Find a story
32 stories
Add the stories you want to your picks as you browse, then build
a newsletter or farbrengen sheet from them.
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 79-80, no. 6
The Alter Rebbe asked the Tzemach Tzedek where his dowry money was; told it had been given to a wealthy man in Vitebsk to invest, he asked whether the Tzemach Tzedek would take it back and place it in the chest of contributions for the Rabbi Meir Baal HaNess fund. The Tzemach Tzedek remained silent, and shortly afterward the wealthy man went bankrupt and the money was lost. When the Tzemach Tzedek's wife came in tears to her grandfather, the Alter Rebbe said, "Should my own children not listen to me?" — and told how the Maggid had once sent him and a companion on a mission, where a Jew living fifty verst from the nearest town, hearing them wonder aloud how a Jew could never hear Borchu or Kedushah, had his wagons loaded to move to town before they had even finished davenen, once he learned they were the Rebbe's students.
3 min to tellexcellent to tell
403 wordsTzemach Tzedek
story_000062
score 1.39 ·
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=0.78
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
story_000045
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. 488-489, no. 9
In Toronto the Rebbe encouraged R. Eliyahu to devote himself to education, and he took a position in a Talmud Torah. Friends repeatedly pressed him toward lucrative business ventures — some who entered them became millionaires — but the Rebbe answered him: being so qualified in education, is this why you had mesiras nefesh in Russia and endured everything to reach Canada, to become a businessman? He stayed in chinuch al pi taharas hakodesh for life, never arriving late once in thirty-six years, was honored at an Eitz Chaim Talmud Torah dinner attended by five hundred people, founded the first Chabad institution in Toronto with R. Yosef Assulski funding a shul and mikva, and served two decades as a spiritual guide in Gan Yisroel camp.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
325 wordsR. Eliyahu Akiva Lipskar
story_000668
score 1.31 ·
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=0.62
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 255-256, no. 94
A note written by the Rebbe was found on the high table in his room after his arrest on Wednesday, 15 Sivan 5687 (1927) in Leningrad, and was later printed in Kuntres Yud-Beis Tammuz 5708. R. Pinchas, son of R. Eliyahu Chaim [Althoiz], kept the note hidden in Leningrad and would take it out, together with two letters the Rebbe wrote on Yud-Beis Tammuz, at the farbrengen held in his home every Yud-Beis Tammuz, and they would be read aloud. In the note the Rebbe instructs that in every chassidishe shul the daily portion of Tehillim be said with a minyan after Shacharis, including Shabbos, followed by Kaddish, and that shopkeepers and businessmen come to daven and to the Ein Yaakov class, promising Hashem's help with abundant livelihood. He tells chassidim to say that he instructs them, and other Yidden that out of Ahavas Yisroel and their well-being he begs them, closing with a blessing for a good year in ruchnius and gashmius and the complete Redemption through Moshiach.
4 min to tellvery good to tell
502 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000325
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, p. 251, no. 88
The narrator recalls receiving the bitter news of the Rebbe's passing on Yud Shevat 5710 (1950), falling to the ground with only his lips moving: "We are lost, we are lost." He recalls hearing from the senior chassidim that chassidim who said "he" in every generation were mistaken, and admits that after the Rebbe Rashab's passing he himself had asked, "If my father is not here, can I take another father?" — until he grasped that it is the same father, with even greater strength. He adds that when he came for Rosh Hashanah 5683 (1922), the Rebbe told him at his first yechidus, "We provide parnassah for our children."
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
222 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000319
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. 475-476, no. 20
In 5723 (1962), when R. Yisroel Duchman was earning very little, he served as a chazan in a nearby shul for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, earning around $300, which he set aside to buy the family a washing machine. That year an uncle came from Eretz Yisroel for a bracha to marry off his three older daughters; in yechidus the Rebbe told him that if he grew a beard he would find good shidduchim for them, but the uncle, clean shaven and ten years older than his wife, was certain she would not agree. Knowing that their aunt badly wanted a leather coat the couple could not afford, the Duchmans gave away all the money saved for their much-needed washing machine so the uncle could buy it for her. He began to grow his beard, and within a few months all three daughters found good shidduchim.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
216 wordsR. Yisroel Duchman
story_000654
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. 172, no. 57
When the mashpia R. Michoel Bliner of Nevel grew old and weak, Lazer Kaplan, the yeshivah office manager, proposed to the Rebbe Rashab that R. Michoel's five-ruble weekly salary be discontinued. The Rebbe replied that it was worth the money to him if the students of Tomchei Temimim merely looked at him — the very image of an "alten chossid." People explained the Rebbe's phrase to mean a chossid of the Alter Rebbe.
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
181 wordsRebbe Rashab
story_000196
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. 178, no. 65
On Simchas Torah 5679 (1918) the narrator heard the following from the Rebbe Rashab. People were discussing the large sums being given to tzedakah, and the Rebbe's son, the Rebbe Rayatz, remarked that they give because the money means nothing to them. The Rebbe Rashab would not tolerate this and said, "Who do you think will bring Moshiach — the penniless? No, the wealthy — they will bring Moshiach."
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
126 wordsRebbe Rashab
story_000204
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. 247-248, no. 81
Alter Dvinsker, a Tomchei Temimim student, was to be hired as a shochet in a shtetl, but the community first wanted the Rebbe's approval. He came to Moscow for yechidus at the end of 5682 (1922), and the Rebbe told him not to be a shochet, explaining with the posuk "For man sees what is visible to the eyes" that the second half — "While G-d sees into the heart" — has been given to us, and advised him to learn photography for the time being. He did so and earned a good living, but when photography became unprofitable around 5695 (1935) he became a shochet in Horodok, and when the persecution of Yiddishkeit intensified he was arrested in 5698 (1938).
2 min to tellvery good to tell
314 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000312
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. 102-103, no. 42
R. Mordechai Yoel related that women would travel to the Viledniker Rebbe while men went to Lubavitch, but after the Viledniker's passing everyone — including many agunos — came to the Tzemach Tzedek, who performed open miracles. His children challenged him for performing miracles "as they do in Poland." He answered that it required nothing more than a good memory: he had advised each young man where to travel for a livelihood, so when a wife later came searching for her vanished husband, he remembered where he had sent him.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
274 wordsTzemach Tzedek
story_000098
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. 313-314, no. 54
R. Yisroel — a son-in-law of Reb Aizel's son R. Yaakov Yosef, and also Reb Aizel's nephew — was seriously ill and paralyzed, and his wife struggled to support their small children through her dry goods store. When it became too much, she came weeping to her zeide, Reb Aizel. He answered her, "What do you want from me? He (the Eibershter) can do whatever He wants with me; I won't give Him any advice."
2 min to tellvery good to tell
237 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000413
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, pp. 470-471, no. 6
R. Yisroel first took a job in a butcher store and later opened his own poultry business; in yechidus, when the Rebbe asked him for good news, he reported opening his own butcher shop and asked the Rebbe to be his partner, and the Rebbe gave him a $50 bill. In his characteristic way he told the Rebbe, "If you're giving the money to be a partner, $50 is nothing, and if you're giving it as a segulah, then one dollar is also enough." He rose at four a.m. daily for his delivery route, but used his warmth and humor with his Williamsburg customers to move them to give to charitable causes and to change their view of the Rebbe and Lubavitch; his wife Rochel worked in a factory so that he could give his time to the Rebbe and to helping others, and their children nonetheless felt their parents were devoted to them.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
237 wordsR. Yisroel Duchman
story_000640
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, pp. 207-208, no. 15
On Simchas Torah the Rebbe spoke about davening Mincha. A person who must travel to the Petrogradska side to sell twenty sacks of oats and ten sacks of flour has no excuse when the time for Mincha arrives. And the same is true of a yosheiv ohel sitting absorbed in a deep concept when the clock reaches 4:45 — tearing himself away from that learning to daven is, the Rebbe said, self-sacrifice of the highest order.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
178 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000246
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, p. 370, no. 6
At a farbrengen with Reb Groinem in Lubavitch in 5667-68 (1907-08), the familiar complaint came up again that Lubavitcher chassidim were not prosperous. One of the Temimim answered that he had seen an old manuscript stating that someone bound up with pnimius haTorah does not receive his life-force through the seventy ministering angels who bestow material bounty on the nations. Receiving from a loftier source, he said, is no easy matter and requires merit.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
175 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000490
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
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 346, no. 46
The narrator's zeide related that Rebbe Michel of Zlotchov gave his students their Shabbos expenses every Friday morning. When they asked him to give the money on Thursday instead, he said he would ask, and afterwards reported the answer he received from Above: "A petack is not money, but suffering is precious." A footnote explains that although he could have arranged the money a day earlier, their distress and humility over their circumstances was treasured in Heaven.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
139 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000463
score 0.94 ·
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=0.28
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 414-415, no. 52
While the narrator was working at the machine by hand, the well-known chossid R. Michoel Dvorkin walked in and, apparently reading the gloom on his face, said, "Serve G-d with joy!" This echoed the Rebbe Rayatz's teaching that "Six days you shall work" is itself a mitzvah.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
112 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000551
score 0.91 ·
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=0.22
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 320, no. 3
When Reb Hillel Paritcher passed away he left behind substantial debts, because he would borrow money in order to distribute it as tzedakah; he collected funds in the Ukraine. The Tzemach Tzedek wrote a note beginning, "Since HaRav Reb Hillel has passed away…", asking the chassidim to help pay off the debts.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
99 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000420
score 0.90 ·
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=0.20
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 417-418, no. 57
The narrator's brother Baruch wrote to him from the Holy Land what he had heard from the elder chassidim on the posuk 'his hope is in Hashem his G-d' (Tehillim 146:5): read as 'his breaking,' it teaches that a person's brokenness should be over his spiritual state, while materially Yidden should flourish.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
109 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000556
score 0.90 ·
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=0.20
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 239, no. 64
On motzaei Yom Kippur 5688 (1927) the Rebbe said that his father had told him — mentioning the year — that material abundance for the entire coming year is drawn down through two things: reciting LeDovid Mizmor with great concentration on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur after Shemoneh Esrei, and breaking the fast on motzaei Yom Kippur expansively.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
92 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000295
score 0.89 ·
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=0.18
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 42-43, no. 20
The Alter Rebbe once said that if his children devote themselves to ruchnius, they will have gashmius as well.
0 min to tellvery good to tell
38 wordsAlter Rebbe
story_000020
score 0.86 ·
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=0.12
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 90, no. 23
During the Tzemach Tzedek's lifetime, his son R. Yehudah Leib was in Chernigov and said at a farbrengen that our chassidim would be highly regarded — it is just the karbele, a Russian coin, that gets in the way.
0 min to tellvery good to tell
70 wordsTzemach Tzedek
story_000079
score 0.86 ·
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=0.12
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 293, no. 21
The Alter Rebbe blessed him, "Aizik, you should be wealthy!" The blessing was fulfilled through the funds that people would deposit with him for safekeeping, and he became wealthy.
0 min to tellvery good to tell
46 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000380
score 0.86 ·
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=0.12
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 427-428, no. 17
R. Zalman Duchman's first journey to the Frierdiker Rebbe after the histalkus of the Rebbe Rashab was for Rosh Hashanah 5683 (1922). He wrote that at that visit, in the first yechidus, the Rebbe told him, "We provide parnassah for our children."
0 min to tellvery good to tell
50 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
story_000573
score 0.86 ·
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=0.12
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 433-435, no. 30
R. Zalman Duchman records that when he and his fellow chassidim felt dejected by their difficult situation, a vort from the Rebbe lifted them. R. Michoel Dvorkin once came in while R. Zalman was working at the machine and, noticing his gloomy expression, told him, "Serve G-d with joy!" - echoing the Rebbe Rayatz's words that "Six days you shall work" is itself a mitzvah.
0 min to tellvery good to tell
62 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
story_000586
score 0.86 ·
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=0.12
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 219, no. 35
A young man came to yechidus and complained that times were hard for making a living, citing the Rebbe's letter of Kislev 5672 to Yeshivas Toras Emes in the Holy Land, which said one must keep his dwelling clean or the owner will drive him out in disgrace — and to cleanliness there is no limit. The Rebbe gave no reply at the time. On Shabbos he said the maamar Mashcheini acharechah and noted that the word can also be read Mishkani ('My sanctuary'), and that besides a dwelling's cleanliness there is also its goodness and beauty.
2 min to tellgood to tell
224 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000266
score 0.81 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.60 length_suitability=0.43
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 44, no. 22
The chassidim once complained to the Alter Rebbe about the poverty Jews were suffering. He answered that present-day neshamos are reincarnations from the era of the first Beis Hamikdash, whose destruction was caused in large part by idolatry — a sin whose punishment is death — and that every occasion when a person's material needs go unmet serves in place of that punishment.
1 min to tellgood to tell
134 wordsAlter Rebbe
story_000022
score 0.72 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.60 length_suitability=0.25
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 443-445, no. 45
The Frierdiker Rebbe encouraged R. Zalman to care for his fellow refugees both physically and spiritually. In a letter of 15 Av 5709 (1949) he instructed him to report any change of address so that letters would continue to reach the chassidim, to see that all the children had chadorim to attend, and, where necessary, to give them the opportunity to learn a trade so as to ease their families' financial burden.
1 min to tellgood to tell
75 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
story_000601
score 0.68 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.60 length_suitability=0.15
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 293, no. 20
Reb Aizel ran his household in an affluent manner, with a clock in every room. His constitution was delicate — meaning, for instance, that even during the week he ate his bread from a plate.
1 min to telltells with work
74 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000379
score 0.48 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.40 length_suitability=0.15
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 143, no. 14
A brief recollection that people were generally poor in those years, and that one would travel to Lubavitch once a year, for Rosh Hashanah.
0 min to tellhard to tell well
31 wordsRebbe Rashab
story_000153
score 0.26 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.20 length_suitability=0.12
|