His Miraculous Escape

In his sefer Kosnos Ohr, on Parshas Shemini, Rav Meir describes an incident that happened to him on Yom Kippur before Kol Nidrei. Somehow it was revealed to him that he must run for his life, and he fled then and there. It was none too soon, for the authorities came searching for him, but by then he was gone.

Apparently some unscrupulous individuals had rebelled against the government. Because some of their business dealings and disputes required the Bais Din to resolve them, they falsely implicated the Rav, and the Panim Meiros stood accused of illegal activities. The libel was strong enough that they sought his arrest, and Boruch Hashem he was warned from Shomayim and fled on Yom Kippur.

He ran back to Shidlowitz, where he had served before, and remained in exile for some three years until he was finally cleared to return home to Eisenstadt with honor.