Welcome to the Daily Holy Story. Rabbi Menachem of Kosov, known as the Ahavat Shalom, was the head of the family of Vizhnitz. In his neighborhood, there was a Jew who was a little bit like a gangster and made everybody afraid. He used to cause a lot of trouble for Rabbi Menachem Mendel, too. He made him suffer and caused him a lot of pain. But a Jew is a Jew. One day, when he was in trouble, he turned to Rabbi Menachem Mendel for advice and guidance. The people who were close to the Rebbe (Hasidic rabbi), when they saw that gangster coming to the Rebbe’s house, were sure that the Rebbe would give Musar (ethical advice) to that lousy Jew. But to their surprise, the Rebbe received him warmly and with love. He turned to him and asked, “My dear friend, what is bothering you?” The man poured out his heart to the Rebbe, telling him that his business was going down, he was losing money, and he didn’t know what tomorrow was going to bring.
The Rebbe’s assistant, who was in the room, was sure that now the Rebbe would start giving ethical advice to the gangster and give him Musar for his terrible behavior in the past. But Rabbi Menachem Mendel did not do that. He began to encourage the man, telling him that it is asur (forbidden) for a Jew to give up, and that Hashem helps everyone. He started to give him a pep talk to pick up his spirits. But the man wasn’t satisfied. He turned to the Rebbe and told him, “Rebbe, my daughter is coming of age. I don’t have a penny to marry her off. I don’t know what to do.”
The nerve of this man put the Rebbe’s assistant in a terrible situation. He wanted to scream at him, “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself for asking the Rebbe to help you? As if the Rebbe has to help you make a wedding for your daughter after you chased him for so many years?” But out of fear of the Rebbe, he opened his mouth and kept quiet. Rabbi Menachem Mendel turned to the man and asked him, “How much money do you need to make the wedding for your daughter?” The man answered, “A very large sum of golden coins.” Without hesitation, the Rebbe opened his drawer, counted out the money the man needed, and gave it to him to marry off his daughter. The man was his enemy and had chased him for years.
This matter was supposed to be secret, for the Shamash, the assistant, cannot reveal what happened in the Rebbe’s private room. But that assistant couldn’t keep quiet. He went around telling all the people in Kosov about the great qualities of Rabbi Menachem Mendel: that he had given his enemy such a large amount of money to marry off his daughter. This news got to the brother of Rabbi Menachem Mendel, Rabbi Yitzchak. Rabbi Yitzchak came to Rabbi Menachem Mendel and told him, “How could you do this? You have to give in so much to a man who chased you? In your house, Rebbe, you have no money yourself. The storekeepers who are giving food to your wife on credit no longer want to give her credit. And you have to give so much money to a man who chased you for so many years, and to all the people in Kosov?”
Rabbi Menachem Mendel sighed, turned to his brother Rabbi Yitzchak, and said, “Someone came before you with this claim. And it did not help him. That someone is the Yetzer Hara (evil inclination), who tried to tell me that I should take my revenge on this man. And Baruch Hashem (Blessed is Hashem), I didn’t listen to him.” Rabbi Menachem Mendel used to always say, “When I give love to my enemies, I convert them into people who are my friends.” Thank you for listening, and have a wonderful, wonderful day.