CONNECTED ABOVE
The chossid Reb Yankel Kaidaner related: "While traveling with the Mitteler Rebbe on one of his journeys, we stopped over in a town called Krislaveh. On our second night there, the Rebbe delivered an incredible maamar, the like of which none of the chassidim had ever heard. We chazered it and then went off to eat. After the meal, the Rebbe's meshares rushed over and told me that this would be a good opportunity to gaze at the Rebbe's face. Knowing how the Rebbe in his humility did not like this, I hesitated, but the meshares reassured me, 'Don't worry: he won't even see you!'
"I followed the meshares to the Rebbe's room, and when he opened the door, I saw the Rebbe standing in the center of the room, motionless, his face flaming and his eyes wide open. Shocked, I jumped back, but the meshares grabbed my sleeve and said aloud, 'You have nothing to fear: he is now in the ruchniyus'dike worlds and won't hear or see anything.'
"How do you know?" I questioned, knowing him to be a simple man.
'This is not first time that I've seen him this way,' he replied.
"I stood at the doorway, looking to make out any movement, but the Mitteler Rebbe remained still, utterly unaware of the people walking about the house. I stood there from ten o'clock at night until three in the morning, when the meshares had the table set for the Rebbe to eat, as he had not eaten the entire day. A helper then approached the Rebbe with a kvort of water so that he could wash his hands, but the Rebbe did not move. The meshares tugged the Rebbe's sleeve and asked him to wash, but the Rebbe turned away and walked to a wall, standing immobile as before. At that point, since I could no longer see his face, I left for the night.
"The following day, the meshares told me that the Rebbe had continued to stand that way until four o'clock, and then, visibly filled with simcha, had sat down at the table of his own accord. The Rebbe later revealed that during the previous day's maamar, his father, the Alter Rebbe, had come to him, together with the Baal Shem Tov and the Maggid, and they had praised the maamar tremendously. After he had delivered it, he had repeated it for the Alter Rebbe, who revealed to him deep secrets of the Torah.
"This was what had occurred while he stood motionless the previous night, and this was the cause of his unusual simcha."
(סיפורים נוראים ע' לד)
NOT EARTHBOUND
The Frierdiker Rebbe related: "In Vienna, my father and I stayed in adjacent rooms with an open door in between. It was around five o’clock in the afternoon when my father gave me a certain manuscript to copy while he sat down on the sofa. I approached him a number of times and saw that he was sitting motionless with his eyes open. He sat this way until 3:45 in the morning! He then woke up, so to speak, took out his watch and stared at it in utter disbelief, walked over to the window, and said, 'It seems as if it's already nightfall. Time to daven Maariv!' By responding to his questions about the time and the place, I revealed to him that almost the entire night had already passed. I even had to remind him which day we were in, as he was completely removed from this world...
"The next day I found him writing a lofty concept in Chassidus in his notebook, which was apparently what he had been engrossed in the night before." This was perhaps the basis of Hemshech Ayin-Beis.
(רשימת היומן ע' רי, לקו"ש חכ"ז ע' 275)
Commenting on the above episode, the Rebbe said that it is possible, even in our times, for a person to reach some degree of klos hanefesh. When one delves deeply into something, he can reach a point at which he does not notice what is happening around him. The Rebbe then related the following:
Once the Mozhitzer Rebbe fell ill and traveled to Berlin to visit the doctors there. The doctors said that he was in need of an operation, but they were afraid that in his weak state he would not be able to handle the pain. Hearing this, the Mozhitzer Rebbe suggested that they allow him to sing a niggun and wait until he was fully absorbed in it, and then operate on him, for he would feel nothing. They did as he said, and everything went smoothly.
(לקו"ש חכ"ז ע' 275)
CONNECTED TO TORAH
The Rebbe would often say that every Yid can reach "Toraso umnaso" (his Torah is his occupation) by dedicating himself completely to learning during the times that he learns. On one occasion the Rebbe said that when one sees Torah as his primary occupation, even if the world "turns over" he will not stop his learning. Doing so makes the Yid into a "Beis Chabad," a permanent vessel for Torah.
On another occasion the Rebbe explained that by appreciating the value of Torah learning a person will become so attached to Torah that he will not even notice his surroundings. This is accomplished by contemplating how Torah learning is more precious than the the Kohen Gadol in the Kodesh Hakodoshim on Yom Kippur.
, שיחו"ק תש"מ ח"ב ע' 296)(לקו"ש כ"ה ע' 305
Two chassidim once traveled to the city in order to purchase merchandise for their respective shops. Having arrived and having entered the store, one of them reached into his pocket to remove the list of merchandise for which he had come, but instead, he accidentally took out a maamar Chassidus and of course began to learn from it. The other chossid, having noticed that his friend was holding a maamar, came over, and he too was soon peering intently at the paper that his friend was holding.
So steeped were they in the maamar that they completely forgot where they were and that they had come to buy merchandise. They remained immersed in their learning until the storeowner wanted to close up and was forced to drag them outside, where they stood and continued learning the maamar.
(רשימות דברים ח"א ע' רלח)
CONSIDER
How does one become more interested in his learning than business?
Is engaging the world a good thing or not?
In merit of this publication's founder ר' אהרן בן חנה • May the zechus of the thousands of readers bring him a total and immediate recovery
לע"נ מרת ציפא אסתר בת ר' שלום דובער ע"ה
