01 Apr VAYIKRA: DON’T HOLD A GRUDGE

A chassid of Reb
Michel of Zlotchev
zt’l was poor and had to collect money to
support his family and to cover the costs of
his son’s chasunah. He asked the Rebbe for a
hamlatzah letter, which appeals to wealthy
people to give generously to the cause.
Reb Michel of Zlotchev told him, “I don’t
give hamlatzos.”
The chassid pleaded, but the Rebbe repeated
that he doesn’t give hamlatzos.
The chassid said, “I accept the Rebbe’s
wishes, but please tell me the reason. Why
doesn’t the Rebbe want to write up this
letter?”
The Zlotchever Magid replied, “What will
you do if you go to a wealthy person with my
letter and he gives you just a few pennies, or
perhaps he doesn’t give you anything at all?”
“I would slap him twice,” the chassid
replied. “He is disgracing the Rebbe. He saw
the Rebbe’s letter; why doesn’t he give
generously?”
The Zlotchever Magid replied, “That is
exactly why I don’t want to write this letter.
In heaven there is a list of people who will

help you and exactly how much each person
will give. If someone doesn’t give you, that
doesn’t mean he is a cruel, uncaring person.
It is just that he isn’t written on that list. If
you believed this, you wouldn’t be angry
when someone doesn’t give you money.”
The chassid
said, “I accept
what the Rebbe is
teaching me, and
if someone
doesn’t give
generously, I will
know that it
wasn’t bashert.”
Reb Michel
said, “Now I can
write a hamlatzah
for you.”
The chassid
went to a wealthy
chassid of Reb
Michel of Zlotchev and showed him the
letter. After reading the letter, the wealthy
man gave just a few coins and wished him a
good day.
The poor chassid was very disappointed and
on the verge of anger, but he remembered the
Rebbe’s lesson. Under his breath, he repeated
to himself over and over, “He isn’t on the

Rebbe’s list. He isn’t on Hashem’s list. He
isn’t on the list in heaven.”
The wealthy person asked him what he was
mumbling.
“It’s nothing. It’s just something private
between the Rebbe
and me.”
“No. You said
something about me
not being on the
Rebbe’s list and not
being on Heaven’s
list! What type of list
is it? Perhaps you
mean the list of the
living, or perhaps it is
the list of the wealthy!
And what will be with
me if I’m not on the
list?”
“It is nothing. It is
just a private matter between the Rebbe and
me.”
The wealthy person was worried, so he said,
“I will give you all the money you need; just
tell me what you meant.”
“I will tell you after you give me the
money,” the poor man replied.
After he handed over a very large sum of
money, the poor man explained. “The
Rebbe told me that Hashem has a list in
heaven of who will give me money and
exactly how much they will give. If
someone doesn’t help me, he is obviously
not on that list. But now, we have
discovered that you are on Hashem’s list
in heaven!”
This lesson applies to us all. People tend
to complain about others, “Why doesn’t
he help me?” Realize that there are lists
up in heaven, and everything is bashert.
So why be angry with others? It is just
that he isn’t on the list
Reb Elchanan Wasserman zt’l hy’d,
rosh yeshivas Ohel Torah in Baranowitz,
came to America to raise funds for his
yeshiva. In one beis medresh, he spoke
about the importance of supporting
Torah, and he described to the community
the poverty and lack of food the yeshiva
bachurim were subjected to. Then he
made his pitch: “For $11.43 you can
sponsor one day in the yeshiva. For
$80.00 you can support one week in the
yeshiva. Please, become our partners, and
support a week, or at least a day in the
yeshiva.”
Then the Rav of the beis medresh got up
to speak. He wanted to help Reb
Elchanan, but he made a big mistake.
This Rav spoke about the great privilege
of giving even just one dollar to the
yeshiva. Reb Elchanan set the tariff at
$11.43, or hopefully $80.00, and lowered
it to a dollar.

Reb Elchanan didn’t
earn much in that beis
medresh, and the Rav
asked mechilah on his
behalf and on behalf
of his congregation.
Reb Elchanan told
him, “Hashem told
Moshe to appoint Betzalel ben Uri ben Chur
of shevet Yehudah to build the Mishkan.
Imagine the following scene:
“Moshe Rabbeinu comes down from the
mountain and asks someone, ‘I need to find
Betzalel ben Uri. Are you Betzalel ben Uri?’
“I’m Shimon.’
Moshe asks another person, ‘Perhaps you’re
Betzalel ben Uri?’
“’Sorry, I’m Aminadov.’
“Will Moshe be upset with them for not
being Betzalel ben Uri? Of course not! They
weren’t the person he was searching for.
Similarly, why should I be upset with you or
your beis medresh for not helping the
yeshiva? It is destined in heaven who will
help the yeshiva, and obviously, the members
of your beis medresh weren’t on the list. I
have no reason to be angry with you. I just
have to go elsewhere to find my Betzalel ben
Uri.”
Once, Reb Yaakov Kamenetzky zt’l asked
Reb Moshe Feinstein zt’l why he appeared
extraordinarily happy that day. Reb Moshe
told him what occurred:
“Three months ago, there was a financial
dispute, and I paskened according to Torah.
Later that same day, I got a call. The caller
said, “I’m the person whom you obligated to
pay money in your court case. Be aware that
you ruled erroneously…’ and he let loose
some disrespectful words.
“Today, this man came to me again and
asked me to give him a haskamah for
shechitah (approbation to be a shochet). I
wanted to tell him to leave. A few months
ago, he spoke disrespectfully to me, and now
he wants me to do him a favor? But I
remembered that Yom Kippur had passed
since that cruel, unfortunate episode, and I
had forgiven him since then. I tested him on
the laws of shechitah, he knew the laws well,
so I wrote a letter, deeming him fit to be a
shochet. Then I rebuked him for how he
spoke to me some months before, explaining
that it wasn’t proper to speak that way.
“He didn’t know what I was talking about.
He told me that he never called me and never
complained about the psak… We then
understood that another person (who was
upset with the results of the din Torah) called
up and impersonated him.
“Now you understand the reason I am
happy,” Reb Moshe told Reb Yaakov. “I may
have held a grudge against this person
forever, and it would be for naught. He didn’t
deserve it.”