The Sales, Gifts and Loans of Rebbes

The Imrei Yosef of Spinka once came to serve as sandek at a bris, and a great gathering came from all the surrounding area to see the tzaddik. After the seuda, he was honored with leading the bensching. He recited Birkas HaMozon from the Siddur Arizal, as was his custom, and one of the chassidim stood listening behind the Rebbe's chair.

The Rebbe reached the words, "Please, Hashem, do not require us to benefit from the gifts of flesh and blood, nor to need their loans," and he became very excited. The chassid, however, was troubled by a thought. How could the Rebbe grow so excited and ask Hashem not to need the gifts of others, when the chassid knew full well that at the end of Birkas HaMozon the Rebbe would sit down and begin to accept pidyonos and kvitlach? These were monetary gifts, given together with the notes of supplication that the chassidim presented to the Rebbe, asking him to daven for them, bring them a salvation and bless them. Was it not hypocritical of the Rebbe to ask Hashem for parnossa from Him alone, and not to benefit from the gifts of flesh and blood, when everyone knew that in just a few minutes he would receive gifts of money from the chassidim?

But the chassid checked himself. He knew that Chazal say that anyone who thinks thoughts against his Rebbe is as if he thinks against Heaven, and so he tried to push these thoughts out of his head.

The Rebbe, however, seemed to know exactly what his chassid was thinking. As he finished bensching, he turned to the chassid and asked aloud, "It seems almost contradictory for me to ask Hashem not to benefit from people's gifts. However, Chazal composed the same nusach of Birkas HaMozon for everyone to recite, whether they benefit from their own handiwork and toil or from others. Those Rebbes of whom the pasuk in Tehillim says, 'And he gave him from the gold of Sheba, and he prayed on his behalf,' accept pidyonos and monetary gifts in order to pray for their chassidim who are devoted and connected to them. Their entire parnossa is made up of gifts from people. How can they recite this nusach in Birkas HaMozon?"

The Imrei Yosef then answered his own question. "When a Rebbe accepts a pidyon for davening on behalf of his chassid, and the chassid experiences a salvation and is delivered through that yeshua, this is not a gift. It is a financial business transaction, payment given for goods, like any other business deal in which there is buying and selling. The Rebbe who prays has not received a free gift, since in exchange for his tefillos he granted the chassid a yeshua. If the Rebbe's tefillos were not answered right away, the money given is like a loan, which is repaid once the prayers are answered and the yeshua granted. If the prayers remain, Heaven forbid, unanswered, then the money remains a true free gift, since nothing was given to the chassid in exchange."

"This is what the Rebbes daven for when they recite Birkas HaMozon and ask Hashem, 'Please let us not benefit from the gifts of flesh and blood, and not need their loans.' They are asking that the tefillos and berachos they give their chassidim in exchange for the pidyonos and kvitlach they receive should be answered, granted and fulfilled, so that the monetary transaction is not considered a loan or a gift, but a fair exchange of goods and services rendered for payment."