After the petirah of his Rebbe, Rav Mendele of Rimanov zy”a, Rav Hirsch went to study under the Ropshitzer Rebbe zy”a. He then returned to Rimanov and was appointed to be Rav Mendele’s successor. The following story occurred during the early days of his leadership in Rimanov:
In the city of Kletzin, there lived a very wealthy man named R’ Hirsch Adar. This man had been married for many years but, sadly, had not been blessed with children. He had gone to many tzadikim to ask them to daven for him, but he still had not seen his salvation. When the Rimanover returned from Ropschitz, R’ Hirsch Adar was one of the first chasidim to give him a kvitel. When he did so, he asked the Rebbe to daven for him to have a child.
The Rebbe said to him, “Give me 100 gold coins. I do not need them for myself, but before you entered my house, there was a girl here with a kvitel that is still lying in front of me. She poured out her heart to me that she is an orphaned bride, and that because she lacked 100 gold coins for the dowry and the wedding expenses, the groom was about to break off the shidduch. If you give me 100 gold coins for her, I will bless you that your wife will have a son this year.”
The rich man immediately took 100 gold coins out of his pocket, and the Rebbe gave him his blessing. Indeed, that same year, a son was born to him.
Sefer Otzar Yisroel relates that the Rimanover was once with the Ropshiter Rebbe at a time when the Ropshitzer’s daughter was sick and in need of a yeshua. The Ropshitzer asked the “chavraya” to do something to help her.
The Rimanover said, “If you give such-and-such a sum as a pidyon (he mentioned a large amount), she will be saved.”
The chavraya was surprised that he would ask for such a large sum, but when the Ropshitzer heard this, he told his daughter, “If Rav Hirsch asked you for pidyon, give it immediately.”
She gave the money and she had a yeshua.
The same sefer relates that at the beginning of Rav Hirsch’s leadership, several tzadikim disagreed with his method of demanded a lot of money for a pidyon. A man once came to him to ask for a bracha for children. The Rebbe asked him for 18 gold coins, but the man was destitute and all his possessions combined weren’t worth 18 gold coins.
The Sanzer Rov was there at the time. He felt very bad for the man and told him that he would bless him for free. And, indeed, the man had a son. However, the boy was nifter after just a few weeks of life, as was his mother.
The Sanzer Rov later said that for the rest of his life, he regretted mixing into the Rimanover Rebbe’s business.
