#lubavitcher_rebbe

[rebbe-stories]

Lab B’Omer and a Satmar Chossid

Due to the preparations for the 5744 (1984) "Lag b'Omer Children's Parade" and the associated heavy activity in front of 770 Eastern Parkway in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, the World Headquarters of Chabad, it was decided that the couples who wished to receive blessings for children[1] from the Lubavitcher Rebbe should not stand outside 770 as usual. Instead, they should wait at 10:00 am at the door of the Rebbe's house, a few streets away at 1304 President Street, where they would have more quiet and privacy.

Knowing that an enormous crowd would gather there, an organizers committee was established to maintain order, to be enforced by the students of the Kollel[2] , of which I - Alter Bukiet -- was a member.

As it was not my nature to push or order people around, I had requested to be in charge of the area immediately outside the Rebbe's car door, to open it as soon as the Rebbe arrives, and to close it as soon as the Rebbe is seated to ensure that the Rebbe's driver can depart without any delay.

I will never forget the scene that day. There were many couples. People from Chabad and those who were not from Chabad were waiting for the Rebbe to leave his house.

The Rebbe came out at 10:00 am. It took twenty minutes for the Rebbe to reach his car. People were crying and screaming for the Rebbe's attention. It was so intense.

The Rebbe got into the car and was seated. I began to close the door, when suddenly someone stuck his head into the car and exclaimed to the Rebbe that he is married already for several years and has no children, then hurriedly stated his name and wife's name to the Rebbe. I happened to notice that this individual was a Satmar Chossid. Meanwhile, the pressure on the door was mounting. I tried with all my might to hold the door open so that he wouldn't get smashed.

The Rebbe blessed him, and then, before the man could withdraw, I hear the Rebbe add something very unusual. He looked directly at the Satmarer and said something like, "The child will need to have someone to play with."

The guy did not get at all what the Rebbe was trying to say. So the Rebbe said to him, Zucht Awmain (Say Amen)!" It finally registered and he responded with a loud shout: " Awmain!" and moved away from the vehicle. I closed the door and the Rebbe's car pulled away. * * *

Years pass. I 'graduated' to be the emissary of the Lubavitcher Rebbe to Lexington Massachusetts, near Boston. Life goes on.

Fifteen years after that Lag b'Omer incident, on the 24th of the Jewish month of Menachem Av 5759 [1999: August 6], on what would have been the 80th birthday of my father [Rabbi Chaim-Meir Bukiet] of blessed memory[3], had he not passed away a year and a half before on the 27th of Tevet, I decided to visit his grave. As it is located in the Montefiore cemetery in Queens NY, where also is located the "Ohel," the resting place of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, it meant that I would have to leave from home soon after midnight in order to arrive around 4:00 - 5:00 AM. That would give me enough time to visit my father's place as well as the Rebbe's, and still be able to get back by 9:00 am to start my regular work day.

At 5 in the morning I was in the Ohel and reading the Maaneh Loshon (the long texts recited by many at the grave of a tzadik, based on the Zohar). As I was standing there, I noticed a Satmar chasid enter with two young boys. I thought it strange that they should be here at such an hour. My bewilderment increased when after they all finished reciting the Maaneh Loshon, the father turned to his sons and told them, "take out themaamar (chasidic in-depth discourse)."

Each son took out a printed copy of the maamar traditionally recited by Chabad boys who reach the age of Bar Mitzvah. The two Satmar boys proceeded to each read the entire maamar. After leaving the Ohel, I saw them again in the reception area, standing near the coffee stand. I couldn't resist the urge to satisfy my curiosity. I approached the father and asked him in Yiddish what brings him here and at such hour?

He responded: "These are the Rebbe's children, they were born as a result of the Rebbe's blessing." He continued that he had been married several years with no children and so decided to try getting a blessing for a son from 'the Lubavitcher.' "The Rebbe blessed me as I requested and then said to me, "The child will need to have someone to play with." I was speechless, so the Rebbe added, "Zucht Awmain!" ('Say Amen'). Three times! Finally I realized what he intended and I responded with a loud 'Amen.' And in the merit of his blessing, my wife gave birth to twins, the boys you see in front of you."

I couldn't believe my ears! I must admit I became emotional. "Tell me, when exactly did this happen? Was it perhaps on Lag b'Omer in 5744? Outside the Rebbe's House?"

"Yes and Yes, on Lag b'Omer in 5744 outside the Rebbe's house on President Street inside the Rebbe's car!" confirmed the Satmarer.

"Wow! Amazing!" I exclaimed. "I am the one who held the door open with all my might that it shouldn't get slammed shut on you. Do you remember me?"

"That's right, of course!" he answered quickly, looking into my eyes to see if he could remember the face from so long ago. "And now you are seeing the happy outcome of the story. These twins were born two years and three months after that Lag b'Omer in the merit of the Rebbe's blessing. They are our only children and today is their Bar Mitzvah. They are the Rebbe's children!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [1]It is a 200-year-old tradition in Chabad that the most propitious time of the year to request a blessing for children from a Lubavitcher Rebbe is on Lag b'Omer. [1]Post-yeshiva center for advanced Torah study by young married men.

[1]An important and highly respected chasid of the 6th and 7th Lubavitcher Rebbes, and the father and grandfather of many Lubavitcher emissaries around the world today

Source: Adapted by Yerachmiel Tilles from the version on a WhatsApp Chassidic Stories group. Rabbi Alter Bukiet is the emissary of the Lubavitcher Rebbe in Lexington, Massachusetts. He established what became and still is a very popular Chabad House and synagogue, of which he is still the Rabbi and Director.

[rebbe-stories]

Atom bombs and the Creator

From the diary of Rabbi Reuven Dunin:

It was midnight. I was waiting outside 770 for the Rebbe to leave his room and go home.

Suddenly, a swarm of police cars blocked off all entrances to 770. A few Rolls Royces pulled up and several business-suited men emerged. They headed immediately for the Rebbe’s room. Outside, a group of uniformed men kept guard. After about a half hour, these men of privilege re-emerged, and they all left.

As someone myself with the privilege of unrestricted access to the Rebbe, I had to find out for myself what had happened. So I walked into the office, where the Rebbe was seated.

“They are from the Atomic Energy Commission,” the Rebbe answered, when I asked who they were. He added that they had had a question they were unable to solve, hence the reason for their visit.

“Did the Rebbe help them?” I asked, in amazement.

“Yes,” the Rebbe replied.

“But why?” I gasped. “After the dropping of the atom bomb . . . . why on earth would we risk another mushroom cloud?”

The Rebbe patiently explained, “First, their plans are for civilian reactors, which are used for peaceful purposes. Second, the United States is a country that has performed enormous kindness for the Jews, and I must help, as a form of repayment. Third, so that they knew who is the One really in charge.”

[rebbe-stories]

Effective Blessings

Rabbi Alpern (the Rebbe’s emissary to Brazil) relates:

In the earlier years when I had first arrived in Brazil, the Chabad House would host a lecture every Tuesday evening. Often we had non-Jews attending, too.

One non-Jewish couple in particular appeared week after week. After one of the lectures I approached them and asked what had brought them there to explore Judaism. Why were they so interested?

The mother explained sadly, “My daughter Angelo. She’s only eleven, but the doctors have found a tumor in her back. We hear that there is a great rabbi in Brooklyn who is known to give effective blessings.”

She shot me a glance, a certain fear in her eyes. “We are anxious to meet this rabbi; perhaps he will give a blessing that will heal our daughter.”

I decided to write a letter to the Rebbe on their behalf and ask for a blessing for Angelo. Weeks went by after the letter had been sent to New York, and this couple still never missed a lecture. Finally, when I arrived at the Chabad House one week, I sensed a jubilant atmosphere.

Angelo’s parents ran up to me. “We just went for a checkup, and the doctors were shocked to see that the entire growth had disappeared.”

Later that year I went to New York for 12 Tammuz, the date commemorating the birthday of the Previous Rebbe and his release from Russian prison. I was to leave for Brazil on a Monday and, it was hoped, meet with the Rebbe. On Sunday afternoon, I was told that Rabbi Leibel Groner, one of the Rebbe’s secretaries, was looking for me.

Rabbi Groner gave me a small note from the Rebbe that said: “Ma shlom hayalda v’hahemshech la’ze? [How is the girl doing and what was the result?]” I immediately chided myself for not having let the Rebbe know that Angelo had recovered.

I sat down by the table of Rabbi Eliyahu Quint, another secretary of the Rebbe, and wrote a letter detailing Angelo’s health. As I finished, I turned over the note that I had received from the Rebbe about the girl, and I realized that it was my very own handwriting on the other side! On the very same letter that I had first written to the Rebbe about the girl, the Rebbe had torn a piece of the letter and answered me. Amazingly, the Rebbe had kept my letter all that time, waiting to hear the fate of this non-Jewish Brazilian girl.

When I returned to Brazil, I spoke to Angelo’s mother and said that the “great rabbi” from Brooklyn had asked about her daughter. Curiously, she wanted to know what day the Rebbe had made this inquiry.

“Sunday,” I said.

Her eyes widened. “Now I know why the Rebbe waited until Sunday. This past Sunday was Angelo’s birthday!”

[rebbestorah]

The Reasonable Bad Guy

וַיָּבֹא הַפָּלִיט וַיַּגֵּד לְאַבְרָם הָעִבְרִי - בראשית יד, יג

And the fugitive came and told Avram the Hebrew. (Beraishit 14:13)

The fugitive was Og. Why was he called Og? Because when he came, he found Avram busy with the mitzvah of ugos, cakes [as matzah is called in Shemos 12:39. – ed.] Og's intentions were not for the sake of Heaven. Rather, he thought, "This Avram is a zealot. I'll tell him, ‘your nephew has been taken captive' and he will go out to war and get killed. Then I will take Sarai, his wife." —Beraishis Rabba 42

Og was a rationalist and a cynic (see Beraishis Rabba 53), but he could still respect humanitarian causes based on rhyme and reason. So it wasn't surprising that he'd encourage Avram to save his own flesh and blood from captivity.

Yet, at their root, Og's motives were entirely impure. For though the cause was justified and logical, Og knew that it was unreasonable to think that Avram could be victorious over the mighty kings who had taken Lot captive. Og played on Avram's zealous nature, encouraging him to take on a veritably suicidal mission, trusting that Avram would never return and Sarai would then be his for the taking.

From Og we learn that human reason is naturally selfish and dangerous. One who is guided and motivated only by human logic can justify having another person killed in order to take that person's wife, and all the while fool himself into thinking that he's doing the right and reasonable thing.

—Reshimos 17

[rebbe-stories]

My Encounter with the Rebbe: Rabbi Shaya Shimonowitz

In 1966, I [

Rabbi Yosef Krupnik

] was learning on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the Yeshiva Jacob Joseph, famously known throughout the world as “RJJ” (one of the first, if not the first, to certify rabbinical ordination in the USA—ed.). At the time, I had a study partner by the name of Alexander Stern who had a connection with Chabad, and he was constantly inviting me to see what a 

farbrengen

 [chasidic gathering] with the Lubavitcher Rebbe was like. Finally I accepted his invitation for 

Yud Shevat.

The tenth of the Hebrew month of Shevat is a most significant date on the Chabad calendar. It’s the anniversary of the passing of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, 

Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn

, also known as the Rebbe Rayatz, and the day when, a year later, his son-in-law 

Rabbi Menchem Mendel

 Schneerson

 formally accepted the leadership of Chabad-Lubavitch.

I went to the 

farbrengen

 and I enjoyed it very much. The result was that I got home hours after midnight and the next morning I was late for yeshiva. Our teacher, Rabbi Shaya Shimonowitz, who was one of the genuine Talmudic giants left over from the old Mir Yeshiva in Europe, realized immediately why the two of us were late that morning. When we walked into class he reprimanded us: “Don’t you realize the importance of Torah? You lost time from Torah study…you missed a class!”

He reprimanded us very, very harshly and, to be quite honest, I was deeply hurt. Up to that point, I thought I had a very good relationship with him. This was the first time that he had come down on my case in this way.

When he finished the class and it was time to go to the study hall, he asked Alex and me to stay behind. And I was sure that we were about to get the second round of rebuke, but that’s not what happened. When everybody else has left and it was just the two of us with Reb Shaya, he told us an amazing story. 

It seems that he understood how much his rebuke had hurt us, and he decided to make it up to us – telling us, by implication, that the time we spend at Chabad with the Lubavitcher Rebbe was not really wasted.

In 1937, R. Shaya merited to accompany his Rosh Yeshiva, 

Rabbi Baruch Ber Lebowitz

, the Rosh Yeshiva of Kaminetz, known to be the leading disciple of Rabbi Chaim Brisker (a most prominent Torah leader, from whom all the Soloveitchiks are descended—ed.), on a visit to Vilna (an important center of yeshiva learning at that time), Lithuania to discuss Yeshiva World matters with 

Rabbi Chaim-Ozer Grodzinski

 [described by the Chafetz Chayim (1838-1933) as the embodiment of Torah—ed.].

It seems that in those years, when the Rebbe was not yet the Rebbe and studying in Berlin and Paris,

 he was sent on various missions by the Rebbe Rayatz. On this particular occasion he had to travel to Vilna in order to get Rabbi Chaim-Ozer to co-sign a letter that the Rebbe Rayatz had written [to raise money for the aid and support of the Jews in Communist Russia—ed.).

When the Rebbe arrived, it just so happened that R. Chaim Ozer was still meeting in his office with his illustrious visitor, R. Baruch Ber. The Rebbe was told that he was going to have to wait until they finished their meeting before he could go in.

As he waited, there were a few people in the study hall at the time who realized that he was a Lubavitcher chasid, and so they decided to harass him. They started asking him pointed questions on Talmudic topics – did he know this topic, and what did he have to say about it, and so forth.

But the Rebbe didn’t answer. R. Shaya, who was present as this was going on said that some of the people were really pestering him mercilessly and still, the Rebbe said nothing, remaining quiet.

And then R. Chaim-Ozer opened the door. He stood listening to the many voices, and then beckoned the Rebbe to come in. The Rebbe went inside, and there began to answer the questions that had been posed to him outside. R. Shaya said he answered with great clarity and in depth, quoting both early and late Torah commentators by heart.

So R. Chaim asked the Rebbe, “Why didn’t you answer these questions outside, when they were harassing you?” The Rebbe replied, “I didn’t come to hold debates with anybody. However, I noticed that you registered their questions, and I became afraid that my failure to answer might have a negative impact on the mission given to me by my father-in-law.” He feared that perhaps Reb Chaim Ozer might not agree to co-sign the letter of the Rebbe Rayatz due to disdain for the Rebbe’s inability to respond, so he decided to clarify the situation.

After this exchange, R. Chaim Ozer took the letter and started reading through it. In the meantime, R. Baruch Ber continued to talk with the Rebbe in matters of Torah knowledge. After a few minutes R. Baruch Ber said to the Rebbe, “If you come to learn in my yeshiva, I guarantee that you will become the leader of the Lithuanian yeshiva world.” The Rebbe politely declined. He said he had his path, knew what he had to do and whom he had to answer. When he said this, R. Baruch Ber started to cry.

R. Shaya said he had never told this story to anybody before. I sensed that it was a difficult admission for him, that the Rebbe potentially could have become the leader of the Lithuanian yeshiva world if he so desired, but instead chose to remain a loyal chasid. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Source: Adapted and supplemented by Yerachmiel Tilles from 

JEM-Here’s My Story [//JEMedia.org] , based on their extraordinary 

“My Encounter with the Rebbe”  project, documenting the life of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi M Schneerson of righteous memory. The story is one of thousands recorded in the 800 videotaped interviews conducted to date with seniors who knew the Rebbe in the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s. Rabbi Yosef-Zev Krupnik is a Kashrut administrator at the Detroit Council of Orthodox Rabbis.

[rebbestorah]

The Individual and the Community

Rashi in his second comment on the verse1 “Moshe was greatly angered [with the band of rebels] and said to G-d: ‘Do not pay heed to their offering…,’ ” notes the following: “The Midrash says:2 [Moshe said to G-d,] ‘I know that they have a portion in the communal offerings. Their portion as well should not be accepted by You….’ ”

This needs to be understood. Since these were communal offerings, they had no association with particular individuals. For a community is not a partnership of many individuals, but an entirely novel entity unto itself.

Since an individual sharing in a communal offering is a seeming impossibility, why was Moshe concerned that the rebels’ share of the communal offering not be accepted, if they — like all other individuals — had no such share?

Rashi’ s statement that “they have a portion in the communal offerings” means the following: Since each individual Jew was commanded to give a half-shekel from which the communal offerings were to be purchased,3 and since, moreover, this donation brought about personal atonement,4 each and every Jew therefore had a portion in the offerings.5

And although it was necessary that each individual “hand over [the half-shekel] ‘extremely well’ ”6 in order to create the new entities known as “communal money” and “communal offerings,” it was impossible to wholly eradicate the individual’s contribution.7

This will be better understood in light of the fact that as explained in Kabbalah ,8“Holiness does not move from its place,” which as the Alter Rebbe explains,9means that “even after it [i.e., holiness] has ascended on most high, it is still not totally uprooted from its first place.”

So even after the coins had been elevated to the status of “communal money” they still retained the sanctity generated by the individual donors. Thus, even with regard to communal offerings it is correct to say that individuals “have a portion.” Moshe therefore asked G-d not to accept the rebels’ portion.

In light of the above, we may better understand why Moshe said “I know (that they have a portion in the communal offerings),” rather than simply saying “they have a portion in the communal offerings.”

The words “I know” uttered by Moshe emphasize that this knowledge is not something readily grasped by most people on their own, but rather emanates from Moshe, the nasi, the leader, of the generation.

For ordinarily the individual and the community are two distinct and even competing entities, similar to individual and communal offerings, each of which is entirely different from the other.10

This difference also descended into the world at large, giving rise to two types of societies: those that stress the needs of the community as a whole, even when these impinge upon the rights of the individual, and those which value the rights of the individual, even if this sometimes means forgoing the communal good.

However, this sharp distinction exists only in the ordinary scheme of things, but not from the perspective of the nasi. For as the leader of the generation, the “nasibeing all,”11 he has the ability to unite the individual and the community into one cohesive entity.

This is similar to the two qualities found in the nasi himself: On one hand, he is just an individual; on the other, all his characteristics and deeds relate to the entire community. So too, he is leader not only of the collective whole, but of each individual in particular.

Therefore it was specifically Moshe who could sense that within the communal offerings were felt the unique aspects of each individual.

Based on Likkutei Sichot, Vol. XXXIII, pp. 105-111.

FOOTNOTES

1.Bamidbar 16:15.

2.Tanchuma, Korach 7; Bamidbar Rabbah , 18:10.

3.See Rashi , Shmos 30:15.

4.Ibid.

5.See Rabbeinu Bachya on Bamidbar 16:15.

6.See Rosh HaShanah 7a and additional sources cited there. See also Mishneh LeMelech, Hilchos Klei HaMikdash 6:9.

7.See Sefer HaMaamarim 5711, p. 31 and fn. ibid.; Likkutei Sichos, Vol. XVIII, p. 113ff.

8.See Eitz Chayim 4:3, 34:3, 35:1. See also Pardes 14:1 as well as Likkutei Sichos, Vol. XXXII, pp. 24-25 and sources cited there.

9.Iggeres HaKodesh , Biur to Epistle 27 (p. 147a).

10.See Peirush HaMishnayos of the Rambam , Introduction to the Order of Kodshim.

11.Rashi , Chukas 21:21.

[rebbestorah]

Just a Number

שְׂאוּ אֶת רֹאשׁ כָּל עֲדַת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל  -  במדבר א, ב 

“Take the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel” (Bamidbar 1:2)

Rabbi Yeshaya Halevi Horowitz, known as “the Shela”h” - an acronym for the title of his work Shnei Luchos Habris, explains the significance of the Jewish nation being counted.

In Jewish law, a davar sheb’minyan, something that is counted, sold by unit rather than by weight, is never nullified even in a mixture of a thousand or a million others. Under certain circumstances, certain food items are “nullified” when mixed with a quantity many times their volume. For example, if some milk drops fall into a meat soup, and the volume of the meat mixture is sixty times that of the milk, then the milk is considered nullified and nonexistent. Objects that are prominent, however, can never be ignored; they are never considered insignificant. Being a “counted object”, meaning something which is sold solely by unit, is one means for an object to be ascribed this Halachic “prominence”.

By counting the Jewish people in the desert, writes the holy Shela”h, every individual Jew earned the davar sheb’minyan prominence, and his Jewish identity can never be swallowed or lost.

Now, a cursory reading of the Code of Jewish Law reveals that there are several other types of prominent objects which are never nullified, such as “a complete organism” or “a living being”. Why was the Jewish prominence achieved specifically through counting? For while those distinctive traits are obvious and self-evident, the distinction of the counted object is not; it is the counting itself which indicates to us that this is an object of significance and individual value.

Counting the Jewish people thus affected and revealed the significance and indomitable Jewishness of the individual Jew, even he in whom no trait of Jewish distinction and value is currently evident.

Likutei Sichot vol. 18, p. 25

[rebbestorah]

Goal Oriented

כִּי תָבֹאוּ אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי נֹתֵן לָכֶם וְשָׁבְתָה הָאָרֶץ שַׁבָּת לַה':שֵׁשׁ שָׁנִים תִּזְרַע שָׂדֶך   -- ויקרא, ג-בכה 

When you come to the land that I am giving you, the land shall rest a Shabbos to G-d. You may sow your field for six years… (Vayikra 25:2-3)

The first Shemitah year observed followed six years during which the land was worked, as articulated in verses 3 and 4. Why then does the Torah imply that “when” - immediately upon your arrival -  “to the land etc.”, “the land shall rest a Shabbos to G-d”?

Likutei Torah explains that the recognition that the seventh year will be Shemitah must, in fact, be the theme of the first six years as well. In other words, even the six years occupied by the mundane working of the land were infused with awareness that the ultimate and ideal condition of the Land is when it is in a state of “Shabbos to G-d”. Thereby, even the six years of mundane labor were done in a proper way, which ensured that the seventh year should truly be holy and blessed, bountiful both spiritually and physically.

This serves as a lesson also for those who are building their individual “land”, a home and a family. Timewise, the primary preoccupations of the parents, particularly the mother, “the mainstay of the home”, may seem to be mundane; maintaining an orderly and healthy environment, bathing and feeding children etc., activities which externally seem to be no different than those done in a non-Jewish home. The Mitzvah of Shemitah teaches us, however, that these activities are not the same when from the very get-go, from when the first child is born, the goal is set to ultimately raise the child to be “Shabbos-like”, free to grow and thrive in Judaism and holiness. With this clearly in mind, even the physical rearing and nurturing of the children will be such that will bring about the desired goal, children whose lives will be “Shabbos-like”, devoted to G-d and blessed materially as well, “And you will call the Shabbos a delight”.

Likutei Sichot vol. 12, pp. 247-250