The Intention Left in Prison

It is told that the story of how Rav Shlomo came to be a martyr began earlier. Rav Nachum of Czernobyl had been imprisoned on a false charge of murder, as part of a blood libel invented against him by wicked men. When Rav Shlomo and others tried to free him through the usual means, they met an extraordinary, almost unnatural opposition. They understood that it was supernatural, and that it was Rav Nachum himself who did not wish to be freed. Surely he was sitting in prison willingly, as a sacrifice to cancel some harsh decree against Klal Yisroel.

Rav Shlomo convinced him to agree to be released. When the Czernobler saw that the Karliner had discovered his secret, he said, “I had a hidden thought which even the malochim did not understand, and this holy Jew has seen it.” He agreed to be freed.

Rav Shlomo later remarked, “He dropped that intention, to be a martyr and sacrifice himself for Klal Yisroel, and I picked it up.”