The Line Outside His Home

Throughout the long galus, the time when young Jewish men were conscripted into the army of the host country was always an eis tzoro, a time of fear and of desperate attempts to bribe anyone with influence. The days of the Sefas Emes were no different.

As soon as conscription began, a long line would form outside his home in Ger. Like a caring shepherd, he gave each person in turn a brocho, comfort and chizuk. To the bnei Torah he cited the mishnah in Pirkei Avos, that whoever takes on the yoke of Torah is freed from the yoke of the government. The chassidim used to say that one could tell from the Rebbe’s advice and brocho whether the person before him would be sent to the army or not.

Once two young men came to ask whether they should bribe the officials, and how much. One barely made a living, and the other had considerable means. To the wealthy man the Rebbe said it would be a shame to waste his money, since even a hundred rubles would not help. He should invest it instead so that his wife would have a good business to live on, a hint that she would have to manage on her own, as indeed it turned out. To the poor man he said to scrape together twenty-five rubles, and that would be enough, and it was.