The Avnei Nezer of Sochatchov allowed his talmid to thank another Rebbe on one condition
Hagaon Rav Moshe Nosson Kahana Shapiro the Rav of Ksiāz, or Kshoinz fpeywnear Kielz, Poland. He was a Talmid of the Avnei Nezer, Harav Hatzaddik Reb Avrohom Borenstein of Sochatchov. He was the brother-in-law of Hagaon Rav Yoav Yehoshua Weingarten, the Chelkas Yoav. The two of them used to travel quite often to Sochatchov, to study Torah. There they would forget about the whole world and spend their their time engrossed and embroiled in discussing the Rebbe’s Torah and his chiddushim.
Rav Moshe Nosson had a daughter who could not walk or stand on her feet. Doctors could not heal her. When she was eight years old, the Rebbetzin kept asking her husband to mention their daughter’s plight to their rebbe, and get him to bring a refuah for her feet. He would tell her he would do it, but whenever he returned home he would tell her, “What should I do? When I come to the rebbe I forget entirely about myself and my children. I never remember to mention the child.”
There was a big tzaddik in the city of Radoshitz named Harav Reb Hillel. He was a son-in-law of the tzaddik Harav Reb Yisachar Ber of Radoshitz. One of the neighbors told Rebbetzin, “Why don’t you travel to Radoshitz? It isn’t very far away. You can mention your daughter to the Radoshitzer Rebbe yourself. They say that he has accomplished great yeshuos for Yidden!”
The Rebbetzin mentioned it to her husband to go with her to Radoshitz, since it wasn’t far. The Rav answered “I have one Rebbe, but I don’t object to your going”. “If that’s so,” said the rebbetzin, “mention our child to the rebbe!” She decided that the next time her husband traveled to Sochatchov, she would travel to Radoshitz and would mention her daughter to the Rebbe there. The rebbetzin traveled to Radoshitz, and immediately went to Reb Hillel and told him her problem. Reb Hillel asked her, “What route did you take to get here?” She told him the way she had come, which was the closest and shortest route from Kshoinz. “When you travel back home,” said Reb Hillel to her, “go a different way.” And he showed her a way to travel home that was the longest way possible. It went around other cities and towns, and was roughly four times longer than the way she had come. “When you reach your home, your child will begin to walk!” finished the Rebbe.
The rebbetzin wondered why the Radoshitzer had given her this extra burden of traveling such a far distance. She decided to travel home by the shorter way. When she arrived home, she saw no difference in her daughter. And when her husband arrived home, she saw no difference in the child either. And as she had expected, her husband had once again forgotten to ask his rebbe for a yeshuah for their daughter.
A few months passed, and her neighbor asked her what the tzaddik had said to her. She told the neighbor that the rebbe had told her to travel home by a very long route, and had guaranteed her that when she arrived home she would find her daughter walking. “But, as you can see, the problem has not changed in any way,” she said. “Did you obey what the tzaddik told you to do?” asked the neighbor. The rebbetzin replied, “I didn’t feel like traveling such a long way. Said the neighbor, “You travel to a tzaddik and then you don’t obey his instructions? You can’t expect his bracha to help you then. Travel there again, and this time obey what the tzaddik told you to do. Then you’ll be helped.” The next time the Kshoinzer Rebbe and his brother-in-law went to Sochatchov, the rebbetzin saw her opportunity to try again. She traveled to Radoshitz and once again told Reb Hillel her problem, and Reb Hillel once again instructed her to go home by the other route. He described it in detail to her, once again. This time the rebbetzin obeyed. When the rebbetzin arrived home, her daughter came running to greet her, running on her own feet! The entire family was amazed at this. When the Rav returned from Sochatchov, his daughter also ran towards him as he came close to home. The rebbetzin told him where she had gone and what the Radoshitzer had told her to do. “And now, you see we have been helped! But now we have an obligation to travel together to the tzaddik in Radoshitz and thank him for it.”
I will go back to Sochatchov, to my rebbe, and I will ask him if he gives me permission to travel to Radoshitz. The Rav told his brother-in-law the entire story and his reason for traveling now to the Rebbe. “If so,” said the Chelkas Yoav, “I’m going with you. I want to hear what the Rebbe will say.”
When they arrived, the Kshoinzer Rav told their rebbe why they had come, and asked him whether he needed to travel to Radoshitz and thank the Radoshitzer. And if he did, did the Rebbe give him permission to do so. Answered the Rebbe to him, “I am right now deep into trying to figure out a difficult Tosfos in Maseches Avodah Zarah. The Tosfos is very difficult, and for a while now I have not been able to answer my questions on the Tosfos. If the Radoshitzer Rebbe can explain the Tosfos, then you should thank him. Because miracles don’t impress me. Let’s see where he is when it comes to learning.” They traveled to Radoshitz, and as soon as they arrived, Reb Hillel came out to meet them. Before they even had a chance to speak, Reb Hillel said to them, “Your rebbe finds the Tosfos in Avodah Zarah difficult. So let’s go and take a gemara and learn the Tosfos together.” Reb Hillel explained the Tosfos to them, to their great amazement and were pleased when they heard the correct p’shat in the Tosfos. The Kshoinzer Rav, after hearing the p’shat, said, “I have come to thank the Rebbe for the favor he did with my child. We are returning to our rebbe to tell him the p’shat.” Then he and his brother-in-law left. The greatness that they saw in Radoshitz, did not cause the two gedolim to stay even one extra minute in Radoshitz. They said “thank you,” and that was enough. Their emunah in their rebbe, the Sochatchover, was so great and strong that they knew they had no permission for anything beyond saying “thank you,” should he explain the Tosfos. And that’s how the Kshoinzer Rav ended the story in his manuscript. This manuscript is still in the hands of the family. He authored a commentary on Tehilim called Shemen Lamaor.
