I will never forget the first time I saw the face of the Rebbe, Rav Itcha Meir Morgenstern Shlita, when he once visited the US. I was so enamored by just seeing the shine of this tzadik, and I told myself, “I must find out more about who this is.” Seeing him was such a unique experience for me that I knew I needed to learn more about him.
Then I found out about his seforim, and started learning them all the time. The seforim mamish grabbed me! When you learn his seforim, it becomes clear that the Rebbe is well versed in everything. But one thing in particular that jumps out is that he is a master at being meyached, unifying and connecting topics that you might never have thought are related. He can bring a yichud to two tzadikim that you might think are fighting or very separated from one another, and concepts that you thought were polar opposites.
There wasn’t a Shabbos or YomTov that went by when I wasn’t quoting from Yam Hachochma or Nishmasin Chaditin (see sidebar page 2) by the table. It was life-changing Torah!
At some point, my wife started getting curious about my obsession with these seforim, and she asked me, “Who is Rav Itcha Meir? Every Shabbos I keep hearing Rav Itcha Meir says this, Rav Itcha Meir says that!” So I told her that he is a tzadik from Yerushalayim and I just love his Torah!
She was very happy to see that I felt a strong kesher to a tzadik, and she encouraged me to take it to the next level. “Go to Yerushalayim and spend time with the tzadik!”
My wife is telling me to go to Yerushalayim to meet the tzadik? I’m going! (In general, I would say that it is very good for the wife when the husband has a strong kesher with a tzadik. Everyone in the family gains from this!)
I booked a flight to Eretz Yisroel, and I went to find the Rebbe. I did not tell anyone in Eretz Yisroel that I was going, and I didn’t make any plans. I just found a place to stay near where the tzadik lived, and I settled in for Shabbos.
I had no idea what to expect, and I had just one plan: to follow the Rebbe around for Shabbos!
That Shabbos changed everything. Watching his davening Friday night, and accompanying him home from shul was already an incredible experience. What a zechus to walk through the streets of Yerushalayim with the tzadik. The oilem would crowd around him, and every few feet he would pause and say Torah. Gevalt!
It was around midnight when he made Kiddush. Hearing him say Kiddush and the Torah that he said throughout the seudah… he pashut looked like he was in Gan Eden. It is hard to describe this heilige sight!
Shalosh Seudos started after most people end Shabbos. I watched the Rebbe say Torah with such dveikus! I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. You hear stories of such things, the great tzadikim and the way they said Torah, but who gets to see such a sight in our generation? And here I was, in 2023, watching this with my own two eyes!
The experience was unreal. In my head, I said, “Rebbe, I am yours!”
Motzei Shabbos, one of the gabbaim, seeing that I was a guest, came over to give me shalom. I told him that I had come from the 5 Towns to see the Rebbe, and about what an impact he has had on me. He pulled me into the Rebbe’s room.
I’m the type of guy that used to make trouble, and was never scared of the Rebbe or the principal. This was the first time in my life that I was shaking in front of a Rebbe!
I remember that the Rebbe understood what I had done, and he gave me brachos and gave me encouragement for having made the trip. For me, I walked out of the room with one thought. That’s it. This is my Rebbe.
You Can Connect to a Tzadik!
The bottom line is, as the famous line goes, “Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.” Sometimes we build up in our minds what something should be or how it should look, and because of that picture, when we don’t see that happening, we give up on the whole avodah. So don’t paint this picture of connecting to a tzadik that is going to prevent you from taking even a small step to be mekasher to that tzadik. “What, you think I’m going to become one of the insiders by that Rebbe? There is no way I can become a close, close, talmid!” Don’t let that happen. That’s not the avodah. The inyan is to be mekasher to the tzadik. Go be mekasher!! Rebbe Nachman says, “Hiskashrus is to love the tzadik:
ועיקר ההתקשרות הוא אהבה, שיאהב את הצדיק אהבה שלמה, כמו שנאמר ‘ונפשו קשורה בנפשו’ ותרגומו ‘חביחא לה כנפשה’
The main way to connect yourself is with love, to love the tzadik with a complete love, as it says ‘and his soul is attached to his soul’, which means ‘his soul is beloved to him like his own.’”
Hashem was kind to us. He did not leave us hanging in our generation without any tzadikim. We have great tzadikim even in our generation. Whoever the tzadik is that you feel connected to — go!! Spend a Shabbos with him. Go to his shiur, in person. Sit with him, talk to him, connect to him. You do not need to make all the arrangements; you don’t need a perfect plan. Just go be mekasher to the tzadik!
If you are not with them, you can be mekasher even from far away. Even if you are not able to connect to them in a personal way, do not allow that to make you think that since you aren’t a close talmid you cannot be mekasher. That is not true! Learn their Torah, love them, think about them all the time, and follow what is going on with them. It’s true that it feels good for you to feel a personal connection, but Hiskashrus is far deeper than that, and can be done from anywhere. That’s the inyan.
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 67.
