An Anecdote about the Baal Shem Tov

(from Siach Sarfei Kodesh, 1989 ed, pt.iv, p.103, #1; my translation)

I heard that the holy rabbi from Sudilkov¹, author of the Degel Machaneh Efraim and grandson of the Baal Shem Tov², after getting married became very devoted to study and he studied mainly Gemara with Rashi and Tosafot, thus straying a little from the Hasidic way.
The Baal Shem Tov used to go out on walks with him sometimes, which caused distress to the the holy rabbi from Sudilkov because it took him away from his study. Once when they were walking they ran into a visitor from another town. The Baal Shem Tov inquired about a certain person from that town and the visitor told him he was very devoted to study. The Baal Shem Tov replied: "I envy him that he can be so devoted to study, I myself don't have time for it since I spend it all in the service of the Creator Blessed Be His Name." As soon as the rabbi from Sudilkov heard these words come out of the Baal Shem Tov's mouth with such holiness and purity they entered his heart and he started behaving in the Hasidic way.

¹Rabbi Moshe Chaim Ephraim from Sudilkov (1748-1800) aka the Degel Machaneh Efraim.

²Israel ben Eliezer (1698–1760), aka the Baal Shem Tov was the founder of the Hasidic movement.

An anecdote about Rabbi Avraham of Chekhanov

(from Siach Sarfei Kodesh, 1989 ed. pt.iv, p.5, #3; my translation)

I heard from an old hasid that every time that the holy Rabbi Wolf of Strikov¹ came to the holy Rabbi from Kotzk², he had to tell him something about his holy father Rabbi Avraham of Chekhanov³. Once, he came to Kotzk and the Kotzker Rebbe asked him to tell him something about his holy father. Rabby Wolf replied that he didn't have anything to say. The Kotzker Rabbi was surprised and asked him "Do you really have nothing to say?"
At this point Rabbi Wolf recalled that when he was taking leave of his holy father before traveling to Kotzk and was in a big hurry, his father asked his mother to give him a saucer of tea to drink before his trip. His mother gave him the tea, but he didn't drink it and it just sat there . His father asked him why he wasn't drinking, and he answered that "it's overcooked (ie boiling hot)" (Yiddish: "s'ist kachidig"). Hearing this, his father shouted at him: "Didn't our Sages say (Shabbat 40): 'A secondary vessel does not cook'"?⁴ To this the holy Rabbi of Kotzk replied: "This is what I wanted to hear."

From this we can understand their greatness, that the holy Gaon of Chekhanov could not bear to hear language containing even a hint that went against the words of our Sages⁵.

¹Rabbi Ze'ev Wolf of Strikov (1807–1891)

²Rabbi Menaḥem Mendel of Kotsk (1787–1859)

³Rabbi Avraham Landau of Chekhanov (1784–1875)

⁴"R. Isaac b. Abdimi said: I once followed Rabbi into the baths, and wished to place a cruse of oil for him in the bath. Whereupon be said to me, Take [some water] in a second vessel  and put [the cruse of oil in it]. Three things are inferred from this: 1. Oil is subject to [the prohibition of] boiling; 2. a second vessel cannot boil; 3. making it lukewarm is boiling it". (BT, Shabbat 40a)

⁵In Yiddish the word for "boiling hot" (kachidig) comes from the word "to cook" (kochen).

The Kedushat Levy on Sukkot

The following is a teaching from Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berdichev. It is taken from the middle of a drash on Passover, but it concerns Sukkot and the day of Shmini Atzeret. His prooftext is Numbers 29:35:

לה  בַּיּוֹם, הַשְּׁמִינִי--עֲצֶרֶת, תִּהְיֶה לָכֶם:  כָּל-מְלֶאכֶת עֲבֹדָה, לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ.

35 On the eighth day you shall have a solemn assembly (atzeret): you shall do no manner of work;

It is known that all that which is drawn down and flows in from the Blessed Holy Creator happens through the seven middot that channel those influences through to us. This is why the holiday of Sukkot is eight days, because seven days correspond to these seven middot and the eighth day corresponds to becoming the receiver of what flows in from above. Therefore the eighth day of Sukkot is called "Atzeret" as is written "On the eighth day your shall have an atzeret." (Numbers 29:35). That is to say that which is drawn down and flows in from the Blessed Holy Creator during seven days of Sukkot through the seven middot, is then contained and absorbed in the eighth day through one's ability to become the recipient of these influences. This is the meaning of "you shall have an atzeret:" what flowed in from above will stop in "you", in other words you will receive it and it will be absorbed in you.

And this happens during the holiday of Sukkot, because then the entire community of Israel gains the ability to receive the fullness of inflows from the Blessed Holy Creator by having elevated themselves on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur with great devotion to God and having cleansed themselves of materiality and physicality and reached the moment of the elevation of all the worlds. Then, during the days of the Sukkot holiday, new inflows and enlightenment are drawn down for them through the seven middot and by means of their elevation to God on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur they become fit to be vessels that receive all the inflows from the seven days of Sukkot on the eighth day and are then able to hold (la'atzor) and take in the inflow into themselves.