Frum & Separate Chassidishe Concert Disgrace the Memory of R' Shayele Krasterer

A Sukkos concert in Yerushalayim is causing outrage among many people.

At the concert a popular song titled “Reb Shaya ben Reb Moshe” was sung by a popular performer. As the song was being sung, a large screen displayed a photo of the holy Tzadik Reb Shayele Kerestirer, who the song is about.

 In a despicable Bizayon, surrounding the image of Reb Sheyele were rats and mice running across his face.

The “justification” of this warped and disgusting act was done due to a story that people claim happened in the time of the Tzadik when he told someone with a mice infestation to hang his photo as a prevention. 

 A great-grandson of Reb Shayele  says that his grandmother lived in his house until WWII broke out, and she claims that this entire story never happened, and that he was against photos and therefore there are no photos of him other than a passport photo. In fact all his descendants vehemently deny that this “Segula” originated from Reb Shayele.

But despite if this is a fictitious “Segula” is real or not, one thing is for sure, a terrible Bizayon of a holy Tzadik was made in public last night in front of thousands of people.

The “Reb Shayele Guest House” organization, which feeds thousands of people visiting the kever each year put out a public letter with a scathing protest against this Bizayon.

It’s disgusting that people have turned this Tzadik into an “exterminator” and lately a “cook” (as people are making food in all corners of the world in his memory). People have now been placing his photo in their car windows to prevent parking tickets, and it’s now used at illegal construction sites.

Reb Shayele was far greater than that. People should read the “Reb Shayele” book written by Rabbi Yisroel Besser, which captures the life of this Tzadik.

He was a Tzadik to which Yidden were drawn with invisible cords of love and hope, where the unsolvable problems were resolved, where the incurably ill found healing, where souls numb with cold felt warmth. Fiery Chassidim found truth, and hungry travelers found nourishment. The Rebbe – who labored in Torah, poured out his heart in prayer, and seemed to exist in a realm of his own between heaven and earth – would stop everything if a Jew needed a cold drink or warm bed, would cease his holy toil to help another. He belonged to the people, and they to him. A generation loved and revered the tzaddik of Kerestir, and they transmitted this veneration to their children, who in turn passed it down to their children.