A chassidishe shochet in Nikolayev (today Mykolaiv in Ukraine), Reb Asher Grossman was a devoted chossid of both the Rebbe Maharash and the Rebbe Rashab, and was one of the yungeleit who were guided by Reb Hillel Paritcher.

Reb Asher was also a talented ba’al menagen, and he helped the Rebbe Rashab with community work.

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At a chassidishe chassuna, R. Asher once heard a special niggun, and being musically gifted, he remembered the niggun to the note.

The next time R. Asher came to Lubavitch, he sang it for the Rebbe Rashab, who much appreciated the niggun. The Rebbe Rashab said: “This is a niggun with which one can daven well; it can clean out the ‘vessel’ wonderfully and open the heart”.

This niggun became known as “R. Asher Nikolayever’s Niggun.”

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In the year 5660 (1900), R. Asher was chosen by the Rebbe Rashab to reprint the Tanya in a clear typeset, known to us as “The Vilna Edition”, which is still in use today. The Rebbe Rashab asked R. Asher to verify and compare the text of the Tanya with many kisvei yad (handwritten copies of the Tanya), a work that the Rebbe Rashab recounts and praises in the introduction to the new edition.

The Rebbe related that the Frierdiker Rebbe told him that R. Asher’s work is trustworthy.

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The Rebbe once related:

Reb Yitzchak Yoel Refolovitch, the rov of Kremenchuk, once turned to Reb Asher during a farbrengen and exclaimed, “Asher! If I had your beard, I would get paid double…”

Reb Asher had a great ‘Hadras Ponim’ with a long beard, whereas Reb Yitzchak Yoel had a very short one. Reb Yitzchak Yoel was expressing the irony that the townspeople were he was did not have much appreciation for Torah knowledge, and what was important for them was the external appearance.

Reb Asher replied, “If I had a head like yours, and it was not immersed in galoshes (Reb Yitzchak Yoel had a galoshes business to subsidize his rabbonus), my understanding of Chassidus would be entirely different…”

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R. Asher was once sitting and learning the Hemshech Samech Vov with great enthusiasm when in came two distinguished Chassidim and began excitedly telling him a miracle story of the Rebbe Rashab. R. Asher responded to the disturbance by saying, “Go away with your miracles! You make it seem that without the Rebbe performing miracles, he wouldn’t be a Rebbe…”

(R. Asher was trying to express his feeling that a Rebbe is primarily here to help us with serving Hashem; help that we can tap into by learning the Rebbe’s Torah, which is what he was busy with when they interrupted with a miracle story.)

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The Rebbe’s grandfather, Reb Meir Shlomo Yanovsky, was the Rav of Nikolayev. Once, there was a typhus epidemic, and Reb Meir Shlomo fell ill. At that time, there was no known cure for the illness. All the victims were quarantined in a building outside the city to avoid spreading the disease, and they were treated by a doctor who visited daily. Very few people returned from the building alive.

When Reb Asher found out that Reb Meir Shlomo was quarantined, he came to visit him. He was not allowed to go into the building, so he stood outside, as close to Reb Meir Shlomo’s room as possible. He started to read aloud from Tanya, Igeres Hakodesh, “Lehaskilach Bina.” In that Igeres, the Alter Rebbe explains that nothing bad comes from Hashem, and if a person is imbued with this awareness, he will merit to see open good.

Reb Asher did not even know if Reb Meir Shlomo heard him or not; he just hoped. He returned every day and read the section of Tanya again.

After a few weeks, Reb Meir Shlomo was discharged from quarantine, having made a full recovery. When he saw Reb Asher, he called to him excitedly, “You saved my life! The reading of those holy words gave me the strength to overcome all the pain and depression, and I was able to overcome the illness!”