Amazing Story About Rabbi Meshulam Zusha Of Anipoli Part 2

0:14Now, many people love the stories of the Chassidim. I'm going to share with you stories of the Chassidim. The Baal Shem Tov had a famous talmid, the Maggid of Mezritch. The Maggid of Mezritch had some renowned talmidim. And it was brothers, Rabbi Zusha of Anipoli and Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk. Now Rabbi Zusha was known, both of them were tzaddikim, miracle makers, something out of this world. But Rabbi Zusha was a very, very unique person. His way of helping people do teshuva was very unique. He was as poor as dirt, but everyone knew he had Ruach HaKodesh. And he was as happy as can be. And everything he would say, "Zusha this, Zusha that." He would always compare everything to himself. Anytime somebody would ask him a question in the Torah, he'd tell them, "One minute." He'd go into a room and start crying to Hashem.

1:30Smashing his head against the wall, he pleaded, "I need to understand this. I need to understand this. Hashem, either let me understand what the question is or take me from this world. Give me the real emet on this question or just end my life!" He continued to smash his head on the wall in his desperate pursuit of understanding. Five minutes later, he received the answer. One of the talmidim found out what was happening in the room. He peeked in and saw that the rabbi was physically hitting his head against the wall because he yearned for the answer so much. That's how much he was willing to sacrifice for Torah. The next day, when he came, he had no question. He said, Rabbi Zusha says to him, "What happened? What's your question?" "No, no, Rabbi, no, no, no questions." "What? You know the entire Torah?" "No." "That's it? No, no, I just, why? Why no questions today? Why?" He got it out of him. He goes, "No, no, no. You don't worry about Zusha. You ask your questions. Ask your questions." Rabbi Zusha of Anipoli, Kodesh Kodeshim, had a unique way to do Kiruv. You know how? Why? What a kiruv way. What a kiruv way. I wish I had this. Maybe I do. Rabbi Zusha, Rabbi Zusha of Anipoli. Rabbi Zusha of Anipoli had a fantastic way to do kiruv. What a way. What a way. So, somebody would come and, you know, he'd know this guy's a rasha. I didn't know he's a rasha. That's what you know when the guy's a ruach hakodesh. When you have ruach hakodesh, you know a lot of things.

2:58So it was next to him. He didn't know him. Next to him, he sent this guy, no'ef, adulterer. This is what Rabbi Zusha would say. All of a sudden, he would stop what he's doing and start praying to Hashem. "Yesterday, at such and such a time, you went with a married woman. What did you do, Zusha? What is Hashem going to do to you?" Zusha, Zusha, what is Hashem going to do to you after you saw how you went and ate non-kosher food? Hashem Yishmor, Zusha, what is Hashem going to do to you? And he starts listing every single thing the guy did that day. And the guy is listening, and he says, He's talking about him or he's talking about me. Why? Everything that he's saying is what happened to him over the last week. He's listing every single sin he's committed. All the skeletons are running in the street from the closet. There are no more closets; they're all open. After he stops crying, he says, "Rabbi, Rabbi, please help me. I need to do teshuva. You need to do teshuva, too. Come do teshuva with me." Zusha, Zusha. He started measuring all the sins. The guy starts crying hysterically. Rabbi,

4:19Why? He knows HaKadosh Baruch Hu is watching. He finally understands that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is watching. One time, a man came to Rabbi Zusha. Sometimes, they don't appear to be a Rasha; they don't look like a gangster with tattoos on their face, a biker jacket, or something. Sometimes they come to you with a beard, a nice jacket, looking Chassidish. They appear this way, appear that way. He says, "Kevod HaRav, yes, I just don't. You see that building? Yes, yes. Who do you think did it? Who do you think built that?" They come to you with their mitzvot as if it were an army. they have, you know, an army. They put a medallion for everything that you did. They come to you with their mitzvot like they're medallions. They tell you this thickness, that thickness, this Torah, that Torah. So one of these resha’im (wicked people), fakers, comes to Rabbi Zusha. He says, "Rabbi, give me a chidush." You know, sometimes the people are bored; they do nothing. Coronavirus, COVID-19, they're sitting at home all day. They send me text messages, "Can you tell me the purpose of life?"

5:22Kit, is this kosher? Is this not kosher? Why can't you look on the internet? Why did I become Rabbi Google? Go look for it. People are so lazy. But sometimes it's because of lack of respect. So this clown comes to Rabbi Zusha and says, Rabbi, give me a chidush. He says, no, no, no. No, come on, give me a chidush, Rabbi. No, I want to learn, right? Right? Oh, you want to learn? Okay. What do you want to learn? I want a chiddush. What do you want a chiddush about? What insight do you want? I don't know, a verse in the Torah. He says, pick a verse in the Torah. Pick a verse in the Torah. Open, take a Tanach, open a Tanach and pick a verse. So the guy opens it, it comes up to Tehillim, you look at Tehillim number 10, verse number 3. He says, Rabbi, give me a chiddush on this. It says, "Why do you stand aloof when the wicked man glories in his personal desire and the robber praises himself that he has blasphemed Hashem?" Give me a chiddush about this one.

6:30He says, let me tell you what this verse means. Zusha, Zusha. You know what Zusha did? Zusha has desires. Zusha is such a rasha; he has desires. But he wants to pretend he's like Hillel, like it says. Who's Hillel? A tzaddik. But in reality, he has desires, so he's really a Rasha. But he wants to pretend he's heiliger. So, do you know what Zusha did? Oh, I'm going to tell you what Zusha did. Zusha, just yesterday in the afternoon at such and such time, saw a woman that he liked who wasn't his girlfriend, who wasn't his wife; she was actually someone else's wife. And he took her behind the building. Zusha took somebody else's wife behind the building. And he says, "Listen, I'm a humble man. I don't know. I can't afford to kid this. Let's do it. Let's hide. Let's do it inside the garbage can." And he was hiding in the garbage can with somebody else's wife. That's how much of a rasha he is. That's how much he desecrated Hashem's name. What a rasha. What do you think of Zusha?

7:35The guy starts hysterically crying. Why? That's everything he did yesterday. The guy was an adulterer, pretending to be a tzaddik. So Zusha told him, that's the pirush, because they're, how did you get this from the pasuk? He says, look, it says, Says Hillel, pretends to be—who's Hillel? That's a Tzadik. Why is he a Rasha? Because of Taavat Nafsho—because he cannot control his desires. Someone can be Hillel, can be born Hillel, but if he can't control his desires, he's a Rasha. And that's why he wants to pretend he's Hillel. So he does it behind, not in the open—pretends to be a donor, pretends to be a Tzadik. That's what Rebbe Zusha does. It's not Rebbe Zusha. It's not Rebbe Zusha. You see, Rabotai HaYekarim, a person understands that when HaKadosh Baruch Hu is watching, HaKadosh Baruch Hu is watching, he has to act differently. And sometimes he has to pay attention to the things that

8:57moving his body, the things that are in front of him. Now, you have to rebuke yourself; you have to make sure that you're honest with yourself and you don't forget that no matter what you do, Hashem is watching you. If you don't help yourself, Hashem will send you a messenger. Initially, the messages are light, but the messages get stronger as we ignore them.