SouthermostTorahs

So after his Bar Mitzvah, he decided

to run away to Rimanov, so he could

become a chossid. By the time he was fifteen, he had become Reb Mendele

Rimanover’s shamash (personal assistant—but much deeper).

He would put wood in the oven, he would make his bed, bring him food, but

more importantly, he absorbed his Rebbe’s way of doing things. He was so

holy and so hidden. The real chassidim knew that he was the greatest in the

world, but many thought he was not normal. Sadly enough, the son of Reb

Mendele, Reb Yossele, was amongst the latter, which is why he didn't

become a Rebbe after his father.

He could not perceive his true holiness,

and was convinced that Rebbe Hirshele was not normal!

When Reb Hirshele was eighteen, he got married. The wedding was finished

after 2 o 'clock in the morning.

Now, one of the functions of Reb Hirshele was that he would wake up before

everyone, at 4 o'clock in the morning, and sweep the floor of the Bais

Medrash (the shul). So that morning after the wedding at 4 AM, Reb

Herschele was in shul, sweeping as always!

Reb Yossele knocked on his father’s door, and said, "If you wanted to have

a proof that Reb Hershel is not normal, you have it right now. He got married

last night. The wedding finished at 2 o’clock and two hours later he's back to

sweep the floor. Here is proof that he is not normal."

So Reb Mendele says, "Thank G-d he came to sweep the floor, because I

was so afraid I would not be able to pray today. Don't you know when he

sweeps the floor, that he clears the way for all the prayers to reach

heaven?"

Reb Herschele became Rebbe in Rimanov at the age of twenty-one after the

passing of Reb Mendel.

Unfortunately, after a few short years, Reb Hershele's first wife became very

ill and passed on. Truly heartbreaking.

One day a woman came to him and said, "Rebbe,

I'm looking for a shidduch".

He was about twenty five at the time. And the woman who came to him was

also twenty five. She said, "I have no parents, and I'm looking for a

shidduch. Please bless me to find one."

Reb Hershele said to her, "Listen, I want you to answer me very honestly.

Would you consider marrying me?"

She said, "Please don't make such jokes with me. Just bless me I should find

a shidduch. I'm not dreaming of the Rebbe Reb Hershele to be my husband!"

So he said, “ You are from such and such a village?" She said, "Yes".

He then said, "Your father was Reb Moishele?" She said, "Yes".

He said, "Do you remember a little boy Hershele, a tailor, who would mend

your brothers’ pants when they were torn and bring them to your house

before Shabbos?" (Moishele had ten sons and four daughters, and every

Friday some of the pants were torn from his children. So this Hershele (later

Reb Hershele Rimanover) would be mending somebody’s pants every Friday

afternoon.)

She said, "Yes".

He said, "Do you remember

that he

had no parents?

Well,

I am Hershele.

I w

ould w

alk into

your

house and

see

fourteen children sitting around the

table Friday afternoon,

and your father teaching you the Portion of the

Week....

It was so special!

So I always prayed every Friday, `Please G*d, let me

marry one of those four

girls!’”

This woman was obviously his real soul-mate! He told his shamas, "Please

don't tell anybody that we are getting married. I want you to drive to a certain

village, and there in the Bais Medrash you will see ten shleppers. Put them

on the wagon, bring them here, and we will make a wedding." And he told

the Chassidim, that absolutely no one was to try to come to the wedding.

MORE REB HERSCHELE STORIES

Reb Yosef Shaul, the Chief Rabbi of Lemberg was a great scholar and a real

holy man, but definitely not a chossid. Once Reb Yosef Shaul decided

against a widow in a Bais Din (Jewish court of law), and Reb Hershele

Rimanover prevailed upon him to convene another council of rabbis to

reconsider the verdict.

The council realized that the judgement against the widow was a mistake. As

soon as Reb Yosef Shaul saw that he had been wrong, he was only too

happy to admit it, and to admit that he had under estimated Reb Herschele.

He went to see Reb Hershele and asked him, “The other rabbis and I studied

this case for weeks. You just saw the verdict and you knew we were wrong!

How did you realize this so quickly?"

Reb Hershele replied, “The Torah, G*d's word, is very sweet. When I looked

at the verdict- it wasn’t sweet, so I knew it wasn't possible to be right!”

Reb Chaim of Sanz, was a Rebbe with thousands of followers, but once or

twice a year

he was accustomed to going for Shabbos to Reb Hershele

Rimanover.

About 80 years ago, the holy Reb Yechezkele Shinover, the son of the holy

Sanzer went to Pishtian (a summer resort in Hungary popular amongst many

Rebbes). He came there, and he walked into the Bais Medrash, and it was so

dirty and so filthy. He said to the people, "Aren't you ashamed? This is a shul

and it's just so dirty! Can somebody come and clean it a little bit?"

The next morning, Reb Chatzkele went to shul early in the morning, and saw

a little Yiddeleh is there sweeping the floor.

He said to him, "You know it's really beautiful, that you got up early in the

morning to sweep the floor."

The Yiddeleh said, "I'll tell you the story. When I was a little boy, I heard the

story of Reb Hirshele Riminover on his wedding day, waking up early to

sweep the floors. So I thought, OK, I'm not Reb Hirshele Riminover. And I

don't know how to clear the way for the prayers to reach heaven, but I know

how to sweep the floors. So I came."

Sometimes, when you do something without knowing what you are doing,

and you are just doing it for G*d, that's the deepest thing there is.

So Reb Chatzkele looked at him and said, "I'll tell you something. If you

would know where your sweeping the floors reached this morning, you

wouldn't be able to take it. You reached the highest place in the heavens.

I know you are married for 15 years and you don't have children yet. And just

because you are sweeping the floors, I bless you to have children." (Which

he did.)

As heard by Rabbi Yisroel Finman