Sending Money to Eretz Yisroel:
Sefer M’Zekeinim Esbonen relates that Rav Meir would send large sums of money to Eretz Yisroel and would stress the importance of doing so. He once said, “If there would be no Jews in Eretz Yisroel, we would have to give money to the goyim. If there would also be no goyim there, we would have to give money to the stones. The main thing is to send money to Eretz Yisroel!”
Hands That Took Bribes Cannot Touch a Sefer Torah:
The same sefer relates that there was a Rov in a city near Premishlan who was not a yarei shomayim. He once came to Premishlan and was given an aliyah. When he made the brachos, he covered his hands with his talis before taking hold of the atzei chaim. The next aliyah was given to a water carrier. The water carrier saw how the Rov had wrapped his hands with his talis and he started to do the same thing but Rav Meir told him, “The reason the Rov had to cover his hands is because he takes bribes and hands that take bribes may not touch a Sefer Torah. But your hands are clean of sin, so you may touch the Sefer Torah.”
The Challah Cover Calmed the Sea:
Sefer Otzar Yisroel relates the following story involving the grandfather of Rav Yoel Ashkenazi zt”l, who was one of the prominent residents of Teveriah:
Before Rav Ashkenazi moved to Eretz Yisroel, he traveled to get a bracha from Rav Meir of Premishlan. Rav Meir greeted him warmly and told him, “The ocean often gets angry and emits strong waves.” He handed him a challah cover and said, “Take this. If the sea becomes violent, throw in this challah cover and say, ‘Meir ben Yenta covers the challos with this.’”
As he traveled, the sea did, in fact, become violent. Rav Ashkenazi picked up the challah cover and threw it in, and he said the words he had been told to say, and the sea was calmed.
For the rest of his life, he was troubled about the fact that he hadn’t called anyone else over to witness the miracle, as it certainly would have made a big Kiddush Hashem.
The Yarmulka Got Lost:
The same sefer relates that Rav Meir’s brother-in-law, Rav Mordechai Dovid Viener z”l, once came to visit him and Rav Meir told him, “On your way home, you pass by the city of Berzhan. I will give you a yarmulka to serve as a shemirah on the road. However, I ask you not to pass through Berzhan because wicked people live there that they didn’t let Rav Menashele, the son of Rav Asher’l Ropshitzer, become Rov of Berzhan. Meir does not want his yarmulka to be in Berzhan.”
Rav Mordechai Dovid took the yarmulka, and he asked his wagon driver not to pass through Berzhan. On the way, the driver saw that his passenger had fallen asleep and he decided to take the route through Berzhan since it was shorter. Rav Mordechai Dovid woke up and realized they were in Berzhan. He then noticed something amazing. The yarmulka Rav Meir had given him was nowhere to be found! He looked all over but he couldn’t find it!
The next time he visited his brother-in-law, Rav Meir said to him, “I told you not to go through Berzhan. Since you didn’t listen to me, Meir took his yarmulka back.” He then opened a drawer and showed him that he had the yarmulka.
A Remedy for a Debtor:
Sefer Sipurei Maran Haramach relates that Rav Meir was once walking in a garden when he met a badchan who told him, “People say az einer izmir shuldig zahl er bleiben leben.’ (If someone owes me money, he should stay alive long enough to pay me back.)”
He then asked Rav Meir to daven for a very sick man because he “owed Hashem” a lot, as he still needed to do teshuva for his sins. Rav Meir greatly appreciated this vort and he would say it over in the name of the badchan.
Healed in the Merit of the Ruzhiner Rebbe:
Sefer Otzar Yisroel relates that in the city of Lemberg there lived a very materialistic man named Yosef Shimon ben Liba. This man spent his days playing cards and hanging out with emptyheaded people.
He once became very ill and his wife advised him to travel to Premishlan to get a bracha from Rav Meir. She pressured him to go but he was afraid that his friends, who mocked the ideas of chasidus, would make fun of him. Finally, he came up with a plan. He told his friends that he was going to Premishlan to see how the Rebbe acts so that he could mock him.
When he arrived in Premishlan and went in to see Rav Meir, the Rebbe told him, “This is not how you come to Premishlan. You first must go back home and tell your friends that you are going to get a bracha from the Rebbe.”
He did as Rav Meir said and when he came back for the second time, Rav Meir told him, “Listen to me Yosef Shimon. You will become healthy. I just want to ask one thing of you. Right now, there is a Yid – and what a Yid! – who is locked up in prison. I want you to get him out and take him over the border.”
He was referring to the Ruzhiner Rebbe. Yosef Shimon fulfilled his mission. He got the Ruzhiner Rebbe out of prison and helped him cross the border.
This story was related by Rav Mordechai Hirsch Schmerler zt”l, who was a grandson of Rav Meir. He added that he had received Rav Meir’s Sefer Tehillim as an inheritance and the name “Yosef Shimon ben Liba” was written every few pages. And, indeed, he had a refuah.
Rectifying Sins Before Speaking:
My grandfather, the Kretchnifer Rebbe zt”l, said (in his Chumash Shiur for Parshas Bamidbor 5758) in the name of Rav Meir of Premishlan an explanation of the words we recite in akdamus: “Akdamus milin v’shruyos shusa avla shakilna.” Literally, this means: “Before reciting the words of the Aseres Hadibros, I ask permission.” He, however, translated the words to mean: Before one says words of Torah, he must take his “avla”, i.e., his sins, and rectify them.
Hashem Helps Those Who Live Far Away:
Sefer Otzar Yisroel further related that a man once arrived in Premishlan in the middle of the night and he cried to Rav Meir that his wife was in labor and needed a Yeshua. Rav Meir blessed her and both she and the baby survived.
A grandson of Rav Elimelech of Lizhensk zy”a, was present at the time, and he asked Rav Meir, “Those who live near Premishlan are able to get here quickly to get a bracha, but what will be with those who live far away?” Rav Meir answered, “Those who live near Premishlan must come to Meir and those who live far away will be helped by Hashem.”
May the memory of the tzadik be a blessing for all of Klal Yisroel.
