Rav Dovid Twerski of Tolna zt"l
הרב דוד בן מרדכי מטולנא זצ"ל
Iyar 10 , 5642
Rav Dovid Twerski of Tolna zt"l
Rabbi Dovid Twerski of Tolna 10 Iyar 5642 son of the famed tzadik, Rabbi Mordechai of Chernobyl, had thousands of chasidim that relied on his leadership. His works include Birkas Dovid. There is a Tolner Shul in Tzfas even today.
http://www.ascentofsafed.com/cgi-bin/ascent.cgi?Name=rebbeBios
Stories of Rav Dovid Twerski of Tolna zt"l
Once, one of Rav Dovid Tolna’s Chassidim came to take his leave as soon as Shabbos was over. “What’s the rush?” asked the Tolna Rebbe.
“The goy, the ba’al agola, is already waiting for me outside,” rushed the Chassid to explain.
“Miten zelbe goy gekimen miten zelben goy furstu a’heim,” declared the Rebbe (injecting a double meaning into his words: “You came with the same goy and are leaving with the same goy. You came here with the same un-Jewish yetzer hora and are leaving unchanged!)” (Otzar Yisrael)
Rav Dovid’l Tolner was a great ba’al middos – he had a big heart and sterling character. The following incident serves to illustrate: Once the Rebbe sat surrounded by family and Chassidim at a seudas mitzva. As was his custom, he wore the sable fur shtreimel on such occasions and sat near the open window. The window was much higher than the outside street level and to passersby it must have appeared that the shtreimel was just sitting there on the open windowsill. A passerby saw the shtreimel, grabbed it and ran off.
Meanwhile the house was a tumult – the Chassidim and family were in an uproar! What chutzpa! To steal the Rebbe’s shtreimel, right off his very head, no less?! They were about to run off to catch the lowly thief but Rav Dovid’l would hear none of it. “Leave him be. I order you not to pursue him. He is no thief; obviously he must be in a really bad situation and needs the money, so he probably went to pawn the shtreimel to feed his hungry family – poor souls, they must be starving. Listen, he is no thief, the shtreimel is ownerless, I relinquish all ownership of it – hefker!! I hereby declare it hefker, and no one should be held responsible or punished on my account! Why should you pursue him and shame him? We will simply buy a new shtreimel!”
(Ner Yehoshua)