Yahrzeit of Rav Menachem Mendel ben Rav Yaakov Koppel Chasid zy"a - The Ahavas Shalom of Kossov

Yahrzeit of Rav Menachem Mendel ben Rav Yaakov Koppel Chasid zy”a
The Ahavas Shalom of Kossov
17 Cheshvan 5586

Stopping to Learn to Engage in Tzedakah and Chesed:

The Kossover Rebbe said, “Even if I am completely immersed in Torah to such an extent that I reach the ‘rumo shel olam’ (heights of the world), if at that very time I am approached by a very simple man who has some type of problem and needs to speak with me for half an hour to calm his nerves, I put aside my Torah and all its greatness, and I bend my ear to listen to him. I do this in order to benefit a fellow Jew.”

The following stories illustrate his willingness to do anything to help another Yid.

Worthy of Being a Rebbe:

When the Kossover Rebbe was a young man, he wanted to travel to Russia to spend time in the court of Rav Zev Wolf of Chorni-Ostroha zy”a. Since he was very poor, he couldn’t afford to hire a wagon, so he set off on foot, with his bag on his shoulders and his walking stick in hand. He would travel by day and spend the night in whatever town he found himself in at nightfall.

One evening, he came to a certain village. He was exhausted from the journey and sought a Jewish home to spend the night. He passed by one house and saw a Jewish man standing by the door. He asked if he could sleep there, and the balhabos was happy to invite him in. The man put his bag and stick in the corner, and Rav Menachem Mendel washed his hands to daven Maariv. After Maariv, he saw the balhabos sitting by his table and sighing. He could tell that something was troubling him greatly.

When he asked the man what was wrong, he told him his story. He said that he had been very wealthy. For many years, all his business ventures had succeeded. Suddenly, his luck changed, and he quickly lost all his money. He owed the Poritz a lot of money for rent on the tavern that he managed. The rent was due the next day, but he had no money to pay. He was sure that he would be evicted from his home, along with his wife and young children.

The Ahavas Shalom was heartbroken to hear this sad story. When the man finished speaking, he tried to comfort him. He told him not to give up hope and to retain his belief and trust in Hashem. Just like he had lost his money very quickly, Hashem could help him in an instant and provide him with more than enough money to get back on his feet.

However, the balhabos was so broken that he could not be comforted. He continued to groan and cry. The Ahavas Shalom felt very bad for him, but he didn’t know how to help him. He decided to go straight to the Rebbe of Chorni-Ostroha the next day and ask for his help.

The next morning, after davening Shacharis, Rav Menachem Mendel took leave of the balhabos with words of encouragement, again urging him to trust in Hashem and not to despair.

As he walked on the road, he heard the sound of approaching horses. He looked behind him and saw a magnificent carriage rushing towards him. When the carriage was a short distance away from him, it stopped, and the well-dressed man sitting inside motioned to him to approach. The man asked him where he was headed, and when he said that he was going to the Rebbe of Chorni-Ostroha, the man offered him a ride, as he was headed to the same destination. However, Rav Menachem Mendel refused to board the carriage, despite the man’s urgings.

The man asked, “Why do you insult me by refusing to let me do you a favor?”

The Kossover replied, “It seems like you are the type of person who likes to help others. However, the only way I could know this for sure is if you are willing to use your money to help someone else, as Chazal say (Eruvin 62B) that one of the true ways to know a person’s nature is by how he uses his money.”

The man responded, “Please sit down next to me and tell me what you need money for, and then I will give you my answer.”

The Kossover told him, “I am fine with walking. I won’t board your carriage unless I know in advance what your answer is. That is the only way I will be able to tell if you really are a man of kindness or not.”

The wealthy man agreed to listen to his request at once, and he told him, “Not far from here, there lives a Jew who once was rich like you. He also used to travel in a fancy carriage. Sadly, he lost all his money and is left with nothing. His rent is due today, and, since he has no money, the Poritz will probably throw him and his family out of his home. I ask you to give him the 60 gold coins he needs to pay his rent. If you do, I will bless you with much success, and I will get on your carriage.”

60 gold coins was a hefty sum, and the wealthy man was shocked to be asked to give so much. At first, he told his driver to keep going. Just a short while later, he felt bad about leaving the young man behind and ignoring his request. He told the driver to stop and wait for him to catch up. When he did, the rich man said, “It is too hard for me to give the full amount. I can give half.”

Rav Menachem Mendel said, “I’m not forcing you to give anything. I just told you the story of what happened to a man who once was rich like you and how you can help him. It is now up to you. If you want to help, you can go back to his town and give him the full amount he needs, and I will then travel with you to the Rebbe. If you don’t want to do it, then you can continue traveling without me, and I will go on foot like I always do.”

The rich man then said that he was willing to give the full amount. Rav Menachem Mendel then boarded the carriage, and they drove to the tavernkeeper’s home. When they got there, the wealthy man handed Rav Menachem Mendel 60 gold coins. He gave them to the balhabos and blessed him with hatzlacha. As they left, they both were full of joy.

When they reached Chorni-Ostroha, they went together to the Rebbe, who immediately saw that they were surrounded by a bright light, and their faces were shining. He greeted them and said, “I can tell that you two did a great thing today. You should merit to continue doing mitzvos like this throughout your lives!”

Rav Menachem Mendel remained silent as the rich man told the Rebbe the entire story. The Rebbe then said, “You did a wonderful thing. You saved an entire family from destruction. Hashem will surely repay you.”

He then turned to Rav Menachem Mendel and said, “You came to me because you want me to be your Rebbe? You don’t need me. You are already worthy of being a Rebbe!”

Not Listening to the Yeitzer Hara:

Sefer Even Shesiya Hachadash relates that there was a resident of Kossov who was known to be an antagonist of the Rebbe. One day, this man came to him and said that his daughter was engaged and he had no money for any of the wedding expenses. The Rebbe asked him how much money he needed, and the man replied that he was in need of 100 gold coins. The Rebbe opened his drawer and took out all the money he had in it. He counted it and saw that he had 100 gold coins, and he handed them to the man.

When the Rebbe’s brother, Rav Yitzchok, heard about it, he became very upset. He knew that whenever family members of the Rebbe needed money, he told them that he didn’t have it. Yet he gave so much money to his misnaged!

He asked the Rebbe why he did such a thing, and Rav Menachem Mendel answered, “My dear brother, someone else made the same claim as you. He also asked me why I chose to give so much money to my antagonist. He asked: ‘Don’t you have better things to do with your money?’ I didn’t listen to him because he was biased, so I couldn’t take his claim seriously.”

“Who was that man?” R’ Yitzchok asked.

The Rebbe replied, “It was the Satan. His bias is that he always tries to make claims like this. May Hashem protect us from him!”

In the end, when this misnaged witnessed the love and kindness of the Rebbe, he started to admire him. The Rebbe would say, “I love my enemies so much that they become my friends!”

May There Always be Money in the Drawer:

Where did the money in the drawer come from? Likely, it was there as the result of a bracha he received from his mentor, the Rebbe of Chorni-Ostroha. He told him that whenever he would need any amount of money, large or small, for the purpose of doing a mitzvah or giving tzedakah, he should place his hand in the drawer and say, “In the zechus of the Rebbe, Rav Velvel, please save me.” He promised him that if he would do this, he would find the money in the drawer.

It is known that the Ropshitzer Rebbe said, “I have the ability to do anything the Kossover Rebbe did, except for always having my drawer full of money.”

The Heart of the Bnei Yissochor:

A poor man once came to the Kossover Rebbe with a letter from the Bnei Yissochor of Dinov zy”a in which he asked people to donate to this man. Rav Menachem Mendel could tell that this letter was written by a great man. He told the pauper, “In this area, most people have never heard of the Rov of Dinov. This letter won’t help you. If you give me his letter, I’ll write you an approbation, which will help you a lot.”

The man agreed, and the Kossover Rebbe took the Bnei Yissochor’s letter. In this way, he drew the Bnei Yissochor’s heart close to his. This led the Bnei Yissochor to decide that he wanted to travel to Kossov to meet him.

The Bnei Yissochor went to Kossov for Shabbos, and he was very impressed with the Rebbe. After Shabbos, he went to take his leave of him, but the Kossover asked him to stay a little longer.

The custom of the Kossover Rebbe was to daven for the amud every weekday with much enthusiasm. Witnessing this led the Bnei Yissochor to think that he might even be greater than his Rebbes – the Chozeh of Lublin and the Rebbes of Rimanov and Apta zy”a.

On Monday, he again went to say goodbye to the Rebbe, and again the Rebbe asked him to stay longer.

During davening on Wednesday, the Bnei Yissochor felt that if he stayed one more day, he would accept the Kossover as his Rebbe, in place of his own Rebbes. He ran over to the Rebbe and said, “Rebbe, let me stay healthy. In my old age, I can’t go into a new place!”

Appointed as a Rebbe:

Rav Mordechai Chaim of Slonim zy”a (Sefer Maamar Mordechai) relates that when Rav Wolf of Chorni-Ostroha was preparing to move to Eretz Yisroel, he sent a messenger to tell the Kossover Rebbe that he was giving him semicha to serve as a Rebbe and leader of Klal Yisroel.

The Kossover was extremely poor. His wife made some money by making and selling cement, which was exceptionally hard work, and her income was barely enough for the family to survive.

When the messenger arrived at their home, he saw the Rebbitzen working hard to prepare a barrel of cement. Her children, who were playing in the yard, suddenly ran too close to the barrel. They knocked it down, and all the cement spilled out, ruining her entire day of work. She went to her husband as he sat and learned and angrily said, “Look what your children did!”

The Rebbe calmly answered, “Since the situation is already so bad, it will soon be good.”

The messenger then entered the room and said, “The Rebbe sent me to tell you that you should now become a Rebbe.”

As soon as the messenger left, a “modern” man approached him and asked, “Where does the Rebbe live?”

He showed him where the Kossover lived, and this man handed him a kvittel and 10 coins as a pidyon.

Bakashos Fulfilled While Writing the Kvittel:

The Rov of Borosov zt”l (author of Shu”t Afraksa D’Ania) relates that when the Kossover Rebbe was newly married, he was supported by his father-in-law, while he spent his days immersed in Torah and avodah. At that time, most chasidim were followers of the Chozeh of Lublin zy”a. Since the Ahavas Shalom had a nice handwriting, many chasidim who were traveling to Lublin asked him to write their kvittels for them. When they came to the Chozeh, he looked at the kvitlach and said, “Your requests were already fulfilled when the kvittel was written.”

Yeshuos Through Drinking:

The Kossover Rebbe explained the custom among chasidim to drink together and wish each other yeshuos and refuos by citing the Mishnah (Sotah 5:1) that says that just like the water tests the woman, it also tests her husband. This means that the woman drinks the water, and it can also serve to punish the husband if he has sinned. We know that the measure of good is always greater than the measure of bad, so it stands to reason that when a Yid drinks, he can provide benefit to others and grant them yeshuos and refuos.

When the Individual Beats the Majority:

Several men once came to him and maligned the local shochet. They claimed that due to his misconduct, he should be removed from his position and his meat should be declared not kosher.

One man stepped forward to defend the shochet, saying that all the accusations against him were unfounded. The Rebbe said that he believed him and that he would not remove the shochet for his position.

The men who had made the accusation then returned to the Ahavas Shalom and asked, “Why did you believe the one individual over us? Since we are the majority, should you believe what we say?”

He answered, “In the story of the Akeidah, we find that Hashem himself ordered Avrohom Avinu to slaughter his son. Avrohom was preparing to do this mitzvah when an angel came and told him not to raise a hand against the lad. Why did he believe the angel that was telling him not to fulfill Hashem’s command? We learn from here that in order to shecht a person, one must hear it from Hashem Himself. But once Hashem orders us to shecht a person, even a small angel can tell us not to shecht (destroy) him.”

Collecting Money for Tzedakah:

The Gemara (Shabbos 151B) states: “We have a tradition that a Torah scholar never becomes poor. But don’t we see that some do become poor? Although they may become poor, they never collect alms door to door.”

Sefer Korban Ha’ani (Parshas Reeh) quotes the Kossover Rebbe as explaining this to mean that the reason talmidei chochomim become poor is as a punishment for not going door to door to collect tzedakah for the poor people of their city.

The Bnei Yissochor zy”a adds that he heard in the name of the Kossover Rebbe that if a man collects tzedakah for poor Jews, he will be spared the suffering of “chibut hakever”.

Revelation of Eliyahu:

In the zemiros of Motzoei Shabbos, we say: “Fortunate is one who sees his (Eliyahu Hanavi’s) face in a dream.”

The Kossover Rebbe’s son, the Toras Chaim of Kossov zy”a, once asked how one can know if he saw Eliyahu’s face in a dream? How can one recognize that it is him?

He then said, “But I will recognize him because when I was a boy, I once fell asleep in my father’s room. In the middle of the night, I woke up and saw an old Jew sitting in my father’s chair. I got mad at him for having the audacity to sit on my father’s holy chair, but I stayed quiet. I then heard my father saying to him, ‘Eliyahu, my son, Chaim’l, is sleeping here. Please bless him!’

“I got very scared and hid under my blanket. I peeked out at him and saw his holy face. Therefore, I will be able to recognize him.”

May the memory of the tzadik be a blessing for Klal Yisroel.