After the passing of the Rebbe Rav Mordechai’leh of Nadvorna, Rav Bertzi received word that his father’s inheritance was distributed. The telegram informed him that his late father bequeathed to him his walking stick and that the stick would soon arrive by post.
Rav Bertzi was excited by the thought that by inheriting his father’s holy walking stick, he might be guided by his father’s rod and lean on his own father’s staff! When the anticipated package arrived, he immediately ran off to the mikvah to immerse himself in preparation for using the holy walking stick of Rav Mordechai of Nadvorna. He returned from immersing and carefully unwrapped the parcel. He walked back and forth while lost in thought trying out his father’s cane.
After a few turns, he abruptly stopped and declared loudly, “This is the cane of my holy father? No. This is but an imposter; it is nothing but a simple piece of wood! Send it back at once!” He refused to touch the cane anymore.
One day a carpenter arrived at the home of the Rebbe Rav Bertzi. Among the things he told was how he had once been commissioned to duplicate the holy walking stick of Rav Mordechai of Nadvorna. “Can you imagine that?” he asked them as he described proudly how he carved the replica, copying it to the last detail as was his commission. The family, knew all too well exactly what he meant - Rav Bertzi had somehow known and sensed it himself. (Divrei Yimei Yissacher Ch. 10 pp. 114-115)
