(The following has been adapted from the sefer “Beloved Companions” by Rav Yisroel Pesach Feinhandler, zt”l)
In this week’s parsha we have the pasuk: לא תקם ולא תטר את בני עמך ואהבת לרעך כמוך - “You shall not take revenge, nor shall you retain animosity against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Vayikra 19:18).
Rabbi Menachem Nachum of Grodna took care of the needs of all the poor and unfortunate people in his city. He used to personally visit all the city's hotels to solicit funds for the poor from the guests, and he also collected money from the permanent dwellers of the city.
Once, he knocked on the door of a hotel room in which a lawyer from Grodna was conversing with a high government official from St. Petersburg, who happened to be Jewish. When the lawyer opened the door and saw Rabbi Nachum standing there, he understood that he had come to collect money, and said to him angrily, “I do not have time for you. Please go away.”
But Rabbi Nachum was persistent and would not leave. He told the man, “All I want is a donation for the poor people in this town.” But the lawyer angrily slammed the door in the rabbi's face.
Because someone had witnessed this incident, word quickly spread throughout the city that the tzaddik Rabbi Nachum had been insulted by an arrogant lawyer, and people were furious with him for daring to insult someone whom everyone honored and respected. Rabbi Nachum did not ask for an apology and did not discuss the incident with anyone, and after a while the matter seemed to have been forgotten.
Sometime later, the lawyer was taken to court and accused of a serious crime, which would have severe consequences for him. The case against him was so strong, that there seemed to be no hope for an acquittal. However, he thought that his last chance might be to appeal to an influential official from St. Petersburg to try to arrange some way out for him by using his connections. And so, he travelled to St. Petersburg and went immediately to the official's villa, hoping to meet with him before he left for his ministry.
