Rebbe Reb Zusha said regarding him, “Just as Eretz Yisrael is higher than all the lands so is Rav Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk higher than all the Tzaddikim.”
The Mezritcher Maggid sent him to Reisin to teach them Yiras Shomayim and good middos. He dressed Rav Menachem Mendel in his own kaftan, gave him his staff and sent him on his way. When Rav Menachem Mendel Vitebsker returned, the Maggid asked him how he had fared.
“I found whole hearts and torn clothes and I exchanged them for broken hearts and whole clothes. Everywhere I went they called me a lamdan and a sage but I knew the truth about my lowly stature.”
“You did well,” replied the Maggid.
Tzaddikim used the following parable to explain why Rav Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk conducted himself with majesty although he was truly humble and brokenhearted: Someone had a valuable diamond and was afraid it would be stolen. He therefore hid the gemstone in his garbage can in such a filthy place that no one would ever think to search for it there. Similarly, the Vitebsker hid his humility beneath the false veneer of majesty and arrogance.
Tzaddikim described the Vitebsker manner of prayer as follows: He davens like someone so lowly that he is covered in unsightly boils and desires to enter the king’s chamber to speak with His Majesty. He pushes his way in, is rejected and cast out, yet pays no heed to the guards and servants. He pushes and forces his way in again and again to gain an audience with the king to plead for his very soul.
The Vitebsker came to Eretz Yisrael together with Rav Avrohom Kalisker and some three hundred Chassidim to found the new yishuv of Talmidei Ba’al Shem Tov.
During the voyage a storm threatened to capsize the boat and drown them, until the Vitebsker cried out, “Master of the World – Ribbono Shel Olam – remember the suffering and shame I had to endure when I took leave of Rav Boruch Mezhibuzher and the honors they bestowed upon me that shamed me! How they swept the floor before me and treated me like royalty!”
Apparently, his humility was so great and his shame so real that Hashem heard his tefillos and the storm abated. Another time, when a gale threatened them, the Vitebsker lowered himself into the turbulent waters and, ignoring the protests of his colleagues, proceeded to tovel in the sea, like a mikve until he achieved salvation and saved them by sweetening the harsh judgment, canceling the decree and stopping the storm. (Yehi Ohr p. 115 #204, 205, 207, 208, 215, 216, 217)
