Stories Of Greatness

On May 3, 1982, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin hobbled into a crowded Knesset chamber, tense with expectancy. He was in pain, recovering from a severe hip injury, and it was with heavy, purposeful steps that he arrived to deliver his El Al speech. He began quietly, factually, declaring that the government had finally decided to halt all El Al flights on Shabbos and festivals – a revelation that sent leftist eyes glaring and hatred flashing in the public gallery where the El Al union men sat.

It is said that the renowned Chassidic mashpia, R’ Dovid Horodoker zt”l, wept when Czar Nicholas II was overthrown during the Russian Revolution of 1917. “Why do you shed tears over the fall of a tyrant?” he was asked. “I weep,” replied the holy chasid, “because a great mashal in Chassidus is gone.”

There was once a chasid of the Rebbe, R’ Shlomo of Karlin, zt”l, who lived in a small town near Karlin, in a small broken-down house. This chasid did not have much of anything, but nonetheless he was happy with his lot. Every year, when the festival of Sukkos arrived, the chasid would wait until everyone else had built their sukkos, and he would then go around and ask for whatever they had left over. People would offer him a rotted board or a rusted nail, and it was from these leftovers that he would build his sukkah. For seven days, the chasid would sit in his sukkah and sing with great joy.

The Gemara recounts how the Sages told R’ Zeira, “One should always reject with the left hand and embrace with the right” (Sota 47b). R’ Zeira, however, preferred to focus on the sin, not the sinner.

Although the mitzvah of teshuvah can be done at any time of the year, the practice is most associated with Aseres Yemei Teshuvah—the Ten Days of Repentance. The Rambam writes in Mishneh Torah that Aseres Yemei Teshuvah is an auspicious time for repentance: “Although repentance and prayer are always effective, they are even more effective during Aseres Yemei Teshuvah when they are accepted immediately.”

There was once a man who went through all the tribulations of Siberia together with the famed Maggid, R’ Yaakov Galinsky shlit”a. After their freedom, he found out that he was the only survivor of his family and was alone in the world. He was broken and saw no reason to live. R’ Yaakov felt that he needed some chizuk to strengthen his resolve and brought him to the home of the Chazon Ish, R’ Avraham Yeshaya Karelitz zt”l.