Reb Shimon Menashe Chaikin was born around the year 5562 (1802) and moved to Tzfas when he was 18 years old. Later on, he moved to Chevron along with all the Chabad chassidim, as per the instruction of the Mitteler Rebbe. He eventually became the rov there for all Ashkenazim. He passed away on 29 Sivan 5653 (1893).

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Reb Shimon Menashe was appointed by the Tzemach Tzedek to take charge of Colel Chabad and to distribute the tzedaka funds sent by him from Russia. The needy were still many, and the money was all used up, when a poor, broken-hearted widow came crying to the rov, asking for help feeding her orphaned children. The rov was very pained by the woman’s plight but could not even find one coin to give her. But how could he let her go empty-handed?

He thought hard and then said to her, “I have a good offer for you. Since in this city people consider me a tzadik, I will prepare a note saying, ‘Whoever will buy this note is promised a portion in my world to come!’”

At first, the woman did not grasp the value of the note, but, having no other choice, she took the note and went to one of the rich men of Chevron. The rich man was ecstatic and offered her a very nice sum. The next day, a different widow came to the home of the rov, and he wrote yet another note. After some time, Reb Shimon Menashe managed to sell almost his whole olam haba.

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Reb Shlomo Leib Eliezrov was a very close disciple of Reb Shimon Menashe and would often speak with great awe about his teacher. He would relate episodes about his diligence and love for learning Torah. He said that although he was fluent in all parts of Torah, already in his nineties, he opened a Shulchon Aruch Yore Deah to simon 98 and learned with such zeal and passion it was as if he was learning it for the first time in his life.

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Before his levaya, the chevra kadisha struggled to dig a kever, but the rock mountain would not break. Even as the aron arrived, the kever remained unfinished, but they did not want to choose another spot, since it would appear as if the nearby kevorim had rejected him. Suddenly, the stone gave way and revealed a cavern exactly the size of the aron. Everyone was amazed by the perfect spot that had been created for him.

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