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From the Gimmel Tammuz edition of Hatomim Magazine • Download

There seems to be no better role model for hiskashrus to the Rebbe in these last moments of galus than the legendary chassid and mashpia Reb Mendel Futerfas, whom the Rebbe himself referred as מטובי המקושרים לרבותינו נשיאנו – from the finest of those attached to our Rebbeim and leaders.”

The following short stories and anecdotes shared by many of his talmidim and mushpaim spanning mainly the trying period since Chof Zayin Adar until Reb Mendel’s passing on Daled Tammuz 5755, paint a striking image of a chassid who remains steadfast in his faith in the Rebbe in the face of difficult nisyonos, without sacrificing Ahavas Yisroel among other Chassidishe values on the way • Based on a chapter from a forthcoming book about Reb Mendel’s life and legacy being published by his family and edited by Rabbi Yisrael Elfenbein

Tachanun on Gimmel Tammuz?

There was always debate among Chassidim whether to say tachanun on Gimmel Tammuz, the day the Rebbe Rayatz was released from prison in 5687 (1927). On one hand, the Rebbe Rayatz himself didn’t establish it as a Yom Tov. On the other hand, the Rebbe writes that Chassidim should also celebrate this day because it was the ischalta d’geula of the Rebbe Rayatz.

To Reb Mendel this was a given. He never had a doubt. Reb Mendel never said tachanun on Gimmel Tammuz, and didn’t allow Tachanun to be said in the minyan where he davened. Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Silberman from Elad remembers that on the 2nd of Tammuz 5751, Reb Mendel came to Mincha at the Tomchei Tmimim yeshiva in London. He himself went up to the amud as the shliach tzibbur, and didn’t say tachanun. Apparently it was important to him to ensure that already at Mincha of erev Gimmel Tammuz they wouldn’t say tachanun.

“How can one say tachanun on such a day of joy?” Reb Mendel argued passionately and added: “I remember the time when the Rebbe Rayatz was freed, when all the Chassidim danced in the streets of Nevel, and said many ‘l’chaims’. The joy reached the heavens! There were indeed Chassidim who tried to cool the enthusiasm and claim that the Rebbe wasn’t yet completely redeemed and he was traveling to exile in Kostroma for three years, so the danger hadn’t yet passed. Why rejoice prematurely? But the mashpia Reb Zalman Moshe wasn’t willing to hear anything of this. He claimed that the Rebbe was freed, and that was it. For several consecutive days he farbrenged without stop – until the news of the full geula came on Yud Beis-Yud Gimmel Tammuz.”

From Six To Seven

Not all Chassidim from the dor hashishi (the “sixth generation,” i.e., Chassidim of the Rebbe Rayatz) successfully made the transition to the “seventh generation.” Reb Mendel stood out in that he harnessed all his soul’s powers to internalize the ideas that the Rebbe innovated and devoted himself completely to all the Rebbe’s instructions, even if they were of a different style than the previous generation.

“Reb Mendel’s hiskashrus to the Rebbe was deep and very serious,” says Rabbi Zalman Landa, “and this spoke to me very much. Until I met him, I had heard much from the elder Chassidim about the Rebbeim in previous generations, and I was still looking for someone from the elder Chassidim who was connected to our Rebbe, who is the Nasi of our generation. When I found Reb Mendel, this made a very strong impression on me. He gave me the feeling that there is a Rebbe and there are Chassidim, that everything is alive in Lubavitch.”

“Any flaw in hiskashrus,” Reb Mendel used to say, “is like a flaw in the brain. Just as if the brain membrane is punctured it disqualifies the animal and renders it treifah – so too with hiskashrus – if it becomes flawed even with something small and minute.”

Start Now!

In one of his farbrengens he said: “The Rebbe instills joy in us through contemplation of the idea of ‘ha’mechadesh b’tuvo b’chol yom tamid maaseh bereishis — He renews creation with His goodness each day constantly.’ The Rebbe shows the Chassid that he should never be in a state of sadness and depression, for at this very moment you are being created anew, and therefore it doesn’t matter if in the previous moment you were young or old, healthy or sick. Do now what you need to do at this moment, it’s never too late. This idea that the Rebbe speaks about at every opportunity literally revives souls.

“For example, a person thinks many machshavos zaros, foreign thoughts, during Shacharis, and suddenly he realizes he’s already holding at the end of ‘Ashrei’ before ‘U’va L’Tzion.’ He catches himself: Oy, how did I daven?! But if he lives with the above idea, he immediately encourages himself and says: ‘Nu, ‘va’anchnu nevarech Kah me’ata — we will bless G-d from now.’ Let’s start to daven from this moment.’ And immediately he begins anew to daven with proper kavana until the end of the prayer.”

The Mashpia Who Didn’t Come To The Hookup

Hiskashrus to the Rebbe was in his eyes the essence point of Chassidus. Rabbi Chaim Levi Yitzchok a”h Ginsburg related: Once the yeshiva administration in Kfar Chabad held a discussion whether to add to the yeshiva staff a certain yungerman who was a “maskil” and “oved,” and also a devoted and successful educator. Reb Mendel claimed he wasn’t suitable because he doesn’t travel to the Rebbe and doesn’t get up in the middle of the night to participate in the shidurim, the hookup broadcasts from the Rebbe’s farbrengens! I tried to explain that there were justified reasons for this, but Reb Mendel dismissed my words with a wave of his hand and said: When there’s a lack in the nekuda of hiskashrus to the Rebbe, even when there are justified reasons for it, there’s a lack in everything!

And Reb Mendel himself almost never missed being present at any shidur. There were Chassidim younger than him who allowed themselves to be absent sometimes, but he always came to the broadcast. And when a “chazara” of the broadcast was held in the yeshiva, Reb Mendel was careful to be present, listening with kabbalas ol to the words of the young bachur, decades younger than himself, who conducted the “chazara.”

He always tried to extract from the Rebbe’s words at the latest farbrengen some point to “live” with it himself and enliven his surroundings with it as well. The examples of this are numerous; here we’ll bring a few.

Reb Mendel at the cornerstone laying for the Palace of Moshiach in Kfar Chabad

Moment of Silence and Tanya in Braille

In the period when the Rebbe demanded in his farbrengens that “a moment of silence” be practiced in public schools in the US, Reb Mendel demanded that every Chassid arrange for himself “a moment of silence,” a moment when he would think: How does the Rebbe want me to look, and how do I actually look?

On Shabbos Parshas Eikev 5751 (summer 1991), the Rebbe devoted a sicha to printing the Tanya in Braille, and explained that this way the spreading of the wellsprings of Chassidus would be possible even for those who don’t see. At a farbrengen with the bachurim, Reb Mendel wept: “The Rebbe is telling us that we are blind [in the spiritual sense], because we don’t see Elokus. And he encourages us not to despair, to know that even for us there is a way to learn Tanya!”

A particularly instructive story we heard from Rabbi Moshe Chefer: “Once, after the shidur ended in the yeshiva, I drove Reb Mendel from the yeshiva to his house. When he got out of the car, he stood and leaned on the car. For several moments he stood like this, appearing deep in thought. I didn’t dare open my mouth. Finally a question escaped my lips: Reb Mendel, why are you so deep in thought?”

“Reb Mendel answered me: I’ll tell you what’s occupying me. Now at the farbrengen the Rebbe demanded to add in ahavas Yisrael. When the Rebbe demands to add in Torah study or giving tzedaka, it’s simple to fulfill. These matters are clear and defined. But regarding adding in ahavas Yisrael, I wonder to myself: What does the Rebbe want from me? Do I belong to those who hate Jews, G-d forbid? No. If so, how is it relevant to add in loving Jews?

“Another moment passed and Reb Mendel said to me: I know what I can add. Every year when I come to the Rebbe, I meet my friends there, the elderly Chassidim, and my heart becomes glad. But when I see the young American Chassidim, the chocolate children (‘di amerikane chokalat’nikes,’ as he put it) – how do I feel toward them? They don’t belong to me, they’re not my crowd… Probably this is what the Rebbe meant!

“For me, these words were an excellent lesson in ahavas Yisrael. A Chassid like him, who was present at many of the Rebbe’s farbrengens, invests serious thought after the farbrengen to figure out ‘what does the Rebbe demand from me now?’ He lives with the feeling that every demand of the Rebbe is something serious, and immediately thinks about what remains for him to add.”

When The Rebbe Got Two Years Younger…

Chassidim’s love for the Rebbe is one of the foundations of hiskashrus. With Reb Mendel this trait stood out in a most outstanding way. Rabbi Shmuel Ben-Tzion Rabinowitz relates: “When I was in the ‘kevutza’ in 5730 (1970), I stayed at the house of R’ Hendel Lieberman, Reb Mendel’s brother. When Reb Mendel traveled to the Rebbe in the middle of the summer that year, he stayed with his brother. One night, then-General Arik Sharon visited the Rebbe for a yechidus. At a very late night hour I returned from 770 to the apartment. Before I managed to enter my room, Reb Mendel called me from the living room and asked me what was happening now at 770. I told him that Arik Sharon came out of yechidus and told us that he spoke with the Rebbe about the security situation in the Jordan Valley, and was very impressed that the Rebbe spoke with him like someone involved in all the details, until he felt as if he was now speaking with the Chief of Staff. Reb Mendel wasn’t excited by this and reacted with a gesture of dismissal: ‘Nu…’

“Then I told him that Arik said to us that he visited the Rebbe about two years ago, and was happy now to discover that not only did the Rebbe not appear like someone who became older by two years but he became two years younger. Reb Mendel was very happy to hear these words and concluded with satisfaction: ‘Ah, Baruch Hashem!’ The time was about three in the morning. After hearing this joyful news, Reb Mendel was so happy that he got dressed, and for about an hour and a half sat and sang happy Chassidishe niggunim with great feeling!”

Reb Mendel at a farbrengen in the yeshiva in Kfar Chabad

“Der Rebbe Zol Zein Gezunt!”

The Rebbe’s physical health situation touched him deeply. At the farbrengen that took place in the yeshiva in Kfar Chabad after what happened at the Ohel on Chof Zayin Adar Rishon 5752 (1992), R’ Mendel sat and cried, and was almost unable to speak. He only said: “The Rebbe must be healthy. Not in sod, not in remez and not in drush, but in simple pshat, apparent to our eyes of flesh.”

On Shabbos Mevorchim Elul 5752, Reb Mendel farbrenged in the yeshiva and demanded from Hashem with great crying: Ad Masai?! At the same time, he told the bachurim that they must prepare “vessels” – and the “vessels” will draw down “lights.” In the merit of our traveling to the Rebbe, we will merit that the Rebbe will be gezunt.

Another point that Reb Mendel emphasized was that even when we see the Rebbe, we don’t understand the Rebbe – “We understand the Rebbe like a goat understands a human being. Therefore, we must travel to the Rebbe even if we don’t see and hear.” Reb Mendel practiced what he preached, and made the trip to the Rebbe for Tishrei 5753, a difficult trip as it is for someone of his age. Not many elder Chassidim came that year, but to him it was simple — for Tishrei one must go to the Rebbe.

Reb Mendel Sang ‘Yechi Adoneinu’ With Joy and Enthusiasm

In Tishrei 5753 a revolution occurred in Lubavitch, when the Rebbe began to publicly encourage the Chassidim’s faith that “v’hu yigaleinu,” as expressed in the proclamation and song of “Yechi Adoneinu” in the Rebbe’s presence. Reb Mendel, as a true Chassid and mekushar joined the proclamation and sang “Yechi” with full fervor and faith.

In those days, the mood among the Chassidim moved between two extremes – on one hand, the proclamation of “Yechi Adoneinu” and the faith that the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach is about to take us out of galus, and on the other hand, the Rebbe’s health condition that caused many Chassidim complex feelings. One of the bachurim approached Reb Mendel and asked what to do when sadness and depression threatened to take control of him during in this period. Reb Mendel answered him in a decisive and firm tone: If one speaks in such a way – it’s a sign that he never engaged in “avoda” and has no plan to ever begin engaging in avoda!

On Motzoei 19 Kislev 5753 (1993), the Rebbe came out to the balcony after Maariv and stayed there for about six hours. Reb Mendel was present at that occasion. At this painful occasion, the Rebbe was requesting to arouse the crowd regarding a certain matter, but unfortunately, no one was successful in understanding the Rebbe’s holy intention. Great anguish was visible on the Rebbe’s holy face and the Chassidim were broken hearted as a result.

The next day, on 20 Kislev in the afternoon, Reb Mendel came to a farbrengen in the small zal, a farbrengen which all its participants testified was refreshing to them “like cold water on a weary soul.” The farbrengen lasted about nine hours (!), much beyond the elderly mashpia’s strength in that period. During the farbrengen he said “l’chaim” many times, despite this being completely forbidden to him medically.

On one hand, Reb Mendel cried a lot and spoke about the meaning of being in prison in the spiritual sense, the imprisonment of the Nefesh Elokis by the Nefesh Habehamis, of G-dly soul by the animal soul. And on the other hand, he emphasized that the very knowledge that the Rebbe is with us has the power to bring us joy. He mentioned what is brought in Igeres HaKodesh Siman 11, that a Jew must always be b’simcha, because “b’or pnei melech chaim — in the light of the king’s face is life.” In connection with this he mentioned a Chassidic parable: When a person is sentenced to the opposite of life and they take him out to be hanged, and suddenly the king comes out of his palace – then the very sight of the king’s face causes them to cancel the punishment and release him to life. Because “in the light of the king’s face – is life.” And Reb Mendel concluded: Since the Rebbe is with us always, therefore “in the light of the king’s face is life” and we must be joyful and good-hearted, “men darf zein lebedig un freilach.”

Not all Chassidim knew how to conduct themselves in those days full of great revelation coupled with tremendous hester panim, Reb Mendel was among the prominent elder Chassidim who strongly encouraged publicizing the faith in Moshiach’s identity.

Rabbi Dovid Nachshon relates: “In the year 5753 Reb Mendel strongly encouraged publicizing the faith that the Rebbe is Moshiach. Toward Chanuka he greatly encouraged me regarding the initiative to send out a convoy of Mitzva Tanks with the message of “Baruch Haba Melech HaMoshiach — Welcome Moshiach” after the Rebbe encouraged this initiative with the nod of his holy head. Reb Mendel knew well that there were some askanim who opposed this, and encouraged me to continue with all strength and not be impressed by anyone.”

Right to left: R’ Sholom Ber Drizin sheyichye, Reb Mendel a’h, Reb Moshe Ashkaenazi a’h

The Meeting About The Kabbolas HaMalchus Satellite Broadcast

Leading up to Yud Shevat 5753, certain individuals were attempting to undermine the “Kabbolas HaMalchus” satellite broadcast and its transmission to Eretz Yisrael. They organized a meeting of rabbanim and askanim, hoping to enlist their support. Rabbi Betzalel Kupchik asked that he attend the gathering to voice his positive stance on the event.

Initially, Reb Mendel strongly refused to participate in the meeting altogether, declaring that he wasn’t prepared to sit in the same room with such people. However, after his own “asei lecha rav,” Reb Velvel Kesselman, was enlisted and came to his home requesting and instructing him to attend the conference, Reb Mendel relented. He arrived at the location and delivered piercing words to those present.

He told them that their opposition stems from their concerns that chas v’shalom “maybe not.” “This is mamash apikorsus” he boomed. Their “greatness,” he said, manifests itself through casting doubts and coldness – inyanei Amalek – regarding Moshiach matters. He further stated that the Rebbe’s opinion in similar debates is that “one must go with the most frum party.” “Similarly, in our situation where there are two groups, one must align with the most frum – and this certainly isn’t the group opposing the satellite…” Reb Mendel got up and left and the meeting soon adjourned.

The satellite event proceeded as planned and sent shockwaves throughout the world making it clear where Lubavitch stands in their belief and commitment to the Rebbe.

Even in that fateful period, Reb Mendel merited special kiruvim from the Rebbe. For example, in the video from the dollar distribution that took place in Tishrei 5754 at the entrance to the Rebbe’s holy room, we see that when Reb Mendel passes by the Rebbe, the Rebbe makes an effort to rise slightly from his seat and gives him the dollar with his holy hand.

The mashpia Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Zilberstrom from Lod relates: “I was present in the small ‘zal’ at 770 when the Rebbe returned from the hospital on one of the days at the beginning of Kislev 5754, about fifteen minutes before Shabbos. Reb Mendel was there. When they announced that the Rebbe was about to arrive at 770, he asked for help to go out. I helped him go out to the courtyard, and when the Rebbe arrived – Reb Mendel sang ‘Yechi Adoneinu’ with joy and enthusiasm.”

The elderly mashpia left a strong impression on those gathered at the national gathering of Chabad Chassidim in Eretz Yisrael at the beginning of Nissan 5754, when he proclaimed three times, in a trembling but confident voice, the holy proclamation – “Yechi Adoneinu Moreinu V’Rabbeinu Melech HaMoshiach L’olam Va’ed!”

“You Are Right, But Where Is the Krechtz?”

Gimmel Tammuz 5754 (1994). The bitter news about the terrible helem v’hester spread quickly throughout the world and struck all the Chassidim and larger Jewish community with shock and bewilderment. “That morning I accompanied him on his journey from his house to the airport,” relates Rabbi Chaim Brand. “On the way I tried all the time to get him to talk and extract from him some reference to what happened. The only sentence that Reb Mendel repeated several times was: ‘Men darf teshuva ton’ [=We need to do teshuvah]. I tried to ‘draw out of him’ from all kinds of directions something about the questions and doubts that occupied all of us at that time, but he didn’t say anything to me…”

Alongside the pure faith that “V’hu yigaleinu”, Reb Mendel lived with the terrible pain and sorrow over the immense helem v’hester that suddenly was upon us. Rabbi Betzalel Kupchik relates: “I was on the plane with the group of Chassidim that left from Eretz Yisrael to New York. During the flight, some spoke on the plane’s loudspeaker about how we are now left orphans without a father, etc. I asked for and received permission to speak on the loudspeaker to publicly represent those who think differently. I spoke about how a Chassid needs to think as the Rebbe teaches us to think. I quoted from the Rebbe’s words that Gimmel Tammuz is a day of ischalta d’geula and the day of ‘shemesh b’Givon dom’ and therefore, even if it’s not understood by our intellect, one cannot say there was a histalkus in its simple sense. I also mentioned that regarding Gimmel Tammuz the Rebbe said it depends on feeling, and therefore it’s clear that one cannot command a Chassid how to feel.

“Afterwards, I passed among the Chassidim on the plane and distributed ‘l’chaim’ to them. When I approached the Reb Mendel, I briefly told him the content of my words on the microphone and gave him l’chaim. I asked him what his opinion was of my words. He said to me: Kupchik, you are right, ober vu iz di krechtz? [=but where is the sigh?]…”

His grandson Rabbi Zalman Liberow, the Rebbe’s shliach in Flatbush, relates: “The day after Gimmel Tammuz my grandfather came to my house. My son’s bris was held on Dalet Tammuz 5754. The Zeide didn’t feel well then and stayed several days at my house. Gimmel Tammuz was something unbearable for him. One of the members of our Chabad house asked him in those days ‘what will be now?’, and he explained to him what a ‘Rebbe’ is. The point was that the hiskashrus is between the Rebbe’s soul and your soul. Just as you understand regarding your speech to Hashem, that the main connection is in the spiritual sense, so you can also understand regarding your connection with the Rebbe that everything continues as before.”

Who Says You Need to Understand Everything?…

Upon his return to Eretz Yisrael several weeks later, his close students felt that “this is not the same Reb Mendel we knew before Gimmel Tammuz.” But despite the great hardship that befell the Lubavitcher community, Reb Mendel girded himself with enormous soul powers and with the remainder of his physical strength continued fulfilling his role as mashpia. In those days Rabbi Zalman Landau visited him at his house and asked him what we should do now. Reb Mendel answered him: “Kabbolas ol ken altz durchtrogen” [=With the power of kabbalas ol one can bear everything].

About two weeks after Gimmel Tammuz, Reb Mendel farbrenged at the yeshiva in Kfar Chabad. Despite the tears flowing unceasingly from his eyes and barely speaking at all, he repeated one sentence over and over: “He, the yetzer hara, wants us to ‘fall’ into despair and depression – no and no! Absolutely not! We will not ‘give’ it to him! Zogt a nigun, a freilichen nigun! Freilicher, freilicher!” (“Say” a nigun, a joyful nigun! More joyful, more joyful!)

He kept repeating and quoting Rashi’s words on the posuk “Tamim tihyeh im Hashem Elokecha” – “Walk with Him in simplicity and hope to Him, and do not investigate the future.”

Whoever Has the Rebbe Alive Within Him Must Say “Yechi

Despite the difficulty, Reb Mendel was steadfast in his faith in the Rebbe’s Besuras HaGeula and continued to encourage the proclamation of “Yechi.”

To demonstrate this to people who had doubts about it, he would often say it loudly. When one yungerman told him that there were arguments about whether to proclaim “Yechi” or not, Reb Mendel replied decisively that whoever has the Rebbe alive within him must say “Yechi.”

During that period, when “Yechi” was proclaimed, Reb Mendel would stand at his full height and respond, even though during the rest of davening he couldn’t stand due to his weakness.

One day, a fellow teacher at the yeshiva in Kfar Chabad came to Reb Mendel and tried to “explain” to him how supposedly the matter of “Yechi” distances Jews from Chassidus, etc. Reb Mendel remained silent the entire time until the man finished what he had to say and then replied to him that when someone would argue with Reb Abba Pliskin, he would remain quiet and listen until the end, and then say: “But I don’t agree with you” without additional explanations. “So too, I say to you: ‘I don’t agree with you.’”

When someone suggested to him that perhaps after Gimmel Tammuz, it would be wise to add a few words to a “Yechi” banner, such as “and may we merit immediately to Yechi Adoneinu…” or similar phrases, in order not to upset certain people, Reb Mendel became agitated and nearly shouted: “No, no! Absolutely not! Don’t add a single word, don’t remove a single word, don’t change a single word!” He continued, saying: “Anyone who doesn’t feel it and doesn’t want to proclaim it – there’s no need to force them, let them be. But as for me – for us, the matter is crystal clear: Yechi Adoneinu Moreinu V’Rabbeinu Melech HaMoshiach L’olam Va’ed!”

In Sivan 5755, shortly before Reb Mendel’s passing, his grandson, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Liberow who directs Machon Levi Yitzchok, asked him regarding the publishing of the Likkutei Sichos translated to Hebrew by his institution. He absolutely didn’t want to print them without the title “shlita” for the Rebbe, but this involved great difficulties and pressures from various directions. Upon hearing the question, Reb Mendel — who hadn’t responded to anyone for over a day at this point due to his weakness — immediately responded: “M’darf zich oisfeifen oif di velt un schreiben ‘shlita’ (lit. “whistle at the world,” i.e., disregard what people say and write shlita.’” After a few moments of thought, Reb Mendel continued: “But if it’s possible to work things out in a way that there won’t be machlokes – that’s certainly better.”

Following this, Rabbi Liberow found a solution to print the seforim with the title shlita for the Rebbe, and to “predate” the publication year on the title page to 5754.

Think Not Badly About One Another

During this period of helem v’hester when disagreements among Chassidim intensified, Reb Mendel emphasized — as he had always done, but even more — the absolute necessity for ahavas Yisrael and achdus to prevail among Chassidim.

He frequently quoted and stressed the words of the Alter Rebbe in Iggeres HaKodesh: “V’ish es ra’as re’eihu al tachshovu bilvavechem — And do not think evil of one another in your hearts. And if such thoughts do occur to one, he should dismiss it strongly like thoughts of avoda zara!”

On one particular occasion when asked about the discord that reigned due to various issues, he gave the following mashal: There was a bear that would devour honey until the owner devised a plan to set up a branch that would slap the bear’s face every time it approached. Indeed, when the bear came close, the branch would hit it, and it turned to fight with the branch until it became exhausted and fell. The nimshal is that as a nisayon, an irritant is placed before us so that fighting and arguing with it will distract us from the honey – the main thing.

Continue Traveling to the Rebbe!

As Tishrei 5755 was approaching, Reb Mendel spoke in his farbrengens with the yeshiva students about how Chassidim need to continue traveling to the Rebbe for the month of Tishrei. The bachurim clearly saw that his enormous faith in the Rebbe hadn’t been shaken at all.

Rabbi Chaim Levi Yitzchok a”h Ginzburg, recalled: “When I asked him whether I could publicize in his name that people should travel to the Rebbe for the month of Tishrei 5755, he almost exploded: ‘M’darf fohren? M’muz fohren! — We should travel? We MUST travel!”

When there was discussion about the future of the “kevutza,” the group of Israeli bachurim who traditionally traveled to the Rebbe to study for a year in 770, and some raised the possibility of perhaps shortening the stay with the Rebbe, Reb Mendel reacted with an outcry: “A full year! Not even one minute less!”

He himself very much wanted to travel to the Rebbe for Tishrei, and began the trip with a stopover in London. There, his family members told him it simply wasn’t advisable in light of his weak health, and in the end he remained in London. At a farbrengen on Chol HaMoed Sukkos 5755, one of Anash sighed and told him: ‘I don’t understand what’s going to be here!’ Reb Mendel answered him immediately: ‘And who says you need to understand everything?…’

Rebbi Lo Shana, Chiya Minayin?

A Chassidishe saying that was always on his lips was – “Rebbi lo shana, chiya minayin?” (“If Rebbi hadn’t said it, where would his disciple Chiya know it?”). Chassidim interpret it in the following way: “One who doesn’t travel to the Rebbe once a year, how will he have vitality all year?”

A telling fact, which, considering all the above, shouldn’t surprise us, is that the last time he came to the Rebbe was on Gimmel Tammuz 5754. This “kept him alive” for a full year, until Gimmel Tammuz 5755 (1995). The next day, on Dalet Tammuz 5755, he was called on high.

***

R’ Mendel’s legacy of unwavering hiskashrus continues to resonate today through his many talmidim and their students, who carry forward and farbreng with his stories, witticisms and sayings. The stories, sayings, and anecdotes recounted here serve as more than mere memories – they are used every day to raise another generation of Chassidim who approach their hiskashrus to the Rebbe with the same fiery dedication that characterized Reb Mendel’s every word and deed. His uncompromising stance on matters of emuna and his total devotion to the Rebbe remain a beacon for all those seeking to deepen their own hiskashrus in these final moments before the hisgalus of the Rebbe Moshiach Tzidkeinu.

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