My zeide described the depth of the chassidim of yore:
R. Yosef Lubavitcher20 — also known as Der Fetter (Uncle) Yosele, for he was the Tzemach Tzedek’s uncle21 — was in Chernigov one Yom Kippur, where R. Nochum [Galttman] — a great man, one of Reb Aizel’s venerable students and a chossid of the Mitteler Rebbe — served as rov. (My zeide called him Rabbi Nochum Chernigover.) Before Kol Nidrei , Der Fetter Yosele took his place along a wall, where he stood until the following evening.
Now after Neilah the custom among chassidim is to sing and, accordingly, a joyous tumult broke out. R. Yosef ran to Rabbi Nochum. “Nochum, ” he exclaimed, “what an unprincipled city22 you have! After Kol Nidrei they’re already singing?!”
R. Yosef’s father was Rav Yissachar Ber, the rabbinic authority of Lubavitch. ↩
His wife was the sister of Rabbi Shalom Shachne, the Tzemach Tzedek’s father. ↩
I heard from someone to whom the Rebbe Rayatz told:
One erev Yom Kippur before the seudah mafsekes (the final meal) my father gave me continual tasks to do. Then, realizing the situation, he told me, “Yosef Yitzchak” — he called him by both names — “you haven’t eaten before the fast! Go wash your hands quickly!” I washed and said Hamotzi.
My father let me eat a k’zayis (minimum amount) and then said, “Bentsh, it’s late!”
Motzaei Yom Kippur the Rebbe Rashab told the Rayatz, “The posuk states, ‘Lachayosam bara’av – to sustain them in famine ’19 — the hunger, alone, enlivens. ”
Tehillim 33:19. The simple meaning is that Hashem enlivens a person by providing him sustenance in a time of famine. ↩
One erev Yom Kippur in Lubavitch, after Mincha, I saw the venerable chossid R. Pesach Kuper of Taganrog come out of the Rebbe’s room wearing a tallis and kittel, and saw that he had been crying. He had gone inside, he told me, to ask the Rebbe for his erev Yom Kippur blessing, and the Rebbe wanted to bentch him.
“I was privileged, ” he told the Rebbe, “that your grandfather and your father each placed their hand on my head when bentching me, and I ask you also to place your hand on my head when you bentch m e.”
R. Pesach concluded, “He put his hand on my head and burst into tears; both of us wept. ”
Standing the Entire Yom Kippur, Then Sitting Down to Learn
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 338-340, no. 37
A similar story was told to me by my great -grandfather, R. Yitzchak HaCohen Kahaneman of Sosnitza — my zeide’s father-in-law (who passed away at the age of 99 on the 16 th of Marcheshvan, 5672 (1911) in Homil). He transported tobacco from Sosnitza to Riga, and one erev Yom Kippur, on the way home from Riga, he passed through Homil. My zeide greeted him briefly, for time on erev Yom Kippur is precious.
My zeide stood at his place to daven at Kol Nidrei, and my great -grandfather Yitzchak, having concluded davening, completed all of Tehillim with the minyan. “I glanced over at my Mordechai Yoel, ” my great -grandfather told me, “and he was still standing and davening.” My great -grandfather lay down to rest and woke up a few hours later — it was Yom Kippur, after all — while my zeide stood the entire night and day (although my great - grandfather couldn’t say what his son-in-law did during those few hours he slept).
And when they ended the fast after Maariv my 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 my zeide went off to study.
It was very late on motzaei Yom Kippur, 5675 (1914 ); the Rebbe was in the dining room. The Neilah prayer had been late, followed by Maariv and Kiddush Levanah. I was standing near the wall when Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah came in and spoke to the Rebbe about the Rebbe Rayatz — she was accustomed to call him by his first name, Yosef — that he had not yet ended the fast. When he came into the room the Rebbe said to him, “What are you doing?”
“I drank a glass of cold water, ” he answered. “We finished davening so late that there was time enough for Yechiel the chazan” — who traveled around, raising funds for Tomchei Temimim — “to have visited several villages already. ”
“I already said long ago that hurrying comes from a soul’s lowliness, ” said the Rebbe. “Sit down. ”
But he didn’t want to.
“You’re starting already in the new year?!” the Rebbe gently scolded.
On erev Yom Kippur the Rebbe would come out from the door through which people would enter for yechidus [to give his bracha]. On one occasion the words of the bracha were, “May the Eibershter grant that you become aroused with thoughts of true teshuvah, with a powerful resolve for Torah and mitzvos — nit andersh (without compromise)” (and a few additional words about gashmius).
One Yom Kippur, the Alter Rebbe called the Mitteler Rebbe to his room and told him, “There are positive Heavenly forces regarding your judgment for the coming year, but there are also many negative forces. ”
The Mitteler Rebbe left the room and went straight to the chassidim. “This is an auspicious time, ” he told them. “Go to my father and ask him to say Chassidus. ”
The Rebbe Rashab was accustomed to break his fast motzaei Yom Kippur at the house of his mother, Rebbetzin Rivkah. On one occasion the Rebbe sat at the head of the table. On a small bureau near the door there was a samovar. The Rebbe stood up — and all the chassidim stood —walked over to the samovar, poured a glass of tea and served it to his mother.
“Starting the new year with a mitzvah, ” she said.
On motzaei Yom Kippur 5688 (1927) the Rebbe said, “My father told me (he mentioned the year) that, through two things, one draws down material abundance for the entire coming year: through reciting LeDovid Mizmor with great concentration on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur after praying Shemoneh Esrei, and through breaking the fast motzaei Yom Kippur expansively. ”
Regarding the nigun known in Lubavitch as The Beinoni (printed in Sefer HaNigunim: Nigun #46), I heard the Rebbe speak about it twice in Leningrad.
Once — I think it was Yud-Tes Kislev, 5687 (1926) — he said, “I am not a singer; my father was a singer. Nevertheless, I see that when Aharon (the chossid Aharon Charitonov, the shochet of Nikolayev) composed the nigun — had he only visualized himself standing before my father in yechidus… Something is missing… ”
The second occasion was motzaei Yom Kippur, 5688 (1927). After they sang the nigun the Rebbe said, “This is a nigun of a beinoni….What is a beinoni? You know… Then, why aren’t you…?
(I wrote this story to the Rebbe Shlita here in Brooklyn and concluded that each person can find the meaning within himself, and the Rebbe concurred.)