The Chakal Yitzchok of Spinka related, “The Rebbe Reb Melech once entered the kitchen and observed a baby being nursed by his mother. The child acted as all infants do, kicking and hitting his mother and generally striking out with his limbs with wanton abandon. The Rebbe chuckled and admonished the baby, “No, no, my child – don’t you know the Torah forbids striking and hitting a parent?!”
The Rebbe Elimelech’s mother was also present and she was very amused. “Don’t you realize that all babies behave this way? Why do you think you were any different?” she challenged him.
Hearing this the Rebbe was greatly troubled. He quickly went over to the stove where the flames were merrily crackling beneath a pot cooking something suspended above the fire. “The hand that sinned shall be burned!” declared the Rebbe, aflame with emotion to atone for his infantile misdeeds and childish misdemeanors, and, to the horror of all present, the Rebbe Elimelech burned his hands in the fire!
Later, when a miracle occurred and his hands healed, returning to their original state, the Rebbe would display a hand to the Chassidim and say, “See this hand? I wasn’t born with it – it grew back miraculously through Hashem’s mercy and kindness!” (Introduction of Chakal Yitzchok to Imrei Yosef Spinka on Shemos. See also Divrei Chaim Sanz, Parshas Ki Savo p. 275)
