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Vayeitzei
"This Time I Will Thank Hashem" — Michoel Dvorkin on Careful Speech
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 414, no. 51
עס איז געווען י"א אלול תרצ"ו, ש"ק, איז געווען בא מיר א קידוש. האב איך זיך צורעדט ווי א קידוש וואס מ'מאנט אויף יי"ש (ווייל וויין איז דאך געווען נאר פסח), מיט גרויס דאנקבערקייט צו השי"ת. זאגט החסיד מיכאל דווארקין ז"ל: זלמן, עס שטייט אין דער תורה, אז לאה האט געזאגט הפעם אודה, איז ותעמוד מלדת. אט אזוי האט געלערנט א עלטערער חסיד, אז מ'דארף זיין אפגעהיט אין רייד.
At a Shabbos Kiddush on the 11 th of Elul, 5696 (1936), I carried on at great length about recognizing and having gratitude for G-d’s kindness.
“Zalman, ” the chossid Michoel Dvorkin told me, “the Torah states that when Leah said, This time, I will thank Hashem…she stopped bearing.”48 These were the instructions of a venerable chossid on how careful one must be when speaking.
Parsha: vayeitzei (4/5): The vort turns on Leah's words at Yehudah's birth, "This time I will thank Hashem" (Bereishis 29:35), which is read in Vayeitzei.
Also this week
What Sort of Chossid Sleeps Until Nine
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 204-206, no. 12
At Simchas Torah 5685 (1924) in Leningrad, the Rebbe Rayatz spoke passionately against the chossid who sleeps until nine, has davened and eaten by ten, and then strolls Nevsky Street looking where he should not, imagining that a kapotah and gartel or three rubles given to the Rebbe make him a chossid. He cited R. Hillel Paritcher's remark that he does not care for one who strayed and did teshuvah — who knows what sort of teshuvah it was — and explained the teaching that baalei teshuvah stand where perfect tzaddikim cannot: the baal teshuvah is not the same person, he is someone else. He then turned to a young man from Kherson living in Moscow, told him "It's not you," and instructed him to accept divrei chavrus and give a Kiddush on Shabbos Bereishis, adding that everyone must accept upon himself not to sleep past seven in the morning.
thematic
EmesKabbolas OlTeshuvah out of love
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"Is This the One Whose Leg Hurt?"
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 140-141, no. 12
In the summer of 5674 (1914) the narrator's brother fell ill with tuberculosis of the bone and was taken from Homil to Kiev for surgery, then a second and a third operation, after which he was very weak. The narrator wrote a pidyon and sent it to the Rebbe's summer dacha in Zalsha; an opening formed at the site, the phlegm drained, and the doctor, Kostritzky, said he had never seen such a thing. The narrator brought his brother to Lubavitch for Rosh Hashanah 5675, but with the war having begun on Tisha B'Av and the crowds immense they could not obtain yechidus, and lacking money to stay through Sukkos they had to leave on motzaei Yom Kippur; the Rebbetzin let him wait in the small room outside the yechidus room, and when the Rebbe finally emerged very late and the narrator said "This is my brother," the Rebbe asked, "This is the one whose leg hurt?"
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Sanctity of a tzaddikBitachonHashgacha Pratis
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"History Will Record This Disgrace"
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."
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