He pulled out the tooth and, as he was about to leave, Rav Gershon Henoch asked him how much he owed him. The doctor refused to accept payment and said, “This is my Chanukah gift to the Rebbe.” It was customary for the balhabatim of the town to give “Chanukah gelt” to the Rebbe, and the man was saying that his treatment would be in place of the traditional gift.
The Rebbe jokingly said, “Okay, but do me one favor. Please don’t let the other balhabatim know about this. If they hear about this, they’ll all try to pull out my teeth instead of giving me Chanukah gelt!”
The Sugya of “Kafsah”:
One year on Chanukah, a man came to visit the Avnei Nezer zy”a, and the Avnei Nezer asked him what sugya he was currently learning. The man answered that he studying the sugya of “kavsah”.
The Avnei Nezer began discussing the sugya with the man and he soon realized that he did not know it very well. He said, “I don’t know if you learned ‘kavsah’, but your father-in-law certainly learned the sugya of ‘kafsah’ (to tie up), as the Gemara says (Pesachim 49B) that if one marries his daughter off to an ignoramus, it is as if he tied her up (‘kafsah’) in front of a lion.”
I Gave in Once. Not Twice:
In his younger years, when Rav Bunim of Peshischa zy”a would want to get a Jew to do teshuva, he would start by creating a friendship with the individual by sitting with him and playing chess. He would use this opportunity to teach the man a lesson. For example, he would say in a sing-song voice, “Young man, remember that before you make a move, think about what you’re doing. Don’t do anything that you will come to regret. Don’t make a move that might cause you to lose the game.”
Rav Bunim once was in the city of Danzig, where he met a young man who had slackened in his Yiddishkeit. He engaged the youth in conversation and discovered that he enjoyed playing chess. Rav Bunim offered to play a game with him, and the boy agreed.
As they sat down to play, the boy said, “I’m sure you know that there are rules to this game, and I ask you to stick to them!” Rav Bunim replied, “Of course. A rule is a rule, and all rules must be kept!”
As they played, Rav Bunim deliberately made a move that put his queen in danger. The young man immediately informed him of his mistake and told him that he could now capture his queen. Rav Bunim said, “Oy! You’re right. I made an error. But please forgive me and let me have a do-over.”
The boy replied, “You know that the rule is that if once you make a move, you can’t take it back, but since this is your first time doing this, I’ll allow you to have a do-over. I’ll just remind you that the rule is that once you put down your piece on a spot, you can’t take back your move.”
They returned to the game and, once again, Rav Bunim deliberately “made a mistake” and left his queen vulnerable. Again, he asked the boy to forgive him and to let him take back the move, but this time the young man said, “I gave in once, but I’m not going to give in a second time!”
Rav Bunim then said, “Woe to a person who is so set in his ways that he can’t take back his ‘moves’ and return to the proper path!” These words went straight to the boy’s heart, and he became a full ba’al teshuva.
Teshuva Always Helps:
It is related that when the Rebbe of Gutinin zy”a was a child, he wanted to learn how to play chess. Someone began to teach him the rules, and when he was told the rule that once a person makes a move, he cannot retract, he said, “That’s not how it is with teshuva. A Jew can always go back. Nothing stands in the way of teshuva!”
Hashem’s Love:
The Riyatz of Lubavitch zy”a (Sefer Hasichos 5639) relates that his grandfather, the Tzemach Tzedek zy”a, would designate one night of Chanukah each year as “Latkes Night.” On this night, all of his family members would gather in his home, and the Rebbe would relate stories. One year, he related the following story that he had heard from the Baal Hatanya zy”a, who, in turn, had heard it from the Magid of Mezheritch zy”a:
In his younger years, before his greatness became revealed to the world, the Baal Shem Tov zy”a would often travel to various cities, where he would stand in the middle of the marketplace and gather simple people around him. He would tell these people stories from Chazal, and the like, in order to teach them lessons related to specific topics.
He once came to a certain city and stood in the middle of the busy street, and a crowd of men, women and children gathered around him. He began to relate stories on the topic of ahavas Yisroel, explaining that we learn the importance of loving our fellow Jews from the great love Hashem has for Klal Yisroel.
As an example, he spoke about a great scholar who lived in that city named Rav Yaakov, who was fluent in all of Shas, Rashi and Tosafos, and even knew it all by heart. One day, his son came to him and said a nice vort, and he was so happy to hear it that he stopped learning to express his love to his son. He said that the same concept can be seen by Hashem. The Gemara says (Avodah Zara 3B) that for the first three hours of the day, Hashem sits and is immersed in Torah, but he stops, so to speak, to accept the prayers of Klal Yisroel. That is how much he loves He loves the Jewish people.
The Baal Shem Tov continued to relate that when Hashem wanted to create the world, the angels tried to stop Him from creating man by saying (Tehillim 8:5): “What is man that he should be remembered?” They claimed that there is no purpose in creating man, but Hashem still created him.
The Besh”t said: When a Jew wakes up in the morning and runs to daven with a minyan, and then is busy working all day but still stops his work to run back to shul for Minchah, and he listens to a shiur on Ein Yaakov between Minchah and Maariv, and then repeats what he heard in the shiur to his sons... Hashem calls to all His angels and shows off the man that He made in opposition to their claims. He tells them, “An angel doesn’t have the burden of having to work for a living. It doesn’t have a wife or children to support. But a man has all these burdens but he still lives a life of Torah.” And describing how much Hashem loves Klal Yisroel brings about much good in this world.
