The magid shiur pointed to one bochur, small, thin, unassuming, and said to him "repeat the shiur". The bochur got up and repeated the entire shiur! The bochur was Zalman Shimon Dvorkin. The Frieredige Rebbe said to him: "if you would be by the misnagdim they would place you on a pedestal (un .... far dir)"
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There was a poilishe Rebbe called the Koidenove Rebbe. Once, he was invited to a bris. After the bris, they sat down to the seudah. The Rebbe noticed that there was a yungerman in the corner of the room sitting and learning. "Who is that?" he asked his chassidim. "Dos is der rov'l" they told him. [The Rov was a litvack, in a village of koidenove chassidim, so the didn't refer to him respectfully, as the Rov, but dismissively, as the "rov'l"). The Rebbe beckoned to the Rov to come sit next to him. When the Rov sat down to the seudah, the Rebbe noticed that his pants were torn. "What is this?" he asked. The rov began being melamed zechus on the townsfolk, that they mean well, but they are all poor and they can't manage to provide him with a decent salary etc. The Rebbe interrupted him, saying: ואחריתך ישגה מאד (The possuk says והיה ראשיתך מצער ואחריתך ישגה מאד ) A year later (or a few years later) the koidenove Rebbe was invited to a bris in kovno. When he came to the outskirts of the city, the Rov of the city came out to greet him, saying: "Rebbe eier brocho iz mekuyam gevorren!" The was the famous R' Yitzchok Elchonon (Spector), a famous gaon. He had previously been the “rov'l” in the small Hamlet, and now he had the respectable rabbonus of kovno, an ir vo'em beyisroel!
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In Russia, living as a religious Jew, let alone a chossid, involved the daily practice of mesirus nefesh. Just to keep their beard was for Chassidim an act of supreme sacrifice. There were some who did not withstand the test, and those who did needed to take great pains to try to ensure that their beards were concealed. Needless to say, for any chossid with a beard, one of the basic requirements to survive was to avoid appearing in public altogether unless absolutely necessary. One of the public places where it was most dangerous for anyone conspicuously Jewish to appear was at the train-station. An inevitable gathering-area for travelers, it was always crawling with KGB agents, looking for victims. If a chossid was compelled to be present in the train station, it was with great fear and trepidation, knowing that with every moment spent there, he placed his liberty and very life in mortal danger. He would conclude his business there as swiftly as possible, and would only breathe easily again once he emerged from there in safety.
Before I continue, let me tell you about the efficient system of commerce in communist Russia. A train ticket would cost 3 rubles. The people would line up behind a booth, in which a lady waited to take their money and hand them their ticket. Now, in Russia, there were 5 ruble notes. A person would approach the lady and hand her a 5 ruble note, asking for change. She would hand him the ticket saying "I'm sorry, but we're all out of change". The buyer would have no choice but to forfeit the 2 rubles. If someone would get smart, and bring exact change, - 3 individual rubles - then when he would get to the booth, the lady would say to him: "Sorry, but I have no tickets left." Thus everyone was forced to go along with her thievery if they wanted a chance to use the trains. As you can see, this lady, besides selling the tickets, was making a very lucrative business on the side.
Once, 2 chassidim found themselves at the train station at the same time. They took every precaution to try to avoid any indication of knowing each other, making sure to leave a gap between themselves on the line, and avoiding any form of acknowledging each other. The chossid who was further back in the line was secretly monitoring the progress of his friend up ahead. When the chossid in the front passed the booth uneventfully, his friend sighed in relief; 'at least one of us already made it through safely'. Can you imagine how astonished he was when, a moment later, he saw his friend, who had already emerged safely – יצא בשלום – return to the station and go back to the back of the line. He could not contain his amazement, and went over to his friend (despite the risk involved) asking; 'What happened? You were already done, why are you back here?!' The first chossid responded simply: 'In all of the rush and confusion, the lady gave me the ticket and forgot to take my money. I have to go back to give her the money!!'
[R' Mendel Aronow related that once on Simchas Torah, amidst all of the pushing during hakafos by the Rebbe, he found himself next to an elder chossid (!), who asked him his name, and then shared with him this story that took place with his father (R' Yehoshua Zelig Aronow was the chosid who went back to the back of the line, and the chosid who related it to Reb Mendel was the 2nd chossid who witnessed it)]
In general, according to halacha keeping the money would not have been considered stealing (it falls under the category of טעות ם"עכו ), and it surely is not something that requires mesirus nefesh. There was also no reason for concern for the lady's loss of income, being that she was cheating every single person out of 2 rubles, and the 3 rubles of this chossid would surely not be missed by her. Yet for Zelig Aronow, not being in possession of money that was not rightfully his, warranted mesirus nefesh!
