“One must rely on the Creator…devote
oneself to Him…speak to Him…Let your ego, which brings hatred toward others,
fade away.” These were the teachings of the tzaddik, Rav Asher
Fruend zt”l. Rav Freund never believed in titles or acronyms.
He demanded truth in character and yet held infinite patience
toward those who lacked it.
“If I
had ten people who were willing to venture out to a desolate field with me and
who were willing to negate all worldly materialism and devote their entire
being to G-D…we could bring Moshiach right away.
This
is how Rav Asher, as he was best known, expressed his desire and ambition to
serve G-D and strive towards truth – without compromise, and without ego.
Rav
Asher was a wondrous man who is dearly missed by many around the world.
On the night after Yom Kippur, on the 11th of Tishrei, we remember and
mark the anniversary of his passing. He was a unique servant of Hashem, a
rabbi and father to hundreds of people without preconditions and attitudes.
He
certainly had ruach hakodesh and had the ability to do miraculous things, and
yet, he gave the impression of being a simple person. A rare
benefactor of kindness and a man of sincere truth, he had the ability in one
sentence to be short and sharp and yet bring about a mental transformation into
a person’s heart, from one end of the spiritual scope to the other.
Rav
Asher was born on the 25th of Elul 5670 within the walls of Jerusalem.
His parents came from a Chasiddic family, the decedents of the “holy Jews of
Peshischa”, who were Karlin Chasiddim. As a youngster growing up among
the tzaddikim of Yerushalayim, he was instilled with great character and shown
various pathways to serve Hashem. His grandfather, the saintly Rav
Aharon Kalmanov, learned the attribute of performing Chesed in its most lofty
form – by giving anonymously. His acts of kindness were part
of his passionate desire for complete devotion to Hashem, all of which were
passed down to his son and grandson.
“…and
I am a worm, not a man – a disgrace and a despicable person,” was always on his
lips and he instructed his students with the understanding that everything a
person obtains and owns is from Hashem. If he stands alone, he has
nothing and without the help of Hashem to grow (spiritually), he will certainly
fall to the lowest depths.
To
establish this group of devoted servants to the Creator, R. Asher sought only
such people who would agree to follow his lead and commit to give all of
himself to the Creator, with total unity and unconditional love. The
students would also go out among themselves to all kinds of groves and forests. In pairs they came
out, but only after first establishing the steadfastness of his partner’s
service to Hashem and together look for ways to strengthen each other.
Only after that, was each one close enough with his Creator to be able to speak
with Him as a son speaks to his father.
In those excursions to the field, R. Asher guided his students to speak at all times with the Almighty and depend on Him completely. Understandably, R. Asher was the living example for the Torah way of life that he taught to those he guided.
Light in the Darkness
Reb Usher
said, the possibility to see light in every darkness and to understand that the
darkness is not a real darkness, but rather, a way to see the light of Hashem,
is only through Emunah Peshutah. Because all the time that you want to be in a
situation of understanding your Emunah, you will always find that darkness as
darkness, and it will be a Hester Panim. But when a person throws himself into
Emunah Peshuta, where he does not want to understand or to feel, he does not
want anything, but only to live with the Ribono shel Olam, then he will see the
real metsius. There is no such thing as darkness in the world of Hashem. There
is not bad and there is no darkness. Ach tov v’chesed yirdefuny kol yemei chayai.
Chayav inish ibsima bparaiye – when we get to Purim, we have to get to ad de’lo
yada, to only live with the light of the Emunah, and there is no difference if
it is arur Haman or Baruch Mordechai.
One of the chaverim asked Reb Usher, “This
Shabbos, we are reading Parshas Zachor. Maybe it is time we should ask for a
mapala to all the Ameleikim that hate Klal Yisroel in our generation?”
Anwerred Reb Usher: “the fact is that we are the biggest enemies of ourselves. We are doing just the opposite of what is good for us. We are the ones who bring all the problems. If we would be acting the way we are supposed to, and give hachna’ah andbitul gomur to Hashem, then the sonei Yisroel would not have any chance to stand up against us”.
The reason for trouble
Reb Usher says: “the chessed Hashem done with us is ein sof, is infinite. Even though we do not understand how much time we are still going to be in galus, and we are suffering so much, and the days and weeks and years go by and the galus is still there, we do not see the end of all the tsaros, we have to know that as long as we are still in galus, it is a chessed from Hashem. Hashem is sitting and waiting for all of us to do teshuva, and every day that goes by, is an opportunity for a person to be chozer be’teshuva. Learn the Thora Hakedosha and do lots of maasim tovim”.
Pride and Tsedakah
One of the chaverim was walking in the street,
and a poor man came over to him, and he gave the poor man five shekels. After
walking a few feet, the chaver found five shekels on the ground, the exact
amount he had just given to the poor man. He came to Reb Usher and told Reb
Usher the hashgacha pratis that he had just given five shekels, and a few
minutes later, Hashem
gave it back to him. Reb Usher told him, ‘’What do you think? The ribbono shel Olam gave you back your money? You were such a ba’al gaiva when you gave that tsedaka that Hashem decided to throw the five shekels back in your face”.
Hitboddus
One of the chaverim came to Reb Usher. He was
very angry: “Reb Usher, you told me to go to the feld for hisboddus and to
scream to Hashem about all of the pains that I have. I went to the feld. I screamed.
Whe I left, I felt that I am leaving with bigger pains and more sorrow than
when I got to the feld”.
Reb Usher looked at him and smiled, “You created yourself an illusion of the Ribono Shel Olam that is not here at all. You screamed to Him. And it hurts you that He does not you. You think the Ribbono Shel Olam, He is the One who has to take care of your problems, and that is why you have to scream to Him? No, you have a mistake. The Ribbono Shel Olom is the One who made those problems in order that you can get close to Him, not that you should use Him to get rid of your problems and get far away from Him. When you understand that the Ribbono Shel Olam made the problem, then there is no problem whatsoever. That is actually the answer. Then you will find the Ribono Shel olam. But not your illusion and dimyonos of the Ribbono Shel Olam that you created, because then you will only have more pain and bitterness”.
Chillul Shabbos
Once on Shabbos three chaverim went with Reb
Usher when they saw a frum woman doing an action of chillul Shabbos. It looked
like she did not know that it was chillul schabbos and they wanted to tell her.
Do not tellher anything said Reb Usher, just start thinking – if you saw such
an action, it must be that you also must have something of chillul Shabbos.
All three checked and found that they had been
doing something on Shabbos that is not meant to be done.
They went to tell it to Reb Usher – Nu you see what a big zechus this woman has that she helped refrain you from chillul Shabbos”.
No value of the money - Moshiach
Reb Usher says: “when Moshiach will come all of the money will not be worth anything. Just like money that went out of circulation, and has no value, the same thing will be with money then. There will be such a ‘sirachon’ from money that people will try to get rid of it and say it is not mine. The only way a person will be valued will be through Thora, mitsvos and ma’asim tovim”.
Either fix or damage the world
Reb Usher says: “Whatever a person does in this world, he has to know that the whole world is relying on him. He can either damage everybody or he can help the whole world.
Always pray
Reb Usher says: “the main thing when a person
does something, he should always daven do Hashem. because it is Hashem that
gives you the koach. Just like the Midrash tells us about Yosef HaTzadik,
whatever he did, he davened before that. the sar Beis Hazohar from the jail saw
that Yosef’s lips were always moving, and asked him, what is going on?
Yosef told him, “I am always mispallel to the Ribbono Shel Olam, whatever I am doing here in jail, Hashem should make matzliach and that you will be happy with what I am doing”.
Important minhagim for Pesach
Reb Usher answered: “My minhag is to keep quiet
when somebody gets me aggravated”. So then he asked: “What other minhagim do
you have?”
Reb Usher answered: “When you are finished with
this one, I will tell you more.”
Source: Yad Ezrah, www.jadezra.nl
Rabbi Yisroel Chaim Weiss of Spinkah spinkarebbe@gmail.com
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