One of the great tzaddikim of Yerushalayim in the previous generation was the holy and renowned Rav Dovid Tzvi Shlomo Biederman zt”l, the Lelover Rebbe. His yiras Shamayim was famed, and his entire service was with trembling holiness, with self-sacrifice, with thunderous cries and abundant weeping, in the tradition of the Lelover dynasty.
The Rebbe traveled often abroad, especially to Poland, in his many activities for the needs of the Jewish people, and spent much time on the road.
A trustworthy man once told that he stayed with the Rebbe in a roadside inn, and by Divine providence his room was next to the Rebbe’s.
In the middle of the night the man awoke in terror to the sound of crying, groaning, and sighing emanating from the Rebbe’s room. Alarmed, he hurried to the door, but it was locked. Looking through a crack, he beheld an awesome sight: the holy Rebbe lying upon the floor in terrible awe, beating upon his heart with force and crying to himself, “Dovid Tzvi Shlomo ben Mattel—what will be with you? Oy vey, what will become of you? When will you finally do teshuvah?”
He remained rooted to the spot for a long time, shaken by the tremendous yiras Shamayim he saw, until the Rebbe calmed. That moment left an impression upon him for years, and he recounted it often to his children and grandchildren, to teach them the heights of yiras Shamayim.
The holy Rav Dovid Tzvi Shlomo testified that he had heard the prayers of his father, the holy Rav Elazar Menachem Mendel zt”l, on the Days of Awe. Each time his father reached the confessions in Selichos, or before Krias Shema al hamitah, and likewise on Yom Kippur, he would say: “And that which I have sinned before You—erase in Your abundant mercy, even through suffering and harsh illness.”
His son, the holy Rav Shimon Nosson Nota z”iya of Lelov, likewise testified that his father, Rav Dovid’l, would say the same formula in the Days of Awe.
These awesome tzaddikim felt deeply that the worst thing of all is the sin itself, more painful than any suffering in the world. Therefore, they begged Hashem to remove it from them by any means, even through suffering and harsh illness, Heaven protect us.
Thus lived these holy tzaddikim, with hearts full of pure yiras Shamayim, always filled with teshuvah and continual soul-accounting.
