A simple man once came to the Lechovitcher Zy"a.
Asked the Rebbe: How did you get here?
Simple Man: I rode here on my Chamor (donkey- but in Hebrew it is similar to "Chomer" which is the "Material" side of man- or any entity -and is what shleps one down, down, down to wordly desires -or even Shmutz! Tzaddikim say the Mishnah in Berachos "...היה רוכב על החמור" is an allusion to one has masterful control over his material drives -as a rider controls his mount).
Rebbe: And what do you do when the "chamor" gets wild and unseats you?
Simple Man: Well, I get right back on him and keep on riding!
Rebbe: And what do you do when he throws you again?
Simple Man: Well, I get up and brush myself off again, and keep riding!
Rebbe: And if he throws you again?
Simple Man: Well I pick myself off the floor, and get back on, and keep on riding!
And so on, and so forth -this exchange repeated itself a number of times.
Chassidim said that the Rebbe was trying to teach us, that even if the Chomer -the Guf with it's ta'avos -gets wild and knocks us down -the only eitzah is to get up and keep striving to go up and ride on in ruchniyus!
(Sefer Mizkenim Esbonan)
In one shtetl where there was a shteeble of Lechovitcher chassidim, the local butcher was caught selling treife meat as kosher.
Since the butcher -although he was no chassid - used to daven in the Lechovitcher Shteeble -and in general at that time in that area the Hisnagdus to Chassidus was rampant and rabid -the misnagdim used this as an excuse to persecute the Chassidim in general as Mechallelei Shem Shamayim R"L. Guilt by association. So the chassidim felt forced to disassociate with the guilty, and banished the butcher from their midst, denying him entry to the shteeble.
A little while after these events, one of the Lechovitcher chassidim from this shtetl traveled to Lechovitch to R' Mordechai. R' Mordechai inquired as to the welfare of each of his chassidim who resided in the town, and the chassid filled him in as to the happenings of each and every one. But when R' Mordechai asked him about the butcher, he tried to change the topic.
When R' Mordechai asked him again and got the same non-response, he thought that perhaps the butcher had passed away, and asked the chassid, "Ploini the butcher leibt nuch?".
"Yes, said the chassid.
"Nu, Voos macht er?"
And so, the chassid had no choice, so he told the Rebbe what had happened, and that the chassidim couldn't take the heat and ridicule aimed at them in light of the fact that the butcher frequented the shteeble and so they banned him from the shteeble.
"And who", asked the Lechovitcher, "gave them permission to do so? I am appointing you a personal messenger to the Gabboim and dignitaries of the shteeble, and you will tell them that I demand that they immediately approach the butcher and do whatever it takes to return him to the shteeble as a member in good standing!"
And so, upon receipt of the Rebbe's directive, the most respected chassidim and the Gabboim of the shteeble went to the disgraced butcher, and requested that he begin once again to daven in their midst.
The rationale behind this was obvious: Staying in the shteeble, meant a good chance that the butcher might do teshuvah sheleimah; whereas throwing him out afforded an even better chance that he would entirely leave Yiddishkeit.
(Sefer 'Mizkenim Esbonan')
[b]Zechiso Yugein Uleini[b]
