The Imrei Chaim of Vizhnitz told the following stories about his illustrious forebear, the Toras Chaim of Kosov:

The Toras Chaim once said about the zemer Eliyohu HaNovi recited as part of the Motzo’ei Shabbos Melava Malka zemiros, “We sing ashrei mi shero’a ponov bachalom – happy is he who saw Eliyohu HaNovi’s face in a dream – but who knows what Eliyohu HaNovi looks like? If no one knows what he looks like, how would he be able to recognize him in a dream? I, however, concluded the Toras Chaim, would be able to recognize him if I saw him in a dream because I once saw him when I was awake, with my father the Ahavas Sholom, and this is how it happened:

“When I was a young child,” told the Toras Chaim, “I often used to sleep in my father’s bed. One night, I was awakened from my sleep to the sound of a conversation taking place between my father and someone else in the room. I looked up and was amazed to see an elderly man with a shining countenance sitting on my father’s chair and my father sat at his side. I was upset by this – who dared take my father’s seat at the head of the table? My father said to the guest: ‘Eliyohu, here in bed lies my Chaim’nyu – I would like you to give him a berocha!’

“When I heard that this was none other than Eliyohu HaNovi, I was seized with fear and trembling and hid beneath the covers. Eliyohu HaNovi reached in below the covers, placed his holy hands on my head and gave me a berocha. I took a peek from underneath the covers and saw his holy face!”

“And so therefore I tell you,” concluded the Toras Chaim, “that if I saw him in a dream, I could recognize him because I saw him when I was awake!” (Sarfei Kodesh 429–430)

There was once a dispute between Rav Yitzchok of Radvil and the Ahavas Sholom of Kosov regarding one of the shochtim in Nadworna. When the Kosov Chassidim heard that the Apta Rav seemed to side with the Radviller, they decided to get the Apter to meet with their Rebbe, the Ahavas Sholom, instead.

One day, they heard that the Apta Rav was on his way to meet Rav Yitzchok of Radvil and they set out to put their plan into action. It was well known that when the Apta Rav traveled he used no passport to cross borders; instead, he always carried a mezuza with him and showed this at the crossing to the gentile guards, who would examine his pass and then wave him on.

This time, however, there was a problem. When the Apta Rav presented his mezuza-passport, the border guards arrested him and took him for questioning to Kosov. This was because the border guards were none other than the Ahavas Sholom’s Chassidim, disguised as border guards manning an imaginary border crossing.

In Kosov, a lavish welcome had been prepared at the Ahavas Sholom’s home to welcome the guest from Apt. When the Apta Rav realized that he had been fooled, he was very angry and upset. He took two cups of mashke and asked the Chassidim who were dressed as guards to drink them. The Toras Chaim, the Ahavas Sholom’s son, realized that if the Chassidim drank the cups of wine, the Apta Rav would send them away from this world as a punishment.

“Don’t drink the wine!” he warned them, and he blocked the Chassidim and covered the cups, preventing them from drinking.

“Who is this young man who thinks he can interfere in matters not his own?” asked the Apta Rav.

“Chaim’nyu!” chastised the Ahavas Sholom, “stand up so the Rebbe can see you properly!”

When the Apta Rav’s gaze fell on the Toras Chaim, he was greatly impressed and he left the matter as settled. (Sarfei Kodesh 429–431)

The Ahavas Sholom had a Chassid who was an innkeeper. His small inn and tavern were leased from the local Polish nobleman and after the Jew had paid the poritz, his parnossa was meager indeed. He was always late on his payments and was always coming to the Kosover Rebbe and asking for help. The Ahavas Sholom would, on these occasions, open his desk drawer and hand the Chassid whatever money he needed to pay off his debts. When the Ahavas Sholom passed on, and his son the Toras Chaim took over as Rebbe, the Chassid continued to come and visit the new Kosover, yet now, when he described his financial woes and his need for funds, the Toras Chaim did not give him any money, only a berocha.

“Rebbe, what will I do with your berocha?” said the bewildered Chassid. “I need cash now! Your father used to give me the money I needed, not just a berocha!” said the exasperated Chassid.

“My father,” replied the Toras Chaim, “had a special berocha from Shomayim that his desk and his drawers should always help the needy and never lack funds. He could always open his desk drawer and find whatever he needed. I have not inherited this berocha and thus cannot do so, but don’t worry, the Cossack has plenty of money to spare – much more than I – and he will give you!”

And on that enigmatic note the Rebbe bid his Chassid farewell.

The Chassid did not understand the Rebbe’s strange references to imaginary Cossacks. He only understood too well that without the money he needed to pay the poritz, he was now in serious trouble. He went home sad and distressed. When his wife asked if the Rebbe had given him the money, the Chassid answered bitterly, “He is no Rebbe.”

He went sadly to sleep and was awakened suddenly in the middle of the night to the sound of loud knocking and banging on his front door. When he opened it, he saw standing before him a stranger, a tall Cossack who immediately told him, “I am in a rush to join the war and I had to leave in haste. I have no one trustworthy to guard my money until I return…if I ever come back, that is. When I asked around these parts for someone I could trust with my life they all said that you were the most trustworthy person. Here, take this money,” and he handed the bewildered Jew thousands of gold coins. “Safeguard it for me until I come back. If I ever come back, give it to me!” So saying, he left into the night without another word.

The Jew hid the money and the next day set out for Kosov. When he told the Rebbe the strange tale, the Rebbe smiled and said, “There is no longer any Cossack, and no longer any war. He is never coming back – the money is yours!”

Needless to say, the Chassid’s faith in his Rebbe was restored and he had plenty to pay the poritz. (Sarfei Kodesh 433–434)

The Toras Chaim was one of a kind when it came to hiding his true nature and concealing his greatness.

He would often dress very simply in a shpentzer, a short leather coat worn by peasants, tied with a coarse rope as a belt! He also had a large bird coop full of chickens, geese and ducks, and would often be seen feeding them or checking that others were handling them and feeding them on time. Needless to say, such simple behavior did not appear very Rebbish or refined and caused some to wonder.

There once arrived a Chassid who found the Toras Chaim dressed as described, standing, ordering the farm hands to feed the hens and geese and acting in a very non-Rebbish manner. Seeing the Chassid’s obvious astonishment and dismay, the Toras Chaim told him a story:

“Many years ago, when the Bais HaMikdosh stood, there was an elderly Jew who lived far from Yerushalayim and had never yet been there and thus had never seen the Bais HaMikdosh. He once inadvertently sinned and this accident caused him to be liable to bring a Korban Chatos. And so this elderly Jew set off to offer his sin offering, not knowing the way to Yerushalayim.

“As he traveled, he had no choice but to ask for directions. All the passersby and travelers laughed and wondered, ‘How can such an old Jew not know the way to Yerushalayim, to the Bais HaMikdosh? Haven’t you ever been there, and why are you going now?!’

“He had no choice but to explain his reason for travel by admitting his sin and suffering their stares and jeers.

“When he finally arrived, he experienced the same torment again and again. First, when he was laughed at, gawked at and jeered at for his lack of knowledge as to where to purchase an animal for a korban, then by others when he asked for directions to Har HaBayis. ‘An elderly man such as yourself still sins? What, don’t you know where they sell Korbonos? Didn’t you realize you need to buy two – one for a Chatos and one for a Shelomim? Don’t you know the way to Har HaBayis? What do you mean you were never there before?’ And so on…

“Finally, after the long journey, suffering the distance, time, effort, money, jeers and insults of folk who could not believe his ignorance, the elderly Jew reached the Bais HaMikdosh and approached the Kohen Godol who was busy and in the middle of the Avoda. Our elderly Jew looked up and gazed at the Kohen and saw a man dressed in short pants standing barefoot, with bloodstains covering his clothes and body. The elder stood bemused and wondered to himself, ‘For this barefooted butcher did I have to travel and suffer such a long, arduous journey full of insults?!’

“However,” concluded the Toras Chaim to the Chassid, “Davka through the Kohen did he achieve his atonement!” The Chassid got the hint. (Sarfei Kodesh p. 435)

On the Toras Chaim’s Yahrzeit, the Imrei Chaim of Vizhnitz once remarked, “Chai (18th) Iyar is Lag BaOmer, the Yahrzeit/Hillula of Rav Shimon bar Yochai. On one side of that calendar date, a week before, is the Yahrzeit of my Zeide, the heilige Ropshitzer (11th of Iyar) and on the other side is the Yahrzeit of my Zeide, the Toras Chaim (25th of Iyar) – they all grab neshomos and pull them out of Gehinnom! (Sarfei Kodesh p. 451)