In the city of Kovno where the great Reb Yisroel Salanter was the chief rabbi, there was a special house set aside for the very poor where they were housed and given food. Unfortunately, the house was a dilapidated one and in massive disrepair. Reb Yisroel knew of its wretched condition, and he tried many times to get people to contribute to its upkeep. But too few people heeded his plea, and the condition of the building got worse with each passing day. One Seder night, Reb Yisroel put on his coat and left his warm and comfortable house. The hours flew by and he did not return. His wife became frantic, and she rushed out for help in trying to discover what had happened to him.
The people searched every house in the city, and only when they came to the poor people’s house did they find him. To their horror, he was laying flat on the floor amid the squalor and dirt, sound asleep. Next to him, the poor people also lay. They had no choice, for all the beds were broken. The people begged Reb Yisroel to leave the dilapidated building and to return home. However, he adamantly refused.
“I will not go home,” he kept saying over and over again.
Soon, word of the incident spread throughout the city and it created an uproar. Imagine! The rav of the city, the greatest of his generation, lying in such filth! And on the night of the Seder, too!
“Please, Rebbe,” they begged, “please come home. This is no place for you to be.”
But Reb Yisroel stood firm. “No, I will not go home until this house is repaired and made fit for people to live in. Are these people any worse than me?” His words made a deep impression on the community and, within hours, enough money was pledged to guarantee that the house would be repaired and made into a decent place in which to live.
***
Finding The Good
Reb Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev would use the Yomim Tovim as a forum for his continued dialogue with the Holy One blessed be He and as opportunities to demonstrate to the Almighty that His children, Israel, were deserving of both forgiveness and a better fate.
Thus, one erev Pesach, in the afternoon, when the prohibition of possessing chometz was already in effect, Reb Levi Yitzhak called to his shammas and said: “Let us go take a little stroll around the streets and marketplaces of the city.”
The shammas was somewhat surprised that the rav would decide to walk aimlessly about on erev Pesach, but he knew that there was something behind it – and indeed there was.
As they walked about they spied a well-known Russian smuggler.
“Come, I want to have a talk with this man,” said Reb Levi Yitzchak.
“But Rebbe,” protested the shammas, “he is a well-known smuggler.”
“I know, I know. That is why I want to talk to him.”
The surprised shammas was even more flabbergasted as they came up to the smuggler and he heard Reb Levi Yitzchak said, “Have you any ‘merchandise’ that recently arrived?”
“Indeed, I have,” replied the smuggler. “I have materials of all colors and descriptions that just arrived. Would the Jewish rabbi care to look at some?”
Reb Levi Yitzchak only smiled and shook his head.
“Come,” he said to his shammas, “let us go further.”
Moving on, they left the market area and continued into the Jewish section. There they saw the Jews hurriedly going to and fro in anxious preparations for Pesach. Stopping someone on the street, Reb Levi Yitzchak asked him:
“Reb Yid, have you any chametz in your house or your possession?”
The man looked at Reb Levi Yitzchak with tears in his eyes and exclaimed, “Rebbe, what sin have you ever found in me that causes you to suspect me of having chametz in my possession on erev Pesach?”
Reb Levi Yitzchak left him and approached another man and once more asked the same question: “Have you any chametz with you?”
The man looked with alarm at Reb Levi Yitzchak and cried out, “G-d forbid that I should have chametz in my possession at this hour!”
Turning his eyes upward to Heaven, Reb Levi Yitzchak called out, “Almighty Lord, G-d of Israel, look from Your Heavenly place and behold Your people, Israel. The czar of Russia is a mighty king with a horde of soldiers and police who patrol the borders. He has laws and judges and jails to punish the offenders who dare to smuggle in contraband. Nevertheless, the smugglers are not deterred by laws or punishment and they continue to smuggle.
“You, however, issued a simple command, ‘Thou shalt not have chametz’ and though there are no soldiers or police or judges or jails to enforce it, nevertheless, not a Jew in Berdichev dares have any chametz in his possession on this day.”
