א' אייר יומא דהילולא של רבי מענדל מוויטעבסק
1 Iyar marks the yahrzeit of Rebbe Mendel of Vitebsk, one of the primary students of the Maggid of Mezerich. Here, we bring teachings and vignettes from the Rebbe to illuminate our way in avodas Hashem.
The Midnight Meal
The holy Baba Sali (Rav Yisrael Abuchatzeira) had the custom to conduct a seudah every year on the hillula of Rebbe Mendele. One year, during the last years of Baba Sali, when he was old, weak, and bedridden, the people of his household prepared a festive meal, as they did every year, but seeing the condition of the tzaddik, they ate without him.
In the middle of the night, Baba Sali awoke and asked his family why they hadn’t conducted the seudah. They explained that they did indeed have a seudah, but that he was too weak to join them. The Baba Sali said, “It’s true that I am very weak, but Rebbe Mendele himself came to me in a dream and said that he refuses to forgo the seudah.”
Baba Sali instructed his people to wake the neighbors and have them join him for a seudah. While the seudah every year featured 30-40 people, this time, there was barely a minyan. The tzaddik sat, deep in thought, and suddenly raised his head and instructed his attendants to prepare food for a few dozen people.
Within a short time, a busload of chasssidishe yungeleit pulled up outside the Netivot home of Baba Sali, and the men filed into the home to join the seudas hillula. The men were on the way from Be’er Sheva...
