After the rebbe arose from Rav Yosef Ostila’s bed, he davened mincha and sat down to learn and study before Ma’ariv. As the sun set, the house grew dark. The Chozeh sat studying by candlelight. Rav Yosef noticed that the wick was too long and the flame wasn’t giving off enough light. Rav Yosef handed his holy father’s shneitz sherel – the small scissors used to trim the candle wicks that Rav Mordechai Neshchizer himself used to use - to his young son, Rav Pinchos and asked him to quietly tiptoe into the Chozeh’s room and trim the wick to better illuminate the pages of the sefarim on the table.
“Wait until you see that the Chozeh pause from looking in his sefer. At the moment he is not totally immersed in his learning, you can hand him the scissors.” Rav Pinchos did as he was instructed to do, but the Chozeh pushed the scissors away and continued studying by the dim light. Having been terrified to begin with about interrupting the Chozeh, Rav Pinchos was reluctant to try again. And so, his father, Rav Yosef, approached to try and fix the wick himself.
Again, the Chozeh brushed the scissors away gesturing not to be disturbed.
Rav Yosef couldn’t understand what was wrong, surely the tzaddik needed better light to study by, and what could be wrong with the scissors? “Rebbe need not worry, “Rav Yosef reassured the Chozeh “these scissors belonged to my holy father; he himself trimmed wicks with these shneitz sherel!”
The Chozeh turned to Rav Yosef of Ostila and explained his bizarre behavior: “Your holy father Rav Mordechai of Neshchiz was able to trim the wick with these scissors. You know what it says in the holy sefarim, especially in the works of the Rambam: Every mitzvah which we were commanded to fulfill is only in order to facilitate the rapture of dveikus (cleaving) to Hashem. This is why the name that the Zohar uses for the 613 commandments is “good pieces of advice,” for they advise us how to attach to Hashem. Now, if I were to trim the wick of this candle, it would require me to pinpoint my thoughts on that very precise act. This tzimtzim of concentration would interrupt my dveikus and disconnect me! I could not allow my thoughts to continue wandering the supernal Heavenly strata above while my hands absent mindedly did their work with no supervision! If I had, the wick would be poorly trimmed and go out completely and I would be left in the dark. Therefore, I refrained from using the scissors to trim the wick. It is forbidden for me to interrupt my dveikus to Hashem. Unlike me however, your father was able to focus and concentrate his thoughts without disconnecting his dveikus and so he could use those scissors, but I don’t have the power to do so! (Niflaos Harebbi p. 7 #5, Beis Tzadik p. 16)
