Reward For Walking:
The following is related in Sefer Shomer Emunim (Maamar S’char V’Onesh, Perek 7): An elderly man told me that Rav Aharon of Chernobyl once received a telegram from a chasid who was in need of a salvation. The Rebbe asked for a bracha for a refuah to be sent back to him; however, the chasidim understood from the response that all hope was lost and that the decree had already been sealed.
They were gathered around the man’s bed, waiting for his neshama to leave his body, when he suddenly woke up and began to cry and scream. He told the people standing around him that an angel had appeared to him carrying in one hand a golden apple, with many shiny gems hanging from it, and, in his other hand, he was holding an idol. He said, “If you bow down to this idol, I will give you this apple, and also revive and heal you.” He was so convincing that the man almost agreed.
Suddenly, the Rebbe of Chernobyl appeared and began to yell at the angel. He said, ‘What do you want from this man? You have no permission to seduce him!” The angel disappeared and the man was returned to this world. The man’s mother traveled to the Rebbe to tell him what happened and he said, “Of course, I will never let one of my people leave this world until I rectify him with the tikkun he needs!”
The Rebbe used this episode to explain the Mishnah (Avos 5:14) that says: “If one walks (to a bais medrash) and does not learn, he has the reward for walking in his hand.” He explained that when one goes to a tzadik but does not do anything – meaning that he doesn’t feel like he gained anything – he still has the reward of going “in his hand” – meaning that he is in the hands of the tzadik, who must do all he can to help him.
