The Rizhiner told that during the lifetime of the holy Berditchever Rav when a Jew would leave his home, tallis and tefillin under arm, Rav Levi Yitzchak would raise his hands heavenward and beseech Hashem advocating for Klal Yisrael saying, “Ribbono Shel Olam – Master of the World – how can You have any complaints against Your Yidden? Here a Jew leaves behind all his affairs for You and goes to shul to daven!”
The holy Rizhiner added, “If the holy Berditchever would see a Jew going to shul nowadays he would say, ‘Here goes a Jew leaving behind his family home, struggling in poverty, with not a penny to his name, not a crumb or a morsel of bread in the house, and his heart full of fear that the snatchers not grab and steal his children to conscript them! Still, he goes to shul...’ And I” concluded the Rizhiner, “I say that nowadays any Jew who dons tallis and tefillin and goes to shul to daven, is just as important and chashuv as the Baal Shem Tov and my grandfather the Mezritcher Maggid were in their days!” (Beis Yisrael p. 15:28)
