People were undoubtedly awestruck by such incredible mesiras nefesh. At the same time, however, some wondered how the Rebbe was permitted to place himself in what seemed to be a clear situation of pikuach nefesh.

When asked, "How can the Rebbe immerse in a freezing river? Aren't you afraid of falling ill?" the Rebbe would reply, "Just the opposite! The river saved me!"

It was clear that the Rebbe believed with absolute certainty that as long as he was engaged in his holy avodah, he was being protected from Shamayim.

Operating on a completely different spiritual plane, the Rebbe was able to do things others could not. He rarely asked anyone else to emulate these actions; this was his own personal avodah, and he kept it that way.

When people would occasionally question how he could plunge into the frigid Russian waters, the Rebbe would quote the Baal Shem Tov Hakadosh: "The holy Baal Shem promised that a person will never be harmed by a tevilah."

"But the Rebbe immerses multiple times," observers would point out, "sometimes even hundreds of times!"

"Every single tevilah," the Rebbe explained, "is a tevilah in its own right."

"What does that mean?"

"Because I have a distinct kavanah for every single immersion," he replied. "Each one is an entirely separate avodah."

There is no doubt that the Rebbe was fully versed in the halachos of pikuach nefesh, yet he acted with clear purpose. His avodas Hashem was simply lemalah miderech hateva. Unbound by the limitations of ordinary life, the Rebbe allowed his neshamah to soar to the highest spiritual realms.

And just as the Rebbe was moser nefesh to live on a plane above teva, the Eibershter repaid him midah keneged midah.