Weekly Chasidic Story #759 (s5772-38 / 22 Sivan 5772)

An Angry Prophecy

"A genuine chasidic rebbe is like a master diamond cutter....Such was the Minchas Elazar."

Connection: Weekly Torah Reading - the verses at the end (Num. 15:37-41) about tzitzit that we recite each day as part of the Shma Yisrael prayer.

An Angry Prophecy

As sometimes unfortunately happens, there was antagonism between two Chasidic groups: Belz and Munkacz, ever since the Belzer Rebbe, Rabbi Issachar Dov Rokeach, moved from Poland to live in Hungary from 1912 to 1921, having sought refuge there from World War I. A certain Belzer chasid who lived in Munkacz, R. Moshe Silver, scion of the prominent Sanz chasidic dynasty, did not get along at all with the Munkaczer Rebbe, Rabbi Chaim Elazar Spira, author of one of the 20th century's most respected works on Jewish Law, which he titled Minchat Elazar.

One day, during a lively argument, the Munkaczer Rabbi turned around and in an angry tone said to the Belzer chasid, "You will die with your tallit katan on!" [four-cornered sleeveless with tzitzit-strings hanging from each corner]. Moshe Silber kept the Rebbe's words in his heart.

Years passed. World War II engulfed Europe. In April 1944 a brutal deportation Aktion was initiated in Munkacz, and by May 30 the city was pronounced Judenrein. The ghetto had been liquidated and all its Jews deported to Auschwitz. Among the deportees was the Belzer chasid, Moshe Silber.

Despite the hunger, disease, slave labor, and the constant threat of random executions, Moshe Silber was certain that he was going to survive the war. How could he be so sure? Because in Auschwitz it was impossible and punishable by death to wear a tallit katan! Since words spoken by a tzadik must be fulfilled, his Belzer opponent had faith that death would have no power over him so long as he was not wearing his ritual garment.

Indeed, the Moshe Silber survived the Auschwitz inferno. Afterwards, proudly wearing a tallit katan, he moved to the USA and eventually took up residence in Monsey, New York. He used to frequently retell his personal story about the miraculous powers of his former adversary, the Munkatczer Rebbe. At the end, as if in an afterthought, he would add,

"A genuine chasidic rebbe is like a master diamond cutter. He takes a man and cuts away all the roughness, all the waste. He does it with a tale, a tune, and lots of wisdom. The end result is a polished precious stone - a chassid. Only great masters can do it. The Munkaczer was such a rebbe."

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Source: Adapted by Yerachmiel Tilles from 'Hasidic Tales of the Holocaust' by Yaffa Eliach (Oxford Press).

Connection: Weekly Reading - the verses at the end (Num. 15:37-41) about tzitzit that we recite each day as part of the Shma Yisrael prayer.

Biographic note:
Rabbi Chaim-Elazar Spira, the Munkaczer Rebbe (Dec 17, 1871- 2 Sivan, 1937) wrote and published over twenty books on the Jewish Law, Torah, chasidism, and religious philosophy and customs. His most notable work which made him world famous was the scholarly work, Minchas Elazar, which contains six volumes.

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Yerachmiel Tilles is co-founder and associate director of Ascent-of-Safed, and chief editor of this website (and of KabbalaOnline.org). He has hundreds of published stories to his credit, and many have been translated into other languages. He tells them live at Ascent nearly every Saturday night.

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