Rav Simcha Bunim Bonhart

Two Rebbes

A talmid of Rav Simcha Bunim relates that his Rebbe taught that everyone needs two rebbes, one from this world and one from the supernal worlds above, Olam HaElyon. The talmid understood that he meant the Maharal, because Rav Simcha Bunim had just been telling them about his visit to the Maharal's kever in Prague.

Rav Simcha Bunim said that he had learned the Maharal's seforim before davening, and that his tefillah that day was especially fluent and fluid. The talmid also heard that at the Maharal's kever in Prague, Rav Simcha Bunim asked for three things, and promised that if they were fulfilled he would publicize the great value of the Maharal's seforim.

A Visit from the Tosafos Yom Tov

It is told that once, as Rav Simcha Bunim sat with his talmidim, an elderly talmid chacham came to greet him. He remembered Rav Bunim from his younger days in Vadislav, and because he remembered him as a youngster, he did not address him as Rav or Rebbe. The talmidim were upset and rebuked the guest for his lack of respect for their Rebbe.

"I will test your Rebbe," the elderly talmid chacham answered. "I will ask him a question on the commentary of the Tosafos Yom Tov. If he knows the answer, I will honor him with the title Rav and Rebbe."

He asked the question, and Rav Bunim closed his eyes in concentration and rested his head on his arm for several minutes. Then he lifted his head, opened his eyes, and gave an excellent explanation that answered the question. The guest was amazed. "I asked many scholars, and no one could answer my question. How did you know the answer?"

"I ascended on high," explained Rav Bunim, "and asked the neshamah of my departed rebbe, the Yid HaKadosh, who in turn went to visit the Tosafos Yom Tov himself in the heavenly academy. He told him that the printer had left out a few words, and he gave me the answer. That is how I know."

The Rebbe Who Closed Shop

A chassid once came to Rav Fishel of Strikov and said that he needed to marry off a daughter but had no money. "Rebbe, what shall I do? I can think of no way to marry off my daughter by natural means." Rav Fishel, who was known to bring about miracles, answered at once: "Go and buy a lottery ticket, and with hatzlachah and siyata Dishmaya, success and Heavenly help, it should work out."

The chassid bought a ticket. As the day of the lottery approached, his situation took a sharp turn for the worse, until he could not provide for his family or even buy provisions for Shabbos. He had no candles, no challos and no wine for kiddush, no one would lend him more, and his creditors were pressing him. He found someone willing to buy the ticket for enough money to make Shabbos, and he sold it.

A few days later the lottery numbers were announced, and the chassid's ticket was the winning one. But it was the man who had bought it from him who received the prize of seventy thousand rubles.

The anguished chassid returned to Rav Fishel and poured out his heart: "Rebbe, why did this happen to me? What was I to do? Should my family and I have fasted and sat in the dark all Shabbos?" Rav Fishel was heartbroken. He announced to the astonished chassidim, and then to his gabbai and family: "That is it. I am closing shop. Lock the doors, turn away all petitioners and send the chassidim home. I am no longer a rebbe." He closed the door of his room and let no one enter.

When they asked him why, he explained: "Why did Hashem not fulfill my berachah for this chassid, and instead test him this way? I must not be a tzaddik, and so I am no rebbe."

Everyone was distressed. Rav Fishel was loved and respected, and his berachos had brought wondrous salvations. When Rav Simcha Bunim of Peshischa heard the news, he traveled to Strikov to see what could be done. He was let in and found Rav Fishel distraught. "What is this rumor that you will no longer be a rebbe?" "It is true," cried the tzaddik. "If I cannot help, Hashem must not heed me, and so I am no tzaddik and no rebbe."

"You are a rebbe, and I will prove it," said Rav Simcha Bunim. He cited Chazal, who teach that a tzaddik can decree, and even cancel the decrees of Hashem (Moed Katan 16). Yet every day before Pesukei D'Zimra in Shacharis we say another statement of Chazal, from Tana Dvei Eliyahu: "Who among Your handiwork, whether among those in the heavens above or those below, can tell You what to do or how to do it?" These two statements seem to contradict each other, and Rav Simcha Bunim resolved them.

"It is true that a tzaddik decrees, and Hashem fulfills it. But no one, above or below, can dictate to Hashem what to do or how. The rebbe can decree and overturn decrees, give berachos and bring yeshuos, but carrying them out is left solely to Hashem. Tzaddik gozer, v'Hashem mekayem: the tzaddik decrees, and Hashem sees that it is carried out according to His own terms. You cannot dictate that this chassid's yeshuah must come through this very lottery ticket. You blessed him, and surely your berachah will be fulfilled, but it is not for you to control how it comes to pass."

These words found favor in Rav Fishel's eyes, and soon after, he announced that he was coming out of retirement. The residents of Strikov and the surrounding towns rejoiced to have their rebbe back.

The Farmer's Message

Long before he was a Rebbe, Rav Simcha Bunim made his living as a merchant. It is told that he went to the market to buy grain and argued over the price with a Polish farmer. The farmer would not lower it. Instead he raised it, and said a single word, “Poprowice,” which in Polish means “do better.”

All the farmer wanted was a higher payment. But that night, back at home, Rav Simcha Bunim could not stop hearing the word. Poprowice. Improve. Do better.

He felt that it was meant for him. If even a Polish farmer was telling him to improve, he reasoned, then the time had come for teshuvah, and he decided right then to change his ways.

A Game of Chess

In the years before he became a Rebbe, when he was a merchant, Rav Simcha Bunim often played chess with fellow Jewish merchants who had drifted from Yiddishkeit. He would use the games to slip in a remark that might help them mend their ways.

Once he made an illegal move, and his opponent objected. Rav Simcha Bunim apologized warmly, asked forgiveness, and begged to take the move back. Since it was the first time, the opponent agreed.

They played on until Rav Simcha Bunim again made an illegal move. Again he was caught, and again he asked to take it back. This time his opponent refused. He had overlooked the first mistake, but he would not give a second chance.

Then Rav Simcha Bunim spoke: "You see how a person can err so badly, and wander so far, that no one can bring him back. When matters go too far, there is no returning to set them right." The words penetrated the merchant's heart. He did teshuvah while he still had the chance to retake his moves, and became a complete baal teshuvah.

Lost in the Forest

Rav Simcha Bunim once explained a teaching of the Baal Shem Tov (see Avos 6:2). The regret and the urge to return that stir in a person's heart are really a bas kol, a heavenly voice that summons each of us every single day to do teshuvah. He gave a mashal.

A father and his young son were riding in a wagon piled with goods, on their way to sell at the yearly spring fair. The road ran through a forest full of blossoms, and the boy begged his father to halt so that he could gather some flowers. The father said no. The wagon would keep moving, he warned, and a boy left behind could easily lose his way.

The son had an answer. He would pick slowly, he promised, and shout to his father from time to time. So long as his father called back, he would hear where the wagon was, follow the sound, and rejoin him once his hands were full.

The father gave in. The boy jumped down and the wagon rolled on. After a while the father called out, “My son, my son.” Nobody answered. In despair he hid his face in his hands. He understood that a child who could hear him would have found his way, and that silence meant the boy was lost.

Ready and Willing

It is told that Rav Simcha Bunim was once on his way home from Danzig when he stopped in the town where Rav Zalman Chasid lived, a man great in Torah and in good deeds but desperately poor. At the inn, Rav Simcha Bunim sent for Rav Zalman and saw that he was dressed in rags, although it was winter, bitterly cold, with the snow piled high.

"Go," he told him, "and prepare a full meal for me, a meal for chassidim." He handed him a fistful of coins without counting them. Rav Zalman went to the market and bought everything generously: meat, fish and all kinds of drinks, and he still had money left over.

While Rav Zalman was out, Rav Simcha Bunim sent for a furrier and bought a handsome fur coat, and also boots, cloth for suits and other clothing. Before the meal, he told the janitor of the inn to carry all the new clothes to Rav Zalman's house. Then he went there himself, sent everyone out, and dressed Rav Zalman from head to toe. He saw that Rav Zalman's family was also in rags, and he sent for fabric and cloth for everyone in the household. The house filled with light and joy, and they sat down together to eat and rejoice.

As Rav Simcha Bunim prepared to leave, he went to Rav Zalman to ask for a berachah and offered him a gold dinar. Rav Zalman refused. "Rebbe, I still have the change from the meal, and you have already clothed me and my household."

Rav Simcha Bunim answered: "One who gives tzedakah out of pity, because he cannot bear to see the poor man in such a state, has not truly fulfilled the mitzvah. He has done a kindness to himself and not to the poor man. That is not giving willingly with the heart (Shemos 25:2), but giving out of pity. Everything I gave you until now was because my pity was aroused and I could not bear to see you and your family in rags. But now that you are dressed in handsome new clothes, I am ready and willing to fulfill the mitzvah of tzedakah."

To Be a Friend

Rav Simcha Bunim once said that he learned the meaning of love by overhearing two Polish peasants in a tavern. They were somewhat drunk, and one asked the other, "Do you love me?" The other answered, "Of course I do." The first said, "Then tell me where I hurt." The other said, "I do not know." The first answered, "Then how can you say you really love me?" Rav Simcha Bunim concluded: to be a friend is to know where the other hurts.

A saying of Rav Simcha Bunim

True Teshuvah

Rav Simcha Bunim once saw a merchant loading his wares onto a raft to float them down the river to their destination. Something went wrong, and the entire load sank. The man's distress at losing his merchandise was so great that he broke down and died on the spot. Rav Simcha Bunim declared: "Now that is how teshuvah is done."

A saying of Rav Simcha Bunim on teshuvah (Pirkei Avos)