גדילים תעשה לך על ארבע כנפות…(כי תצא כב:יב)

You shall make for yourself twisted threads on the four corners of your garment.

During the times of Maran Rebbe Yissocher Dov of Belz zt ’l, a fire broke out, burned many homes in Belz, and damaged the Beis Hamedrash. The fire was caused by a flame from a havdalah candle which ignited the schach (bamboo) from a nearby sukkah.

Everyone thought that Maran would surely be aggravated but was surprised by the story Maran shared:

A child mistakenly stepped on the Rebbe of Lublin zt’’l’s tzitzis from his tallis, and they became pasul (not worthy of wearing). Everyone thought that the Rebbe of Lublin would be upset at the child, but instead, the Rebbe stroked the child and calmed him down, saying, “I wanted to change the tzitzis for a while since they were old and shabby. But I didn’t want to remove them since they were still kosher tzitzis, and now that they are pasul, I’ll be able to replace the tzitzis with new ones.”

“So too, here,” continued Maran. “I wanted to extend the Shul for a while but held back for two reasons. You don’t destroy a Beis Medrash before you build a new one. Secondly, since my holy grandfather built it, I didn’t want to tamper with it.  Now, since the Shul burned, I can extend on the same location and build a bigger Beis Medrash, where there will be a place for everyone.”

Filed under Parshas Ki Seitzei | The Frierdige Rov