The Chossid Who Collected Pink Slips

Welcome to our weekly program, The Inside Story of Chabad in America, through the Mindel Archives. It's the Mindel Archives that shed light on the beginning years of the establishment of Chabad that we see today. Baruch Hashem, today Chabad is known, but where did this all start? Where was the beginning?

The beginning was when the Frierdiker Rebbe came and he established the foundation of Chabad and he gave guidelines. And then when the Rebbe came here in 1941, he began working on what the Frierdiker Rebbe established. And since now we are celebrating Chanukah, the time of miracles — Chanukah is Chinuch — this is where the Rebbe and the Frierdiker Rebbe started when they came to America. The most important and main thing that they established was Chinuch. So today we will discuss a few things that happened in the early years.

One of the first things that the Rebbe established, with the Frierdiker Rebbe, with the help of course of Rabbi Hodakov, together with Rabbi Nissan Mindel, was Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch. Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch is the first establishment of Chinuch. The Rebbe wanted the word Chinuch, education — he started with Chinuch. And as we see in the Siddur, in the Tehillat Hashem Siddur, the Rebbe wanted — we see in the back — the Rebbe said that when we print the Siddur we should have a page of Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch and also a page of the Tefillin. There are fifteen things that the Rebbe wrote here about Chinuch, and the Rebbe said that this is the foundation of Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch — everything is for the beginning, the children. And the Rebbe wanted that it should also carry the Frierdiker Rebbe's name, as the Nasi, Rabbi Hodakov as the Menahel, and Rabbi Mindel as the Mazkir Rishon. This should always be there. I've seen some Siddurim where those two pages are not included — I don't know why — but I know that the Rebbe wanted that these two pages should always be when we print the Siddur Tehillat Hashem.

Another thing that the Rebbe established was publications. The truth is, that started even before the Frierdiker Rebbe came to America. He called in Rabbi Mindel and said to him, as we once mentioned, that Chassidus is a closed book — the Tanya is in Hebrew, and people who cannot speak or read Hebrew cannot learn Chassidus. So he called in Rabbi Mindel and said to him, "We have to open Chassidus to the entire world. And since you know languages" — he knew English very well, a special English, and also other languages — "and you also have a fine character" [unclear: "Ben Toive"], and he liked his character, so he said, "We have to translate the Tanya into English." And he said, "Come with me to America" — he and Rabbi Hodakov — and that's when the work began to publish the Tanya in English.

Then also there were the Talks and Tales. Everything we see today — my prayer book and the other books that we have — everything is based on the Talks and Tales and the Shmuessen, which started in English, and in those days people also spoke Yiddish, so there were the Shmuessen too. But basically, it was the Talks and Tales. And by the way, we mentioned how important the Talks and Tales were — that the Frierdiker Rebbe said, "When I read it, it is the wonder of nature" — that's how important the Talks and Tales were. This came out before any other publications.

Also the Shulchan Aruch — there's a Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, we all know it. The Rebbe said that since the [unclear: "Maratzis"] in those days was very prevalent, he made a Shulchan Aruch even shorter than the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch. We once printed it, but I think we have to do it all over again — the right way. It's called the Junior Code of Jewish Law, a Shulchan Aruch even shorter than the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch. When they worked together, the Rebbe told Rabbi Mindel, "If I make a mistake in English spelling, please correct me." So Rabbi Mindel told me that in fact the Rebbe corrected Rabbi Mindel's spelling at times.

Another thing that started then was Hayom Yom. We all know the Hayom Yom — it's for children. It started with the printing of a small calendar. This one is from Tof-Shin-Gimmel, 5703 — 1942–1943 — and this one is from Tof-Shin-Daled, 5704 — 1943–1944. The first money that Mr. Stillman gave to the Frierdiker Rebbe was to print the Hayom Yom. Kehot printed it, and then — I don't know why — they stopped. So Rabbi Mindel told me that in the future, if they didn't print it, I could print the Hayom Yom. So I printed it — "A Young Scholar's Daily Calendar and Encyclopedia." We did this for two years, 5703 and 5704, and we also translated it into Hebrew. You can buy it in the stores on Kingston Avenue, at Judaica World.

I think we'll read the hakdamah, a very important introduction that the Rebbe wrote in the early years. Rabbi Greenglass, who was a mekubal, wrote many letters to the Rebbe in those days, and the Rebbe didn't answer him. So he asked the Rebbe, "Why didn't you answer me?" The Rebbe said, "Because I am busy from day to day with this book — I am busy doing the Hayom Yom — therefore I don't have time to answer you."

Another thing established in the early years was release time. We all know release time, the Wednesday hour — how many thousands of children came from release time. This gives credit to Rabbi Yaakov Yehuda Hecht — he was the main one who dealt with release time. In 1941, or 1942 I believe, he went with Rabbi Mindel and Rabbi Hollander to Washington for release time, the Wednesday hour.

Also, America's bus — the Rebbe wanted a Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch bus. This was in the 1950s, even the early 1960s I think, to ride with Ufaratzta — this was the bus — and to sell sforim, to push publications, to go around and sell the Talks and Tales, and there were the memoirs and the commandments, and a lot of siddurim. This was the main thing in the early years — publications, to publicize, for children to see and to learn.

Now, since we're talking about those days in America, in the 1940s, there were not too many mikvahs, not too many Talmud Torahs, not too many yeshivas. To come to America was called the treife medina — frum people didn't want their children to live in America. So the Rebbe came to America in those days when, by the way, Shabbos was mamash a mesirat nefesh. People worked Sunday through Friday, and if they didn't want to work on Shabbos, they were given what was called a pink slip — that's it, they couldn't work there anymore — and then they had to look for another job.

The Rebbe came to America in 1941, and the Rebbe single-handedly began working — but it began with publications, with Chinuch, everything for children. As we're going to read soon what the Rebbe said about children — that's the main point. And he worked together with Rabbi Mindel on all these publications.

Now, before I tell you a story about the early years and Shabbos, I want to read to you the two paragraphs that the Rebbe wrote in the hakdamah of the Hayom Yom. The Rebbe writes:

"Grateful appreciation is herewith extended in the name of Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch to Dr. Nissan Mindel for his English rendition of these volumes and for compiling the said index."

"Dear children: Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, an institution entirely devoted to your benefit, is presenting you with this pocket calendar, the Young Scholars Pocket Calendar 5703, which will surely become a favorite with you." We'll read 5703 here; he also wrote a hakdamah for 5704, which we'll do another time.

"Make this calendar your constant companion, and take full advantage of the knowledge and wisdom it contains. This calendar should not merely tell you the date of the month, but — what is more important — the significance of each day. Time is a very great treasure. A minute lost or wasted can never be restored. Time can be very valuable, but it can also be absolutely valueless." That's why he named it Hayom Yom — every day, every minute counts.

"All depending upon how you use it. Therefore you must not let your time pass by without making full use of it, giving it the fullest measure of meaning and worth — Jewish meaning and worth. The calendar should remind you constantly that you are children of the Jewish people, the nation to whom G-d gave the holy Torah on Mount Sinai, making Israel unique and eternal, just as the Torah and G-d are unique and eternal. Only through keeping the Torah and its commandments can the Jewish people enjoy G-d's special protection and care. The calendar should remind you that in you, dear children, lies the hope of the whole Jewish people. You, the children of today, are the grown-ups of tomorrow. Soon you will become full-fledged members of our people, with all the privileges as well as the responsibilities that this bestows upon you as children of G-d, as it is written, 'You are children unto G-d.' Looking into the calendar daily, you should ask yourselves the question: What can I do today to prepare myself for, and do justice to, my duties and responsibilities?"

And then the Rebbe signs — we have the Rebbe's own handwriting here. This was the beginning of those days, when the Rebbe began with the children.

Now, since we're talking about the beginning years, about the hardship, the mesirat nefesh of keeping Shabbos, I want to tell you two very short stories from those days.

First of all, the father of Rebbetzin Hecht — and I want to say that Rebbetzin Chava Hecht, Chava bas Esther Leah, should have a refuah shleimah bekarov mamash and should continue her holy work — her father was named Elimelech, Elimelech Lasker. In those days, a frum family — this was in the '30s and '40s — Shabbos was very hard to keep. He had a job Sunday through Friday, and Friday he got a pink slip. The next week, again — he found a job, or he didn't find a job. A few weeks passed, he did find a job — again, Sunday through Friday, Friday he got a pink slip. That's how he went through the years, like that. He collected a lot of pink slips.

What did he do with those pink slips? When he built his sukkah, he decorated all the walls with the pink slips, all four walls. He was proud to show that he kept Shabbos. So when people came into the sukkah, they saw the pink slips. This is the kind of person Rebbetzin Hecht's father was — and also her sister, Mrs. Goldberg. So in the merit of such a father, and also of Rabbi Yaakov Yehuda Hecht, her husband — in their merit, she should have a refuah shleimah bekarov mamash. This is what Shabbos was like in those days — this is how great the mesirat nefesh was.

I want to tell another story from those days. People ask: why did the Rebbe start farbrengens at 1:30? Why not 12:00? Why not 12:30? Why not 1:00? Why not 2:00? What was the cheshbon of 1:30? The Rebbe started farbrengens at 1:30 in those days, and it remained that way until the end — always 1:30. The cheshbon was this: Rabbi Hodakov, Rabbi Jacobson, Rabbi Mentlik, the older chassidim — in those days the chassidim lived in Brownsville. To walk from Brownsville to 770 was about 20 or 25 minutes. So the cheshbon was that they finished davening, let's say, by 12:00, and they needed time to eat, and then time to walk to 770 — so more or less, the cheshbon came to 1:30. That's why the Rebbe's farbrengens started at 1:30 — to give those people time to come to the farbrengen.

Rabbi Hodakov, every Shabbos, used to pass by a street in Brownsville on his way home — a street where all the stores were closed on Shabbos except for one. That storekeeper had come from the Holocaust, and he had questions to the Eibeshter about why certain things happened, and he said, "I'm going to keep my store open on Shabbos" — one store on the whole block. But he knew what Shabbos was. So Rabbi Hodakov would pass by, and every Shabbos he would stop in front of the store and look in. While he was looking in, the storekeeper would become very agitated, because he knew he was guilty, he knew he should close the store, but he didn't want to. Rabbi Hodakov would look in, and the man would become [unclear] and angry, and then Rabbi Hodakov would leave.

One Shabbos, Rabbi Hodakov was standing there and looking in more than usual — looking and looking and looking into the store, stroking his beard — and the storekeeper didn't know what to do. Finally, after a few minutes, he opened the door and said something in Yiddish [unclear], and Rabbi Hodakov left. And this person became a shomer Shabbos.

That Shabbos, Rabbi Hodakov came to the farbrengen — I don't know which farbrengen it was, but the Rebbe was farbrenging — and he came in a few minutes late. As soon as he walked in, the Rebbe gave him a big smile. That's how the story goes — I don't know why, but this is how it's told.

In other words, we can see here that when the Frierdiker Rebbe came to America, before he even landed, he told Rabbi Hodakov and Rabbi Mindel: "America" comes from the words "a poshute (plain/empty) land" [unclear] — America is a piece of ice, and we are coming to America to break the ice of America. This is how Chabad began in the early years, and the mesirat nefesh that people went through.

Now, baruch Hashem, we have Chabad. Baruch Hashem, the Rebbe again single-handedly did this — "Avraham echad hayah Avraham" — and this we have now, baruch Hashem, but those were the years — this is how Chabad started. And b'ezras Hashem, in a few weeks we're getting closer to 70 years of the Rebbe's nesius, 70 years since the Frierdiker Rebbe's histalkus, so we'll share more stories about the early years.

Thank you. We'll continue, im yirtzeh Hashem, next week.