The Ahavat Shalom: The Wheel of Fortune
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Hager of Kosov was born in 5528 (1768) to Rabbi Yaakov Kopel Chasid and his wife Chayah. For most of his life, he devoted himself to Torah study, engaging in business only to earn his necessary livelihood and no more. After his teacher, Rabbi Ze'ev Wolf of Chornyi-Ostriv, made aliyah to the Land of Israel, he accepted the position of rabbi in Kosov. Within a short time, he became the spiritual guide for thousands of chasidim and was known eponymously after the collection of his teachings, Ahavat Shalom.
His descendants include the Rebbes of the Kosov dynasty, and later also the Vizhnitz, Seret-Vizhnitz, and other Chasidic courts. He departed from this world on the 17th of Cheshvan 5586 (1825) and was buried in the cemetery in Kosov.
When the Ahavat Shalom was still a young man, he lacked the means to hire a wagon, so he would walk to his rebbe on foot. One evening on his way to his rebbe, he stopped to rest at an inn owned by a Jew who lived at the edge of a village. Since he had not eaten all day, he asked the innkeeper if he could have a taste of some food. The innkeeper replied that his children had also gone to bed without food, and he had no bread to give them tomorrow either, as he was not making a living.
In the morning, after praying, the Ahavat Shalom set out again on his journey, his heart broken from the distress of seeing the hungry children. On his way, a wagon with a wealthy Jew inside drew near. The wagon stopped, and the wealthy Jew asked the Ahavat Shalom where he was headed. He replied that he was on his way to his rebbe, the holy Rebbe Meshulam Faivush of Zbarazh. The wealthy man said, "I too am traveling to the rebbe. Why are you walking? Perhaps you'd like to join me and continue your journey in my wagon? Come, get on the wagon and I'll take you to the rebbe." However, the Ahavat Shalom, whose heart was broken over the family's situation, replied to the wealthy man, "I cannot travel with you unless you give me one hundred gold coins."
The wealthy man was taken aback by the young man's audacity to request such an exorbitant sum in exchange for his generous offer, but to avoid turning him away empty-handed, he agreed to give him five gold coins. However, the Ahavat Shalom said to him, "I didn't request that you let me ride on your wagon. If you want me to get on the wagon, please give me the sum that I requested." The rich man didn't agree, and the Ahavat Shalom bid him farewell and continued walking.
The wealthy man also continued on his way, but feelings of regret arose in his heart. He returned to the Ahavat Shalom and offered him twenty gold coins. Nevertheless, the Ahavat Shalom was unwilling to get on the wagon. The wealthy man realized that this young man was not a simple person, and his heart wouldn't let him leave him alone on the road. He agreed to give all hundred gold coins, if he would get on the wagon so they could continue the journey. But the Ahavat Shalom replied, "No, we are not continuing on our way yet." He told him that he needed the sum for a poor Jewish innkeeper whose children were hungry and asked him to turn back and go to the innkeeper's house to give him the money.
Again, the wealthy man was unhappy that the young man had asked him to extend the journey after he had already given him the entire sum but knowing that without this he wouldn't agree to get on the wagon, he thought to himself: Let's see the good deeds of this young man who insists on benefiting a Jew with such devotion. He turned the wagon towards the inn. When they arrived, the holy Ahavat Shalom entered the inn together with the wealthy man. He handed the innkeeper the hundred gold coins and instructed him to go to the city to buy brandy, so that he would have something to sell and feed his children.
Before parting from the innkeeper, the Ahavat Shalom whispered to him, "Take a ledger, and record the profits from this business every day from now on, because when the time comes, you will need to share them with your wealthy benefactor."
When they arrived at the holy Rebbe Faivush, the rebbe proclaimed before all that were present, "Make way for those who perform mitzvot!" He received them with great joy and showed them a great deal of endearment.
The wheel of fortune turns in the world. Days and years passed. The poor innkeeper became wealthy, and the wealthy man who had given him a hundred gold coins lost his fortune. He was so poor that he had to join one of the groups of the needy who went from city to city collecting alms. In those days, the Ahavat Shalom had become known as a generous rebbe and a worker of wonders. Needy people flocked to his doors, and he revived them all with his blessings and generous and respectful charity.
One day, the once-wealthy man came to the house of the Ahavat Shalom. The Rebbe recognized him immediately. The Ahavat Shalom instructed his attendant to call this poor man and bring him into his room. The Rebbe received him with a pleasant countenance and reminded him of that wagon journey, and the money that he had given to the innkeeper. The Ahavat Shalom gave him a letter for the innkeeper, who had in the meantime become wealthy. He asked him to make a fair accounting with his benefactor, and to give him half of his profits. The innkeeper fulfilled the rebbe's request completely, and the former rich man became wealthy once again and gave charity generously.
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The holy Ahavat Shalom was not initially blessed with a pleasant voice. Once, he was in a certain town where there was a cantor with a wonderful voice. The Ahavat Shalom noticed that after the cantor finished leading the prayers, he inquired among the women how his prayer was received. The Ahavat Shalom raised his eyes to heaven and said, "Master of the Universe, if You give me a pleasant voice, I will pray only for Your glory and not to impress others, Heaven forbid." From then on, the Ahavat Shalom received an exceptionally pleasant voice, and every Shabbat he would compose a new melody or tune.
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Once, the Ahavat Shalom was in a certain city on Shabbat during the Three Weeks of mourning for the Temple in Jerusalem, and there was such great joy on Shabbat that people were dancing on the rooftops. After the holy Shabbat, the townsmen and Torah scholars came to him. He asked them, "What do you say about the joy on Shabbat?" The Torah scholars replied that it was excessive, given that it was during the Three Weeks. He answered and said: "Is not Shabbat a gift, as it says in the Talmud, ‘I have a precious gift in My treasury, and Shabbat is its name,' and the law of pre-emptive sale to a neighbor do not apply when it comes to a gift.”
Rebbe Menachem Mendel of Kosov is known eponymously as the Ahavat Shalom—the collection of his teachings. Why did he give his book this name? In the book's introduction, it is explained that almost every teaching in it refers to the Shabbat, to charity, and to the safeguarding of the covenant (i.e., rectifying one’s sexual urges). These three matters all relate to peace (shalom). We all known the common greeting for Shabbat: “Shabbat Shalom.” Regarding charity, the verse says, “And the act of charity will be peace.” Finally, in Kabbalah, the sefirah of foundation, which corresponds to the procreative organs, is referred to as shalom. For this reason, we chose to bring these three stories about the Ahavat Shalom, which illustrate his approach to these three matters. In our explanation, we will see that these three points together touch upon all the conscious soul powers within a Jew, rectifying them and connecting them to holiness.
The mitzvah of charity rectifies the behavioral faculties within a person, which include the sefirot of victory, acknowledgment, foundation, and kingdom (netzach, hod, yesod, and malchut). The habitual/behavioral faculties direct the soul to practical action and influence. When a person uses these powers to give others the money that he has toiled for, he transforms the soul-powers from instruments for self-realization into tangible interfaces with other people and with God. Moreover, the source of these sefirot (netzach, hod, and yesod) is in the lower two-thirds of the sefirah of tiferet, whose inner essence is compassion. Giving charity does not begin with immediate action. As in our story, first and foremost, it starts with true compassion for others, which is the essence of these two-thirds of tiferet.
As we climb up to the next level of the soul’s faculties, known as the emotive level, we encounter the story about the cantor who prayed to impress the women and the rectification for which the Ahavat Shalom prayed. The sefirah of foundation (yesod) is associated with the connection between a man and a woman and the rectification or potential corruption of this relationship. Although it was already included in the previous story, here it is treated independently of the other sefirot. The reason for this is that the root of foundation is found in the sefirah of knowledge (da’at): “And Adam knew Eve, his wife.” Knowledge is divided into two halves known as the coronet of kindnesses and the coronet of judgment. The upper third of the sefirah of beauty (tiferet) is also included within it.
The covenant (referring to marital union and fidelity) is also known as "the quill of the soul," an idiom that the Alter Rebbe would commonly refer to melodies with. This connection between the covenant and music is also expressed in the Ahavat Shalom’s choice to compose a new melody specifically every holy Shabbat, the time of marital union for Torah scholars. This is the secret of the Song of Songs recited on Shabbat eve: this most select song is the love song between the Almighty and the people of Israel. The loving tzaddik trembles at any attempt to turn it into a song for strange women. After we have surveyed the powers of action and emotion, Shabbat arrives and expresses the intellectual attributes of wisdom and understanding. Here we can see the rebbe's sense that the essence of Shabbat is not the fancy meals or the day of the week, but rather the simple joy we feel at having merited to receive a precious gift from God’s treasury.
