The Thief on Erev Yom Kippur

The Rebbe's kevod habriyos, his compassion and care for his fellow Jews, was on a level that astonished others. This well-known anecdote shows it.

It was Erev Yom Kippur in Zhvil. Four gabbaim sat outside the Rebbe's door, writing kvittlach and keeping order among the throngs queued outside, chassidim and non-chassidim alike, all the Jews of Zhvil, waiting patiently to receive the Rebbe's berachah on Erev Yom Kippur. Then the door to the Rebbe's inner room opened, and he quickly left for a short visit to the old beis hachaim, where his forebears, Rav Moshele and Rav Michele, were buried, to daven in their merit for a kapparah for Am Yisroel. When the Rebbe returned, the audiences and berachos continued well into the seudah itself.

At last there was a lull in the tide of people, the tense rush quieted, and the house was empty. The Rebbe and his son went back toward the Rebbe's room, but the holy aura of the approaching Yom Kippur was broken by the sound of someone searching through the drawers of the Rebbe's desk. A ganav, a thief, on Erev Yom Kippur, in the Rebbe's own room, plainly tempted by the large sums from the pidyonos of the chassidim.

The Rebbe's son felt an arm on his shoulder, holding him back. The Rebbe shrank against the wall and allowed the thief, who fled in panic at being discovered, to go. The entire time, rather than confront the brazen thief, the Rebbe did his best to ease the man's discomfort and shame. He pretended not to notice him and avoided him, averting his gaze. Such was the Rebbe's compassion toward a man who was stealing from him on Erev Yom Kippur.