The passing of the Rebbetzin: the funeral, and additional reports

08:15 Speaker 1 Without the security guard, [unclear]. And a collective attack began [unclear] the Rebbe [unclear]. The whole crowd tried to cover up the collective attack [unclear]. No one could oppose it; there was no chance. I’m now [unclear] with one of the others. They were waiting for my meeting with [unclear]. I’m now on the way up to Meron, looking for him. There are police who want to issue tickets. But I think this will serve his interests, because he has heard a great deal about the bad publicity surrounding him. By that logic, he would have come to [unclear], so because [unclear] fell for it, he couldn’t [unclear], and he had to leave. I hope to turn this into [unclear]. It turned out badly by this morning. It turned out badly. As you can see, the Rebbe asked them to take the child out of [unclear]. His son called and asked that [unclear]; from what he knows this morning, he does not want to testify again tonight.

14:15 Speaker 2 The second company. What’s that? Yes. Yes, yes, yes. No, there wasn’t a match. Yes. I’m doing it. Hello? It isn’t worthwhile. Yes. Yes, give him everything. Give me one. Give me one. Let them leave me with President. Let him leave me with President already. No problem. [unclear]. Was it President? He’ll take what there was before. I’ll tell you the truth: the jump. In a moment, you have to decide whether you’ll take [unclear]. Do you hear me? If you take [unclear], I’ll give you the third. So why would you take the things I was talking about? Do you know what [unclear] is? It has nothing to do with mine. Ah, now he was looking for the third one because he wants, ah, [unclear] the jump. He wants—he wants—he got the three... The one who did that for you in Saadia’s case, he isn’t getting it. He only wants [unclear] like crazy; we can’t. Hello? Do you know what’s happening? What will he take? Ah, all the... half of the [unclear], and that’s it.

28:15 Speaker 3 The car is moving forward here. The car is driving, moving forward slowly. There’s someone else behind who needs to watch the back. There’s someone else. The car is moving forward. [unclear]. From every angle. That’s it, now the car is still moving. Go, go very slowly backward. That’s it, the car that’s reversing—they’re driving [unclear], another car. That’s all. Now, in order. Ah, drive in the order of the buses; the buses went out first. The buses went out first, and then all the... Well done, sir, keep driving, keep driving, the car is moving forward. Stop, stop, stop, stop. Now drive and turn the steering wheel to the right. There, there. There, there. Hello. There’s a bus facing us. Well done. Ah, that’s the car that’s going to hit the bus in front of it. Sir, keep driving, keep driving, keep driving, keep driving, keep driving. Sir, keep driving; there’s a bus coming toward us. Don’t go into the barriers, so people aren’t standing on—people here are turning left, [unclear], crew members only. You’re right on the line, 50 meters toward the bus. You’re now going up toward the buses, toward the private cars. I’m doing [unclear] on [unclear] and Exit Parkway. That way [unclear] doesn’t have to come out here; traffic goes over it. That was also at Tixon, connected to Tixon Parkway. Wait, we’re going the whole way, from Tixon to Exit Parkway. Wait. Hello? Yes. Hello? Yes. I hear you. Hi, ah, what? I can’t help you here. We only have a health matter; I can’t help you. We’d be glad to help. Ah, you’re doing everything you can to get them started. We have recognition, there’s [unclear], so that was on one side, and that’s also ours.

38:02 Speaker 4 A few words in her memory. It’s very hard to say that I knew the Rebbetzin, but I did meet her many, many times, and it’s very hard to speak about it at this moment. Still, we have to remember what was and is no longer here. People you were so close to suddenly disappear from your life, and you have to speak about them in the past tense. It’s very hard. Of course, I can’t presume to sketch a portrait of the Rebbetzin, may her soul rest in Gan Eden. I simply want to recall things I witnessed, to remember my meetings with her and share the experiences and feelings I had at those meetings, and to recall them again and again. Of course, a feeling is very hard to convey to someone else. It has no fixed form, and everyone feels things differently. Everyone looks at things from a different perspective. So what I say is, of course, only what I felt. My words and feelings about her pure, unblemished soul reflect how I saw things and how I felt them then. I remember our first meeting, when we arrived from France. It was in 5714, 1954, and that was the first time we met the Rebbetzin. I remember the affection, the affection she showed my mother, a”h, and us children. How she took an interest in us and asked us about every little detail. That was our first meeting. It was still in the Rebbe’s first apartment. Those who know will remember that he lived then on New York Avenue, in a small apartment. And since then, I met her many, many times. Once, I had the privilege of coming in with our children. Of course, there were refreshments on the table every time. It was Sukkos. The children were still before bar mitzvah, and she had prepared the refreshments and asked them to go into the sukkah and make themselves at home there. I

40:58 Speaker 4 also had the privilege, when the Rebbe moved from the small apartment to the house on President Street—the house everyone knows now—of building the Rebbe’s first sukkah on the second floor. When we met, I would tell her about my encounters, to bring her a little joy with things I knew would give her nachas: encounters with the Rebbe, and chassidim in all sorts of places, and what it was like to meet them. On the one hand, she was always so happy. On the other, she always concealed her feelings. She never showed them, but she was always happy. She always asked about each person. She always took an interest in what was happening in the family and with others. The last time I had that privilege was on 11 Nissan a year ago. I came for three days. I called her. I didn’t know whether she would receive me or not. I said I had come for the Rebbe’s birthday and would be very happy if she could spare me a few minutes. She said she would be very happy to see me. I came to her with our daughter and son-in-law. At home, o-of course, everything was already being prepared for Pesach. From the kitchen I could smell the fish; everything was ready to be cooked for the Seder night. Even so, she found those few minutes for me, and of course I thanked her. It isn’t customary among chassidim to speak about the private lives of the Rebbeim, but it is worth mentioning, and impossible to ignore, that she was the Rebbe’s greatest chossid. She sacrificed her life. She had neither day nor night to herself. We still remember the days when the Rebbe would receive people for yechidus several times a week, and the yechidus would often continue until daybreak, while she remained home alone, with no one there. One could also say that she was the only person in the world with whom the Rebbe shlita shared all his concerns and all his affairs, telling her what was going on.

43:31 Speaker 4 Several times she mentioned the distress the Rebbe felt over things that were not to his liking, particularly when the terrible “Who Is a Jew” decree arose. The Rebbe was not sleeping at night, and it was truly endangering his health; she mentioned that. She bore it all with dignity and strength and never compl—never complained that it was hard for her or spoke about how she felt. They say that when the Tzemach Tzedek’s Rebbetzin passed away, he said, “My world has been destroyed.” Reb Levi Yitzchok, the father of the Rebbe shlita, wrote in one of his letters about the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin, a”h, that the two of them were like the Tzemach Tzedek and his Rebbetzin. So our prayer at this time is that Hakadosh Boruch Hu strengthen the health of the Rebbe shlita, that he be healthy, and that very soon he lead us all to the coming of Moshiach, speedily in our days, amen.

44:53 Speaker 5 May her soul be bound in the bond of life, and may she be an advocate on behalf of the Rebbe shlita, on behalf of the chassidim, and on behalf of all the Jewish people. We are concluding the broadcast here. We will resume broadcasting at ten o’clock. That’s all. At nine o’clock, there will be a men’s gathering at the Menachem synagogue.