The Rebbe told a story about his father, R’ Levi Yitzchak (whose yartzeit was on Chof Av):
It was getting closer to Pesach. In Yekatrinoslav, one of the biggest cities in Ukraine, the government officials knew that soon the Yidden would be looking for matzah.
Back then, the Russian government owned EVERYTHING. Nobody could have their own store, or their own factory, or their own Matzah Bakery. The government would need to arrange for matzah to be baked. Since Yidden would only buy matzah with a hechsher, the government decided to ask R’ Levi Yitzchak (the Rav in Yekatrinoslav) to say that it was kosher.
R’ Levi Yitzchak agreed — but when he explained how they would need to make the matzah Shmurah, they didn’t want to follow all of the rules. It would cost the government more money and be complicated to make the matzah properly! They wanted R’ Levi Yitzchak to give a hechsher even without doing it right. They tried to convince R’ Levi Yitzchak to agree.
The Russian government in that time would give people very big punishments, even for little things. (This actually happened to R’ Levi Yitzchak later in his life, and he passed away early because of it.) Everyone had to listen to exactly what they said — or else!
Even though the Russian government was so powerful and so scary, R’ Levi Yitzchak didn’t think about what would happen. He knew that it wasn’t right to give a hechsher to matzah that wasn’t made exactly the way halacha teaches. He told the government that he did NOT agree!
Really, that would have been enough for R’ Levi Yitzchak to deserve a huge punishment! How dare he tell the government that he won’t do what they told him to!
But instead of punishing him, they said that they can’t follow all of his rules unless they get permission from the higher officials in Moscow. They sent him there to ask himself.
R’ Levi Yitzchak traveled to Moscow, and told the government officials there firmly what he needs to give a hechsher. Amazingly, they agreed to what he said! They wrote an order that all of the mills where they grind the flour for matzah have to follow the rules that Rabbi Schneerson gives — even if it ends up being more expensive for them!
What R’ Levi Yitzchak did sounds CRAZY! How could he think of not listening to the big scary Russian government?
It WAS crazy — but a good kind of crazy. In Chassidus this is called Shtus D’Kedusha. We can learn from here that we should do what we know the Torah wants us to, and not be scared of what might happen! We can be strong even if it sounds meshugah, because we know we are doing the right thing!
For example, if Mommy asked us if we washed negel vasser in the morning but we forgot, we know we need to tell the truth. We don’t think about what’s going to happen — how we will have to stop eating and go wash negel vasser and Mommy might be upset. We just do what we need to do!
Or, for example, a Tatty who needs to learn Torah and go to a shiur, but is scared that if he goes, he might miss a chance to earn a lot of money. He needs to do what the Torah tells him to, and not worry what could happen!
Or a Mommy who was asked by someone to do a favor, and she does it — not thinking about how she might miss a chance to go shopping and get the things she really wanted to.
It might seem crazy to not do something that’s fun or good for you, but if you’re doing what Hashem wants you to, that’s a GOOD kind of crazy! That’s Shtus D’Kedusha, which comes from a very deep part of the neshama. Acting in this way brings us special brachos from Hashem!
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