Follow ChabadInfo & Never Miss an Update!

Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our WhatsApp status and broadcast Follow us on Tiktok Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on Google News Subscribe on YouTube

By Baila Brikman, Beis Moshiach

Do you ever dream while you sleep? Usually, our dreams don’t mean much—but a dream with the Rebbe? Those can be life-changing.

My name is Ziv Tamir. Let me tell you about the dream that changed my life forever.

Before I tell you all about it, do you know what a “mekubal” is? A mekubal is someone who learns the secrets of Kabbalah and is able to connect to spiritual things on a higher level than regular people.

Have you ever met someone like that? Well, my Zeidy, Harav Yaakov Yisrael Chaibi, was a known mekubal! He would learn Torah day and night and daven for many hours. People would come to him for brachos, and he performed miracles!

One time, my Zeidy went to the Ohel to daven by the Frierdiker Rebbe. When he came, he saw that the Rebbe was also there. Because my Zeidy was so in tune with kedusha, he was able to hear the conversation that was taking place between the Frierdiker Rebbe and the Rebbe!

The next time my Zeidy was at Kos Shel Brocha, he told the Rebbe that he had overheard their conversation at the Ohel. For the next five minutes, the Rebbe spoke quietly with my Zeidy. When they finished talking and the Rebbe continued giving out wine, Chassidim ran over to my Zeidy to find out what happened. To their great disappointment, his lips were sealed. He never told anyone what they had spoken about.

***

Now that you know about my incredible grandfather, it’s time for me to tell you my own story.

I was born in Miami Beach (Florida) and always attended Chabad schools. Although I was a proud Lubavitcher and loved the Rebbe, I didn’t always act the way I should. I trimmed my beard and watched movies that I shouldn’t have. I would daven, but I would rush through my tefillos and not go to a minyan.

On the outside, I looked like a regular frum guy, but on the inside, I was torn in different directions. I wanted to do the right thing, but I also wanted to relax and have fun.

There was one mitzva, though, that I held dear to my heart. On the day of my Bar Mitzva, I had promised my father that I would put on tefillin every day. Ever since then, I always made sure to keep that promise. I never missed a day!

Ten years ago, I was newly married and struggling to make a parnassa. On Simchas Torah night, when I went to shul for hakafos, the gabbai began selling the kibbudim of who would say which pesukim of Ata Horeisoh. When he got up to the kibbud of “Uforatzto,” the Rav announced that it was the most special kibbud.

I’m not sure why I did it, but I bought that kibbud for a lot of money! Soon after Yom Tov, I put the check in the shul’s mailbox. That night, I had a dream.

I stood in Beis Menachem, the shul I had bought the kibbud in. Immediately, a sense of awe fell upon me. There, leaning against the bimah, was the Rebbe! It was after Gimmel Tammuz, but the Rebbe was right there!

Shaken, I went over to get a bracha. “Do you want to be successful?” the Rebbe asked me.

“Yes, Rebbe,” I replied.

The Rebbe’s deep blue eyes looked straight into mine. “Then daven with a minyan every day.”

Daven with a minyan? I could do that, I thought. At least once a day…

“Three times a day,” the Rebbe said, as if reading my mind.

Three times a day? That would be a huge commitment! “Okay,” I said sincerely. “I will try.”

The Rebbe smiled. “Try to be successful!”

I awoke with a start, knowing that my life would never be the same. I would always daven with a minyan, no matter what.

Let’s just say that it wasn’t always easy. I didn’t travel anywhere unless I knew for sure that I would have a minyan. Once, when I was staying by relatives for Pesach, they thought I was nuts for paying hundreds of dollars more for a flight that would leave after shacharis! They didn’t understand what the big deal was. Why couldn’t I just get the cheaper tickets and daven at home? But a promise is a promise, and I never backed down.

Each day, I davened with a minyan. Each day, I davened for success.

From that day on, I felt like a different, more uplifted person. Until then, I had thought that the only way to have success was to have lots and lots of money. Once I started davening with a minyan every day, my perspective completely changed! I realized that there is so much more to life than just money, and that spiritual success is even more important than physical success.

Slowly, my commitment to the mitzva of davening with a minyan spilled into other areas of my life as well. I became a better husband and father. I decided to learn more Torah and to stop trimming my beard. One mitzva led to the next, and I slowly became a better person.

In addition to my spiritual success, my financial situation improved tremendously! I left my job and started selling expensive jewelry and watches together with my wife. Boruch Hashem, our business was a massive success! In a few short months, I went from being an underpaid worker to the owner of a big company! I was able to give a lot of tzedaka, and I even went to law school to become a lawyer.

I wanted to help others succeed as well, so I opened up a school to teach others how to earn a parnassa. We teach them many things, including that the real keys to success is trusting in Hashem and giving maaser! Boruch Hashem, after my students graduate, they have all the tools they need to open successful businesses.

I am 100% certain that all my success in life, both physically and spiritually, started from my promise to the Rebbe. Who would have known what an impact it would have?

***

A few years after my commitment to daven with a minyan, I decided to take on a hachlata that was very hard for me. A few days later, I was zoche to have another dream with the Rebbe!

I was sitting on a low bench next to the Rebbe, basking in the presence of the Shechina. The carpet beneath our feet was red, and the Rebbe was wearing a big yarmulka. The atmosphere felt incredibly holy. “This must be what Gan Eden feels like,” I thought to myself.

Together, we looked closely at a paper. “Pay attention to the Alef Beis,” the Rebbe told me.

At first, I didn’t understand what the Rebbe meant. A while later, someone told me what the Rebbe had told him: that looking at the images of the Alef Beis gives us incredible brachos! From then on, I was careful to look inside my siddur when I daven and bentch, and I’ve seen tremendous brachos as a result.

I feel so lucky that I had these amazing dreams. Having a dream with a Rebbe is an incredible zechus! Did I experience them because of my special grandfather? Maybe. But the truth is, these dreams only happened after I did something amazing myself! The first dream happened when I was extra careful with the mitzva of Tefillin and when I bought the kibbud on Simchas Torah. And the second dream happened after I took upon myself a big hachlata!

I am certain that I had these dreams with the Rebbe because of the special things that I did. When you take a step in the right direction and commit to doing even just one more mitzva.

*

The magazine can be obtained in stores around Crown Heights. To purchase a subscription, please go to: bmoshiach.org

386