A Good Eye

A man once came to the Maggid of Mezritch for a blessing and for advice. Reb Zusha, who was visiting his Rebbe at the time, saw him come in. With his Ruach Hakodesh (divine inspiration) he saw that this man was deeply stained with sin. He could not hold himself back. Pointing his finger at the man, he cried out, "How could you? How could a man who did such and such," and he listed the sins one by one, "stand before the holy tzaddik of Mezritch without shame? How dare you."

When the man had left, Reb Zusha was heartbroken and full of remorse. Seeing this, the Maggid blessed him that from then on he would no longer see anything negative in another Jew, but would see only good and look upon every Jew with a good eye. And so it was. In another telling, the man answered Reb Zusha, "Hashem also sees all my sins and does not announce them to the world. Are you better than Hashem?" Reb Zusha took this to heart and resolved from then on to see only the good in every Jew.

It is well known that Reb Zusha passed this gift of sight on to the Chozeh of Lublin. While Reb Zusha wandered in exile, dressed as a vagabond and atoning for the sins of Klal Yisroel, he came upon a boy of about ten, Yaakov Yitzchok, who would later become the Rebbe of Lublin. Reb Zusha was standing, as was his custom, at the back of the shul near the oven, where beggars davened. As he swayed beneath his tallis, young Yaakov Yitzchok came by, and Reb Zusha's gaze met his eyes. He held it for a few moments and then turned back to the wall and continued davening.

That gaze did its work. The boy's eyes began to water, and tears poured from them for some time. Afterward his eyes began to drip blood. Then Reb Zusha looked at him again and said, "I have given you a nefesh and a ruach, a lower soul and a spirit. Now go to my brother, Rav Elimelech of Lizhensk, and he will take care of your neshamah, your higher soul." And so the young Yaakov Yitzchok was brought into the ways of Chassidus and was brought before the holy Maggid of Mezritch. From then on he had the far-seeing eyes of the Chozeh of Lublin.