How the Apta Rav Became a Talmid of the Noam Elimelech

In the town of Zavanitz there were smugglers who brought in goods without paying the taxes, and Shabbos was openly desecrated. The Apta Rav was deeply upset by this and rebuked them sharply. Rav Shmelka, the son of Rav Moshe Leib of Sassov, wanted to visit the Apter, but he came from Zavanitz and feared that once the Apter heard where he was from, he would not even let him cross the threshold. His friends advised him to ignore any question about his town and simply to say that he was the Sassover's son.

When the shamash asked who he was, Rav Shmelka said he was the son of the Sassover. The Apter ran to greet him, shaking his hand with both of his. He lit candles in his honor, put on finer clothes, and seated him in a special chair for honored guests, brushing aside every protest. "Why, you are my Rebbe's son," he said.

While Rav Shmelka sat there, the Apter told him, "Let me tell you a story from when I was Rav of Kolbosov. I was a young avreich (young married scholar), and I lived in the house set aside for the Rav. It was very large, and my small family used only one wing. The winters were freezing, and my salary hardly fed us, let alone heated such a house, so the other wing stayed furnished but empty.

"I sat and learned lishmah (for its own sake), and since it was a small city with few affairs needing my attention, I had plenty of free time. I often learned with my son, and nothing disturbed us. We were not Chassidim. Since Torah study was our main avodah, we even looked on their ways with disdain and counted ourselves among the misnagdim (opponents of Chassidus).

"One day two unknown travelers knocked at my window and asked if I had room for guests. I told them the whole second wing was theirs. They unloaded their luggage and settled in. I noticed that they seemed holy and that their conversation was lofty and about avodas Hashem, but I was too busy learning to take their 'idle chatter' seriously. I believed my own path was correct and dismissed them.

"They stayed three days. On the third day, as they prepared to leave, they came to take their leave of me, and one of them began telling me a story. I was greatly troubled, since it pulled me away from my learning, but it would have been rude to interrupt, so I listened politely. When he finished, he began another one, and my hair stood on end at the waste of my precious time. Then the other guest told a tale as well, and the pain I felt was like death itself. Finally the three stories were done, and they went on their way.

"Three months passed, and I understood the first story and saw that I had needed it. Three more months passed, and I understood the second. Three months after that, I understood the third. I was astonished that they had known what I would need and what would befall me over the course of a whole year. I realized this could only be through Ruach Hakodesh, and I hoped Hashem would let me meet them again.

"Two years later, I looked out of my window and saw them both riding past in their carriage. I could not miss the chance. I ran out without my coat or my spodik (the fur hat worn by the town Rav), and chased the carriage through the town in my shirt. When I caught up with them near the inn, I asked, between breaths, where they were headed. 'To Lizhensk, to the Rebbe, Reb Elimelech,' they said.

"'May I join you?' I asked. They agreed on one condition: that while they davened, I go to the market and buy provisions for the journey, rolls, bagels and butter. I forgot myself completely, town Rav or not, and went in my shirt to buy the bread and butter. When I returned, they had finished davening and told me to hurry. I ran home, dressed, took my tallis and tefillin, and jumped into their carriage.

"'We are taking you to the Rebbe Elimelech,' they told me, 'because we can tell that your soul is rooted with his.' And so it was. Rebbe Elimelech became my mentor, and I became his talmid. Those two holy tzaddikim were your father, Rav Moshe Leib of Sassov, and Rav Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev."

Afterwards, Rav Moshe Leib would often say that he deserved shidduch gelt, a matchmaker's fee, for making the match between the Apter and Rebbe Elimelech. The Berditchever answered, "And I should get double your fee, since I also brought Rebbe Elimelech and Rebbe Zusha to the Maggid of Mezritch."