contents

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featured Articles WEEKLY columns

R SHLOMO CHAIM, IM YOURS!

Rabbi Yisroel Elfenbein

THE TOUGH 14 TACKLING ISSUES IN CHASSIDIC PARENTING

Rabbi Yitzchok Isaac Landau

4 Dvar Malchus 13 Moshiach & Geula 19 Parsha Thought 31 Viewpoint 40 Crossroads

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OF SHEDLITZ 22 SCION CHASSIDUS WHO CAME TO LUBAVITCH

Shneur Zalman Berger
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WHEN THE REBBE SAYS: IT SEEMS TO ME...

R Boruch Aharon Huss

REBBES PRINTER 32 THE Dov Levanon PHONE 38 PROVIDENTIAL EXCHANGE

Temma Choroshochin

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Dvar Malchus

WHAT HE PLANTED IN HIS LIFETIME SPROUTS FORTH IN ETERNAL REDEMPTION

His ongoing influence is reminiscent of the process by which plants reproduce, forming seedlings which mature into plants, which in turn produce a third generation of seedlings, ad infinitum this process of continually affecting the world reflects the full sense of the Rebbes eternal life, hu bachayim. * Source materials compiled by Rabbi Shloma Majeski. Translations are in bold. Underlining is the emphasis of the compiler.
Translated by Boruch Merkur

The impact of every single activity the Rebbe

accomplished, what he planted throughout the

years of his life in this world, is eternal. Indeed, his ongoing influence is reminiscent of the process by which plants reproduce, forming seedlings which mature into plants, which in turn produce a third generation of seedlings, ad infinitum this process of continually affecting the world reflects the full sense of the Rebbes eternal life, hu bachayim. The Rebbe MHM goes on to explain how this eternal influence is realized by bringing forth the essence of the soul, which is a veritable part of G-d above, revealing the essence of the soul to the point that it permeates the persons entire being. In this manner, the eternality of the soul is implanted within each and every deed, giving rise to goodness flourishing in infinite measure, as described above. The Rebbe goes on to describe how these efforts result in precipitating the process of redemption. The vital thing is that the effect of planting even a single deed results in the sprouting forth of the redemption, as Rambam rules:

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through a single Mitzva one action, one utterance, one thought he inclines himself and the entire world to the side of favor, bringing to himself and to the others salvation and deliverance. Then, every single Jew will experience eternal life in the literal sense. In fact, the introduction of eternal life to the world will begin with the Jewish people of this generation, living forevermore as souls within bodies. Jews will then experience eternal longevity and well being not just 147 years, which was the lifespan of Yaakov, nor just 180 years, the lifespan of Yitzchok, but never-ending life! So too with respect to the Jewish people of previous generations, as well as all the future generations of the Jewish people, until the end of time they too will experience, awaken and sing, you who dwell in the dust. *** May it be G-ds will that the very resolution to add a single Mitzva in a manner of planting (i.e., even prior to actually fulfilling it) shall be the planting that brings about the sprouting forth of the redemption in actual fact. And this should take place literally at once, on this very Shabbos Kodesh, Shabbos Chazak of the first seifer of

Then, every single Jew will experience eternal life in the literal sense. In fact, the introduction of eternal life to the world will begin with the Jewish people of this generation, living forevermore as souls within bodies.

the Torah, which includes the chizuk, the strengthening, of all the five Chumashim and the twenty-four Sifrei HaKodesh, until the final word of Divrei HaYamim [the last book in the Tanach], VaYaal, which alludes to rising up from exile to redemption. In fact, even prior to reading at Mincha time, These are the names of the Children of Yisroel who came to Egypt, may it already be, Reuven and Shimon leave [Egypt], all Twelve Shvatim, the Avos and the Imahos, and Moshe and Aharon among them, as well as the leader of our generation the Yosef of our generation [the Rebbe Rayatzs name being Yosef Yitzchok] who did not die, like Yaakov Avinu (these are the generations of Yaakov: Yosef). Indeed, it is known, nasi leader is an acronym for nitzutzo shel Yaakov Avinu an incarnation of Yaakov Avinu. And by means of hiskashrus and bittul, connecting to and nullifying oneself to the leader of the generation, this departure from

exile is drawn to each and every person of the generation.

(Seifer HaSichos 5752, pg. 242)

TO BRING MOSHIACH NOW!

Issue 878

ADD IN ACTS OF GOODNESS & KINDNESS

Profile

R SHLOMO CHAIM,
He had a deep understanding of the bachurim and provided them with personal guidance in their Avodas Hashem. * Excerpts from a book compiled by Rabbi Yisroel Elfenbein, soon to be released in Hebrew.
Rabbi Yisroel Elfenbein

IM YOURS!

6 23 Iyar 5773

HE KNEW THE BACHURIM WELL

He had a very good understanding about the yetzer hara (evil inclination) of bachurim fifteen years old and up, said his talmid, R Aryeh Leib Kaplan, rosh yeshiva of Tomchei Tmimim in Montreal. When he farbrenged and spoke about any given topic, his style wasnt theoretical; he spoke directly to the bachurim. A bachur who sat at his farbrengen heard how R Shlomo Chaim was talking about him and to him. When the mashpia spoke about iskafia in eating, he knew exactly what the yeshiva kitchen was serving and got down to the practical details. The same was true with other areas of refining the animal soul; he didnt speak about upper worlds, but about how a young bachur ought to work on himself. R Avrohom Alter Heber recalled: The mashpia would say: If someone tells you that so-andso is thinking about something, then that tells you that he himself is thinking about that. For example, when someone who spends a lot of time thinking Inyanei Chassidus sees someone thinking about something, he is sure that the other person is thinking Chassidus. If someone is inclined to think machshavos zaros (foreign thoughts, i.e. unbefitting thoughts), he will assume the other guy is thinking the same thing. So when a bachur complained to him about a friend who was involved in nonsense, the mashpia would say that first the complainer needed to check to see whether his complaint was coming from the fact that he too was immersed in nonsense. Although this was a general rule as it applied to the bachurim,

the same did not apply to the mashpia himself, who had the ability to discern what was doing by the other person, even if that person was immersed in things to which he himself had no connection. R Boruch Lesches relates: In my time, they said that once there was a bachur in yeshiva who was considered one of the ovdim. He davened slowly and with avoda. One day, when the minyan was up to Yishtabach, the mashpia went over to him, took off the tfillin from his head and said to him, Feh, feh, machshavos zaros like that in the middle of davening! The bachur later admitted this was true. R Shlomo Chaim was very practical, and when necessary displayed worldly knowledge. When it came to shidduchim, he made many inquiries about the family and asked questions that showed his deep understanding of how to run a family and establish a Jewish home. As a practical person, he was quite familiar with the yetzer hara of bachurim, and knew how to help them out of the muck, to get rid of machshavos zaros and get involved in spiritual matters, mainly through guidance in avodas hatfilla. He knew what each bachur was immersed in specifically, and spoke to each one about things appropriate to him. When he guided talmidim in avodas hatfilla, he did so based on their level. At farbrengens, he spoke about avodas hatfilla in a general way and emphasized the need to concentrate on the meaning of the words, which is mandatory for everyone. But in personal conversations, he spoke with each bachur about the level he was on. The same was true for other aspects of the bachurims spiritual lives. He spoke to each

one on his level on every subject, from the most refined and lofty in the ways of Chassidus all the way to dealing with lowly desires. Apparently the experience he accumulated over many years as a mashpia taught him how to identify what was going on with every bachur. One of his talmidim related: One year, at the end of the summer, I went on vacation to a place that had been opened specifically for yeshiva students. We went there to spend some time at the beach. When I returned, R Shlomo Chaim said to me, Look at you! It does not seem to me that your spiritual state is good; you had a big spiritual drop lately. I was shocked by this and felt he was reading what was going on inside me like an X-ray machine.

THERE IS SOMEONE TO TURN TO

The mashpia understood the bachurim and the bachurim knew that the mashpia understood them. They knew that they had whom to turn to with spiritual questions. He was fifty years older than they were, but that did not prevent them from feeling that he, more than anyone else, understood them. When we learned by R Shlomo Chaim, reminisced one of his talmidim, even if a bachur thought about leaving the yeshiva and enlisting in the army, he would go and discuss it with R Shlomo Chaim. R Shlomo Chaim was the main spiritual figure of the yeshiva and the bachurim spoke to him about anything on their minds. The mashpia would also take the initiative to invite bachurim to his house and he would give them guidance and

Issue 878

Profile

He would say, If I did not succeed in explaining things to him and influencing him, thats my fault!

advice in their personal lives. R Aryeh Leib Kaplan: I would not be exaggerating if I said that the mashpia was busy every Thursday night with conversations with bachurim who came to pour out their hearts to him. They loved going to him to talk about personal matters: The mashpia knew how to endear himself to the talmidim, said R Yeshaya Hertzl, and therefore, the bachurim wanted to talk and consult with him. The bachurim saw that the mashpia was a practical person who understood them and was interested in the details of their lives. He wasnt like a mashgiach trying to extricate secrets out of talmidim, but like a father who is sincerely interested. The bachurim were confident that he would not tell the mashgiach the personal things he told them. They felt completely free to openly discuss with him the problematic issues in their lives. One of the main topics in those discussions was avodas hatfilla. In addition to devoting much of his farbrengens to avodas hatfilla, he would emphasize the importance of the subject to whoever entered his room for a personal discussion. Even when he discussed other topics, he would always emphasize that if one learns Chassidus and is involved in avodas hatfilla, he is automatically on a higher plane and doesnt trip up. He had an ironclad rule which he received from mashpiim in Lubavitch back in the days of

lack anything will get nothing. Therefore, someone who is mara shchora (depressive) by nature finds it easier to accept hashpaa, because by nature he is inclined to understand that he is lacking. Someone who is mara levana (buoyant) needs to think and think again until he gets it, and then he can accept hashpaa.

R SHLOMO CHAIM, IM YOURS!

Even the few bachurim who left yeshiva would return to him. They felt his great love for them. There was an incident with a bachur who learned in the vocational school and then switched to the yeshiva in Kfar Chabad. After a while, he went to R Shlomo Chaim and said, I cannot continue learning in yeshiva; my parents are pressuring me to go to the army. The mashpia tried to dissuade him, but was unsuccessful. The bachur left yeshiva for the army. At a later point, the bachur returned to Kfar Chabad in uniform and sat an entire night with R Shlomo Chaim. The mashpia spoke to him and cried, spoke and cried. He said, It says in Thillim: Grievous in the eyes of Hashem is the death of his faithful ones. When you are in the army, you are not learning Chassidus, you are not going to the mikva, and you are not learning Chitas. But when a machshava zara falls into your head, when you have the opportunity to gaze on forbidden things and you refrain from doing so, that is precious to Hashem. That is what the verse is referring to, killing your animal soul. Sometimes this is more precious to Hashem than someone who is involved in holy matters. And R Shlomo Chaim burst into tears once again.

the Rebbe Rashab: In order to receive personal direction in Avodas Hashem, the bachur has to want it himself and ask for it from the mashpia. A bachur who does not ask shows that he is still not ready for it and there is no purpose in the mashpia going over to him and offering guidance in Avodas Hashem. He knew how to challenge the bachurim during his farbrengens, and to inspire in them the desire to work on avoda. But after all the inspiration that he gave them in a makif-like way, he expected the bachurim to ask for guidance, which he gave only to those who asked for it. This is what the mashpia himself said in connection with this, at one of the farbrengens: In order for the hashpaa to be accepted, a person has to want to receive it. Someone who thinks he is complete and doesnt

8 23 Iyar 5773

Another bachur who dropped out of yeshiva returned one day to R Shlomo Chaim. The mashpia showered him with warm words until he melted. The bachur finally burst out crying and said, Ive already tried a few times to start anew and come to learn and daven, but it doesnt work out! R Shlomo Chaim asked him: Are you willing to follow my guidance for two weeks? That means, during these two weeks you will do whatever I tell you, 24 hours a day, going to sleep when I tell you, getting up when I tell you, davening as long as I tell you and learning what I tell you to learn are you willing to do this or not? The bachur jumped up and exclaimed: R Shlomo Chaim, Im yours!

THEY SHOULD BE SEEN AND EMULATED

As was mentioned earlier, the guidance that R Shlomo Chaim gave the bachurim came from a loving, caring heart, which is why it was well received. R Shlomo Chaim was a mashpia who loved all the bachurim, said one of his talmidim. He would go into the bachurims rooms at two in the morning to see how they slept and to check who was sleeping on his side and who wasnt. Afterward, he would tell a bachur, I saw you sleeping on your back, I saw you sleeping on your stomach. If the bachur would say, I was sleeping! What could I do? R Shlomo Chaim would say, If you fell off your bed and banged yourself, wouldnt you wake up? How could you continue sleeping on your stomach and not wake up? That means it doesnt disturb you.

Issue 878

Profile
R Shlomo Chaim understood the bachurim. They would sometimes see him crying over the spiritual state of some bachur. He blamed himself and not the bachur. He would say, If I did not succeed in explaining things to him and influencing him, thats my fault! Many of his talmidim are grateful to him for changing their very beings, and being mekarev them to concepts of Chassidus in a pnimiusdike way. Generally speaking, his approach to being mekarev a bachur to the world of avoda pnimis was through the avoda of tfilla. R Moshe Orenstein, mashpia in the yeshiva gdola in Tzfas, said: R Shlomo Chaim felt a special love for those bachurim who came of Chassidic stock. A talmid whose grandfather learned in Tomchei Tmimim in Lubavitch was someone he considered a meyuchas (pedigreed). At the same time, if he knew that this bachur wasnt able to receive guidance in avodas hatfilla, he did not attempt to talk to him about this. On the other hand, if R Shlomo Chaim saw a bachur who was capable of accomplishing a great deal in avodas hatfilla, even if his background wasnt Chassidish, and he wasnt attracted to inyanei avoda, he would talk to him and be mekarev him to avodas hatfilla. In the early fifties, when the number of talmidim in the yeshiva fluctuated between sixty and seventy, R Shlomo Chaim once said, I would like for there to be at least five big ovdim in yeshiva like and another twenty regular ovdim like In other words, about a third of the talmidim of the yeshiva. He accentuated the positive, said his talmid, R Micha Steinmetz. He explained to all of us that we need to be involved in avodas hatfilla, and there was no place for the thought that maybe it didnt pertain to each one of us, and certainly there was no reason to be ashamed of doing it. One of the ways he encouraged the bachurim to be involved in avodas hatfilla was through the general instruction that bachurim who spent a long time on their davening should remain and daven in the zal, so others would see them and do the same. Only in unusual situations, when a bachur spent such a long time davening that it went deep into the Nigleh learning, would the mashpia tell him to daven in one of the classrooms or in his room in the dormitory. But if a bachur spent a long time davening so that it continued fifteen or even thirty minutes into the Nigleh learning time, the mashpia preferred that he remain in the zal and daven. In connection with this, he would quote what the Rebbe Rayatz said at the Simchas Torah farbrengen of 5688 (the last farbrengen before he left Russia) to R Zalman Kurenitzer, the mashgiach for Nigleh in Tomchei Tmimim in Nevel, and to R Nissan Nemanov, the mashgiach for Chassidus: There doesnt need to be peace between the mashgiach for Nigleh and the mashgiach for Chassidus. There is more than enough shalom between you. In other words, the ideal situation in Tomchei Tmimim is when bachurim want to daven at length so that their davening extends into Nigleh. This sometimes results in an argument between the mashgiach for Nigleh and the mashgiach for Chassidus as to whether they should allow this or not. R Shlomo Chaim would relate in the name of R Berel Horodoker that R Zalman (the mashgiach for Nigleh) once quoted to R Nissan (the mashgiach for Chassidus) the pasuk, nirpim atem nirpim, al kein atem omrim neilcha nizbecha laHashem there are bachurim who are lazy about learning Gemara and so they say they want to daven! R Nissan replied: That was Pharaohs argument! R Shlomo Chaim once farbrenged until late at night and the mashgiach for Nigleh came to complain to him that this interfered with the learning the next day. R Shlomo Chaim answered sharply: The plan to destroy and kill and annihilate all the Jews could have been carried out by a goy, but the plan to destroy and annihilate Chassidus had to be led by a Jew. Today, when there is a war on the foundations of Chassidus, i.e. a Chassidishe farbrengen, the war needs to be waged not just by any Jew but by a Chassid!

A TIME TO UPLIFT AND A TIME TO CRUSH

R Shlomo Chaim did not just provide guidance for davening at length. As the bachurim davened Shacharis in the yeshiva minyan, he would be there and watch everyone. After the davening, he would call over some bachurim and make various comments concerning their davening. He gave special attention to those bachurim who wanted his guidance and went over to them often. In addition to the personal guidance he gave them in avodas hatfilla, step by step, he would follow-up by observing their progress to see how they were implementing his suggestions.

10 23 Iyar 5773

Bachurim sometimes complained to him that they felt that avodas hatfilla wasnt for them and that it was like an attempt to climb up to the heavens. He would continue working with them on how to daven and what to meditate on, each according to his situation. R Moshe Orenstein points out that R Shlomo Chaim knew when to draw someone close and when to distance them, when to caress and uplift a bachur and when to put him in his place: When a bachur saw how someone of R Shlomo Chaims stature spent half an hour explaining to him how to meditate on the content of a chapter in Tanya and what practical conclusion for his spiritual avoda he could derive from that chapter, he would be devoted to the mashpia (as it says in Tanya 46 about a great person who displays his love for someone lower than himself). But the mashpia did not allow a bachur to delude himself. To start with, he had him think Chassidus for five minutes and said: In another two weeks well see what progress youve made and then well decide whats next. R Shlomo Chaim was extremely observant. If he saw that a bachur had made progress after two weeks, he permitted him to add another five minutes of meditation, and so on. Sometimes, he saw that a bachur needed to be put in his place, and when the bachur asked for guidance in what to add to his avoda, he would yell, Enough! Are you already properly involved in what I gave you to meditate upon that you need to add to it? R Orenstein related: At one of the farbrengens, R Shlomo Chaim spoke about bachurim who are suited to

R S. C. Kesselman (left) at a talmids bar mitzva

A younger bachur ate fewer bowls of soup in his life, thought fewer machshavos zaros, and therefore, can be more successful in his avodas hatfilla than an older bachur who has become more coarse.

avoda and those who are not. He did not mean to say that that the latter are exempt from avodas hatfilla, for he always maintained that everyone can daven with avoda. He meant avoda in the pure sense, including hisbonenus pratis (specific, detailed contemplation) as explained in the kuntreisim (the tracts on tfilla and avoda authored by the Rebbe Rashab). Then the mashpia said to one of the bachurim who was considered a magnificent vessel and laced into him, You are not at all fit for avoda! The bachur was completely shattered by this. After all the hopes this bachur had, to suddenly be crushed like that by the mashpia! What did this bachur do? He sat and wrote

a letter to the Rebbe. He wrote that the mashpia told him suchand-such at a farbrengen and went on to explain how he felt about this. After a while, the bachur received a response from the Rebbe which said: Every person is suited for avodas hatfilla, but there are differences in quantity and quality. As for you, ask your mashpia (i.e. the mashpia of the yeshiva). The Rebbe was informing the bachur that R Shlomo Chaim was the man with the authority to guide bachurim in matters of avoda, and if there was any question, he had to clarify it with him.

Issue 878

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Profile

TO FIGHT TILL THE LAST DROP

According to R Y. Y. Offen, R Shlomo Chaim demanded that bachurim as young as fifteen begin davening at length. He maintained that the younger the bachur, the more refined a vessel he was and the more successful he would be in the avodas hatfilla. A younger bachur ate fewer bowls of soup in his life, he thought fewer machshavos zaros, and therefore, he can be more successful in his avodas hatfilla than an older bachur who has become more coarse. He did not demand that young bachurim attain high levels, of course. He merely tried to get them into the atmosphere of avodas hatfilla, starting with davening with kavana with the meaning of the words.

R Shlomo Chaim would their davening. Does it make explain: While a person is still sense for a bachur to stop young, before he reaches the age completely and submit to his to learn in Tomchei Tmimim, animal soul? The animal soul is he is still not ready for inyanei his enemy! When you are at war, avoda. After he marries, when you cannot surrender. You have he has responsibilities, and it to fight till the last drop of blood! is already too late to start with When a soldier surrenders avoda. So the number of years to the enemy, that is called he spends in yeshiva (i.e. the post being a traitor. If he is caught, high school years) is the most he is killed. When a soldier opportune time for avoda. capitulates to the enemy, its R Shlomo Chaims goal was because he doesnt care who for a bachur to consistently be wins, his country or the enemy involved in avodas hatfilla with country. That is in a situation Express Expressservice service the knowledge that the matter when there is no personal enemy; Fully FullyComputerized Computerized is very close to you. Since he there are two warring countries. knew how to guide bachurim But during davening, a person is 331 Kingston Ave.Ave. 331 Kingston so that they would find avodas fighting his personal enemy, so nd nd Flr) Brooklyn 11213 (2 Flr) Brooklyn NY 11213 (2 hatfilla geshmak (enjoyable), how can he surrender to NY him? If you feel that your animal soul the bachurim were drawn to it. does not allow you to daven, you Get tickets within minutes! Getyour your tickets within minutes! R Shlomo Chaim said, need to make the effort to daven There are some who complain Fax: (718) 493-4444 Fax: (718) 493-4444 with all your strength, davka that they are not successful in because he doesnt let you!

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12 23 Iyar 5773

MOSHIACH & GEULA

COUNTING THE OMER WHEN MOSHIACH COMES

By Rabbi Gershon Avtzon

Dear Reader shyichyeh, We are currently in the time that is between the holidays of Pesach and Shavuos. Every night we have theopportunity to perform the Mitzva of counting Sfiras HaOmer. We do this special Mitzva to show that we are eagerly anticipating the receiving of the Torah from Hashem on Shavuos. One of the main laws of Sfiras HaOmer is that one may not miss any day of the counting. If one misses even a single day, he may not continue counting the Sfira with a Bracha. Every Jew eagerly awaits and anticipates the arrival and revelation of Moshiach. We believe that Moshiach will be coming tonight! In light of this, let us deal with a special halachic question: When Moshiach comes today, will we continue counting Sfira with a Bracha? To explain the question: According to Halacha, there is no Biblical requirement to count the Omer in the time of exile. The Sages instituted a law, telling us to continue counting even in exile. When Moshiach comes, this mitzvah will regain its Biblical status. If so, one may reason, in comparison to

its Biblical requirement it is as if we missed counting the Omer. Accordingly, one would not be allowed to continue counting with a Bracha. The Rebbe (Likkutei Sichos Vol. 1 pg. 272) addresses this question and rules (see Minchas Chinuch, Mitzva 306) that we will continue counting with a Bracha. His reasoning is as follows: While we may not be doing the Biblical commandment of Sfiras HaOmer in the times of exile, we are counting the Omer daily. The very fact that we are counting will allow us to continue counting with a Bracha. The Rebbe (Tazria-Metzora 5751) also asked: Since weve already completed our actions and service throughout the duration of exile what is thestraightforward path(the easiest and fastest among all the paths of Torah) that all the Jewish people, who have concluded their service, should chooseto realize the revelation and coming of Moshiach? The Rebbe teaches us that increasing in learning the Torah about Moshiach and Redemption (Malchus ShbTiferes) is the straightforward path to actually cause the revelation and coming of Moshiach and Redemption.

The Rebbe also said, My intention here is action and certainly the following will be publicized everywhere: In order to realize the immediate revelation and coming of Moshiach each and every Jew (the men, whether they are dwellers in the tent (Yisachar) or men of business (Zvulun), and the women and children, each one according to his ability) should increase their learning of Torah, particularly the subjects of Moshiach and Redemption. It would be even better if they would learn [in public] with ten others because in addition to the advantage that since ten who sit and occupy themselves with Torah, the Divine Presence there is dwells among them, a particular advantage when learning about Moshiach and the Redemption in public. Such public learning affects the excitement and the heart-felt joy through which comes an increasing desire and anticipation for the coming of Moshiach.
Rabbi Avtzon is the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Lubavitch Cincinnati and a well sought after speaker and lecturer. Recordings of his indepth shiurim on Inyanei Geula uMoshiach can be accessed at http://www.ylcrecording.com.

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Chinuch

TACKLING THE TOUGH ISSUES IN CHASSIDIC PARENTING

The importance of chinuch is obvious to all. Our main difficulty is how to go about it. How do we move from our awareness of the importance of chinuch to actually implementing it?
By Rabbi Yitzchok Isaac Landau

n BReishis 18:19, Hashem says, Will I conceal from Avrohom I know him that he will command his children and his household after Me and they will observe the path of G-d. It seems that Hashem is saying here that He has a special love for Avrohom Avinu not because of the difficult tests that he passed, not because of his mesirus nefesh, but because he will train his children so that they will continue on the same path. That illustrates for us how devoted we need to be to the chinuch of our children. We say in Krias Shma

twice a day, And teach it to your children and speak in it [Torah]. Our first obligation is to teach our children and only then is there an obligation to speak about it. There cant be a situation in which a parent says: I need to learn now, to daven, to do mitzvos, and I have no time for teaching children. The order is the other way round; your children come first. That is what our attitude towards chinuch ought to be. We are commanded to place a mezuza on the doorpost. This is a mitzva that is important and dear to us; when we come and go, we place our hand on the

mezuza. But even before the commandment about mezuza it says, and teach your children. Only after that does it say, and write it on the doorposts of your house. So too with us, when a Chassid enters his home, he should think about the chinuch of his children. When he leaves the house, he should think about the chinuch of his children. Because that precedes the mitzvah of mezuza. That chinuch is important is obvious to all of us. The main problem is, how should we go about it? The first thing we need to

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understand is that a very big investment is demanded of us. We need to remember that all good things come with difficulties. The harder it is, the more precious and important it is. The same is true for chinuch. Since it is so important, it is also hard. But we have the wherewithal to accomplish it, because if we were given the job and our particular children, surely we are also given the means to successfully do what we have to do.

BEING A ROLE MODEL IS NOT A BONUS

Lets begin with that which

is hardest to say, but sadly is the reality. It often happens that the father doesnt feel good about himself. He doesnt get up in the morning to daven on time or he doesnt devote enough time to learn, but he expects that at least his son will do so. That is unreasonable. If I want to give my son a Chassidishe chinuch, I myself have to set an example. I must show that this is important to me, that I also do what I expect him to do. Only then can I make demands of him and be mechanech him. If the child sees how important

this is, it makes an impact on him and it is not necessary to demand it of him. Words wont help. For example, its Shabbos Mevarchim and he needs to get up early to say Thillim in shul. The father doesnt go to shul, but he wakes up his son and urges him to go and say Thillim. The child might go to shul because he will get a prize, or because he is afraid of a punishment if he doesnt go, but that isnt chinuch. That doesnt get into his bones. Its just a temporary behavior driven by considerations of reward/ punishment. But we want it to become a part of him. That will happen only if the father also gets up and says Thillim. Then the child will see that its really important to his father. They tell of two mothers who raised their children. One mother trained her child that it is out of the question to go to bed without brushing your teeth. It is very important to take care of your health and hygiene. Of course she taught him other things like saying Shma, psukim etc. but if the child forgot and went to sleep without brushing his teeth, she would wake him up and have him brush before going back to bed. In the other family, the mother trained her child that its out of the question to go to bed without putting negel vasser next to the bed. Of course, she taught him other things like the importance of brush ones teeth and davening, but if the child forgot and went to sleep without putting negel vasser at his bed, she would wake him up, even at one in the morning, so he would get up and put negel vasser next to his bed. The two children grew up and went to yeshiva. They didnt do that well there and left for the big

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Chinuch
wide world. They rarely put on tfillin, but each one preserved that which had penetrated his bones. One of them always prepared negel vasser next to his bed. He didnt keep Shabbos but he washed his hands in the morning, because that is what he was taught. He felt that this was important and he could not go to sleep without having a basin and cup of water next to his bed. His irreligious friends asked him about it and he would explain. Thanks to those explanations, he slowly got back on track to Torah and mitzvos. Meanwhile, the other one brushes his teeth every night before he goes to sleep If a child feels that something is important to his parents, it will get into his bones. Even if, G-d forbid, he does not rise to the challenges he faces, those things that he felt were truly important will stick with him forever. This is why a Chassidishe chinuch begins by our setting an example. This is not always easy. Especially as training ourselves at our age to davening with a minyan and hiskashrus to the Rebbe is really not simple. But there is no choice! If you want your children to be Chassidish and mekusharim to the Rebbe, you yourself have to be Chassidish and mekushar to the Rebbe. The child senses precisely where his father and mother stand; do they live with these things or just says them? Its up to us. R Mendel Futerfas would often quote the Rebbe as saying that Mivtza Chinuch is chinuch of ourselves and of others. We need to educate others and we need to educate children, but we must always remember that it begins by educating ourselves. That comes before anything.

HISKASHRUS TO THE REBBE ENHANCES CHINUCH

We as Chassidim have a special koach in chinuch and this is the koach of hiskashrus to the Rebbe. It enables us to successfully train children in our generation, which is a tough generation for chinuch. It says in the Gemara that in Ikvisa dMeshicha chutzpa will abound. Its a problem. Its not just something the Gemara tells us; we see it. In years gone by, when a father said something, it was holy; children listened immediately. Today, a father says something, but the child is independent and disagrees. We see this particularly in adolescence when children act rebelliously, doing the opposite of what they are told. It is very hard for us and sometimes we feel helpless; we no longer have influence over our children. We look for someone else who can have an influence on them, because our child no longer listens to us, the parents. He is smarter and thats the problem. Hiskashrus to the Rebbe gives us the best tool to deal with this. The father needs to say to his child, Neither you nor I do what we want. I too, as the father, do what the Rebbe says, even if I dont want to. Its not that I come to the child and tell him, Do as I said! Of course, a child needs to be guided and what the parent says ought to be the final word, but this has become weakened in our generation, the generation of Geula. And yet, we still have the ability to say we need bittul towards the Rebbe who told us to do such and such; its not because Im saying to do it.

When you lord over a child and say things like, I am in charge and I, the smarter and bigger one around here, will tell you what to do, at a certain point the child will rebel. But when you come with bittul and hiskashrus to the Rebbe, he drops the posture of rebellion because his father is also battul. This will only work, of course, if the child feels that his father is really battul to the Rebbe. If the father will say that what the Rebbe said doesnt apply now, then the child will also say that the Rebbe spoke to his fathers generation and that his own world is different. It is vital for the child to see parents with bittul to what the Rebbe wants. If the child knows that his father is conflicted about something; that it is hard for him but he asks a mashpia what to do and he writes to the Rebbe and then does what he is told, then he is getting a chinuch of bittul. In my fathers house, things were done the way my grandfather, Rabbi Yaakov Landau ah (rav of Bnei Brak) did things. The source for this was what he had seen in the Rebbe Rashabs home. When I went to yeshiva, I learned that there are things that the Rebbe does that are different than what we did at home. I began to change how I did things from what I had seen at home. When they came to me with complaints whats with these changes, you saw how the grandfather did it all those years, so why are you doing differently I answered that I was doing just like my grandfather. Just as my grandfather did as he saw the Rebbe do, I also did what I saw the Rebbe do. That was my youthful rebellion. It came from the chinuch

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I had received of bittul and hiskashrus to the Rebbe. If we act according to the Rebbes horaos, then this influences our children. The same is true for all the Rebbes inyanim including inyanei Moshiach. You cant just do some of the things. The halacha is that when a Jew denies even one letter of the Torah, G-d forbid, it is as though he denies the entire Torah. This is because the moment there is one thing that is not right, the entire thing is no good. If it is true, it is true all the way through. So you cant pick and choose among the Rebbes horaos. You have to do everything and only then you can expect your children to do the same. Even if there is some area of weakness, the child will know that it comes from laziness or from difficulty in carrying out the horaa; in other words, it comes from a lack in you, but not because you take exception to a horaa from the Rebbe. I met someone who was a mekurav of a shliach from abroad. Before his wedding he came to talk to me and of course, we spoke about the Rebbe, about hiskashrus, etc. To my great surprise, this was all new to him! He had been learning Chassidus for two years already, but did not know what a Rebbe is! He was in Chabad for two years! At the end of the conversation he said to me, I feel now the way I felt two years ago when I discovered a new world of Torah and mitzvos. Now I have discovered a world of a Rebbe and hiskashrus to him. That shliach who was mekarev him was afraid that if he spoke about the Rebbe, it would raise questions, like what about now, after Gimmel Tammuz. What if he would be unable to answer properly? He opted not

He had been learning Chassidus for two years, but did not know what a Rebbe is. . . That shliach who was mekarev him was afraid that if he spoke about the Rebbe, it would raise questions, like what about now, after Gimmel Tammuz. What if he would be unable to answer properly? So he opted not to discuss the topic altogether.
to discuss the topic altogether. From this we can see how far it is possible to stray as a result of picking and choosing from what the Rebbe said. They once made a farbrengen in Tzfas before Shavuos, a Shabbos Achdus. They decided that for the sake of achdus, everyone would sit together and speak only of topics that they agreed upon. They asked me to say a few words at the end of the farbrengen and this is what I said: It says that during the period when we count the Omer, we observe practices of mourning because 12,000 pairs of Rabbi Akivas talmidim died during this time. Why did they die? Because they did not treat one another with respect. What does that mean?! After all, they were students of the man who said that loving your fellow Jew is a great principle of the Torah! The Rebbe explains that each talmid claimed to know what R Akiva said and was unwilling to accept it when another talmid said that R Akiva said something else. Each one held firmly to what he understood, so that, G-d forbid, nobody would err when it came to what R Akiva said. And this was the source of the dispute among them. The question is, is this a reason for 12,000 pairs of talmidim to die? 24,000 students? Why did they deserve such a terrible punishment, particularly when it came from a positive place of wanting to preserve what their master had said? The explanation is very simple. When the talmidim of R Akiva saw that this resulted in a lack of respect for one another, they decided that since they were students of R Akiva (who taught them that loving a fellow Jew is a great principle in the Torah), they would stop talking about what R Akiva said so there would be no disagreements among them. They would speak about everything else, just not about what their master had said. If they would have done this, even if the talmidim would not have died a physical death, they would have ceased (died) being students of R Akiva. There would be no more talmidim of R Akiva since they werent learning and teaching what he taught. This is an untenable situation. Should we ignore what the Rebbe said just so that we wont be confused? Obviously, every person must preserve the honor of others, but thats a long way from not talking about the Rebbe and hiskashrus to the Rebbe! If we dont speak about the R Akiva of our generation and what he wants, how can we continue being Chassidim? It is permissible to disagree, but respectfully.

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Chinuch

We need to find time to make farbrengens for our children at home. When parents sit and farbreng with their children on special days, it has an enormous effect. This is how you create a Chassidishe atmosphere at home Try it once and you wont want to stop. WHEN A CHILD HAS MORE THAN FOUR QUESTIONS
This is true for chinuch too. We can begin talking with children about living with the Rebbe and then be asked all kinds of questions. We dont always know what to say and how to explain it to them, so we avoid the subject. We need to remember that we are Chabad, which means understanding everything rationally, not being fazed by questions. We must look for answers so that things will be understood intellectually. In the religious world in general, when a bachur says he has questions in emuna, his mashgiach tells him, Put them aside and, with G-ds help, when you get older they will disappear. Our approach is completely different. You have a question, a doubt, or something is unclear? Bring it up and ask so you get an answer. That way you wont be left with any doubts that will continue to eat away at you. It all begins with chinuch, educating ourselves and then others. Looking for answers to everything, not hesitating to ask so that things become clear for us. When a child asks what happened on Gimmel Tammuz, his father wont shush him up, resulting in the child immediately realizing that his father himself doesnt believe what he says. Matters must be laid out on the table. Speak about the importance of hiskashrus to the Rebbe and about a Jews connection to Hashem through the Rebbe. If the child asks a question, start off by telling him, Good question! Dont push him off, because the moment you do, you are actually telling him: Continue living this way without understanding. If I have a ready answer, I will give it. If I dont, I will say, Your question is so good that I dont have an answer offhand. I need to think about it or ask someone and Ill get back to you. This way, you compliment the child on his good thinking. You might be thinking, but these are matters of faith, matters that are above the intellect, so how does intellect play a role here? The answer is that the study of Chassidus in general is based on emuna. We need to learn and know as much as we can and then emuna begins where our understanding leaves off. We are not to suffice with emuna but to understand things too. That is Chabad, intellectual understanding to the extent that our minds allow. I was once at a family simcha when a cousin, who is a lecturer for Arachim, came over to me. He asked me, Whats happening in Chabad? The Rebbe is alive Yechi ? He asked sincerely and not to start up with me. I explained to him Igeres 27 in Tanya and he got it. A Misnaged remains a Misnaged and he is still with Arachim, but he understood why, even after Gimmel Tammuz, a

Chassid can say that the Rebbe is alive. A child who asks is anticipating an answer that he understands, beyond the actual faith. But if we ignore a childs question and tell him thats the way it is, that is a recipe that will ensure he will not believe either, even if he wont tell you that to your face. The more we instill hiskashrus to the Rebbe in our homes, the more successful we will be in chinuch, because hiskashrus itself directly affects the chinuch of children.

FAMILY FARBRENGEN
To conclude with a practical suggestion, we need to find time to make farbrengens for our children at home. When parents sit and farbreng with their children on special days, it has an enormous effect (more than farbrengens in shul). The children participate and are happy. Each one gets to say something he heard in class. You sing together and tell a story, and this is how you create a Chassidishe atmosphere at home. You speak about life in a Chassidishe way, about hiskashrus to the Rebbe. Try it once and you wont want to stop. You need to make the effort to set aside time for it, but its worth it. In my experience, even when I didnt find time for it, the children would sit down to farbreng and would say, Abba, come! We are making a farbrengen. Tell us a story. May Hashem help us be successful in our avoda-shlichus to be mechanech our children. May we raise Chassidishe children, mekusharim to the Rebbe in a pnimiusdike way, so that we all have much Jewish and Chassidishe nachas.

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Parsha Thought

LET FREEDOM RING!

By Rabbi Heschel Greenberg

THE LIBERTY BELL

The Liberty Bell in Philadelphia is best known for two things: it is cracked and its inscription comes directly from this weeks parsha: Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof. This text is taken from the Torahs description of the Jubilee year. In the days of the first Temple, before the Ten Tribes were exiled and when the entire Jewish nation resided in the Land of Israel, the Jewish people had to follow two related calendar cycles. The first is the Sabbatical year cycle and the second is the fifty year Jubilee cycle. The former required that every seventh year the land would remain fallow and all of its vegetation declared free for all to take. The seventh year, known as sheviis or Shmita, was a Sabbatical year devoted to spiritual pursuits. The Jubilee cycle required counting seven Sabbatical cycles and on the fiftieth year, holding a Super Sabbatical or Jubilee year. During the Jubilee year, in addition to the requirements governing Sabbatical years, all land had to be returned to its original owners (or their heirs) to whom the land was bequeathed after it was conquered by Joshua. In addition, the Jubilee year

laws required release of all indentured servants who had stayed on after their initial six year term of indenture. It is in this context that the Torah declares: Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.

state that during the Jubilee year freedom was to be proclaimed for all of the lands inhabitants? How would the release of a handful of servants bring freedom to all inhabitants?

WHOS BOSS? LIBERTY FOR ALL?

The famous Talmudic commentator Pnei Yehoshua asks why the Torah characterizes this year as a year of freedom for all its inhabitants? In actuality, it only set free an eved Ivri nirtza, a Hebrew indentured servant whose ear was bored with an awl because he refused to leave when the six years of servitude were over. This was a rather rare situation. In the first place, only people who were so poor that they had to sell themselves or thieves unable to make restitution became indentured servants. The overwhelming majority of Jews were not indentured servants. Furthermore, this law mandating release of servants only applied to an indentured servant who refused to be freed after six years. Again, this most likely represented a minute fraction of the already small population of indentured servants, which was a miniscule percentage of the population. Why then does the Torah Pnei Yehoshua provides us with a partial answer. The Talmud states that a person who purchased an indentured servant was actually buying a master for himself. For example, if the master had only one pillow he would have to give it to his servant. If he had one steak he would have to give that to his servant as well. Hence, when the servant was freed it actually brought freedom to his master as well. Although this does not fully answer our question, since the majority of Jews were not masters and did not purchase indentured servants, it nevertheless carries an important lesson for anyone who is in power and able to exercise control over others. A parent, teacher, employer, seller, leader or anyone else who is on the giving end of a relationship or transaction is, in one way or another, in control of the other persons life in a major or minor way. He or she must recognize an obligation to

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PARSHA THOUGHT
treat his or her underling not only as an equal but as his or her master. The vaunted role as a person in whom power is vested only comes with the immense responsibility towards those who serve you. Thus, only when your servant is free are you also free; while he or she is under your control you are burdened and privileged with special responsibilities towards him or her. that no matter how good things might be for some in galus, materially and spiritually, we are still very much in galus. The question can still be asked: Why is this powerful lesson expressed specifically with respect to the Jubilee year? he or she is sick with love and passion to attain the elusive 50th level. Its no coincidence that the Hebrew word for sick choleh has the numerical value of 49. The person who reaches that stage is lovesick for the ultimate experience of connection to G-ds elusive Essence. As long as we have yet to master the fiftieth stage, we will feel that we are still very much like the beginner who has yet to take the first steps. Stage numbers one and forty-nine are equally light years behind the fiftieth stage. Thus, it was only in the fiftieth Jubilee year, when the Jewish people would have been granted a taste of the final stage of holiness, that the Torah speaks of freedom for all. As long as we have not attained the fiftieth step, we cannot feel that we are free; there is still a mighty barrier between our achievements and that which is still unattained. That feeling persists because we are still in a confined state of spiritual existence. In addition, only the person who feels that he or she remains in galus from not yet having attained the fiftieth level is also sensitive to the fact that others are mired in an even deeper galus. The contented individual is usually impervious to the suffering of others. It is no wonder that the Hebrew word for all kol in the verse Proclaim liberty for all has the numerical value of fifty.

FIFTY GATES OF HOLINESS

Fifty is a significant number. The Torah was given fifty days after the Jews were liberated from Egypt. Their freedom was not complete, however, until they received the Torah and became a nation with a G-dly purpose. Hence, we can see that the number fifty is related to the idea of complete and absolute freedom. But that just shifts the question to ask of the giving of the Torah, why was it given after fifty days? Kabbala and Chassidic philosophy teach us that there are fifty gates of holiness. The first forty nine are achievable with painstaking effort. However, the fiftieth gate of holiness is far more elusive. We cannot pass through without Divine intervention. Thus, no matter how high we climb or how many gates we transit, we will always be frustrated because we realize that the final destination is beyond our unaided reach and grasp. Indeed, the further we progress, the more acutely we feel our yearning for the ultimate level that we lack. When people are only on the first levels, they feel little need to climb to the top. They are usually content at the level they are on, having carved out a comfortable niche for themselves. When one reaches the 49th step of spirituality and connectivity to G-d, however,

FREEDOM FOR ALL

There is a deeper way of explaining the reference to freedom for all its inhabitants that carries a special message for us today. As long as there is even one isolated Jew who is not totally free, no Jew is truly free! We are an organic and interdependent people. What affects one Jew in any part of the world affects every Jew. However, the connection between Jews is more pronounced with regard to the idea of freedom. A simple analogy can illustrate this point. If a person is tied to a prison cell by just one small chain attached to one finger it is no less a form of confinement than if the entire body was behind bars. The entire Jewish nation is likened to one body. If one organ of this body is attached to galus then all of the Jewish people are in galus.

CRACKED!
Since everything that we hear or see has to teach us a lesson, as the Baal Shem Tov taught us, the above can serve as an explanation for the cracked Liberty Bell. Liberty that doesnt include everyone may be sweet for those who are free but there will always be a fissure in that Liberty Bell. That crack should remind us

WE WANT IT ALL!
The twin lessons we learn from the above are that: 1) no Jew is truly free until all of the Jewish people have attained total physical and spiritual freedom;

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and 2) no Jew is free without rising above the constraints of even the loftiest spiritual levels associated with the number 49. In practical terms this means that no matter how good this galus has been for any individual, the fact that: a) there are others who are still suffering; and b) we havent reached the ultimate fiftieth stage of holiness means that we still have our work cut out for us. We must sincerely and forcefully demand that we be taken out of the stifling state of galus. There are some who, unfortunately, confuse the idea that we have to be thankful to G-d for all that we have with being in a state of contentment and complacency. While we must thank G-d for every small blessing we enjoy, as we do countless times daily, we must also plead and demand that He bring an end to the suffering and pain associated with galus and the limits it imposes on us. Let us not be like a beggar who wins the lottery and then spends his newly acquired millions to build elevators in high-rise buildings so he shouldnt have to climb the stairs to beg. . . Our generation has won the lottery in so many ways. We are so much more fortunate than our forebears in terms of our prosperity and the opportunities we have to study Torah and perform Mitzvos. We should not use these gifts to feel comfortable remaining in galus, even in its most benign form. Let us not rest until it can be said that, indeed, unadulterated liberty was proclaimed throughout all the land unto all

He or she must recognize an obligation to treat his or her underling not only as an equal but as his or her master. The vaunted role as a person in whom power is vested only comes with the immense responsibility towards those who serve you.
its inhabitants. Let us not rest until the crack in the process of Redemption (the ultimate Liberty Bell) will be made whole forevermore.

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Obituary

SCION OF SHEDLITZ CHASSIDUS WHO CAME TO LUBAVITCH

He grew up in the house of his father, the Admur, and during the Holocaust he wandered from place to place until he ended up in Tomchei Tmimim. He was a rebbi for many years in Kfar Chabad. * R Avrohom Roitblatt ah.
By Shneur Zalman Berger

PRINCE OF THE HOUSE OF SHEDLITZ

R Avrohom Roitblatt was born in 5687/1927 in Shedlitz, Poland. His father was the Admur, Rabbi Yehoshua Asher of Shedlitz ztl. R Avrohom grew up under the watchful care of his father, but alas, it was not for long.

DIFFICULT EXILE
There was excitement in the Roitblatt home in the summer of 5699. Young Avrohom would soon become bar mitzva and tfillin were already ordered. But the plans were ruined when World War II began in Elul. The house filled with refugees who had fled the Nazis. Wherever the Germans

went, the Jews fled. Numerous refugees stayed in our house and courtyard, hoping for quieter days. One of my sisters worked hard to help them, heating water and giving people drinks. I remember one day when my father stood with his face to the wall, deep in thought. Suddenly, the house shook from a bomb that had fallen not far away. My sister was frightened. She went over to my father and said, Tatte, I cant take it anymore. My father turned around and said, Go my daughter. Continue reviving people and in this merit, you will have sons who are Torah scholars. She did as he said. In fact, all the sons of this sister grew up and became distinguished people; one of them is the current Bobover Rebbe, R

Mordechai Dovid Unger. When the Germans came to the outskirts of Shedlitz, his father said they should flee. He himself fled with his family to the town of Simiatitz, where the Red army had control. Shortly thereafter, the Jewish refugees in the area were suspected of being spies and were exiled by the Soviets to a labor camp in Siberia. They sent us in trains to the camp which was in the frozen forests. It sometimes reached 37 below zero. Only about 400 grams of bread were given to each person every day. This bread was very doughy. Apparently, someone in the bakery stole some of the ingredients. I would put the dough into warm water with salt and imagine that it was the

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tastiest soup in the world. Time passed and Pesach was approaching. His father began worrying about matzos. He somehow managed to send a letter to a relative, who miraculously was able to send them a package of matzos, which was divided among the Jews in the camp. Aside from the small quantity of matzos, there was an urgent need to obtain additional food for the eight days of Pesach. One of the Jews in the camp, who had a down blanket, was able to exchange it for a sack of potatoes, which had become a rare commodity. This sack helped the Jews manage through Pesach. Avrohom spent the war years in the Siberian camp. In the

winter of 5705, a few months before the end of the war, they were released. The Roitblatt family headed for Turkmenistan. Just at this time, when the war was over and it seemed that the hard times were behind them, the tzaros began. His father died on the way to Turkmenistan on 15 Kislev 5705. Just four days later, his mother died on 19 Kislev. The Roitblatt children were suddenly bereft of both their parents.

place, especially when it came to observing Torah and mitzvos. A woman lived on the kolkhoz, who occasionally traveled to Samarkand in nearby Uzbekistan in order to sell fabric. That is how she supported herself. When she saw Avrohom, a young boy, she wondered, Why is a boy your age here? In Samarkand there is a yeshiva, go there! Avrohom went to Samarkand, followed by some of his brothers and sisters. At the train station in Samarkand, a Karlin Stoliner Chassid met me. He brought me to the Lubavitcher Chassidim who lived in the city. The first Lubavitcher I met was R Yisroel Leibov. He took care of me. After a short while, I began learning

THERE IS A YESHIVA IN SAMARKAND

The young orphans reached Turkmenistan, where they lived in on a kolkhoz (collective farm), cut off from the world. They had no idea how they would continue living in this forsaken

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Obituary

When he learned in Tomchei Tmimim in Samarkand

In his childhood

His father, the Admur of Shedlitz

Rayatzs Memoirs came our way. A friend and I went up to the roof and hid there so nobody would bother us. We avidly read the book from cover to cover. R Avrohom then moved with a group of bachurim to France, where they learned in Brunoy. In 5713 he moved to Eretz Yisroel and settled in Kfar Chabad where his sister, Devorah Leah Kievman, already lived. She was among the first settlers in Kfar Chabad. He married and then began teaching in Kfar Chabad.
With his fellow Tmimim in Poking. From right to left: R Aharon Friedman, R Yaakov Katz, R Yechezkel Brod, R Ovadia Stroks, R Elozor Lifsh, R Avrohom Roitblatt, R Yisroel Levin

A HIDDEN HAND PULLED ME

He went to the Rebbe many years later, for Tishrei 5734. He described this trip: The moment I merited seeing the Rebbe was a most exciting moment. The Rebbe looked to me like a great military leader and it greatly impressed me. The simcha that the Rebbe inspired in the crowd won me over completely. One day, he tried to squeeze his way through in order to get closer to the Rebbe during the davening. He tried and tried

in the yeshiva. At first, I learned by R Eliyahu Chaim Roitblatt (he eventually married one of my sisters and left Russia under her name; since then, he kept the name Roitblatt). I slowly made progress and was promoted from class to class. I learned by R Michoel Teitelbaum, by R Moshe Robinson, and by R Yehoshua Korf. For a few weeks I also learned by R Avrohom Eliyahu Plotkin. R Avrohom did not stay in

Samarkand for long, as the great flight of Lubavitcher Chassidim from Russia under forged Polish passports had begun. He joined them and left the Soviet Union via Lvov. After a short stay in Poland, he reached the DP camp in Poking, Germany, where he learned in the Tomchei Tmimim that opened there. He told about a special moment from those days: One day, a copy of the Rebbe

24 23 Iyar 5773

but made no progress. He had come from Eretz Yisroel and he longed to see the Rebbe from up close and was unable to. As he despaired, he noticed a childhood friend in the distance, the mashpia R Pinchas Korf, standing near the Rebbe. But R Avrohom did not grow envious: I remember that whenever we walked in the street, he would review chapters of Tanya by heart. I thought, he deserves to be close to the Rebbe. That was R Avrohoms ayin tov. The next day, he noticed R Korf once again, standing very close to the Rebbe. R Avrohom found himself reaching his friend. I felt as though a hidden hand was paving a way for me in the crowd, because I suddenly found myself very close to the Rebbe. I was right next to my friend, R Pinye. I thought, I see that the Rebbe sensed my strong desire and he was the one who enabled me to come close to him. ***

With his nephew, the Bobover Rebbe

R Avrohom was a melamed in Kfar Chabad for decades. All his life he was a role model of a Chassid. He was always involved in learning or doing a mitzva, chesed or mivtzaim. We never saw him idle. When he reached old age, he retired and began

learning for hours every day with his friends in the Beis Menachem shul. He passed away on Erev Shabbos Ki Sisa, 19 Adar, at the age of 86. He is survived by his wife and children who go in the way of Torah and Chassidus.

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Stories

WHEN THE REBBE SAYS: IT SEEMS TO ME...

A compilation of stories about the Rebbe, written by R Boruch Aharon Huss, of Anash of Montreal, as he heard them from reliable sources, usually from the protagonist himself.

26 23 Iyar 5773

SAVED FROM CERTAIN DEATH

R Mendel Morosov told how he once met an immigrant from Russia to the US, who told him that his son still lived in Russia, and was in great danger. They wanted to send him to deal with the radiation at the nuclear reactor in Chernobyl. All knew that those who went there became sick and died. R Mendel suggested that he go to the Rebbe on Sunday to get a dollar for tzdaka and a bracha for his son. When he passed by the Rebbe and mentioned his son, the Rebbe blessed him that his son return home safely. The man, who did not understand what the Rebbe said, stood on the side and cried. The Rebbe turned to him and said: Why are you crying? I told you he would return home! Some time later, the man told R Mendel that not only hadnt they sent his son to Chernobyl, but they had even allowed him to leave Russia and he had come to the United States. Apparently, the soldiers who were recruited were gathered in a certain place in order to take a bus together to Chernobyl. His son showed up, but when the commander read the names, his name was omitted. He went over to the commander and asked: What about me? The commander said: Idiot, get out of here! And that is how he was miraculously saved. The father went for dollars again in order to thank the Rebbe for his blessing. R Mendel stood behind him and heard the man express his gratitude. The Rebbe said: Thanks is owed to G-d. I heard this story from R Zalman, R Mendels son.

until Kislev. In Kislev, his wife became pregnant with their first child and today they have a large family.

IF THE REBBE SAYS A DAUGHTER, IT WILL BE A DAUGHTER!

When I lived in Ganei Tikva, someone by the name of Moshe Brandler lived there (late he moved near Kfar Chabad). At that time, he was sixty and his wife was fifty. They had four sons with the youngest being twenty years old. He and his wife went to the Rebbe for dollars and the Rebbe gave him a dollar for each member of the family. Then the Rebbe gave his wife an extra dollar and said, This is for a daughter. The woman asked R Groner: What did the Rebbe mean when he gave a dollar for a daughter? R Groner didnt know what to say and suggested maybe its for a daughter-in-law. A while later she started experiencing discomfort. She went to several doctors, but none of them could diagnose what was wrong with her. Due to her age, nobody thought of doing a pregnancy test. It was only after her discomfort persisted that they decided to do a pregnancy test. Lo and behold, she was expecting a baby. Due to various concerns, the doctors said she should abort it. The woman asked the Rebbe what to do, and the answer was: Youd be better off going to the womens section of shul and saying some chapters of Thillim and stop going to all those doctors. The woman listened to the Rebbe and gave birth to a healthy baby girl. I lived across from them and saw him and his wife

R Boruch Aharon Huss

THE REBBE GAVE A DATE

One of my friends, who

wishes to remain anonymous, told me that he did not have children for nine years. He was constantly in touch with the Rebbe. One time, the Rebbe told his secretary, R Binyamin Klein, to tell him to stop the medical treatments because it will be fine. He stopped treatments as he was told to do. A year and a half later, he received a letter from one of the doctors which said advances had been made in the area related to his situation and he should come in for a consultation. He asked the Rebbe and the Rebbe said he should get a second opinion. After consulting another doctor, it still wasnt clear what to do. So he decided to let things be, as the Rebbe had told him previously to stop treatments. In Elul (I think it was 5749), he mentioned his situation to the Rebbe and the Rebbe told him to wait until after the Yomim Tovim. After Yom Tov, he mentioned it again, and the Rebbe said to wait

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Stories
walking down the street with a new baby carriage like a young couple. Since everyone had heard this amazing story, I went over to him and heard it directly from him. him. My father-in-law asked: Why do you thank me? Didnt you pay me? The man said that in the Chasam Sofer on Torah he writes that there are two kinds of thanks and one of them applies to this situation. My father-in-law, who was learned, said there was no such Chasam Sofer. The man did not argue with him, but just said goodbye and turned to leave. My father-in-law asked him: Cant you tell me who you are? The man said: What difference does it make? With Hashems help, we will yet meet and then youll know. Many years went by. My father-in-law, who lived in Eretz Yisroel, had to travel to the US in order to undergo serious treatment for his heart. He went with his son. While they were in New York, the son went to three Admurim to ask for a bracha. One of them was the Lubavitcher Rebbe. When the Rebbe saw the pidyon nefesh with the name of the sick man, he asked: Did your father have a restaurant in Paris? When the son said that he did, the Rebbe told him to wait with the treatment until he heard from the secretaries how to proceed. A short while later, he got a phone call from the Rebbes secretary telling him to contact a certain doctor. The son did so and the doctor took care of his father in the best possible way and with unusual warmth. When he was done, my father-in-law asked the doctor what he did to deserve such outstanding treatment. The doctor said he had been called by the Lubavitcher Rebbes secretary and was asked, in the Rebbes name, to take good care of him. The man, who was grateful to the Rebbe, went to the Rebbe to thank him. As soon as he walked in, the Rebbe greeted him like an old friend and said, Weve met, and then, By the way, when I said that its in Chasam Sofer on the Torah, its there but at the back of the volume in the additions compiled from other works. Apparently the edition you had at the time did not have these additions. The son-in-law finished his story and said, See what kind of student youre talking about. Watch what you say.

WATCH WHAT YOU SAY

My nephew, Berel Gross, told me that he was once sitting in a certain beis midrash where a group of men were discussing the Rebbe. One of the men commented about the Rebbe, noting that he went to college. Another man who was sitting there said: Listen to my story and youll see what kind of college it was. During World War II, my father-in-law was in Paris and ran a kosher restaurant. Once, a distinguished looking man walked in and asked two questions: Does his wife cover her hair, and do any gentiles work in the kitchen. When told that all was well, he said, Then I can eat here, and he bought bread and coffee. The man would stop in now and then and buy bread and coffee. Sometimes he bought vegetables. My father-in-law asked him for his name, and the man always said: What difference does it make? One time, he walked into the restaurant and bought some food and was followed by some distinguished looking Chassidim who sat down next to him. When one of the Chassidim went over to my father-in-law, he took the opportunity to ask for the name of the man they were with. But just then, the man got up, grabbed hold of the Chassid and said: Come, lets go. One day, the man came in and told my father-in-law that he would be leaving the city and he wanted to say goodbye and thank

WHO TAKES PRECEDENCE?

R Aharon Shapiro of Pardes Katz told me that one time, when he was in the United States, he went over to R Yaakov Friedman, the gabbai tzdaka, and asked him for money for hachnasas kalla for someone who needed it. R Yaakov, who knew R Shapiro, asked him: Why are you worrying about others and not for yourself? You have a Chabad house and a large family, worry about them first! After this talk with R Yaakov, R Shapiro went to the Rebbe for dollars. As he waited on line, he kept wondering whether R Yaakov was right. When he stood before the Rebbe, R Groner said to the Rebbe: This is R Shapiro of Pardes Katz. The Rebbe said: He is involved in hachnasas kalla.

HIS IDENTITY WAS KNOWN

R Zushe Horowitz of Yerushalayim told me: In the kollel that I learned in, there were some members of the kollel as well as the roshei kollel who spoke against Chabad.

28 23 Iyar 5773

I wrote a letter to the Rebbe and asked whether I should continue learning in this kollel. If yes, should I debate them? I also wrote that one of them had been a talmid in R Chaim Shaul Brooks yeshiva in Tel Aviv when he was younger. I sent the letter around Pesach time. Half a year later, in Tishrei, as I passed by the Rebbe for kos shel bracha, the Rebbe said to me: Regarding whether you should debate with Shaul Brooks talmid, dont argue with him, a little light pushes away a lot of darkness. The amazing thing was, said R Horowitz, that I had never been to yechidus by the Rebbe and there was no natural way for the Rebbe to know who I was.

THE REAL MIRACLE

R Tzvi Hirsch Chitrik related that when he was a shliach in Brazil, there was a Jew living there who had connections in the government and was a mekurav of Chabad. It once happened that his wife was caught at US customs with illegal goods and was in big trouble. Even her lawyers said she would have to sit in jail and the question was only for how long. Maybe they could do something in that regard, to minimize her sentence. At R Herschels recommendation, the man wrote to the Rebbe and asked for a bracha. The Rebbes answer was: It seems to me that someone should go to Miami, Florida. When he got this answer, he didnt know what to do. He couldnt go, because he was busy with his young children, so who should go? And where should he go? And what should he do there? But since the Rebbe said

At that time his wife was fifty The Rebbe gave his wife an extra dollar and said, This is for a daughter. The woman asked R Groner: What did the Rebbe mean when he gave a dollar for a daughter? R Groner didnt know what to say and suggested maybe its for a daughter-in-law.
what he said, R Herschel urged him not to be a fool and treat the Rebbes words lightly. They decided that the only one who could go was his brother-in-law, who wasnt a Chassid, but after much importuning he said he would go. When he arrived in Florida, he went to daven in the shul closest to the hotel he was staying in. In the middle of the davening, he began to cry. People around him noticed this, and asked him after the davening whether they could be of help. At first he declined,
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Stories
but when they pressed him, he told them the situation. One of the people wanted to know all the details of the story, but nobody was actually able to help him. A few days later, the brother-in-law returned home in despair and thought he had accomplished nothing in Florida. On the day of the court case, after the prosecutor and defense lawyers said their piece, the judge told the courtroom that several weeks earlier he had visited a shul and heard the entire story from someone. It was apparent from what the person said that the woman was not guilty, since she had no knowledge of the matter. The person who told the story, emphasized the judge, did not know that I am a judge and had no idea who I am, and simply said the story as it happened. Therefore, I declare her innocent! The story rocked Brazil at the time and was printed in the papers. When R Herschel had yechidus and told the Rebbe that the entire country was talking about the miracle, the Rebbe smiled and said that the biggest miracle was that the man actually went to Miami. to a different chassidic group. This relative went to Los Angeles and met a childhood friend who had become a Lubavitcher. He asked him: Why did you become a Lubavitcher? The man said, Ill tell you what happened and you tell me what kind of Chassid I ought to be. This is what the man said: Shortly after I moved to California, my wife did not feel well. Tests were done and they discovered she has cancer. The doctors said she had a few months left to live. I was shaken up and I began to say Thillim in tears. In the middle of praying, I cried out: Rebbe, help! Naturally, I was referring to my own Rebbe, but a short while later I received a phone call from New York. The man on the line said he was R Chadakov and he said: The Rebbe said you should remove your wife from the hospital and take her to a certain doctor. I was so shaken up that I did not pay sufficient attention to what he said. After I recovered from the initial shock, I began to wonder who this R Chadakov was and what connection he had to me. When I met R Shmuel Dovid Raichik, I asked him whether he knew a R Chadakov. He told me this was the Lubavitcher Rebbes secretary. I asked R Shmuel Dovid for R Chadakovs phone number. When I reached him, I asked: What is this about? I didnt ask the Rebbe anything. He said: I dont know anything about it. I just did what the Rebbe told me to do. R Chadakov warned me that if I wanted it to work out well, I should do as the Rebbe said. Considering this is a BaalShemsker story, I went to the hospital and took my wife out against the doctors orders. Then I called the doctor whom the Rebbe had recommended and asked for an appointment. The secretary told me that I should come back in a year. As I didnt have a year to wait, I simply went to the doctors office and knocked on the door and said that I needed an appointment. After the doctor tried sending me back to the secretary, I said: I want to tell you something incredible. I told him what happened. After hearing this he said: If thats the situation, bring her in tomorrow. I brought my wife and he treated her and she was cured. Concluded the Chassid: Years have gone by and my wife and I and my children are Boruch Hashem all well. Now tell me, whose Chassid should I be?

REBBE, HELP!
I heard the following from R Zushe Silberstein, who heard it from a relative of his who belongs

30 23 Iyar 5773

Viewpoint

LETTER FROM A FORMER PRISONER

By Rabbi Yisroel Harpaz

am a prisoner. I didnt do anything wrong. All I did was dream. I dreamt there was something more. I dreamt I would somehow become more than the sum of my parts. I dreamt the potential I felt within would find a place in this world. But then reality set in. The cold reality of dollars and cents, the harsh reality that making dreams real is hard work, and the simple reality that I am just a little man. A little man with big dreams. So my dreams started to shift. They became small, more manageable. Instead of wonder I sought peace. In place of the inner fire I craved a simple warmth. Instead of conquest I longed for comfort. It became easier and less guilt-ridden to focus on dreaming within reality rather than making impossible dreams real. These simplified, watered-down dreams started being fulfilled, and everything seemed perfect. Thats when the dreams turned on me. Instead of liberating me and taking me to otherworldly places, they began to imprison me in my own little world. They formed great walls of stone that pretended they existed forever as they blocked out the sound of hope beyond them. They formed cold steel bars

that cynically let the sun shine through the windows while they blocked me for ever reaching its rays. When the inner light within would put up a fight, they would call in doctors and shrinks, experts in the art of containment through rationalization aimed at protecting sanity and sanitation. They removed my brain and my heart, and replaced then with reasonable facsimiles that performed the right functions and followed a predetermined

When the inner light within would put up a fight, they would call in doctors and shrinks, experts in the art of containment through rationalization aimed at protecting sanity and sanitation.

script. They placed guards at the door, guilt on the left and excuses on the right, to keep unwanted visitors away. The perfect dream was in fact a perverse, self-made prison that was torturing my soul. In an instant, as soon as I became aware of it and accepted this fact unequivocally, the real dreams returned, together with the other souls who shared them with me. Their purity and innocence and optimism

shattered through the prison, all its darkness and all its comfort. I found my self in the wilderness, a primordial being wandering in the burning heat toward some distant unknown sun, toward some impossible oasis, not knowing what the next moment would bring. But I was free. And all of this happened on Sunday afternoon. Reprinted with permission from Exodus Magazine
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Profile

THE REBBES PRINTER

Highlights of the life of the Baal Koreh in the Rebbes minyan, R Mordechai Shusterman. * He owned the Ezra/Balshan publishing house, and the Rebbe Rayatz called him my printer. * About his childhood in the wandering Yeshivas Tomchei Tmimim, learning a trade and mesirus nefesh for Torah and mitzvos in Russia. * Marking his passing on 22 Iyar 5755.
By Dov Levanon

Mordechai Shusterman was born on Erev Rosh Chodesh Elul 5674/1914 in Zhlobin to his parents Eliyahu and Rochel. When he was six or seven his father sent him to learn with a Chassidishe melamed, although the authorities had already opened a school and wanted to force all the Jewish children to attend it. In 5687, when he wasnt yet bar mitzva, he was one of the first talmidim of the new yeshiva, which was founded by R Moshe Akselrod in Suraz. R Akselrod, who had left the rabbinate in Zhlobin for a rabbinic position in Suraz, decided to open a yeshiva. The talmidim he brought were talmidim of the melamed of Zhlobin, R Sholom Horowitz. Mottel celebrated his bar mitzva in yeshiva at the end of the last minyan, the ravs minyan. They

brought cake and mashke, he said a drasha about tfillin, and the people said lchaim. That was his bar mitzva celebration. He learned in this yeshiva until the end of 5687, when all the talmidim returned home. When they were in Zhlobin, one of the children became sick with scarlet fever and within two weeks, half of the group had died. In Suraz, they heard what happened and feared that the contagious disease would come to their city with the returning talmidim. They warned R Akselrod that if the talmidim returned from Zhlobin, they would all be arrested. So talmidim remained in Zhlobin, and the rav of the city, R Binyaminson, learned Gemara with them every day. In the evening, Mottel learned Tanach and dikduk (Hebrew grammar) with a Chassidishe melamed

named Itche Riskin. For some time, the boy and his father looked for a yeshiva but they did not find one. The Russians, who knew they could not arrest young talmidim, would instead arrest or expel the rosh yeshiva of any Jewish school they would discover, leaving the yeshiva to fall apart. It was hard to find any functioning yeshivos. To remain without a yeshiva for too long a time was not acceptable, and after a year of thinking about it and looking for one, a suitable yeshiva was found in Polotzk. Mottel and another boy left for Polotzk. After about two weeks, the mashgiach, R Shlomo Chaim Kesselman, told him that he could remain in the yeshiva, but his friend was somewhat weak in learning and had to learn in a lower class which was located in Vitebsk. In

32 23 Iyar 5773

telegram to Zhlobin not to send the boys, but the telegram arrived only after they had already left. The children, who had come on a 36 hour journey, needed a place to stay, but the fear was so great that nobody wanted to host them for even one night. The children had to go to Kremenchug, a 12 hour trip away. Having no choice, the gentile wagon driver took them to sleep in his house, and in the morning, he took them to the train station. In Kremenchug, they stayed in the home of a widow who lived with her son. After two weeks, they were sent to yeshiva in Odessa. Mottel learned there for one month and that concluded his stint in yeshiva. He was fifteen years old.

12 TAMMUZ FARBRENGEN BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN

Mottel returned to Zhlobin where he continued learning with R Binyaminson. After several years, he began looking for work, but most jobs in Russia were in government facilities which were open on Shabbos. The solution for many Lubavitchers in Russia was bookbinding. Many government offices used the services of independent bookbinders, who would come to their offices and offer to bind their documents. Mottel learned how to do this and began working. He did well and was allowed to work in a printing house where he learned the craft of printing. The situation in Zhlobin was very difficult. In 5698, the evil Yezhov was appointed Interior Minister of Russia and from that day on, life was miserable. Every night, angels of death swooped down on Jewish homes, leaving behind a crying widow and orphans. Every morning, Jews
Issue 878

those days, it was dangerous to keep many bachurim in the same area. Mottel did not want to part from his friend and he decided he would go with him to Vitebsk. It turned out to be a good decision, because the yeshiva in Polotzk disbanded that winter. By the summer of 5689, they heard from the headquarters of Yeshivos Tomchei Tmimim that it was too dangerous to return to Vitebsk. The yeshiva was moved to Mohilov, but it did not last long there either. R Gavriel Kagan, the rosh yeshiva, realized he was being followed and he had to disappear. The one sent from headquarters in Nevel to replace him was R Nissan Heber. He had the advantage of being short, so the Russians wouldnt think he was the maggid shiur. The yeshivos back then

were like the journeys of the Jewish people in the desert, said R Shusterman in his book, LMaan Yeidu Banim Yivaleidu. Sometimes the cloud would be there a few days or a month When the cloud came (in this case, it was blacker than black), the yeshiva had to move to its next station. After less than a year, the 14 year old boy had to move again, this time to Charson, where R Yechezkel Himmelstein and R Tzemach Gurewitz opened a yeshiva. When Mottel and his friend Dovber Gurewitz (who later ran Beis Rivka in Paris) went to the home of R Himmelstein in Charson, his wife came out in tears. She said that her husband, the mashgiach, and the talmidim had been arrested a few days before. They had sent a

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PROFILE
The farbrengen lasted till dawn with R Nissan as the main speaker. Towards morning, R Yona sent people out one by one, since the gentile who lived in the facing apartment belonged to the GPU. That is how the Chassidim of the Rebbe Rayatz celebrated the miracle of his rescue from the communists. During World War II, the young Shusterman family father, mother and baby were able to escape to Samarkand to join the growing community of Chassidim. After the war, they were able to leave Russia and arrived in Poking, the well known DP camp where many Chassidim ended up.
R Mordechai Shusterman (right) leining in the Rebbes minyan

would whisper to one another, Who did they take last night? Shuls were closed and Mottel was the only remaining religious youth in town. On Shabbos, he was afraid to leave his house while wearing Shabbos clothes and he spent Shabbos indoors. One Thursday night, the evil agents murdered seven Chassidim. The next morning, Mottel heard from the secretary of the head of the Secret Service that they were planning something similar for that night. He knew what that meant. He quickly arranged everything, and he and his father boarded a train and fled that Friday night. After a few weeks, he arrived in Moscow where he worked as a painter, drawing on pictures that had become blurred due to enlargement. He also found his shidduch in Moscow, Henya Fradkin, the daughter of R Gershon. The wedding meal took place on 9 Tammuz in the home of one of the residents of the Marina

Roscha neighborhood, who had a relatively large living room. That is how weddings were celebrated in Russia. On the morning of 12 Tammuz, when the new chassan went to shul, his uncle R Zushe said to him, Today we will come to you to celebrate Sheva Brachos. R Mottel wasnt sure there would be ten men, but at night he saw many Lubavitchers coming from the tram. He ran to buy a bottle of mashke and they kept coming: R Nissan Nemanov, R Benzion Shemtov and his son Mendel, R Dovid Bravman, R Berel Kabilaker, R Yona Cohen, R Shmuel Yitzchok Reitzes and his son Yosef, R Eliyahu Chaim Roitblatt, and more. Due to the prevailing fear, they could not arrange a farbrengen. Each of them went to shul and asked where they were farbrenging that day. R Mottels uncle sent them to him, where at least they had the excuse that it wasnt a 12 Tammuz farbrengen but a wedding.

EARLY YEARS IN THE UNITED STATES

Through the husband of his cousin, Rabbi Chaim Stein (Rosh Yeshiva of Telshe in Cleveland), R Mottel was able to procure one of the visas designated for professors in yeshiva, a visa that enabled him to live permanently in the United States. He and his family arrived in the US on 18 Adar II and went to the home of his brother-in-law who was living in East New York at the time. On the first Shabbos, R Mottel walked over an hour to daven with the Rebbe Rayatz. Since he had just arrived from Europe, he was able to be part of the small minyan for Krias HaTorah that took place in the yechidus room on the second floor. The tallis that he wore had been woven by a Lubavitcher in Russia and was made of very thick wool. After the farbrengen, the gabbai, R Yochanan Gordon, told him that the Rebbe kept looking at the tallis. In those days in America, the

34 23 Iyar 5773

Joint generously helped refugees, starting with an apartment and furniture and even with money. Since housing was limited in New York, due to the masses of refugees, the Joint began looking for ways to move people elsewhere. They saw that the visa R Mottel had been given was for a yeshiva in Cleveland, and they began urging him to move there. R Mottel wrote to the Rebbe Rayatz and in the note he wrote three possibilities: 1) printing as the Rebbes son-in-law, Ramash, had told him that they had been looking for a long time for someone to do printing; 2) shamashus at the time, being a shamash was a good position. It entailed being a Baal Koreh too, something R Mottel could do well; 3) shochet a profession he knew. The Rebbe responded in a brief letter and told him to work in all three fields. A short while later, the Joint stopped its support and R Mottel had to give shiurim and work as a shamash in the Bobroisker shul, R Yisroel Jacobsons shul in Brownsville. He performed shchita every week by buying two chickens in the market and shechting them for himself. Only printing remained of the three things the Rebbe told him to do. Through R Moshe Margolin, R Mottel met the Gertz brothers who were printers. One of them, Lazer, was willing to teach him every Sunday how to use a linotype. After a number of Sundays in which he taught him how to use the machine, he suggested that if R Mottel had a booklet to print he should bring it the following week, since most of the employees were going on vacation. R Mottel would set up the booklets and the Gertz brothers would print it. R Mottel told Ramash about

R Mordechai Shusterman (center) at the chuppa of his grandson, R Levi Yitzchok Garelik

The children, who had come on a 36 hour journey, needed a place to stay, but the fear was so great that nobody wanted to host them for even one night.
connection with the 200th year since the birth of the Tzemach Tzedek, they reprinted the book in a larger format. When R Mottel passed by as the book was being given out, the Rebbe told him this was the first book he printed and the Rebbe smiled.) R Mottel continued his work at a printing house in Brownsville. He would rent the use of the machinery from a man named Shapiro, and made a living from the kuntreisim which the Rebbe gave him to print. It wasnt easy work. Setting up the lead plates took place in Brownsville, and then the heavy plates had to be taken to Manhattan where they were printed. It was all done last minute so that each time R

the proposal, and Ramash told him he had what to print and brought him a Kitzur Tanya from the Tzemach Tzedek, part of the Kitzurim VHearos Al Tanya. When he brought the galleys of the first kuntres, the Rebbe gave him another one and another one, until the small kuntres became the big book we know of today. The vacation at the printing house was over and the book was still not ready. The Gertz brothers gave R Mottel the key and he would go alone in the evening and work on it when all the employees went home. He worked until midnight until he finished it. (At the end of Elul 5749, in

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PROFILE
Mottel would show up with 24 or 32 heavy plates, he would beg them to stop what they were doing, because he had to finish the kuntreisim as soon as possible. In 5710, he set up the first ten chapters of Basi L Gani. On Motzaei Shabbos, 10 Shevat, when the Rebbe saw him, he told him not to set up the following chapters. However, shortly after the Shiva, the Rebbe said, We must continue further. Rebbe immediately shook his head. R Mottel was offered the job of shamashus and leining at the big shul in East Flatbush where R JJ Hecht was the rabbi. When R Hecht asked Ramash what he thought of the offer, he said, He read the Torah by the shver! Since the shul was Nusach Ashkenaz, R Mottel asked the Rebbe what he should do when he davened as the chazan. The Rebbe told him to daven his usual nusach when he davened silently, and to use Nusach Ashkenaz when he davened out loud. When mourners would go to shul to say Kaddish, R Mottel would go over to them and suggest that they put on tfillin. This annoyed some of the other people in shul but R Hecht was pleased. R Hecht reported it to the Rebbe Rayatz who responded with his approval. On Yom Kippur, R Mottel arrived at 770 after he finished his work at the shul in East Flatbush. Ramash, who saw him, asked if he would lein for Mincha. Of course, Mottel said he would and the Rebbe Rayatz had the aliya for Maftir Yona in that minyan. printer. When the question as to what to name the new printing house came up, the Rebbe said that since the first Thillas Hashem Siddurim were printed by the Ezra printing house, then that is what this printing house should be named too. The Rebbe wanted Merkos L Inyanei Chinuch to be partners with the printing house. Despite the unwillingness of the two partners, R Chadakov and R Shusterman, the Rebbe said that Merkos would be a partner and that Shusterman and his partner Hirschel Gansbourg would receive a salary like employees and some of the profits. The Ezra printing house was registered as a tax-exempt branch of Merkos L Inyanei Chinuch. As the printing house grew, new customers came who could not avail themselves of printing services that were tax exempt. A new printing house was established called Balshan; hence the name Ezra-Balshan. Working at two jobs was very hard, and often, R Mottel did not return on time to open the shul for Mincha. He felt that his days there were numbered. On Sukkos 5713, after working at the shul for nearly four years, R Mottel drank some mashke in the sukka and then told the congregants, Do you think I came to America to make money? I came to accomplish something for Judaism! This statement was the talk of the day among the congregants Mottel the Shamash says he can manage without us! This was a prominent synagogue and his salary was commensurate. When it came time to renew the annual contract, the board informed him that they had decided not to renew his contract.

THE BAAL KOREH IN THE REBBES MINYAN

It was Shabbos Mevarchim Nissan 5709. After the davening was over in the Bobroisker shul, R Yisroel Jacobson asked R Mottel to join him on the walk to 770. Perhaps they would be able to go to the second floor where the Rebbe Rayatz would have Maftir for the yahrtzait of his father, the Rebbe Rashab, which would be on 2 Nissan. When they arrived at 770, they saw that it was the oifruf of R Shimon Goldman, the future son-in-law of R Yochanan Gordon. R Gordon (who was the regular Baal Koreh in the Rebbes minyan) was busy downstairs with the mechutanim. Consequently, R Jacobson suggested that R Mottel read the Torah in the Rebbes minyan since he knew it, having just read it in the shul in Brownsville. That is how R Mottel came to read the Torah on the Shabbos preceding the last 2 Nissan of the Rebbe Rayatzs life. The Rebbe, who was in a wheelchair, had an aliya for Parshas HaChodesh; R Mottel, overcome with emotion, began to lain. At the second pasuk, at the words Bnei Yisroel, he blurted the letter beis instead of the entire word. The

THE EZRA/BALSHAN PUBLISHING HOUSE

The Rebbe Rayatz, who knew that R Mottel rented the use of the machinery in order to print the kuntreisim, told him to buy a machine of his own. After the Rebbes histalkus, R Mottel bought a machine and opened a small printing house in East New York. That was how the Ezra/Balshan printing house began, which he ran successfully for many years. R Yerachmiel Benjaminson said that the Rebbe Rayatz once called R Mottel my

36 23 Iyar 5773

Rabbi Avigdor Miller zl, mashgiach in Yeshivas Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin, was unhappy about his dismissal. He had seen what a positive spiritual change R Mottel had brought about in the shul. R Miller banged on the bima on the final day of R Mottels position and protested, and then he walked out of the shul. He collected signatures and sent them to the president who was in Florida at the time. Not long afterward, R Mottel was asked to return, but just for the small things such as learning with people etc. When he asked the Rebbe about the matter, the Rebbe told him, If you left, you left.

CROWN HEIGHTS
Since he no longer had any ties with East Flatbush, R Mottel thought of moving to Crown Heights and he told the Rebbe he wanted to rent an apartment there. Why rent when you can buy? asked the Rebbe. As he attempted to offer an explanation about the financial considerations, the Rebbe responded briefly, Those with less than you have managed to buy. A few months later, R Mottel bought a home on President Street near Utica. R Yochanan Gordon, the Rebbes Baal Koreh, was not feeling well at that time. Most Lubavitchers who came to 770 during that period were asked at one time or another to lain for the Rebbe. That is how it happened that R Mottel, who walked every Shabbos from East Flatbush, had the opportunity to lain for the Rebbe. When he moved to Crown Heights, this became a regular request until one Shabbos the elder gabbai said, How long

R Mordechai Shusterman leining in the Rebbes minyan

When R Hecht asked Ramash what he thought of the offer, he said, He read the Torah by the shver!
will I continue asking you every Shabbos? Go up and read on your own. From then on, until the middle of 5754, R Mottel was the regular Baal Koreh in the Rebbes minyan. Over the years, he would give a shiur to bachurim in how to lain properly. Then for a number of years he stopped, until at a yechidus for his birthday, the Rebbe told him to start giving these shiurim again. He said, Why shouldnt bachurim know how to lead the services? I dont mean for vhaKohanim (Yom Kippur Musaf liturgy) but for an ordinary Mincha. One time, when the Rebbe returned from the Ohel, it got late and the sun was setting. R Groner, who was sitting with the Rebbe in the car, said that the printing house was on their route, and the Rebbe said they should drive to the building that was located on Sutter Avenue in Brownsville. The Rebbe entered the printing house and asked one of the employees which way was east. The worker, who wasnt accustomed to davening there, looked up in surprise and when he saw who was asking him, he started pointing in all four directions in his confusion. The Rebbe davened Mincha there and then continued on his way. R Shusterman passed away on 22 Iyar 5755.

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Story

PROVIDENTIAL PHONE EXCHANGE

The story of Tali, a bank clerk who shared her heartache and merited a miracle.
By Temma Choroshochin, Bnei Brak

n anonymous bank clerk answered the phone when I called with some technical question. We did not know one another and this was the first time I was calling this branch. Those who work in banks are generally focused on the matter at hand. They definitely do not get personal and they wont tell you whats on their minds in a first conversation with someone they dont know, especially over the phone. But this time, a personal matter came up. Tali said that she was married for a year and two months and was 36 years old. She was still not expecting a child and the passage of time was really weighing on her. I asked whether the mezuzos in her house and her husbands tfillin had been checked. She said that the tfillin had been checked two months earlier. I told her about the Rebbes brachos through the Igros

Kodesh and suggested asking for a bracha. I also suggested that she give tzdaka to the Chabad house in yishuv Even Yehuda. Twenty years ago, I had the privilege of being chairman of the friends of that Chabad house. In my experience, I saw that when people donated to this work, and we asked for a bracha for them, they were helped with miracles. Being partners with the Rebbe, I explained, gives you enormous merits. She accepted my advice and we agreed that I would send her a form for her to fill out for a donation to the Chabad house. On 23 Shevat 5763, I wrote a pidyon nefesh for Tali to the Rebbe, which was placed in volume 10 of the Igros Kodesh, page 82-83. The answer on the right was written in Yiddish but I understood the ending, with blessings for good news. On the left side it said, The check that was sent for tzdaka was received ...

I sent the form to Tali and with everything going on, I forgot that it was never returned to me. On a particularly cold, rainy winter day, I decided it was time to organize my papers in my friends of the Chabad house Even Yehuda file. It was packed with letters and while flipping through I noticed something interesting. The date of the letter I was holding bore the date 23 Shevat 5763 and that day was 23 Shevat 5764. An entire year had passed since I had written a letter to the Rebbe for Tali. I was curious about what happened and decided to call her and find out. Tali remembered our previous conversation, but said in a firm voice that she did not want to continue the conversation. She hung up. I was taken aback by the drastic change in her manner. It took me a while to digest the unexpected reaction. A few days later, the phone

38 23 Iyar 5773

rang. This time, it was Tali who was calling me. She apologized for her behavior and I could hear tears in her voice. She said she was pregnant but the doctors wanted her to abort. Tests showed that she was carrying a baby with Down Syndrome and he was much smaller than he should have been. I spontaneously told her, and I dont know where I got the nerve, that she should refuse to abort. Let us ask for the Rebbes bracha again, I said. I reminded her of the importance of giving tzdaka and what she had promised. I have the form you sent me, she said, and she promised to sign and return it. I told her what the Rebbe advised to do in pregnancy and birth and sent her a Shir L maalos card. I recommended that she say chapter one of Thillim every day in the merit of the baby and to give coins to tzdaka. When she was in her sixth month, she was hospitalized because of early labor. Time passed and Tali surprised me with another phone call. This time, she was calling to excitedly inform me that she had given birth, on 28 Elul 5764, to a healthy baby girl. The doctors were sure there was a mistake. For two days they did numerous tests, which affirmed that indeed the baby was healthy, in direct contradiction to the doctors previous ominous

I spontaneously told her, and I dont know where I got the nerve, that she should refuse to abort. Let us ask for the Rebbes bracha again, I said.
prognosis. Before Pesach, we invited Tali to come and get shmura matza. She was interested and her husband came to our house. A year and a half went by and Tali came to visit me. This was the first time I was meeting her. She took out two pictures of her miracle baby. Tali continues to say the chapter of Thillim that corresponds to her daughters age. The girl attends a religious school and lights a candle every Erev Shabbos after putting coins in the pushka. During vacation, she attends a Chabad camp in her area. A few days before Pesach last year, I invited Tali to come and get shmura matza. She said, We already bought shmura matza. You can give it to someone else who needs it. Boruch Hashem, I was chosen to be the one to ask for a bracha for Tali from the Rebbe. A tzaddik decrees and Hashem fulfills.

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Issue 878

CROSSROADS

TERRORISM:
Suddenly, the world discovers that even in the tranquility of New England, a city with no occupation forces or roadblocks, Muslim jihadists blow up innocent children. The victims were simple citizens, whose only crime was being on the wrong side of the global map. From the viewpoint of radical Islam, anything outside of its realm becomes a target for wholesale slaughter. These extremists see murder as a justifiable means to an end and a way of life, and it makes no difference whether were talking about Tel Aviv or Boston.
By Sholom Ber Crombie Translated by Michoel Leib Dobry

BANNED IN BOSTON
of the occupation. If only we would withdraw from the liberated territories, peace would come immediately and Eretz Yisroel would be transformed into another Scandinavia or Switzerland. Every brutal terrorist attack that takes a heavy toll in casualties give the left-wingers another incentive to engage in their brainwashing operations, pressuring Israeli politicians to charge towards another agreement along the slippery slope of territorial concessions. Thus, the world suddenly discovers that even in the tranquility of New England, a city with no occupation forces or roadblocks, Muslim jihadists blow up innocent children. The victims were simple citizens, whose only crime was being on the wrong side of the global map. From the viewpoint of radical Islam, anything outside of its realm becomes a target for wholesale slaughter. These extremists see murder as a justifiable means to an end and a way of life, and it makes no difference whether were talking about Tel Aviv or Boston. After the Boston Marathon attacks, two Moslem brothers, citizens of Chechnya, were identified as the perpetrators. They had been staying in the

ts been only six weeks since the President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama, came to Eretz Yisroel and proclaimed that he places great importance upon the establishment of an Islamic state in the heart of the Jewish homeland rl, as the sound of explosions once again began to reverberate. This time, however, the explosions were taking place in America. The tranquil city of Boston, Massachusetts, typical of the soft underbelly of the United States, turned into a scene of murder and mayhem, as Islamic terror struck

without mercy. This time, it seems to be a case of a couple of lone wolves with no direct connection to any group or organization. They were apparently brainwashed by the poisonous messages of extremist Islam. American citizens are now paying the heavy price of Islamic control over the minds of impressionable young people, who suddenly become dangerous terrorists. For more than thirty years, the political left has been preaching to us that the Arab terrorist attacks committed throughout Eretz Yisroel are the direct result

40 23 Iyar 5773

United States legally, and they were reportedly planning a major terrorist bombing on the railroad line between New York City and Canada. Yet, this was not a case of an attack on an occupying army, rather another maniacal Islamic terrorist cell feeding on blind hatred. The United States is now learning the hard way about the problems faced by its chief ally in the Middle East. Over the years, the government of Israel has tried to convey to the world how its children are afraid to play in the streets. This is how we live and always have. Long before the proclamation of the modern Jewish state, Jews in Eretz Yisroel were murdered simply because they were Jews. The pogroms of 5689 (Tarpat) did not occur because of a military occupation, nor did the Fedayeen attacks during the fifties. Radical Islam educates its disciples in murder and hatred against the whole world and particularly towards Jews. As stated in the teaching often quoted by the Rebbe, It is a well-known tradition that Eisav hates Yaakov. The Arabs translate their murderous culture into the deep hatred they have for Israel. Maybe now someone from outside Eretz Yisroel will finally understand that the settlements are not the problem.

the policymakers in Washington to come to the realization at long last that radical Islams growing domination is the greatest threat to reason and sanity in the Middle East region. Throughout the years, the political leaders in Eretz Yisroel have tried to show the world that the Iranian menace is not only the problem of the Jewish state. However, the international community really hasnt gone out of its way to put an end to this hazard. During the last decade, Iran has advanced its uranium enrichment program, and reports indicate that they are closer than ever before to the development of a nuclear weapon. The

military action against the Islamic republic. Hagels verbal commitments join an official resolution of the United States Senate passed last week, declaring that the United States will stand alongside Eretz Yisroel against any Iranian attack. According to the resolution passed by the Senate, the United States will supply Eretz Yisroel with weapons and ammunition as required, buttressed by diplomatic backing on the international front in the event of an Iranian attack. The Senates action represents a significant step towards Eretz Yisroels independence in relation to its

American citizens are now paying the heavy price of Islamic control over the minds of impressionable young people.

THE SENATE SENDS A WARNING SIGN TO IRAN

All this is happening as the possibility of military action against Iran is being considered far more seriously than ever before. The international community has never been as pessimistic over the option to remain diplomatic regarding Iran as is it today. Perhaps the terrorist attack in Boston will be a sign for

government in Eretz Yisroel has persistently declared that the free world cannot live with a nuclear Iran. Yet, the world remains skeptical and lets the Israelis do all the dirty work. Recently, it has appeared that the world at-large has begun to understand that the Iranian threat is not just an Israeli problem. During the previous week, U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel visited Eretz Yisroel for a meeting with the defense minister, Moshe (Bogey) Yaalon. Media reports noted that the discussions concentrated on the Iranian issue, and the United States promised to give fighter jets and other war materials to Eretz Yisroel. Secretary of Defense Hagels visit was a clear sign to Iran, perhaps even a significant milestone towards possible

security and possible military operations against Iran. This is most noteworthy, especially since the Senate is controlled by Mr. Obamas Democratic Party, not known at present for its sympathy and understanding towards the Jewish state. In contrast, the Republican Party and its majority in the House of Representatives has remained genuinely supportive of Eretz Yisroel, and GOP leaders continue to proclaim that Israel has the inherent right of selfdefense, even at the cost of war with Iran. Here, we see once again that the ability of Israeli leaders to enlist U.S. support exists only when the government in Yerushalayim speaks with a clear voice and doesnt falter in proclaiming its duty to defend itself. As the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach explained on
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CROSSROADS
numerous occasions, America is a country of great kindness and it wants to help Eretz Yisroel. It only requires that the political leadership in the Holy Land know how to demand its rights without hesitation as an independent sovereign nation not some puppet state placing its security in the hands of others. The Rebbe often stated that a strong Eretz Yisroel is in the vital interests of the United States, which needs a firm and reliable ally in the Middle East against the twenty-two Arab countries detached from the world of freedom and democracy. In recent years, we have seen that with all the Arab revolutions engulfing the Middle East, the enlightened Western world, now dealing with a new wave of jihad terror. The free world already realizes that the Arabs culture of bloodshed makes no distinction between Yerushalayim and Manhattan, and there is only one way to put a halt to the Islamic threat and its not through bootlicking, concessions, and surrender. against terrorism, providing Eretz Yisroel with a wideranging security network for its defense operations. Similarly, we must take advantage of the worlds newly acquired insight into Islamic terror with a public relations campaign designed to achieve greater influence over the minds and hearts of the world atlarge. If the prime ministers predicted scenarios prove accurate and time is beginning to run out on the military option against Iran, Israeli information services have the duty, albeit painful and tragic, to explain to the world how a sovereign nation is compelled to defend itself. Last week, the Boston Police Department taught us all an excellent lesson on how to wage a just and proper war against terrorism. Immediately after the surviving terrorist had been captured, the police announced that it would seek a harsh indictment against him and demand the death penalty, as soon as the FBI completed its investigation into the bombing. The police also announced that it would invoke a public safety exception, waiving the Miranda requirement that defendants be told their rights, including that they can remain silent and have an attorney. It will be interesting to see whether they internalize this approach in Eretz Yisroel as well, and conduct themselves towards these murdering terrorists in the appropriate manner.

DEATH TO TERRORISTS IN BEANTOWN

The political leadership in Eretz Yisroel now has a chance to take advantage of this delicate situation created in recent weeks and enlist the assistance of the international community in

The government in Eretz Yisroel has persistently declared that the free world cannot live with a nuclear Iran. Yet, the world remains skeptical and lets the Israelis do all the dirty work.

United States has revealed how much they need a strong Eretz Yisroel. The dictatorial regimes throughout the region are buckling one after another, yet the staunch U.S. ally remains solid. In the battle against Islamic world hegemony, Eretz Yisroel has an important role extending beyond the Middle East region. In the last few years, the Moslem threat has become the most serious problem facing the

the war on terror. The window of opportunity resulting from the marathon bombing can now have an effect upon every American citizen. This can help them understand that the terrorism they heard about for years existing in Tel Aviv is the very same terrorism that they just saw taking place before their very eyes in Boston. Twenty years ago after the initial attempt to bomb the World Trade Center, the Americans declared their steadfast position in the battle

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42 23 Iyar 5773