By Dovid Zaklikowski for COLlive and Hasidic Archives
The famed Chabad chossid R’ Pesach Malavstaker (d. 1870) was once walking in the street, when he saw a group of soldiers harassing a woman. He chastised them, diverting their attention and allowing the woman to escape.
The soldiers then turned on Pesach, pursuing him through the town. He ran into the home of a friend and went to the basement. Finding several barrels there, Pesach jumped into an empty one, easing the cover on over him.
The soldiers tracked him to the basement, but could not discover his hiding place. In frustration, one soldier slammed the butt of his sword down on a barrel, smashing its cover.
The blow landed on Pesach’s head as he crouched inside. He managed to keep quiet until the soldiers left, but the injury was severe. From that time on, he began to have frequent memory lapses.
A serious Torah scholar, he was greatly distressed by the situation and went to the third Lubavitch Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek to ask for a blessing. Bitterly crying, he said, “What is Pesach good for without a head?”
The Rebbe blessed him, and, soon after, his memory began to improve.
Years later, at a Chasidic gathering after the Tzemach Tzedek’s passing, Pesach lamented, “Oy, Rebbe, my memory is failing me again!”
Pesach suffered from memory loss for the rest of his life. Some mornings, he would go to synagogue and pray, spending many hours in contemplation. But by the time he left the synagogue, he had already forgotten that he had been there, and would return again to pray.
When his friends pointed this out, Pesach responded, “To pray twice, it’s possible. But not to pray at all? This, for me, can never be.”
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R’ Pesach Malastovker