AT ALL COST
The disciples of Rebbi Zakkai asked why he had been blessed with long life. Among other things, he said to them: “I never neglected to recite the daytime Kiddush on Shabbos over wine. Once I didn't have enough money to buy wine, and my elderly mother sold her veil and brought me wine for Kiddush.”
When Reb Zakkai’s mother passed away she left him an inheritance of three hundred barrels of wine. When Reb Zakkai passed away he left his children three thousand barrels of wine.
(מגילה כ"ז ע"ב)
Reb Meir Refoel’s was a respected community leader in Vilna who became a chossid of the Alter Rebbe.
Once, during a business trip, he noticed that his tzitzis had torn and become possul. He immediately removed them and told his driver to stop, so as not to carry on four amos without tzitzis. They waited at the side of the road for several hours in the hope of encountering a passerby who would happen to be carrying tzitzis strings. As it was getting dark outside they saw someone in the distance. Reb Meir called out to the man but he did not reply. He called louder until he was shouting, and finally the man turned towards him.
“Do you have any tzitzis strings by any chance?” asked Reb Meir.
“And if I would,” said the man, “do you think I'm going to unload and rummage through my packed sack for just a few strings?!”
“I will pay you well,” Reb Meir assured him.
“How much?” barked the man, “A few rubles? Not worth my time! I need to get back in time before nightfall!”
“I will pay you anything you ask!” begged Reb Meir. “I will give you everything I have!”
“Alright," said the man, “give me what you have and I will do it for you.”
Reb Meir promptly gave him all the money he was carrying and the man found the tzitzis and gave it to him.
Soon after, Reb Meir visited the Alter Rebbe. As he walked in, the Rebbe stood up and handed him the exact money he had given that man. Apparently, that man was Eliyahu HaNavi: he had come to test his commitment to that mitzva.
(מגדל עז ע' קעז)
Reb Groinem, the illustrious mashpia in Tomchei Tmimim of Lubavitch, once spent Shabbos Zachor in a town where there was no mikveh, and the river was frozen. Unable to imagine not going to the mikveh on Shabbos Zachor, he searched the river until he found a hole in the ice, that had been made to enable people to draw water for the animals. He undressed in an abandoned mill, and walked barefoot on the ice until the hole.
Before he immersed he told the river: “You should know that you have no permission to harm me, because the Baal Shem Tov taught that one tevila will do no harm!” Due to the severe cold, he was unsure if his head had fully submerged under the water, so he toiveled again.
He then headed back to the mill, his wet bare feet sticking to the ice, but the event did not harm his health.
Such was the emuna of chassidim of old: They trusted the Baal Shem Tov’s assurance with complete faith and even risked their life for it.
(לקו"ס פרלוב חדש ע' רצ"ג)
