A Stick Like No Other

After the passing of the Rebbe, Rav Mordechai’leh of Nadvorna, Rav Bertzi received word that his father's inheritance had been distributed. A telegram informed him that his late father had bequeathed to him his walking stick, and that it would soon arrive by post.

Rav Bertzi was excited by the thought that, by inheriting his father's holy walking stick, he might be guided by his father's rod and lean on his own father's staff. When the package arrived, he immediately ran to the mikvah to immerse himself in preparation for using the holy walking stick of Rav Mordechai of Nadvorna. He returned from immersing and carefully unwrapped the parcel. He walked back and forth, lost in thought, trying out his father's cane.

After a few turns he abruptly stopped and declared loudly, “This is the cane of my holy father? No. This is but an imposter; it is nothing but a simple piece of wood. Send it back at once.” He refused to touch the cane anymore.

One day a carpenter arrived at the home of Rav Bertzi. Among the things he told was how he had once been commissioned to duplicate the holy walking stick of Rav Mordechai of Nadvorna. “Can you imagine that?” he asked them, describing proudly how he had carved the replica, copying it to the last detail as he had been commissioned. The family knew all too well what he meant. Rav Bertzi had somehow known and sensed it himself.