Chitas: Miracle Story in 5714 (1954): Part 4

00:01 In hemshich and in continuation to the earlier installments, benegeia to the Inyan of Chitas, Chumash Tilim Tanya, we continue now with installment number four, where we will relate a story which was written by the Chassid, Rab Rephoel Nachman Kahan, from Kvachabad, the father of Rab Yelkan, in his Sefer Shemuos V'Sipurim. A story that relates to Chitas and a mefes miracle which the Rebbe accomplished in the early years of his Nesiots. This is in Tov Shin Yud Dalet, 1954. The story is here translated in English, and it begins as follows. In Yerushalayim, there's a yeshiva called Chaye Elom, and there was the Rosh Yeshiva named Rab Chaim Chaiko Miletski. And for several years, he had been suffering from an illness in his legs. The illness worsened from time to time, and he lay in bed all the time. And the doctor said that one leg definitely needed to be amputated, and there was doubt about the other one. He has a family who are all bnei Teyrah in Yerushalayim, God-fearing people. And in the year Tov Shin Yud Dalet, 1954, there was a wedding of, of one of his sons. And for the wedding, many Tamid HaChachamim attended the wedding. And the Chassan's father, the Rosh Yeshiva, asked that they take him with his bed to the wedding. All the guests rejoiced. The Chassan's father asked that he also wanted to speak, but since he was weak and lying in a bed, he asked for complete silence so they, they can hear what he was saying.

02:00 It became absolutely quiet, and he began to speak. And he said the following, "When I was young, I learned in the yeshiva in the city of Shtotzin. There were about thirty young men, and the place of study was in the shul. There was a drunkard in the city called Itcher, Itcher the Shiker, they would call him. His habit was that he would drink wine, and then he would go to sleep. And when he woke up, drink again. No one knew where he lived, and no one was interested. All the children knew him and always had business with him as usual. Most of the time, he was in the yeshiva where the young men of the above-mentioned yeshiva studied. One winter evening, they were sitting and learning, and Itcher was laying on one of the benches and slept. And a Yid came in scared and frightened and told the young man that he was traveling with a cart, a wagon loaded with goods, and the wagon turned over with the goods, and the horse was laying there helpless. And he pushed the straps and reins around the horse so that the horse would not choke. And he asked the young man to help him lift the cart because he himself was not able to do it." "We," Rab Chaim, the Chassan's father continues, "began to argue whether it was permissible to cancel Teyrah study, Bitl Teyrah for this reason. And we came to the conclusion that Teyrah study is more serious, and we did not go.

03:47 The Balagola, the coach driver, left with a sigh. We continued to study, and here the Efer mentioned Itcher woke up and said, 'Chevre, you need to immediately help this Yid so his horse will not choke. And if you do not go, you will not be able to walk on your own feet.' Chaim, uh, comments to Itcher jokingly and says, 'Since when have you beco-become a Pesach to pass a law i-in Halakha?' And Itcher did not answer. About a half hour later, after he went to look for someone else to help him, and he was not able to find anybody, this coach driver, the coach driver returned again and began to beg the boys to go and help him. Once again, they began to debate whether it was permissible and advisable to cancel their studies in order to help him. And this time it occurred to them that according to Halakha, it was permissible. They went, but it was already too late. The horse has already died. Next morning, Itcher came and asked, 'Where was Chai-Chaim Chaiko?' He knew and recognized everyone by name, but Chaim was not in the shul at that time. When he came, his friends told him that Itcher asked about you. He approached Itcher and asked, 'What do you want? What does he need?' Itcher said to him, 'Listen, I have a request of you. Since I will die,' he's passing away that evening, 'so I want you to come to my apartment and be there when my soul departs.' Chaim

05:51 began to laugh at him, but Itcher asked him again. So Chaim then asked him, 'Where do you live?' And Itcher responded that at the edge of the city there is a room, a churban, and that is where his apartment is." Chaim, thinking to himself, said in the evening, "Anyway, I have to study, so I'll take the Gemara with me and I'll study there." When I came, Chaim relates, I found Itche sleeping on the wood planks which were laid out there. Chaim opened the Gemara and sat on some broken box that was instead of a chair and studied. A few hours passed, and it began to occur to him, "What is all this about? Let me leave." When he got up to leave, Itche told him, "Chaim, don't go away. Sit here exactly four o'clock. He's, he's expiring. He's, he's, uh, he, he's passing away, and you should tell the community I should be buried near the gaon," tzaddik gaon who had been in the city for several years. Uh, Chaim said to, to Itche, "What are you talking foolishness? You don't even put on tefillin, and you wanna be right near this righteous person?" And Itche answered, "Yes. What do you mean I don't put on tefillin? There is a box in the corner. You will open it and see my tefillin." He approached the box and saw truly very elegant tefillin, and was very amazed because if he didn't see it with his own eyes, he wouldn't believe it. Itche then said to, uh,

07:43 Chaim, "Under this box, there's another small box, and you will open it, and they will do as I wish," the Chevra Kadisha, "and you will find my writings, and you will confirm this to the Chevra Kadisha and the Rov." Chaim looked at the writings and saw writings of Kabbalah, which he did not understand. He then realized that this man was a hidden tzaddik, a tzaddik nistar. At exactly four o'clock, his neshamah left, departed. Chaim Chaikel immediately ran to the Rov and Chevra Kadisha and told them the whole matter, but they knew that there was no vacant, uh, spot near this gaon, and for many years now they have been burying in a new cemetery because there was no space in the old cemetery. Nevertheless, they went there, and how amazed they were when they found a vacant place right next to the gaon. And the whole city was astonished by the whole story, and the levaya was with a great, uh, attendance. Chaim Chaikel, Rab Chaim Chaikel, the Rosh Yeshiva, while relating the story, began to cry profusely and concluded, "It is clear to me that I am suffering from the curse of that righteous person." All the guests wept with him out of pity for him, and the joy of the wedding turned to sorrow. Among the guests was a Yid, Rab Leib Friedman. He wrote a small sefer called Tzitzkas HaTzaddik, and when he heard the story from Rab Chaim Chaikel, and since he always would correspond with the Rebbe, he could not

09:30 resist and wrote the whole matter to the Rebbe. In his letter, the Rebbe responded that Rab Leib should convey to the Rosh Yeshiva that he will accept the di- um, uh, fulfill the directive, the hirah of the previous Rebbe, to study Khitas, and not only him alone, but also teaches to all admirers and those who are his followers. In the merit of him following the directive, Hashem would grant him to be able to walk on his feet. When Rab Leib received a letter from the Rebbe, he went to the Rosh Yeshiva and told him the whole matter which he had written to the Rebbe, and this was the reply. And when he read the reply, the Rosh Yeshiva was very happy and with great admiration kissed the letter. Rab Leib asked him to return the letter because the letter had been sent to him, to Rab Leib. But the Rosh Yeshiva did not wanna give it to him. He asked him to leave the transcript with him, and he did so. About six months later, he came to visit him. Rab Leib came to visit the Rosh Yeshiva and found him already sitting at the table, and in regards to the, uh, amputation of the leg, the consideration, the Rosh Yeshiva no longer spoke about it. It was off the table. It wasn't on the agenda. And he spoke how much he can make his walking even easier yet, and from time to time, his contish- condition improved completely. We will, im yirtze Hashem, continue

11:14 in the next installment.