Sent by the Tzemach Tzedek to Ruzhin to take care of a public matter, the chossid and gaon Reb Aizik Homiler used the opportunity to observe the ways of the Ruzhiner chassidim and of their Rebbe, the tzaddik Reb Yisroel. At that time, two chassidim came to Ruzhin to receive the Rebbe's haskama for seforim they had written. One was filled with chiddushei Torah and the other recounted sippurim of tzaddikim and notable chassidim. The Rebbe instructed that part of each sefer be read aloud. After sitting in dveikus for some time, he proceeded to praise the telling of sippurei tzaddikim, an activity in this world that arouses echoes in the chambers of tzaddikim in Olam HaBa, and then delivered a pilpul on some of the chiddushei Torah that appeared in the first sefer. Having done that, he instructed his gabbai to write haskamos for the seforim, first for the sippurim and then for the chiddushim.
Reb Aizik was impressed with the tzaddik's pilpul on the second sefer, but was puzzled by the precedence he had given to the sippurei tzaddikim. A few days later, at a Rosh Chodesh seuda, the tzaddik suddenly said, "This gaon is surprised at the priority I gave to the sippurim. In fact, this was addressed long ago by Rashi, who asks why the Torah begins with the story of the Avos, before listing the mitzvos. This is because the sippurim tell us about the greatness of HaShem's involvement in the world."
Turning to Reb Aizik, he concluded, "I followed the same order the Torah used."
(אג"ק מוהריי"צ ח"ו ע' עו)
The Rambam writes that speaking highly of the noble qualities of tzaddikim is beneficial, for it encourages one's listeners to want to follow their ways. Rabbeinu Yonah writes that by praising righteous tzaddikim one is praising HaShem, and doing so also brings out the good within the speaker.
(פיהמ"ש אבות א,טז, שערי תשובה שער ג')
Sippurim for Everyone
The Frierdiker Rebbe related: It was a Shabbos afternoon in תרנ"ו (1896). After my father finished davening, he went to the home of his mother, Rebbetzin Rivkah, to make Kiddush. There, my father asked his mother, "Do you recall how the picture of the Alter Rebbe was brought to the Tzemach Tzedek and what he said about it?"
"Sure," she replied, "I remember it clearly."
My father then asked her to tell it to me, so that I would hear it from a first source. My grandmother readily agreed, and turning to me she said, "Come at a calmer time and I will tell it to you."
She then added, "At one Seder I heard my father-in-law, the Tzemach Tzedek, say: 'Mitzva lesaper biyetzias Mitzrayim' – by telling sippurim we can get out of Mitzrayim. 'Ve'afilu kulanu chachomim u'nevonim veyodim' – even a person who is a true Chabadnik (meaning a chossid steeped in the insights of Chassidus) is obligated to tell chassidishe sippurim, for these will take him out of his Mitzrayim (that is, out of his ruchniyusdike limitations)."
My grandmother concluded, "Since then, I make a point of recounting sippurim only when I'm completely focused."
(התמים ח"ב ע' 760)
In the year תרס"ג (1903), the Rebbe Rashab told his son, the Frierdiker Rebbe, "For a long time I have been complaining at the Ohel of my father, the Rebbe Maharash, about my lack of participation in chassidishe farbrengens, as a result of spending my time catering to the cause and avoda of Chassidus. I asked to receive this as a gift, and my father agreed. From then on, I began to hear sippurim at nighttime visions."
Later on, the Frierdiker Rebbe said, "From that time on, I heard numerous stories from my father, the Rebbe Rashab, but I wouldn’t ask where he had heard them or when he had heard them."
(סה"ש תש"ה ע' 24)
Special Stories
Before the Alter Rebbe relayed a Torah of the Baal Shem Tov, he would say, "The words of Torah from 'the Zeide' (as he called the Baal Shem Tov) are a segula to increase one's understanding and yiras Shamayim, and the stories of 'the Zeide' are a segula for long life and abundant parnasa."
When the Tzemach Tzedek's daughter once fell ill with high fever, he suggested that someone read her stories of the Baal Shem Tov, for they are a superb segula to heal fever.
(לקוטי דיבורים ח"א ע' 508, רשימו"ד החדש ע' 135)
The Rebbe Maharash once said: "People say that relating a story of the Baal Shem Tov on Motzaei Shabbos is a segula for parnasa. The truth is that these three points are not necessarily so – lav davka. It does not necessarily have to be about the Baal Shem Tov – it can be about any tzaddik; and it is not only applicable on Motzaei Shabbos – it can be at any time; and the segula is not only for parnasa – but for all good things as well."
(רשימו"ד החדש ע' 211, וראה שמו"ס ח"א ע' 4)
Rebbetzin Rivkah related: "In תר"ט (1849), when I was newly married, my father-in-law, the Tzemach Tzedek, called in all his daughters-in-law who lived in Lubavitch and instructed them to gather every Motzaei Shabbos and relate a sippur of the holy Baal Shem Tov. We asked whether it was enough to just mention the Baal Shem Tov's name. My father-in-law replied, 'Definitely –a story!'
After that, every Motzaei Shabbos, one of the daughters-in-law would visit the Tzemach Tzedek, where she would hear a story of the Baal Shem Tov, and this she would then share with the rest of us."
(סה"ש ת"ש ע' 173)
Consider
Are stories a means to an end or an end themselves?
Why can't the same benefits be acquired through learning Chassidus?
