World of Belz

The Holy Sar Shalom

וישב אהרן אל משה אל פתח אהל מועד והמגפה נעצרה (קרח יז:טו)

Ahron returned to Moshe at the entrance of the Ohel Moed, and the plague had been checked.

Short stories of Segulahs that helped cease plagues and heal illnesses:

Harav Hachassid R’ Itcha Ausberg z’’l related that a few ‘heimishe Yidden’ passed away in Krakow during a short time. The Chassidim were scared and traveled to Belz to Maran Reb Yissochor Dov zt’’l and asked for a blessing for protection.  Maran told them to learn Minshnayos in the shtiebel (Beis Hamedrash) every night between Mincha and Maariv – and the plague stopped.

Harav Hachassid R’ Naftuli Gottesman z’’l retold an episode in the name of Harav Hachassid R’ Haenich of Radim z’’l.  

A rare disease was circulating in the city of Belz.  Maran, the Sar Shalom of Belz zt’’l, told Harav Hachassid R’ Shraga Feivish of Hivniv z’’l to check the kashrus of the tzitzis from all the city’s inhabitants.

A gentile shepherd once came to Maran Reb Aharon of Belz zt’l, bemoaning his fate.  He said there was a terrible plague amongst his animals, and they were dying out.  

Maran asked him where his animals graze. Was there a water well nearby?  The shepherd answered in the affirmative, and Maran told him to find a different field where his animals should graze and that they won’t die anymore. 

The shepherd was amazed by Maran’s answer, saying he was an ‘angel’ that sees everything.  However, Maran didn’t want the gentile shepherd to talk about it, so Maran simply told him, “The well caused the earth to be moist, which causes the animals to catch colds and that’s why they died.”

Saying the Correct Words

על פי ה’ יסעו…ועל פי ה’ יחנו…(בהעלותך ט:יח)

According to the word of Hashem, they would travel…and according to the word of Hashem, they would encamp…

Rashi says in the name of the Sifri: על פי ה’ יסעו ועל פי ה’ יחנו… ביד משה…  – According to the word of Hashem, they journeyed, and according to Hashem’s word, they rested…  and by the hand of Moshe.

Once the Sar Shalom of Belz zt’’l spent a Shabbos in the city of Rava. After Shabbos, the chassidim asked the Sar Shalom to stay for another Shabbos.  The Sar Shalom answered them: “I bid farewell from my Rebbetzin for just one Shabbos. If you really want I should stay for another Shabbos, you will need to travel to Belz and ask my Rebbetzin if she agrees.  If she disagrees, I can’t stay for another Shabbos.”

A delegation of Chassidim traveled to Belz to Rebbetzin Malka a’’h.  They didn’t phrase the question to her based on The Sar Shalom’s words.  They told the Rebbetzin that they asked the Rebbe to stay for another Shaboos, and he agreed.  Saying they just came to let her know about this arrangement. The Rebbetzin answered them: “If the Rebbe wants to remain in Rava, another Shabbos, can I say no?”

When the Chassidim heard her answer, they felt that they didn’t justly fulfill their Rebbe’s request, and they told her the truth – that The Sar Shalom didn’t yet decide, and he sent them to ask the Rebbetzin if she agreed, and only then, will he remain for Shabbos.

When the Rebbetzin heard their message, she led them into The Sar Shalom’s chambers and showed them that everything in the room was crying because the Sar Shalom wasn’t home. “Even the walls are crying! So how can I agree that the Rebbe should stay for another Shabbos?” 

The delegation of Chassidim returned to Rava and relayed the Rebbetzin’s words to the Sar Shalom. He commanded to prepare the horse and buggy for his journey back to Belz. 

בזאת יבא אהרן אל הקודש (אחרי טז:ג)

On Motzei Yom Kippur, there was a minhag (custom) by the Rebbes of Belz that following Havdalah at home, they would return to the Shul and walk around all four sides of the Shul.  Chassidim understood that they were ‘collecting all the prayers’ that didn’t ascend the heavens, and with this act, they were making the prayers ascend high.

When Maran Reb Yissacher Dov of Belz zt’’l was brought into the Shul on his last Motzei Yom Kippur of his life, when they arrived at the door, Maran requested to turn his chair facing the Aron Kodesh, and he turned to the crowd. He said: “You probably think that my grandfather, the Sar Shalom of Belz zt’’l, and my father, the Mittler Rav zt’’l, returned to shul to collect  the tefillos, I’m telling you that since they were so occupied with the holiness of the day, they were accustomed to return to the shul on Motzei Yom Kippur to soak in the holiness of the walls from the Shul.”

נפש חי תחטא…או גזל… (ויקרא ה:כא)

If someone shall sin or steal…

The Bilgorai Rav zt’’l was appointed as the Rav in Bilgorai after the passing of his father, Maran Reb Yissocher Dov Rokeach zt’l. His brother, Maran Reb Aharon of Belz zt’l, traveled to Bilgorai to spend the Shabbos of his brother’s coronation there.

The townspeople prepared a pompous ceremony to honor the Belzer Rebbe’s visit.  On Motzei Shabbos, the mayor from Bilgorai came to visit, which caused a commotion in town.  Perhaps the mayor was angry that they didn’t request prior permission for the grand affair on Erev Shabbos.  However, the mayor came specifically to visit the two holy brothers.

He shared that the chief of the police department in Belz had a special relationship with the Sar Shalom of Belz zt’’l, retelling a story. 

A robbery occurred in the home of the Sar Shalom, and the chief of police was summoned to investigate.  The thief was caught, arrested, and subjected to severe punishment.  The chief of police told the Sar Shalom that the thief was a Jew.  The Sar Shalom was distraught and requested that the head of police release the prisoner, which the chief of police declined.  “If you release the prisoner, I promise you three generations of greatness and leadership.” The Sar Shalom promised the chief of police.

The mayor concluded, “I am a grandson of the chief of police in Belz, and I’m in awe of Belz and its rabbis.”

The Rebbe’s Kerchief

An  elderly woman and her son once visited Reb Aharon of Belz zt’’l while he was vacationing in Bad-Homburg.  “I have to share a story with the Rebbe,” the woman said. “I still merited knowing the Rebbe’s great-grandfather, the Sar Shalom of Belz zt’’l.”

“I became blind as a little girl, and the Sar Shalom once traveled through our town.  My father went to the Sar Shalom for a Bracha that I should be healed from my ailment, and the tzaddik told one of his gabbaim (aides) to bring him a kerchief. The Sar Shalom waved the kerchief in front of my eyes, and suddenly I could open my eyes and see! I still remember what the kerchief looked like,” recalled the elderly woman. “It was a red kerchief with white designs, smeared with brown streaks from the Rebbe’s tabbik (smelling salts.)

Reb Aharon of Belz was captivated by the story that he asked the woman to repeat it three times.

ויהי כי זקן יצחק ותכהין עיניו מראת (תולדות כז: א)

Yitzchak aged and lost his eyesight.

The holy tzaddik Reb Elimelech Rubin zt’’l, the Yavrover Rav (whose Yahrzeit was last week on כ’ חשון), was a grandson of the Sar Shalom of Belz zt’’l.  Reb Elimelech sadly lost his eyesight at age two, and his mother, Rebbetzin Aidel z’’l, the daughter of the Sar Shalom, bemoaned her child’s fate to her father.  The Sar Shalom promised her that “ער וועט זעהן וואס ער באדארפט צו זעהן – he will see what he has to see!”

Indeed, Reb Elimelech had an exceptional sense of smelling and tasting.   He couldn’t visually see, yet he could hold something in his hand and appraise the object’s worth, quality, and color.

Though Reb Elimelech was a renowned Rav, and had many chassidim, he still preferred to travel to Belz for Shabbosim and spend time in Belz with his uncle Reb Yissachar Dov of Belz zt’’l, who took over his grandfather’s mantle after his passing.  

When the chassidim used to await Reb Yissachar Dov to enter the room where the Tisch was to be held, Reb Elimelech, with his keen senses, used to announce that the Rebbe was coming.

When one of Reb Yissachar Dov’s daughters became engaged, the chosson’s family wanted to present her with pearls as a gift. Reb Yissachar Dov handed the pearls to Reb Elimelech to appraise its worth.  Reb Elimelech put the pearls in his mouth and appraised them for 200 Reinish, but since it had a small blemish, it wasn’t worth more than 80 Reinish. Indeed, the jeweler originally asked for 200 Reinish, but after noticing the blemish, went down in price to 80 Reinish.

אלה תולדות נח נח איש צדיק (נח ו: ט)

Rashi says:”תולדותיהם של צדיקים מעשים טובים – the children of Tzaddikim are their good deeds.”

A renowned Tzaddik whose parents were simpletons frequently visited the Sar Shalom of Belz, Reb Shalom Rokeach zt’’l.  On one of his visits to Belz, the tzaddik surmised that the Sar Shalom holds himself haughty because of his holy and renowned ancestry.

The Sar Shalom zt’’l sensed the tzaddik’s qualms and approached him with a question: “According to your beliefs, one who is born with yichus (lineage) is more chosuv (high status) than someone born to simple parents?”

Mortified, the tzaddik didn’t respond.

The Sar Shalom zt’’l explained: “Chazal teach us, ‘חייב אדם לומר מתי יגיעו מעשי למעשי אבותי – a person is required to reach the level of his parents’ deeds.’ Therefore, those whose parents are on an exalted level of Torah are constantly disheartened since they know they haven’t yet reached their parents’ level, and therefore they can’t boast about their yichus.

Like Shlomo Hamelech, the son of Dovid Hamelech, wrote at the beginning of his sefer:  שיר השירים אשר לשלמה – and didn’t write בן דוד since he couldn’t boast about his yichus.

Whereas a tzaddik, whose parents are simpletons, is permitted to boast about himself, for he knows that his deeds rise above his parents…”

The tzaddik understood that the Sar Shalom tz’’l had read his thoughts, and not only was the Belzer Rebbe humble about his past, he didn’t brag about it either.