An angel once tread...

Today is the 50th yahrtzeit of the Holy Rebbe of Belz R’ Ahron..Zt’l

To even begin comprehending this angel in skin and bones would be an impossible task. It’s rare to find someone that elicits such awe and reverence from all circles of our community. Every single Gadol from Sefardim, to Litvish to other Chassidic Rebbes saw him as some kind of human aberation.

Reb Ahron of Chernobyl Ztl told his granddaughter while she was pregnant with Rev Ahron
“Your husband somehow managed to bring down a soul the likes of which this world hasn’t seen in 500 years”

The elderly R’ Yechezkel of Shineve..upon seeing R’ Ahron when he was just a teenager..
“It seems that the Yetzer Hora totally forgot about him..”

The Gerrer Rebbe...The Imrei Emes..
“He was a Malach Hashem..every singe second of his life was spent thinking of God..”

R’ Menchem Zemba Hyd.
“It’s frighteneing to look at him..”

The Lubavitcher Rebbe...
“He was all Tzura...no Chomer..(all form..no matter)”

While there are so many qualities to focus on..from his dilligence in learning..to his endless fasting...to his deep natural compassion and sensitivity to all people and even animals..

I’d like to focus on one trait that is difficult to comprehend yet something we can learn to emulate somewhat.

His inability to see anything bad in another Jew. He took this to such extremes it makes you wonder if he really believed what he said.
If anyone said anything bad in his presence about even the most vile of people he’d turn white and make the bearer of the news wash his mouth out 3 times.
He'd often spend hours in mental acrobatics to bend and twist events to somehow turn them from bad to good..

Here are a few stories that illustrates this.
The tiny town of Belz was a very religious town. One day a Chossid by the name if R’ Duvid came to the Rebbe and told him that a certain R’ Moshe opens his store on Shabbos. The Rebbe..started shaking and murmuring chas vsholem..chas v’sholem and made him wash his mouth out 3 times. He then called this R’ Moshe in and instructed R’ Duvid to pay R’ Moshe a token sum for his accusation.
He then turned to R’ Moshe and asked him nicely not to do anything that might make people think that he’s desecrating the Shabbos!

When he’d walk down the street in Tel Aviv (where he lived) on Shabbos and a car would pass, he’d smile and say B’sha’a Tova Umitzlachas (what you wish a pregnant woman), because in his mind only someone going to the hospital to give birth would drive on Shabbos.

Once someone, who was a well known sinner, came to him and he greeted him warmly to the amazement of his chassidim. After he left, the Rebbe turned to the Chassidim and said "The poor fellow is a batlan and can't figure out how to overcome his yetzer hora..is that a reason why I shouldn't be warm to him?"

Was this delusion?
I think if you really love someone, you simply refuse to believe anything bad about them, even if faced with evidence.
I also once saw from the Ba’al Shem Tov that only a sinner sees sins in others. Someone devoid of sins will only see good in everyone. I think that’s a very true psychological concept in that we accuse others and see faults in others sometimes to make us feel better about our own rotten selves. To convince ourselves that we’re not so bad after all.

May he continue to find merits for all of us in the next world and may we follow his ways...