The Price of Their Advice
by Dovid Zaklikowski for Hasidic Archives
While the city of Daugavpils, Latvia, in the early 1900s was known for its military fortress, to the local Jews, who called the city by its Yiddish name, Dvinsk, it was known for the two great rabbis in the city: Rabbi Meir Simcha Hakohen, “the Ohr Sameach,” and Rabbi Yosef Rosen, “the Rogatchover Gaon.”
The two brilliant scholars were very different. The Rogatchover was the rabbi of the Chassidic community, and Rabbi Meir Simcha of the Lithuanian community. The latter was a communal leader, intimately involved in the public’s needs and personal issues. The former studied day and night and was quick, witty, and sharp with his words.
However, under the two rabbis, the communities lived in harmony, with love for Rabbi Meir Simcha and awe for the Rogatchover.
Once, it was necessary to raise funds for a communal need, and Rabbi Meir Simcha called the local wealthy individuals to a gathering at the study hall. There he described the great communal need and explained that they needed to collect a large amount of money to make the project possible.
Those gathered were reluctant and said that they had already donated to the community’s central charity and that the rabbi should take the money from there. Rabbi Meir Simcha tried to explain why, for this particular cause, it was not appropriate to take the funds from there. The voices of the rabbi and the wealthy men slowly became louder and louder.
The Rogatchover, who was studying by himself in a corner, was startled by the arguing and asked what the issue was. They explained that Rabbi Meir Simcha did not want to take from the communal charity to pay for the new project he wanted to start.
He turned to one of the wealthy men and asked if he was supported by the communal fund. The man told the Rogatchover that, thank G-d, he was not in need of support from the community: “I have enough of my own.” The Rogatchover continued to ask the same question of each of the wealthy men, and they all responded the same way.
“If that is the case,” he told those gathered, “it turns out that your advice will not come at your expense, but rather at the expense of the poor and needy.”
He said that it was not right to take money from the poor and that they should each immediately contribute toward the new project and stop evading their duty to support it. Within a short time, all of the money was collected.
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