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Translated and adapted from Sichat HaShavua #1073
Rabbi Aharon-Moshe was a follower of Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchak Horowitz, the Seer
of Lublin. He always made an effort to spend as little time as possible in the
company of Jewish sinners. This was not because he looked down upon them, or
even that he did not have feelings of love for them as his fellow-Jews.  | | " His penetrating spiritual vision could detect their most intimate secrets...." | | |
Rather, his level of purity was such that with one glance his penetrating
spiritual vision could detect their most intimate secrets, including every
physical sin they had done. This awareness made him so uncomfortable that he
avoided such encounters whenever he possibly could.
One time he happened to be in the same place as Rabbi Avraham- Yehoshua
Heschel, the Rebbe of Apt, known to all as the "Ohev Yisrael" - "Lover of
Jews". The chasid seized the opportunity to consult with the Rebbe, and
asked, plaintively, "What shall I do that I am able to see into the hearts of
others and when what I see distresses me so?"
The Rebbe (who often referred to himself in the plural) replied, "My dear
Aharon-Moshe, in our youth we also saw things. When a Jew would come before us,
we would immediately know what he was and what were his deeds. How many
incarnations he had been through, and what were his mistakes and blemishes in
each lifetime.
"Later on, we came to the realization that it is not appropriate to see into
another Jew's heart and the mysteries that are concealed there, in order to
perceive things that are not positive. So we prayed to the Merciful One that He
remove from us this ability. Since then, whenever a Jew comes before us, we see
only the good deeds and the soul-rectifications that he accomplished in each
incarnation.
"So you too, Aharon-Moshe, should request this of the Al-mighty, and thereby
cease to perceive what is not necessary to see."
"The secret things are for G-d, our Lord, while the revealed belongs to us
and our children." (Deut. 29:28)
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