The Open Miracle the Rebbe’s Mazkir Experienced

Transcript

Welcome to our weekly Motzaei Shabbos program.

We mentioned in our previous programs, a couple of weeks ago, the trips that Rabbi Mindel was sent by the Rebbe to Russia in the most dangerous times. The first one was in 1958. We also mentioned the other trip, in 1988, when the Rebbe sent two colleagues together with him. Today I want to share with you about the trip to Russia the second time — this was, I think, in 1961 — and this was also a very dangerous time under the Communist regime, a very dangerous time. And I'll share with you a miracle that Rabbi Mindel, the Rebbe's secretary, experienced.

Why did the Rebbe send him? To find manuscripts of the Frierdiker Rebbe, to bring back to New York — manuscripts that the Frierdiker Rebbe had left behind and couldn't take with him. Rabbi Mindel wasn't sure exactly where they were, but he knew more or less where to look.

Now, I mentioned a while ago that when the Frierdiker Rebbe was in Riga in 1940, he went from Riga to Sweden on a small plane — this was, I believe, the last plane before the war, a very dangerous time. And in Sweden he took a boat to America. He was on the boat for thirteen days, and then he came to America.

On that plane there were sixteen seats, and the Frierdiker Rebbe had eleven people with him, but there were six seats empty. So he said, "We're not going until the other six seats will be filled with Yidden" — because to save even one Jew is important. So he was waiting, and somehow they filled the other six seats.

He was holding manuscripts on his lap. The Frierdiker Rebbe took the top, most important manuscripts, but he couldn't take more, and some of them had to be left behind. It was very important to him to take this with him, and he was holding onto it — he didn't let go.

Now, who were the eleven people who came with him? There was the Frierdiker Rebbe himself. Then there was Rashag, the Frierdiker Rebbe's son-in-law, with his wife Chana — the Frierdiker Rebbe's daughter. Then there was Berke, a son of Rashag, a grandson of the Frierdiker Rebbe. Then the Frierdiker Rebbe's mother was there, with the nurse Mana — we have to do a separate program about her, because she was very close to the Mindel family. Then there was Rabbi Hodakov and his wife — that's nine. Then there was Lieberman, who was the Rebbe's mazkir — that's ten. And then there was Rabbi Mindel himself — eleven people.

Rabbi Mindel's wife had gone to England before, because she was afraid of the war, so she asked the Rebbe if she could go. The Rebbe said, "You can go, but your husband will stay with me until we come." So there were eleven people on that plane.

The reason I'm telling you this is because it shows how important those manuscripts were. He held them in a suitcase, and I think that when the Frierdiker Rebbe came to America, that suitcase stayed in his room, right next to his chair. I think those were the manuscripts he had held with him on the plane, and then they traveled with him on the boat to America.

But there were still more manuscripts left behind. That's why, years later, he sent Rabbi Mindel to go find more — you see how important those manuscripts were.

Rabbi Mindel served the Rebbe many times as his mazkir — he handled the letters — but he also had to travel. He went to Morocco, he went to England, he went to Belgium, he went to France, to Africa. He also went to Israel — I believe he was in his sixties at the time — and the Rebbe told him to go see Ben-Gurion and Shazar. So he saw Shazar, then Ben-Gurion.

Ben-Gurion was very impressed with him, because of his Hebrew — Ben-Gurion liked his Hebrew, he knew Hebrew very well, and they had a very good, intelligent conversation. Rabbi Mindel mentioned to Ben-Gurion, in Hebrew, a certain sophisticated word. So Ben-Gurion said to him, "How did you — where did you get such a word? It's a very beautiful word." So Rabbi Mindel said, "I got it from the siddur." Ben-Gurion looked at him, looked at the wall, and said, "See all my books — they're all mine — I never touch the siddur." He told this to me once — Rabbi Mindel told me this story — about when he was with Ben-Gurion. I hope that since then he did touch a siddur. I don't know.

Now, there's another time he went with the Frierdiker Rebbe, when he came in '42 [unclear] — and I think he was the one who told it over before he passed away. That's a program by itself, which is not for today. That's not what I want to bring out today.

Today I just want to talk about his trip to Russia the second time, when he went as a tourist, in a very dangerous time.

Now, Rabbi Mindel had two sisters in Riga. He had — the Rebbe, you know — he had brothers who lived in England, some lived in Argentina. He had nephews there, and also his wife wanted to go along — maybe she could go too, since he was going to Russia anyway, and maybe he could take her to see his sisters.

So he asked, and of course the Rebbe said yes, and gave him some dollars. So he took his wife, and they went to Riga. They stayed with the sisters, and he did whatever he had to do to find the manuscripts. And he did find them — he found a suitcase with manuscripts, which he bought.

So he took the suitcase — can you imagine, walking around with that suitcase? If somebody had caught him walking with that suitcase, he would have been in prison for years. So his heart was pounding, from the place where he found the manuscripts, still in that home. Anyway, he came home with the manuscripts, and the family was there. They stayed a few more days — I think it was ten or twelve days — and then it was time to go home, time to fly back to America.

So they went to the airport. But to get to the airport, they had to travel by train, and there were a few stops along the way. At every stop, they had to get off with their luggage and put it out, and there were guards who would check them — spot checks. They didn't check every suitcase, but they would spot-check.

So they all went together on the train, and at the second stop they took out the luggage — they had maybe eight suitcases, the whole family. Two guards were standing there just to do spot checks. Can you imagine — one of the suitcases was the suitcase with the Rebbe's manuscripts. Can you imagine if they had opened that one?

So they put it out. A guard was standing there, and he said, "Open up" — I think it was the first suitcase. So they opened it, and found suits and shoes, whatever. Then he went to the third one, I think, and again he motioned, "open up." So they opened that one too. Then — I'm not sure if it was the fifth or sixth — he pointed toward the suitcase with the manuscripts. At that very second, the guard behind him tapped him on the shoulder — he wanted to tell him something. So as he turned around, his finger moved from that suitcase to a different suitcase.

So he missed that suitcase, at that moment. Can you imagine how Rabbi Mindel felt? They checked the other suitcase — found clothes — and that was it.

When he came back to the Rebbe, he told the Rebbe about the miracle, what had happened — that they could have opened that suitcase, and who knows what would have happened. But the Rebbe wasn't outwardly excited. The Rebbe said, "This is a miracle from my father-in-law." Even though it was such a thing, the Rebbe wasn't visibly excited — but it was a miracle. So, this is what happened. He was so devoted to the Rebbe. So I wanted to share with you this amazing story.

Now, since today — before he passed away, he said, "I'm going to heaven, but I will still be alive here, connected to the Rebbe" — through his letters, through learning his letters, through learning the English letters, through learning the Hebrew letters — that's how he's alive. So when you say "he is alive," what does "alive" mean? He's not alive physically, but if his children, if we follow, if we learn what he wanted, then he is alive — and that's why we all learn, and that's why he is alive, because we learn what he taught, we learn what he wanted.

And by the way, speaking of the English letters — we've already printed six volumes of the letters, we're almost done with the seventh, and we've already started the eighth. Next week we'll continue our weekly program. Thank you.