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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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Ki SavoParsha 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 Ki Savo at strength 3 or above. This Is How Jews Brought BikurimAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 55, no. 35 Reb Aizel related that the Alter Rebbe once saw chassidim in Liozna walking along the road with an ox pulling a wagon of their bags ahead of them. 'This is how Jews brought their bikurim to the Beis Hamikdash,' the Rebbe said. Strong thematic connections thematicStories carrying the themes this occasion is about, though not tagged to it directly. 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. "I Will Mention It at the Ohel" Is a Proper BrachaAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 462-463, no. 72 In 5712 (1952), when chassidim were still unfamiliar with the significance of the Rebbe's answer "I will mention it at the Ohel," R. Zalman Duchman met a couple in Toronto who had been married seven years without children and promised to request a bracha for them. Back in New York he approached the Rebbe, who replied that he would mention them at the Ohel of the Frierdiker Rebbe; feeling this was short of a bracha, R. Zalman pressed, "But Rebbe, why can't the Rebbe give them a proper bracha?" and the Rebbe did not respond. The following year he found the couple in Toronto holding a baby girl, and they attributed her birth to the Rebbe's bracha and gave a substantial donation despite their means. Returning to Crown Heights he reported the news to the Rebbe by the elevator, in the same spot as the year before, and the Rebbe turned at his door and said with a smile, "Nu, Reb Zalman, 'I will mention it at the Ohel' is a proper bracha!" The Great Purim in Rogochov and Reb Yossele's Megillah GeltAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 63-64, no. 3 The narrator's zeide told that at the "Great Purim" in Rogochov, Reb Yossele der chazzan of nearby Korma — a chossid whom the Alter Rebbe had once blessed to become wealthy — was honored by the Mitteler Rebbe with reading the Megillah. In the middle of the reading, at Haman's words "Whom would the king wish to honor more than me?", he spat out, "Feh, kelipah!" Everyone assumed that the Mitteler Rebbe, who detested outward displays of hispaalus, would give the reading to someone else the next morning, but he called Reb Yossele again and told him he did not know that one must first lay Megillah gelt on the table — then laid down a golden rendel, and each of the more than a thousand gvirim present did the same. So the Alter Rebbe's blessing was fulfilled and Reb Yossele became wealthy. The Fire That Stopped at One HouseAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 169-170, no. 53 The narrator cites the popular saying that the ministering angel of fire flees before the ministering angel of Torah, and says he saw it himself. When a fire broke out at the home of Yehoshua the shamash opposite the Rebbe's court in Lubavitch, wagon-drivers filled the courtyard to be paid to carry out its contents; the blaze grew huge, Lubavitch had no water system and the wind was strong. The Rebbe Rashab came out, walked through the courtyard, stood opposite the burning house and looked intently at the fire — and only that one house burned, though ordinarily whole streets would go up. The narrator adds that in Homil, when a neighbor's house belonging to a gentile named Krasnitzky burned in the middle of the night, his zeide went out, looked at the fire, and it subsided. The Swallowed Safety Pin and the MagnetAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 476-478, no. 21 R. Yisroel Duchman sought to teach his children hiskashrus, and some of his most important interactions with the Rebbe concerned them. When his second son Yossi was a young child he swallowed an open safety pin that lodged in his esophagus beyond the reach of instruments; doctors planned surgery, warning of possible negative consequences while saying that leaving the pin could be life-threatening, and R. Yisroel said he would consent to nothing before consulting the Rebbe. The Rebbe objected to the surgery and asked that the scheduled surgeon speak with him; the surgeon refused, so the Rebbe spoke by phone with the head of the emergency room and gave precise instructions for removing the pin by lowering a strong magnet down the boy's throat, which worked without difficulty. Afterward the original surgeon insisted on telling the Duchmans that had his own father, himself a doctor, claimed to remove such a pin without surgery he would not have believed him — it was possible only because of their holy Rebbe; and years later, when the grown Yossi asked his father to request a blessing, the Rebbe gave a generous bracha and added, "You can tell Yossi, I think about him more than he thinks about me." "You Won't Make Me Any Frumer"As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 315-316, no. 56 R. Betzalel Azaritzer, a shadar for the Tzemach Tzedek, was a guest of Reb Aizel and challenged him over his lack of concern about a sirchah. Reb Aizel answered that as rov of the city he does not consider himself higher than the one who asked the shailah, and so will eat what he himself rules kosher; when R. Betzalel persisted, he said, "Tzaleh, listen to me, I'm already an alter Yid, over the hill — you won't succeed in making me any frumer!" When word of the exchange reached the Tzemach Tzedek, he asked R. Betzalel, "Why are you starting up with the zeide's soldier?!" 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. 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. Partners in the TefillinAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 474-475, no. 18 R. Yisroel Duchman tried to connect everyone he helped to the Rebbe, and so brought a guest of honor from a Shamir fundraising dinner to the Rebbe, after putting on tefillin with him for the first time beforehand. When R. Yisroel proudly reported the first-time tefillin as they passed by, the Rebbe gently remarked that this was not something to be proud of, and then asked the philanthropist with a warm smile whether he would put on tefillin every day if the Rebbe gave him a pair; the man said he would. The Rebbe told R. Yisroel — who asked to be his partner in it — that they would be partners in other projects, and asked him to buy the tefillin at once and bring back a paid receipt. When R. Yisroel returned with the receipt, the Rebbe began handing him bills; R. Yisroel stopped after a few, saying he wanted to be the Rebbe's partner, but the Rebbe insisted he take the full amount for the tefillin, "We will be partners in other things." 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. 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. Cold Water, Hot Water, LukewarmAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 88, no. 20 A senior chossid in Lubavitch related that in the days of the Tzemach Tzedek he suffered from headaches, and the Rebbe instructed him to put cold water on his forehead, which helped well. After the Tzemach Tzedek passed away it stopped working, so he came to the Rebbe Maharash, who told him that if cold no longer helps he should use hot water — and the headaches disappeared. After the Rebbe Maharash passed away he came to the Rebbe Rashab, who instructed him that if neither hot nor cold help, he should apply lukewarm water. More loosely connected directTagged to Ki Savo, but at a weaker strength. Reb Pesach's Yechidus: Before DaveningAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 323-324, no. 9 Reb Pesach Malastovker described to the narrator's zeide his yechidus with the Tzemach Tzedek. Asked what he does before davening, Reb Pesach answered that it is already written — in Likkutei Torah: mikveh, tzedakah and Zohar. The Tzemach Tzedek replied that tzedakah is a mitzvah extending through the entire day, that one is not required to have mesirus nefesh for mikveh, and that his zeide's (the Alter Rebbe's) intention in saying Zohar was Chassidus. |