This Bochur Smells of Lizhensk

Rav Dovid Shpitz a"h, a Belzer chassid, once told how as a bochur he longed to visit the tzion of Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk. In Belz, however, bochurim were not encouraged to make special trips to the kivrei tzaddikim. So when he travelled from his home in Vienna to Belz for Rosh Hashanah, he planned a stop in Lizhensk along the way.

He reached Lizhensk on erev Shabbos and went on from there straight to Belz, arriving close to the start of Shabbos. He hurried off to the beis medrash without saying a word to anyone.

Later, the gabbai, Reb Nachman Hersh, came over and asked him, "Shalom aleichem, bochur, did you just come from Lizhensk?" Dovid was surprised at being caught, and asked how he knew. It turned out that earlier, when he had greeted the Belzer Rebbe, Rav Aharon, the Rebbe had remarked, "This bochur shmekt fin Lizhensk. He smells of Lizhensk."