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By Menachem Ziegelbaum, Beis Moshiach Magazine

Click Here For Part One

SECRET MISSIONS

Time and again, the Rebbe put his full trust in him, even for the most secret and personal matters.

“Every motozei Shabbos, I was with the Rebbe and Rebbetzin for havdala and the Rebbe would be motzi me. After the Rebbetzin passed away, I was alone with the Rebbe for havdala in his room in 770. After havdala, the Rebbe would convey, through me, very secret things to his faithful secretary, Rabbi Chodakov, as well as to other people. The Rebbe even told me to deliver messages directly to some people.

“I remember that several times when he had me convey messages, he told me to do so without arousing other people’s attention.”

Over the years, R’ Gansburg maintained utter silence and said nothing about what happened at the Rebbe and Rebbetzin’s house. A shrug of his shoulders was his typical response when he was asked for details. He would keep quiet even about things which were public knowledge.

This might be one of the reasons that the Rebbe and Rebbetzin relied on him fully, because they knew that nothing from their home would get out.

One of the Chassidim, R’ Leibel Zajac, would occasionally visit the Rebbetzin. He would even speak of personal matters except for the times that she stopped him by saying, “There are people in the house so it’s not worthwhile to speak of that now.”

One time, As R’ Leibel spoke to the Rebbetzin, R’ Gansburg came down the back stairs which were located opposite the big dining room. Since he didn’t want to disturb them, he closed the door between the stairs and the dining room.

R’ Gansburg with his friend, Rabbi Mordechai Shmuel Ashkenazi, rav of Kfar Chabad, in front of 770.

“When I heard the door close,” said R’ Leibel, “I said to the Rebbetzin that someone was in the house. Her response was, ‘That’s Sholom. You can speak. Sholom isn’t in the house.’”

R’ Gansburg:

“Once, I noticed that something wasn’t right with the Rebbetzin’s hand. At first, she dismissed my concerns but after I asked her several times she admitted that it hurt her and she said, ‘Sholom, I can see that nothing can be hidden from you so I’ll tell you, but don’t tell my husband because I don’t want to disturb him.’

“At the time, the Rebbe was farbrenging in 770. I thought, since I promised, I won’t tell the Rebbe, but I’ll tell someone else because I needed to look out for the Rebbetzin. Since Rabbi Shneur Zalman Gurary was in touch with top doctors, I told him and that’s how the Rebbe found out.

“When the Rebbe came home, as he went up the inside back steps, he  said to me, ‘You hide things from me too?’

“I said, ‘The Rebbe knows…’ but since I felt that the Rebbe wanted to hear from me directly, I added, ‘If I would tell, then they wouldn’t tell me either.’

“The Rebbe smiled and said, ‘And if you don’t tell me, you think they will tell you everything?’”

I DIDN’T DARE TELL THE REBBE…

The night of 22 Shevat 5748, the Rebbetzin didn’t feel well. The doctors who were called to the house said she had to go to the hospital.

“Before she left, the Rebbe called me to his room on the second floor and said, ‘Go with the Rebbetzin and call me every fifteen minutes. I’ll pick up the phone and speak to you. Don’t be afraid; report to me whatever is happening.’

“In general, the Rebbe did not pick up the phone when it rang in the house, even after the passing of the Rebbetzin, unless he was waiting for a particular call, as in this case.

“I was frightened and said it was a heavy responsibility for me since I knew nothing about medicine and maybe R’ Zalman Gurary would be better suited. The Rebbe became very serious and said, ‘I told you to call me every fifteen minutes and if you don’t understand something, you can ask me.’

“When I started to leave the room, the Rebbe said, ‘They will try to send you back by saying that you left me alone. Tell them that I’m past bar mitzva.’

“I called every fifteen minutes and updated the Rebbe. Before the Rebbetzin passed away, she said to me, ‘Sholom, I am very thirsty. I want a bit of water.’

“I went to Mrs. Esther Sternberg who immediately got water. When I brought the water to the Rebbetzin, she said ‘shehakol’ and drank a little bit. She breathed heavily and said, ‘Oy Sholom, the Eibershter should give you life, as you enlivened me now.’ A minute later, she passed away.

“From what the Rebbe said to me before the Rebbetzin went to the hospital, I felt that the Rebbe was preparing for something. Likewise, the Rebbe’s expression as he stood on the porch when the Rebbetzin left the house for the last time was extraordinary and I had never seen the Rebbe that way.

“When I returned from the hospital, I was with my brother Mendel and Dr. Feldman near the Rebbe’s house. Dr. Feldman was the one who officially informed the Rebbe about the terrible news since I couldn’t do it.

“Afterward, the Rebbe asked to speak to me. I went to the phone as I held the Rebbetzin’s clothes, her coat, and the handbag she would take with her. The Rebbe instructed that nobody should enter the house before the Rebbetzin arrived. I thought this meant me too, and I asked where to put the Rebbetzin’s things. After a pause, the Rebbe said, ‘What do you mean? You can come in.’

R’ Gansburg at a farbrengen with Rabbi Leibel Groner.

[One of the other mashbakim tried to go in and, amazingly, all his attempts to open the door with the house keys failed. Even when he tried to open the back door, the same thing happened.]

“After I entered the house, the Rebbe indicated to me to clear out the first floor so that when they came to daven there, it would be cleared of the Rebbe and Rebbetzin’s belongings. I cleared away all the things that were there but wasn’t sure about some of the things and I thought maybe the Rebbe wanted them to be in a certain spot. When I asked the Rebbe, he told me to leave them as I saw fit.

“On motzoei Shabbos, about a month after the end of shiva, after havdala, the Rebbe suddenly said to me, ‘We arranged something…’

“I realized that he meant I hadn’t been the one to call him to tell him of the Rebbetzin’s passing, in calling him every fifteen minutes. I remained silent. After a pause, the Rebbe blessed me, ‘May you always tell me good news.’ From this I understood that this indeed was what he was referring to at the beginning of the conversation.

“After that, every motzoei Shabbos, between 22 Shevat 5748 and 27 Adar I 5752, I noticed that the Rebbe waited for me to say something. I had no idea what to say and until today I don’t know exactly what the Rebbe wanted. However, my heart tells me that the Rebbe waited for me to describe the Rebbetzin’s passing since I had never told the Rebbe.

“After the Rebbetzin’s passing, the Rebbe said I should change the locks on all the doors of the house and the lock on the door to his office in 770. He also said the keys to the new locks should only be in his and my possession (the copy of the keys that I gave to the Rebbe were in his pocket). The Rebbe also said there should always be a copy of these keys on me, in addition to the keys that would always be in my pocket, ‘So you don’t get locked out.’”

A NEW ERA

“After the passing of the Rebbetzin, the Rebbe called me to his room on the second floor and said, ‘Until now, you worked for the Rebbetzin. From now on, if you want, work for me.’ The Rebbe made some conditions:

“1-That I wouldn’t accept any message in his name if I didn’t hear it from him directly.

2- ‘That you won’t have dealings with anybody.’

3- ‘If you need money, take from the house’ – and the Rebbe showed me where the money was.

“The Rebbe also made a number of conditions with me that had to do with my personal matters.

“For more than a year after the passing of the Rebbetzin, the Rebbe lived in his house. After he finished Maariv, the secretaries would go home and I would remain alone with the Rebbe in the house.

“At the beginning of the night, I filled negel vasser for the Rebbe from the faucet on the first floor since that was the only faucet not near the bathroom. Despite this, afterward I saw, when I was sitting in the hallway, that the Rebbe came down to the first floor and refilled the cup.

“I realized that this was because the Rebbe used the water a few times a night and from then on, I filled more than one cup. Also, I would check in the Rebbe’s bedroom to see if there was water in the cup. If I saw it was empty, I would fill it.

“At night, the Rebbe would occasionally leave the bedroom for another room and when he left the bedroom door open, it was to signal that I had permission to enter if I needed to.

“I noticed that after the Rebbe washed his hands, he did not put the cup into the bowl with the water he had poured.”

I WAS BORN ON FRIDAY

It was only in later years that R’ Gansburg agreed to tell stories from the Rebbe’s house, stories which shed light on his special role and the Rebbe’s holy conduct in his home, instructions that he received from the Rebbe and Rebbetzin and the special regard they had for him.

There were many stories that he told; here is one of them:

“Once, before 27 Adar I 5752, I was with the Rebbe, as part of my work, in his room. Suddenly, the Rebbe began to talk as he paced the room.

“‘I was born on Friday and when one is born on Friday they’re late for everything, and I’m always late for everything and never manage to fulfill my goals.’ The Rebbe said many other things but I don’t remember it all.

“After some time, I got up my courage and asked, ‘How can the Rebbe say that? There is nobody in the world that has accomplished like the Rebbe. The Rebbe transformed the world so that it is unrecognizable. All the baalei teshuva made, thanks to the Rebbe; the Rebbe literally encompasses the world.’

“When I mentioned baalei teshuva, the Rebbe said, ‘Nu, gutt,’ and he seemed pleased.”

SIDEBAR

MOSHIACH IS COMING…

The Rebbe once asked me about a personal matter of mine and urged me to take a certain step in resolving the matter.

Since this was at a time that the Rebbe was speaking a lot about the coming of Moshiach and the imminent Geula, I asked, “Moshiach is about to come, so why should I involve myself in this?”

The Rebbe’s response was, “My father-inlaw, the Rebbe Rayatz made a shturem about ‘l’alter l’teshuva – l’alter l’Geula,’ and despite that he instructed to build more institutions and more institutions.”

YOU CAN’T FIX ONE AVEIRA WITH ANOTHER

One Sukkos, during the years when the Rebbe and Rebbetzin spent Shabbosos and Yomim Tovim in their apartment in the library building, the Rebbetzin instructed me to close the cover over the sukka of the apartment, since it was cloudy and if it would rain the sukka would get wet.

I told her that I was concerned that I might forget to open it later, before the Rebbe would enter the sukka. The Rebbetzin answered that she would remind me to open it. Still, her words did not reassure me and I expressed my discomfort over the fact that I was likely to forget. The Rebbetzin insisted, “I will remind you,” and so I did as she instructed.

Despite everything, what I feared came to pass; and only after the Rebbe arrived in the sukka for the night meal, I remembered that I had not opened the covering. I immediately went and opened it before the Rebbe began the meal, but I was upset that I had caused a delay.

On one of the days of Yom Tov, the Rebbe approached me and whispered into my ear, “It’s not possible to rectify one aveira [the delay] through another aveira [being upset].”

(Some of the stories in this article were told in Bakodesh Penima by R’ Yosef Ashkenazi.) 

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