R’ Levi Yitzchok washed his hands, said the “asher yotzar” bracha, and when he finished with the words, “Healer of all flesh who does wonders,” he repeated these words and the girl was healed. * A compilation of Chassidishe stories by R’ Chaim Ashkenazi a”h on the topic of the power of tzaddikim.
MIRACLES? CHASSIDUS!
A Chassid of the Alter Rebbe, while on his way to the Rebbe, stopped off at the tzaddik, R’ Shlomo of Karlin. He saw R’ Shlomo ask his wife to serve him some cake, because it was after a fast and he wanted to break his fast.
His wife served him and R’ Shlomo ate and then said he wanted to divorce her because she hadn’t baked well. Hearing this, she began to cry.
R’ Shlomo addressed the Chassidim who were present and asked their opinion: Should a man divorce his wife for something like this or not?
They responded unanimously: No!
If so, R’ Shlomo said to his wife, I won’t divorce you.
When the Chassid arrived at the Alter Rebbe, he recounted the bizarre scene he saw and expressed his surprise.
The Alter Rebbe said: By doing this, he annulled a decree and accusation against the Jewish people.
The accusers said that the Jewish people do not fulfill Hashem’s will, and therefore ought to be expelled. By doing what he did, R’ Shlomo let it be known that for things like this, divorce is not appropriate.
The Chassid asked: Why don’t we see things [miracles] like that here?
The Alter Rebbe said: We accomplish this by saying a maamer Chassidus.
MISSING HUSBAND
The former gentile maid of Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah (wife of the Rebbe Rashab) showed up one day. She had worked for the Rebbetzin until she married and had then left Lubavitch. She would come occasionally to visit. Now, after not having visited for a long time, she suddenly appeared in tears and asked for help.
She said that her sheigitz, her gentile husband, would often get drunk. When he would come home drunk he would hit her and run out of the house. Each time he did this she would go looking for him, would appease him, and bring him back home. But this last time he told her that the next time he ran out she would never find him. And so it was. He ran off and she looked for him for a long time and did not find him.
This is why she had come to the Rebbetzin. She knew that the Rebbe did miracles and she wanted his help in finding her husband.
The Rebbetzin waited for the right moment and told her husband about her former maid’s plight. The Rebbe told her to tell the woman to go to Moscow.
The maid, knowing the Rebbe’s powers, did not ask questions and went immediately to Moscow.
When she reached the center of town, she saw a battalion of soldiers standing at a parade and her husband was among them. She immediately shouted at him to return home but he denied having any connection to her and said that he did not know this woman.
There was a commotion and the commander came over and asked: What happened?
The soldiers told him that a woman had arrived and claimed that one of the soldiers is her husband but he denied it. The commander had her brought to him and he asked her to explain herself. She stuck to her story, saying: He is my husband. He continued to deny it.
The commander sensed that the woman was telling the truth because he did not know who this soldier was who had recently joined his unit and had not revealed anything about himself. The commander pressured the soldier until he admitted that he had run away from his wife.
The soldier said: I guess you went to see the rabbi, because otherwise, you would never have found me.
IT DEPENDS ON THE HEI/HAY
A Chassid of another Admur went to the Rebbe Maharash and asked for a bracha for parnasa. He said that his cow had stopped giving milk and when he went to his own Rebbe for a bracha, his Rebbe had said that with his evil actions he had caused a blemish in the hei ilaa (lit. the higher hei, i.e. the first hei) of G-d’s name, which is why the para (female cow, spelled with a hei) had become a par (male cow, spelled without a hei) and did not give milk. The Chassid did not know what to do to rectify his sin.
The Rebbe Maharash said: I think you caused a blemish in the hei tataa (lit. lower hei, alluding to hay in Yiddish). Give the cow hay and it will give milk. And so it was.
CREAM OR FAITH?
A Chassid of the Rebbe Rashab had pain in his eyes and he asked the Rebbe for a bracha. The Rebbe told him to go to the pharmacist and ask for a yellow cream that he should smear on his eyes.
The Chassid went to the pharmacist and asked for yellow cream. He was told that there was only white cream. The Chassid responded that the pharmacist should simply add yellow coloration to the cream. They did so and he used it and was healed.
WHO IS IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT?
The Tzemach Tzedek once sent one of his Chassidim to save Jewish children who had been kidnapped for the army (cantonists). The Chassid left at night and returned to the Rebbe in the morning.
After he returned, R’ Chaim Ber the attendant told him that he had seen that while the Tzemach Tzedek sat learning through the night he had been stamping with his feet as though he was driving a wagon. It seemed to R’ Chaim Ber that the Tzemach Tzedek himself was directing the wagon with the rescued children.
HOT, COLD, WARM
A Chassid once asked the Tzemach Tzedek for a bracha for his wife who suffered from headaches. They had gone to doctors but nothing helped.
The Tzemach Tzedek said that she should wash her head every night in hot water, and this helped.
After the passing of the Tzemach Tzedek, the woman suffered from headaches again. Her husband went to the Rebbe Maharash and told him what his father had said. The Rebbe Maharash said: If washing in hot water doesn’t help, she should wash in cold water, and this helped.
After the passing of the Rebbe Maharash, the headaches returned. Her husband went to the Rebbe Rashab and told him the story. The Rebbe Rashab said: If hot water and cold water don’t help, she should wash in lukewarm water, and it helped.
WONDROUS HEALING
One time, after R’ Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev had been to the Alter Rebbe, the Alter Rebbe asked him to return home by way of Dubrovna and stay in the home of R’ Nechemia.
R’ Nechemia had a relative who was paralyzed and could not move her hands and feet. The family had been to doctors and nothing had helped. While R’ Levi Yitzchok was in his house, R’ Nechemia wanted to ask for his bracha, but R’ Levi Yitzchok was always in a state of d’veikus and R’ Nechemia could not find the proper time to speak to him.
Once, as R’ Levi Yitzchok went to the outhouse, R’ Nechemia waited for him with a cup ready for netilas yadayim. When R’ Levi Yitzchok came out and wanted to wash his hands, R’ Nechemia stood before him with the cup.
R’ Levi Yitzchok understood that he wanted him to follow, and he followed after R’ Nechemia until they entered the room where the paralyzed girl was. R’ Nechemia said that the girl could not move and he asked for a bracha.
R’ Levi Yitzchok washed his hands, said the “asher yotzar” bracha, and when he finished with the words, “Healer of all flesh who does wonders,” he repeated these words and the girl was healed.
A VISIT FROM THE HEAVENLY REALMS
When the Maggid of Mezritch found out that R’ Zushe of Anipoli fasted a lot, he ordered him to stop. R’ Zushe said he was willing to stop fasting if the Maggid himself wouldn’t fast either. The Maggid agreed and said that he would inform him of the days that he did not fast so that R’ Zushe would also not fast on those days.
One day, R’ Zushe was told that the Maggid was not fasting and R’ Zushe had to go and eat. But by the time he had finished his preparations the hour was late and he did not find anything to eat.
R’ Zushe ran to the Maggid’s house and asked the Rebbetzin to give him something to eat, but she had nothing in the house. R’ Zushe said that since he didn’t know what to buy or where to buy anything, could she go and buy something for him.
The Rebbetzin said that she could not go because she had to rock the cradle with the baby (who grew up to be R’ Avrohom the Malach). R’ Zushe said he would rock the cradle so she could go and bring him something to eat. The Rebbetzin agreed and left the house while R’ Zushe stayed and rocked the baby as he looked into a Torah book that was on the table. It was the work known as the Sh’la and R’ Zushe got absorbed in it, but since he had to rock the baby, he was forced to stop learning it.
R’ Zushe suddenly saw someone in the room with him and the man said: I am the Sh’la and your reading my work is precious to me, and so I will rock the baby while you continue learning.