The Chazzan and the Cold Soup

The Rebbe once called Reb Yisrael Poleg of Peshimshal, a famed baal menagen (musician) whom he had appointed chazzan in Levov, and spoke to him on Motzei Yom Tov before he left Belz. "My chassidim are very strict not to go to those shuls that hire the modern chazzanim. However, there are many good, pious, holy Jews who do hear them. I too wish to be included among those Jews. Since I cannot go there and listen to those chazzanim, I wish that here and now you perform for me a piece of chazzanus (cantorial music), and this will fulfill my duty so that I can be counted among them."

On another occasion, the Rebbe was sitting in his sukkah during Yom Tov when they brought him his soup. To reach the Rebbe's sukkah, the food had to be carried through the streets from the kitchen, and by the time it arrived the soup was cold. The Rebbe asked, "Why is the soup so cold?" They explained that it had been carried through the streets to the sukkah and had cooled off.

The Belzer Rebbe said, "If soup, which has no feelings, passes through the streets and gets cooled off, then just think what can happen to a flesh-and-blood person, with feelings and emotions in his heart. What happens to him if he passes through the streets and cools off?"