אַדְמוּ"ר הָאֶמְצָעִי אָמַר בְּשֵׁם רַבֵּנוּ הַזָּקֵן: אַהֲבַת יִשְׂרָאֵל בּעֶדאַרף דעֶרנעֶמעֶן בִּיז מִצּוּי הַנֶּפֶשׁ.

The Mitteler Rebbe said in the name of the Alter Rebbe:1 “Loving a fellow Jew2 ought to take hold of one’s soul to the last ounce.”3

A Story with an Echo

In his memoirs,4 the Rebbe Rayatz tells the story of an innkeeper whose twelve-year-old son was taken captive by his gentile landlord as collateral for a debt. Even after the innkeeper sold all his possessions and borrowed money from his friends and neighbors, he still was unable to meet the required sum. In the meantime, the landlord had transferred the boy to the local priest, whose aim was to induce him to apostasize.

In his distress, the innkeeper recalled an old friend, Yaakov Kerpil, who lived several towns away. He managed to convince his ever-watchful landlord that he would not flee if he were allowed to travel, and set out to solicit Yaakov Kerpil’s aid.

Now, this man was far from wealthy, but as soon as he heard of his friend’s plight, he and his wife went into action. They sold all their dispensable possessions and borrowed money from their own friends and acquaintances until they had the required sum. Then, to make sure that the boy was released from the hands of the priest, Yaakov Kerpil made the journey to his friend’s hometown. Furthermore, to secure the boy’s Jewish future, he sent him away at his own cost to study in a yeshivah.

Sadly, the debts and expenses he had undertaken on behalf of his friend soon took their toll and left him poor and ailing. Nevertheless, he and his wife bore their suffering happily, glad that they had been able to save a Jew from leaving his faith. So fully had they put their hearts and souls into loving a fellow Jew— to the last ounce of their souls — that their self-sacrifice created a stir in the spiritual realms.

Many miles from their home, aided by his gift of Divine inspiration, the holy Baal Shem Tov was made aware of that stir and traced it to its terrestial source. Moved by the suffering that Yaakov Kerpil was undergoing, he dispatched two trusty disciples to come to his aid, and they succeeeded in easing him out of his troubles. Moreover, since the couple had been childless, the Baal Shem Tov gave them his blessing, and in their advanced middle age they were finally blessed with a son — Yosef Yitzchak, a gifted scholar, who in later years was to be the uncle of the Alter Rebbe.