בּאַ ר' יְקוּתִיאֵל ליעֶפלעֶר (דעֶם אַלטעֶן רֶבִּי'ס אַ חָסִיד) אִיז געֶוועֶן צַייטעֶן, וואָס עֶר האָט געֶדאַוועֶנט שַׁחֲרִית מִנְחָה אוּן מַעֲרִיב אֵיינֶע נאָך דִי אַנדעֶרעֶ, עֶס אִיז נִיט געֶוועֶן קֵיין זְמַן מַפְסִיק זַיין.

There were times when R. Yekusiel Liepler, a chassid of the Alter Rebbe, would daven the morning, afternoon, and evening services one right after the other. There was simply no time for breaks between them.1

A Chassid to Remember

In the letter quoted above, the Rebbe Rayatz relates that R. Yekusiel would describe his varying moods with the expression, “The chassid has fled, the chassid has come back.”

When he was in “the chassid has fled” mood, he was very despondent. He would pray quickly, following the words of the Siddur with his finger, one by one.

When he was in “the chassid comes back” mood, his face would glow, and he would dance and pray with fire. On such days it might happen that he would spend the entire day in prayer, as described above. At times he would not eat for 24 hours, saying that since the Alter Rebbe had blessed him with long life,2 he could live in good health even without eating.

Elder chassidim in our times recall a chassid of the Rebbe Rashab and of the Rebbe Rayatz who was reputed to be a beinoni as defined by the Alter Rebbe in Tanya.3 His name was R. Yitzchak Horovitz, but he was universally known in Yiddish, affectionately and reverently, as R. Itche der Masmid — “R. Yitzchak the diligent.” Each of his three prayer services was accompanied by the measured meditation that flowed spontaneously from the Chassidus that he would study at length in preparation for that service. Since, like R. Yekusiel Liepler before him, there were times when he was hard pressed to fit all three prayer services into one day, R. Itche’s meager breakfast would often wait until he had finally completed Maariv.