Sefer Layesharim Tehilla (page 45) relates a story of a young man who became a chasid of Rav Elimelech of Lizhensk zy”a and began spending time in his presence. However, his father-in-law was opposed to chasidus and he would criticize him for “wasting his time”. He would say, “You are a batlan. You don’t want to learn so you make up an excuse about wanting to go to the Rebbe. If you want yiras shomayim, take a Sefer Reishis Chochmah or Chovos Halevavos. You’ll gain a lot more from that than from going to a Rebbe!”
This young man was also very careful about what he ate. He wouldn’t eat the meat of an animal that had any shailoh, even if a Rov ruled that it was permitted. His father-in-law rebuked him for this as well and said, “If it is forbidden, it is forbidden for everyone. If it is permitted, why can’t you eat it? Do you think you’re a bigger tzadik than everyone else?”
One day the father-in-law said that he wanted to come with him to Lizhensk to ask all of his questions to the Rebbe. The son-in-law agreed, hoping that the Rebbe would change his father-in-law’s mind, and they set off to Lizhensk.
When they arrived, the father-in-law asked all of his questions, and Rav Elimelech answered them one by one.
Regarding the first question of why it is necessary to go to a Rebbe, he quoted the pasuk (Shemos 18:1): “And Yisro heard.” Rashi states that he heard about the splitting of the Yam Suf and the war with Amalek. The Rebbe asked: Yisro was in his home when he heard these great things. Why did he have to travel to Moshe to hear about them again?
He answered that Rashi should be read as follows: What did Yisro hear that caused him to come? If he heard about the splitting of the Yam Suf, why did he have to come? Couldn’t he stay at home and serve Hashem? Rather, he heard about the war with Amalek. He understood from this that even if someone recognizes Hashem’s greatness, he still has to fight a war with the forces of evil and with his own yeitzer hara. One cannot do this alone. He must travel to a tzadik to get the strength he needs to win this war.
Regarding the question of why his son-in-law didn’t eat meat that was technically permitted, the Rebbe explained that we see an example of this type of behavior in the Torah. The Torah forbids a widow to a Kohen Gadol but permits her for a regular kohen. A divorcee is forbidden for a kohen hedyot but permitted for a Yisroel. One may ask: If she is permitted, why isn’t she permitted for everyone, and if she is forbidden, why isn’t she forbidden for everyone? The answer is that when someone is on a higher level of kedusha, he must be more careful with himself in order to ensure that his holiness is not sullied. Therefore, he has to avoid certain things that may be permitted for others. The Rebbe concluded, “Your son-in-law is on a high level of chasidus, therefore he cannot eat things that may be permitted for others.”
