The residents of Kaliv once went to ask the Rebbe whom they should choose to serve as the chazan for the Yomim Noraim. He told them, “I will teach you how to choose a baal tefillah by telling you a story that happened to me.”
He proceeded to relate:
I once came to a certain city close to Minchah time. I was very hungry and I saw that the residents of the city were preparing a seudah for after Maariv. I thought that I would wait until after Maariv and then eat with them. When the tzibur davened Maariv, they spent a very long time on the tefillah of Ahavas Olam. For two full hours they recited this prayer with utmost devotion and warmth. After davening, I asked them why they spent so much time on Ahavas Olam. They told me that my question would be answered during the seudah.
During the festive meal, they began to read the following story from the chronicles of the city:
Many years ago, the local government issued a decree to massacre all of the Jewish residents. There was one noblewoman who liked the Jews. She secretly went to the home of the Rosh Hakahal and warned him about the decree. Of course, the Jews engaged in much prayer and fasting. However, the shamash of the city, who was a wise and learned man, said, “The decree has not been annulled. I will tell you the reason for the decree. It is because the chazan for the Yomim Noraim was a sinful, decadent man. The way to cancel the decree is to do the Yomim Noraim over again. Therefore, we have to go back and start the month of Elul once more.”
This occurred in the middle of the winter. With no other choice, the Jews began to do teshuva again, as if it were the beginning on Elul. They may have even said Selichos again (which was permitted due to the danger). They then observed Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur again. The baal tefillah was the shamash, who was a great man. On “Yom Kippur”, every man, woman and child gathered in the shul. This very day was the one that the gentiles planned to murder every Jew, and they surrounded the bais knesses as the Jews prayed with devotion. When the davening ended, the shamash announced, “The decree has been rescinded.”
At that moment, every gentile outside the shul went insane and they began to kill each other – and the Jews were left in peace. When the Jews saw that they had been saved, they rose to daven Maariv with much joy. They were going to daven quickly, as is usually done at the end of a fast day, but the shamash said, “Don’t daven quickly. After such a Yom Kippur, you have to daven Maariv with kavanah!”
The shamash again served as the chazan and, when he reached Ahavas Olam, everyone was overcome with d’veikus, and this tefillah took two full hours.
The Jews of the town then accepted to celebrate this day every year by reciting Ahavas Olam slowly and with devotion, and to then hold a festive seudah to commemorate the miracle.
The Kaliver Rebbe concluded, “You can see from this story how important it is to have a proper chazan for the Yomim Noraim!”
Tevilah for Shabbos in Tzefas:
Rav Mordechai Chaim of Slonim zy”a (quoted in Sefer Kovetz Eliyahu) said in the name of “a certain chasid from Tzefas” that the Kaliver Rebbe would immerse every Friday in the town’s mikvah in Tzefas. (He would go there from Kaliv through miraculous ways.) One week, he took along with him his shamash and right-hand man, R’ Yaakov Fisch zt”l, but he forgot to take him back with him.
When Rav Yaakov emerged from the mikvah, he saw Jewish men dressed in white Shabbos clothing, as is the custom in Eretz Yisroel. He was very confused and asked where he was, and he was told that he was in Tzefas. He had no idea how he had gotten there and he was very confused.
On Motzoei Shabbos, he met the Kaliver Rebbe in the street and the Rebbe told him, “I forgot to bring you back from Tzefas. Let’s go now.”
And he took him back to Kaliv.
And the Fire Subsided:
The Kaliver Rebbe once spent Shabbos in a certain village. During Kabalas Shabbos, people began to scream that a fire had broken out in the silo of his host. The host wanted to run to save his grain, but the Rebbe grabbed his hand and said, “Stay here. I want to tell you a story.”
He related, “The Rebbe Rav Zushe zy”a was once saying Tehillim with much enthusiasm before Kabalas Shabbos. He suddenly heard people screaming that his house was on fire. They yelled, ‘Zushe, it is burning!’ He did not respond and he kept saying Tehillim. After the people yelled at him a few more times, he said, ‘So what if it is burning? It is stated: ‘Vatishkah ha’eish.’ And the fire will subside.”
As soon as the Kaliver Rebbe said these words, they could see that the fire had extinguished itself.
Finding Leniency:
A shailoh on a chicken was once brought to the Kaliver Rebbe. He told his student, Rav Shaul, the son of the Chozeh of Lublin zy”a, “Look into this shailoh. The man who brought the chicken is very poor and needs it for Shabbos.”
Rav Shaul picked up the chicken and, without any inspection, said, “It is kosher.”
The Rebbe asked him, “How can you say it is kosher without inspecting it?”
He replied, “From the Rebbe’s words, I was certain that it must be kosher.”
The Rebbe said, “You are correct. You ruled correctly!”
He then related that a renowned tzadik, who also had a very pleasant voice, once was nifter. When he ascended to the World of Truth, they honored him with serving as chazan for Kabalas Shabbos. However, a woman stepped forward holding a chicken and said, “I once brought a shailoh on this chicken to this Rov and he did not want to spend time to find a leniency. He ruled that it is treif and I had no meat for Shabbos. If he had taken the time, he could have found a heter.”
The Heavenly Court ruled that since he denied a woman of her joy on Shabbos, he could not serve as the chazan for Kabalas Shabbos.
“Therefore,” the Rebbe said, “it was good that you ruled that the chicken is kosher.”
The Be’er of Miriam:
One erev Yom Kippur, right before Kol Nidrei, the Kaliver Rebbe called to his shamash, Rav Yaakov Fisch, and said, “Prepare the carriage and let’s go for a short ride.”
All of the men were already in shul, wrapped in their taleisim and tearfully reciting Tefilas Zakah. Rav Yaakov was very surprised by this request, but he did not say anything. He got the horses and carriage and the two of them rode to the outskirts of the city, where Rav Yaakov owned a field. They came to a small brook on Rav Yaakov’s property, and the Rebbe hurriedly removed his clothes and immersed in the water several times. He then put his clothes back on and they quickly drove back to the bais knesses, where the Rebbe went to the amud to lead the tefillos.
Rav Yaakov had never seen this brook on his property before and he had no idea how it had suddenly appeared. On Motzoei Yom Kippur, he went back to the place where it had been, but it was gone. He ran to the Rebbe and said, “Rebbe, I have never asked questions on you before but I have to know what this brook was.”
The Rebbe answered, “It is a shame that you weren’t toivel. This was the be’er of Miriam. It was passing by that spot, so I ran to immerse in it!”
Cleaning Neshamos:
The Rachmastrivke Rebbe of Yerushalaim shlita related that a group of the Kaliver Rebbe’s chasidim who lived in the city of Nanash, Hungary, once asked him, “Who should we accept as our Rebbe after you leave this world?”
He answered. “If you find a Rebbe who is able to take the soul of a man who wants to do teshuva and clean it until it is spotless, and then returns it to him, that is the man you should accept as your Rebbe.”
After the Kaliver Rebbe’s petirah, they went in search of a Rebbe. They came to the Ropshitzer Rebbe zy”a and saw a sinful man approach him and list all of his sins. The Rophshitzer Rebbe told him, “What did Hashem do wrong to you? Why did you do all of this to Him?”
When the man heard these harsh words, he fainted. When the chasidim from Nanash saw this amazing sight, they smiled. The Ropshitzer said to them, “Is it nice to smile when a Jew faints?”
They told him about how their Rebbe had told them to find a Rebbe who cleans neshamos, and they had now found the Rebbe he had described.
May the memory of the tzadik be a blessing for all of Klal Yisroel.
