Taking Away Parnassah
It is a grave aveirah to take away someone's parnassah.
Once, Rebbe Yechiel of Alexander zt'l said to a man who was trying to take away the parnassah from a Rav, "I received from my Rebbes that when one takes away another person's parnassah, he is risking his own life." Rebbe Yechiel proved this to him from the pasuk (9:6), ישפך דמו באדם האדם דם שופך, "Whoever sheds the blood of man...his blood shall be shed." He explained that the pasuk is discussing taking away another person's parnassah, for this aveirah, ישפך דמו, his own blood is shed.
Rebbe Yechiel read the pasuk with him and had him repeat each word with the translation. The chassid was afraid, and he promised that he wouldn’t attempt anymore to have the Rav fired and to cause him to lose his parnassah. But when he returned home, his friends convinced him to continue his machlokes and to try to have the Rav removed from his position. He took some action that could lead towards dismissing the Rav, and then he immediately began spitting up blood. He spit up blood until he died. It was as Rebbe Yechiel of Alexander had told him. When one takes away someone's parnassah, he is risking his own life.
There was a Rav of a certain community who had paskened incorrectly on some halachic matter. People who wanted to see this Rav fired sent a letter to Reb Yitzchak Elchanan Spector zt"l, the Rav of Kovno, and they wrote to him the psak that the Rav of their town had reached. They figured that Reb Yitzchak Elchanan would berate the Rav for paskening incorrectly, and then they would publicize the Kovno Rav's letter, so everyone would agree to remove their Rav. Reb Yitzchak Elchanan understood what they were attempting to do, so he sent back a telegram with praises for their Rav, and he also praised the psak that he gave, saying that it was the correct conclusion!
The people who sent the telegram were shocked. There was a Shach (a primary posek in Shulchan Aruch) who ruled differently. Had the Kovno Rav forgotten the Shach, just as their Rav had?
A few hours later another telegram arrived. It said, "I retract my previous psak because I just realized that the Shach says differently..." In this manner, Reb Yitzchak Elchanan showed the town that he respected the Rav, and that it wasn't so terrible if their Rav had forgotten a Shach. Even Reb Yitzchak Elchanan, from the gedolei hador, forgot the Shach, initially. And with his second telegram, he made certain that the Torah law was upheld.
Dedication to Torah
Reb Yitzchak Elchonon Spector hardly slept because he wanted to study Torah as much as possible. Someone asked him, "Doesn’t the Rambam say that one should sleep eight hours a night?" He answered, "I was up many nights to answer and explain this Rambam as well."
He battled against the maskilim (followers of the Enlightenment movement). There was another person who worked with him in this battle. However, this person wasn't interested in battling the maskilim; he simply enjoyed the excitement and the challenge involved. Reb Yitzchak Elchanan asked him, “Do you know the difference between us? It can be compared to homeowners and cats. They both hate mice. The difference is that homeowners don’t want to see the mice at all, while cats hope to find and catch them."
