ובחודש השביעי באחד לחודש…יום תרועה יהיה לכם…(פינחס כט:א)

In the town of Belz, it was the custom during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur that no other minyan would be held—only the main minyan in the Great Belz Shul, led by The Frierdige Rav zt”l himself.

One year, however, a group known as the Shevurei Lev (“the brokenhearted”—individuals who suffered due to opposition) organized a separate minyan. They hired a baal tefillah (cantor) and instructed him to follow the exact nusach and customs of the Belzer Rebbe.

The cantor complied. When it came time for tekios—the shofar blowing—he entered the shul with a tallis draped over his face, in the traditional style of the Belzer Rebbes. He began reciting “Lamenatze’ach” and “Min Hameitzar” with the same heartfelt groan—the krechtz—characteristic of the Rebbe.

But when he raised the shofar to his lips to blow, he found himself completely unable to produce even a single tekiah. After several attempts, he lowered the shofar and said with deep emotion, “What do you think—that I’m the Belzer Rebbe?! No! I am not the Belzer Rebbe!”

Only then, after that sincere admission, was he able to blow the shofar smoothly, as if nothing had happened.

When Maran Reb Yissachar Dov of Belz zt”l later heard about the incident, he remarked:

“There are two possible reasons why he was ultimately successful. First, he humbled himself by declaring that he is not the Belzer Rebbe—his pride was broken, and in that humility lay the merit to succeed. Second, he uttered the holy name ‘Belz.’”