174. The Alter Rebbe Kills Two Magicians With A Possuk

00:18 I want to share with you a story today that was told by a famous Hasid of the Mitteler Rebbe. His name was Rabbi Yaakov Keidaner. He was from the city of Keidan, and the Friediger Rebbe said about his stories that he wrote, he's one of the first Hasidim of Chabad to write stories about the Rebbeim. He was a Talmid, a Hasid of the Mitteler Rebbe and then the Tzemach Tzedek, and, uh, he wrote a Sefer, Sipurem Neraim, stories that he heard from reliable sources. The Friediger Rebbe said that he... You can trust his stories. The Friediger Rebbe even gave his Sefer with the stories to the Rebbe, and he told the Rebbe to read it because he can rely on those stories. Those stories are true, true stories. So he tells a story that happened in the time of the Alter Rebbe. And Alter Rebbe lived in the city of Liadi. Near Liadi, there was a younger man, a young man who was newly married, and his father-in-law was rich and promised to support him, so he can sit and learn. And he was a big Talmid Chacham. He was the Talmid Chacham. He was a Hasid of, of the Alter Rebbe, and he sat and learned day and night, Gemara and Chassidus, Nigleh, Chassidus, and davened like a Hasid. But over many years, the father-in-law lost all his money, and he couldn't support his son-in-law anymore. So this young man was now forced to start his own business, so he can survive, 'cause his

02:09 father-in-law couldn't give him any money anymore. So his father-in-law said, "No, you take a... Buy yourself a horse and a wagon, and you go and buy stuff. You buy and sell. You do business." So this young man started doing business. He had a wagon with a horse. He even had a, a wagon driver who used to be his, like, chauffeur, who used to, you know, ri-ride the horses, and he would take him to all kinds of places where he needs to buy merchandise, stuff for his business. And then he would take him to other places where he would sell the stuff for a profit. And that's how he would make money. In his free time, when he didn't do business, he would sit and learn. One time he was, uh... He went to buy some merchandise in a certain city. On his way back home, the wagon driver became very sick. So the wagon driver said to the, the younger man, the Hasid of the Alter Rebbe, "I'm gonna stay here because I'm sick. I'm gonna stay in a hotel. You go, you take the wagon yourself and go home if you need to go home." So the younger man agreed, and he himself was, you know, uh, whipping the horses and, and be- he was the wagon driver himself. On the way, he was in a forest. He went through a forest, and he realized that it's a few days before Shavuot, the Yom Tov of Shavuot. And he remembered suddenly that every year

03:46 on Shavuot, he would go to the Alter Rebbe. And, uh, he would go to the Alter Rebbe and hear Chassidus. It would be very, very, very, very amazing. It was exciting to be with Alter Rebbe and to hear the Alter Rebbe's Chassidus. For him, this was a great thing. And now it's almost Shavuot, with all the business that he was involved, trying to make money to survive and to feed his family, he completely forgot that it's almost Shavuot and he wants to go to the Alter Rebbe. So he decided, "You know what? I don't need any of the merchandise. I don't need my horse, my wagon." He just let it stay in the side of the ro- side of the forest, inside the forest, next to a, a path, a little walkway, and he walked away from the wagon and walked on foot, and he arrived on Erev Shavuot in Liadi by the Alter Rebbe. The Alter Rebbe... And, and this younger man came into the Beis Midrash of the Alter Rebbe. As he walked in the Beis Midrash, the Alter Rebbe said to his son, the Mitteler Rebbe, he says, "This younger man that just walked into the shul, that's a real Hasid. A Hasid with Mesirus Nefesh." The Alter Rebbe didn't explain. The Mitteler Rebbe was, uh, wondering wh-why is he saying this suddenly? The Alter Rebbe didn't speak to him. I mean, the guy just walked in. Um, so, uh, what, what did Alter Rebbe mean when he said that? Finally, the

05:17 Mitteler Rebbe asked questions. Maybe he asked the younger man, and he found out what has happened. That the younger man literally, well, he didn't care. He, like, abandoned his... All his merchandise, which was a lot of money, and his wagon and his horse, and he didn't care about it. All his money and the business, all he wanted is to hear Chassidus from the Alter Rebbe. So he understood what the Rebbe mean-- Alter Rebbe meant, that this is a real Hasid. He had Mesirus Nefesh. He left all his money and all his merchandise and all his business in the middle of the forest, and people are gonna steal it. He didn't care because he... For him, his life, he wanted so badly to hear Alter Rebbe's Tehillim. See, that that was more important to him than all the money and all the, all the wealth and all the, the richness. After Yontif, Shavuos was over, uh, Hasidim used to go into Yechidus to the Alter Rebbe before they left town to go back home. So this young man went to the Alter Rebbe in Yechidus. So the Alter Rebbe said right away, as soon as this younger man, younger man went inside the room of the Yechidus, that Rebbe said to him, "I want you to know that the wagon and all the merchandise that you had in the wagon is still there. Nobody touched it. Go back there, you'll find it." So the younger man said, "But Rebbe, what do I need business? Why do

06:43 I need merchandise? I, I wanna learn Torah and do Avodas Hashem and daven and learn all day, and the business takes away all my time, and I have no time to daven and learn." So the Alter Rebbe said to him like this, "I'll give you advice. Go find a certain inn, you know, like a little motel." Where they used to... In those days, the motels used to be, like, uh, outside the city where people used to travel, and people who needed to stay overnight would just come and stay in the, in the motel, and they would pay for the night. And they used to also sell mashke, you know, l'cha, vodka, and Goyim would come and drink, but like it was like a bar. A bar in a hotel. "So you get to... Get yourself a hotel near a village in a quiet place, and your wife can take care of it. She will sell all the mashke, uh, to the Goyim and maybe to the Yidden also who come and stay there, and they won't have a fabregen, so she, she's gonna sell them the mashke. And you'll be able to learn and daven all day because it's a very easy job. You don't have to do a lot of work. All you have to do is just sell the mashke to the people and make sure that the rooms are ready for people to sleep in, and take the money from them, and you'll be able to learn. Your wife will take care

08:01 of the business." Okay. That's what the Alter Rebbe told him. So he left the Yechidi, and when he came back to the area in the forest where he left the wagon three, four days ago, before Shavuos, he saw from a far away that the wagon was still there with all the merchandise packed in the wagon, like nobody touched it. Now, on the other side of the forest, a very, very big, important Po'eres was traveling also. And the Po'eres saw a, a wagon, uh, with a lot of merchandise standing there all alone. There's nobody nex-- standing next to it. Now, this Po'eres was there already maybe a day before. He used to come and travel through the forest, and always saw this wagon sitting there in the middle of nowhere, and there's nobody there watching it. He was always very surprised. Who left a wagon with so many expensive merchandise in the wagon and then walks away? He couldn't understand. But then he saw this younger man arriving, and he went over, straight over to the wagon. So the, the Po'eres went over to him and said to him, "Why did you leave your wagon here for a few days with nobody watching over it? Could've been stolen, all stolen. It's a miracle it didn't get stolen." So the younger man told him the truth, and he said to him, "Listen, you know, I, I, I go to my Rebbe, and I suddenly have this big longing to go to my Rebbe to hear his Torah.

09:34 And so I, I just left the wagon and everything so I can be able to go quickly to my Rebbe." So the, the, the Po'eres listened to it, and Po'eres said to him, "I see you're an honest person." Says, "Where I live, I live, like, uh, in a dif- in a different city. And there where I live, I have a beautiful building, a hotel, and also a bar inside the hotel where people can come and drink. And I'm looking for someone to rent the hotel from me, and they can make a living, they can make a parnasah. I'll let you rent it from me. You pay rent, and then you use the hotel and you make a parnasah. If you want, I'll give it to you because I want an honest tenant. I want somebody who's honest. So that's why I'm willing to let you rent it from me and, and run the hotel as a business for yourself." So the younger man said to the Po'eres, "You know, I'm a very poor man. I don't have any money to pay for a rent. And, um, I also have to buy... I may have to have a horse so I can travel and buy stuff for the hotel, and I, I don't have food for the horse. I mean, I, I need a lot of s- I need a lot of money to, to be able to, to, to hold up a... to start a hotel." So the Po'eres said, "Don't worry, I'll give you

10:51 the money. And in the beginning, you will start the hotel, too. You'll start making money. And I'm sure that in twelve months, thir- thirteen months from now, you'll have plenty of money to pay me back everything." So the younger man agreed because he remembered what the Alter Rebbe told him, that, um, hi-- for his business, it's best to have a hotel where he can sit and learn most of the time, then, you know, learn and daven. And it wouldn't take so much of his time to make a living. So he thought this was Hagbah Po'eres, you know. He, he, this Po'eres came to him and told him, "Here, I wanna give you a hotel that you can rent from me." So the Po'eres told him exactly the address where the hotel is, and the younger man went home. He sold all the merchandise, and he traveled to the Po'eres' town, and he rented the hotel from him. Now, there were Jews living in that area, and they all told him, "Don't rent the hotel. Yes, the hotel can make good parnasah, but it's a dangerous place. We can tell you that anyone who lived in this hotel and o- and, and rent the hotel as a business Either the owner or his, one of his family members, his wife or kids, would die within a year. They wouldn't live very long. In less than a year, they'd get sick and die, and the reason is because next to the hotel, there lives a goy who

12:28 has a big mill. You know, a mill where they grind, uh, flour. Not far from the hotel. He and his wife are big mechashfim, they're sorcerers. Kishuf. They make kishuf, and they don't like any neighbors. So when somebody moves into the hotel, they make sure that one of them dies. They use kishuf, sorcery. So the Yidden said, "That's why we run away from the hotel. Nobody wants to rent it. Nobody wants to rent it from the Politz because it's a dangerous place." So I told, uh, all these Jews, "I'm not afraid from these mechashfim, these sorcerers. My holy Rebbe told me that I should make my parnasa from a hotel, and you think the Rebbe's gonna tell me I should have a parnasa which I, I'm gonna die from it? Chas v'shalom. Something like this cannot happen, something evil like this, when a Rebbe tells you to do this, so I'm not afraid." And he did get the m- the hotel from the Politz, and the Politz gave him extra money to start off the hotel, and after a few months, he was able to pay him back all the money that he loaned him because it was a lot of parnasa, and he became quite wealthy, this yungerman. After a half a year of being in that hotel, the yungerman began to feel very weak and sick. And over the course of many days, his sickness got worse and worse till he became very, very weak. He wasn't able to walk. He was so

14:09 weak that he was hardly able to walk. So he understood it must be the mechashif, the sorcerer that lived next to the hotel was trying to kill him with his kishuf. So he decided to go quickly to the Alter Rebbe. Came on Erev Shabbos Parshas Balak. You know what it says in Parshas Balak? Where Bilaam wanted to hurt the Jewish people with cursing them with his kishuf? And what does Hashem say? "Ki lo nachash be Yaakov." Hashem doesn't allow any kishuf amongst the Jewish people, that the Jewish people are protected from kishuf. So on that Parshas Balak, yungerman came, he was very, very weak and very sick. And, um, Alter Rebbe said a ma'amar on the Friday night of Parshas Balak, but he was too weak to go, so he couldn't go to shul. Couldn't go to hear the ma'amar, couldn't go to shul, he davened in his room. But the next day, on Shabbos morning, he went to shul. And there were a lot of people, and he didn't go into the Alter Rebbe to say, "Shalom Aleichem." Uh, he, he didn't meet Alter Rebbe yet. He just came right before Shabbos. And boy, was he surprised, Alter Rebbe was the baal koreh. He used to read in the Torah every Shabbos. When it came to the fifth aliyah of that, of the laining of Shabbos, Alter Rebbe said to the gabbai, "Give, uh, this aliyah to this and this yungerman." So the yungerman was very surprised that Alter Rebbe knew that he was

15:38 in the shul when he was, like, one from hundreds of others, and he just came in in the morning, you know, quietly in the back. Alter Rebbe said to the gabbai, "Call up for this aliyah this and this yungerman. This is his name and his father's name. Call him up." yungerman heard his name being called up, so he went. Uh, he was nervous, but he went up to the, the bimah and next to the Alter Rebbe, and he said the brachas. Baruch bas Hashem hamvorach, Baruch Hashem levoralam u'levor, Shemo baruch hu b'kol ha'amim, Baruch Hashem l'olam va'ed. And Alter Rebbe began to read the parsha, the aliyah. When it came to the pasuk with Alter Rebbe in that aliyah, where, where, where Bilaam was saying b'nevua what the Evisha told him to say, "Ki lo nachash be Yaakov," there's no such a thing as sorcery and kishuf amongst Yaakov, "ulo kesam b'Yisroel." So the Alter Rebbe turned his head backwards, and his face was red like fire. His eyes were bulging. You could see that the Alter Rebbe had aliyas neshama. His neshama went up to Shomayim. He was, like, frozen, his eyes big, bulging out, his face red, red, red like fire. And he wasn't moving. People saw. And then he started saying the pasuk over and over again, "Ki lo nachash be Yaakov, ulo kesam b'Yisroel," sorcery cannot hurt a Jew. And he said it several times with great, great kavana, and all the people around the shul got very scared. They'd never

17:18 seen anything like that in their lives. And that's it. The aliyah was over. After they finished reading, after Shabbos, the yungerman started feeling that he's becoming stronger again. And when he went into yechidus before leaving town, um, he felt a lot better, and he told Alter Rebbe everything that happened to him with the mechashif, that he found the hotel, and everything that Alter Rebbe told him he did, and that the, the neighbors are mechashfim, and they, they... And he tried to kill him, and he felt sick. That's why he came to the Alter Rebbe. Alter Rebbe said to him, "Don't worry. Don't worry at all. Im yirtze Hashem, you will be healthy, completely healthy. As I said in the, in, in, during your aliyah, Ki lo nachash be Yaakov." Alter Rebbe said the pasuk again a few times. "Lo nachash be... Lo nachash be Yaakov." No kishuf can hurt the Jewish people. He said it several times with great zekes and great kavana. And he gave him a bracha, and he said, "You can go home. Don't worry, you'll be healthy and well." The young man traveled from Liadi back home to that hotel, and on the way, he started feeling stronger and stronger till he became completely healthy. When he came close to his house, there were Jews outside who saw him in his wagon. They came running over, and they said to him, "Did you hear what happened? Did you hear what happened? Right near your hotel, something happened to the goy that

18:47 lives next door to you, who holds this... who owns the mill. You know what happened to him and his wife? They both overnight just dropped dead. They, they both died. Like in... They didn't even get sick. They just, they just suddenly dropped, and they died." So he asked them, "When did that happen?" So they told him it was Shabbos in the morning. So he told them, "Ah, I felt it when I was in Liadi, when I... We had Aliyot to the Torah, and the Alter Rebbe was saying this pasuk over and over again. I had a feeling that something is happening here." And when he came home, his wife told him also everything that happened, and he told her what happened with the Alter Rebbe during the Aliyah where he said the pasuk, "Nachash beYakov." Um, and, and that was exactly when they died. Rebbe Yankiv Kadahal says that this story was very well-known by everyone in Liadi. It was a very famous story because a lot of people were there. They knew the yungerman, and they knew the goy, the Mechashif, who died, and, um, it was a well-known story. This yungerman continued to hold the hotel. He became very rich, and a big Talmid Chacham and a Hasid who learned day and night, and his wife ran the hotel, and they had a lot of money.