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Stories from As I Heard Them (Lesheima Ozen) by Reb Zalman Duchman · © The Duchman Family; please share this sheet as printed
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Rosh HashanahHoliday · 1 Tishrei Assembled live from the corpus. Nothing on this page is stored or written ahead of time, so it grows as more stories are analyzed. Directly connected directStories the analysis tied to Rosh Hashanah at strength 3 or above. Rejoice — In AweAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 173-174, no. 59 In Lubavitch it was the custom at the conclusion of Rosh Hashanah, after the Rebbe's second maamar, to sing the nigun of R. Shlomo der Geller of Nevel and break into a lively dance. One year the dancing grew so intense that it spilled out of the large zal into the courtyard. The Rebbe sent his attendant R. Nachman to deliver a message in his name: "Vegilu bir'ada" — Rejoice, in awe — and the crowd was quieted by sheer fright. The Instruction of the New Vaad HamesaderAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 452-453, no. 55 Following the farbrengen on motzaei Rosh Hashana 5725 (1964), R. Zalman announced in his usual tune the order of the evening -- maariv, then havdala by the Rebbe, then kos shel bracha -- adding that no one should push, by instruction of the new Vaad Hamesader, and that everyone should follow it. The Rebbe then closed his eyes and announced in the same tune his own seder: first we will enter the new year, then we will learn much Torah, nigleh and Chassidus, and as a result fulfill many mitzvos with hidur, and even before all of this Hashem will give a kesiva vachasima tova, a good and sweet year in every respect, with children and grandchildren, money, blessings, success, salvation and comfort, good both materially and spiritually. He concluded, "This is the instruction of the new Vaad Hamesader, and everyone should follow it!" -- and smiles overtook the room. Yodei Teruah, Not Tokei TeruahAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 58, no. 41 In his old age Reb Chaim Avraham, a son of the Alter Rebbe, would travel to hear the Tzemach Tzedek blow the shofar. The Rebbe Maharash asked him why he troubled himself when he could easily assemble a minyan of his own for the tekios. He answered that the posuk says 'ashrei ha'am yodei teruah' — happy are the people who know the teruah, not those who blow it. After All the Kavanos, Kabbolas OlAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 386-387, no. 11 At tekias shofar on the second day of Rosh Hashanah, the narrator recalls seeing in Lubavitch how the Rebbe Rashab, after all the lengthy preparations and weeping during the Haftorah and the pesukim, simply arranged his tallis and said the brachos. He connects this to a conclusion reached at a chassidic farbrengen: after all the kavanos, the mitzvah must be done with kabbalas ol. Visualizing this in the same setting, he adds, brings to mind his zeide's teaching that the crowns descend one from another, i.e. that the Rebbeim are extensions of one another. When the Rebbe Cries, He Cries TooAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 181-182, no. 71 The Rebbe customarily davened the first Maariv of Rosh Hashanah in the small zal. In 5668 or 5669 the narrator was standing on a bench near the wealthy chossid Shmuel Gurary, who held a small siddur, listened to every word from the Rebbe's holy mouth, and was drenched with tears. When the Rebbe recited Ya'aleh veYavo, the older students standing nearby remarked that Shmuel Gurary is a very dear friend of the Rebbe, and when the Rebbe cries, he cries too. Tashlich in the DownpourAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 471-472, no. 7 Every Rosh Hashanah after arriving in the US, the Rebbe walked with crowds of chassidim from 770 to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens to say tashlich at a pond. On Rosh Hashanah 5717 (1956) a torrential downpour did not stop the walk, and the group arrived drenched to find the gate locked. The Rebbe decided to scale the enclosure; R. Yisroel, who was always at the Rebbe's side, offered to help. The Rebbe declined the help but handed R. Yisroel his siddur to hold while he climbed the wall. The Stranger Who Arrived on Rosh Hashana NightAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 494-495, no. 16 One of the baalei teshuva whom R. Eliyahu Akiva Lipskar brought closer to Yiddishkeit said of him, "he is like my father (spiritually)!" On Rosh Hashana night an unfamiliar man got out of a car outside R. Eliyahu's house carrying a satchel and asked whether R. Eliyahu Lipskar lived there. R. Eliyahu did not rebuke him for driving on yom tov or for the disturbance, but invited him in and included him in the yom tov meals, and the man ultimately became an observant Jew. Another baal teshuva connected to R. Eliyahu recounted that watching that Rosh Hashana incident shaped his own relationship with him. It Is for This Child That I PrayedAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 126, no. 13 R. Nochum of Radomishl related that he was present when the Tzemach Tzedek recited maftir on Rosh Hashanah while the Rebbe Maharash stood nearby, and said the words of Chanah, "El hanaar hazeh hispalolti — It is for this child that I prayed." It was evident that the Tzemach Tzedek had the Rebbe Maharash in mind as he read the Haftorah. Seeing the Rebbe at the Ohel on Erev Rosh HashanahAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 133-134, no. 3 On erev Rosh Hashanah 5667 (1906) or 5668 (1907), while at the Ohel of the Tzemach Tzedek and the Rebbe Maharash, children told the narrator he could see the Rebbe standing inside by climbing the wall, since the ohel was open to the sky. He saw the Rebbe in a silk hat and black coat with a white silk scarf, holding a long pidyon sheet in one hand and a bundle of further requests in the other, his face extraordinarily pale; seized with terror, the narrator leaped down. He always regretted having jumped, until the Rebbe Rayatz's notes printed in Kuntres Beis Nissan 5710 extolled the merit of gazing at his father at the ohel, which filled him with joy. "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?" On the Wall of the Ohel, Erev Rosh HashanahAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 421-423, no. 4 Zalman records that on erev Rosh Hashanah — 5667 (1906) or 5668 (1907) — while they were at the Ohel of the Tzemach Tzedek and his son the Rebbe Maharash, some children told him that if he wanted to see how the Rebbe stood inside the ohel he should climb up on the wall, since the ohel was open to the sky. He saw the Rebbe in a silk hat and black coat with a white silk scarf at his neck, holding a long pidyon in one hand and a large bundle of further requests in the other, his face extraordinarily pale. Terror seized him and he leaped down to the ground. Nothing to Say Until He Took His Father's MaamarAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 119, no. 3 R. Michoel Neveler, the venerable mashpia of Tomchei Temimim, discussing the subject of Chassidus, recounted what the Rebbe Rashab had told him: that once, before Rosh Hashanah, maamarim had to be prepared and he had nothing to say. He took his father's maamar Shir HaMaalos and worked on it intensely — and then there was plenty to say. On the subjects Rosh Hashanah is about by subjectReached through the occasion's own subjects — shofar — rather than a tag. Reb Hillel and the Young Man Who Never Ate KugelAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 322, no. 7 The narrator's zeide recalled that when Reb Hillel Paritcher stayed at an inn in Lubavitch he offered a piece of kugel to a young man from Homil, who said he never eats kugel. Reb Hillel cited the Alter Rebbe that eating kugel on Shabbos sweetens Divine judgment as the shofar does on Rosh Hashanah, and answered the obvious objection by noting that when Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbos we do eat kugel and do not blow shofar. He conceded it was only a vertel — but the Alter Rebbe's vertel — and concluded that one should eat kugel. Strong thematic connections thematicStories carrying the themes this occasion is about, though not tagged to it directly. Tracht Gut on Simchas TorahAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 225, no. 41 At a farbrengen in his mother's house the Rebbe told of a chossid who dreamt that his previous Rebbe said one of his children would pass away that year. His Rebbe told him "Tracht gut vet zein gut," but he remained badly shaken; on Simchas Torah he stood aside weeping until the thought struck him that it was nonetheless Simchas Torah, and he joined the dancing. In yechidus after Sukkos the Rebbe asked what he had done on Simchas Torah, and told him that with that he had nullified the decree. The Rebbe did not say the names of the Rebbeim involved. The Rebbe Would Not Release the Seventy-Year-Old ChazanAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 454, no. 58 R. Zalman Duchman served as a regular chazan in the Rebbe's minyan, davening shacharis on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur and leading Tehillim every Shabbos Mevorchim. When he turned seventy he asked the Rebbe to release him from the role, explaining that his voice had weakened and that he would often break down crying in the middle of davening. The Rebbe insisted that he continue. "Do As The Mashpi'im Say" — Yud-Tes Kislev 5673 in LubavitchAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 141-142, no. 13 The narrator's brother Baruch studied in the Shedrin branch of Tomchei Temimim and, though he answered all his examination questions in nigleh and Chassidus when he came to Lubavitch for Rosh Hashanah 5673, he was told to remain another year in Shedrin; the Rebbe told him to follow the mashpi'im's instructions. When the narrator's father came to Lubavitch for Yud-Tes Kislev of that year and mentioned at the end of yechidus that his heart was weak, the Rebbe answered that his children were frail as well, and that he had sent the younger one back to Shedrin because it was better there in gashmius. Returning home, the father came straight from the train station burning with hispa'alus and described the Rebbe's motzaei Shabbos farbrengen that ran from 11 p.m. until seven in the morning, at which the Rebbe said lechaim on 57% mashkeh, said that Above and Below must be made equal, and drank whole glasses; the giluyim, he testified, were extraordinary. "My Time Is Known — It's When I Have a Meal"As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 189-190, no. 81 The Rebbe Rashab held yechidus three times a week in Lubavitch, and daily — even twice daily — after Rosh Hashanah and after Shavuos. Matters of communal concern were brought to him while he ate: the rov or the shochet would meet him then, and during the extended period when his son the Rayatz was outside Russia, Lazer the yeshivah office manager showed him the financial records at his meal as well. Reb Groinem the mashpia related that once at a bris he asked the Rebbe when he could come and speak with him, and the Rebbe answered, "My time is known — it's when I have a meal." What Sort of Chossid Sleeps Until NineAs 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. Purim 5687: "I Accept Upon Myself the Four Executions"As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 256-257, no. 95 At a terrifying Purim farbrengen in 5687 (1927), the Rebbe screamed against the Yevsektzia — 'a rabbi's son, a butcher's son, a villager's son' — declaring he was not frightened of them, and unbuttoned his kapota until his tallis katan showed, calling out that he accepted upon himself the four forms of execution and that when they saw his body aflame they should have no compassion. When the chossid R. Meir Simcha shouted that the Rebbe was needed here, the Rebbe kept repeating that one must be ready to give one's life but must not send the children to their schools. Because informers were known to be present, those there called his mother the Rebbetzin to restrain him; he rose when she came but sent her back to her room to say Tehillim with tears where no one would see, saying that would help, and told her he was not acting on his own initiative but had asked his father. She kept standing and speaking until he fainted and barely revived; everyone was in dread, and the arrest came after Shavuos. How Reb Aizel's Father Came Around at the SederAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 302-303, no. 35 The zeide related Reb Aizel's own account of how he became a chossid of the Alter Rebbe: whenever the Alter Rebbe heard of a promising young scholar he would send a shliach to draw him close to Chassidus, and such a shliach came to Homil after Sukkos and brought Reb Aizel to Liozna. Returning home for Pesach, Reb Aizel established a minyan davening nusach Chabad, but his father R. Mordechai — who spent much time in Leipzig and kept his distance from chassidim — returned shortly before Pesach and forbade him, on the grounds of honoring one's father, from davening there. At the seder, hearing his son's brilliant expositions on the Haggadah, R. Mordechai understood that Chassidus had not harmed him, permitted him to return to the minyan the next morning, joined the minyan himself for the rest of Pesach, and by Shavuos traveled with Reb Aizel to Liozna. Herschel der Schvartzer's Night Journey to VitebskAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 91-92, no. 26 Herschel der Schvartzer, the Tzemach Tzedek's attendant, related that on the motzaei Shabbos of the first Selichos the Rebbe sent him to deliver an urgent letter to wealthy men in a particular shul in Vitebsk before Selichos. The Rebbe gave him a glass of mashkeh to drink, wrapped his own gartel around him, and gave him a bottle of mashkeh to finish at the inn along the way. Setting out from Lubavitch on foot in pitch darkness, unaware of where he was or how far he had gone, he passed the inn, drank the bottle, and soon found himself in Vitebsk, where he delivered the letter; asked where he had been for Shabbos, he answered only "Nu, nu" and turned back. He told the story only after the Tzemach Tzedek's passing; Lubavitch to Vitebsk is roughly 66 miles. The Dowry and the Villager's WagonsAs 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. The Blue Teakettle Between the CushionsAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 176, no. 63 R. Pinchas, son of R. Eliyahu Chaim Althoiz, related what he heard from the Rebbe Rayatz: late one erev Shabbos in Lubavitch his father had the large blue teakettle brought in and placed it himself between two cushions. R. Asher, the shochet of Nikolayev, was there that Shabbos, and after Chassidus his father called him to the table and told him to make Kiddush over liquor, wash, eat a kazayis of challah, and drink all the tea in the kettle. Afterwards his father explained that R. Asher had wanted to fast a hafsakah from Shabbos to Shabbos and had come to Lubavitch to ask; since he had already fasted through Wednesday, the Rebbe told him to complete the fast. Is This Why You Had Mesiras Nefesh in Russia?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. Standing the Entire Yom Kippur, Then Sitting Down to LearnAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 338-340, no. 37 R. Yitzchak HaCohen Kahaneman of Sosnitza, who transported tobacco from Sosnitza to Riga, passed through Homil on erev Yom Kippur on his way home and was greeted briefly by his son-in-law, the narrator's zeide, Mordechai Yoel. R. Yitzchak finished davening, completed the entire Tehillim with a minyan, and lay down to rest, waking hours later to find his son-in-law still standing and davening — he stood the whole night and day. After the fast ended at Maariv, the 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 went off to study. More loosely connected directTagged to Rosh Hashanah, but at a weaker strength. The Washing Machine and the Leather CoatAs 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. The Tehillim of Yidden That Saved HimAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 230, no. 47 The narrator relates that when he came to Rostov for Rosh Hashanah 5683 (1922), Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah told him that her son — the Rebbe Rayatz — had been far more gravely ill than his father, the Rebbe Rashab, had been, but that the prayers and Tehillim of Yidden interceded for him and saved him. Two Nights of Yud-Tes KislevAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 387-388, no. 13 Chassidim would explain that the main Yud-Tes Kislev farbrengen falls on the second night because the Rebbe Rashab declared Yud-Tes Kislev to be Rosh Hashanah, which accordingly has two days - a point the narrator heard the Rebbe Rayatz make in Leningrad. On the three occasions the Rebbe Rayatz was in Leningrad for Yud-Tes Kislev he farbrenged both nights, and on the first night in 5685 he asked, before leaving, that everyone come to the seudah he had arranged. The passage also recalls the great Yud-Tes Kislev of 5672, at which the narrator's father, R. Dovber Menachem Mendel, was present and returned burning with excitement. Short enough to tell in passing thematicRelated by subject and under 3 minutes to tell. Two Ways to Draw Down AbundanceAs 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. "This Is Rosh Hashanah — A Time for Teshuvah"As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 233, no. 51 On the first night of Yud-Tes Kislev, 5685 or 5686, the Rebbe sat in the zal looking very serious and then related an earlier Yud-Tes Kislev: people had gathered but his father did not come out, and when he went in to ask him to come out and farbreng, his father's expression was frightening. His father told him, "Things must be taken literally — this is Rosh Hashanah, the time for teshuvah." When the son said that people were waiting, his father came out, but only briefly. Having finished the story, the Rebbe returned to his room. The Tzemach Tzedek Opens the Door at MidnightAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 82-83, no. 10 One of the yoshvim in Lubavitch was seized in the middle of the night by a longing to do teshuvah and ran to the Tzemach Tzedek, even though the fixed schedule in Lubavitch was to retire at ten and rise at four. He called out the words of the Rosh Hashanah Musaf, "He who opens the gate for those who knock in repentance." The Tzemach Tzedek opened the door. The Zeide on the Rebbe Rashab's Greatness, and a Pidyon for Teshuvah Ila'ahAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 333-334, no. 26 The narrator recalls how his zeide would speak of the greatness of the Rebbe Rashab, saying that he knew how dear the Rebbe Maharash was to the Tzemach Tzedek, and that since the Rebbe Maharash left such a son — a leader of the Jewish people — that son is granted whatever gashmius and ruchnius he needs. The zeide would also give the narrator a pidyon to bring when he traveled to the Rebbe for Rosh Hashanah. The narrator once read one of these pidyonos and saw that it was a request for teshuvah ila'ah, the higher level of return to Hashem. Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah's Dream of the Sefer TorahAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 167, no. 50 The narrator recalls coming to the Rebbe Rayatz in Rostov for the first time for Rosh Hashanah 5683 (1922) and hearing many accounts, most of which he assumes are recorded in Ashkavta D'Rebbe by R. DovBer Rivkin. He records one: Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah dreamt she was holding a Sefer Torah when her mother-in-law, Rebbetzin Rivkah, snatched it from her hands and ran; she chased her without catching her until Rebbetzin Rivkah reached a river and vanished. When she told the dream to the Rebbe, he said, "Nu, you came to the water" — a good sign — and told her to recite the Ribono Shel Olam of Birkas Kohanim. The Rebbetzin's Shavuos Kiddush RecollectionsAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 407-408, no. 39 At the milchig Kiddush seudah she prepared for the first day of Shavuos, Rebbetzin Nechama Dinah would tell stories. One year she related that her grandmother, Rebbetzin Rivkah, wife of the Rebbe Maharash, davened at length like the great chassidim — which the narrator was glad to hear, since his uncle R. Yehudah Leib Chasdan, the shochet from Homil, had reported seeing her absorbed in "Echad" for more than two minutes. She also spoke of the brilliance of Devorah Leah, daughter of the Rebbe Maharash, who praised the Rebbetzin for raising her children so well, and mentioned Reb Zalman Aharon and her father-in-law the Rebbe Rashab, recalling with satisfaction that when she brought the children erev Rosh Hashanah and erev Yom Kippur for his blessing, he would bless her too, with his hands lifted over her head. The Man Who Wept for Reb AizelAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 307-308, no. 42 The zeide related that when Reb Aizel passed away, one man who was not among his students wept uncontrollably. Asked why, he explained that in his youth he had set out to commit a transgression, and Reb Aizel, walking behind him after davening in the Lubavitcher shul, shouted twice, 'Where are you going!? Go to shul and recite some Tehillim!' He said Reb Aizel had saved his life, and asked how he could not cry over such a tzaddik. Reb Aizel used to tell him, 'You have mazel,' and the zeide revealed the man's identity only after he passed away. "If People Knew How Good It Is to Tell Everything"As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 392, no. 18 The narrator's zeide, R. Mordechai Yoel, used to say that the Rebbeim disliked hearing about people's wrongdoings and preferred to speak Chassidus; yet at the Simchas Torah farbrengen of 5685 (1924) the Rebbe spoke at length about viduy devarim, and people became baalei teshuvah. A yungerman from Nevel, whose infant had suffocated in its sleep, chased the Rebbe from Leningrad to Moscow and finally to Rostov, apparently in the winter of 5683 (1923). At that yechidus the Rebbe told him that if people knew how good it is to tell everything — literally everything — once in six months or once a year, it would be truly good. "After Kol Nidrei They're Already Singing?!"As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 337-338, no. 36 R. Yosef Lubavitcher, known as Der Fetter Yosele and an uncle of the Tzemach Tzedek, spent Yom Kippur in Chernigov, where R. Nochum Chernigover — a student of Reb Aizel and a chossid of the Mitteler Rebbe — served as rov. Before Kol Nidrei he took his place along a wall and stood there until the following evening. When the customary joyous singing broke out after Neilah, he ran to R. Nochum and protested, "What an unprincipled city you have! After Kol Nidrei they're already singing?!" The narrator's zeide told the story to describe the depth of the chassidim of earlier generations. Ti Krav — The Thief at the InnAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 376, no. 14 In the village of a chossid of Rebbe Moshe Leib of Sassov a theft occurred and the thief could not be found. The tzaddik instructed the chossid to recite chapter 119 of Tehillim as Shabbos drew to a close. As the gentiles gathered at the inn for whiskey after Havdalah, the chossid reached the posuk 'tikrav rinasi lefanecha' and said it aloud — 'ti krav' meaning 'you have stolen' in Ukrainian — whereupon a gentile who had just walked in cried out that he had not done it, his neighbor so-and-so had. When Itchele Farbrengs, Heaven Asks What HappenedAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 368-369, no. 4 R. Yitzchak Masmid related that in a small town lived an eminent chossid, R. Itchele. A wealthy man whose daughter had fallen ill gave him money for a pidyon nefesh — and instead the chossid gathered his chassidim for a festive seudah and farbrengen. Challenged by the gvir, he explained that Itchele fasting and weeping is nothing new before G-d, but when Itchele gathers his chassidim and farbrengs, Heaven asks what the occasion is and discovers that the gvir's daughter is ill — which he applied to the verse "And He looked upon their distress when He heard their rejoicing." True Teshuvah Is Like the Goy of VitebskAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 37-38, no. 13 The Alter Rebbe once said that true teshuvah is like what the goy in Vitebsk felt. A river divides Vitebsk and, before there was a bridge, people crossed in a small boat. On a very windy day the bystanders warned a man not to set out because it was dangerous; he ignored them, went anyway, and drowned. The Alter Rebbe concluded that the anguish he felt in the moment he saw he was drowning — over not having listened and having gone — is what true teshuvah is. Related by subject thematicStories about the subjects this occasion concerns. The Tailors the Alter Rebbe Saw ComingAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 48-49, no. 26 Chaim Meir, the caretaker of the Alter Rebbe's ohel, told the narrator's zeide that two young men once asked to enter the ohel and wept there at length. They explained that they had been tailors working in the villages of the Kursk region who abandoned Yiddishkeit, eating treif and worse; on their way home they stopped at a non-Jew's house near Piena and asked for sausage, whereupon he locked them in and announced he would take their money and kill them, allowing them only time to pray and recite Vidduy. After a full day of weeping he returned their money, explaining that a great tzaddik who had stayed with him and passed away there had instructed him to bring to teshuvah two Jews who would come asking to eat treif. The Note Left on the Table: Tehillim for All ChassidimAs 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. The Mitteler Rebbe's Three Letters to VellizAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 221-222, no. 37 At the Lag B'Omer farbrengen of 5685, held in the dining hall after the maamar KaShemen HaTov, the Rebbe related that a relative of theirs, a rov in Velliz, was persecuted by two gvirim and a wealthy woman and wrote to the Mitteler Rebbe, who was then in Staraya Russa. The Mitteler Rebbe wrote back to each: to the first, have immediate remorse and G-d will forgive; to the second, take great care lest I go out to you with the sword; to the woman, a woman's wisdom is only in her spindle. The first gvir relented, the second mocked the letter and was beheaded that day by a passing Cossack, and the woman lost everything in a court ruling over unpaid taxes on her spirits factory. When this was later related to the Mitteler Rebbe, he was deeply pained that their punishment had come through him. The Bochur Full of False IdeasAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 158-159, no. 37 R. Moshe Aizel Rabkin, a gvir from Homil, reported hearing the Rebbe speak at a farbrengen — the narrator thinks it was Purim in Menton — about the special qualities of Tomchei Temimim. The Rebbe recounted that a young man had come to Lubavitch seeking acceptance into the yeshivah, was rejected by the administration, and when sent in to the Rebbe was found to be filled with false ideas — yet the Rebbe instructed that he be accepted. Much later, after a levayah in Lubavitch, the Rebbe entered the small zal to recite Yoshev Be'seiser seven times and found that same young man standing there deeply engrossed in davening, oblivious to the commotion. Tea or Mincha First?As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 160-161, no. 39 R. Yekusiel Golodetz also related that R. Yitzchak Yoel Rofolovitz, the rov of Kremenchug, was arguing late one Friday afternoon with R. Shmuel Gurary over whether one should drink tea first or daven Mincha first. The Rebbe passed by and they told him what they were debating. The Rebbe answered: if you want to drink tea in a relaxed manner, daven Mincha first; but if you want to daven Mincha in a relaxed way, you can drink the tea first. The Seudas Hodaah in LeningradAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 270-272, no. 113 The Rebbe arrived in Leningrad on Friday, the 15th of Tammuz, and before Kabbalas Shabbos gave the handwritten text of HaGomel to his son-in-law R. Shmaryahu Gurary to be studied beforehand. When asked whether there would be Chassidus on Shabbos, the Rebbe replied that "they are giving me one Shabbos." A Kiddush was held; his davening ran late and was heard through the white door with the nigun of Avinu Malkeinu, and at the table he said several times during the farbrengen, "This is the Seudas Hodaah" — for it was in Leningrad that he said the bracha of HaGomel. This surprised everyone, since the conventional assumption was that he should have said it in Kostrama, especially as the sentence had unfolded "above to below": a death decree commuted to ten years in Solovki and then reduced to three years of exile in Kostrama. The Animal Soul Resists Only Davening and Traveling to the RebbeAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 312, no. 51 Reb Aizel explained, with a nigun, that when the Alter Rebbe would say Chassidus the nefesh ha'bahamis would flee, whereas nowadays one can listen to and study Chassidus while the animal soul remains at full strength and untroubled — it resists only davening at length and traveling to the Rebbe. The narrator adds that his zeide (רמ"י) reported hearing from the baalei batim of Sosnitza, where the zeide was a son-in-law, that whenever they needed to travel to the Tzemach Tzedek the greatest obstacles would arise; yet once they overcame them and set out, on the way back from Lubavitch they saw that the obstacles had been utterly nothing. Adoneinu Moreinu VeRabbeinuAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 54-55, no. 34 Reb Groinem, the mashpia in Lubavitch, told how one Simchas Torah the Alter Rebbe was called to recite the pesukim of Atah Horeisah with the title 'Adoneinu Moreinu VeRabbeinu.' Seeing his face glow, they repeated the phrase again later. The next day he was overheard pacing his room, bitterly repeating the words with a nigun and saying that had he had a pit he would have buried himself alive; when asked how this fit with the glow they had all seen, he answered that when afflictions are sent one must accept them with love. "Nu, You'll Probably Say Yevarechecha"As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 262, no. 101 The Rebbe's mother, Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah, and his wife, Rebbetzin Nechama Dinah, wearing white silk scarves, accompanied the Rebbe to the train station. From the coach window the Rebbe told his mother that it is true that "Hashem our G-d will be with us, as He was with our forefathers," and it will surely be, "Let Him not leave us, nor forsake us." Then, turning to those standing there, he said, "Ah, such an unnecessary trip. Nu, you'll probably say Yevarechecha." Something to Daven WithAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 343, no. 42 The zeide told of a young man who came out of yechidus with the Tzemach Tzedek bursting with joy and turning somersaults in the courtyard, because the Rebbe had said Chassidus to him in the meeting. Asked how it happened, the young man related that he had requested, 'Rebbe, say Chassidus for me,' and when the Rebbe asked what he needed Chassidus for, he answered, 'I need something to daven with.' The Rebbe told him to meditate on how Hashem fills all worlds, encompasses all worlds, and how everything is utterly nothing before Him. The young man was Bera, the Patzitzer Rav. "All Your Days Are in Teshuvah"As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 82, no. 9 In his later years the Tzemach Tzedek held yechidus with chassidim standing back-to-back, each audience beginning the moment the one before it ended. Reb Itzele Rover of Homil, a venerable chossid of the Alter Rebbe, came for yechidus and asked the Rebbe to bless him that he not die without doing teshuvah. The narrator's zeide, standing directly behind him, heard the Tzemach Tzedek cry out, "Reb Itzele, what do you want from me? — All your days are in teshuvah." Chopping Through the Ice Before DaveningAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 311-312, no. 50 Reb Aizel related that when they were yungeleit they would learn standing on their feet the entire night. In the morning they went out without fur coats — not for lack of them but by choice — took axes to chop through the ice, immersed, and only then davened. He added that this cannot be expected of yungeleit today, but learning and davening are still doable. |