Almost With the Rebbe

Rav Aharon of Cracow, the son of the Maor VaShemesh, told of a visit he made with his father to the tziyun of Rav Elimelech in Lizhensk. Rav Klonimus Kalman asked his family and followers to let him enter the building over the Rebbe's grave alone, and that no one should come in while he was there. They agreed, and he went in by himself and closed the door from inside, while Rav Aharon and the others waited outside.

He stayed inside for a very long time, much longer than was his custom, and his family grew worried that something had happened. They broke down the door and found him lying stretched out on the grave. They tried to revive him, and after several strong efforts they succeeded. When he came to, he was upset. “What have you done to me?” he cried. “If you had let me lie here a few minutes longer, I would have gone straight into Gan Eden together with the Rebbe.”