Rav Menachem Nachum Twersky of Makarov

The Greatness of the Chozeh

As a child, Rav Menachem Nachum was betrothed in Kolik to the daughter of Rav Yosef Horowitz of Tortshin, the son of the Chozeh of Lublin. The Chozeh himself was present at the engagement.

It is told that the Chozeh was the first to arrive in town, and he waited a full day for the mechutan (the other side's father), Rav Mordechai. The Chozeh was known for his supernatural vision, and when Rav Mordechai finally arrived, he expressed his wonder: "I watched the entire road from Chernobyl to Kolik, and I did not see you travelling on it." Rav Mordechai explained, "The mechutan was watching the main road, but I travel by secret, winding ways."

The Chozeh took part in the wedding in Lvovna as well. During the drashah geshank, when the wedding gifts of the mechutanim are announced, the Chozeh seemed to be dozing. Even when they called out loudly, "The mechutan, Harav Yaakov Yitzchak, the Rebbe of Lublin, will give as a gift..." he did not say a word.

His son, Rav Yosef, bent down and whispered in his ear, "Tatte, the olam (the crowd) is waiting for you to say what your gift will be." The Chozeh "awoke" and answered, "As a gift I give myself. In thirteen years I shall return to this world, and the child the chassan and kallah have then shall be named after me."

And so it was. Rav Menachem Nachum and his wife, Matil, had only one son, and they named him Yaakov Yitzchak, after the Chozeh. The Chozeh's mother was also named Matil, so the child's name, Yaakov Yitzchak ben Matil, was exactly the same as the Chozeh's.

At the wedding, the Chozeh's Shemoneh Esrei was much longer than usual, and the people waiting patiently for the chuppah to begin grew curious. Afterwards the Chozeh explained: "You know that Chazal teach (Maseches Shabbos 130a) that there is no kesubah without strife. Why is that? When it is declared in Heaven that the daughter of so-and-so is destined to marry so-and-so, the exact time for the chuppah is set as well. If the mechutanim choose a time that is too early, strife follows, and the chuppah is delayed until the time appointed in Heaven. I saw that the right time for the chuppah had not yet come, so I lengthened my davening to delay it until the proper time that was set in Heaven."

The First Thought of the Morning

On the pasuk "And the frogs came out [of the Nile] and covered all the land of Egypt" (Shemos), Rav Menachem Nachum taught that this alludes to the very first thought of the day. When we wake up each morning with holy thoughts of avodas Hashem (serving Hashem) at the forefront of our minds, and we get out of bed and attach our thoughts to Hashem with gadlus hamochin, an expanded awareness of the exaltedness, greatness and awesome majesty of Hashem, this becomes the theme for the rest of the day. The whole day follows its beginning, and the morning's thoughts influence the rest of the day. If we start the morning right, it is much easier to serve Hashem for the rest of the day. This is hinted at in the pasuk. צפרדעה (frog) is a compound word, hinting at צפר, morning, and דעה, thought or intellect. When we concentrate our first thought of the morning on Hashem, it covers the entire land of Egypt. מצרים is also a compound word: מצר ים, the oppressors, the forces of tumah (impurity) and darkness. Once we begin the day with holy thoughts, with our minds attached and bound to Hashem, it is easier to cover over all the forces of evil and the klipos (husks of impurity), and to serve Hashem better for the rest of the day.

M'Peulas Hatzaddikim, cited in Beis Mordechai to Sefer Hayachas Chernobyl, p. 24