A story I heard from my rabbi, who may have heard it from Rabbi Altie Bukiet, the shliach of Lexington, MA (not sure).
When Frierdiker Rebbe and his chassidim were in Warsaw, there was a rich Jew, who wanted to provide them with hospitality and therefore built a big sukkah for them. One night they were sitting in it, farbrenging, when the Jew walked in, looked at them and sighed. Frierdiker Rebbe lifted up his head, looked at him and said: “You should have sighed before you sinned.” The Jew, shocked, asked: “What?” and walked out.
It turns out that earlier that evening, he had visited a theater (of sorts), and when he came back, he saw the contrast between the Rebbe sitting together with his chassidim, talking about Hashem, and the place where he had just been. So, he sighed. To which the Rebbe replied: “You should have sighed before you sinned.”
This story is of a similar character to the saying attributed to Rebbe Maharash, Frierdiker Rebbe’s grandfather (whom F"R is said to have resembled physically): Lehatchilo ariber (“higher a priori”). Some people, when something negative happens in their lives, or when they themselves do something wrong, make a decision to live on a higher level, to repent, to improve. Or, when they see an obstacle in their lives, they decide they have to elevate themselves, improve their character or way of life to climb over it.
While this is a proper thing to do b’dieved (post factum), Rebbe Maharash says you can do even better: live on a higher level to begin with. Don’t wait for something negative or troublesome to happen in your life to urge you to improve. Improve without it.
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