I’ll tell you a maaseh. Usually, when you hear Chassidishe stories, the villain is the poretz. The poretz, the landlord, was often an anti-Semite who abused his power and made life hard for the Jewish people. But every once in a while, you find a poretz who was actually a good person. This is a story about a rare kind of poretz.
This particular poretz owned a large area with a number of small towns in his district. Baruch Hashem, he was an upstanding person, a righteous gentile, someone who really cared, and he went out of his way to help the Jewish people who lived in his area. He would give them loans, help them find jobs, and do what he could to make their lives easier.
The problem was that this poretz was getting older, and he was a sickly person to begin with. As time went on, he became weaker and weaker, and he wasn’t able to run things by himself anymore. Slowly but surely, he had to start passing the reins over to the next generation. Unfortunately, the people next in line were the classic poretzim. They were anti-Semites and did everything they could to make life harder for the Jewish people. The Jews didn’t know what to do, and it was clear that if the old poretz would only have a refuah sheleimah, everything would be much better.
This was during the time of the Rebbe Maharash of Lubavitch, and many of the Yidden living in those towns were his Chassidim. There was one particular Chassid named Reb Shmuel, who understood the situation well and went to the Rebbe Maharash to tell him about the trouble that was brewing for the Jews if this poretz handed over the reins.
The Rebbe Maharash put his head down and thought for a few minutes. Then he lifted his head and said, “Go back and tell the poretz in my name, that if he can find the strength to take the reins back and run things the way they were, and help the Jewish people, I guarantee him one month of health and happiness for every Jewish family that he helps. Go tell him that.”
Reb Shmuel went and told the poretz that he had just come from the Rebbe Maharash, and explained the whole deal, that if he could strengthen himself to take control again and help the Jewish people, the Rebbe guaranteed him a month of health and happiness for every Jewish family he helped. The poretz, who knew about the Rebbe, became very excited, because this was exactly what he needed. He decided not only to help the families he was already helping, but to expand his efforts as much as possible.
The poretz wanted to know how many Jewish families were in his district so he could help as many as possible. Nobody understood why, but everyone saw that the situation started to improve. Conditions got better, and the poretz expanded his influence into more and more towns. In the end, he was helping hundreds and hundreds of Jewish families.
For the next fourteen years, the poretz was completely healthy. He didn’t even catch a cold. Then one morning, after fourteen years, he woke up not feeling well. He quickly called Reb Shmuel and told him to go back to the Rebbe Maharash and say that, according to his calculation, he still had another sixteen months left. He wanted the Rebbe to keep his word.
Reb Shmuel told him that, unfortunately, the Rebbe Maharash had been niftar the year before. The poretz thought for a moment and then said that even in the next world, a Rebbe keeps his word. He told Reb Shmuel to go to the tziyun of the Rebbe Maharash and deliver the message there. Reb Shmuel went and said exactly what the poretz asked him to say.
When he returned, he asked the poretz how he was feeling. The poretz said that earlier that morning he had felt weak, but now he felt completely fine. He was confident everything would be okay.
Seventeen months later, exactly, the poretz did not wake up in the morning. That was the end of it. The Rebbe Maharash had kept his word exactly.
Take It To Go!
Very soon, b’ezras Hashem, Moshiach will come, and the whole world will see the truth. The entire world will know that Hashem is One, and Hashem takes care of His holy nation, mi k’amcha yisroel, goy echas ba’aretz.
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 65.
