The Belzer Rav's Final Berocha

On the 23rd of Shevat, in the year Tav-Reish-Nun-Dalet (5654), Rav Yehoshua, the Mittler Belzer Rebbe, passed away. He had traveled to Vienna to seek the advice and care of the doctors and professors, and was admitted there to the hospital. It was there that he was niftar, and he was brought back to Belz for burial.

For Parshas Bo, Rav Shaul left Mogendorf, where he served as Rav, and traveled to Vienna to visit the Tzaddik, Rav Yehoshua, the Belzer Rav. This is one of the stories Rav Shaul related from that visit.

"On Sunday, I heard that the Pressburger Rav, the Shevet HaSofer, was also in Vienna seeking medical advice and care, and so I went to visit him. During my visit, he expressed surprise that I had left my post as Rav and teacher to see the Rebbe. 'How can you leave a public matter to see a Rebbe?' he asked in astonishment.

"At first, I replied that it says in Eruvin 13 that Rebbe said he was sharper than his fellow Rabbonim, and he attributed this to having once seen Rav Meir from behind. I merited seeing the Belzer Rav face to face.

"This did not appease him, and so I related a chiddush on Parshas Bo that I had heard from the Belzer Rebbe, Rav Yehoshua: that the pasuk begins in the singular and concludes in the plural, because Moshe, whose neshoma included all the souls of Klal Yisroel, fulfilled the mitzva of retelling the Exodus on behalf of them all. When I concluded, the Pressburger Rav turned to his attendant and told him that they must get ready to go and see the Belzer Rav.

"When I entered the hospital room of Rav Yehoshua of Belz, he took my kvittel, gave me a berocha, sank into thought for a moment and then told me, 'Mogendorf Rav, hear now what I say to you. A person must be strong in his resolve to have bitochon in Hashem and never to give up hope, even when things are bad and the situation is dire and difficult. Even if a person is very sick with a serious disease, and even if they take him to Vienna, and admit him to this hospital, and in this room and in this very bed, still, do not give up hope and do not despair, because you can recover fully with Hashem's help, and become the Rav of a large town, and after that, become the Rav of a great city.'

"The Rebbe's words were a riddle to me, and a few days later he passed away.

"Several years passed and I became very sick. I was still the Rav in Mogendorf, and the doctors urged me to seek medical attention in Vienna, whose expert doctors could help, because they could not diagnose my disease nor properly treat me. During the journey by train my situation worsened and I fainted. They took me and laid me down across the benches in one of the cars. As I lay unconscious, I heard a commotion and awoke. I saw sitting beside me a stranger in Chassidic attire, who asked me, 'Do you remember what the Belzer Rav told you in Vienna?'

"When I arrived in Vienna, I was admitted to the same hospital as Rav Yehoshua had been. I was placed in the same room, and even in the same exact bed he had previously occupied. It was then that I realized what the Tzaddik had meant, and I did not give up hope. Obviously, his berocha was effective, and I left the hospital fully healed. The doctors, however, warned me not to strain myself. Instead I should plant a garden, tend its flowers and play Shach (chess). I listened to them, and I played Shach and Taz, and studied the Shulchan Aruch and all its commentaries.

"Afterward, the rest of the Belzer Rav's riddle unraveled, when I was appointed Rav of the great town of Kruly, and afterward as the Rav of Kashau, a great city in Hungary. At first, I was hesitant to take the post, but when I sent a letter asking the new Belzer Rav if this was the fulfillment of his father's berocha, he answered in the affirmative and said that I must accept.

"I left Rumania and took up the position of Rav of the great city of Kashau, as the Tzaddik had blessed me in Vienna."