Once, two of the Rebbe Rashab’s closest Chasidim, Rabbi Yitzchak Yoel Rafalovitch and Reb Shmuel Gurary, were sitting and talking over a cup of tea in the foyer in front of the Rebbe’s study.
Reb Yitzchak Yoel was a Rav in the central industrial city Kremenchug in Ukraine, and Reb Shmuel, a wealthy cigarette manufacturer from the same city, was known as the Rebbe’s g’vir (philanthropist), as he financially supported many of the Rebbe’s institutions.
Within their discussion on topics of Torah and Chassidus, they started debating whether when the time comes to daven mincha and one desires to drink a cup of tea, should you first daven, or is one permitted to have the tea first, and then daven mincha?
Suddenly, the Rebbe walked out of his study, and while passing them, the Rebbe commented: “if one wishes to drink tea with peace of mind, then he should daven mincha first. However, if one desires to daven mincha with peace of mind, then it’s okay to drink a cup of tea beforehand!”
Translated from L’Sheima Ozen by Rabbi Schneur Zalman, a”h, Duchman; reprinted from Beis Moshiach
