When the first Rebbi of Slonim passed away, he left a few descendants. All of them were learned and pious. The Chasidim had to make a difficult decision on who would be best suited to replace their Rebbe as the next leader of this great movement. The final decision was based on the following story:
One of the grandchildren was Reb Shmuel. He was, as the other members of the family, a big Talmid Chacham. He also had developed a special attachment to the Mitzvah of Chanukah. Young R’ Shmuel used to buy the best imported olives, grind them at home, prepare the oil and use only the first, very pure batch for his Chanukah Menorah. This dedication for a Mitzvah gives us a little glimpse into the personality of Rav Shmuel.
But this was not the reason that he was chosen to be the new Rebbi of Slonim. Rather – the following anecdote was the motive determining his appointment:
R’ Shmuel once went to watch his grandfather light the menorah on Erev Shabbat Chanukah. Just before, he had meticulously prepared his own menorah at home, and planned to return and light it before Shabbat. Arriving home, he found that a guest had lit his beloved menorah by mistake. Now he did not have sufficient “special” oil . In fact there was no oil at all, and he was forced to use a simple candle which he found somewhere in the kitchen. The candle did not even fit into his Menorah. Keeping his calm, he said, “The same Hashem Who commanded us to light Chanukah candles also commanded us not to become angry, and certainly I should not cause any grief to the guest.” He thus went on to greet Shabbat joyously.
This, were the elderly Slonim Chasidim saying, demonstrated the beautiful personality R’ Shmuel had possessed . His real love to G’d, and his genuine care not to upset anyone else, under any circumstances.
Happy Chanukah and Good Chodesh
Rabbi Chaim Michael Biberfeld