Sheloshes Yemei Hagbalah
Rebbe Avraham HaMalach instructed his students not to come to him during sheloshes yemei hagbalah because he needed those days to study Torah alone. The students didn’t obey, and they came to their Rebbe during sheloshes yemei hagbalah because they yearned to hear his divrei Torah. The Rebbe locked his door and didn’t let them in. He explained, “One’s success in Torah for the entire year depends upon one’s hasmadah in the sheloshes yemei hagbalah.”
Old Yerushalayimer Yidden still remember that the stores of Yerushalayim would close at midday during sheloshes yemei hagbalah, so the shopkeepers could spend the rest of the day immersed in Torah.
In Poland, the batei midrashim were filled to capacity two weeks before Shavuos. The Imrei Emes zt'l once entered a beis medresh in Yerushalayim during sheloshes yemei hagbalah and didn't see the beis medresh full of people preparing for Shavuos. He said in exasperation, "Where are the Yidden of the alter heim (the Jewish communities of Europe from before the War)?"
Rebbe Yehoshua of Belz zy’a would tell the following story: Once, in Poland, during sheloshes yemei hagbalah, someone came into the beis medresh and watched with envy the passion for Torah in the beis medresh. He turned to the wall and cried because he wished to be like them. But unlike many who just pity themselves and go on with their lives, this person acted upon his aspirations. He took the first Gemara he saw, sat down, and was immediately engrossed in Torah. That moment changed his life. He experienced the sweetness of the Torah and became a masmid and a great talmid chacham. Rebbe Yehoshua of Belz zt'l had one bookshelf on which he kept sefarim written with ruach hakadosh. That man's sefer was stored on that shelf.
Rebbe Elazar Mendel and the Value of Giving
A daughter of a Lelover chassid was engaged to marry the son of Rebbe Elazar Mendel zt'l, the Lelover Rebbe of Yerushalayim. The chassid was overjoyed that his daughter was to marry into this prestigious family. Still, his wife was upset that the Rebbe's family wasn't sending gifts to the kallah as customary. Gifts were sent to the chassan, but the kallah received nothing in return. (Primarily, this was because the Rebbe gave away every penny he had to tzedakah to support the poor of Yerushalayim – no money was available for gifts.)
The chassid's wife encouraged her husband to ask the Rebbe to send a gift to the kallah. The chassid promised that he would do so, but feeling uncomfortable raising the issue with his Rebbe, he kept pushing it off. Each time he went to the Rebbe, his wife reminded him to bring up the issue, but he was always in awe when in the Rebbe's presence and couldn’t bring himself to discuss it.
During sheloshes yemei hagbalah, the Rebbe's custom was to daven Maariv and count sefiras ha'omer at the kever of Shimon HaTzaddik, and then go to the Kosel haMaaravi to daven some more. The chassid planned to accompany the Rebbe to these holy sites. His wife told him, "You must speak with the Rebbe tonight. I've asked you many times, and you keep pushing it off. This time, you must act. Otherwise, don’t come home." Her husband knew that it was more than just a threat.
So, that night, he knocked on the Rebbe's door. As he waited for the Rebbe to open the door, the husband thought to himself, “My wife is right, after all. The Rebbe is a holy man, but why doesn’t he send a gift to our daughter? Even a small pin would suffice. Why can't the Rebbe give our daughter a small pin?”
The Rebbe answered the door and said, "Mechuten shlita! I didn’t think that during the sheloshes yemei hagbalah, you’d be going around with pins in your head." He was astounded at the Rebbe’s clear ruach hakadosh. He went home and told his wife, “Our mechutan has ruach hakadosh. Don’t bother me any more about gifts, or I will tell you not to come home."
We don't eat matzah before Pesach, so we should eat it at the Seder with an appetite. The Sfas Emes zt'l asked why we don't do the same before Shavuos. We should stop learning Torah before Shavuos so that on Shavuos, we would be hungry for Torah and study Torah with thirst! The answer is that Torah is different from all other pleasures. One doesn't become tired of it. On the contrary, the more one studies, the more he loves the Torah. If he learns Torah before Shavuos, he will be even more thirsty for Torah on Shavuos.
