Rav Nachum's Grief

After Rav Shlomo of Karlin passed away, no one wanted to tell Rav Nachum of Czernobyl, because the two had been so close. But when Rav Nachum shut himself away from the world for three days, they understood that he must have found out.

To comfort the grieving tzaddik, his chassidim told him that had the Karliner lived, thousands of Jews would have been killed in his place. Rav Nachum was not comforted. They said tens of thousands, and he cried that Rav Shlomo alone was equal to them. Finally they told him that a quarter of Klal Yisroel would have been lost if the Karliner had not taken their place, and only then was he consoled.