By Yehuda Z Klitnick
The two heilige brothers, Rebbe Reb Elimelech of Lizensk, and Rebbe Reb Zusha of Honipoli, were also talmidim of the Magid of Mezritch. They traveled all around Europe in -exile- golus. Their main goal was to bring back people to teshuvah, to heed the Mitzvohs, and become G-d fearing people. They too didn’t go around talking to people day and night, rebuking them about their aveiros, and explaining to them that they must do teshuvah. Instead, they sat down for a few days in a town or village, and spent the time serving Hashem with their heilige avodah.
Through this avodah, they ushered a spirit of purity, into the hearts of all Yidden in that area until everyone in town did teshuvah. Harav Hakadosh Reb Avrohom Chayim of Zlotchuv writes in his sefer Mevaser Tzedek (Parshas Toldos):
Influencing Jews to Do Teshuvah
“I have heard in the name of Reb Zusha of Honipoli that when he wanted to bring back a man to good, he would fast, and otherwise cause pain to himself, and enter into a state of dveikus, deep, trance-like meditative state. He would continue to do this until he had influenced the man to do teshuvah.”
The Rebbe Harashab of Lubavitch told the following story. Once, the two heilige brothers arrived at an inn somewhere. The owner of the inn was an eighty-year-old man. Reb Zusha began to talk to himself, saying, “I have lived eighty years and never put on Tefillin!”
When the innkeeper heard this, he realized with a shock that in all his eighty years of life he had never had his Tefillin checked. He had the same pair of Tefillin that he had received at his bar mitzvah, and he had worn them every weekday in all those years, but he had never had them checked.
So, he gave his Tefillin to a sofer to have them checked. The sofer found the Tefillin posul. In fact, they were not Tefillin at all. Instead of the parshios inside, there were small pieces of wood!
The two heilige brothers decided they would stay and write new parshios for the Tefillin themselves. They put so much kedushah into the parshios that in the future when the Yid puts on these Tefillin he would rectify everything he had missed all the years he had failed to put on Tefillin.
The old Yid was able to put on the Tefillin once, as he was niftar that same day! A short time later, the Barditchiver Rov, Rabbi Levi Yitzchok, came to that same city without his Talis and Tefillin. He didn’t want to daven in a borrowed Talis and Tefillin. So, he bought a new Talis and tied the Tzitzis on to them himself.
Looking to Buy a Pair of Tefillin
He went looking to buy Tefillin. In that town there was the custom that when a Yid was niftar, his heirs would give away his Tefillin to the chevra kadisha. It so happened that day, that they had several pairs of Tefillin they planned to sell at an auction. So, the chevra kadisha told the Barditchiver Rov that they have several pairs of Tefillin to sell. He could choose any pair, and pay as much as he wants for it.
When the Barditchiver Rov opened the box, his eye fell on one pair of Tefillin that he liked very much, and he grabbed it and took it for himself. When he asked the chevra kadisha how much he needed to pay for the Tefillin, they told him to rather offer a price, and wait to see if anyone offers more than his bid.
Reb Levi Yitzchok had no choice and offered a price, and waited for others to offer another price. When someone offered a low price, the Barditchiver Rov offered a very high price of 300 ruble. When the Gabbay saw that the Barditchiver Rov really wanted that pair of Tefillin, he said to him, “I see the Rebbe wants that pair of Tefillin, so we will give them to the Rebbe for free, on condition that the Rebbe tells us the story behind that pair of Tefillin.”
The Barditchiver Rov told them how Rebbe Elimelech and Reb Zusha wrote the Tefillin for the innkeeper with great kavanos. When the old man was niftar, the people involved with the body were completely unaware of the importance of the Tefillin, and gave them away to the chevra kadisha.
“These very Tefillin they wrote for the innkeeper” finished the Barditchiver Rov. The chevra kadisha gave away the Tefillin as a gift, and the Barditchiver Rov was grateful that Hashem sent him such a helige pair of Tefillin. The Rov cherished the Tefillin, and saw the Hashgacha Pratis, that such heilige Tefillin ended up in the right hands.
Reprinted from the Parshas Eikev 5785 email of Pardes Yehuda.
