A group of Chassidim were sitting around in the shul of the great Bardichever Rebbe, shmoozing about all kinds of things. The conversation turned to a discussion about a famous man, known as the Graf Potatzki. The Graf (Graf was a prestigious historical title of the Russian nobility) was incredibly wealthy and owned huge swaths of land throughout the country. But what he was even more well-known for was his insatiable desire for every physical luxury and pleasure in the world. He constantly chased his physical desires, no matter what it took to get them!
One of the Chassidim shared that he heard that the Graf had a desire to go skiing. The problem was that it was in the middle of the summer, and there was no snow! That was not an obstacle that the Graf would not overcome, however. He ordered his servants to scatter massive amounts of sugar on a mountainside to create a ski slope for him! For days, hundreds of servants spent their time bringing and scattering thousands of huge bags of sugar over the mountainside, so that the Graf could fill his craving to go skiing in the summer!
Suddenly, the door opened, and the great Bardichever Rebbe walked into the room. The chassidim trembled in awe as the great Rebbe approached them, and asked them what they were talking about. They fell silent, ashamed to tell their rebbe that their conversations were not quite about Torah or avodas Hashem. But since the Rebbe asked them what they were discussing, one of the Chassidim admitted that they were talking about the luxurious life of the Graf Potaski, and how he would spare nothing to pursue every pleasure in the world, to the extent that he had a mountainside filled up with sugar so he could “ski” in the summer.
The Chassidim sat in silence, watching every move of their rebbe, waiting for his response. “Did the Graf Potaski ever light the Chanukah menorah?” asked the Bardichever Rebbe. “Certainly not” replied the Chassidim, not understanding what he was getting to with this question. “If so, the Graf Potaski has never
in his life tasted the pleasures of
this world!”
Anyone who was privileged to see the Bardichever Rebbe light the menorah, and the otherworldly pleasure that he experienced at that moment, would understand that any other pleasure in this world pales and disappears in comparison to the spiritual pleasure that one can experience when lighting the menorah. It is said in the name of Reb Itzil’e Vorker that if Hashem had commanded Rebbe Levi Yitzchak of Bardichev to light the menorah in the Beis Hamikdash, he would have burst with such intense joy that he would have broken the menorah and spilled all the oil on the floor. Every Yid can get a taste of this incredible spiritual pleasure, by yearning for it, by asking Hashem to help him access it, and by learning about the pnimius of the Chanukah in general and the menorah in particular.
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 17 Special Chanukah Editions.