He was one of the devoted and sharpest Chassidim of Ger. He had a permanent place at the house of prayer of the Chassidim of Ger in Dvart, which was full of extraordinary men of learning and Chassidim, both old and young, enthusiastic in their service to God. His limitless devotion to Chassidism was planted in his heart by his father, Rabbi Chaim Yitzchak, and by his grandfather, Rabbi Yisrael. And so he maintained this precious heritage in every aspect. From a very young age he would frequently visit the holy ambience to be found at the court of the Chassidic rebbe Rabbi Aryeh Leib of Ger, author of the S'fat Emet [The Language of Truth]. After the latter's death he accepted the authority of the Chassidic rebbe Rabbi Avraham Mordechai of Ger.
The rebbes of Ger had a deep love for this young and exceptional gaon. There were very few like him in his generation. At the same time, every word that came out of the mouth of the rebbe was like a law for him, and every demand or request an obligation for which he was prepared to go through fire and water to fulfill. Rabbi Meir Dan viewed Chassidism as an integral part of the obligations incumbent upon every Jew of recent generations. Only Chassidism would prevent deviations in thought and action in our bereft generations, assuming that Chassidism was directed by a true tzadik, a saint of Israel.
Every person needs some real submission, and not only of the heart. Just as prayer needs to be expressed with your mouth, so, too, every submission needs to be expressed in actions. A person who has no teacher, no rabbi, and does not submit to anyone only diminishes his own stature. No matter who he may be there is a higher power above him and God helps him, Rabbi Meir Dan posited. Thus, he viewed in Chassidism an activity which supplemented his study of Torah and good work, and without which everything is deficient. Later in his life, when he was on a mission in America, he was asked by one of the Mitnagdic rabbis, “A gaon like you, who has mastered every aspect of the Torah, why do you need to travel so much and why do you need to submit to the rebbe so much?” Rabbi Meir Dan replied, “We learn that ‘thunder was created in order to straighten out the crookedness of the heart’. This teaching seems surprising and incomprehensible. For a person who infuses into his heart much Torah, his work consists of prayer, fear and love of God, the fear of sin and adherence to the blessed Creator. Is he not yet able to rid the crookedness from his heart with the strength of his Torah and fear of God? Must he wait until a day of rain, thunder and lightning storms in order to be able to expel the crookedness?”
“From this analogy we understand,” Rabbi Meir Dan went on, “that this crookedness, which is the fertile source of all poison and bitterness, cannot be cured by the person himself. Rather he needs help. The Chassid does not wait until a stormy day. He travels to the rebbe, who guides and directs him and prunes the wild growths that envelop the heart and soul of a person. He learns to know submission, its nature and substance. He absorbs his rebbe's Torah and teachings like a pupil before his master. He learns from his manner, his conversation and his conduct of affairs. His Torah knowledge is not diminished thereby, but rather his stature is only straightened.”
In the year 5663 [1902–1903] Rabbi Meir Dan published his sefer, Chemdas Yisrael, to which some of the greatest rabbis of the generation gave their enthusiastic endorsements. Among them were his teacher, Rabbi Avraham of Sochachew, the Gaon Rabbi Chaim Soloveichik, chief of the rabbinical court in Brisk [Brest–Litovsk], the Gaon Rabbi Eliyahu Chaim Meisel, the rabbi of Lodz, and others. They adorned the rabbi–author with the greatest of titles, they crowned him as being an awesome gaon, a prince of the Torah. But Rabbi Meir Dan, in printing their endorsements, edited out all the compliments that were directed at him, but made do only with references to “the rabbi.”
