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Menachem Ziegelbaum, Beis Moshiach

News of the sudden passing of Rabbi Yaakov Tzvi Holtzman a’h this past August, was shocking. Although he was 87, he was healthy and went on mivtzaim in his final days, as he did for many years. On the day of his passing, he was visiting his son and was on a farm giving a hechsher to milk when a truck hit him, the driver not seeing him, and he passed away.

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R’ Holtzman was a unique character, a Chassid with the sweet flavor of yesteryear. While being full of Torah and Chassidus, he was a Chassid with all his heart and soul, mekushar to the Rebbe. He continued to go on mivtzaim long after he turned eighty.

Sometimes, when I spoke with him, topics came up from Chabad history of the seventh generation. He was one of the few people left in recent years who had seen the Rebbe Rayatz and attended the “coronation farbrengen” of the Rebbe MH”M.

He was not a man of many words but was accurate with the facts. He thought before he responded and when he responded it was worth listening to closely.

I often sat with him in friendly conversation thanks to our family connection, but these were never systematic conversations of his memories, the likes of which any Chassid would envy. I’m not talking about an interview which I could only dream of. He even said no to an “orderly conversation.” He simply did not understand what for.

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Our family connection began on a summer evening in Elul 5745 when my older sister became engaged to R’ Yosef Yitzchok Holtzman, the Holtzman family’s oldest son, today the rabbi at SUNY Downstate Medical Center and director of the Yad v’Ezer chessed organization in Crown Heights. The l’chaim took place in our home in Petach Tikva. On the table were mashke, cake, glass bottles of Tempo soda, along with lots of excitement.

The excitement reached a peak when my future brother-in-law wanted to call the Rebbetzin and tell her about the shidduch. My father a’h agreed of course (although it cost six to seven shekels per minute to call America in those days) and my brother-in-law made the call, like someone calling his grandmother, and told her the good news. She was happy for him and blessed him and even asked to speak with the kalla.

It was a short conversation in which the Rebbetzin wished her mazal tov and my sister nearly swallowed her tongue in excitement. That did not stop the Rebbetzin from declaring afterward that “We had a very pleasant conversation.” The Rebbetzin even revealed that, earlier that day, before the Rebbe left the house holding envelopes with letters, he told her that he had received a request for a bracha for a shidduch for Yosef Yitzchok Holtzman. He wished the Rebbetzin, “May you have nachas ruach from him.”

After that, the family connection led us to meet on numerous occasions, but R’ Yaakov Tzvi Holtzman was never willing to talk about “Beis Rebbi.’ He did not see the point and claimed he had nothing to say.

About three and a half years ago, we both ended up staying in the same lodgings for the wedding of his grandson–my nephew, Shneur Zalman. The few days spent together softened him up a bit, and I took the opportunity to sit with him for a rare conversation.

That was the first time he was willing to reveal a few inches of the years of close connection that he had merited.

FIRST ACQUAINTANCE WITH RAMASH

R’ Holtzman was born on Thursday, 16 Shevat 5694 (1934), in Paris. His father was Rabbi Yitzchok Manes Holtzman. During the Holocaust, he was in occupied Paris.

He first met the Rebbe about two years after the end of the war when he was a young boy in Paris in 1947. The Rebbe made a special trip to Paris to welcome his mother, Rebbetzin Chana, after she was miraculously able to leave Soviet Russia. At that time, the future Rebbe spent a few months in Paris where he helped arrange his mother’s papers. The Rebbe, under instruction of his father-in-law, also visited the Chabad mosdos in Paris and surrounding towns. He visited the youth home/school that was founded by Rabbi Shneur Zalman Schneerson and run by Rabbi Aharon Mordechai Zilberstrom.

Yaakov Tzvi Holtzman was one of the talmidim who merited to see the future Rebbe at that time.

“The Rebbe asked me some questions on the Gemara in the chapter of ‘Ha’Socher es ha’Umnin’ in Bava Metzia. I was surprised that he did not have a Gemara open in front of him. He asked by heart. Boruch Hashem, I knew the answers. He asked a few more questions and most of the students answered correctly. One could see that the Rebbe was very pleased by the level of learning.

“When he returned to America he sent us gifts, sefarim that had been published by Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch.”

The young Holtzman asked the Rebbe for a student visa to the United States so he could learn near the Rebbe Rayatz. The Rebbe acceded but made it conditional on his receiving permission from his mother who had been widowed in the war.

“The Rebbe spoke with my mother, Mrs. Shaindel Toiba Holtzman, and she agreed but requested that the Rebbe maintain a connection with me in distant America.

“When I think of this today, I know that it was courageous and great of my mother to allow me to go,” recalled R’ Holtzman. “Just a few years earlier she lost her husband and three daughters in the war. She remained with two sons, my brother and me. Despite this, she agreed to send me to learn in yeshiva in America and only my brother remained with her.”

Why didn’t you go to learn in Eretz Yisrael?

“First, a war was going on there at the time, the War of Independence. Second, since we had some familiarity with Chabad because of my studies by Rabbi Schneerson in Paris, it was appropriate to continue with the group that I was familiar with. Third, because the central yeshiva in New York had a dormitory which hardly any other yeshiva had. This is why there were many other boys from various Chassidic groups in my class; it was because they could live in the dormitory.”

The Rebbe did not forget his promise and about a year later, in 5708, Rashag a’h came to visit the mosdos in Paris, on behalf of the Rebbe Rayatz, and he brought the hoped-for certificate with him.

By the way, R’ Holtzman missed out on the rare opportunity for the Rebbe to attend his bar mitzva celebration which took place two weeks before the Rebbe came, in that large room in R’ Scheerson’s house where the Rebbe farbrenged and ate with the Chassidim when he stayed in Paris.

THE CORONATION FARBRENGEN

R’ Holtzman came to America in 5709 and had yechidus with the Rebbe Rayatz three times although he was still a bachur.

Said his son, R’ Yosef Yitzchok, who joined the conversation, “My father never told us about those yechiduyos.” R’ Holtzman chose, once again, not to oblige and instead described how the Rebbe Rayatz looked.

“His face was like that of an angel, something special. I think that his pictures do not truly convey his unique appearance. Perhaps the last photo of him …

“I remember that once, a certain Admor from Eretz Yisrael came to Williamsburg and some of us bachurim from yeshiva walked to see him on Shabbos afternoon. We were at his tish and took the opportunity to join the tish of a few other Admorim who lived in the area. None of them had the hadras panim (luminous countenance) of the Rebbe Rayatz.”

R’ Holtzman learned in the branch of the yeshiva on Bedford. The following year, he hardly encountered the Rebbe MH”M. “I was in yeshiva and we hardly ever went to 770 and the Rebbe did not come to the yeshiva.”

He remembered Shabbos parshas Bo 5710 when he thought of going to 770 with his friends.

“We knew that the Rebbe Rayatz would get maftir because of the yahrtzeit for his mother that fell that week. We hoped we would be able to join the minyan but then we heard that he had passed away.”

Do you remember the funeral?

“Of course.”

What do you remember?

“A lot of crying. It’s unbelievable how much they cried. The suddenness of his passing broke many people. At first, they carried the coffin on Eastern Parkway until Rogers Avenue. Then they put it in a car. I went to the cemetery in someone’s car.”

R’ Holtzman also remembered the farbrengen when the Rebbe accepted the nesius on 10 Shevat 5711 but he declined to elaborate.

“It’s all written already,” he said dismissively.

When I pressed him, he only agreed to say, “Every time I remember that moment when the Rebbe began the maamar, I shiver. Before that, we had never heard him say a maamar Chassidus and when he began with the words, ‘The Rebbe, the shver, wrote in the maamar ‘Basi L’Gani’’ – there was no end to our excitement.”

When was your first yechidus with the Rebbe MH”M?

“Four days after he accepted the nesius, in honor of my birthday which was on 16 Shevat.”

FOR SIX YEARS I VISITED THE REBBETZIN EVERY DAY

A turning point in his life was when, one day in 5714, his friend with whom he had learned in yeshiva, Berel Junik, who served as an aide to the Rebbe and his family, asked for his help.

“‘The Rebbetzin went to Europe for three weeks,’ he whispered to me. ‘Someone needs to bring a cooked meal to the Rebbe every day.’ R’ Berel was already working and could not do this every day and he asked for my help.”

The Rebbetzin had secretly gone to Switzerland and the Rebbe went with her to the airport. The Rebbe even went on to a special porch from where he could watch the plane take off.

“I would go to Mrs. Dubinsky who lived at 763 Eastern Parkway. She bought new pots for the Rebbe and cooked especially for him. I would take the food from her and bring it to the Rebbe.”

You would bring the food to “gan eden ha’tachton” (the hallway outside the Rebbe’s room)?

“Whatever for?! I would bring it to the Rebbe’s room, put out a tablecloth, arrange the silverware and prepare the food on the table. After the meal, the Rebbe would call on the internal line that I could come and remove things, which is what I did.

“The Rebbe would wash every day except for Friday when I would bring him mezonos.

“When the Rebbetzin returned, I began getting more involved. I would bring things to the Rebbe from the house to 770 and from 770 to his house. I would also go up to the Rebbe Rayatz’s apartment on the second floor of 770.”

When R’ Berel Junik married, R’ Yaakov Tzvi was asked to replace him in helping around the house. That is when a special relationship ensued between R’ Yaakov Tzvi and Beis Rebbi, a bond that lasted for decades afterward and was a sort of family connection as can be seen from what follows.

“Every night, after the sedarim in yeshiva, I would go to the house and sit and talk with the Rebbetzin about this and that. The Rebbetzin would wait for the Rebbe to come and I would help her pass the time so she wouldn’t be alone.”

R’ Holtzman said that he felt like a member of the Rebbe’s household.

“Not toward the Rebbe, because then there was fear, obviously, but when the Rebbe wasn’t home, I walked around the house freely and helped with whatever I could.

“Once, the Rebbetzin told me that when they bought the house they bought it furnished. Everything was second-hand except for the bedroom set which they bought new. Over the years, the furniture was slowly changed, when it was possible.

“Another time, she told me that her father, the Rebbe Rayatz, told her, ‘When you look for a house, look for a house that looks simple, like all other houses.’ Indeed, when you see the Rebbe’s house you see an ordinary house like the other houses on the street. There is nothing special about it.”

His visits to Beis Rebbi began when the Rebbe still lived in his previous home at 346 New York Avenue on the top floor at the corner of New York and President. The house on President Street was bought in 5715.

You went there on Shabbosos too?

“No.”

Were there times you were in the house and the Rebbe suddenly appeared?

“Many times.”

What did you do then?

“Go back to yeshiva.

“For six years I would go to the Rebbe and Rebbetzin’s house every day except for Tuesday when the Rebbetzin went to her mother, the old Rebbetzin, and would be there until after ten at night.”

Why did the Rebbetzin love you and draw you close?

“I think it’s because I was a bachur alone in New York, with my mother in France. She was like a mother to me.

“For four years I ate with the Rebbe on Yomim Tovim, with the meals taking place in the Rebbe Rayatz’s apartment. I was the waiter, bringing plates in from the kitchen to all those seated at the table.

“I noticed that the Rebbe never began eating until all the portions were served, including mine. Although I was a young bachur, the Rebbe waited even for me. He also never finished while others were still eating. He knew that when he stopped eating, nobody else would continue. He would look around to make sure they had all finished and only then finished eating.”

THE REBBETZIN WAS LIKE A MOTHER

After six years, in 5720, a shidduch was suggested, Tzipporah Perlman, the granddaughter of the mashpia, R’ Shilem Kuratin. She was an orphan after her mother perished in a fire and she lived in Haifa with the family of Rabbi Chein who provided for her. The shadchan was R’ Pinye Altheus.

When R’ Holtzman traveled to Eretz Yisrael to meet her, he had only one suit. The Rebbetzin told him, “You’re going to meet a girl. You can’t wear the same suit each time you see her.” She went to the closet and took out a suit and gave it to him. It was a suit that the Rebbe wore before he became Rebbe.

The shidduch worked out and they married in 5720. That’s when the “family connection” with the Rebbe and Rebbetzin expanded to include Mrs. Holtzman and then their children.

“The Rebbetzin gave us a set of sterling silverware. The Rebbetzin gave gifts for every family simcha just like a grandmother.”

When their oldest child, Yosef Yitzchok, was born, the Rebbetzin bought him a baby carriage, a crib and mattress and lots of baby clothes, just as a grandmother would do.

R’ Holtzman had a story from 5722 or 5723:

“We once went to visit Rebbetzin Chana who lived at 1418 President Street. Yosef Yitzchok was a baby at the time. The door suddenly opened and the Rebbe came in. The Rebbetzin went to greet him and said, ‘Mendel, we have guests.’ The Rebbe did not say anything. He turned around and left, but on his way out he stopped near the carriage in the foyer, looked intently at Yosef Yitzchok who was mischievous and said, ‘He has a lot of chayus.’”

When children were born to the Holtzmans, the Rebbetzin took an interest in their growth. As the boys got older, they went to learn in New York and then, these “grandchildren” also visited the Rebbetzin regularly until her passing in Teves 5748.

“FOR ALL OF BELGIUM”

In 5727, seven years after they married, the Holtzmans moved to Antwerp.

“I had yechidus and told the Rebbe that I want to go to Paris. The Rebbe said, ‘Why not Antwerp?’ I was quite surprised. I had no connection with Antwerp or Belgium at all. I had no relatives or acquaintances there.

“The Rebbe then said, ‘You will be occupied with the men and your wife with the women.’”

The Holtzmans moved to Antwerp in Cheshvan 5727 with three little children and a lot of luggage. At that time, Antwerp had only four Lubavitcher Chassidim who davened in Chassidishe shuls around the city.

“There wasn’t even a Chabad minyan. We looked for a sixth and seventh for a minyan.”

R’ Holtzman started the first Chabad minyan and called it “Beis HaKnesses Anshei Lubavitch.” Over the years, he opened a Chabad camp, a store that sold Chabad sefarim, etc.

In the following years, the Holtzmans hardly ever went to the United States because of the tremendous work they had to do in Antwerp. They made a few visits to New York when, of course, they visited the Rebbetzin.

At the end of 5738, after the Rebbe said to print the Tanya everywhere it hadn’t been printed yet, R’ Holtzman arranged the first printing of the Tanya in Antwerp. In 5744, after the Rebbe said that the Tanya should be printed not only in every country but also in every city and town where Jews live, R’ Holtzman traveled from place to place with a truck and printed dozens of Tanyas.

When he passed by the Rebbe for dollars in 5751, the Rebbe gave him an extra dollar and said, “This is for all of Belgium.”

In Shevat 5752, he opened a Chabad shul called “Beis Menachem Antwerp” where there are minyanim and farbrengens every Shabbos.

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Some time after the passing of his wife in Tishrei 5767, he moved to Crown Heights where, alongside his children and grandchildren, he continued living a full life which included work, mivtzaim, attending shiurim and farbrengens. As mentioned, he worked full-time until his final moments.

He passed away on 4 Elul 5781 and his funeral passed by 770 and the Rebbe’s home on President Street. He was buried on Har Ha’zeisim in Yerushalayim. He is survived by his sons: Yosef Yitzchok, Uri – Beitar Ilit, Noach – Crown Heights, Meshulam – Buffalo, and daughter Fruma, wife of Rabbi Shmuel Krauss, secretary of the Crown Heights Beis Din. ■

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