to kill us and hurt us because we, we didn't bring in the grain and the vegetables that they're waiting for." But the Hasid ignored the, the partner. He just kept dancing and singing. He was so Simcha and so excited. The Misnagid can't understand something is wrong, something is strange with the Hasid. He becomes... He's Simcha. He's dancing like a crazy person. And the Hasid kept on dancing and dancing. Finally, they come to the village. And normally what would happen when they had a full-- when they used to have a full wagon in the previous years, all the peasants would come to them and buy whatever they saw in the wagon. Vegetables and grain and all kinds of stuff. This time, the Hasid went and gathered the Goyim in the market and said, "Listen, guys, before we do business, and I give you and I sell you like every year, let's drink L'Chaim." Now, in those days, they had... The Goyim in Russia, they loved a certain type of drink. They called it

05:28 Speaker 1 punch. Like in America, they call it punch, but here punch is something else. But they had punch. It's made of tea and, and mashke, alcohol. They would put mashke inside of tea, and they would drink it, and the Goyim loved it. So the Yid, the Hasid is saying to all the peasants, "Come, come. I'm, I'm gonna get you p- punch. I'm gonna buy all, for all of you punch." So the Goyim got excited. "Oh, before we do business, let's have a drink

06:02 Speaker 2 Then the Hasid says to them, "You know, guys, I had a brilliant, brilliant idea. Normally, the way we drink this punch is by taking a cup of tea. You boil tea, you make... You boil water, you make tea, and then you pour from the barrel." They had a big barrel of vodka, and they would pour some vodka from the barrel into the tea, into the cup of tea. Says the Hasid, "You know what? I have a brilliant idea, and I think it's gonna be an amazing discovery. We're gonna discover something amazing. We should actually mix the tea with the mashke, the vodka, in the barrel before we put into the cup. We should mix to begin with, make a whole barrel full of vodka mixed with tea, and then we pour ourselves cups and drink. I bet you if the, if you mix the tea with the, with the vodka inside the barrel, it'll taste so much better." And the Goyim listens, "Yeah, that's a great idea. Ah, you're such a smart guy. You Jew, you're such a smart guy. Let's try it. Let's do it." And all of the Goyim got excited, and they brought a big barrel, and they, and they put in a lot of mashke, and then they poured in a lot of tea in it, and they mixed it really well. And then they started drinking, and they said, "Whoa, this is delicious. We've never drank such ma- such, such a delicious drink." And of course, they drank one cup,

07:31 Speaker 2 and another cup, and another cup, and they drank till they all, the entire... All the villagers got so drunk. So then the Hasid saw they were all very drunk. He said to them, "Listen, um, oh, we gotta do business. We gotta do business. I got a va- wagon full of stuff. Don't you wanna bu-- We gotta buy. Don't you wanna buy anything?" They said, "Oh, can you wait till tomorrow? We're so drunk. We can't think about anything. We wanna sing and dance because we're so drunk and happy, and we don't have... We can't think about business now. Tomorrow maybe. Can you wait till tomorrow?" And the Hasid said, "No, no, no, no. Tomorrow, uh, we're leaving. We have to go back to our farms." So he said, "Oh, no. Then what are we gonna do?" He said, "Well, listen, forget it. Maybe this year, we... I won't sell you the grain. You'll find somewhere else. Here, there's a piece of paper you can sign that you... This year you're not gonna buy from me anything so that I can go home, and you guys can drink all night and be happy. And then tomorrow you'll find other farmers that will give you grain." And the Goyim said, "Okay, fine, fine, fine." 'Cause they were so drunk, you know, they, they weren't able to do business and buy stuff and know how much money it costs. They could... Their head couldn't think. So the Hasid, they had signed the paper, and the Hasid and the Misnaged

08:54 Speaker 2 went back home, and their lives were saved. So the Misnaged on the way back says to the Hasid, "I don't understand. How, how did you think of this brilliant idea to get them all drunk and then they wouldn't be able to get... to buy the stuff from us?" He says, "I'll tell you what happened. The Alter Rebbe was in Pshiskhe maybe a few months earlier. Before the Alter Rebbe was in Pshiskhe, I was in Yechidus Be... It was my last Yechidus with the Alter Rebbe, and the Alter Rebbe answered my questions. At the end, before I left the Yechidus, the Alter Rebbe said to me something very unusual, and it puzzled me. He said to me, 'Remember Ki B'simcha Tetseiu.' When you're B'simcha, then you... Tetseiu means you go out. You'll come out of all your troubles. If you're B'simcha, Hashem will help you come out of all your troubles." Now, the normal Pshat is Ki B'simcha Tetseiu, when you go out and travel, you go out of your house, you should go B'simcha. And the Rebbe would always sing this Ki B'simcha Tetseiu every time at the end of a Chabranga before the Rebbe left, that we go out of the Chabranga, we should go out B'simcha. But the Alter Rebbe says something else. Ki B'simcha, when a Jew is B'simcha, Tetseiu, you come out of all your troubles. So the Hasid said, "I didn't understand what he meant." And now when we were in trouble, and I remembered what he told me in

10:24 Speaker 2 Yechidus, I decided, "Oh, wait a second. That's what the Alter Rebbe meant. I should be B'simcha." So I started singing and dancing in the wagon. You thought I was crazy. I lost my mind. I didn't lose my mind. I was following what Alter Rebbe told me, to be B'simcha and not to worry, Hashem will help. And we went, even though we had an empty wagon, and I was B'simcha the whole time. But on the way, I thought to myself, "But to be really B'simcha, it's very hard when you're facing such a dangerous thing, you know? The Goyim are gonna see that you have nothing. So how can you be B'simcha? It's very hard to be B'simcha. I need mashke. I need a little l'chaim. L'chaim makes you forget about all your troubles and makes you happy. But, uh, we don't have any mashke here in the wagon." So I thought to myself, "You know what? At least if I can't drink mashke, I'll think about mashke." And so I started thinking about mashke, and ideas came into my head. And then this idea popped into my head, "Let's make this punch by putting tea and mashke in one barrel." It came into my head like this from nowhere, just suddenly. I thought about it, and I told it to the Goyim, and it worked. They were so excited about it until they got drunk. And he says, "This is what, what I... What Alter Rebbe said to me. Ki B'simcha Tetseiu. When you face difficulties

11:54 Speaker 2 and challenges, be B'simcha. Hashem will pull you out when you're B'simcha."