Once the Mittler Rebbe dreamed of a river with a board floating across the surface. The Magid of Mezritch stood on the board, but it was unstable. But when the Alter Rebbe stood on the board, it stabilized.
The Mittler Rebbe told the dream to his father, the Alter Rebbe, who said that the river represented a stream of baalei tshuva [returnees to Torah and Mitzvos]. The Alter Rebbe then told his son, “25 years ago I heard a parable from my Rebbe the Magid of Mezritch.
The King had two sons, one of whom stayed with the king and lived an exemplary life. The other left the kingdom of his father, straying far in distance and behavior. When the lost son finally returned, the king’s love for the son who returned was greater than for the one who remained home. The lost son symbolizes a baal tshuva and the son who remained with the king symbolizes a tzadik.”
“That teaching,” the Alter Rebbe continued, “made me want to bring every Jew back to his Father in Heaven. For close to five years, I traveled from town to town, as myself or in disguise, to arouse Jews to return.”
Years later, the Mittler Rebbe related this story to the Tzemech Tzedek and told him, “At first, my father’s service was to make baalei tshuva. Even after he became Rebbe, he continued this effort. Anyone who saw him just once woke up the next day a new person.” Then he added, “And this power, he gave to whom he wished.”
Eventually, Tzemach Tzedek told the story to the Rebbe Maharash. After saying, “and he gave the power to make baalei tshuva to whom he wished,” the Tzemach Tzedek added, “In this story, one will find the sincere self-sacrifice [mesiras nefesh] of Chassidim which comes to them as their inheritance.”
When the Rebbe Maharash passed the story to the Rebbe Rashab, he said,” With sincere mesiras nefesh, even a new Chassid can revive the dead.”
The Rebbe Rashab shared the story with the Previous Rebbe, and referring to a “born Chassid” emphasized, “What a born Chassid receives as assistance from Above can’t be compared to the heavenly assistance given to one who toils in avoda [working to become a better Chassid]. Nevertheless, even a born Chassid who has not toiled in avodah can revive the dead through his mesiras nefesh when he helps another Jew to put on tefillin.”
