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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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Tu B'ShvatHoliday · 15 Shevat Assembled live from the corpus. Nothing on this page is stored or written ahead of time, so it grows as more stories are analyzed. On the subjects Tu B'Shvat is about by subjectReached through the occasion's own subjects — fruit — rather than a tag. Low Trees Give Good FruitAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 136-137, no. 8 Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah related that when she came from Avrutch to Lubavitch to become the Rebbe Maharash's daughter-in-law, she noticed that all the children of the household were tall while she herself was short. Her father-in-law told her not to be troubled by it, since we see that low trees produce good fruit. Strong thematic connections thematicStories carrying the themes this occasion is about, though not tagged to it directly. "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?" 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 Guest Who Was Konson's GrandsonAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 492-494, no. 14 A member of Anash phoned R. Eliyahu's house asking Mrs. Lipskar to host a family arriving in Toronto with nowhere to stay; things were difficult for her then and she did not answer at once, but when the husband himself called the next day from the road, travelling with his wife and small baby, she gave him her address and prepared her home. After they had rested she asked about their origins, and the guest, whose family name meant nothing to her, said his grandfather was Yisroel Konson of Leningrad and Tashkent — the R. Yisroel Konson who had risked his health to help her and her husband when they hovered between life and death. She was left speechless, and all who heard of the meeting were astounded by the Divine providence; the Lipskars then attended to the family's every need and offered them loans to buy a home in Toronto, so she was finally able to repay a debt that had weighed on her for years. Yud-Tes Kislev in Liozna, Told by Reb YosseleAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 38-39, no. 14 While the narrator's zeide, R' Mordechai Yoel, was a yoshev in the Tzemach Tzedek's study hall, the conscription agents were hunting for the young men, so the Rebbe sent them out of Lubavitch — some to Kalisk, some to Liozna — and the zeide spent Yud-Tes Kislev in Liozna. There they brought large bottles of mashkeh and sacks of liver, and Reb Yossele, an elder who had been alive when the Alter Rebbe was arrested, sat at the head of the table and told the whole account from beginning to end, weeping when he reached the soldiers striking the Alter Rebbe's wife and knocking out two of her teeth. He then described the second Yud-Tes Kislev, the first celebrated in Liozna, when a huge crowd gathered, the weather was warm, tents were set up in the courtyard, and the Alter Rebbe himself went around urging everyone to eat, drink and rejoice, saying his Yom-Tov was especially great because the arrest concerned both spiritual and physical matters and Hashem had helped. The Agunah Pushed Into the StreetAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 306-307, no. 41 An agunah came to the Tzemach Tzedek in Lubavitch to ask about her missing husband, and the Rebbe sent her to Reb Aizel in Homil, who said he had no way of knowing where her husband was. She stayed in Homil for weeks, coming daily and weeping while Reb Aizel sent her away, until one day she refused to budge. Reb Aizel began shoving his meshares Mottel Gabeitzik, who in turn shoved the woman through all the rooms and out into the street — the Kiev-Petersburg highway that ran past the house — at the exact moment a wagon carrying her husband was passing. She screamed, the wagon halted, and a settlement was concluded. 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. Three Out of Five HundredAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 438-440, no. 38 Rochel, R. Zalman's only daughter, was sent by the school district with five hundred other students to dig trenches on the outskirts of Leningrad, and the grueling work left her feet numb and swollen and her fingers bleeding. Two boys in the group, one Jewish and one gentile, took pity on her and set out to bring her back to Leningrad for care, but found the local train station bombed beyond recognition. The stationmaster told them that although passenger trains no longer ran, freight trains slowed as they passed, and the three managed to jump aboard a moving train while holding the ailing girl, reaching a hospital in Leningrad where she fully recovered. Word later came that the area where they had been working was bombed by Nazi planes, and of the five hundred students only Rochel and the two who carried her survived; R. Zalman attributed the miracle to the bracha she had received from the Frierdiker Rebbe in Tishrei of 5688 (1927), before he left Russia. Kalman of Nevel at the Ministers' BanquetAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 278-279, no. 124 When the Soviet government forbade instruction in cheders, the Rebbe traveled to Moscow to find people close to the government who could offset the law. He sent word through Rav Rafael Kahn that Kalman of Nevel should go stay with his daughter, whose husband Bogdanov held an important government position; when Kalman objected that his son-in-law had nothing to do with education, the Rebbe told him not to leave Moscow and to remain as his daughter's guest. At a banquet in that home attended by government officials, Kalman was asked what he thought of the new government and answered that it was wonderful, but why would they not allow Jewish children to study Torah. Influential people connected with education were present, and afterwards a law was issued permitting instruction for up to six children. 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." Gimmel Tammuz: The Condition at the Door of ShpalerkaAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 259, no. 98 On Gimmel Tammuz, when the Rebbe came out of Shpalerka, he entered the study hall, sat on a bench near the aron hakodesh, and said, 'It's a plan and we must know this — it's a libel from there.' He then said that he had seen Hashgacha Pratis at the door of Shpalerka and had thought at that moment: 'Do I take upon myself to continue writing about children's education and Torah schools? If so, it will be good; otherwise, there will be repercussions' — alluding to the verse in Bereishis. He added that a secretary had asked whether he needed to communicate anything to his home, and since she was the one who offered, he decided to refuse. Givers, Drinkers, and Simcha Shel MitzvahAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 344-345, no. 44 At Reb Hillel Paritcher's farbrengens the custom was to list every participant with a note beside each name — 'giver' for one who contributed toward the mashkeh, 'drinker' for one who did not. Once, after the list was compiled, someone at the end of the table objected that so much money for mashkeh would be better given to tzedakah. Reb Hillel agreed that he was right and that the money should go to tzedakah, then added that now that the mitzvah of tzedakah had been fulfilled, he wanted everyone to contribute for simcha shel mitzvah — and everyone gave even more than before. Short enough to tell in passing thematicRelated by subject and under 3 minutes to tell. Sh'u Yedeichem Kodesh: Mochin and MidosAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 273-274, no. 116 In the middle of the seudah the Rebbe said that Chassidus should really be spoken but it was not an appropriate time — and then, saying so anyway, began. He related that the first Chassidus the Alter Rebbe said upon leaving the Tainy Soviet was on the verse "Sh'u yedeichem kodesh," because the Alter Rebbe and the Mitteler Rebbe held seemingly different perspectives: the Alter Rebbe considered lev (heart) most important, the Mitteler Rebbe mochin (mind). When the Alter Rebbe came from Petersburg he told the Mitteler Rebbe, "You are correct, only that we must ensure that mochin illuminate the midos" — explaining the verse as mochin being kodesh and midos being "your hands," which must be lifted so that mochin illuminate them. The narrator adds that this is what he remembers, that a few words may be missing, but that he has not added a single letter. Sobered in an Instant in the Rebbe's CourtyardAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 352-353, no. 53 The narrator's zeide, Mordechai Yoel, related that the Rebbe Maharash held Reb Aizel of Homil's Chassidus in high regard — though he called him "der Hieger" or "der Homiler" and reserved the title "Rebbe" for the Tzemach Tzedek — since he had been Reb Aizel's outstanding disciple. Early one summer morning, walking through the Rebbe's courtyard after a late farbrengen and a generous measure of mashkeh, the zeide was called over by the Rebbe Maharash at the window. When the conversation turned to Reb Aizel's Chassidus, the zeide said with a nigun that the Rebbe and his children do not need it, but the Rebbe's grandchildren and ordinary chassidim should learn it. Glancing up as he finished, he saw the Tzemach Tzedek in the second window — and, as he recounted, he sobered instantly and fled. A Fourteen-Year-Old Walks to LubavitchAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 75-76, no. 2 The narrator's grandfather had such retention that he had no need for the chozer's repetition of a maamar. When chassidim returned from Lubavitch reporting that the Rebbe Rashab recited maamarim lasting several hours, he said he could not have absorbed them, and when they later reported that the maamarim were growing shorter, he said that as the Rebbe rises higher the maamarim will be shorter still. At fourteen he set out on foot to Lubavitch with a group of older chassidim; at an inn along the way a distinguished Jew berated him for a child going off to Lubavitch, and he answered that after they ate he would reply. When they finished he said, "Show me where there is a difference between a boy who is bar mitzvah and an eighty-year-old Jew," and the man — a chossid of the Alter Rebbe — embraced and kissed him. Yad Ramah at the Train StationAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 261-262, no. 100 The Rebbe had asked that a large crowd be at the station when he boarded the train to Kostrama for three years of exile, but word was hard to spread and most who came arrived early. On Sunday at dusk, the third of Tammuz, the chassidim formed two lines as the Rebbe approached the train, and R. Binyamin Althoiz said at the door that after his imprisonment in Petersburg the Alter Rebbe had begun leading with a high hand (yad ramah). The Rebbe replied that the Shavuos maamarim discuss three "hands" — yad hagdolah, yad hachazakah and yad ramah — and that ramah signifies Kesser and has the letters of koress: all the enemies should be cut off. By the time the narrator reached the station the Rebbe was already standing at the window of the yellow second-class car. 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. The Nigun of a BeinoniAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 279-280, no. 125 The narrator heard the Rebbe speak twice in Leningrad about the nigun known in Lubavitch as 'The Beinoni' (Sefer HaNigunim #46). Once, apparently on Yud-Tes Kislev 5687, the Rebbe said that he himself was not a singer but his father was, and that when Aharon Charitonov, the shochet of Nikolayev, composed the nigun, had he only pictured himself standing in yechidus before his father — something is missing. On motzaei Yom Kippur 5688, after the nigun was sung, the Rebbe said, "This is a nigun of a beinoni. What is a beinoni? You know. Then why aren't you...?" The narrator later wrote the story to the Rebbe in Brooklyn, concluding that each person can find the meaning within himself, and the Rebbe concurred. "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. The Trunk of Manuscripts and "Sha!"As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 430-432, no. 22 R. Zalman first met the Rebbe -- then known as the Frierdiker Rebbe's future son-in-law -- in Tishrei 5683 (1922) in Rostov, and afterward met him often in Leningrad, where the Rebbe would visit the Frierdiker Rebbe alone or with his brother R. Yisroel Aryeh Leib. On the 15th of Sivan 5687 (1927) the N.K.V.D. came to arrest the Frierdiker Rebbe and searched the house for incriminating evidence; the Rebbe, who was not home, went at once with R. Elyeh Chaim Althoiz to hide whatever documents could be used against him, and that evening deposited a trunk of manuscripts with R. Zalman for safekeeping. A later exchange of letters is quoted: the Rebbe recalled entrusting him with the sacred documents, and R. Zalman replied that he had returned the large box of manuscripts on the 12th of Tammuz while the Rebbe sat on the west side of the study hall, and that the Rebbe then told him that in return for his efforts he would give him good news -- that the Rebbe would return from exile in time for Shabbos. Once at a Yud-Beis Tammuz farbrengen in 770, R. Zalman rose and said that if the chassidim knew of the Rebbe's part in the Frierdiker Rebbe's release their celebration would be far greater; the Rebbe turned to him and said "Sha!", and R. Zalman never disclosed anything further. I Leave You the WritingsAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 362-363, no. 8 The narrator notes that chassidic farbrengens open with an introduction, and recounts that at a Kiddush commemorating R. Leivik's hilulah he related that his zeide heard first-hand from the Tzemach Tzedek that the Alter Rebbe had said, "On whom are you relying? My door in Gan Eden will be concealed from you," and that the Rebbe Rashab said, "I'm going to Heaven; I leave you the writings." In Rostov the narrator heard a different version: "The writings and my son I leave with you." He adds that Yosef Nemotin, grandson of R. Yehoshua Nemotin, told him that R. Leivik said before his passing, "It will take a little time; it's necessary to journey to another world, a higher world." Thicker, and Thicker StillAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 31, no. 4 As a small boy the zeide stood in Reb Aizel's sukkah while the s'chach was being piled on very thickly, and asked why, given the halachah that the stars should be visible through the s'chach. Reb Aizel answered that he had been with the Rebbe in Liozna when the s'chach was laid, and the Rebbe stood and motioned with his holy hands: thicker, and thicker still — and then cried out, "And I can't do it any other way!" The narrator adds that his zeide, named for his two grandfathers Reb Mordechai (a chossid of the Alter Rebbe) and Yoel (a businessman), was always puzzled that both the Tzemach Tzedek and Reb Aizel nonetheless called him Yoel'ke. The Maamarim Written in Prison, Until They Took Away the PencilAs 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." The Sack That Stayed FullAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 375-376, no. 13 An elder Chernobyler chossid passing through Leningrad told of a chossid who used to fast from one Shabbos to the next and was told by his teacher that this was unnecessary. The chossid objected that the Baal Shem Tov fasted from Shabbos to Shabbos during his solitary meditations. His teacher answered that the Baal Shem Tov took a sack full of food with him when he walked the mountains from Kitov to Kosov, and only on Friday discovered the sack was still full — his 'I have forgotten to eat my bread' came from deveikus to G-dliness, not from undertaking a fast. Related by subject thematicStories about the subjects this occasion concerns. 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. 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. Gimmel Tammuz: The Rebbe Comes Home from ShpalerkaAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 396-398, no. 25 While the Rebbe was imprisoned in Shpalerka, chassidim received reports from contacts inside the G.P.U., so already on Friday they knew he was to be released, and Shabbos morning davening was delayed in anticipation. On Sunday, the third of Tammuz, the narrator and his brother-in-law R. Yitzchak Minkovitch had stepped out when Pinya (Pinchas ben R. Binyomin Althoiz) came running to tell them the Rebbe was already home; they ran back and found him sitting in the children's room. Asked whether they had learned Chassidus during that time, the brother-in-law answered that they had said Tehillim, and the Rebbe replied that he had written the maamarim of Shavuos until they saw him and took away the pencil; hours later he brought out the maamarim, one inscribed "written in prison, 19 Sivan 5687" (Anochi) and the second (Vaydaber) "20 Sivan 5687," the last word written being Or. Later, at the dacha in Malachovka, the narrator asked for the conclusion of the maamar and the Rebbe answered, "It does not write itself." At the departure the chassidim formed two rows; R. Binyomin Althoiz began to speak and the Rebbe stopped, answering a remark about the Alter Rebbe leading b'yad ramah after Petersburg with the vort said on Shavuos on yad hagedolah, yad hachazakah and yad ramah — ramah being keser, the letters of kares, may it be 'v'chol oyvecha yikoreisun.' At the station the Rebbe stood at the open window of a yellow second-class car; Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah approached and he said to her, "Mama, it says yehi Hashem Elokeinu imanu ka'asher hayah im avoseinu — surely there will also be al ya'azvenu v'al yitesheinu," and to those seeing him off, "An altogether unnecessary journey," adding, "You will presumably say Yevarechecha." "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. For Whom Is the Yud-Tes Kislev Joy?As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 33, no. 7 On Yud-Tes Kislev in the Lubavitcher shul in Homil, Reb Aizel demanded excitedly to know why everyone had gathered, omitted tachnun and was drinking mashkeh. He answered that the joy cannot be for the Rebbe's sake — to the Rebbe it was all the same whether he sat in the Taini Soviet prison or lay at home in bed — but rather "LaHashem hayeshuah": without the liberation we would not have known there is a G-d in the world. "Now go dance!" Der zeide added that in his youth he said Chassidus on this idea, and that he could say Chassidus on any subject and would single out each Yom-Tov or chassidic festival as higher than all the rest. The Hatmaker Who Sews for Whoever BuysAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 85-86, no. 16 Introducing a story he had written, the Rebbe said at a farbrengen in New York that whoever repeats a statement in the name of its author brings redemption to the world, and that everyone is obligated in this. The Tzemach Tzedek had said, "I'm like someone who sews hats. Later on, when someone buys the hat, it's a sign that I had sewn it for him." The narrator also heard in Lubavitch from R. Groinem the mashpia that the Tzemach Tzedek said, "I have no one specifically in mind when I discuss a spiritual predicament. But if someone thinks I am talking about him — then indeed I mean him." 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. 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. “You’re Eating Frankfurters and Speaking About Moshiach”As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 478-479, no. 24 After a weekday farbrengen of the Rebbe, bochurim gathered with R. Yoel Kahan, the Rebbe's chozer, whose office was then in R. Yisroel's basement, to review the farbrengen, and afterward began an informal farbrengen of their own. R. Yisroel brought down mashkeh along with frankfurters and cold cuts from his butcher store, and the hungry bochurim ate heartily while R. Yoel explained how the Rebbe was giving them a foretaste of Toraso shel Moshiach. R. Yisroel looked at them and remarked, "M'est frankfurters un m'redt zich veggen Moshiach" — "You're eating frankfurters and you're speaking about Moshiach." The story explains the double meaning: a critique from a generation that held spirituality and material desire could not be mixed, and at the same time an awareness that a new light was dawning in which the material and the spiritual would no longer contradict, their fusion complete with Moshiach's coming. Four Cups and the Teachings After ChatzosAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 485-486, no. 6 The Lipskars arrived in Canada in 5712 (1952), and that year the Rebbe sent R. Eliyahu a ticket so he could travel to him for Purim. When he told the Rebbe's secretary Rabbi Hadakov that he lacked the documents to reenter Canada, the Rebbe answered with a smile that his mother had told him how well R. Eliyahu handled the Russian border guards — and now he couldn't sort something out? At the Purim farbrengens of those years the Rebbe would tell him to say l'chaim, and on one occasion sent him back for a second cup, then a third, then indicated the cup should be full and told him to drink yet another, until after four large cups he was rolling under the table. Before he returned home the Rebbe told him in yechidus to repeat in Toronto what he had heard in New York; R. Eliyahu answered that he could repeat what was said before chatzos but had not heard the teachings from chatzos onward, and the Rebbe replied that after chatzos they were much better than before. Seven Ways I Am Lesser Than HimAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 40, no. 16 The Alter Rebbe came out to the chassidim and distributed mashkeh, and his brother Fetter Leibele asked what the celebration was for. The Alter Rebbe answered that he had that day fulfilled what he had written in Tanya — that one must humble oneself even before the lowliest of men, to which he had added the word 'mamash' — because when a man who had transgressed the entire Torah came to him, he put his head down and found seven areas in which he was inferior to that man. When Reb Aizel would retell the story he would pound the table and say that only the Rebbe could do such a thing. "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. |