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By Beis Moshiach Magazine 

Enthralling stories told by elder Chassidim at a farbrengen in 770 one Tes Adar decades ago, the day the Rebbe Rayatz arrived in America in 1940, and the wellsprings started to spread out from the lower hemisphere (see HaYom Yom 9 Adar II).

Participants: Rabbi Mordechai Altein A”H, a long-serving Rav who was instrumental in the establishment of yeshivahs in America; Rabbi Yisroel Gordon A”H, A longtime Shliach in Massachusetts; Rabbi Yosef Dov Krinsky A”H of Crown Heights; Rabbi Mordechai Sharfstein A”H of Crown Heights and Yevachalta Rabbi Yehuda Leib Posner Sheyichye of Crown Heights

L’CHAIM ON SODA

R’ Posner: L’chaim, l’chaim! I see that I’m getting looks for saying l’chaim over soda, but to me, it’s a reminder of a story with the Rebbe Rayatz. In the early days of the founding of yeshivas Tomchei T’mimim in 770, the Rebbe Rayatz would send instructions to our maggid shiur, R’ Zalman Gurary a”h, which also dealt with trivial things like how to dress properly.

One time, the Rebbe told him that when he farbrenged with talmidim, the farbrengen had to be without mashke but just tea or lemonade and Hashem would help that this would have an effect like mashke.

So l’chaim, l’chaim! It’s on soda but at least we can say l’chaim.

PHONE CALLS TO WASHINGTON THE NIGHT OF SHEMINI ATZERES

Here we are, some graduates from the yeshiva. When I first came to yeshiva, they were already the older bachurim, and now we are meeting again, Baruch Hashem.

When the Rebbe arrived on 9 Adar 5700/1940 I was not in New York. At that time, we lived in Chicago and I was eleven years old. My older brother Zalman, who was already past his bar mitzva, was sent to New York in order to learn in yeshiva and he was one of the people who welcomed the Rebbe. I did not go to New York until Sukkos 5701.

One of the memories etched deep in my mind are the events of Shmini Atzeres 1940 in Chicago. At that time, the Chassidim were under terrible stress. The Rebbe and his entourage were in Warsaw which was being bombarded, and they were in great danger.

The night of Shmini Atzeres, after Maariv, one of the Chassidim involved in rescue work came to our house and spoke with some askanim so that they would try to exert their influence in Washington in order to rescue the Rebbe Rayatz.

The Rebbe Rayatz’s situation was so bad that Chassidim did not want to lose even a second’s time. Every moment could make a difference. One of the askanim, a Chassid by the name of Shlomo, sat in our house and made a phone call to New York or Washington, and did what he could to get things moving.

Even we, the talmidim, understood that if a Chassidic Jew was making a phone call on Yom Tov, it was because of dangelife, but it was a bizarre sight. A Chassidic Jew, on the night of Yom Tov, talking on the phone … That night the Chassidim made dozens of phone calls in the attempt to rescue the Rebbe Rayatz.

In the end, as we all know, they were successful and the Rebbe arrived here on 9 Adar.

“MY SPIRITUAL CHILDREN”

When we arrived for my first yechidus on Sukkos 5701, Rabbi Simpson escorted my brother Zalman and I in to the Rebbe’s room. R’ Simpson told the Rebbe that we were Sholom Posner’s children and the Rebbe blessed us.

During that year, the Rebbe decided to open a yeshiva for lower grades. We were learning in Torah Vodaas at the time and every so often we’d hop over to 770.

We were supposed to go home for Pesach but since I was going to celebrate my bar mitzva on 11 Nissan that year, I asked for yechidus with my brother before we left for Chicago.

In those days, yechidus took place three times a week, Sunday night, Tuesday night, and Thursday night. Since we had to leave by bus on Sunday afternoon, our yechidus appointment was for Thursday night. Rabbi Simpson called us at ten o’clock and said it was late and the Rebbe was tired and we would go in at the next earliest opportunity.

We told him that we had to leave on Sunday afternoon and we wouldn’t be able to have yechidus on Sunday night. He said that in that case, we should have yechidus on Motzaei Shabbos.

It was Motzaei Shabbos and Rabbi Simpson, who lived in Boro Park, had still not arrived. It was late so we called him and said that since he hadn’t yet come and he had promised us a yechidus, what were we supposed to do? He said to go to R’ Shmuel Levitin.

We told R’ Shmuel Levitin the situation and he said to go to Chaim (Chaim Lieberman, the Rebbe’s secretary).

We went to his office and knocked at the door and told him the situation. He said, “Go down and go in.” We looked at him in shock but he said, “Nu, nu, go in.”

Before we went in, I told my brother that he should knock at the door. He knocked and opened the door a bit. The Rebbe was sitting at his desk and he looked at us as we entered. I noticed that when he saw us, he smiled. Our fear dissipated a little.

We walked in and stood near his desk. The first thing the Rebbe asked was, were we returning by bus.

We looked at him … perhaps we hadn’t heard what the Rebbe had said. It was very hard to understand him since the Rebbe spoke very unclearly at that time.

The Rebbe repeated his question and we answered affirmatively. The Rebbe asked whether we would daven on the bus and we answered affirmatively once again. “With t’fillin too?” he asked. When we said yes, he said, “good.”

Then the Rebbe said: Everything has to be according to the place and time and according to the place and time, I am satisfied with you. But your father, who was in Lubavitch, that was completely different. You have to know that when your father was in Lubavitch it was completely different. Still, from you, more is demanded than of “kinder from the street.”

(When we repeated this to R’ Shmuel, he corrected us, using the Yiddish word for “street,” but we told him that the Rebbe had used the English word, “street.”)

“You are my children,” said the Rebbe. “To your parents, you are fleishigdike kinder (children of the flesh), but to me, you are spiritual children.”

Then we spoke about the upcoming bar mitzva and the Rebbe wished us a good trip.

IF THE DESIRE IS PNIMI

The way it is today is that when a boy becomes bar mitzva, he starts putting on two pairs of t’fillin. Back then, we didn’t put on Rabbeinu Tam t’fillin until the age of 18-19, and before doing so we asked the Rebbe for permission.

Half a year before I turned 19, I asked the Rebbe Rayatz whether I could start wearing Rabbeinu Tam t’fillin. On 4 Kislev 5707 I received the following answer that I will read from the original letter that I have with me:

“In response to your question regarding putting on Rabbeinu Tam t’fillin, if the desire is p’nimi – then it is a proper thing to do. A Rabbeinu Tam bachur must have a devotion and dedication to diligence in the study of Nigleh and work on correcting middos, and Hashem will help you materially and spiritually.”

WHAT IS PUBLIC MOURNING ON SHABBOS

R’ Mordechai Altein: The passing of the Rebbe Rayatz was on Shabbos, 10 Shvat. The Shabbos before that, 3 Shvat, my father-in-law, Rabbi Yisroel Jacobson, sat Shiva for his mother who passed away on Rosh Chodesh Shvat. Since his father had passed away on 3 Shvat 5708, there was a big question about whether he needed to daven before the amud. On the one hand, he was in the middle of Shiva and public mourning is forbidden on Shabbos. On the other hand, it was his father’s yahrtzait.

My father-in-law asked me to ask the Rebbe who was called “the son-in-law” at the time. I spoke to the Rebbe and asked the question. The Rebbe told me that since all the people in the minyan would know that he was davening because of his father’s yahrtzait, and not because of the mourning for his mother, refraining from davening before the amud would be an act of public mourning. The Rebbe said that although he wasn’t a rav or a posek, this was an accepted thing.

This took place a week before the Rebbe Rayatz’s histalkus.

When they printed the maamer that the Rebbe produced for 10 Shvat – Basi L’Gani – the first maamer was dedicated l’ilui nishmas R’ Yisroel Jacobson’s parents.

That was by way of introduction.

THE REBBE ASKED: WHAT’S HAPPENING WITH THE BACHURIM?

I was among the group of bachurim that the Rebbe Rayatz said should go to Otvotsk before the war. When the war broke out, we went through seven levels of Gehinom.

We traveled to Warsaw, as the Rebbe said to do, to arrange the necessary papers to travel and from there, after many difficulties, we managed to arrive in Riga. The Lubavitchers in Riga were very Chassidish. R’ Itche der Masmid was in Riga at that time. He would daven all day. I remember him learning Chassidus for a few hours and then davening Shacharis for hours. When it was time for Mincha, he would remove his t’fillin and daven Mincha with a tallis over his head. When he finished Mincha, it was time for Maariv and he davened Maariv. After davening he would learn Likkutei Torah with the bachurim and then we would accompany him to his home and talk to him.

The Rebbe, who was trying to leave burning Warsaw for Riga, asked that a group of bachurim wait for him in Riga. We waited several weeks and in the meantime, Anash in Latvia began to get very nervous since the Nazis were very close to Latvia. Latvia is a country that can be crossed in half an hour. They forced us to leave Latvia.

From there we went via Sweden and Norway until we arrived back in America. We arrived shortly before the Rebbe arrived in Riga on 5 Teives.

When the Rebbe arrived in Riga, his first question was, “What’s happening with the bachurim?” When Anash told the Rebbe that we had arrived in America already, he asked: Why am I not informed about what is happening with them?

When we heard that the Rebbe had gotten out of Warsaw and arrived in Riga, we were very happy. When we heard that the Rebbe asked about us, on the one hand, we were happy that the Rebbe inquired about us; on the other hand, we felt bad that we hadn’t told the Rebbe what had happened to us.

We wrote to the Rebbe and apologized, saying that since the Rebbe was in Warsaw, we could not write to him about what was happening with us. The Rebbe’s response was that even when he was in Warsaw with the bombs falling, whenever he got word about the bachurim, he felt much better!

***

In general, we know that a Chassid must write to the Rebbe about what’s going on with him. There are stories about Chassidim who wrote to the Rebbe and although the Rebbe did not physically receive the letter, he responded.

When the Rebbe was in Paris, a Lubavitcher asked him whether there was an inyan in writing a letter to the Rebbe even when it doesn’t seem as though the letter will get to him. The Rebbe answered: Writing to the Rebbe is your responsibility. Answering you is the Rebbe’s responsibility. Write!

MIRACLE

R’ Yisroel Gordon: There’s a story of a Chassid who lived in Russia in a small town where there was no fire department, running water, or medical services. This Chassid lived there and raised a family with several children.

His wife was pregnant and became ill. Since there was no doctor and her condition was worrisome, they traveled to the big city of Vilna where they saw a doctor who decided they had to go to a hospital and abort the fetus since otherwise, she and the baby were in danger.

The Chassid, of course, did not agree to do anything without asking the Rebbe. He wrote to the Rebbe Rayatz what the doctor had said and asked what to do.

The Rebbe said, “She should remain at home and Hashem will bless her with a healthy living child.” After the baby was born healthy, he wrote a letter to the Rebbe stating that his wife had, thank G-d, a healthy boy, and he asked for a brocha that he and his children should be genuine chasidim. He placed the letter into a Tanya and he gave some money for tzedokah”.

Since there was no telephone or telegraph in the town where I was born, my father did not have a way of informing the Rebbe of my birth. He took money as a pidyon and placed it in a Tanya. In the pidyon nefesh he wrote that his wife had a healthy boy and he asked that he merit that he become a genuine Chassid.

From this story we learn that Chassidim always knew about the great love the Rebbe had for them and they reciprocated with great love towards him.

The Rebbe Rayatz says in his sichos that the Rebbe’s love for a Chassid is greater than the love parents have for their children. Everybody knows how much parents love their children, and yet the Rebbe’s love for Chassidim is much greater.

WHY IS EVERYONE CRYING?

We arrived in America in 1934. We stopped in Warsaw on the way, where the Rebbe was. I was five years old but I remember that the Rebbe received us graciously and smiled at us.

The Rebbe, who knew my father from Lubavitch, spoke with my father, with my brothers Nissan and Sholom, with my sisters, with me and my mother. Everybody cried. I didn’t understand why everyone was crying when the Rebbe was smiling at us.

Only later, some weeks or months later (before that I was too young to comprehend) did I understand why they had all cried. The Rebbe said that my father is a Tamim. Now that we were going to America, which is a land which consumes its inhabitants, we had to know that there would be many difficult tests and he expected us to withstand them.

A VISIT TO REBBETZIN SHTERNA SARAH

When we were in Warsaw, we visited Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah, the widow of the Rebbe Rashab. She went to America later on and lived on the second floor of 770.

Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah received us with great honor. She gave my mother tea with sugar. I was a little boy and seeing sugar, I grabbed some of it. My mother was taken aback and she began scolding me that I had to behave like a mentch and not grab sugar in front of the Rebbetzin.

The Rebbetzin calmed my mother and said that I came from a small town and had never seen sugar and now that I saw it, I was excited and I grabbed. “Let him be, he is allowed a small taava.”

HEI TEVES – THE REBBE GOT OUT!

On 5 Teives 5700, we got the news that the Rebbe had finally left Warsaw and managed to get to Riga via Berlin. The date that is so familiar to us from the court case of the s’farim, was also the day the Rebbe Rayatz was rescued from the Germans.

We rejoiced. Chassidim gathered spontaneously for a farbrengen at the homes of Rabbi Simpson or Rabbi Jacobson. I remember that one of the Chassidim picked up a cup and said, “L’chaim, l’chaim, the Rebbe got out,” and he began to cry from great joy. He couldn’t talk, he was so overcome by emotion.

There were great Chassidim present but none of them could speak. You can imagine the feeling – the Rebbe got out!

NESHAMOS THAT WERE INSPIRED IN WARSAW

When the Rebbe arrived in New York, we were living in Brownsville at the time. My father woke up the family at 5:30 in the morning to go to the mikva. The Rebbe had arrived and we had to go to the mikva before seeing him.

Then, when the Rebbe began to disembark from the ship, and he was in a wheelchair, and people began to see the Rebbe, they didn’t know how to react. One started saying the SheHechiyanu blessing, one said the bracha “sh’chalak mei’chachmaso lireiav.” Each one said a different bracha. There was such excitement. We rejoiced and cried simultaneously. The Rebbe was here!

It felt a bit strange seeing the Rebbe. When I had seen him six years earlier, he looked so different.

Then the Rebbe spoke and thanked America for saving him, and all the Jews who took part in his rescue.

The Rebbe went to the Greystone Hotel on Broadway. We traveled there by subway.

There was a special farbrengen there. Purim that year was on a Sunday so that 9 Adar II was on a Tuesday. At night there was a farbrengen and the Rebbe spoke and told stories, some of which are printed in the sichos of 5700. The Rebbe told about the experiences they had in the bunkers in Warsaw and said that in the bunkers were all kinds of Jews, Jews with peios and Jews without head coverings, but when the bombs fell they all cried out Shma Yisroel.

THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WAITED ON THE PLATFORM

R’ Mordechai Scharfstein: On the morning of the day that the Rebbe Rayatz arrived, my father came from shul and took us to greet the Rebbe. Not all were permitted to approach the ship. Only those to whom Agudas Chassidei Chabad had given a ticket were allowed to approach the ship.

When the Rebbe arrived, there were thousands of people on the platform and there was a big problem – everybody wanted to see the Rebbe and there was terrible pushing. Over the years I learned how to push but in those days, I still didn’t know how …

The police escorted the Rebbe until he went to the hotel. The Rebbe and his entourage traveled to the hotel in two taxis. My father also went to the hotel, behind the Rebbe.

I don’t remember whether my father went in for yechidus the day the Rebbe arrived but I remember that my father took me with him when he had yechidus. When the Rebbe saw my father, he gave him a big smile and said, “How are you R’ Avrohom?” The Rebbe was very happy to see him.

My father had seen the Rebbe on his previous visit, at the end of 5689/1929. At that time, my father was in the process of becoming a Lubavitcher, and seeing the Rebbe’s face was a decisive factor in this process.

My father was born to a Litvishe family and his journey to Chabad was via Chassidus Kopust as follows:

My father was married three times. His first two wives died in their youth. He had a son from the first wife, a son and daughter from the second wife, and then he married my mother. The second wife had a brother who was a Chassid of Kopust and he was mekarev my father to Chassidus Kopust.

Around 1928, R’ Ezriel Zelig Slonim, the Rebbe’s shadar (fundraising emissary) came to New York and on Shabbos he davened in my father’s shul.

R’ Slonim came to shul at 8:30 in the morning and saw two men with full beards. He was very impressed and excited to see two Jews with beards sitting and learning before the davening in materialistic, cold America. He decided to see what Midrash they were learning but when he approached them he said, “Oy vey, they’re not learning Midrash; they’re learning Magen Avos” (written by the Admur of Kopust).

He sat and learned with them an inyan in Chassidus and then got busy with the avoda of t’filla. Before Mincha he learned Midrash with them. Then he spoke with these two Jews, my uncle and my father, and convinced them to write to the Rebbe.

The Rebbe wrote to my father to work on avoda in t’filla and to say a lot of T’hillim. The Rebbe gave my father a bracha.

A year later, when the Rebbe arrived in America at the end of 5689 and my father went to see him, this was a decisive factor in his move to Lubavitch. During that visit, the Rebbe ate from my father’s sh’chita. My father was an ordained shochet with kabbala from great rabbanim.

TO SEE OTHERS’ GOOD QUALITIES

R’ Yehuda Leib Posner: Sixty years ago, around this time of year, before Purim, I sat and learned Chassidus in the small zal. It was about 8:00 when suddenly, R’ Chadakov entered the room and said he wanted to speak to me.

He took me to the office of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch which was near the zal and the Rebbe was there. The Rebbe told me that I had to go to New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania on behalf of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, to advertise the publications that Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch sold.

At that time, Lubavitch was not as big as it is now. I was able to take all the s’farim in one bag. I was supposed to travel for a week, return, and then take the train to Pittsburgh where we lived at that time.

Before I left, I had yechidus with the Rebbe. The Rebbe told me: When looking at others, see their good qualities; when looking at yourself, see your deficiencies. Chassidim say that the Torah was given in different sized letters.”

The Rebbe told me that in the Torah there are asvon ravrevin and asvon z’eirin (large letters and small letters). At first, I didn’t understand what the Rebbe meant. It was very hard to make out what he was saying and I asked the Rebbe to repeat it. Then the Rebbe said in Yiddish “big letters and little letters,” and I understood.

The Rebbe was saying that the other person’s good qualities had to be seen with big letters, while their deficiencies should be seen with small letters. The Rebbe concluded with a bracha for a good trip.

I think this is a point that everyone should know. May Hashem help us see the Rebbe here already, b’gashmius, l’chaim!

SIMCHA IN THE HEART

R’ Yisroel Gordon: Kinderlach, I want to share some of my memories with you. When the Rebbe Rayatz arrived in America, they looked for a place for him to live.

In Lakewood, which later became a big center of Jewish life with a famous yeshiva, there was a wealthy man by the name of Kalev Fastan. He asked the Rebbe to live in Lakewood and promised to place his mansion at the Rebbe’s disposal.

Rabbi Mentlick and other Chassidim went to his house and made the arrangements and the Rebbe arrived in Lakewood a few days before Pesach. The wealthy man came with his entire family and they served and treated the Rebbe with great honor

There was a rav there – I forget his name – a very successful lecturer, who gave dramatic speeches in Yiddish and English. He welcomed the Rebbe and said we have the Gaon HaDor and the Tzaddik HaDor, the Lubavitcher Rebbe shlita, who did so much in Russia etc.

The Rebbe looked down and people could see that he couldn’t stand these words of flattery. When the darshan finished speaking, the Rebbe thanked him, and said that the Halacha is that when reading the Torah and there is doubt about a certain letter, whether it’s a Chaf or a Beis, a Vav or a Zayin, you ask a child, “Who is neither smart nor foolish.” Why? Because just as too foolish is no good, too smart is also no good.

The Rebbe was telling him what he thought of what he said.

When the Rebbe returned to New York, the members of the Agudas HaRabbanim met him, Rabbi Rosenberg and Rabbi Shapiro and other distinguished Jews. There too, to the best of my recollection, the Rebbe was not pleased with the great honor they gave him.

The Rebbe told them that it says that Hashem said to Moshe Rabbeinu “and he [Aharon] will see you and rejoice in his heart.” Why would he rejoice merely in his heart? Because when the Jewish people are experiencing tzaros, the simcha ought to be in the heart.

The Rebbe went on to say – I thank you for your heartfelt wishes and hope that you will help us with the yeshivos and Talmudei Torah, but the simcha ought to be “in the heart” – it does not need to be displayed.

TO SAY MUSSAR WITH A NIGGUN

I remember that my brother, Sholom Ber a”h, who was a shliach and rav of a shul in Newark, had tremendous difficulties. His shul was very modern, without a bima in the center etc. He asked the Rebbe (I’m talking about 1944-1945), “What am I supposed to talk to them about in shul? I speak about Shabbos and kashrus and it doesn’t go. People in shul do all kinds of kuntzin in order to avoid complying, what can I do?”

The Rebbe told him that when you go down the street and shout at someone and give him Musar, he won’t accept it. When you sit in shul and sing a niggun and say a vort, the Musar is accepted.

By the way, I was reminded of a story that I heard from my brother Sholom Ber. When he was in Dokshitz, he learned by a Chassid of the Rebbe Maharash who was outstanding in his avoda of t’filla. He would go to shul, learn Chassidus for a few hours and then close himself up in a room by himself and daven for about two hours. It was very special to watch him.

One time, my brother asked him about the Mishna in Bava Metzia that when two people deposit money with someone, one person leaving $100 and the other $200, and both show up and claim $200, the halacha is the money remains there until Eliyahu comes. What’s the connection to Eliyahu? As great as he is, he is still just one witness?

The melamed answered that there’s a verse in T’hillim (43), “Send Your light and Your truth, and they will guide me.” Rashi explains that “Your light” refers to Moshiach and “Your truth” refers to Eliyahu. Eliyahu will come to bring truth to the world. The man himself will come and admit that the $200 isn’t his.

That is how a Chassid of the Rebbe Maharash learned p’shat in the Mishna.

I CAME TO WELCOME THE SHECHINA, NOT TO PUSH

On Shavuos 1946 there were many people and naturally, they all wanted to daven with the Rebbe. People standing in the hall tried to enter the room and there was terrible pushing.

A man stood there who did not look Lubavitch. He had long peios and wore a bekeshe. He was very tall. My brother Sholom asked him why he was there and he said that he was a Skverer Chassid from Boro Park and he wanted to see Shavuos in Lubavitch. He asked the Skverer Rebbe permission to go to Lubavitch and he answered him: If I could, I would go with you, go gezunterheit.

My brother asked him: Why don’t you push inside? Why are you standing here?

He answered: There’s no need to push. There’s a verse in Parshas Ki Sisa which says, “And all who sought Hashem went out to the Tent of Meeting.” Rashi says, from here we see that seeking out the countenance of an elder is like welcoming the Sh’china. I came from Boro Park to see the face of an elder and to welcome the Sh’china, and pushing is not necessary.

I think that this can give us much chizuk especially in the situation we’re in now, how much we should want to see the Rebbe which is synonymous with welcoming the Sh’china.

L’ALTER L’GEULA ON EASTERN PARKWAY

R’ Yosef Dov Krinsky: In 1943 the Kol Korei of the Rebbe, “Immediately to t’shuva, immediately to Geula” was publicized. Machne Israel printed stickers with this on it and bachurim were supposed to put them on benches on Eastern Parkway. Some bachurim put them on subways. One of the bachurim was asked by a policeman what the stickers said.

The bachur told him that it was a political sticker which said: Vote for LaGuardia (the mayor of New York at that time who had a Jewish mother).

SAVED FROM THE ARMY THANKS TO TZITZIS

During the war, all the bachurim were called up by the army and had to go for physicals. Those yeshiva bachurim who were granted exemptions were designated 4D and those who were unfit for service, were designated 4F.

In general, at that time, throughout all of New York, there were only 3000 boys learning in yeshivos. All the other Jewish boys in New York attended public school. If someone went to yeshiva, it was considered as though he wanted to be a rabbi because otherwise, why go to yeshiva?

All the bachurim went for physicals and saw all the doctors: for the head, feet, stomach etc. After all that, they were interviewed.

Many of the bachurim passed the medical exams and were given designations that required them to serve in the army. In the interview, they were asked what they were wearing (referring to the tzitzis). They said it was a religious garment.

“Do you wear it at night?”

“Yes, we wear it at night.”

“Then you are released.”

People who are so religious that they even wear tzitzis at night did not belong in the army and were designated 4F.

When they came back and told the Rebbe, the Rebbe was not at all pleased that they had been designated 4F and not 4D.

Baruch Hashem, all the bachurim except for one were exempt from army service.

*

Originally published in Beis Moshiach Magazine #685.

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