Reb Chaim Avraham, the Alter Rebbe's second son, was a very talented person, a serious masmid, would daven at great length, and would not speak more than necessary. He had refined character traits and would always greet people with a smile. Reb Chaim Avraham had an awesome appearance and looked similar to his father.
"Once," related the Rebbe Maharash, "on the first night of Shavuos, I went to say Gut Yom-Tov to my great-uncle Reb Chaim Avraham, son of the Alter Rebbe. I found him sitting with his hands covering his tear-stained face. I asked him why he was crying on Yom-Tov. He explained that the Baal Shem Tov said that when one prepares himself properly during Sefiras HaOmer, he is found worthy on Shavuos of being admitted to the Fiftieth Gate of kedusha – 'and I can't feel it,' concluded Reb Chaim Avraham.
The Rebbe Maharash concluded, "My great-uncle Reb Chaim Avraham was then seventy-seven years old and was completely removed from all worldly matters. Yet on the night of Shavuos, he wept for the revelation of the Fiftieth Gate. This left me with a deep impression."
(ספר התולדות אדמו"ר מהר"ש ע' 73)
Reb Chaim Avraham once saw a man running in the street, and he grabbed hold of him and said to him, "Rasha! Where are you running?" The man then admitted that he was on his way to sin.
Chassidim expressed amazement at Reb Chaim Avraham's miraculous powers, but he brushed it off, "When I saw the man running, I unexpectedly thought of the possuk (Mishlei 19:2), 'One who hurries with his feet is a sinner.' "
(רשימות דברים חדש ע' 231)
