Rabbi Avraham of Trisk - the Maggid of Trisk

Rabbi Avraham of Trisk (the Maggid of Trisk) was one of the eight sons of the tzadik, Rav Mordechai of Chernobyl (1801-1889). Yahrzeit - 2 Tammuz Burial place - Brisk He was well known for giving blessings to people, blessings which never went unanswered. Rabbi Avraham said that his soul descended into this world to rectify avreichim (yeshiva students). In his book "Magen Avraham," he includes many guidelines for yeshiva students. Before his passing, Rabbi Mordechai of Chernobyl divided his legacy among his children and appointed the Trisker Maggid to be responsible for the departed - to rectify their souls. Rav Avraham lived like this. At eight in the morning he would get up, go to the mikveh, and pray. At two in the afternoon he would begin to yawn: "I'm so tired, I need to lie down for a bit." He would go to his room until three, and then he would pray both in the afternoon and in the evening. At ten at night he would again begin to yawn: "I'm so tired. I need to go back to my room." The Trisker Maggid never ate and never slept. He also never kept any books in his room, because, as everyone knew, when he closed the door to his room, he was dealing with souls from the World to Come who needed rectification. People from that world do not know how to read Torah. So as not to upset them, the Trisker Maggid never kept books in his room. The Trisker Maggid once came to a village where only one Jew had enough room in his house to accommodate the Rebbe and his chassidim. But this man was a misnagid (an opponent of the chassidic movement). He had heard many stories from his fellow misnagdim and was suspicious of the rumors that the Trisker Maggid never slept and never ate. "That he doesn't eat, I can still believe. He sleeps so much that he doesn't need to eat. But he doesn't even keep a book in his room, so you can't tell me he isn't napping up there!" This wealthy Jew was simply delighted that the Trisker Maggid would be his guest, because it gave him a chance to prove what Rabbi Avraham was really doing behind closed doors: "I'm sure he's just snoring." While the Trisker Maggid prayed Maariv, the evening prayer, the Jew managed to sneak into Rabbi Avraham's room and hide under the bed. At ten o'clock the Trisker Maggid told his chassidim, "I must return to my room." The wealthy Jew heard Rav Avraham enter the room and felt him sit down on the bed. No sooner had the chassidim closed the door to give the Rebbe some privacy than it seemed to open again. A crowd burst into the room. The man heard shuffling feet, the murmur of people. Throughout the day he had witnessed the Trisker Maggid receiving audiences of ten, or even thirty, people at a time. But this sounded like thousands. What was happening? Where had all these people come from? How could there possibly be room for them in this small bedroom? By day people complained: "Rebbe! I'm sick. Please heal my back." "I need money for my business." "Could you find a wife for my son?" But at night people said: "Rebbe! I am so broken! They won't let me into Gan Eden. They won't let me into Gehinnom." Worst of all, the misnagid heard so many voices in the room. But when he peeked out from under the bed, he did not see a single foot. The Jew was so terrified that he was shaking, and he had to do his best to keep his teeth from chattering. Suddenly he heard a cry: "Rebbe! Have mercy on my tormented neshama. Heal me! Heal my soul!" "What can I do for you?" asked the Trisker Maggid. "While you were alive, you never once bothered to come to me. You didn't even give me a single kopek of tzedakah, not a single kopek of charity to bind yourself to me. So how can I help you now?" "There must be a way, please," the poor soul begged the Rebbe from the place of its deep torment. "Actually, there is one way out. Your neighbor, Shmulik, was one of my best chassidim. During his lifetime, Shmulik gave generously to me; if he donates on your behalf, then I could find a way to help you." "I'm sure Shmulik would do that for me," the voice replied. "Excellent! Then I want you to go and ask him." "How can I do that? He won't believe I've come from you." "Then I will send someone as your witness." At that moment the Trisker Maggid gave a strong, quick kick under the bed and said: "Come out!" When the Jew realized that the Trisker Maggid was about to send him to the World to Come as a witness to the exchange between two souls, he began to beg from under the bed: "Please, Rebbe! Don't do this to me! I promise I won't tell anyone what I saw!" "Say it publicly!" The Jew crawled out on his belly. He wept, cried out, clung to the Rebbe's feet. "Please, Rebbe! You saw! I have a wife and three children. I don't want to die yet. I'm not ready to die!" "G-d forbid you should die. But since you were spying on me, you must go as my witness. Take my staff and go with this man's soul to the cemetery." The Jew looked around. The greatest nightmare was that there was absolutely no one else in the room, only himself and the Trisker Maggid. "Knock on the first grave in the second row and say that Avraham ben Chana orders Shmuel ben Rivka to give one penny for the rectification of the neshama of this Jew - Yosele, his neighbor." (As heard from the great-grandson of the man who hid under the bed. It goes without saying that he lived to become a Trisker chassid himself). About the Baal Shem Tov The holy teacher Rabbi Avraham of Trisk related: "My grandfather, the holy teacher Rabbi Nachum of Chernobyl, of blessed memory, was the kvater (godfather) of the holy and awe-inspiring teacher Rabbi Tzvi-Hirsh, the righteous maggid of the holy community of Korostyshev, for his son, the holy teacher Rabbi Avraham, after whom I am named, was the son-in-law of my grandfather Rabbi Nachum, of blessed memory. Now, Rabbi Tzvi-Hirsh's customs in his service were different from the customs of the chassidim of the Baal Shem Tov, may the memory of the tzadik be blessed. And during the time that the holy teacher Rabbi Avraham was dependent on his father in Korostyshev, he was instructed in his father's customs, but when Rabbi Avraham went to Chernobyl and lived [there] at the table of my grandfather, of blessed memory, my grandfather instructed him in the customs of the Baal Shem Tov, may his memory be blessed. And this repeated itself again and again, until the holy teacher Rabbi Tzvi-Hirsh passed away. After his passing he appeared to his son and said to him: 'My son, during my lifetime I did not instruct you in the customs of the Baal Shem Tov, may the memory of the tzadik be blessed, but in the World of Truth I see that nothing is as beloved in the eyes of the Al-mighty as the customs of the Baal Shem Tov, may the memory of the tzadik be blessed.' And from that hour on, the holy teacher Rabbi Avraham began to live according to the customs of our teacher the Baal Shem Tov, may the memory of the tzadik be blessed." (Birkat Yosef, New York, 5679 [1919], p. 53)   May the merit of the tzadik, the Trisker Rebbe, protect Am Yisrael! (https://dailyzohar.com/tzadikim/37-Rabbi-Avraham-of-Trisk)