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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 263-265, no. 103
The Rashag, the Rebbe's son-in-law, came from Kostrama for Shabbos and after Minchah, near the balcony in the large zal, told a few people in the Rebbe's name what he had undergone and the questions the interrogators had asked. The interrogation room had thin plywood walls, an investigator with a stubby nose and a stutter, and senior officials seated further back. When Lulav and Nachmanson came in, the Rebbe said that history would record the disgrace of who was appointed to interrogate the Lubavitcher Rebbe; when they accused him of espionage he demanded they retract it at once and asked whether they wanted another Beilis Affair; and when they raised his spreading of Torah he said, "I am not a teacher; I salute learning Torah." He refused to answer any questions until his tefillin were returned, and when he put on his hat to say Shehakol over a glass of water and was told he could be made shorter by a head, he answered, "The whole earth is filled with His glory."
4 min to tellexcellent to tell
504 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000334
score 1.49 ·
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=0.97
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
story_000427
score 1.24 ·
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=0.47
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 474-475, no. 18
R. Yisroel Duchman tried to connect everyone he helped to the Rebbe, and so brought a guest of honor from a Shamir fundraising dinner to the Rebbe, after putting on tefillin with him for the first time beforehand. When R. Yisroel proudly reported the first-time tefillin as they passed by, the Rebbe gently remarked that this was not something to be proud of, and then asked the philanthropist with a warm smile whether he would put on tefillin every day if the Rebbe gave him a pair; the man said he would. The Rebbe told R. Yisroel — who asked to be his partner in it — that they would be partners in other projects, and asked him to buy the tefillin at once and bring back a paid receipt. When R. Yisroel returned with the receipt, the Rebbe began handing him bills; R. Yisroel stopped after a few, saying he wanted to be the Rebbe's partner, but the Rebbe insisted he take the full amount for the tefillin, "We will be partners in other things."
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
247 wordsR. Yisroel Duchman
story_000652
score 1.24 ·
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=0.47
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 413-414, no. 50
Before his passing, the renowned chossid R. Yaakov Mordechai Bezpalov said that he had slept on a chair for thirty years, and that putting on tefillin even once is more precious than those thirty years of sleeping on a chair. Chassidim commented that in order to feel the preciousness of tefillin the way he felt it, one must first sleep on a chair for thirty years. A note adds that at the end of his life he regretted the self-denial, thinking that had he not weakened himself he might have lived to put on tefillin one more time.
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
137 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000549
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. 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, p. 118, no. 1
R. Binyamin Althoiz related that the Rebbe Maharash once told the chossid and shochet R. Asher of Nikolayev that he should learn Midrash. R. Asher answered that he had no Midrashim. The Rebbe Maharash responded, "And Rabbenu Tam tefillin, you do have?"
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
83 wordsRebbe Maharash
story_000119
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. 294-295, no. 24
The narrator's father, the chossid R. DovBer Menachem Mendel, visited his ailing uncle Rav Shneur Zalman in Homil, who was sitting up in bed removing his tefillin and remarked, "Bera Mendel, when the appointed time comes, we are always unprepared." The father answered that he had heard from his own father, Reb Mordechai Yoel, that he had once said to Reb Aizel, "Just as we are close to you here, so may we merit to be close to you there," and that Reb Aizel replied, "No promises; but this is something you may ask for." Uncle Zalman corrected the wording: Reb Aizel had said, "This is something that you should ask for."
2 min to tellvery good to tell
276 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000383
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. 456-457, no. 60
R. Zalman's directness and warmth gave him a unique relationship with the Rebbe, so chassidim would ask him to present their requests. In his diary he records a yechidus in Elul 5728 (1968) where the conversation turned to eating before davening: he repeated to the Rebbe what he had heard from R. Binyomin Althoiz, that when a doctor told Meir Shlomo the rov (the Rebbe's grandfather) to eat before davening he took a 25-kopek coin and traveled to Lubavitch, and the Rebbe Rashab told him that one recites Krias Shema in tefillin and should recite Shmoneh Esrei as well; and that Yehoshua Beshenkovitzer, a rov in Vitebsk, was similarly told by the Rebbe Rashab that since the doctor said to eat early, he should finish davening early and then eat. After hearing him out, the Rebbe said, "Those were early chassidim. Today, one must eat, but not like those in Kfar Chabad who eat bread and herring."
2 min to tellvery good to tell
279 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
story_000616
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. 210-211, no. 20
One Yud-Tes Kislev the Rebbe lifted his head, looked up toward the assembled crowd, and spoke of someone who had been in Lubavitch in Tomchei Temimim and about whom it was now questionable whether he put on tefillin at the proper time — saying that even as a steward of a train carriage, at the brakes he would do teshuvah and melt like a candle. A parenthetical note records that the young man was later in Tashkent, critically ill and with a foot amputated, and told the narrator that he had become a different person years earlier when the Rebbe Rashab came to him and said, "Moshe, enough!"
2 min to tellvery good to tell
224 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000251
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, p. 53, no. 32
Reb Aizel related that the Alter Rebbe once told the Mitteler Rebbe he was lying down and asked him to stand by the door and wake him for Mincha. Standing at the door, the Mitteler Rebbe saw the bed begin to move about, and suddenly the Alter Rebbe came out and told him to run and call Reuven the sofer to bring a leather strap, whereupon the Alter Rebbe showed him how to tie the knot of the head-tefillin. Der Zeide would add that this was the equivalent of 'Hashem showed him the knot of the tefillin.'
2 min to tellvery good to tell
190 wordsAlter Rebbe
story_000032
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. 122, no. 8
Speaking of the Rebbe Maharash's hatzne'a leches, the narrator's zeide once came upon the Rebbe sitting in tallis and tefillin for four hours between two doors. The Rebbe had positioned himself there so that people would assume he was somewhere else.
0 min to tellvery good to tell
54 wordsRebbe Maharash
story_000126
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. 326, no. 13
Each morning the zeide recited Kriyas Shema wearing tefillin — every day, even in winter — and then lay down for 20-30 minutes to gather strength to daven at length, which he continued to do until his last days. He began at 9 a.m. and was careful not to start Shemoneh Esrei later than noon; the remaining prayers together with his study of Mishnayos and Alfas lasted until 1:30 p.m. After eating something he rested again, and afterwards learned Gemara extensively.
1 min to tellgood to tell
179 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000430
score 0.77 ·
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=0.35
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