After Rabbi Yechiel Aharon's passing, his family arranged his library at the end of the thirty-day mourning period and found a letter written decades earlier. It records a family tradition concerning Rabbi Moshe Yehuda Leib Heller, the Hasidic scholar and brother of Rabbi Shmuel Heller, the renowned rabbi of Safed.
The Student and Ritual Slaughterer
Rabbi Moshe Yehuda Leib was a close follower of Rabbi Avraham Dov of Avritch and served as his ritual slaughterer. According to tradition, the Bat Ayin trusted his meticulous practice. He and his brother, Rabbi Shmuel, made a pact: whichever passed away first would appear to the other in a dream and relate what had happened.
On 13 Tevet 5630, Rabbi Moshe Yehuda Leib became unwell. His brother came to see him a few hours before Shabbat. When he reminded him that it was Friday, Rabbi Moshe Leib passed away.
“Stay Here with Me”
According to the story recorded in the letter, Rabbi Moshe Leib appeared in his brother's dream after Shabbat. He said he had asked not to stand before the heavenly court until he could consult his teacher, as he had done during his life. Brought before the Bat Ayin, he heard his teacher say in Yiddish, “Blaybt do mit mir”—“Stay here with me.”
The letter was written by Rabbi Zeide Heller, a great-grandson of both brothers. He stated that he heard the account from his father, who heard it from his grandfather, Rabbi Shmuel Heller—the dreamer in the tradition.