Whenever an opportunity presented itself, the Imrei Chaim of Vizhnitz would retell this story about Rav Raphael of Bershad's amazing control over his middos. Once after his tisch (the chassidic Shabbos banquet over which the rebbe presides), he shared song, stories, and words of Torah with his devoted chassidim for a remarkable seven hours. The Imrei Chaim, exhausted and weak after the long tisch, walked home in the cold and rain. He arrived at home only to discover that his attendant who had the keys, was nowhere to be found! While waiting a wearisome stretch of time for his gabbai to show up, the Imrei Chaim related this story:
For many years, Rav Raphael of Bershad had a burning desire to acquire pure white wool from the Holy Land to fashion a resplendent, mehadrin tallis katan and tzitzis that would be, befitting such a precious mitzvah.
After great effort, he finally obtained the exclusive wool from Eretz Yisroel! Elated, he passed the wool on to one of his chassidim urging him to take extra special care of the wool and to make with it a tallis katan and tzitzis. The chassid, who realized the great lengths the Rebbe had gone to procure the wool and the importance of his mission, approached the task with great care. All his good intentions and caution notwithstanding, he accidentally folded the tallis katan over twice, so that when he cut the hole in the middle to create the opening for the head, he ended up with two holes instead of one!
When he unfolded the garment and held open the tallis katan, instead of one opening for the head, there were now two!
With trepidation he brought the ruined garment before his Rebbe. Rav Raphael had been waiting with great anticipation to see the culmination of his efforts and to fulfill this mitzvah b’hiddur. When the chassid entered the room, the rebbe noticed how crestfallen he looked.
“What is it? What is wrong?” the rebbe asked, beckoning the chassid to come near.
The chassid held out ruined garment ashamedly. He couldn’t lift his eyes to meet the rebbe's as he waited for the rebbe's anger and disappointment to cascade over him.
What he heard instead was Rav Raphael's delighted voice:
“Why off course this garment needed two holes! Yes, yes, exactly - one hole just as any tallis katan has for the head; and another hole to teach Raphael to suppress and contain his emotions and not be angry.”
When he concluded the tale, the Imrei Chaim said with great emotion, “Kodesh kadashim! Holy of Holies! From where can we learn such lofty behavior?! This story shakes me up and excites me much, much more than any miraculous tales you could tell me about the tzadik!”
