Well, did you know the Brisk Rabbi? That was a man—a pillar of iron, I tell you!
A tall, tall man, "from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people;" he cast awe round him like a king.
A long white beard, one point of it, I remember now, had tucked itself under his girdle, the other point quivered over it. His eyebrows were white, thick, and long, they seemed to cover part of his face. When he raised them—Lord of the world! The women fell back as though they were thunderstruck, he had such eyes! There were daggers in them, glittering daggers! And he gave a roar like a lion: "Women, be gone!"
Then he asked in a lower and gentler voice:
"And where is my daughter?"
They showed him.
He went in, and I remained standing quite upset: Such eyes, such a voice! It is quite another sort another world! The Byàle Rebbe's eyes are so kind, so quiet, they do one's heart good; he gives you a look, and it's like a shower of gold—and his voice—that sweet voice—soft as velvet—Lord of the world! it goes to your heart and soothes it and comforts it—one isn't afraid of him, heaven forbid! The soul just melts for love of him, she desires to escape from the body and unite herself to his soul—she is drawn as a butterfly (lehavdîl) to a bright flame! And here—Lord of the world, fear and trembling! A Gaòn, a Gaòn of the old days! And he has gone in to a woman in child-bed!
"He will turn her into a heap of bones!" I think in terror.
I run to the Byàle Rebbe. And he met me in the door with a smile:
"Have you seen," he said to me, "the majesty of the Law? The very majesty of the Law?"