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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 63-64, no. 3
The narrator's zeide told that at the "Great Purim" in Rogochov, Reb Yossele der chazzan of nearby Korma — a chossid whom the Alter Rebbe had once blessed to become wealthy — was honored by the Mitteler Rebbe with reading the Megillah. In the middle of the reading, at Haman's words "Whom would the king wish to honor more than me?", he spat out, "Feh, kelipah!" Everyone assumed that the Mitteler Rebbe, who detested outward displays of hispaalus, would give the reading to someone else the next morning, but he called Reb Yossele again and told him he did not know that one must first lay Megillah gelt on the table — then laid down a golden rendel, and each of the more than a thousand gvirim present did the same. So the Alter Rebbe's blessing was fulfilled and Reb Yossele became wealthy.
3 min to tellexcellent to tell
372 wordsMitteler Rebbe
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score 1.36 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.72
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 75-76, no. 2
The narrator's grandfather had such retention that he had no need for the chozer's repetition of a maamar. When chassidim returned from Lubavitch reporting that the Rebbe Rashab recited maamarim lasting several hours, he said he could not have absorbed them, and when they later reported that the maamarim were growing shorter, he said that as the Rebbe rises higher the maamarim will be shorter still. At fourteen he set out on foot to Lubavitch with a group of older chassidim; at an inn along the way a distinguished Jew berated him for a child going off to Lubavitch, and he answered that after they ate he would reply. When they finished he said, "Show me where there is a difference between a boy who is bar mitzvah and an eighty-year-old Jew," and the man — a chossid of the Alter Rebbe — embraced and kissed him.
3 min to tellexcellent to tell
347 wordsTzemach Tzedek
story_000058
score 1.34 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.68
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 338-340, no. 37
R. Yitzchak HaCohen Kahaneman of Sosnitza, who transported tobacco from Sosnitza to Riga, passed through Homil on erev Yom Kippur on his way home and was greeted briefly by his son-in-law, the narrator's zeide, Mordechai Yoel. R. Yitzchak finished davening, completed the entire Tehillim with a minyan, and lay down to rest, waking hours later to find his son-in-law still standing and davening — he stood the whole night and day. After the fast ended at Maariv, the zeide told him, "Shver, don't be upset with me, but Reb Aizel said that after an entire day without Torah study one must sit and learn," and went off to study.
4 min to tellvery good to tell
521 wordsRebbe Rayatz
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score 1.30 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.80 length_suitability=1.00
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 278-279, no. 124
When the Soviet government forbade instruction in cheders, the Rebbe traveled to Moscow to find people close to the government who could offset the law. He sent word through Rav Rafael Kahn that Kalman of Nevel should go stay with his daughter, whose husband Bogdanov held an important government position; when Kalman objected that his son-in-law had nothing to do with education, the Rebbe told him not to leave Moscow and to remain as his daughter's guest. At a banquet in that home attended by government officials, Kalman was asked what he thought of the new government and answered that it was wonderful, but why would they not allow Jewish children to study Torah. Influential people connected with education were present, and afterwards a law was issued permitting instruction for up to six children.
4 min to tellvery good to tell
501 wordsRebbe Rayatz
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score 1.29 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.80 length_suitability=0.97
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 315-316, no. 56
R. Betzalel Azaritzer, a shadar for the Tzemach Tzedek, was a guest of Reb Aizel and challenged him over his lack of concern about a sirchah. Reb Aizel answered that as rov of the city he does not consider himself higher than the one who asked the shailah, and so will eat what he himself rules kosher; when R. Betzalel persisted, he said, "Tzaleh, listen to me, I'm already an alter Yid, over the hill — you won't succeed in making me any frumer!" When word of the exchange reached the Tzemach Tzedek, he asked R. Betzalel, "Why are you starting up with the zeide's soldier?!"
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
297 wordsRebbe Rayatz
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score 1.29 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.57
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 337-338, no. 36
R. Yosef Lubavitcher, known as Der Fetter Yosele and an uncle of the Tzemach Tzedek, spent Yom Kippur in Chernigov, where R. Nochum Chernigover — a student of Reb Aizel and a chossid of the Mitteler Rebbe — served as rov. Before Kol Nidrei he took his place along a wall and stood there until the following evening. When the customary joyous singing broke out after Neilah, he ran to R. Nochum and protested, "What an unprincipled city you have! After Kol Nidrei they're already singing?!" The narrator's zeide told the story to describe the depth of the chassidim of earlier generations.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
304 wordsRebbe Rayatz
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score 1.29 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.57
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 31, no. 4
As a small boy the zeide stood in Reb Aizel's sukkah while the s'chach was being piled on very thickly, and asked why, given the halachah that the stars should be visible through the s'chach. Reb Aizel answered that he had been with the Rebbe in Liozna when the s'chach was laid, and the Rebbe stood and motioned with his holy hands: thicker, and thicker still — and then cried out, "And I can't do it any other way!" The narrator adds that his zeide, named for his two grandfathers Reb Mordechai (a chossid of the Alter Rebbe) and Yoel (a businessman), was always puzzled that both the Tzemach Tzedek and Reb Aizel nonetheless called him Yoel'ke.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
278 wordsAlter Rebbe
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score 1.26 ·
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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 375-376, no. 13
An elder Chernobyler chossid passing through Leningrad told of a chossid who used to fast from one Shabbos to the next and was told by his teacher that this was unnecessary. The chossid objected that the Baal Shem Tov fasted from Shabbos to Shabbos during his solitary meditations. His teacher answered that the Baal Shem Tov took a sack full of food with him when he walked the mountains from Kitov to Kosov, and only on Friday discovered the sack was still full — his 'I have forgotten to eat my bread' came from deveikus to G-dliness, not from undertaking a fast.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
272 wordsRebbe Rayatz
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score 1.26 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.53
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 324, no. 10
While traveling together, the narrator's zeide and Reb Hillel were forced to abandon their wagon when it became stuck in mud. Reb Hillel, who was physically weak and suffered from a hernia, carried his own unusually heavy tallis and tefillin bag, which held Shimusha Rabbah and Raavad tefillin in addition to Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam, along with the sefer Emek HaMelech. When the zeide offered to carry it for him, Reb Hillel answered that he was very dear to him and he would give him everything, but his own self and essence he could not give away — and these were his very essence.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
245 wordsRebbe Rayatz
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score 1.24 ·
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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 284-285, no. 2
Reb Aizel had an only son, R. Yaakov Yosef, who in turn had an only son, R. Nochum Epstein. The narrator recalls that as a boy of 11 or 12, on a chassidic festive occasion, he sat near his zeide, who told how Reb Aizel once took his grandson Nochum's hand and said, "You are my right hand — although you know Chassidus like my right hand… Be an ehrlicher Yid!" As he told it, the zeide took the boy's own hand, and his eyes flowed with tears.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
232 wordsRebbe Rayatz
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score 1.23 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.45
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 41, no. 17
Chassidim traveling to the Alter Rebbe in Liozna hired a wagon and driver as usual. A few days after arriving, the driver vanished and his horse stood unfed; they searched and found him wandering in the woods, shouting over and over, "If you were to ask a goy, 'Do you love G-d?' — he, too, would answer, 'I love Him!'" He had heard Chassidus from the Alter Rebbe and those were the only words he could grasp, yet their impact made him forget all of his work and responsibilities.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
217 wordsAlter Rebbe
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score 1.21 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.43
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 168-169, no. 52
The narrator's brother Baruch told him in Homil, over a few lechaims, that while he was a student in Tomchei Temimim in Lubavitch the Rebbe Rashab instructed him in yechidus to stay up and learn ("zitzen") for seven nights — from Thursday morning through the following night and the whole next day until evening, without lying down. Each time he feared he might have dozed off, so he repeated the practice. In the end he stayed awake in this fashion for fifteen nights.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
221 wordsRebbe Rashab
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score 1.21 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.43
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 343, no. 42
The zeide told of a young man who came out of yechidus with the Tzemach Tzedek bursting with joy and turning somersaults in the courtyard, because the Rebbe had said Chassidus to him in the meeting. Asked how it happened, the young man related that he had requested, 'Rebbe, say Chassidus for me,' and when the Rebbe asked what he needed Chassidus for, he answered, 'I need something to daven with.' The Rebbe told him to meditate on how Hashem fills all worlds, encompasses all worlds, and how everything is utterly nothing before Him. The young man was Bera, the Patzitzer Rav.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
224 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000459
score 1.21 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.43
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 359-360, no. 4
When R. Leivik (R. Levi Yitzchak) finished speaking, R. Michoel Dvorkin asked him where all of it came from, and he named the sefer and the page — it was Eitz Chaim. Pinya, R. Binyomin's son, who was quite sharp, told the narrator to open to another page; R. Leivik, a gentle man, proceeded to recite a number of pages the way a Yid recites Ashrei. The narrator adds his own observation that before one becomes fluent in Eitz Chaim, one first becomes fluent in other works.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
225 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000478
score 1.21 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.43
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 56, no. 37
In his old age Reb Aizel would speak self-deprecatingly, saying he had nothing to bring to the next world except one thing: shimush talmidei chachomim, service on behalf of Torah sages. The story behind it was that walking down a street in Liozna one summer he saw the Alter Rebbe by his window when a gust of wind carried off a page of the Alter Rebbe's writing, and Reb Aizel picked it up and brought it to him. When a listener smirked, Reb Aizel insisted, "Why are you laughing? According to halacha this is true shimush talmidei chachomim!"
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
209 wordsAlter Rebbe
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score 1.20 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.40
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 138-139, no. 10
The Rebbe Rayatz related that one erev Yom Kippur his father kept giving him tasks until, realizing that his son had not yet eaten before the fast, he told him, "Yosef Yitzchak — you haven't eaten before the fast! Go wash your hands quickly." He washed and said Hamotzi, was allowed a k'zayis, and was then told to bentsh because it was late. On motzaei Yom Kippur the Rebbe Rashab told him that the posuk "lachayosam bara'av" means the hunger itself is what enlivens.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
204 wordsRebbe Rashab
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score 1.20 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.40
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 201, no. 6
After Shavuos in the summer of 5669 (1909), while the Rebbe Rashab was at a dacha in Babinovitch, the narrator came out of yechidus and was called over in the woods by the Rebbe's son, who asked what his father had spoken about. Told it concerned the trip to Warsaw, the Rebbe's son walked with him and spoke at length about not being overwhelmed by the world and carrying oneself exactly as in Lubavitch. He pointed out that the Chinese who come here walk around just as they do at home, because they know that at home everyone conducts himself that way.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
208 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000237
score 1.20 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.40
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 297-298, no. 29
Reb Aizel approached the narrator's zeide and Eliezer Shimon and asked whether they feared "the one with many eyes" — the Angel of Death. They answered that they were not thinking of him at all, only of a little mashkeh, and when he pressed them again they said that if they fear anyone it is G-d. Reb Aizel told them this delighted him, because the Alter Rebbe had once asked him and his fellows the identical question and they had given the identical answer.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
212 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000388
score 1.20 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.40
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 445-446, no. 46
After the Frierdiker Rebbe's passing on Yud Shevat 5710 (1950), R. Zalman Duchman wrote a long letter to our Rebbe accepting him as successor, though the Rebbe did not take up the leadership until a year later. Some months later R. Zalman wrote that the honorifics would now have to change — wishes for health replaced by mention of his righteous memory — recalling that his grandfather R. Mordechai Yoel of Homil, speaking of the Tzemach Tzedek years after his passing, would still say "the Rebbe, may he be well," then catch himself and add "in Gan Eden." The Rebbe answered that there is nothing to fear in saying it: Tanya, Epistle Twenty-Eight explains that the life of a tzaddik is faith, love and fear — in that sense he is very healthy.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
194 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
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score 1.19 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.38
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 213-214, no. 24
The Rebbe described the difference between two ways of traveling to a Rebbe: one man went to Liadi to visit a relative and, since he was already there, also went in to the Alter Rebbe; the second traveled specifically to the Alter Rebbe. Since the Supernal World mirrors the Lower World, when the two passed on, the one who had come only for the Rebbe was admitted as a true chossid, while the other was left with the anguish of asking why he had not gone solely to the Rebbe.
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
180 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000255
score 1.18 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.35
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 453, no. 56
After the passing of Rebbetzin Chana, the Rebbe began saying sichos at farbrengens on a Rashi of the parsha, notifying R. Zalman of the chosen Rashi so he could announce it before davening and give people time to review it. A young bochur played a trick on him, telling him on an ordinary Shabbos with no farbrengen planned that there would be one and naming a Rashi; R. Zalman trusted him and made the announcement, the Rebbe looked at him in wonderment, and no farbrengen took place. R. Zalman wrote a long letter of apology, and the Rebbe assured him it was not his fault and was meant to be b'hashgacha pratis — and at the next Shabbos farbrengen the Rebbe discussed the incident and even offered an explanation on the Rashi that R. Zalman had announced.
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
181 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
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score 1.18 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.35
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 455, no. 59
On the first morning of Sukkos 5712 (1951), the first Tishrei after the Rebbe accepted the nesius, R. Zalman Duchman asked the Rebbe for permission to make the bracha on the Rebbe's lulav and esrog, explaining that in Leningrad the daled minim were hard to obtain and they would use the Frierdiker Rebbe's set. The Rebbe agreed. R. Zalman shared his delight with the other chassidim, who asked for the same privilege and were also granted it, and from this developed the standing practice of chassidim using the Rebbe's own lulav and esrog each year. The text notes that R. Zalman had also used the Rebbe Rashab's lulav and esrog in Rostov.
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
177 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
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score 1.18 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.35
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 174-175, no. 61
R. Meir Simcha of Nevel complained to the Rebbe in Lubavitch that in earlier years he had felt a stronger connection to the Rebbe than he did now. The Rebbe answered that the connection of one neshamah to another comes through Torah, and told him to study his Chassidus. When R. Meir Simcha said he had no maamarim, the Rebbe told him he could obtain them inexpensively from the students in the zal of Tomchei Temimim.
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
174 wordsRebbe Rashab
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score 1.16 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.32
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 311-312, no. 50
Reb Aizel related that when they were yungeleit they would learn standing on their feet the entire night. In the morning they went out without fur coats — not for lack of them but by choice — took axes to chop through the ice, immersed, and only then davened. He added that this cannot be expected of yungeleit today, but learning and davening are still doable.
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
172 wordsRebbe Rayatz
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score 1.16 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.32
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 301, no. 33
Another account the zeide heard from the Tzemach Tzedek's children: their father told them that late into the night he discussed with Reb Aizel subjects that stand at the loftiest heights. Afterwards he went to rest, but then decided to go look at "the zeide's soldier" — the Alter Rebbe's soldier. He found Reb Aizel standing and studying Gemara like a diligent young scholar who had not learned in a long time.
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
160 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000392
score 1.15 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.30
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 409-410, no. 41
The narrator's zeide told this story to illustrate both Reb Aizel's qualities and the innocent sincerity of earlier generations. In Homil the Pesach flour ran out entirely, and the only flour to be had came from mills whose wheat had not been washed; Reb Aizel, the rov of Homil, permitted its use. A balabusta came to him and said, 'Rebbe, they told me that you said it was all right to bake matzah for Pesach from chometzdike flour!' — and he answered that chometz on Pesach is forbidden to eat, but one may bake matzah from simple flour. This went on the entire day, and one can imagine how he suffered.
3 min to tellvery good to tell
351 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000540
score 1.14 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.80 length_suitability=0.68
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 372, no. 9
The narrator's uncle, R. Leib Chasdan — the Sebezesher shochet in Homil — related in the name of the alter chassidim a reading of the verse "At all times, let your garments be white, and let oil not be wanting on your head." A chossid should always picture himself dressed in white with a jug of oil balanced on his head: the slightest movement out of place and his clothes are completely soiled.
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
138 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000493
score 1.14 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.28
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 57-58, no. 39
Reb Aizel told his students that the Alter Rebbe once offered to show him a new path in Chassidus, and he replied that he was not yet finished with the old one. On another occasion the Alter Rebbe invited him, "Aizik, come into the mikveh" — an offer that would have brought him great spiritual benefit — and he answered that he wanted to do the work himself.
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
128 wordsAlter Rebbe
story_000039
score 1.12 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.25
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 349-352, no. 52
As a young man who came to Lubavitch in 5610 (1850) in the days of the Tzemach Tzedek, the narrator's zeide decided that a Rebbe is similar to Hashem and that he wanted to enter without any intermediary. Reb Chaim Ber, the Rebbe's meshares, called him mad and cut off his food allowance, so that for three weeks he lived on two small kichlech a day given him by his study partner, Rebbe Shalom DovBer, son of the Maharil. One night, after Reb Chaim Ber announced that no one was permitted to enter for yechidus, the zeide slipped into the Rebbe's house; as he touched the chamber door the Rebbe came out, he answered with two points, and the Rebbe took his hand and brought him inside for a yechidus 'like none before or after.' When the Rebbe learned that his food allowance had been cut off, he cried 'Oy vey iz mir,' told him he did not need Reb Chaim Ber, and gave him six silver griveniks himself every Thursday morning — through his son the Rebbe Maharash when the zeide came late.
7 min to tellexcellent to tell
926 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000469
score 1.11 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.23
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 137-138, no. 9
On motzaei Yom Kippur 5675 (1914), after an unusually late Neilah, Maariv and Kiddush Levanah, Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah told the Rebbe that her son had not yet broken his fast. When he came in he explained that he had drunk a glass of cold water, remarking that the davening had run so late that Yechiel the chazan, who traveled to raise funds for Tomchei Temimim, could already have covered several villages. The Rebbe answered that he had long ago said that hurrying comes from a soul's lowliness, told him to sit down, and when he would not, said, "You're starting already in the new year?!"
2 min to tellvery good to tell
309 wordsRebbe Rashab
story_000148
score 1.10 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.80 length_suitability=0.60
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 163-164, no. 44
R. Yosef Yozik Gurevitch of Warsaw related that when he and his son-in-law R. Feivel Zalmanov came to the Rebbe outside of Russia, the Rebbe instructed them to be mekabel shalom. Invited to the Rebbe on Shabbos evening when no wine was available, the Rebbe said it does not feel right to hold a knife while reciting Kiddush and told them to make Kiddush over liquor, though he himself recited Kiddush over challah. When they returned Shabbos morning the Rebbetzin asked whether they had davened, and said of the Rebbe, "Ah! How he davened! I barely survived!"
2 min to tellvery good to tell
317 wordsRebbe Rashab
story_000183
score 1.10 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.80 length_suitability=0.60
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 316, no. 57
Someone once davened very quickly before the amud in Reb Aizel's presence, and Reb Aizel asked him why he was rushing. The man answered that he davened fast in order to avoid any improper thoughts. Reb Aizel replied, "I don't know whether you had any improper thoughts, but you surely had no appropriate thoughts."
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
101 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000416
score 1.10 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.20
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 143-144, no. 15
In the summer of 5674 the railroad added a cheap fourth class, halving the fare from Homil to Krasnoye. Wanting to be in Lubavitch for Shavuos, the narrator took his tefillin and slipped away to the train, telling his brother to announce that evening that he had left; on his return his zeide, R' Mordechai Yoel, told him he had acted correctly but should have told him, since he would have given him a three-ruble note for the road. From Krasnoye he walked to Lubavitch on foot, and the spiritual pleasure of that Shavuos was extraordinary: the Rebbe himself led the weekday davening during the mourning period for his mother, Rebbetzin Rivkah, and once, saying 'echad' of Shema in deep concentration, he snapped his fingers.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
302 wordsRebbe Rashab
story_000154
score 1.09 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.80 length_suitability=0.57
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 449-450, no. 50
Though he lived in America for over twenty years, R. Zalman never learned English and continued to live exactly as he had in Lubavitch. He slept from 11 pm until before 3 am and kept a fixed daily study program — Zohar on the parsha, Torah Ohr or Likutei Torah on the parsha, and the daily portion of Tehillim — always completing the full weekly cycle of each, followed by mikvah, more study, and shacharis. In his corner of the original 770 shul he would wait for kaddish, chazoras hashatz and krias haTorah and then daven for hours, on Shabbos until two or three in the afternoon. He devoted much of his day to maamorim and the Rebbe's sichos, attended R. Mentlik's weekly sicha shiur, and in old age enjoyed the bochurim's company, unhesitatingly asking a bochur fifty years his junior to repeat a sicha or learn with him as a chavrusa.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
302 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
story_000606
score 1.09 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.80 length_suitability=0.57
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 472-473, no. 13
R. Yisroel Duchman told the Rebbe that guests unfamiliar with the chassidic lifestyle were visiting for Simchas Torah, and that his wife, worried about the impression they would form of him, had advised him to restrain himself. The Rebbe responded, "Du zolst nispael veren fun zei?! Zei zol nispael veren fun dir! — You be impacted by them?! Let them be impacted by you!"
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
72 wordsR. Yisroel Duchman
story_000647
score 1.07 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.15
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 237-238, no. 60
The Rebbe related that when the Rashbatz (Reb Shmuel Betzalel) told him he would begin learning Chassidus with him, he refused, saying he would learn Chassidus only with his father. The Rashbatz protested that he had taught Chassidus to both his father and his grandfather. When his father asked why he would not study with the Rashbatz, he repeated that he wanted to learn only with him; his father objected that he was busy with people and had no time, and he answered, "I'll wait" — and so it was. Later his father told him he was very grateful for his insistence.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
270 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000291
score 1.06 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.80 length_suitability=0.53
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 346-347, no. 47
The narrator's zeide once visited a very poor relative of the Tzemach Tzedek in Nezhin and asked him why he stayed silent about his poverty. The man explained that he had once sent a pidyon with a chossid traveling to Lubavitch; the Tzemach Tzedek accepted the pidyon but gave no response, and when the chossid asked before returning how he should answer, the Rebbe said, "Look, there are many poor people. Apparently, this is how it's meant to be." The man concluded, "Nu, what more can I do?" The zeide's own telling included the names of those involved.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
268 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000464
score 1.06 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.80 length_suitability=0.53
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 114-115, no. 62
The narrator recalls that R. Monye Monissohn was a chossid of the Tzemach Tzedek, and that as with the venerable chassidim of earlier generations, his Rebbe "lived within him." In the summer of 5673 (1913) the narrator traveled with his zeide to Petersburg for the wedding of one of his zeide's grandchildren, a son of his Uncle Leib, and the two of them paid a visit to R. Monye, who was staying in a large room in R. Shmuel Nemoytin's home. He watched the two elder chassidim sit together speaking only of their first Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek, their faces flushed, visibly living in the years of their youth by the Rebbe.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
260 wordsTzemach Tzedek
story_000118
score 1.05 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.80 length_suitability=0.50
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 395-396, no. 23
R. Yochanan the shochet related that when the Rebbe stopped in Vilna on his way from Russia to Warsaw, a tomim named Yaakov Hochman (Dokshitzer) asked him for a "ruchnius'dike yechidus" — a tikkun. The Rebbe said he could not answer; R. Yaakov said the Rebbe's father used to answer, and when the Rebbe replied that he had presumably already asked him, R. Yaakov said these were newer matters. The Rebbe then gave him a tikkun: to learn one chapter of Tanya in depth for a full week, the same chapter, and thereby become clear in Tanya. R. Yaakov did so and became expert in Tanya; an outstanding oveid, he had intended to travel to America but remained in Riga, HY"D.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
261 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000522
score 1.05 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.80 length_suitability=0.50
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 148-149, no. 20
R. Shmuel Leib told the narrator a second story in Kremenchug in 5684 (1924): while a student in Tomchei Temimim in Lubavitch he had a deeply spiritual yechidus, whose content he would not reveal. Being young and wanting to reach the highest levels, he asked the Rebbe, “And Thursday?” — meaning whether he should stay awake all Thursday night to learn — and the Rebbe answered, “Nu.” He stayed up that first Thursday night and his eyes became bloodshot and painful; since another yechidus was hard to obtain, he asked the elder mashpia R. Michoel dem alten to inquire for him, and the Rebbe smiled: “Nu, I didn't instruct him to stay up.”
2 min to tellvery good to tell
253 wordsRebbe Rashab
story_000159
score 1.04 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.80 length_suitability=0.47
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 150-151, no. 23
Yechidus was hard for the tomimim of Tomchei Temimim to obtain, so when one had a small question he would watch for an opportune moment to catch the Rebbe, since the Rebbe had said that yechidus must be attended at its scheduled time, because beforehand he gives tzedakah and asks the Eibershter that his advice succeed. When the narrator's brother Baruch had to travel from Lubavitch to Shedrin, where there was a branch of Tomchei Temimim, he found such a moment and told the Rebbe he was traveling there. The Rebbe answered, “You should study there, and daven and serve the Eibershter” — which the narrator notes marks serving Hashem as a third, further stage.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
237 wordsRebbe Rashab
story_000162
score 1.02 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.80 length_suitability=0.45
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 465, no. 75
Even in his final years R. Zalman Duchman remained steadfastly dedicated to the ideals of Chassidus. His son-in-law R. Eliyahu Lipskier related that during R. Zalman's last days, when his situation was not good, he came in from Toronto and visited him in the hospital on a Friday morning; R. Zalman immediately asked him to bring a question to the Rebbe that day and to relay the answer, saying it was causing him much agony. The question was that he had been careful for so many years to go to the mikvah daily and remain in a state of purity, but in the hospital, where purity mattered so much to him, he was attended by non-Jewish nurses. Though the son-in-law was uncomfortable asking and did not think it was a big deal, he went at once to 770, relayed the question when the Rebbe came out of his room, and the Rebbe considered it seriously and responded — and when the answer was brought back, R. Zalman's face shone.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
238 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
story_000631
score 1.02 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.80 length_suitability=0.45
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 342, no. 41
R. DovBer Menachem Mendel related that on R. Aizel's yahrzeit his grandchildren, R. Eliezer Shimon (son of R. Yosef Tumarkin) and R. Tzvi Dov, finished davening and were taking a l'chaim when the narrator's zeide passed by and joined them. They remarked that forty years had passed since their grandfather's passing (5617-5657 / 1857-1897), so by the Gemara's statement they should now have attained their teacher's wisdom. The zeide answered that the statement applies only on condition that one 'followed in his ways.'
2 min to tellvery good to tell
221 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000458
score 1.01 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.80 length_suitability=0.43
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 202-203, no. 8
A rov who had been an outstanding student in Lubavitch related that he was not allotted shemurah matzah for all of Pesach, though such students expected it. He went to the Rebbe Rayatz, then the menahel po'el, and said simply, "Shemurah." The Rebbe answered, "Shemurah? Shemurah is in the trousers," and the student ran out at once.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
191 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000239
score 0.99 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.80 length_suitability=0.38
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 291, no. 15
Late one night Reb Aizel was farbrenging with his students. He told them that when they were yungeleit the special treat at farbrengens was sauerkraut and pickles, but that this was no comparison to potatoes. He then stood up and called to his wife, Elka, to come and cook potatoes for the chassidim.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
195 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000374
score 0.99 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.80 length_suitability=0.38
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 424-425, no. 12
Returning to Homil after Simchas Torah, R. Zalman Duchman was present when his zeide R. Mordechai Yoel passed away at age 83 at four in the morning on erev Shabbos Kodesh, 5 MarCheshvan 5679 (1918). In his own words, the family stood by all night as his zeide turned from side to side holding his yarmulke on his head so it would not fall, and as his soul departed R. Zalman's father cried out, "The crown of our head has fallen," wailing in anguish for six hours without interruption. Before his passing the zeide had asked one of his friends to place a Tanya in his burial place; they placed only the title page (shaar blettl). Soon after, typhus raged in Homil and struck the Duchman family; R. Ber Mendel nursed them back to health, but the effort cost him his life, and having just completed saying kaddish for his father he too passed away.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
192 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
story_000568
score 0.99 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.80 length_suitability=0.38
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 181-182, no. 71
The Rebbe customarily davened the first Maariv of Rosh Hashanah in the small zal. In 5668 or 5669 the narrator was standing on a bench near the wealthy chossid Shmuel Gurary, who held a small siddur, listened to every word from the Rebbe's holy mouth, and was drenched with tears. When the Rebbe recited Ya'aleh veYavo, the older students standing nearby remarked that Shmuel Gurary is a very dear friend of the Rebbe, and when the Rebbe cries, he cries too.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
176 wordsRebbe Rashab
story_000210
score 0.98 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.80 length_suitability=0.35
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 200-201, no. 5
R. Yisroel Neveler related that the Rebbe explained chinuch in sur meira with a parable about nursemaids: with one sort of nursemaid a child will not be soiled by age two; with a better one, not even at a year; and there is a nursemaid who knows the child's eyes, so that already at two or three months the child is always clean. 'And that,' said the Rebbe, 'is the sort of nursemaid I had.'
1 min to tellvery good to tell
179 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000236
score 0.98 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.80 length_suitability=0.35
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 429-430, no. 20
Life in Leningrad was hard: housing was scarce and dilapidated, and most families had to share apartments and a common kitchen, which was especially difficult for Jewish families whose apartment-mates were not Jewish. R. Zalman was fortunate to rent an apartment in the home of a prominent doctor and did not have to share it. One small sewing machine gave him a minimal income -- the government supplied raw materials and he sewed them into garments -- which let frum Yidden set their own schedules and not worry about taking off for Shabbos and Yom-Tov. Those who saw him at work recall him in full Chassidic garb, one hand turning the machine and the other clutching a Tehillim, lovingly reciting its words.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
179 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
story_000576
score 0.98 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.80 length_suitability=0.35
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 41-42, no. 18
The Mitteler Rebbe was once ill for several days, and his mother, Rebbetzin Sterna, came to the Alter Rebbe and said that his son was unwell and he did not even visit him. The Alter Rebbe went in to him and said, "You have no mercy at all for your mother; the 'explanation' is coming." The Mitteler Rebbe was barely able to ask, "When?" — so weakened had he become from not yet having heard his father's biur on a previous maamar.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
172 wordsAlter Rebbe
story_000018
score 0.96 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.80 length_suitability=0.32
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