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Stories from As I Heard Them (Lesheima Ozen) by Reb Zalman Duchman. © The Duchman Family; used with permission — share this sheet as produced, do not republish the stories in other formats.

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Stories for

Shavuos

The Great Shavuos in Homil

As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 62-63, no. 2

דער זיידע פלעגט דערציילן וועגן דעם "גרויסן שבועות" וואָס דער מיטעלער רבי איז געווען אין האָמליע, וואָס אים האָט דערציילט שלמה דער איטשער (פון אים שטאַמט די פאַמיליע אוטיעווסקי, אין בראָנסק בן ציון אוטיעווסקי, אין האָמליע דובער אוטיעווסקי ועוד): ווילסט וויסן וויפל מענטשן זיינען געווען? איך בין ניט געווען קיין גרויסער גביר און ניט באַקאַנט מיט דער וועלט, איז ביי מיר געווען צום טיש צען מנינים מענטשן. נו, עס איז דאָך געווען גרויסע גבירים און באַקאַנטע מיט דער וועלט, קען מען זיך פאָרשטעלן וויפל טויזנטער מענטשן זיינען געווען.

4 In 5567 (1807), one of the Alter Rebbe’s granddaughters married a grandson of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev; the two grandfathers hence became mechutanim, in-laws.

עס וואָלט דאָך ניט זיין וואָס צו עסן, איז אָנגעלאָפן אין האָמליער טייך "סאָז" פיש, אַז מ'איז געגאַנגען מיט עמער צום טייך און מ'האָט אָנגענומען פיש.

My zeide spoke of the “Great Shavuos” — when the Mitteler Rebbe was in Homil — that Shlomo der Itcher5 described to him:

“Do you want to know how many people were there? Now, I’m neither a rich nor well-known person — and there were ten minyanim of people sitting around my table. And there are quite wealthy and illustrious people living in town — nu, imagine how many thousands of people were there!

“There wouldn’t have been enough to eat — but the river running through Homil is filled with saz fish, so they went to the river with pails to catch them. ”

Holiday: shavuos (5/5): The story is entirely an account of the gathering known as "the Great Shavuos," which took place on Shavuos with the Mitteler Rebbe in Homil.

Also this occasion

Shirayim of a Tzaddik on Shavuos

As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 77-78, no. 4

The narrator's grandfather told of a Shavuos when Chaim Ber, the Rebbe's attendant, brought out large jugs of mashkeh and trays of food after davening. After the Kiddush the zeide ran off to the Rebbe's son, R. Chaim Shneur Zalman, who was sitting at a table with chassidim and asked what was going on at his father's; told it was the same as here, he replied that his actions had matched those of a great man. When blintzes were served the zeide did not take any, and R. Chaim Shneur Zalman told him the food was from there — shirayim of a tzaddik, a segulah for sons and daughters, and for one who does not need that, for love and awe of G-d. The zeide was struck that although the food had simply been sent from the Rebbe's home to all the children, R. Chaim Shneur Zalman nonetheless called it shirayim of a tzaddik.

Sanctity of a tzaddikHiskashrus

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On Foot from Krasnoye: Shavuos 5674 in Lubavitch

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.

HiskashrusMesiras NefeshTemimus (sincerity)

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The Maamarim Written in Prison, Until They Took Away the Pencil

As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 260-261, no. 99

When the narrator and his brother-in-law Yitzchak Minkovitch came into the children's room, the Rebbe asked whether they had learned Chassidus during the period of his imprisonment; they answered that they had recited Tehillim. The Rebbe said that he himself had written maamarim until his pencil was taken away. A few hours later he gave them the Shavuos maamarim, inscribed "Written in prison, 19 Sivan 5687" and "Written in prison, 20 Sivan 5687"; the last word of the text was "light." When the narrator later asked in Malachovka for the end of the maamar, the Rebbe answered, "Nothing more came."

Mesiras NefeshHafatzas HamaayanosEmes

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