The gabbai decided to reveal what had occurred right away, and he would accept whatever happened to him. He gathered all of the city’s residents and revealed how much the Maharsha’s mesrias nefesh for Torah was valued in Shomayim. He said that the proof of this would be that he would soon pass away. And so it was.
Remembering the Day of Death:
Rav Meir of Premishlan zy”a (quoted by Sefer Pardes Yosef) stated that this pasuk contains a hint to the end of a person’s life. It can be read as follows: “He shall take off his clothing” – there will come a day when a person has to remove his earthly clothes, meaning that he will die. “And he shall put on other clothes” – he will put on his burial shrouds. “And he shall take the ashes to the outside of the camp to a pure place” – his body will be taken to a pure place, i.e., the cemetery. It will then ascend to Heaven, where the person will be judged and may be forced to go to the fires of Gehenim... “And the fire of the Mizbeach will burn...”
Removing and Putting on ”Clothes”:
Rav Dovid Tzvi Chai zt”l, Rov of Chernigov, was a chasid of Rav Shmuel of Lubavitch zy”a (son of the Tzemach Tzedek zy”a), and he would often travel to meet with his Rebbe. One time, the Rebbe’s time of “yechidus” (private meetings) was taking very long. Rav Dovid Tzvi Chai, who had an important question to ask the Rebbe but had to return home that night, went into the room next door to the Rebbe’s room to wait for him to come out.
As he sat there, the Rebbe’s shamash came out. He had brought the Rebbe a fresh garment because the one he was wearing had become soaked with sweat. He asked the Rov, “Perhaps you know why the Rebbe is sweating so much? He was in yechidus for just one hour, but his garment is soaked through with perspiration!”
The Rov staid quiet and the shamash said again, “Why is he sweating so much?”
Suddenly, the door to the Rebbe’s room opened and the Rebbe appeared. He looked at his shamash and said, “I am dismissing you from your job. I will still pay you the full amount but you should go home now. Every week, I will send you your wages.”
He continued to say, “Why don’t you understand why I am sweating? Over the past hour, I had private meetings with 25 people. In order to give each person an appropriate answer to their question, I have to literally feel their pain. To do this, I have to remove my own clothing and put on theirs, so to speak. But when I have to give them an answer, I have to take their clothes back off because a person can’t give himself proper advice as he has too much personal bias. Therefore, I have to remove their clothes and put mine back on. This means that each time I am asked a question, I have to change my clothes twice. I had to that 25 times in an hour. Is it any wonder that I perspired so much?”
Clearing Room in One’s Heart for Avodas Hashem:
Sefer Ohel Yaakov explains this pasuk by saying that when the Torah says to remove one’s clothes, it is teaching us that one must shake off all of the frivolities of this world and then to allow kedusha to enter his heart. He explains with a moshol: A simple villager traveled to a large city for business, and he succeeded in earning a nice amount of money. He wanted to return home dressed like a wealthy man, so he went to a tailor shop that sold expensive garments and picked out a fancy suit. However, when he tried to put it on, it would not cover his entire body. He turned to the proprietor and asked him why he had given him a suit that was too small. The man laughed and said, “The suit is exactly your size. The problem is that you are still wearing your old clothes. Before you put on the new fancy suit, you have to take off your old, worn-out clothes.”
So too, Hashem tells us to get rid of our old, mundane thoughts, and to sanctify ourselves with pure, holy thoughts. But when a person finds it hard to do this, he complains to Hashem and says that He is asking him to do something impossible. The truth is, however, that Hashem is not commanding us to do anything we can’t do. But if we want to accept to live a sanctified life, we first must remove our “old clothing”, meaning that we must get rid of our old, unsanctified way of life. We must first clear out our minds and hearts of frivolous thoughts, and we can then fill them with holy, sanctified thoughts.
Seeing Hashem’s Kindness in Times of Difficulty:
The concept of a Korban Todah can be explained with a moshol: There was a man who raised an orphan in his home and took care of all his needs. Over time, the orphan came to feel completely at home in his benefactor’s house. He considered it like his own home, and he didn’t feel like he was the recipient of chesed for all those years.
One day, a poor man came to the door, and the homeowner gave him a nice donation. The man showered him with blessings before leaving. The man’s wife then asked, “We did this man one favor and he thanked us so much. Why is it that the orphan whom we raised in our home and took care of for so many years never thanks us?”
Her husband replied, “I know how to get him to thank us!”
He called the orphan over and said, “We took care of you until now and I am very thankful to Hashem for granting us the opportunity to do this great mitzvah. You are now an adult and you can take care of yourself. The time has come for you to leave our home and to become independent.”
The orphan was shocked to hear this, but he was forced to go out on his own and to try to support himself. However, he was not successful and he fell into poverty.
The homeowner saw this and accepted him back into his home. From then on, the orphan understood that he must be grateful to him. He knew that his benefactor didn’t have to support him, and he was only doing it out of the goodness of his heart. Therefore, he must express his appreciation to him.
The nimshol is that Hashem provides much chesed to every living being. He does so on a constant basis, which can cause a person to take it for granted and to fail to recognize that he must thank Hashem for all of His kindness. However, when a person faces a serious challenge, such as an illness, he comes to realize that his entire life is a gift from Hashem and that he is obligated to thank Him for every breath he takes. By sending a time of difficulty, Hashem reminds the individual that he must thank Him. Therefore, it is certain that if one constantly thanks Hashem for his constant chesed, he will not need to undergo pain and suffering.
Serving Hashem Even When One Cannot Understand His Ways:
It is related that the renowned chasid, Rav Gad’l Eisner zt”l, once met one of his close friends from the pre-war days. He was very happy to see him and asked how he was doing. His friend replied, “I am no longer the same person I was before.”
The cold, distant look on his face indicated that he had changed his name and way of life. He had been unable to withstand the unbearable challenges of the war years and had left the path of Torah and mitzvos.
Rav Gad’l tried to reach him by saying, “Who taught you to talk like this? Was it Hitler, yemach shemo?”
The man started to cry and said, “I lost my father and mother and my entire family. How am I supposed to understand this? How can I go on?”
Rav Gad’l allowed him to cry his heart out. After a few minutes, he began to comfort him and he said, “Do you understand how everything works? Do you understand, for example, how a radio works? Did you ever figure out how it’s possible that a person can talk in America and his voice can be heard in Warsaw? Although you don’t understand how it works, you still use it. That means that you can do something even if you don’t understand how it works. Therefore, you can serve Hashem even if you don’t understand how His plan works...”
Rav Gad’l did not see this man for years after this incident and he had no idea what happened to him. After he moved to Eretz Yisroel, he was once walking in Tel Aviv when a frum man riding a motorbike called to him, “Rav Gad’’! Rav Gad’l!”
The man whom he didn’t recognize told him, “Come with me. Get into the sidecar of the motorcycle.”
Rav Gad’l said that he didn’t even know how to get into such a low seat, and the man replied, “So what if you don’t understand. Do you understand how a radio works?”
Rav Gad’l suddenly recognized the man and was overjoyed to see that the words he had told him years earlier had such a profound effect and had brought him back to Torah and mitzvos. When Rav Gad’l told over this story, he was ecstatic that this Jew had turned his life around and had raised a frum family.
Until Now...And It Will Not Cease:
Sefer Zichron Tzadik related that the Bais Avrohom of Slonim zy”a once went to visit a sick man, whom he tried to encourage with his words. When he saw that the man was still feeling sad, he said, “Do you believe that Hashem has helped you until now (‘ad heina’)? So why can’t you believe that He will continue to help you (v’al titsheniu’)?”
These words succeeded in encouraging the man.
Every Penny is Decreed From Heaven:
The Kozhiglover Rov zt”l (Sefer Eretz Tzvi, Parshas Vayeitzei) writes the following astounding words regarding having emunah in Hashem at all times:
“Believing in hashgacha pratis is a mitzvas asei of ‘Anochi Hashem Elokecha’. One must believe that Hashem guides every detail of this world and no one can take for himself any drop of pleasure or honor that was not decreed for him on Rosh Hashanah. One cannot even take pleasure from a sin on his own – only if it was decreed that he would have this pleasure. If he had not done the sin, he would have gotten this pleasure is a permitted way. Thus, he used his free will to derive this pleasure from an aveirah instead.
“It is related that the Vorka Rebbe zy”a once collected money to purchase shoes for his shamash. He did this without the shamash’s knowledge. After he raised enough money to buy the shoes, the shamash stole it from him. The Rebbe told him, ‘You are so foolish! If you had waited a short while, you would have gotten the money in a permitted manner.’ We can learn from this story that even a thief cannot steal anything that wasn’t decreed for him to get. If he would have a bit of patience, he would get the money without committing a sin.”
The Poritz’s Salvation:
The following incredible story is related by Sefer Sichas Chaim (page 22):
The Rov of Ostilla had a daughter of marriageable age, but he didn’t have any money to marry her off. He decided to travel abroad to collect the money. Before setting off, he went to speak to Rav Meir of Premishlan zy”a. As soon as Rav Meir shook his hand, he asked, “Who are you?”
The man humbly answered, “I am the son of the Rov of Ostilla.” He meant to say that he was the son of the previous Rov of Ostilla. Rav Meir replied in a stern voice, “Ben Yitzhar, ben Kehas, ben Levi... But who are you?”
The man then answered, “I am also the Rov of Ostilla.”
Rav Meir asked, “What can I do for you?”
The Rov answered, “I need money to marry off my daughter.”
Rav Meir then raised his voice and yelled, “Does Meir have money? Meir has no money! The Poritz who lives nearby has money. Go to him!”
The Rov asked Rav Meir to at least be allowed to stay until after Minchah but Rav Meir screamed, “No! You can’t even daven Minchah with me.”
He ended up davening Minchah on the wagon as he traveled to the closest village to Premishlan.
When he got to the village, he heard the sound of crying. He sent his attendant to see what the matter was. The attendant was told that the Poritz’s wife was undergoing a difficult childbirth and the doctors had given up hope for her. The attendant went to the Poritz and said, “A great rabbi who is a miracle worker has just arrived in town. If you ask him to pray for you, I am certain that you will receive a salvation.”
The Poritz ran to the wagon and asked the Rov of Ostilla to pray for him. The Rov said, “You will have to pay me 300 gold coins for this. If you give me that amount, I guarantee you that she will give birth soon and both mother and baby will be healthy.”
The Poritz agreed and the Rov began to daven Maariv. He prayed excessively to Hashem and, as soon as he finished, he heard the news that a baby boy had been born and everything was fine.
The Poritz kept his word and gave the Rov 300 gold coins. The story spread and it became known that the Rov of Ostilla could perform wonders. People began to flock to him with kvitlach and money for pidyonos, and he easily collected enough to marry off his daughter. He now understood Rav Meir’s insistence that he leave immediately. He quickly went back to Premishlan to thank Rav Meir. This time, Rav Meir greeted him warmly and was overjoyed to see him.
