178. The Alter Rebbe Smelled The Tumah From A Chossid Who Forgot To Wash Negel Vasser

00:17 Shalom Aleichem, kinders. I'm gonna share with you a story that I once heard a long, long time ago from an old Hasid, and he heard it from his Mashpia in Lubavitch. His name was Reb Grenam. Reb Grenam was one of the great famous Mashpiyim in Lubavitch in the time of the Rebbe Rashab. Uh, this Ha- this Hasid of the Alter Rebbe, his name was Reb Itzik Hommler. Reb Itzik of Hommel was a great Gaon and from the great Talmidim and Hasidim of the Alter Rebbe. Now, the Alter Rebbe had many Talmidim that were very great, big Geonim, Tzadikim, who were, like, great people, and they were his Talmidim. And Alter Rebbe would say special Hasidis for those Talmidim who were great people, who could understand a lot. But Alter Rebbe also had many Hasidim who were very simple people. Very simple. They didn't understand deep things. And Alter Rebbe would have special time when he had a farbrengen just with the simple people, and he would tell them Torah on a level that they can understand. Now, this Reb Itzik Hommler very much wanted to hear the Torah of the Alter Rebbe. The Torah of the Alter Rebbe s- that he said for the simple people. Now, he wasn't invited to that, uh, farbrengen because Alter Rebbe only invited those simple people that he wanted to talk to on their level. But he, Reb Itzik, very, very much wanted to go to that farbrengen as well. Um, I believe it was Reb Itzik Hommler, or

02:08 maybe it was Reb Zalman Zesmer. These are all two great Talmidim of the Alter Rebbe. And so, uh, the... So the, the, the Reb Zal-- Reb Itzik Hommler asked this Shamash of the Alter Rebbe, who was the one who the Alter Rebbe would send out whenever he wanted to say, "Hama'amar, or the Hasicha, the farbrengen," for these simple people. He would send out his, uh, Gabbai, his Shamash, and he would tell them to go and gather all the simple people because the Alter Rebbe is gonna tell them some words of Torah. So, but he wanted to also go, but since he wasn't invited, so he asked the Rebbe Shamash to, that he should come and tell him and let him know when the Rebbe sends him to invite the simple people, he should also tell him, Reb Itzik, and he also wants to come. He'll hide. He'll hide under a... behind the closet, so the Alter Rebbe wouldn't see him because he wasn't allowed to come in. He'll hide behind the closet, and he'll be able to hear the Alter Rebbe's words of Torah for these people, for the simple people. So the Shamash agreed, and he did that. So once Reb Itzik was, uh, taking a nap in the afternoon, and suddenly there's a knock on the door that woke him up. It's the Rebbe Shamash, and he says, "Reb Itzik, the Rebbe just asked me to gather the simple people. He wants to say, um, a Sicha, a farbrengen to those simple Jews."

03:50 So Reb Itzik woke up quickly and, you know, he was dressed already. He fell asleep in his clothes, but he, he forgot to wash his hands, netilat yadayim, because also it was during the daytime, you know. It's not so simple whether, um... We wash our hands at daytime also, but in, in Shulchan Aruch it's not so clear that you have to. When you, when you sleep at night, for sure you have to wash netilat yadayim in the morning. But what if you take a nap during the day? Uh, so normally he would have washed, but he was in such a hurry because he was afraid he's gonna miss the, the Sicha of the Alter Rebbe, and they would close the door. Once all the people were inside, they would close the door and lock it. Couldn't get in anymore. So he had to get in when, when the people are all inside, so he can... The door is still open, he can go inside and hide. So he ran and ran and ran, and he made it to the room where the Alter Rebbe was gonna come, and he hid behind the closet. He heard the Alter Rebbe say the following words. He tells these simple Jews, "You know, when the Yidden came to Eretz Yisrael, Hashem told them that there are seven nations with seven kings in Eretz Yisrael, and they, they are gonna fight against the Jewish people. They're not gonna want the Jewish people to come and take over Eretz Yisrael. So

05:14 the Jews should make a war against them until they kill them or they drive them out, so the Yid- the Yidden can live in Eretz Yisrael." One of the... So the Alter Rebbe explained to these simple Jews that you should know that these seven nations in the Torah also are talking about the seven Midas. We have those seven nations inside of us. These are evil nations that Hashem said we should get rid of, because they're bad people. They worshiped idols, and they murdered people. They were very, very bad people. But they're also a mashal. They're also a mashal for the bad Midas inside of us, which also there's seven bad Midas. And Alter Rebbe began to explain Each one, the name of that nation in the Torah and what it means in the midst that we have inside, right? So there's a Ɣiti, Ameiri, Prizzi, Ravisi, a Hivi, Ve'Gagashi, right? Vavuifi Ve'Gagashi. So the Alter Rebbe started teaching, and Alter Rebbe said, "Ameiri, what is the nation Ameiri inside of you, inside of us? Ameiri comes from the word amer, saying. That's the yetzer hara when he tells you, you walk down the street, and there's all kinds of, uh, not good things around you to look at. And the yetzer hara says, "Ameiri," he tells you, "Look at this, look at that, look at this." And these are not good things to look at. So that's what the Torah says, "Get rid of the Ameiri. Get rid of that yetzer hara, that amer." He

06:56 tells you where to look, and these are the places you shouldn't be looking at. And as the Alter Rebbe says, Reb, uh, Reb Isaac is listening, and he wants to hear the next, the next, uh, nation that Alter Rebbe is going to interpret. But suddenly the Alter Rebbe waited, stopped, and he said, "I smell a smell of tumah." And he started g- going with his nose, smelling with his nose, followed the smell that nobody else smelled, only the Alter Rebbe. It wasn't a physical smell, it was a smell of tumah, which are great-- which only a tzadik can feel, can smell. And he walked past all the Yidden in the room till he got to the closet and looked... And there he caught Reb Isaac. And Reb Isaac, when he saw, he realized how that the Rebbe caught him, so he ran away, ran out. So then Reb Greinach told that story. He said that from here we learn that the Rebbe believed that even if you take a nap during the day, you have to wash netilat yadayim, not only when you sleep at night. Although some people think that when you sleep during the day, y- it's not so bad, you don't have to wash your hands. No, because how do we know? Because the Alter Rebbe could smell tumah when Reb Isaac took a nap during the day and he walked into the Alter Rebbe.