The father of the holy Rebbe Naftali of Ropshitz would sign his letters with his name and the title, "Ohev Yisrael" - "lover of the Jewish people."
One time, when he was about to sign in his customary way, the pen fell from his hand. When he picked it up and tried to sign again, the pen fell again. The Rabbe realized that this wasn't by accident, and that Heaven was preventing him from signing. He burst into bitter tears and said, "Oy, the good trait that I crowned myself with, the attribute of ahavat Yisrael (love of a fellow Jew), was taken from me. What did I do wrong? Did I insult someone and is this my punishment?"
The Rebbe thought through everything that had happened that day, but did not find anything amiss. He called his family members and asked them, "Did I insult anybody unwittingly?"
The family remembered that in the morning, a coarse man wearing a peasant cap had come to the door, and he wasn't allowed to enter. The man was insulted and left.
The Rebbe immediately told his aides to go and find the man. The aides searched the town but did not find him. They looked in inns and hostels, but he was nowhere to be found. They asked passersby, but nobody knew where the man was. Finally, someone said he saw the man enter a place of sin. They went there and found him.
The aides told him to hurry, for the Rebbe wanted him, but the man refused to go with them. They grabbed him and brought him to the Rebbe, and told the Rebbe where they had found him.
The Rebbe acted as though he didn't hear what they said, and greeted the man warmly. He asked the man's pardon for insulting him, and then he asked his household to prepare a nice meal for the guest.
When the man saw how much the Rebbe honored him, he regretted his actions and became a penitent. It was only after the man departed that the Rebbe explained why he had given the man such honor.
"In the Days of Moshiach there will be Jews who do not want to greet Moshiach, and will stay where they are. Ultimately, the gentiles will take these Jews and carry them to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.
"Who will these Jews be? These Jews will be sinners who have sunk to the 49th level of impurity, who will be brought as a gift to Moshiach. And we insulted such a gift! That is why it was so important to appease and honor him."
(U'meivi Goel)
