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Story Time By Shani Eichler

When the Baal Shem Tov was 36 years old, he told the world about Chassidus. Until then, Chassidus was a deep, hidden part of Torah that only great tzaddikim knew. Once he shared it with everyone, even regular people could learn it and serve Hashem in the ways of Chassidus.

After the Baal Shem Tov passed away, the Maggid of Mezeritch became the new leader of Chassidus. When he became Rebbe, Chassidus was still new. Some people – called misnagdim – thought that Chassidus wasn’t a good thing.

“The Chassidim do so many new and different things,” the misnagdim worried. “They sing and dance while they daven and tell simple Yidden that Hashem loves them. No one’s done anything like this before. Are they trying to make a new kind of Yiddishkeit or something? They must be going against the ways of Torah. We have to stop them!”

The misnagdim never learned Chassidus. The only thing they knew about it was that Chassidim did new things they knew nothing about, and that scared them. They thought the Chassidim must be doing something wrong. They decided to make life hard for the Chassidim. Maybe that would stop them from learning Chassidus.

They spread terrible lies about the Chassidim and told everyone they weren’t keeping Torah and mitzvos properly. They picked fights with Chassidim in the streets, spat at them, and gave them angry looks. Every time they saw a Chassid, they made trouble for him.

One day, the top misnagdim gathered together. “We’re going to end Chassidus once and for all!” their leader declared.

“Yes!” the others shouted. “Out with the Chassidim!”

Together, they planned to print a booklet full of curses and lies about the chassidim. They hoped all the Yidden would read it and believe the lies. Then, they’d be able to get rid of the Chassidim for good.

They got to work, writing the most awful things. Then, they printed thousands of copies and sent them to every Jewish city, town, and shtetl in the country.

You can imagine what happened next. The Yidden who read the booklets were shaken. According to what they read, the Chassidim were terrible people! They stopped being friends with the Chassidim and started making their lives miserable.

The Chassidim couldn’t believe it. They knew the booklet was full of lies, but what could they do to prove it? Their neighbors weren’t talking to them anymore, and many were even being mean to them. What now?

The leaders of Chassdius decided to visit Mezeritch and ask the Maggid what to do. Maybe he had a plan.

***

At that time, the holy tzaddik, Reb Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev, was the Rav of the city of Pinsk. He started learning Chassidus and saw it was all true. He realized that, by living the way Chassidus teaches us to, he could serve Hashem in a much better way! Slowly but surely, he became a Chassid.

The misnagdim in his town were really mad. Their Rav, a Chassid? It was the most terrible news! To them, it was like finding out that their Rav wasn’t even Jewish!

Even his father-in-law couldn’t understand why he’d do such a “silly” thing. “Levi Yitzchok, I’ll forgive you for becoming a Chassid – just tell me: what did you learn from the Maggid that’s so special?”

“The Maggid taught me that there is a Hashem in shomayim, who created the world,” Reb Levi Yitzchak said.

“What?!” his father-in-law laughed. “That’s nothing special. Everyone knows that!” He called over his cleaning lady and asked, “Do you know who created the world?”

“G-d in Heaven!” she replied, surprised by the question.

Reb Levi Yitzchak wasn’t fazed. “Yes, anyone can say it,” he replied, “but only someone who learned from the Maggid can really know it. Chassidus teaches us to know Hashem and connect with Him in a deep way, not just believe He exists.”

Although Reb Levi Yitzchak was right, the misnagdim in his town were sure he was making a mistake. They couldn’t bear to think their own Rav had become a Chassid! They even planned to get rid of him.

“Maybe if we bother him, he’ll leave our town,” they told each other.

From then on, each of them worked hard to disturb Reb Levi Yitzchok and make his life difficult. They bothered him so much that he also decided to travel to Mezeritch to find a solution from the Maggid.

He was sure the Maggid would help or tell him what to do.

When he left, the misnagdim celebrated. “We did it!” they shouted. “He’s gone!”

Quickly, they appointed a new person, a top misnaged, to be the new Rav.

This new person was excited about his new position, but also a bit nervous. What would happen when Reb Levi Yitzchok came back to Pinsk? Would he have to give his new position back to its rightful owner?

He called an urgent meeting with the misnagdim. “How can we make sure Reb Levi Yitzchok doesn’t come back?” he asked worriedly.

“Well, if his family isn’t happy in our town, they won’t want to live here anymore,” someone suggested. “Reb Levi Yitzchok will have to move away!”

Everyone agreed. The next day, one of them went and spilled garbage all over Reb Levi Yitzchok’s garden. The day after that, someone bullied Reb Levi Yitzchok’s children while they were walking to cheder. In the evenings, the misnagdim would stand by their home and shout curses at them.

Life became really hard for Reb Levi Yitzchok’s family. “What did we do to these people?” his children cried, sadly. When the situation got too difficult to deal with anymore, they wrote a letter to their father, describing everything that was going on.

A few days later, while spending time with his Rebbe, the Maggid of Mezeritch, Reb Levi Yitzchok received the letter from his family. He was so excited to hear how they were doing, but as soon as he started to read, he began to cry. His family was suffering so much! How could the misnagdim be so mean to them?

When the Maggid’s other talmidim came into the room, they were shocked to see Reb Levi Yitzchak crying. “What’s wrong?” they asked with concern.

“The misnagdim are hurting my family,” he cried. “What should I do?”

The Chassidim were horrified. “Let’s tell the Maggid!” one Chassid exclaimed. “Why don’t you read the letter out loud during the Friday night meal while we’re all sitting with the Maggid?”

Everyone nodded. If they told the Maggid about the terrible things the misnagdim were doing, he’d know just what to do.

That Friday night, when all the talmidim gathered around the Maggid’s table, Reb Levi Yitzchok stood up. He took out the letter from his family and began to read. The Chassidim looked at the Maggid the entire time, waiting for him to say something – but he was quiet. When a Rebbe is quiet, it’s not because he has no answer; it’s because he doesn’t want to say anything.

On Motzoei Shabbos, the talmidim gathered together. “We have to do something!” one of them declared. “If the Maggid won’t give us advice, we have to come up with an idea on our own. How can we stop the misnagdim from treating the Chassidim so badly?”

“Yes!” cried another. “Chassidus is a stronger, deeper way to connect to Hashem. We can’t let them stop us from serving Hashem in the ways of Chassidus!”

They had a couple ideas, but none of them were good. “How about putting the misnagdim who wrote those lies in cherem?” somebody said.

“What?” a talmid gasped. “A cherem is a really serious thing! If someone’s in cherem, no one can talk to them or do business with them. We can’t even count them in a minyan!”

“Well, that’s what they deserve, for treating us so badly,” the first talmid of the Magigid said firmly. “Does everyone agree?”

“Yes!” Everyone agreed – except for one person: Reb Shneur Zalman, who would later become the Alter Rebbe.

“What about you?” the talmidim asked him, but he stayed quiet. If the Maggid wouldn’t say what to do, he didn’t want to join their plan.

“We can’t do this without Reb Shneur Zalman,” the talmidim discussed amongst themselves. “How can we get his support?”

Hmm… they thought long and hard until they knew how. “Reb Shneur Zalman, what would a Beis Din tell us to do if someone was making a lot of trouble for another person?” they asked.

“…to fight back,” the Alter Rebbe replied.

“Aha! The Alter Rebbe agrees with us!” the talmidim declared. “We’re going to put the misnagdim into cherem!”

Later that night, everyone was fast asleep – except for the Alter Rebbe, who knew the Maggid had felt what they’d done through ruach hakodesh. He was sure the Maggid wasn’t happy about it. Maybe that was why he didn’t respond to them.

Suddenly, the Alter Rebbe heard the Maggid’s footsteps in the hallway. He could tell it was him, because his walking stick made a very specific sound. He quickly closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep.

The Maggid came into the room with a candle in his hands, walking quietly between the beds and looking at his sleeping talmidim. When he passed the Alter Rebbe’s bed, he said loudly: “This small Yid will be the Rebbe in all the cities of Russia!”

The Maggid’s announcement woke up the sleeping talmidim around him. They jumped out of their beds, confused. The Alter Rebbe also pretended he’d only just woken up.

The Maggid looked at his talmidim and asked in a pained voice, “My children, what have you done this evening? Why did you put all those misnagdim in cherem?”

“Rebbe,” they answered, “we couldn’t take it anymore. The misnagdim treat us so horribly, we needed to do something about it!”

The Maggid’s face grew serious. “When Reb Levi Yitzchok read the letter, I saw in shomayim that Hashem didn’t want the Chassidim to fight back. That’s why I kept quiet.”

The talmidim squirmed uneasily, embarrassed at what they had done.

“Because you took matters into your own hands, you lost your head, that is your leader,” the Maggid continued. “In just a few months, I will be gone from this world.”

The talmidim were shocked.

“But one good thing came out of this,” the Maggid continued. “What you did had a big effect in heaven. Shomayim decided that, from now on, Chassidus will always win over those who fight it! Every time there’s an argument between Chassidim and misnagdim, the Chassidim will always have the upper hand. That’s a major victory! From now on, Chassidus will always come out on top.”

Around six months later, on Yud-Tes Kislev, the Maggid of Mezeritch passed away.

***

Before his passing, the Maggid told the Alter Rebbe: “Yud-Tes Kislev is our Yom Tov.”

Many years later, the chassidim finally understood what he meant. When the Alter Rebbe became the new Rebbe, the misnagdim spread lies about him until he was thrown into jail. On Yud-Tes Kislev, the same day the Maggid passed away, he was finally freed.

Yud-Tes Kislev became a special day for the Maggid’s message: Chassidus will always win! No matter what happens, we will always have the upper hand.

We see from this story that, even though some people might not agree with Chassidus, it doesn’t matter. In Shomayim, it has already been decided that Chassidim will come out on top. Chassidus shows us how to serve Hashem in the most beautiful way possible. Even if some people don’t appreciate it, Chassidus will continue to grow and shine brightly.

Details for this story can be found in the sefer Beis Rebbe and Sefer Hatoldos. From the TzaddikStory.org collection

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