Rav Yaakov Yitzchok, the Chozeh of Lublin once asked Rav Menachem Mendel of Rymanow if he had any followers and Chassidim? “Yes, we do,” responded Rav Menachem Mendel.
“And in what way are they Chassidim?” inquired the Chozeh further.
“Our Chassidim, my followers,” answered Rav Menachem Mendel of Rymanow, “study in depth halocha and Tosfos.”
“If so,” replied the Chozeh, “then they are indeed true Chassidim!” (Bais Menachem 5:2)
Similarly, regarding the study of halocha and Tosfos, Rav Menachem Mendel of Rymanow said that he never understood the secret of the matter until recently, that those laws and halochos forgotten during the aveilus over Moshe (see Temura 16a) were returned to us by Osniel ben Kenaz during the days of Sefiras HaOmer. Therefore, it is a minhag Yisrael, which has the status of Torah, to study halocha and Tosfos during these holy days. (From the letter Igeres HaKodesh of Rav Yechezkel Paneth of Karlsberg, originally published in Shu”t Mareh Yechezkel Siman 104 {it is known that on the thirty-fourth day of the Omer, the yahrzeit of Rav Menachem Mendel of Rymanow, they found the Divrei Chaim of Sanz reviewing this teshuva and his eyes poured forth tears of longing. Derech Yivchar by Rav Chaim Betzalel Paneth of Tash and son of the Mareh Yechezkel}
