Sitting Beside Eliyohu HaNovi

Even as a young child, Rav Mordechai's kedusha was evident. When he was but eight years old he was present at a bris where his father, the Trisker Maggid, served as the sandak and held the newborn baby. He observed that someone was sitting beside his father, an old man with a long white beard.

"Father, who is the elderly man sitting beside you?" he asked innocently.

"That is Eliyohu HaNovi," answered the Trisker Maggid, "and since you can see him, I order you too to sit beside him."