Rabbi Chaim-Moshe Mendel was known to be one of the leading Ashkenazic Kabbalists of the previous generation. Born in the town Bistrita in Romania in the year 5662 (1902), he was ordained as a Rabbi in Hungary. Before World War II he served as Dayan (a judge in a religious court) in Timisvar, Western Romania. During World War II he was sent to a labor camp in Romania, where due to the harsh living conditions and forced labor, he became disabled and suffered terrible tribulations all his life.
In the beginning of the Jewish month of Elul in 5709 (1949), he emigrated to Israel with his family. It seemed that the words of our Sages, "One of the three things that can only be acquired if accompanied by suffering is the Land of Israel," was proven by the hardship his family experienced. After descending from the ship in Haifa, they were housed in a camp for new immigrants. They were allocated a small and dilapidated tent. They shared the tent with mice and the strong sea wind shook their shelter. Also, the heat and humidity in the middle of the summer were too hard to bear. Pearl, Rabbi Chaim-Moshe's wife, decided to go to Haifa to ask for help from the Rebbe of Seret-Vishnitz, Rabbi Eliezer Hagar, son of the Rebbe known as the "Makor Baruch" whom her father had been a follower of.
Move to Tsfat
She was received warmly. The Rebbe listed to her attentively. When she finished, he advised that the family should move to Tsfat. The dry and cool climate of that city was a great improvement and they started to feel more at ease.
That Rosh Hashanah, they heard knocking on the door of their shack, and Pearl went to open it. In the doorway stood a man and a woman. Without introduction the woman asked, "Are there Jews here from the city of Grosswardein?"
"I am from Grosswardein," answered Pearl. "You are Pearl Goodman!" exclaimed the woman. "I don't believe it!" Deeply moved, the women embraced. The woman's name was Sabo. Pearl's grandfather was Rabbi Meir- Zeev Roshnak, a great scholar who lived in the city of Grosswardein close to the Sabos, who were a wealthy family.
When the Sabo family immigrated to Israel they went to live in Tel Aviv. However, when it became close to Rosh Hashana, they decided to celebrate the festival in the "City of Kabbalah," Tsfat.
Take Me to Rabbi Shimon
On the first night of the holiday, after the prayers, they decided to visit the neighborhood where the newly arrived immigrants lived, in the hope of encountering relatives or acquaintances. While walking through the street, something attracted their attention. Through the window of one of the shacks they saw a woman lighting Yom Tov candles. They noticed that next to her a man with a radiant, joyful face was lying in a bed. "We saw the presence of G-d hovering over their house," they said. This was the reason they knocked. When the emotions calmed, Mrs. Sabo asked Rabbi Chaim-Moshe. "Why didn't the Rabbi go to synagogue the night of Rosh Hashana?"
"To my great regret I cannot walk," answered the Rabbi softly, with quiet acceptance of the bitterness of his fate. "I do not have the means to hire people to carry me to the shul."
Seeing Rabbi Chaim-Moshe laying on his sickbed broke Mrs. Sabo's heart. She immediately decided she would do all in her power to help him and cheer him up. The couple's faces became somber.
"What can we do for you?" Mrs. Sabo asked. The Rabbi's answer surprised her. "I know if I can go to Meron to pray at the burial place of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, I will be healed."
The decisiveness of these words convinced Mrs. Sabo to fulfill his request. She asked her husband to pay for the ride to Meron [15 minute drive]. "We will make every effort, even if it is only to make the Rabbi feel better!" she stated assertively.
The couple arranged the trip with alacrity. The day after Rosh Hashana, on the Fast of Gedaliah, they hired an ambulance with four male nurses who would assist the Rabbi in reaching the tziyun. When Mr. and Mrs. Sabo, Rabbi Chaim-Moshe, Pearl and the others arrived in Meron, emotions were high. "Please bring me to the holy burial place and leave me by myself," requested the Rabbi. He spent a long time praying to the Creator. He spilled out his heart and begged G-d to send a speedy recovery. At a certain point he felt his prayers had been answered! He called the nurses and asked to lift him out of the wheelchair.
