The difficult news spread fast and sowed dread in the hearts of all who heard it. A terrible tragedy had struck the Sanzer community. Rav Aharon K., a talmid chacham who was close to the Shefa Chaim of Sanz, had passed way under tragic circumstances.
Rav Aharon lost his life in a terrible car accident in Union City, new Jersey, where the Rebbe was living at the time. He left behind a widow and young orphans. Word of his passing shocked his hundreds of friends and acquaintances, and the Sanzer community around the world. It aroused them all to introspect into their deeds and to do teshuvah.
Hundreds of people gathered tearfully for the heartrending levayah. The maspidim offered heartfelt messages, and everyone felt that they needed to look into their deeds to see if they could find a reason why this had happened.
The ink had barely dried on the mourning announcements for the young chassid, and the community had not yet recovered from the loss, when they were informed of yet another dreadful piece of news: Rav Moshe Nechemiah S. had suddenly been niftar.
Like Rav Aharon, Reb Moshe Nechemiah was a pious and scholarly young man; he was also very close to the Rebbe, and beloved and admired by his many friends and acquaintances. He also left behind a widow and young orphans. The community could not digest that this was happening again.
During this difficult time, the chassidim became collectively reflective. No one could remain apathetic in the face of such tragic incidents one after the other. It was clear to all that this was no coincidence, and that there was a message being sent to them from Above. Everyone made their own cheshbon hanefesh, to see what needed to be corrected.
At the same time, they all turned towards the Rebbe; the toll these tragedies were taking was evident on his face, even after he had suffered so much in his life. Yet while everyone looked to the Rebbe for guidance, he chose to envelope himself in a mantle of silence.
Throughout the shivah, those close to the Rebbe tried to extract even a single word from him about the reason for these tragedies. They felt that the Middas Hadin was being applied to them, and that they had to rectify the issue for which they were being punished. However, throughout the shivah, the Rebbe remained silent, and didn’t say anything.
On the Thursday after the shivah was over, as every week, the chassidim crowded aroudn the Rebbe’s table as he prepared to begin his Chumash-Rashi shiur. The beis medrash was packed to capacity; the crowd waited tensely to hear the Rebbe’s words, and to know what to do – and which deeds they needed to correct to rescind Hashem’s Anger from amidst them.
“Vayar Hashem vayinatz mika’as banav ubenosav, Hashem saw and was angered by the spite of His sons and His daughters,” he began with a passuk from Shiras Ha’azinu (Devarim 32:19). He then continued: “And He said, I will hide My Face from them, I will see what their end will be, for they are an upsetting generation, ,בנים לא אמן בם” (ibid 20). The Rebbe then brought the explanation of the Sifri (Piska 320) on this passuk: “Rabbi Dostai ben Yehuda says: Do not read it “lo emun bam” but rather “lo amen bam,” that they did not want to answer amen.”
The Rebbe’s words were measured, and penetrated the depths of the heart. “Amen,” the Rebbe said, “is an acronym for “Aharon, Moshe, Nechemiah.” It is not for naught that this has happened, but rather to teach us that because we were not careful with answering amen, we were punished with the passing of two tzaddikim at a young age. Let us all strengthen our answering of amen out loud, with kavanah, and we will be zocheh that Hashem should rescind His Anger from us and we should hear no more tragedies amongst us.”
The words of the Rebbe made a strong impression on his listeners, and they committed together to strengthen themselves on this subject. The chizuk remained evident on the community for a long time thereafter.
Shiru Lamelech, P. 217; Kesser Meluchah p. 372
