At the levayah [I thank the Tzadik who sent me the link] of Rav Kelemer ztz"l, his son told a story which actually was a story of the Yiddish writer Y.L. Peretz. [This is not exactly as his son told it but same idea].
Powerful.
“Oyb Nit Hekher” (If Not Higher).This is the story of a Litvak–a skeptical Lithuania Jew–who is determined to disprove the fervent belief of the Hasidim of Nemirov that their charismatic rebbe ascends to heaven during the Ten Days of Penitence to plead with God on their behalf.
Sneaking into the Nemirov rabbi’s room one night and hiding under his bed, the Litvak sees the rabbi arising before dawn, dressing himself in peasant clothes and going into the woods. There the rabbi chops up a tree with an axe and takes the bundle of wood to the broken-down shack of a sick, old woman. Pretending to be Vasil, a peasant, he brings the wood inside and proceeds to make a fire in the oven. And as he puts each stick of wood into the oven, he recites a part of the day’s selichos or penitential prayers.
After witnessing this anonymous act of charity, the Litvak becomes a disciple of the rabbi, and thereafter, whenever he hears a Hasid mention that during the Ten Days of Penitence the rabbi of Nemirov goes up to heaven, the Litvak adds quietly, “if not higher.”
That - was Rabbi Kelemer. If not higher.
