Reb Shmuel Dovber Lipkin of Borisov, known to Chabad chasidim as “Reb Shmuel Ber Barisover,” was a great maskil, oived and chossid of the Tzemach Tzedek, the Rebbe Maharash and the Rebbe Rashab. The Rebbe Rashab used to call him “Rashdam.” The Frierdiker Rebbe spent much time with him, listening to the stories he related about the previous generations of chassidim.

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Reb Shmuel Ber once spent a long time in yechidus with the Rebbe Maharash, after which he asked the Rebbe, “After everything has been said, I still want to know what a chossid is.”

“Go to my son, the Rashab,” the Rebbe responded. Reb Shmuel was somewhat perplexed, for he was already an elderly chossid while the Rashab was still a young man.

The Rebbe explained, “I get up early every morning. One morning, at an early hour, I sent my shamash to see what my son the Rashab was busy with, and he reported that my son was sitting with a Siddur, though he could not tell exactly what he was doing. I sent someone else, who returned to tell me that the Rashab was sitting with a Siddur, an Abudraham, and a Nac”h, learning the translation of the davening.”

“This”, the Rebbe concluded, “is what a chossid is. He is capable of harnessing himself. After all the levels he may have attained, he can still sit with a Siddur and learn the simple meaning of the words in davening.”

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Reb Shmuel Groinem, the revered mashpia in Lubavitch, once visited Reb Shmuel Ber Borisover and, standing behind the door, he overheard him telling a local butcher:

“The Mishna says that whoever acts as if he is lame or blind will not die of old age until he becomes lame or blind. This can be understood positively, as follows:

“A person who pretends to be lame, meaning that he does not go to inappropriate places, or a person who pretends to be blind, not looking where a ruchniusdiker danger is involved, will not die until HaShem helps him become ‘lame’ or ‘blind,’ so that he will not even desire such things.”