B’Oholei Tzadikim
When One Doesn’t Go to the Rebbe on His Own, He is Taken by the Police:
My grandfather, the Kretchnifer Rebbe zy”a, related the following story involving a resident of the Marmorosh region who was a chasid of his grandfather, Rav Eliezer Zev of Kretchnif zy”a.
This man would travel to be with the Rebbe every yomtov, and he never missed such an opportunity. One year before Shavuos, his wife told him that she did not want him to go to the Rebbe for yomtov. She argued that she had the right to hear her own husband make Kiddush, just like all the neighbors, and she pressured him not to go. After much coercion, he agreed.
On Shavuos night, the police suddenly burst into his house and announced that he was under arrest. They grabbed him and led him out to the street as he cried that he was innocent and had committed no crime. They ignored him and said that they had orders to follow.
He succeeded in convincing them that he could not get onto a wagon on yomtov, so they led him by foot all night long. By the time morning arrived, they had reached the city of Sighet, where the police station was located. As they entered the station, the police commander told them that they had made a mistake and had brought the wrong man. He was then released.
The man went straight to the home of the Rebbe – which was then in Sighet – and asked him to explain what had happened to him. He told him with a smile, “If you don’t come to me on your own for Shavuos, you have to be brought here by the police!”
The Levels Reached by the Baal Shem Tov and Magid of Mezheritch on Shavuos:
The Riyatz of Lubavitch zy”a related the following (Kesser Shem Tov, Hosafos, Ois 235): The Magid of Mezheritch zy”a said, “When we were by the Rebbe (the Baal Shem Tov zy”a) for Shavuos, the Heavens opened and we saw the image of Hashem.”
The Baal Hatanya zy”a said, “When we were by the Rebbe (the Magid of Mezheritch) for Shavuos, throughout the entire yomtov ‘we saw it and felt it’.”
Rav Levi Yitzchok of Berditchov zy”a once gave a deep, lomdishe drasha, beginning with the pasuk (Yeshaya 19:1): “Behold Hashem is riding on a light cloud (av kal).” He then asked 72 questions (the numerical value of the word “av”) and gave 130 answers (the numerical value of the word “kal”). The Baal Hatanya wrote 400 pages of Torah about this, but he still said that it didn’t come close to what he witnessed by the Magid on Shavuos.
The Kabalas Hatorah of the Lechovitcher Rebbe:
Sefer M’Zekeinim Esbonen relates in the name of Rav Mordechai Chaim of Slonim zy”a that a group of chasidim of the Lechovitcher Rebbe zy”a once spent Shabbos with the Chozeh of Lublin zy”a, and the Chozeh saw that they weren’t as impressed with him as they were with their own Rebbe.
He turned to them and said, “What do you want from me? You want to experience Lechovitcher Shabbosim here? This year, the Lechovitcher Rebbe’s kabalas...
