His Rebbe's Final Illness

When Rav Shmuel of Unsdorf was in his final illness, someone wondered why his talmid, Rav Yehoshua Buxbaum, the Galanta Rav, had not yet come to visit. "It is best that way," said Rav Shmuel. "If he came, it would be bitul Torah d'rabbim, loss of Torah for the many. I am sure I am in his thoughts, as he is always in mine."

When Rav Yehoshua did hear of his rebbe's sickness, he hurried to him, traveling together with twenty-five of his talmidim to visit the sick. When they arrived, Rav Shmuel gathered his strength and sat up in his bed. Rav Yehoshua approached his rebbe, pointed to the twenty-five talmidim who had come with him, and declared, "Behold, bnei banav, these are my talmidim, and they are your spiritual heirs." This strengthened the Be'er Shmuel, and he rose in honor of his beloved talmid.

On Lag BaOmer they returned home to Galanta. The Galanta Rav told his talmidim to daven for his rebbe's recovery, and they did so every day until the eleventh of Sivan, when he asked them to stop. They did not know why. Only later did the news arrive that Rav Shmuel of Unsdorf had passed away on the eleventh of Sivan. His talmid had somehow known.