Respect

A story I heard today.

The Berditchever Rebbe would get very excited whenever he heard Chassidus. He could hardly sit through even a portion of a shiur of the Maggid before he started screaming and jumping up and down. The Maggid had a problem with legs (or spinal cord), so he had to walk on crutches. One time he was walking down the steps, and the Berditchever heard the sound of his crutches. In anticipation of the Chassidus his Rebbe was going to say, he started jumping up and down and screaming and had to be carried out.

(As a side note, only two people could hear the whole shiur of the Maggid in its completion: Alter Rebbe and a man named Wolfer. Alter Rebbe used to say that for seventy two hours after hearing Chassidus of the Maggid, his stomach was inside-out.)

At the famous Zhlobiner Chassaneh, Mitteler Rebbe was supposed to say Chassidus. He promised to the Berditchever he would speak only if the latter behaved. The Mitteler Rebbe started saying Chassidus, and the Berditchever was sitting and listening. But, as was the style of Mitteler Rebbe, he continued speaking for a long time, and eventually, the Berditchever could not take it anymore; he ran to the Mitteler Rebbe, wrapped his tallis around him and said: “The srofim and malachim should not be jealous.”

Since then, the Berditchever looked up at the Mitteler Rebbe as his Rebbe. The Mitteler Rebbe looked up at Alter Rebbe as his Rebbe. And the Alter Rebbe looked up at the Berditchever, because he was an older talmid (by five years) of the Maggid. There was a doorway into the hall that was wide enough for two people. The Berditchever, however, would not walk in front of the Mitteler Rebbe. The Mitteler Rebbe would not walk in front of the Alter Rebbe. And Alter Rebbe would not walk in front of the Berditchever. So, chassidim had to break the doorway down so that the three rebbeim could walk through.