Rabbi Moshe Leib of Sassov – Studying Mishnayot as a Remedy for Madness

Rabbi Moshe Leib of Sassov – Studying Mishnayot as a Remedy for Madness

The «Eshel Avraham»—Rabbi Avraham David of Buchach—had a custom of reviewing 18 (chai) halachot and studying 18 chapters of Mishnayot every day. According to tradition, he adopted this custom from his Rav, Moshe Leib of Sassov, as a segula against madness. In addition to Rabbi Moshe Leib, the «Eshel Avraham» was deeply devoted to Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev, whom he considered the greatest rabbi of his generation. Once, they were traveling together in a carriage, and Rabbi Levi Yitzchak began making strange movements, as was his custom. Although the «Eshel Avraham» knew of this practice of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak, on that journey the tzadik’s actions were so strange that the rabbi from Buchach, who was then a young yeshivah student, could not restrain himself and smiled. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak noticed his smile, looked at him, and asked: «Have you gone mad?» Upon hearing this, the «Eshel Avraham», fearing the tzadik’s anger, immediately jumped out of the carriage and ran to Rabbi Moshe Leib of Sassov to save his sanity. When he arrived, Rabbi Moshe Leib gave him this segula, which he observed throughout his life. The «Eshel Avraham’s» fears were not unfounded. In other versions of the story, it is even related that the rabbi from Buchach actually lost his mind for a time. In addition to the phrase used by Rabbi Levi Yitzchak, there are many stories of those who mock the righteous being punished and suffering from madness. For example, it is told that the Arizal, zechuto yagen aleinu, once told his students that he could bring the Seven Shepherds down into his beit midrash. The students naturally asked to see this, but he sternly warned them not to laugh. The students promised, and the Arizal invited the Seven Shepherds one after another, calling them up to the Torah. When it was the «seventh» one’s turn, King David appeared, dancing and leaping in honor of the Torah. Watching King David’s movements, one of the students laughed and immediately went mad, and the Arizal was forced to heal him with his prayers and unique meditations. Both in the Written Torah and in Chassidism, to achieve real results in the soul and bring forth love and awe within it, one must invest in «the exertion of the soul and the exertion of the body.» The exertion of the body means removing the obstacles presented by the body and the animal soul, while the exertion of the soul is, in fact, thoughtful contemplation. Here, too, we can say that these are the two parts of Rabbi Moshe Leib’s advice: the exertion of the soul through intense contemplation while reviewing the laws, and the exertion of the body through memorizing Mishnayot.   (Based on the website https://gal-einai.ru/hasidizm/hasidskaya-istoriya/)