The Bardichever Rebbe

LIVED 
1740–1809
217th yahrtzeiT
25 Tishrei
BURIED 
Bardichev, Ukraine

It was the day after the most historic wedding to ever take place in Bardichev — the children of the Baal Hatanya and the Bardichever Rebbe had gotten married to each other, and these two tzaddikim were now mechutanim!

Rav Levi Yitzchok said to the Baal Hatanya, “we have so much to thank Hashem for! Let’s go do a special mitzvah together.”  He then told him about a poor, orphaned girl who was in need of financial help to get married. He suggested they go collecting for her.

The chassidim of the Baal Hatanya weren’t used to these types of things, and felt that it wasn’t befitting the honor of their Rebbe to go around collecting tzedaka. Rather, they quickly gathered together a large sum of money from between the chassidim and gave it to the Bardichever. Rav Levi Yitzchok looked up to shomayim, something he did quite frequently, and called out, “Aibishter!! Look how holy your children are, they raised the tzedaka to help out an orphaned Kallah, and wanted to avoid their Rebbe needing to go collect tzedaka!”

However, he did not want to accept the money. He insisted on going collecting with the Baal Hatanya. 

While on the road, the Bardichever asked the Baal Hatanya to agree to one condition. Whatever money they were offered, they were to accept, even if it was a very small amount. He then told the Baal Hatanya about a very generous Yid in town named Reb Lipa. He was famous for giving to anyone who asked, and he suggested they start their trip by going to his home.

When they arrived at Reb Lipa’s home, he was very excited to see these great tzadikim. They told him what they needed. He then fished in his pockets and pulled out a half copper coin [probably equivalent to one dollar in today’s terms] and gave it to them. The Baal Hatanya watched in disbelief as Rav Levi Yitzchok thanked him profusely and got up to leave. 

On the way out, the Baal Hatanya questioned accepting this donation, as the man could clearly give more. But the Bardichever just reminded his new mechutan of their policy of accepting any amount. 

As they were walking down the road, Reb Lipa came running after them. He apologized for giving such a small amount, and then took out ten golden coins and gave it to them. This was far more than his original donation, but also wasn’t nearly what the man could give. The Bardichever accepted it with love and blessings to Reb Lipa, and the Baal Hatanya knew to wait and see what would happen next.

The tzaddikim continued walking down the road, and sure enough, Reb Lipa came running after them again. He broke out into tears, saying, “I don’t know what happened to me!  I’m so sorry for my disrespect!”  He then pulled out what seemed to be one thousand gold coins — an astronomical amount — and gave it to them. They thanked him profusely and poured brachos on him. 

When they came back to Bardichev, Rav Levi Yitzchok explained to the Baal Hatanya what had happened.

“This Yid truly is a big ba’al tzedaka. Recently, he was sitting with some noblemen, making a large business deal. A pauper knocked on the door, and when no one answered, he let himself in. He walked through all the corridors until he came to the room where the meeting was taking place, opened the door, and asked Reb Lipa for tzedaka. Despite the disrespect, Reb Lipa didn’t get angry. He smiled at him, reached into his pocket, and pulled out the only money he had on him — one half copper coin. He told the man that this was all he had right then, but he would please come back later and he would give him more.

The pauper got very angry, in front of all the noblemen, and threw the coin back in Reb Lipa’s face, wounding him. He then ran away.

Needless to say, Reb Lipa was very hurt and offended. His yetzer hora started telling him, “this only happened since you give so much tzedaka. People expect you to give so much all the time. If you would start giving smaller amounts, people wouldn’t expect it, and no one would get angry if you were able to give a small amount.” 

Unfortunately, he fell for the yetzer hara’s argument, and decided he would never give more than a half copper coin. Word spread amongst the beggars that used to come to him frequently, and eventually, they all stopped coming. 

Rav Levi Yitzchok continued, “Until we came, he hadn’t done the mitzvah of tzedaka in many months! I felt so bad for Reb Lipa. He was such a big ba’al chesed, and now, he had fallen so far. Therefore, even though Reb Lipa shouldn’t have fallen for the yetzer hara’s trap, I decided I had to find a way to help him. That’s why I wanted us to go to his home.

However, there was a problem. We know that “aveira goreres aveira,” one sin causes another one. Since he had avoided giving tzedaka for so long, it wasn’t so easy for him to start giving again. He needed someone to accept that small donation, and only then, through the opposite middah of mitzvah goreres mitzvah, one mitzvah leads to another, would he have the spiritual strength to get back to giving tzedaka properly. Once we accepted that small amount, his heart was opened somewhat. Then he was able to give more, and that opened him up more. Until, eventually, he realized how he had been fooled by the yetzer hara and managed to do full teshuva! This is why I bothered you to come with me. Like I said, it was a rare mitzvah!”  

FUN FACTS

One day the Baal Shem Tov was sitting in his beis medrash and told everyone after davening that he would like to make a l’chayim, in honor of a great neshama that has just come into the world. This neshama, he told them, would be a great meilitz yosher (advocate) for Klall Yisroel. He was referring to Rav Levi Yitzchok.

Even though Rav Levi Yitzchok was 20 years old when the Baal Shem Tov passed away, he was never zoche to meet him. The Maggid of Mezritch (one of the main students of the Baal Shem Tov) explained that this had to be so. When it was decided in Heaven that Rav Levi Yitzchok’s neshama was to come down to this world, the yetzer hara protested. He was afraid that people would be so inspired by Rav Levi Yitzchok’s avodah, they would lose their free will. In response to the yetzer hora’s concern, the Heavenly court decided that this heilige neshama would only be allowed entrance into the world under three conditions: Firstly, that this person would never be able to meet the Baal Shem Tov. Secondly, he would always have enemies in this world that would fight against him. And lastly, he would become the Rav of a town at a very young age, which would make him very busy and limit the time he had to help Yidden change their ways. 

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Once, the Baal Shem Tov met the yetzer hora and asked him, “how is our Rav doing,” referring to Rav Levi Yitzchok. The yetzer hora answered, “I deeply regret that I let his neshama come down. I knew that he would be a Rav, but I did not realize he would be the Bardichever Rav!”