Lehisraanen Episode Seven: Rabbi Zalman Yaroslavsky

00:00 Speaker 1 Hello, and welcome to the Lehitrannen podcast. This week, as we approach the bright day of 11 Nissan and the festival of Pesach, we’ll refresh ourselves together with Rabbi Schneur Zalman Yaroslavsky as he shares the special moments he saw and experienced with the Rebbe. Together with him, we’ll arrive at 11 Nissan feeling refreshed. The podcast is available on our Lehitrannen channel and WhatsApp group, on YouTube, Spotify, and Drive. The podcast is hosted by shliach Rabbi Nachum Goldschmidt. Production: Aharon Freiman. Rabbi Shmulik Kaplan assisted with recording this episode. Have a kosher Pesach. Enjoy listening to Lehitrannen.

00:34 Speaker 2 Hello and welcome. We’re here with a new episode of Lehitrannen, where chassidim share memories—not memories of the past, but living memories of the days of light they spent with the Rebbe. This time we’re with Rabbi Zalman Yaroslavsky. Rabbi Zalman, I usually begin by asking, “Fun vanen shtamstu?”—where do you come from? But with you, the question isn’t just where you come from; it’s also what you represent: your grandfather, whom you helped for many years, and your father, may he be well, and many other good things. So let’s begin with your family home, with your grandfather Reb Moshe Yaroslavsky, who was known for running the hachnosas orchim and everything that went with it.

01:17 Speaker 3 Good day, everyone. If we’re going to talk about my grandfather, about that period—about our childhood in Tel Aviv—what stands out is his connection with the Rebbe and his Ahavas Yisroel: for chassidim, for Jews in general, and especially for chassidim. Just one little story. In his later years, toward the end of his life—it was probably in 5752 or 5753—he was walking down a street in Bnei Brak one day and met a young man. He asked him, “How are you?” The young man from Bnei Brak knew him. “How are you? So, what’s the news from [unclear]?” The young man told him that good news had arrived. At the time, we were always waiting for another piece of news, another word. So he told him what he’d heard. I don’t know exactly what it was, but it had to do with the Rebbe during that difficult period. My grandfather, Reb Moshe, was so happy that they danced right there in the middle of the street. They danced in the street over the good news that had come from the Rebbe. Anyone who knew him knows: that was who he was. This story is part of the family’s memory of him.

02:25 Speaker 2 I can tell you that I remember him in Bnei Brak, from my very earliest childhood. He would bring the kasha that Grandma Rivka Esther had prepared to the 19 Kislev farbrengen. He carried it in himself. I think he even served it himself. It was all part of how much he loved seeing Jews happy and farbrenging on 19 Kislev. Where did he come from? What was his background?

02:49 Speaker 3 His background. My grandfather was born in Berdichev. He grew up there as a young boy. His grandfather on his mother’s side was from Berdichev, and his mother lived there too. Sadly, she passed away there, and he was orphaned at a young age. His father was also a precious Jew who loved doing mitzvos. The mashpia Reb Chaim Shaul Brook had fled the authorities, and Berdichev was a quieter town, so he came there. Everyone was afraid to let him into their homes, but [unclear] Yaroslavsky, Reb Moshe’s father, took him in. At home were Reb Moshe’s grandfather and two sisters. Reb Chaim Shaul wanted to wash his clothes and went to the river to do it, but his host told him, “No, I have girls at home. They’ll wash your clothes.” Reb Chaim Shaul wouldn’t agree. So he told him, “Listen, this is full service here. Either they wash your clothes or you’ll have to leave.” He had no choice. They washed his clothes, and that’s how they became very close friends. With all the troubles and persecution, Reb Chaim Shaul Brook couldn’t stay. He came to Eretz Yisroel in the early 5690s and sent papers for [unclear] and the children—I think it was in 5694—so they could come to Eretz Yisroel through him. Then Reb Chaim Shaul arranged for my grandfather to come and study in Tel Aviv, at [unclear], but there was no money.

04:24 Speaker 2 So they lived in Tel Aviv, and from there he traveled to Toras Emes?

04:26 Speaker 3 Yes, he went to Toras Emes, because there wasn’t a place for him in Tel Aviv; he was older. But Toras Emes needed money to support a student in the yeshiva, and there was no money, so they didn’t want to take him. His father had a good friend living in Bnei Brak who had money and connections in Israeli politics, so they got him into the Ger yeshiva. There are letters from the Frierdiker Rebbe. Even though he studied in Ger, he would come to hear Reb Alter’s classes and attend his farbrengens. There are many letters in Igros Kodesh, some bearing his name and some without it. I remember coming to his home one day, after volume four of the Frierdiker Rebbe’s Igros Kodesh had come out. When was that? It was in [unclear]. I came over one Friday, and he was all excited about a newly published letter. He said to me, “Do you see this letter?” It was a long letter. “This letter from the Rebbe is mine. I just don’t have the original myself. But it was written to me, even though my name isn’t printed.” It was a letter to him about various things, various ways of conducting himself. That, by the way, is also the chassidisher spirit of Tomchei Temimim. He had written to the Frierdiker Rebbe that he wanted to follow the ways of the chassidim, even though he hadn’t studied at Toras Emes or come to the yeshiva.

05:34 Speaker 2 So at that point he was studying in a chassidic yeshiva in Jerusalem, and he was learning with Rabbi Alter Epstein?

05:39 Speaker 3 Reb Alter [unclear]. The Frierdiker Rebbe told him to maintain chassidic practices, bring his friends along, and so on—to show them Chassidus. The Frierdiker Rebbe specifically mentioned reciting the Arizal’s Krias Shema as chassidim do. So my grandfather continued reciting the Arizal’s Krias Shema throughout his life. It’s there in writing, with his name, in Igros Kodesh. Right up to his final days, he would say the Arizal’s Krias Shema every day, including the long Al Chet. In fact, he passed away after reciting the Arizal’s Krias Shema.

06:08 Speaker 2 On Friday evening.

06:08 Speaker 3 Yes, the way chassidim do.

06:10 Speaker 2 If I remember correctly, they said that on Saturday night he would wait until after midnight so that he could say Al Chet.

06:14 Speaker 3 That’s right.

06:15 Speaker 2 Al Chet also on—

06:16 Speaker 3 Yes, but I’ll tell you about that at the end. Anyway, that’s a story about my grandfather’s father. I spent quite a few years with my grandfather in New York. And you know, his hospitality wasn’t just for Tishrei. People came throughout the year. Jews would call him, and he would arrange somewhere for them to sleep in one of the apartments he had, and an account at the grocery store. Someone had to handle all those arrangements. During the years I was there, I managed them. Someone would arrive, and I had a phone in my room at Forty-Forty, before the renovations. My grandfather, peace be upon him, arranged for me to have that phone. The phone in my room would ring, and every so often it would be my grandfather. Sometimes he would leave me a message on the—

07:10 Speaker 2 Voicemail.

07:11 Speaker 3 Yes, that.

07:13 Speaker 2 An electronic message.

07:14 Speaker 3 “Tomorrow morning, so-and-so is arriving with his family and children. Take care of him, put him in such-and-such a place, and open an account for him at this grocery store.”

07:21 Speaker 2 Now, Rabbi Dovi [unclear] said in an earlier episode that he came in 5744 for about a month around Pesach.

07:27 Speaker 3 In May.

07:27 Speaker 2 In May, to register.

07:29 Speaker 3 Yes.

07:31 Speaker 2 Not only did your grandfather give him an apartment, he also gave him an account at the grocery store to use.

07:34 Speaker 3 Yes. He told me that story personally. He said my grandfather told him, “There’s one thing I want from you.”

07:41 Speaker 2 That you write to the Rebbe about it.

07:41 Speaker 3 That you write to the Rebbe.

07:42 Speaker 2 He wrote to the Rebbe, and [unclear].

07:44 Speaker 3 Yes, yes, he had a stake in the Rebbe not resting. But we’ll come back to that. That’s how it was all the time. Even when I was in Kfar Chabad, people would come to me. I had money, and people would borrow it. They’d say, “He’ll come to you—give him a thousand dollars, he’ll bring you a promissory note,” and he would pay me back. That’s how we did it. One day he called me and said, “Listen, go to Michel and tell him to take ten thousand dollars from him, and then [unclear]. Transfer ten thousand dollars to Michel Schneerson.” What happened? He told me, “You know Michel Schneerson sells fish, and you can’t sell fish without a car. You have to transport the fish. His Peugeot 404 was in an accident—a total loss. He has no car, so right now he can’t bring in fish. Go to Michel Schneerson and get ten thousand dollars.” Now, a thousand dollars here and a thousand dollars there was one thing, but ten thousand dollars was a lot of money.

08:38 Speaker 4 This was thirty-five years ago.

08:40 Speaker 3 Would he give me the money? He wouldn’t. Anyway, I told him, “Tomorrow. I’ll go tomorrow, I’ll go tomorrow.”

08:47 Speaker 4 Bring us up to the present. Finish the story there. Go on.

08:54 Speaker 3 “Go, go, go to him, go to him”—he kept saying that. At the time I was studying in yeshivah, and every evening I worked with the yeshivah boys. Then one evening he called me, just before the class I was going to give the boys. He said, “Nu, what’s happening with it?” I told him, “I haven’t gone yet.” He said, “Listen, I need you to give me an answer about this. I have to have one. I won’t be able to sleep until two in the morning. Get back to me. I’ll be waiting for your answer, even at two in the morning, that you’ve arranged it.” And I was a young boy, a young boy. I didn’t do it. At three I got a phone call that he had passed away.

09:31 Speaker 4 Who, your grandfather?

09:31 Speaker 3 My grandfather. I hadn’t gone that evening, by two. At three I got a call that he had passed away. The next morning I rushed around [unclear] and arranged the whole thing.

09:41 Speaker 4 Before [unclear].

09:42 Speaker 3 Yes, before [unclear], I went to him in Bnei Brak. But that’s what he told me: “I’ll wait for you until two in the morning to hear your answer about this.” That was his life. That was what mattered to him. My grandfather was exceptional in this. And he also took such pleasure in bringing guests to the Rebbe. There are quite a few Jews today who were able to be with the Rebbe thanks to his hospitality. How could they travel to the Rebbe? Today it’s easier; today people win a trip. Back then, that didn’t exist, and a person might have no money. He’d travel there with nowhere to sleep. People had nothing. I’m not even talking about those he helped with loans. He simply gave people money so that they could come to the Rebbe and spend the month with the Rebbe. Those people are still around today.

10:27 Speaker 4 Right. Even my family—we came for my brothers’ weddings. So Reb [unclear] gave us the apartment above the women’s mikveh, and he gave [someone] another room.

10:36 Speaker 3 Right, right, right. That was a mikveh, and it was also living quarters, living quarters.

10:39 Speaker 4 In the apartment that had been living quarters for some time, which he was in charge of. But, I mean...

10:42 Speaker 3 Yes, yes.

10:43 Speaker 4 So when did he actually...? He studied with Reb Belter [?], and after that...

10:48 Speaker 3 Yes. That was how he developed a connection to Lubavitch: Baltman [?] introduced him to the Chabad Rebbe.

10:53 Speaker 4 When did he get married?

10:54 Speaker 3 One of the most wonderful things he did was print all the volumes of Igros Kodesh in Eretz Yisroel in those years.

11:03 Speaker 4 In [unclear].

11:04 Speaker 3 He would print them in [unclear]. A copy would arrive for him, he would print it in Eretz Yisroel, and he would distribute it there. Once he told me about it at length; I don’t remember it all. He was the one who handled all the publicity for Igros Kodesh in Eretz Yisroel in those years. That was another thing—he always knew how to do business. He was a businessman.

11:26 Speaker 4 He got married in...

11:27 Speaker 3 He got married around the year my father, may he be well, was born—5703. It wasn’t immediately afterward.

11:34 Speaker 4 He got married toward the end of the 5690s.

11:36 Speaker 3 Yes, toward the end of the 5690s, something like that.

11:38 Speaker 4 And he moved to Tel Aviv. He spent time there among the chassidim.

11:39 Speaker 3 His father lived in Tel Aviv, in that area, and he too spent all those years in Tel Aviv, on Yavne Street, among the chassidim. Throughout that period, all the time.

11:49 Speaker 4 When did he come to the Rebbe for the first time?

11:51 Speaker 3 When was his first visit? As far as I know, he was at the first farbrengen, but whether he had been there earlier, I don’t know. You’re the first person to ask me.

11:58 Speaker 4 And then...

11:58 Speaker 3 That was in...

11:59 Speaker 4 As I was saying, when did the idea of providing hospitality begin to take shape?

12:02 Speaker 3 He came for Tishrei, and I think that’s when it began. He saw what conditions were like there during the weekdays, where the fellows slept—at the hospitality place in [unclear]. What was it called?

12:13 Speaker 4 [Unclear].

12:14 Speaker 3 Yes. They slept there on mattresses. On Shabbos they managed, because people would go to one another’s homes; they knew one another from across the Iron Curtain, from Russia. But on weekdays people worked, and the fellows were simply hungry. During the week they were starving. As Mr. Greenberg, a”h, who was there at the time, once told me: one day Reb Meishe arrived with a small pot, some pasta, and bread on the side. He told them, “From today on, we’ll make our own food.” What did they need for the weekdays? So he made food during the week for the small group there, and that’s how it began. Then it grew. But it meant a great deal to him. It became a guesthouse.

12:50 Speaker 4 And when was the first time the Rebbe expressed an interest in that guesthouse?

12:55 Speaker 3 I don’t know. I have it written down in [unclear].

12:57 Speaker 4 No, no, in...

12:58 Speaker 3 Yes, right away, yes. The Rebbe spoke about him a great deal, about the...

13:00 Speaker 4 That came out when someone arrived from Eretz Yisroel.

13:02 Speaker 3 From Tel Aviv. It was always Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv. And the Rebbe, for my grandmother, [unclear]. I think it was Yitzchak. They came together. It was very...

13:10 Speaker 4 So because of the guesthouse, he started bringing your grandmother too?

13:13 Speaker 3 Yes, my grandmother came throughout those years. My aunt came too, and she would sleep there [unclear]. They would arrange things. But one of the lovely stories—I once heard this from Yehuda—is that there used to be a tiny notice in the Kfar Chabad newspaper every time: when people came to the Rebbe, couples needed to notify him in advance. The Rebbe had once told him about this. A couple had informed the Rebbe that they had a place with only one bed, because the apartment was [unclear], but he had put the husband with the boys and the wife elsewhere. The Rebbe didn’t like that and gave him an instruction. So he said, “The boys I can fit in one on top of another, and the girls too. But with couples, I have to know their names before they come.” There was also a little notice that groups coming to the Rebbe needed to arrange things as groups. Motzki has that now, or perhaps there was another group afterward. So one day he came by taxi from [unclear] to Kfar Chabad, to the newspaper office, to place the notice. Rabbi Baruch asked him, “Meishe, we know each other. We’ll arrange it. Why come here? One phone call and we’ll take care of it. Why make a special trip with a taxi waiting outside?” He answered, “When there’s an instruction from the Rebbe, you come. You don’t do it over the phone; you come yourself, by taxi.” In other words, apparently the Rebbe had instructed him to publish that notice about the groups. I don’t know exactly which detail was which, but it was an instruction from the Rebbe. The Rebbe took a very keen interest in the guesthouse. The most wonderful thing was the whole farbrengen in which the Rebbe participated...

14:43 Speaker 4 In [unclear]?

14:43 Speaker 3 In [unclear]. The Rebbe spoke about it on Erev Rosh Hashanah 5742. The Rebbe spoke about it and said that he wanted to participate. He spoke about [unclear], about his participation in the guesthouse, which was for everyone. He gave it to Reb Meishe, who was in charge. The Rebbe spoke then and mentioned him on Erev Rosh Hashanah; the Rebbe mentioned the guesthouse and gave him this and that. I’ll skip ahead. In 5748 the Rebbe spoke a great deal about all of it. They took the... The Rebbe wanted there to be telephones, contact with people, and the little cards—the whole story. So they took the place in [unclear], where everything was, divided it with plasterboard into small rooms, and carried out all the work there.

15:27 Speaker 4 The headquarters for everything.

15:28 Speaker 3 Everything was piled up. The bochurim would just disappear into it. All the mess, everything—the whole place had turned into one big storage room. My grandfather came in the middle of Elul 5748. You couldn’t open anything there. The place was divided into rooms; there was nowhere to eat, nowhere to do anything. No room to open. My grandfather came two Shabbosim before Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah was on Monday, so the first Shabbos there was the first night of Selichos, and the guest accommodations hadn’t opened. So the Rebbe didn’t give out the cakes. It was astonishing, but it sort of passed.

16:06 Speaker 4 What, suddenly it didn’t open? Like, they still hadn’t announced anything?

16:08 Speaker 3 It didn’t open.

16:09 Speaker 4 On Shabbos the Rebbe didn’t—

16:10 Speaker 3 The Rebbe didn’t give out the cakes. I heard that by Erev Rosh Hashanah it still hadn’t opened.

16:15 Speaker 4 Now it was the 28th—

16:15 Speaker 3 Yes, the 28th, and then everyone woke up. I mean, it was already Erev Rosh Hashanah and it still hadn’t opened. I was in the stairwell, and I went over to Shmulik Habraz [unclear]—you know, a committee member who was active overseas—and I told him, “Look, these aren’t my grandfather’s guests. They’re the Rebbe’s guests. We have to do something.” He said, “You’re right. Let’s have a committee meeting tonight.” That night there was a committee meeting. I took my grandfather by the hand. We walked slowly, the way he walked, over to Union. What a mess there was there. They brought in the person in charge of the lodging—that was Deitz. Dovey Deitz was the patron’s son. What was his name? He lived in [unclear]—Mottel Deitz, Mottel Deitz. They gave approvals. Now, he was elderly; it would be a disaster. He couldn’t run it. So they took a young yungerman to run it. My grandfather told me, “This Tishrei cost me three Tishreis.” But afterward he got the cakes each time, and it passed. Then came the summer of 5750—I mean the summer of 5749, before Tishrei 5750. And I understood that if we didn’t take some action, it would all—

17:27 Speaker 4 Go back to being like—

17:27 Speaker 3 Go back to the way it had been. What did I do? I called my grandfather. I told him we had to do something. He said, “All right. Go to so-and-so; he’ll give you some.” We spoke with so-and-so. We had a contractor, Gurvitz. In short, it came to a certain amount. He told me, “Go to so-and-so; I’ll give you five thousand. Go to so-and-so; several people will give you money. I’ll come and get back in touch with people we had.” Some of it was donations. Certain people had donations to give. We built there, renovated—

17:55 Speaker 4 In the [unclear]?

17:56 Speaker 3 Yes, we renovated. We made a new kitchen. We took out the refrigerator, which always ruined all the clothes in that shop. There were stories about that. In short, we put everything in order. There was a dedication. We held a celebration for the opening of the guest accommodations. We brought Rabbi Konitz and others, and a group sat there and held a farbrengen. My grandfather was there for the opening of the guest accommodations. We made a small album and sent it in to the Rebbe. That album was on the Rebbe’s desk all Tishrei, until the fifteenth, after Bereishis.

18:31 Speaker 4 All of Tishrei 5750?

18:32 Speaker 3 Tishrei 5750. That little album with the pictures. Apart from the answer we received—I remember something about Beitar [unclear]—there was also a long answer from Rabbi [unclear], some sort of general answer. But what I remember is Leibel, a"h, coming out, and each time he would signal to me from a distance.

18:47 Speaker 4 “It’s still on the desk.”

18:48 Speaker 3 “It’s still on the desk.” No, it hadn’t even been moved to the bed or to the cart that was there. It stayed on the Rebbe’s desk all Tishrei. How dear the guests were to the Rebbe—it’s simply unbelievable.

19:00 Speaker 4 And when did the Rebbe start going to the sukkah? Was it when the sichos began?

19:03 Speaker 3 Uh, it was—

19:05 Speaker 4 Let’s just explain: on the first night of Sukkos, after the sicha for the guests, after the sicha in the shul, the Rebbe would go for a welcome visit—

19:11 Speaker 3 Yes.

19:11 Speaker 4 So to speak—to the guests in the sukkah.

19:13 Speaker 3 Before that, there had apparently been one or two times—I don’t know exactly. I heard this from other people, not from my grandfather. I heard it from my father-in-law, Bentzi Schatz [unclear]. He told me that one day, as he was about to leave, he saw the Rebbe walking not toward home but in the other direction. He didn’t understand. He saw Reb Moshe walking ahead of him, so he followed them. They went up the stairs, and he followed. Then they stood by the entrance door. There was a small entrance there.

19:46 Speaker 4 The entrance to the sukkah.

19:47 Speaker 3 No, to the upstairs [unclear]. Wait, that wasn’t on Sukkos. It was on some Yom Tov—Yom Tov, and the Rebbe... I mean, not Sukkos. It was Rosh Hashanah, maybe a Shabbos, some Shabbos. I don’t remember exactly.

20:00 Speaker 4 In other words, one of the times when the meals weren’t in the sukkah.

20:03 Speaker 3 Yes, the Rebbe—

20:04 Speaker 4 The Rebbe walked along Kingston and went to the entrance.

20:06 Speaker 3 With my grandfather.

20:07 Speaker 4 The entrance is still there today—the entrance to the kollel, with those narrow stairs.

20:11 Speaker 3 Yes, up those stairs, where there’s a turn. My grandfather didn’t go in, and the Rebbe gestured to him like this. Then my grandfather jumped inside, because he understood that he was holding the Rebbe up. He jumped in, and the Rebbe came in after him. And that was—

20:26 Speaker 4 The Rebbe had simply come to see what it was like, how—

20:29 Speaker 3 I don’t know what happened there. But I remember the first time I saw it, when I was a child. I was by the Rebbe then, and people didn’t know exactly when the Rebbe would come. This was the arrangement, as I heard it from my grandfather: my grandfather would invite the Rebbe to the sukkah on Shemini Atzeres, Simchas Torah. On Erev Sukkos, my grandfather would write to the Rebbe, inviting him to visit the guests’ sukkah, and the Rebbe would tell him whether he would come or not. Now, in 5744, it rained—

20:55 Speaker 4 In 5744?

20:56 Speaker 3 In 5744 there was heavy rain, and the Rebbe came on the second day. But my grandfather told me on—

21:02 Speaker 4 Erev Yom Tov.

21:03 Speaker 3 Erev Yom Tov: “It’s going to rain today.” “How do you know?” “Because the Rebbe said he won’t come today because of the rain; he’ll come tomorrow.” In other words, my grandfather would invite the Rebbe, and the Rebbe would respond, “With Hashem’s help.” The Rebbe said—

21:14 Speaker 4 Would the Rebbe say it or write it?

21:15 Speaker 3 Write it. He would say it through the secretary.

21:16 Speaker 4 Or would he say it when he gave—

21:17 Speaker 3 No, no, no. My grandfather would send in a letter.

21:20 Speaker 4 And the Rebbe would answer in writing.

21:21 Speaker 3 Yes, apparently through the secretary. I don’t know how the Rebbe... I mean, the Rebbe would—

21:26 Speaker 4 What happened in 5739?

21:28 Speaker 3 So I remember 5739, the first time I was there. The Rebbe went to the sukkah then too. Apparently it wasn’t well known yet exactly when, or perhaps it was afterward. Nobody knew exactly where it was. But the Rebbe came. I knew—my grandfather had told me, “Be here in the sukkah.” He didn’t tell my mother. He told me, “Be here. Don’t go anywhere today; stay here.” I was eleven and a half, and I stayed in the sukkah. And indeed, afterward the Rebbe—there still wasn’t—

21:50 Speaker 4 There wasn’t a sicha in the shul at all.

21:52 Speaker 3 But about half an hour after Maariv, approximately, the tables were already set and they had put out the rolls. Usually the sukkah wasn’t like that, but everything had been arranged for the Rebbe. The Rebbe came in and stepped up onto a bench—a bench. Later they had stairs. They put a bench there, and the Rebbe stepped onto it. It was at the far end. The Rebbe walked, like most people, to the end, but not all the—

22:12 Speaker 4 As far as where the shliach is.

22:14 Speaker 3 Yes, where the shliach is today? Yes. And on the other side were women. My grandmother and others were probably on that side, waiting. A few people were waiting for the Rebbe to come. But that first time, I remember it—I remember. I understood, I didn’t understand, but I was very close to what was happening. And every year after that—

22:30 Speaker 4 So the Rebbe would daven, go into his room as he usually did on Friday nights and Yom Tov nights—

22:35 Speaker 3 Yes, yes.

22:36 Speaker 4 And come out, go out to the sukkah.

22:37 Speaker 3 Go out to the sukkah. In later years people already knew that the Rebbe—

22:41 Speaker 4 That was from 5741, when the sichos around then began.

22:43 Speaker 3 Yes, yes. I wasn’t there in 5741. But in the years I was there, from 5744 until the end, that was how it was. My grandfather would wait for the Rebbe downstairs, there in the corridor. The Rebbe would come out, and every time, without fail, the Rebbe would gesture to him to go ahead. He would walk backward, and Binyamin would hold him by his gartel and guide him all the way to—

23:03 Speaker 4 I remember the awe, the way he walked, half-bent over so as not to touch the Rebbe.

23:07 Speaker 3 Yes, yes. Except in 5752, when he wasn’t there. At that time Goy [unclear] took care of it; Goy also helped him a lot. My grandfather didn’t like taking money from people. Goy would also provide all the cakes, all the mezonos, everything from the bakery. If I remember correctly, my grandfather told me that people would give him money, and he would... I think I remember this: he would meet him at a full meal and give him all those checks. “This is for saving”—that was also to save money. He’d ask him why, and he’d say, “It’s to save; this is how we...” What people gave him, he wouldn’t—

23:43 Speaker 4 In other words, they gave it to him to save, but he gave it to Goy.

23:46 Speaker 3 That you would give it to them. Right, there was that issue with the cakes—the cakes he would receive from the Rebbe. My grandfather would distribute them. There are photos, and videos have come out now of him distributing them. But the main point is what people told me. He would keep some, and someone would come to my grandfather with a headache or a fever. He’d say, “I have medicine for you.” With his faith, my grandfather would give them a little wine, or some water if that was what he had, or some of the cake. That was the medicine. He’d say, “The Rebbe gives this for the guests. What for? This is the medicine I give people.” That’s how he gave it to people, and it really was a blessing for them. Things got better. That was his faith. And everything was very... but there was—

24:31 Speaker 5 There were people he traveled to see later in the year too, right?

24:35 Speaker 3 Yes. He traveled to Bnei Brak for Purim. I don’t know why he had to travel abroad. I don’t know why he went for Purim, for the holiday, but then he wrote to the Rebbe that he wanted to return after Purim. So the Rebbe told him, “So we’ll spend Pesach together”—as if to say, “You’re not staying?” Through Yehuda Lifshitz, yes. So he understood that he was staying. My grandmother couldn’t come, and he was already making plans for Pesach there, while my grandmother would remain in Eretz Yisroel. So we went to Bnei Brak to help her at home. After a few days, my grandfather told him—Rabbi Yudel Schneider—“But for Pesach I have to go home.” So he returned. He got back right on the eve of bedikas chametz. I remember him telling me: “So we met on Pesach. I checked for chametz in the morning; I hadn’t had time for any of the preparations.”

25:24 Speaker 5 That’s interesting, because this was der Yudel Schneider, the same Yudel who, that Purim, told people not to come. The question is—

25:29 Speaker 3 Yes, yes.

25:30 Speaker 5 Those who wanted to come—he said it would be better to exchange the trip for a donation. But the Rebbe did tell him to go there.

25:36 Speaker 3 I said, “Listen, you’re not staying,” but he stayed. Afterward he came back, and that was that. But there’s a story I always tell about this, and everyone knows it by now. I’ve told it.

25:47 Speaker 5 Even if people know it, some of us don’t. I don’t know it.

25:49 Speaker 3 Ah, the work of hachnasas orchim. There was a Jew who is no longer alive. He told me about the French visitors; they used to come to the Rebbe often. One day, on Yom Tov—or maybe it was an ordinary weekday—he came with his children to my grandfather and asked him for two bottles of milk for the children. Two bottles of milk. My grandfather told him, “Let them come here and they’ll get milk. If you want milk at home, buy it at the grocery store.” So the man said, “Listen, I’m the Rebbe’s guest, and you’re responsible for that. You have to look after my children.” My grandfather [unclear] told him, “You know what? There are chassidim sitting here. Let’s ask them.” There was a table there; apparently they were sitting at it. Maybe Reb Elkayim, a"h, was there, and other older chassidim. He told me it was [unclear] and me. My grandfather asked them, “What do you say? This is what he’s saying.” They told my grandfather, “He’s right. That isn’t included. What you were given covers these things, but not beyond that.” You understand? Beyond all these things, that humility and that way of conducting himself were the right way. So the story, as I remember it, was that we went out—my grandfather and I. It was during Tishrei, [unclear]. I went out with my grandfather, and we walked together to hachnasas orchim. It was already late. We also went together after the Rebbe returned from the Ohel. I slept at his place, and we walked together. We reached Kingston, and two French Jews approached him. “Hello, Reb Moshe. We’ve come to the Rebbe.” “Did you reserve a place?” “No.” He gave them a whole speech about how the Chabad organization had said there was a place. All right, he hadn’t reserved one. My grandfather called over a bochur.

27:46 Speaker 3 There was always a bochur working with him, every year. My grandfather said, “We need a van.” During Tishrei they had to drive out every week to bring back plates. You couldn’t buy them at the mall. There was a large factory, owned by an elderly Jewish Holocaust survivor, who gave them a special price. I went there once. He and my grandfather had their own special way of speaking. If my grandfather didn’t come, we didn’t get what we needed; we’d leave with something different. But if my grandfather came, the whole van filled up. They had a language of their own. Anyway, my grandfather called this bochur and said, “Listen, I have a building at 701 Monroe—what? 701, seven-oh-one Monroe. Back then it was a rundown building, before they renovated it. Now it’s a nice building. We have a few apartments there.” The bochur said to my grandfather, “But those apartments are reserved for families coming after Yom Kippur.” He said, “After Yom Kippur they probably won’t still be there. For now, give them the apartments.” Anyway, I was outside. I went there with him and the families. We got there, and a whole saga began. “This door doesn’t close properly; that window doesn’t close properly; there’s a hole in the wall.” They were right; the apartments weren’t in good shape. But still... Anyway, this bochur ran out of patience, and they started shouting. It was already one in the morning, and they were arguing with each other, with little children all around. There were ten children there. Suddenly my grandfather came in. [unclear] “Listen, what’s all this shouting?” The bochur told him all the complaints: they hadn’t reserved a place, yet they were making demands, and so on. They weren’t—

29:16 Speaker 3 —paying anything. He said everything he had to say, and he was shouting. My grandfather told him, “Look, I don’t understand. You work for me. If you don’t want to do this, you can leave.” He said that to the bochur. Yes, the bochur. “Give me the keys and go home.” Then he told me, “Go home and sleep. It’s late, late, and tomorrow I have to do kapparos.” Anyway, I slept at my grandfather’s place on Union. I slept upstairs, and my grandfather slept downstairs. At three-thirty I got up to do kapparos. I came down from the second floor and saw an open door. The bedroom was on the left. I peeked in and saw my grandfather sitting on the bed, taking off his shoes and socks, still in his clothes. I asked him, “Did you do kapparos?” He said, “Yes, I’ve just done kapparos.” “Did you sleep tonight?” “No, I didn’t sleep. I’m going to sleep now.” I said, “And what about them?” He said, “Yes, I was with them. I got everything sorted out, they’re happy, and then I went to do kapparos. Now I’m going to sleep.” Then I came back to everything I’d heard that night: they hadn’t reserved a place, and all the bochur’s other arguments. My grandfather looked at me and smiled. But it got into my blood. I finished my little half-minute speech about why they were wrong, and he said something so powerful to me: “But the Rebbe loves them.” That got into my blood. I remember it all the time. That was how he was. Besides “yours” and “mine,” there were other things he’d heard in yechidus. I was with him—

30:46 Speaker 3 At yechidus in 5729. 5729. The beginning. 5729. In 5729 I was at the Rebbe’s as a child. I came—my father didn’t come. My father had traveled for Tishrei, and no one else came either. I came with my grandfather. My grandfather traveled to [unclear]. He used to travel there. Yes. And my grandmother would come after him around that time. I came—meaning, the first Shabbos I was at the Rebbe’s, in 5729, was Shabbos, 28 Elul. Right. I came the Tuesday before, something like that. That Motzaei Shabbos was the first farbrengen I attended at the Rebbe’s. Motzaei Shabbos, yes. Right, it was Motzaei Shabbos, Erev Rosh Hashanah 5729. I was at the farbrengen. When I arrived, my grandfather sent me to sleep in an apartment with the bachurim. I was a little boy. I started crying. I was going to be there for a whole month—five weeks with bachurim. Eventually one of the bachurim heard me crying and said to him, “Nu, enough already, he’s your grandson. Why are you leaving him there?” They’re all the same. So he found me a place in a corner of my grandfather’s home, and I slept there. Anyway, that’s what happened. In short, at the end of Tishrei I went into yechidus with my grandfather. There was a whole saga then, if you know, with all the lotteries for—yes, it really was a whole story. They wanted to discontinue yechidus, so they said there would be lotteries and not everyone would get in. But my grandfather, of course, won. You understand—they couldn’t do otherwise. I’ll tell you. There was also an older Jew from Tel Aviv, [unclear], who had been to the Rebbe, and [unclear]. So naturally they were going to arrange yechidus for him too. But his grandson, Tzachi Lipsker, didn’t—

32:24 Speaker 3 He didn’t win the lottery. He didn’t win. But the grandson—he came with Tzachi’s son, your friend, his son. Right, Avrahami. And then he went into yechidus, and the Rebbe asked him—he went in during the day, right? On Friday. No, not them, I don’t know. Or in the evening? Yes, in the evening. No, it wasn’t in the evening. It was Thursday. I think it was even earlier. I went in Sunday night, and the Rebbe asked, “Where is your father?” He asked the Lipsker child where—someone translated it into Yiddish for him, never mind. So he told him that his father hadn’t won the lottery, and no one had told the Rebbe about all that. Then the Rebbe finished the yechidus quickly and came outside, and the Rebbe asked, “There are so many people here—why haven’t they gone into yechidus?” Anyway, I—that’s what I’m saying. Then on Friday morning, I think, because of that, the Rebbe arranged for everyone to go in. Yes. So he had his yechidus during the day. Yes, could be. But I came with my grandfather. It was after one in the morning, Sunday night. I went into yechidus with my grandfather after one. Never mind all that—I got it from him. It does matter? All right. We went in to the Rebbe, and of course there was only one note, not two. But I had a note in my pocket, and I wanted to give the Rebbe a note too. My grandfather went in and stood on one side of the table, and my grandmother stood at the narrow end of the table, closer to the Rebbe. I stood between them. I took the note out of my pocket and held it, intending to give it to the Rebbe when my grandfather finished his yechidus. But the Rebbe reached his hand across the table, and I didn’t notice because I was looking at the Rebbe’s face.

34:02 Speaker 3 The Rebbe held out his hand—his hand—and said something. Then my grandmother said to me, “Look, the Rebbe is holding out his hand to you. The Rebbe wants the note.” The Rebbe took my note, put it on top of my grandfather’s note, looked through his glasses, picked up his pencil, and marked various things there. He gave brachos for my father. My father always used to mention that. The Rebbe smiled in the middle and marked various things, and he spoke to me in Hebrew the whole time. The Rebbe didn’t ask me questions—not in Gemara or anything else. The Rebbe just gave me a bracha, and my grandfather told me I’d taken up his whole yechidus. Anyway, at the end of the yechidus—the Rebbe was giving out signed Tanyas, but they weren’t ready. So we had to collect them from the secretariat the next day. We didn’t receive them from the Rebbe’s hand. The first people did, but afterward, as you say, there were more yechidusen than planned. So they weren’t ready. “Dear young man”—I remember those words. “Dear young man, go to the secretariat.” The Rebbe said to me, “Dear young man, go to the secretariat and take a Tanya. Learn Tanya with your father from time to time, and grow up to be a G-d-fearing chossid.” Those words are engraved in my memory: “Dear young man, go to the secretariat and take a Tanya.” That was my one and only yechidus. Afterward there were no more private yechidusen. Yes, I wasn’t at—And did the Rebbe address your grandfather? That’s what I’m getting to. The Rebbe opened the drawer. That was a regular thing. After we’d finished, the Rebbe asked, “How much is the deficit? How much is the deficit?” The Rebbe asked how much and opened a drawer. Yes, the Rebbe opened the drawer. It happened many

35:42 Speaker 3 times, but this time I saw it. The Rebbe opened the drawer and asked, “How much is the deficit?” My grandfather told the Rebbe, “There’s no deficit. Everything’s fine.” So the Rebbe closed the drawer. On Erev Yom Kippur my grandfather said, “[unclear]. Why did I say there was no deficit? I should have told him.” That was the regular practice—the Rebbe would ask. That’s what he said, yes, it was regular. That’s what I heard from my grandfather. Listen, there’s a very nice video from [unclear]. Tishrei was already over; it was already two weeks later. My grandmother was in yechidus, and the Rebbe asked her, “How are the guests?” She told him, “It’s finished; we have to close up.” But the Rebbe said to her, “I saw your husband yesterday, with guests around him.” [Unclear]—I don’t remember the word in Yiddish. And she told the Rebbe, “No, we don’t have guests anymore.” The Rebbe said, “But I saw them.” In the end the Rebbe let it go, because he could see perfectly well. She wanted to do things her way, but here she was coming to the Rebbe. Now, that’s remarkable. Where did the Rebbe see it? I don’t know. The Rebbe said, “Yesterday I…” As if the Rebbe had seen my grandfather on Shabbos, a week later. And on the second Shabbos afterward the Rebbe was still [unclear] everyone, eh? My grandfather would receive support afterward too. For ordinary things he received it from the beginning. But in 5749 it was remarkable that the Rebbe didn’t give it. That the Rebbe didn’t give it. Even that week was—well, the Rebbe saw what the holiday would bring. We didn’t. The Rebbe saw where things were going, but that’s how it was. That was his whole approach. Was he a man of [unclear], or a man of kindness? Yes. No, I don’t want to name names. No names.

37:24 Speaker 3 Yes. I understood he had lists of people who owed money, and there were simchas for which he would pay people’s expenses. Yes. In the last year, it happened. There was a shliach, [unclear], and he came to my grandfather and put on quite a performance. He said, “Rebbi, I can’t get out of here. I’m under the table; people are pulling me apart,” and so on. My grandfather left the house, came back, and brought him money. I know this—I met him. It was years later. There were two partners, two shluchim. So I told him this story. I said, “A hundred thousand dollars.” He said to the other one, “Tell me, what do you say—is the story true?” “Much more, much more.” And the money never came back. Yes. No, these were extraordinary things, because of everything involved. Now explain: you first came on 15 Tishrei 5749? The first time I came to the Rebbe was on 15 Tishrei, as a child, in—And after that? After that, thanks to my grandfather, from 15 Tishrei 5743 onward I spent all of Tishrei at the Rebbe’s. I think it was 5743, Rosh Hashanah, or 5744. I came early, at seven in the morning, on Friday, for Rosh Hashanah. I came early to say Tehillim and get a place. I saw my grandfather sitting at the edge of the farbrengen platform. So I went over to him. He spoke to me and asked if I could clear away a cup. I couldn’t clear away a cup. I wanted something to drink. We had to leave at eight. All the excuses. “All right.” I went off too. When I got back, I saw him pushing his way up beside the Rebbe, onto the platform next to the Rebbe. I said to myself, “Next Rosh Hashanah I’ll be like my grandfather. I’ll know what to do.”

39:16 Speaker 3 I came over to him after Rosh Hashanah and said, “I’m telling you, you’re not one of the young guys who push their way in. What were you doing pushing your way up to the front?” He said to me, “Tell me, don’t you remember we met?” I said, “Yes, we met.” He said, “Didn’t you see Binyamin walking around afterward?” Yes, I remembered. I remember that scene even today: Binyamin walking around looking for something. He said, “You didn’t see?” I said, “No, no.” He told me, “Binyamin came over to me and said they’d asked him to...” I don’t remember exactly what he said to me about what should happen with the cup. The Rebbe sent Binyamin and told him, “[unclear], go, go.” If I remember correctly, this is what he wanted: “Go with someone, see whether [unclear] is downstairs, and tell him that I want [unclear] to be on the platform.” In other words, the Rebbe wanted him there. Why him? Why him? That was an instruction from the Rebbe. And was it only that year, or from then on? I remember it happening once. But after that he did it? No, no, no, no, I don’t remember. Once, the Rebbe asked him to come to the shul to blow the shofars. I don’t remember whether it was in 5743 or 5744. I don’t remember that, but it was one of those years. Amazing. On Rosh Hashanah, you know, getting to the shofar blowing is hard; there’s pushing. One time you stand here, another time there. I didn’t have a regular place or any of those arrangements. But in 5743 I was a child. A child? I was a little kid and didn’t know my way around. Right. So I pushed my way in for the shofar blowing, but when it got to Maftir, I couldn’t see. I wasn’t...

40:49 Speaker 3 tall enough; I couldn’t see. So I asked to go outside and gave up. I went out, and there were benches set up there, even by the bathrooms. I was going to [unclear], but on Rosh Hashanah they also put benches there for [unclear]. So I came out and saw the benches. One Yid—I don’t know who he was, may he be blessed—said to me, “Ingele, where are you going?” I told him, “I can’t see.” So he said, “Why don’t you stay here?” He cared that a child shouldn’t go away. I stayed there, and those were the most beautiful shofar blowings I ever saw. I was only about three meters away, right there on the first benches, off to the side. The platform was here, and I was right here on those benches. I saw the Rebbe looking at the shofars. With no pushing around me, I could see how the Rebbe looked at them. I saw the red one, the beautiful one—I saw everything with my own eyes. That was the shofar blowing I saw best... What did you see? No, describe it for me. It’s hard, hard to explain. The way the Rebbe takes a shofar in his hand and looks at it—you don’t understand what’s going on, but you see every little thing. He searches, picks one up, puts it down, changes shofars, handles the shofars and the mouthpieces, the way he sets one aside. I saw it again afterward, and I had places here and there, but none was as good as that Rosh Hashanah. Yes, that was on Rosh Hashanah. [Unclear], what is there to say? There is plenty to say. Tell us. That’s exactly why we’re here, to refresh ourselves. Tell us, speak about what you feel. It’s a tish with the Rebbe. Every year with the Rebbe is like that, but everyone has his own experience. I always...

42:34 Speaker 3 tell this story. It was Chanukah 5747. I tell it to my students a lot, too, and they tell it over. It was Chanukah 5747, before Didan Notzach, yes. Remind me when... The Rebbe finished the Didan Notzach farbrengen, [unclear], and the Rebbe was very... But Chanukah was beautiful. It was my first Chanukah with the Rebbe, being there for the candle lighting. It was the eve of Rosh Chodesh Teves, I think; I don’t remember what day of the week it was. Sorry—Teves, 5747. The Rebbe went to the Ohel, and of course he came back late. Then they davened Minchah right away and lit the Chanukah candles—not at three fifteen. There was a bochur in my class, someone who had become close to Chabad, who wanted to return to Israel because his sister had passed away. He wanted to go back in the middle of his year with the group. A friend of his came to me and said, “Listen, we want to take him to the airport. He doesn’t have a ticket yet, and I don’t want to go alone. We need one more person. I want you to come with me.” I said, “I don’t want to hear it. If we go to the airport, I’ll miss... I want to see the Rebbe. I want to see the candle lighting.” In short, he pressed harder than I resisted. He kept pressing me. I davened Minchah, and we went to the airport. This was back when you could go right up to the plane. We got him seated on the plane. It takes time to get settled. I sat with him while his friend ran to arrange the ticket. It was a Tower Air plane. Yes, it could have been Tower Air. Eventually he was seated on the plane, and we ran out and took a taxi. The taxi stopped at the corner on Kingston. I said, “Listen, it’s late already. Let’s just go into Charles Hunter[?] for a moment.”

44:24 Speaker 3 [Unclear]—I’d already put candles in the room. It was late. We went into Charles Hunter[?], and the place was packed. The Rebbe was coming back late from the Ohel. At three fifteen, people in Crown Heights were at work, but now everyone had come. Charles Hunter[?] was packed from end to end, and I wanted to get to the middle. The middle? I wanted to get right into the middle. How beautiful it was when the Rebbe turned toward whoever came in. So I made my way between people and between the benches. That was where my friends and I sat; it had been my regular spot for the sichos since Sukkos. That’s a good spot, you’re saying. The fourth bench. Suddenly I’m moving past people, moving and moving, until I reach the benches. I put a foot on a bench and lift myself up to get inside. I look toward the Rebbe, and the Rebbe is looking over. The Rebbe was sitting with [unclear]. It was one look you can never forget. That look—I don’t know—that look alone was worth the whole trip. Such a loving look from the Rebbe. It was a special look. You can’t forget a look like that. So you felt it was because you’d made the effort to go and accompany your friend? That’s how I felt at that moment. You remember that the Rebbe cares. The Rebbe sees... There are moments you remember. I can remember another one. On the first evening of [unclear], I came to Charles Hunter[?] a little early. The Rebbe hadn’t yet returned from the Ohel. I walked through Charles Hunter[?], from top to bottom. We saw minyanim of bochurim throughout the building. I sat down in a corner to open my Tehillim, but I didn’t even manage to open it. The Rebbe was coming back late. We went outside and stood there for about half an hour until the Rebbe got out of the car. Out of the car. On that first evening, the Rebbe gets out of the car, and...

46:11 Speaker 3 the Rebbe slips his hand into his pocket to take out money for tzedakah. You can’t imagine the Rebbe. It’s the Rebbe’s look. Suddenly everyone is crying, everyone is crying, and I hold out my hand, and the Rebbe puts a coin in it. Sometimes I remember that moment. I can almost feel the cold of the coin on my hand, that moment when the Rebbe sees you. It was a moment like no other. Outside, when the Rebbe came back—outside. That first evening. Usually he didn’t give coins to the bochurim? Usually not. It was just us bochurim there. The Rebbe gave us that look, I held out my hand, and I don’t know why I did, but you can’t imagine it. Everyone understood. It was one of those moments. You hold out your hand and receive the coin... So from the first evening until the second day of Yom Tov, [unclear]. We got there a little ahead of him, late. That’s good, but let me just say: you were the group of 5747? The group of 5747, yes. That was a different world. Yes, or we’ll get to a different world. What I mean is, even just looking at it—from when you were a child and then later a young bochur—what was it like to come and see the Rebbe at all? Did they prepare you before you traveled? Was there any preparation? Did you go over anything? It was simple. As a child, I don’t remember anyone giving us special preparation. But as bochurim, [unclear] strongly encouraged the trips. When we were in the younger yeshivah in Lod, they gave us some preparation in [unclear]. But the message was, “Travel, travel, travel.” They very much encouraged traveling to the Rebbe. But every Tishrei was different. Everything was different. What was special about that Tishrei? It was the Rambam. That Elul, the Rebbe had published the references, Sefer Hatziyunim, [unclear]. The Rambam that [unclear].

47:56 Speaker 3 It was a lot of work. We were young bochurim at Charles Hunter [?], and they put out some of the pages at Charles Hunter too, so everyone could search. We would sit and search. There were older people around who knew where things were. There was a Jew, [unclear], named Yosef Hillel. He worked in... Yosef Hillel. My father says he was the dayan. I remember him. We would sit around him. We would say, “Yosef, bring us [unclear].” He would tell us, “Here, come.” “Where is it?” That was how we worked. But he was our computer. These were small things, but the small things weren’t the miracles—the rain and the wind and all the great miracles. Life with the Rebbe was exactly this: the everyday. The everyday. Yes, in all the little things, that was where it was most apparent. It all depends on where you are. In any period you find yourself in, you can remember. In [unclear], Shabbos Vayakhel-Pekudei. Purim was a Purim with Moshiach, with the fellows who collected money. That’s a story in itself. But right now we’re only up to Pekudei. That Shabbos, that shmuess—it was a lot. The shmuess. The Rebbe said not to publicize it. So let me give a little background, because not everyone knows. [unclear]. The Rebbe began speaking every Shabbos, giving very powerful sichos about Moshiach. Every sicha. Ah, yes. Then came Purim, when the Rebbe spoke about bringing it to the public. So [unclear]. The matter of [unclear] had begun a little before that. It started in Kislev; simply, whoever was there for Chanukah saw [unclear]. Now, Chanukah already had [unclear], but that was after 5750. Vayigash was less than Vayechi, and Vayigash was more. Vayigash was a strong point in 5750, from Vayechi through Vayikra. Yes. All those Shabboses were almost like the sichos of 5751

49:41 Speaker 3 and 5752. Real sichos. So on Vayakhel-Pekudei, an appeal was filed in the court case. There was a big farbrengen. It ended late at night. A shmuess, a shmuess: “A Jew goes out of exile.” Yes, the Rebbe spoke a great deal about that too. There was a lot that was edited by the Rebbe that winter. “And bless our bread.” The donkey of Moshiach the King. But that’s a donkey of a sicha. It’s a wonder. The donkey—quite a wonder. A sicha in volume 30. Yes, yes, that’s simply the shmuess. But it was beautiful. They brought a clock into the Rebbe’s room and put it on the table. The Rebbe picked up the clock and said, in short, [unclear]. The Rebbe said it was late and he had to be brief. He looked at the clock, and then gave a sicha for another hour and a quarter. An hour-and-a-quarter sicha. I think he even set the clock aside. He set it aside for the whole sicha, if I remember correctly. But an hour-and-a-quarter sicha is [unclear]. I once looked at the shmuess of ’56—on a Shabbos in ’52, that was the entire farbrengen. The entire farbrengen. The shmuess in ’52 was very short, very short. See the difference. That was the whole... Then came Vayakhel-Pekudei. Purim had happened, with the famous public sicha about Moshiach, and it caused a bit of a stir among the bochurim. That’s a subject in itself. After that came Vayakhel-Pekudei. On Vayakhel-Pekudei an appeal was filed against the verdict, against the acquittal of [unclear]. And the Rebbe spoke about how even the [unclear] had to be nullified. The analogy is that if... the drop of blood. The analogy is that when you see a drop of blood, it’s a sign that it isn’t solid. Many people feel even a drop of blood, and that drop of blood has to be nullified. And the Rebbe spoke a great deal about the shluchim and what the shluchim should do. The shluchim are sons. There were very, very distinctive expressions. They don’t appear there; they were omitted. I don’t know why there was such

51:24 Speaker 3 a substantial omission. What—why did the Rebbe...? But that was the Rebbe’s instruction: not to publish it. I mean, for example, in Parshas... no, it was in Beshalach, [unclear]. So naturally it was omitted, because not all of those things are suitable for publication, not all those expressions. And there was a special farbrengen too. We’ll get to that in a moment so the listeners understand what it was. Go on with Vayakhel-Pekudei. Yes, so Vayakhel-Pekudei. The farbrengen was long. I don’t remember—I remember it ended late, because... I mean, it was almost a battle. Maybe we went to eat and then stayed around; I don’t know. But judging by the pages, it wasn’t that long. So I don’t rely on that, even with the omissions. It wasn’t that long, but it was a farbrengen. After that came Vayikra. That was also entirely... that too was edited by the Rebbe. Also in Vayikra, it’s—yes, because of the famous sicha about all the... [unclear], the whole subject of... There was an introduction to it, too. An introduction covering the whole subject of the children’s room, the importance of the children’s room. The Rebbe said that on Rosh Chodesh, the Rebbe would ask the shluchim to hold a farbrengen on Rosh Chodesh—Rosh Chodesh Nissan. And afterward the Rebbe issued an instruction. The Rebbe went to the Ohel on 2 Nissan, and instructed them to gather together and study the first maamar, the first one by the Frierdiker Rebbe, “Reishis Goel,” from the first maamar. And Rabbi Yoel taught it to the group. There was a page missing there; they had photocopied it incorrectly. But Rabbi Yoel managed. He taught the maamar, and no one noticed that a page was missing. But on Shabbos—Shabbos, 5 Nissan; Shabbos was 5 Nissan. Even before 5 Nissan, the Rebbe explained the maamar and explained, as it were, the point he wanted to make with it:

53:04 Speaker 3 the story about the children’s room. Then came the sicha that’s famous in part. It isn’t written up as one sicha about Nissan, about miracles, about eternity, and about the greatness of Pesach and a child’s room. It’s all in the same sicha. Yes, right. It’s also a continuation of the [unclear]. That’s right. By the way, there was something on Purim too, wasn’t there? The Rebbe... the Rebbe [unclear]. The Rebbe spoke about “Fortunate is the people,” Amalek. No, that was in ’47. Ah, yes, ’47. Well, certainly, certainly. All this about a child’s room, every Chabad House—all of it, all winter long. A Chabad House: making every place into a Chabad House, making every child’s room into a Chabad House. That’s... that’s good that... This was that winter. There was a letter between Yud Shvat 5750 and 15 Shvat 5750, a special letter to children about arranging their rooms, right? Right, right. It was all connected with making things better and turning them into a Chabad House, with tzedakah boxes, so children would come... and keep themselves in the light. Coins in tzedakah boxes. That was [unclear] day. All the... When was it that the children passed by with their tzedakah boxes? I think that was later. It was in the winter—suddenly, the children were to come with their boxes, and the Rebbe put tzedakah into their boxes. That was... What happened at the beginning of Beshalach, you were saying? In Beshalach, he spoke about the Rambam. The Rebbe spoke about the Rambam and those who spoke against the Rambam. No need to mention them here. Then the Rebbe spoke about that, and about Rashi’s comment, “Go out from the cloud.” That was a time when everyone was asking questions. The Rebbe spoke about “Go out from the cloud,” because inside the cloud Amalek cannot... It is specifically the Jew outside the cloud who needs... For them, there is Rabbeinu [unclear]; for them, it was necessary to wage war. So the Rebbe said, as it were, “Kindelach,” in those words, in those words

54:42 Speaker 3 From a father like that, in such loving words: “Chabadniks of Beis Chanun[?], Chabad of Beis Chanun[?], no one can harm you.” I always say that in this work, you have to remember the Rambam. Someone who studies Rambam and is careful about studying Rambam— I don’t know whether things like this are— it helps materially and spiritually, in every respect. I tell this to the students, and I say it in the community too. You have to be careful about studying Rambam. That sicha, keeping to it—that’s Chabad. We have to rely on the Rambam, because the Rambam is, he’s the... But I like to come back to Mishpatim, to 5747, to Mishpatim as well. There was also a special farbrengen. There was one part continuing from Parshas Yisro, with the story about the Torah reading, and every Shabbos in 5747, I’m telling you, every Shabbos was... We won’t go into that part. But Shabbos Mishpatim was a Shabbos when there was money—“give and [unclear].” There was a speaker—Reb Yechezkel Gold... the son-in-law of Reb Yechezkel Goldman, Shimon Goldman, Shimon Goldman, may his memory be a blessing. He would come up in a shtreimel and tell a story. That year he told the well-known story. The Rebbe commented: “Nothing is well-known. Tell the whole thing.” The Rebbe made a comment on the story. That comment tells you right away how the Rebbe looks at chassidim, how the Rebbe believes in chassidim. That itself gives, uh, gives strength. He told a story about the Chernobyler Rebbe. The Chernobyler would travel to towns, as the Rebbes of earlier generations used to do, going from town to town to their chassidim. The chassidim were poor, and the Rebbes would come and spend Shabbos with them, and so on. In each town there was a home where he would stay. In one town there was a Jew who always hosted the Chernobyler. The Chernobyler said he would come, but said that he wanted two thousand rubles from him, and if he didn’t bring him

56:26 Speaker 3 two thousand rubles, he wouldn’t stay with him. Not only would he not stay with him, he also wouldn’t agree to let him come to the davening, wouldn’t receive him for private audiences, and wouldn’t let him come to the tish. And the man knew—poor fellow—that he didn’t have two thousand rubles. So he sat at home crying. That’s how it was on Wednesday, Thursday, and Shabbos: he sat at home. Everyone else was celebrating, and he sat at home. On Sunday the Chernobyler left, and he still had no money. He sat at home after the Chernobyler had gone, crying. On top of all his troubles, as he sat crying because the Chernobyler hadn’t stayed with him or anything, a group of soldiers arrived. They were going into houses, and three soldiers came into his home with a large chest. They took whatever food they could find, though he hardly had any left. But suddenly there was an alarm and they all had to leave. They ran because there was a problem at the border, and they forgot the chest. Half an hour later they came back—that’s how he tells it. And all this time, the Rebbe had the Chumash open and was looking inside. You could see the Rebbe wasn’t pleased. You could see it on the Rebbe’s face... The Rebbe was listening, listening to him, and we carried on with the story. The soldiers came looking for the chest. They searched the house before his and the house after his, but they didn’t see his house. They didn’t see his house. They left; they gave up. In the middle of the night he took a candle and quietly opened the chest so nobody would hear. He saw that there really was money inside. The chest was full of money. He counted it: two thousand rubles. He was overjoyed. The next morning he went to find out where the Rebbe was, and which town he was in. He traveled

57:56 Speaker 3 there—ran there on foot—and brought the Rebbe the money. The Chernobyler told him, “I don’t need your money. You need to daven. You have daughters you need to marry off,” and so on. He finished telling it, and afterward everyone sang a niggun, and the Rebbe...

58:09 Speaker 6 In other words, the point of the story was that Hakadosh Boruch Hu was waiting for him to daven.

58:13 Speaker 3 Yes, yes.

58:13 Speaker 6 That was the only way He could get him to daven.

58:16 Speaker 3 Right. It appears in the Frierdiker Rebbe’s sichos. There are some differences, and even in the Frierdiker Rebbe’s telling, it appears twice with slight differences in the story. So the Rebbe said that the story was true, but whoever told it had changed it a little. Why? Because he doesn’t understand what a chossid is. He doesn’t understand what a chossid is. If he knew what a chossid was—a chossid of the Chernobyler, and the Chernobyler tells him he won’t [unclear]—what does that mean? If the Chernobyler had said that, it itself would have [unclear]. So the part about not letting him come to davening isn’t right either. He said to him, “[unclear].” What does that mean?

58:53 Speaker 6 In other words, the Rebbe corrected it: it couldn’t be that he told him not to come at all.

58:56 Speaker 3 No, there’s no such thing. Now, that’s a chossid. How the Rebbe believes in us! What is our connection? How much do we care? I often ask myself, what did the Rebbe want? “Farbreng, farbreng.” We know what our farbrengens are like, yet the Rebbe believes in our farbrengens. And here, too, it has an effect. So in the end, that’s what it does. These are things... Maybe it was a beautiful farbrengen. It’s hard to call any whole farbrengen “beautiful,” but this was one of those farbrengens you can’t forget. You can’t forget it. There are farbrengens that you...

59:31 Speaker 6 When your group arrived for the tish in 5747.

59:34 Speaker 3 Well, the Rebbe would speak quietly, for example.

59:36 Speaker 6 More quietly.

59:38 Speaker 3 It was hard to hear, very hard to hear, and in many places people couldn’t hear. Once I changed places and stood opposite, but it was crowded there. My usual place was a little higher up on the side, but it wasn’t crowded, so you could concentrate better. I came forward thinking, “I’ll sit closer, then I’ll understand and hear.” But the crowding kept me from hearing. I went back to my place. Everyone has the place he’s used to hearing from. I understood him, but it was hard to hear—very hard to hear. The bochurim responsible for the arrangements held a meeting and decided something had to change. They used to block off the front section so people couldn’t go in. They would put barriers up at the Rebbe’s farbrengens. Behind the farbrengen platform they put benches tied together, raised up, and they closed the main entrance so you couldn’t get in near the Aron Kodesh. Once you got in, you had to push your way into the farbrengen. There was nowhere else to stand: either you pushed into the farbrengen or you stayed outside, so you couldn’t see. They said that at the big farbrengens on weekdays, they would open everything up. So they said, “For everyone who wants to listen, let’s open it all up.” But they were afraid to do it without the Rebbe’s permission. So they said, “Let’s wait another week, another three weeks, a few weeks.” And then, suddenly, there was a sicha about [unclear], a sicha on Parshas Ki Seitzei in [unclear].

1:00:51 Speaker 7 Ki Seitzei, [unclear].

1:00:51 Speaker 3 [Unclear]. Which sicha is that? There’s a tremendous sicha about [unclear] in that volume, explaining what, what...

1:00:59 Speaker 7 What was difficult, what was there.

1:01:00 Speaker 3 But the Rebbe spoke about it in such a way that they said, “No, no, no. You don’t suggest things to him. He knows what he wants.”

1:01:08 Speaker 7 When he wants to, he’ll say so.

1:01:09 Speaker 3 There’s a written example, [unclear]; it’s one of the sichos. Things like that can be found at every, every, every farbrengen. Yes, every one. The summer of 5747.

1:01:25 Speaker 8 The summer of 5747 had the...

1:01:27 Speaker 7 Unity.

1:01:29 Speaker 3 On 12 Tammuz the Rebbe did not farbreng.

1:01:31 Speaker 7 12 Tammuz, 5747.

1:01:32 Speaker 3 The Rebbe said he wouldn’t farbreng. The Rebbe said he wouldn’t farbreng. Then the Rebbe went to the Ohel, and when the Rebbe came back from the Ohel, on the way he said that he would farbreng after all. I remember that moment. We were all happy that there would be a farbrengen, a surprise farbrengen. And afterward, it was a very big thing for all of us.

1:01:49 Speaker 7 Unity in shlichus.

1:01:50 Speaker 3 Yes, the whole farbrengen was about that. Not just the farbrengen itself—you could see the Rebbe’s [unclear]. But afterward they spoke about Sunday night’s farbrengen, around 17 Tammuz.

1:01:59 Speaker 8 Sunday night’s farbrengen.

1:02:00 Speaker 3 No, not 17 Tammuz. It was Motzaei [unclear]. Tuesday was 17 Tammuz, so Sunday night was [unclear]. It was the last night, the day the Rebbe farbrenged. The Rebbe farbrenged then too. There’s also an edited sicha from there, on [unclear], in volume [unclear], I think.

1:02:19 Speaker 7 The Rambam of that time.

1:02:20 Speaker 3 Ah, yes, that was the Rambam. That was the Rambam about Pinchas. Pinchas is Lior, but it’s edited, it’s edited, about [unclear]. That’s the Rambam of... But there was a sicha. He jumped through two or three sichos, and afterward the Rebbe distributed it. The Rebbe wanted [unclear]. Shema Yisroel, [unclear]—what’s in your heart, leave it for now. We can’t fix everything, but [unclear] should treat each other well. And then the Rebbe wanted to turn the whole thing into joy, how do you say it. Anyone who could arrange a joyous farbrengen, he wanted to give him mashke. So they brought everything they had: all the mashke that was left from Shavuos, the little bottles, and the little bottles of wine left from the seventh day of Pesach. And the Rebbe stood up, and people came over, and the Rebbe... Now, usually a person takes a bottle of wine and holds it, but there it became chaotic. Some held on to their bottles and some didn’t, but the Rebbe stood there and people came from every direction. Watch it on video: the Rebbe hands out a bottle from here, one from there, one from below and one from the side—all those half-bottles from Shavuos, until every bottle was gone. But the Rebbe gave them out to everyone. Whoever undertook to make a farbrengen could come and take a bottle. So the Rebbe distributed all of it, but it was... It was a bit of compensation for—

1:03:37 Speaker 8 For the generally less joyous atmosphere.

1:03:40 Speaker 3 Yes.

1:03:43 Speaker 7 What was it really like for a bochur who had finished his year with the group?

1:03:46 Speaker 3 One thing is the farbrengen afterward, in Nissan. After Shabbos, on Motzaei Shabbos the 13th. The unexpected farbrengen. Friday. Friday. That comes on the video, right?

1:04:02 Speaker 7 Yes, the video.

1:04:04 Speaker 3 Yes, and after that there was the 12th, just now.

1:04:08 Speaker 7 The 12th.

1:04:09 Speaker 3 The 12th, right, because 17 Nissan was on Friday. On Motzaei Shabbos the Rebbe came out after Maariv; he had davened Maariv upstairs.

1:04:16 Speaker 7 The small zal.

1:04:17 Speaker 3 The small zal. After Maariv there was a yechidus for Branover and—

1:04:22 Speaker 7 Gutnick.

1:04:24 Speaker 3 Shlomke, Shlomke.

1:04:26 Speaker 7 Shalom Gutnick.

1:04:26 Speaker 3 Shalom Gutnick. They went in; they were with the Rebbe. Then, on Motzaei Shabbos, the Rebbe suddenly announced a farbrengen. So there was Chabad in Jerusalem, Shamir [?].

1:04:35 Speaker 7 That was when it happened.

1:04:36 Speaker 3 That’s when it began. Then there was the farbrengen where the Rebbe spoke about it.

1:04:38 Speaker 7 The following week the Rebbe spoke about it.

1:04:40 Speaker 3 No, it began on Pesach. It began—the beginning was on Pesach, and afterward, afterward in—yes.

1:04:47 Speaker 7 Was [unclear] on that same Motzaei Shabbos?

1:04:48 Speaker 3 Yes, Motzaei Shabbos. The Rebbe held a farbrengen that same Motzaei Shabbos.

1:04:51 Speaker 7 Still 13 Nissan.

1:04:52 Speaker 3 There was a farbrengen on 13 Nissan. And afterward the Rebbe immediately—uh, at the end of the farbrengen—well, [unclear]. Listen, he wrote down the whole [unclear].

1:05:02 Speaker 7 Two hundred years—that whole thing was unusual.

1:05:04 Speaker 3 Yes. Well, [unclear], there were several times when the Rebbe—

1:05:07 Speaker 7 There was one on Shavuos.

1:05:11 Speaker 3 No, yes, but on Shavuos it was Rosh Hashanah [unclear], right.

1:05:15 Speaker 7 Yes.

1:05:15 Speaker 3 And afterward there was—and before that there was [unclear]. And the new thing there, the new thing—the story in Eretz Yisroel—he brought it all at once.

1:05:29 Speaker 7 Slowly, slowly.

1:05:29 Speaker 3 Those were turbulent years, so...

1:05:31 Speaker 7 We’ll get to all the years; that’s why we’re here. So, Yaakov, the Rebbe called someone in for yechidus on Motzaei Shabbos, and then the Rebbe—

1:05:37 Speaker 3 That’s if I remember correctly, but that there was a farbrengen is certain. And then the Rebbe began this matter of Chabad in Jerusalem. The Rebbe spoke about it more by way of a hint, but that was when it began. That was when this whole matter began—

1:05:47 Speaker 7 So I didn’t realize that this, too, was actually a continuation of 19 Nissan.

1:05:50 Speaker 3 Seemingly, it was also a continuation of that matter. It was already, it was...

1:05:56 Speaker 7 What did it really feel like to be a bochur from the group of 5747?

1:06:00 Speaker 3 You know, when you’re in the middle of something, you can’t really take it all in—

1:06:01 Speaker 7 Yes, we’re looking at it now. I’ve gained a new perspective. There was also Tishrei.

1:06:06 Speaker 3 Yes.

1:06:06 Speaker 7 Around Tishrei there was a sicha about [unclear]; I was thinking of that one.

1:06:11 Speaker 3 Yes. All right, but Tishrei 5748 is Tishrei 5748.

1:06:15 Speaker 7 We’ll get to Tishrei 5748 too, but—

1:06:17 Speaker 3 Yes, but what I was talking about is connected to—

1:06:19 Speaker 7 After that you started being [unclear]. Until then you were guests, and afterward you were...

1:06:24 Speaker 3 After that it became [unclear]. You know, after your year with the group, you go back to Eretz Yisroel, your friends travel, and then you... I went back. I went back. Yes, afterward we went back to Eretz Yisroel, before 28 Shvat, yes.

1:06:36 Speaker 7 You’re talking about after [unclear].

1:06:37 Speaker 3 Yes, 5748. Anyway, afterward you go back. [Unclear], I returned in [unclear]. I mean, I wasn’t at [unclear], but on Shabbos I heard the farbrengen, the sicha about [unclear]—what the Rebbe said about [unclear]. Yes, but—

1:06:53 Speaker 7 On Shabbos, too, the Rebbe—they asked me why—

1:06:55 Speaker 3 Yes, yes, the Rebbe spoke about it on Shabbos. Yes, but you arrive at [unclear], your friends aren’t there, and it’s as if you’ve landed in a vacuum. You have to land in that vacuum and find your place in it, in [unclear]. And then it’s a new atmosphere. There are a few friends around, doing things. But, you know—so in the end, we were bochurim, a few whom the Rebbe knew. The Rebbe spoke about Kehot, so we formed a group of bochurim, the few of us who were in [unclear], on our own. We didn’t have a minyan—maybe we did have a minyan.

1:07:21 Speaker 7 [Unclear] who came back after [unclear].

1:07:23 Speaker 3 Yes, from that same period. Every Tuesday we’d meet in one of the rooms and learn a sicha of the Rebbe about Kehot. A little something to eat, a little to drink, and we’d learn. Every time, for every little thing like that, we’d write to the Rebbe and receive a response. The way the Rebbe responded to all of it was simply extraordinary. A few bochurim got together and did this, and the Rebbe took an interest in every detail. It was Kehot. When you think about it today, sometimes it just blows your mind, the whole thing.

1:07:56 Speaker 7 The attention the Rebbe gave to every—

1:07:58 Speaker 3 Not things [unclear]; let him learn. What about 5748?

1:08:04 Speaker 7 Tishrei 5748. Well, come on—describe Tishrei 5748. I was a child, but let’s hear it from you.

1:08:10 Speaker 3 You were, you were. Listen, the main thing was Simchas Torah. Yes, like the usual order in 5748. There had been Sukkos beforehand, and then came Simchas Torah 5748. From the moment the Rebbe had them take him up onto the... the platform, the... when the Rashag went up—during which hakafah was it? He had already come to the first hakafah, and he wasn’t feeling well. Yes, and the Rebbe said to take him up, yes. And they took him up after—before the hakafos, I think. Before everything, in the middle of the Torah reading or something. The Rebbe was... The truth is, that whole Simchas Torah was different. I would stand on the bench. They would move the Rebbe’s platform, right, move it closer to the aron kodesh, and there was a sturdy bench there. That created a square space where the older guests would go; all the guests would squeeze in there, between the wall and the Rebbe’s platform. Between the wall and the platform—yes, there were people there. Those were considered the rows for the older guests, the older people who went in. On that bench, on the side closer to the aron kodesh, [unclear] and the others had their places. [Unclear], Dovid Nachshon, Aharon Taieb, the Goldschmidts. Yes, that was farther over. My brothers were there. And farther in, toward the wall, there was Yoske Greenberg, and me, and Chaim Greenberg, and this one and that one. The Greenbergs were there, and a few guests. When [unclear] came, he would squeeze in there. Young guests too; that was the arrangement. Now, what happened when the Rebbe walked by? We would put an iron box under the bench. When the Rebbe walked by, we’d climb onto the bench. You’d see everyone climbing up, lifting themselves, and we’d climb onto the box. You were up high, on the bench, on the box. Now, the older people there had no chance. They didn’t jump up—not at their age.

1:09:55 Speaker 3 And they had no chance of getting up there, either. I mean, from the bench at the back, you could see from both sides. You could be close and also see the hakafah when the Rebbe danced. Yes, the hakafah too—to see the Rebbe dance. But afterward the Rebbe came back, holding the Torah, with those little jumps, catching himself in the air each time. That was something. And then there was 5744, with the hakafos the Rebbe did for a long time. It’s a story the public doesn’t know. Tell us everything. What happened in 5744? All nine of them. However much—do you have time? Go ahead and talk. Yes, that’s the idea: to refresh ourselves, to tell it, to relive it. What happened in Tishrei 5744? In 5743 it was a hundred years since the Rebbe’s wedding. So all the—hundred years of the Rebbe’s [unclear] in Russia. Yes, listen. The Rebbe started speaking about it at the beginning of Tishrei, but in Tishrei 5743, after Simchas Torah, the Rashag [unclear]. The Rebbe put down the siddur and turned around. Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay—what a movement. Around Hoshana Rabbah. Something. Do you remember? You know, a few years have passed, and I was just a child, really. But that movement—the Rebbe put the siddur on the lectern and turned around. In 5744, a lot happened. In 5744, with “I will bless others.” I don’t know. You tell it. I— In 5744, the Rebbe wanted people to bless one another, for each person to bless the other. In general, on Hoshana Rabbah the Rebbe was very—there’s that well-known sicha in which the Rebbe cried a great deal. Go on. Yes, go on. [unclear]. Yes, there was crying, and the Rebbe was very— And then the Rebbe asked Yisroel Leibov, Yisroel Leibov. The Rebbe distributed dollars after Hoshana Rabbah, [unclear]. Yisroel Leibov. Wait, when was Hoshana Rabbah? After 10 Teves. After 10 Teves the Rebbe gave a sicha, right? After—

1:11:46 Speaker 3 After the sicha. After the sicha, the Rebbe distributed dollars. On the night of Hoshana Rabbah. On the night of Hoshana Rabbah the Rebbe distributed dollars. That was a change. The Rebbe said he would distribute dollars. After the sicha about Moshiach, when the Rebbe cried while standing to the side of the lectern. Right, right. After that came the dollar distribution. Yes. Yisroel Leibov. And Yisroel Leibov—the Rebbe asked him, “Du bist a tankist?” Do you know what that meant for Yisroel Leibov? The Rebbe asked, “Are you a tankist?” [unclear]. My grandmother told me about it in the morning. She said, “You know, Yisroel Leibov is hanging between heaven and earth. He’s had a heart attack. Between heaven and earth. They don’t know what his condition is.” After the Rebbe asked him that? That evening, yes, that night he had a severe heart attack. After the Rebbe asked him. Yes, yes, yes. He took it so much to heart. He had a severe heart attack, a severe heart attack. They told the Rebbe that Yossele had had a heart attack. So the Rebbe said he should come to hakafos. They said to the Rebbe, “How can he come to hakafos?” There was no one to talk to. No one to talk to. Who said that to the Rebbe? Who was the one who limped? When they brought him, he was practically lying in bed, unable to move. You know, he’d had a serious heart attack. He was in a hospital bed. The Rebbe said yes. The Rebbe said—something like, there was nothing to be done. I don’t know if those were the words—something like, “I can’t take responsibility.” So they put him in the kollel, in the kollel back there. You know, there used to be a kollel at the back. Union. Union. They brought him down to hakafos, strapped to a stretcher. They put him on the—I’ve never forgotten it. They put him on the Rebbe’s platform. The man was there, by the Rebbe’s [unclear], on a stretcher, strapped in like [unclear], with his eyes closed. Yes, the Rebbe did this to him—

1:13:25 Speaker 3 Like this at first, like this, like this. Wait, look: the Rebbe put his hand on him. Once, and again, and again. At first there was no response. Then he began to respond. Then he began to respond. He started responding like that on Thursday, Friday, Shabbos—Shabbos. Simchas Torah was three days: Thursday, Friday, Shabbos. After the whole week, at three or four in the morning, I was leaving the center with a friend. We came out there. Yes, yes, and I saw Yossele—come here! He was walking. Walking. I said to my friend, “Look at Yossele’s [unclear]!” I’m telling you, nobody knows this. It’s a true story. There are people who remember. I have friends who remember it. You’d be amazed: on the Rebbe’s platform he could barely move. You would have thought he was— Yes, I said that to my friend. And why, actually, is this whole story about the Alter Rebbe? It really happened. I’ve never heard this before. You haven’t? Look at it. I don’t need to see it. What a story, among so many stories. It was worth coming just to hear this story. I’ve never heard it before. In the story of [unclear]. [unclear]. [unclear], the [unclear], [unclear]. Afterward he lived until [unclear]—ten years later. Right. [unclear], if I’m not mistaken. I really don’t know. I’m not sure, but I remember something like that. But the Rebbe wanted people to bless one another. The Rebbe wanted everyone to bless each other. So there was also a story involving—many things. About what? I don’t know anything. Tell us. About the—about the [unclear]. What happened there? That was once in Cheshvan, wasn’t it? Right. So on Rosh Hashanah he got confused. The person who did it. People shouted, “What should we do? What should we do?” If someone—or someone who didn’t wash their hands, someone who—someone who washed their hands but didn’t eat—

1:15:05 Speaker 3 At night, then it has nothing to do with Shabbos. He doesn’t even need to make Kiddush, because he only wants—only that. Whoever makes Kiddush says only that. In short, the Rebbe said not to do it. But strangely, the Rebbe said—the Rebbe said [unclear]. And then, at the end of bentching, the Rebbe said the Harachaman for Shabbos. How do you say Shabbos with the Harachaman for Shabbos? Well, Eliyahu. Eliyahu Hanavi [unclear]. At the end, it was remarkable. Afterward the Rebbe explained it, and also the matter of blessing others. The Rebbe said—and on Simchas Torah, the day before, the Rebbe gave a blessing. And that was—perhaps on Rosh Hashanah. Perhaps. I don’t remember, but the Rebbe said it twice. It was on a Rosh Hashanah that fell on Thursday, Friday, and Shabbos. That too. After that I don’t remember where it began, but on Simchas Torah there was another remarkable thing: the Rebbe blessed the congregation, “May Yisroel be blessed forever and ever.” And the Rebbe didn’t say—at the end the Rebbe explained, “And I will bless them.” That was the question. In the sicha. Yes, in the Rebbe’s sicha on the night—the night—it was on the night of Simchas Torah, at the first [unclear], on the night of Simchas Torah. Then the Rebbe explained, I think on Shabbos, those two changes: saying “I will bless you,” and [unclear], “those who guard the children of Yisroel.” “And I will bless them” refers to the kohanim. “Those who guard” generally refers to the kohanim. But “I will bless them”—the Rebbe meant that the students could bless you, and I bless you. That’s why we made the change. It was as though it didn’t fit the occasion. Yes, and the Rebbe also explained that the novelty regarding Shabbos is that, really, you can say it every day; at the end it’s a Harachaman. So now it’s Shabbos, and that doesn’t interfere with it. We’ve finished bentching. We’ve said the blessing; now we can say another amen. What’s wrong with saying it? That’s—

1:16:53 Speaker 3 What the Rebbe explained. That was how it was. I remember that period. We were young, but the Rebbe asked—the Rebbe asked everyone to bless one another. All night long people blessed each other. You couldn’t walk a yard down the street without someone stopping you. You’d walk a yard and someone would stop you. “Boruch Hashem,” [unclear]—everyone, all of that. Yes, it is Hashem’s will, not that we understand it. But if you connect it with what happened before the holidays, then— We don’t understand these things. We don’t understand anything about what is going on. There was also a sicha a few days later for the residents of Eretz Yisroel, Kfar Chabad, and [unclear]. Right, that was probably connected too. In 5742, that was simply—that was [unclear] there too. But the Rebbe held a special yechidus for everyone. I think that no one— My father, may he live long, was at that yechidus, and there’s a recording of it. There’s a recording. If I’m not mistaken, my father has a recording. I think it was Shmuel from Haifa. My father told me it a little differently, but this is how he told it: Shmuel from Haifa asked permission, since it was apparently a communal matter, to record it. So he came to the yechidus with a recorder. He says it didn’t work. I think there is a recording, though. I don’t know. When was that yechidus? In Tishrei, toward the end of Tishrei 5742. By then the Rebbe had already begun holding general yechidus, though it wasn’t organized yet, because in 5743 they started having groups; in 5742 they organized groups. Yes, in the Rebbe’s room. In 5743, by the small [unclear], and later downstairs. But then there was a yechidus, and the Rebbe spoke about a Sefer Torah for soldiers in the army. The Rebbe gave the details—that it wasn’t possible to obtain all the soldiers’ names, because it was the army, and so on and so forth. When the filming began in—

1:18:35 Speaker 3 The Lebanon War began, and I asked my father about it several times; I have his account firsthand. The Rebbe had asked, “What’s happening with the Sefer Torah?” It hadn’t moved forward. It got stuck. “What a shame—it’s lost,” is that what he said? “Lost, lost, lost. We could have saved several lives.” And the Rebbe didn’t go near the subject again. I’ve heard people quote the Rebbe as saying—you know. So my father told me the story. That’s what happened, and that’s what he said. Afterward there was Menachem Glick, and Bar Kochba—General Bar Kochba—who was a friend of Chabad and a friend of Menachem Glick. Menachem Glick was a Chabad man, and Bar Kochba advanced the matter and finalized it together with [unclear], but then it got stuck and they didn’t do it. He finished it and they brought it in. I think it was for Mordechai’s benefit; afterward things developed from there. But you see, we don’t understand. The Rebbe spoke about the Sefer Torah, and afterward the Rebbe... The Rebbe didn’t describe it, because he said nothing. Then the war began. Again, the Rebbe said nothing about the whole matter of how the Sefer Torah was connected. Right, it’s a confusing world. Right, right. About your father—since you mentioned him, let’s go back once more. When did he start coming, in 5742? In 5742 he started coming in Tishrei, for Sukkos—yes, Simchas Torah. 5742. Ah, yes, in 5742 they invited him... he would only travel to Jerusalem. In 5742 he began traveling for Simchas Torah as well, and in 5747 he began traveling for Shavuos too. So he had three times a year. Other things happened besides that, but those became the three set times when he traveled. The dispute over them and all that is beside the point. But this story happened on Shabbos. Ah, that was the Shabbos before,

1:20:20 Speaker 3 Ah, afterward. I mean, no, not Pinchas, but Balak. Parshas Balak. Parshas Balak. Balak in 5747. In 5747. So that was when the Rebbe spoke a great deal about achdus. About achdus. Was that how the Rebbe expressed it? Yes, yes. The account itself gets mixed up here with the incident. There was an incident and a dispute, and there was—ah, there was rain, but there was extraordinary lightning and thunder in the neighborhood. There was a verse, a verse. And if I’m not mistaken, that was [unclear]. If I’m not mistaken, because that was in [unclear], and the Shabbos afterward was [unclear], and whoever was called up to the Torah... No, I was called up. [Unclear]. He was—we were standing there together, deeply moved. He was standing above me, in the same place, and he didn’t know the language. I mean, I understood all the sichos, but after each sicha I would translate it for him, because Yiddish was difficult for him. Yes, yes. And when the Rebbe spoke about it, the Rebbe spoke. It had nothing to do with the groom. The Rebbe was very careful. The Rebbe began blessing him, but he didn’t understand, and I didn’t... No, the Rebbe was blessing him. That was incidental. The Rebbe was blessing him. I mean, he was called up to the Torah. Was that at Shacharis? Yes, it was at Shacharis. He was there for Shacharis, and they moved his aliyah earlier. He was supposed to get the seventh aliyah, and they moved him up to the sixth. So the sixth aliyah was... because they switched his Torah aliyah, and the Rebbe spoke at length. But the Rebbe spoke about the accident, that terrible accident in... The Rebbe said—ah, the Rebbe expressed it this way: if there would be peace, he would get well. This child had suffered a blow to the head, Hashem protect us, and underwent surgery on his head on Friday night. There was a Jew there,

1:22:14 Speaker 3 Names don’t matter, a relative of theirs. They wanted someone to approach the Rebbe on Friday night when the Rebbe went down to the mikveh. People would approach the Rebbe that way, but no one went. But here it was family. No, he works in the store, this one, that one. Everyone had his own business; nobody went. He was a young married man. He stood there—he spoke Hebrew—because of the surgery. The Rebbe came out of his room and looked at him. The Rebbe closed the door and started... The Rebbe shut the door firmly and started down the stairs. So he said to the Rebbe that the Rittering family [?] was asking for a blessing, and the Rebbe went, “What? I can’t hear.” So he repeated the request. Then the Rebbe told him, “A Mi Shebeirach should be said at the Torah reading. But don’t wait until ten; there’s a minyan at seven in the small zal.” The Rebbe spoke to him in Hebrew. The Rebbe explained that there was a minyan upstairs at seven in the morning, so he should go there and have a Mi Shebeirach said. He came home. The mother wasn’t home, but the father was, and the father said to him, “If the Rebbe wanted...” If? If the Rebbe saw the... If the Rebbe couldn’t hear... And the following Friday, the boy passed away. But at the farbrengen, the Rebbe knew the situation. Notice: at the farbrengen the Rebbe said that if there were peace, he would... That shows how much these things mattered to the Rebbe. It’s just... I always think of how, in the lead-up to 5744, there were arguments in Kfar Chabad all summer. It was really about the elections in Kfar Chabad. And Rabbi Trebnik, a"h, passed away on 4 Tishrei 5744, or 3 Tishrei. Which date was it, the third or the fourth? No, he passed away on Sunday. There was Thursday, Friday, Shabbos, 4 Tishrei... But he was already weak and in a lot of pain, and he didn’t understand

1:24:02 Speaker 3 the situation. He thought my father was sacrificing Kfar Chabad for his sake. That’s what he thought. Yes. One day—it was 11 Av—there was a meeting here in Petach Tikva with all the rabbis, at Rabbi Chassid’s shul. On the way home they took a taxi. My father and he shared the taxi as far as Kfar Chabad, and from Kfar Chabad we continued on. So my father was with him in the taxi and explained things to him. They talked a great deal. He grasped that this was what the Rebbe wanted, and in short, my father dropped him off at home. They went up the stairs together, and they kissed in the house. You know, they understood what a shame it had all been. My father called the secretariat. The secretariat? Yes, to report on the meeting, whatever it was. And then he told them what had happened with Rabbi Chassid. That day Binyamin went in to the Rebbe and told him. He told the Rebbe that they had made peace, that they had kissed. The Rebbe smiled and opened a drawer. The Rebbe took out a bundle of letters from Rabbi Trebnik—Trebnik had been writing to him constantly in opposition. He took the letters, threw them in the garbage, and the Rebbe said, “We’re making a commotion here about Ahavas Yisroel, and it had an effect on one Jew.” The letters in which Rabbi Trebnik had complained about it, he threw in the trash. Yes, these things... That’s how Binyamin told your father? Yes, he told my father. It shows how much these matters of Ahavas Yisroel meant to the Rebbe. But we went through it that summer with the Rebbe, in 5747. That was [unclear]. Listen, though, everything... When it’s for the good, you can talk about anything. Bring up anything you’re ready to talk about. That’s how Jews draw life from the Rebbe. If it will affect even one Jew—Rabbi Zalman, don’t stop. There was... I told my grandfather

1:26:01 Speaker 3 a story I like to tell, and I tell it because it affects people. It’s just a story about my grandfather. My grandfather would feed guests; he had a feel for people. He knew when people came late and wouldn’t open the door for them. Once, on a Friday night—I don’t know what year, probably 5737—my grandfather finished feeding the guests, cleaned everything up, and went downstairs to lock the door. He was standing there with the key. Wait, you said half a sentence there—he cleaned up too? Of course he cleaned up. Someone from Israel... that was all. He did everything. They did everything. Yes, in short, he would always bring someone from Israel to help him cook, but he himself stayed there until the very end; he wouldn’t leave. For years he stayed until the end. In short, he was about to lock the door, and my grandfather hadn’t... Afterward he would go home, make Kiddush, eat something, and go to sleep. He didn’t eat with everyone else; he served the food and ate afterward. In short, a young man came running up just as they were closing. “Have you eaten today?” “No.” “Have you made Kiddush?” “No.” My grandfather saw him—what was he supposed to do with this young man? He opened the door for him, gave him wine and challah and all the fish that was left, and sat and talked with him. He sat with him for about half an hour, until he finished all his food. Afterward, as they went downstairs to lock the door, the young man was leaving, and my grandfather turned to him and asked, “Do you have a room?” He said, “Yes.” “Where?” He said, “Over there, I’m staying at Yona’s.” So my grandfather asked him, “Why are you going now? It’s already twelve or one in the morning. You need to

1:27:29 Speaker 3 “To go.” He told him, “Look, tomorrow we need food.” Listen, if I start in the morning at seven, with the Rebbe coming for Tehillim at eight-thirty, by the time I finish Tehillim I won’t make it. I’ll get carried away, I won’t have time to daven, and I won’t have a place to stand either. I’m thinking about myself: I’ll start saying Tehillim now, and then, when the Rebbe finishes Tehillim, I’ll finish too. Meanwhile, I’ll get myself a place, then I’ll daven, and then I’ll be able to listen to the Rebbe’s farbrengen with feeling. I always tell the bochurim, “Look what a bochur is! You’re still asleep—where are you?” Yes, the truth is that at our Chabad House, too, there are Jews from France or somewhere like that. When they come to us, their way of saying Tehillim early takes hours, compared with those of us who say it quickly. Yes. You know, I don’t remember which year it was, ’84 or ’88, I don’t remember. But in the morning—I mean, after Thursday and Friday—yes, I came early in the morning. The Rebbe comes down. Especially in Tishrei, how does the Rebbe walk? The Rebbe runs. But when the Rebbe came down for Tehillim—if you see it, probably... I don’t remember now, it doesn’t matter—but the Rebbe came down and walked slowly. The Rebbe walked like this, looking to every side. The Rebbe was looking for everyone. That was the moment: the Rebbe simply looked around. The one time the Rebbe looked to the sides was when he came in for Tehillim. He looked to see who was there for Tehillim. The Rebbe expressed it this way: he looked to see who was there at eight-thirty for Tehillim. Yes, you remember that. The Rebbe looked into the different places, into the corners, as though he were searching more deeply for... for them.

1:29:12 Speaker 3 I don’t know. Shavuos is Shavuos. I think Shavuos ’89 was one of those... And we’re not even talking about special times. Shavuos ’89 was also... yes, Shavuos was on Friday, and the second day of Shavuos was Shabbos. Maybe not—no, no, no. Yes, it was Shabbos. Thursday was 20 Sivan. Like it will be this year. Like it will be this year. Like it will be this year, so that’s right. There were a few special things that Shavuos. The first thing was that the Rebbe came out. The Rebbe would also come out on... The Rebbe came out around... that was Pesach, when we came back from the procession. But... the library. At the library, between one door and the next. The Rebbe came out between the doors. There was an entrance—one door opened, then there was another door leading inside—and the Rebbe stood there and watched without saying anything. He just watched. They were singing. The bochurim were singing as they returned from the procession. But here, first of all, there was a sicha after Mincha. Mincha was downstairs, and after Mincha the Rebbe said a sicha about going to bring joy to another Jew, about the procession. After that, the Rebbe came out to the entrance of the shul to see the whole crowd off. The Rebbe always saw them off, didn’t he? Yes. Not always. Often, but not always; there were times he didn’t. The sicha was something new. That was something new—a sicha. And the Rebbe saw them off. That was the big story with the rain, when it only started after everyone had gone out... That was it. The rain started only after they’d all left, so they wouldn’t turn back. But then it didn’t stop. Yes, it didn’t stop. The rain was simply dreadful, and you were walking, arriving for Shabbos. You couldn’t even hold anything in your hand. Anyone who took a coat lost out, because he had to

1:31:11 Speaker 3 carry the coat as well. Anyone without a coat was... We bochurim didn’t know it was going to rain. We hadn’t heard the forecast, so we just went, and it was easier for us. But those who took coats—never mind. I remember going into a shul in Boro Park with someone, Tzeloni[?], a"h. There was another friend with us. We were together. Who? Kaplan was with me too. Yes, but I don’t remember who else. It was a shul that never let you... You’d come into the shul and they’d say, “You people are crazy.” People were sure that even the regulars wouldn’t come in rain like that. Yes, yes—and they came. We went into the shul, and, in short, we came back drenched. It was simply dreadful. But then they announced that the Rebbe was coming out, or people went home. How many were there? About two hundred bochurim. But that moment when the Rebbe came outside, I... To greet you. Yes. Where did he come out? At the library? No, no, wait. It was Shabbos. The Rebbe... Ah, at [unclear]. First of all, the rain stopped. In America, the rain stops and it turns clear, like that. Many times I go outside and stand in that same spot where I stood, to remember the moment the Rebbe came out. The Rebbe came outside and looked at each person. You know what you felt? You felt the Rebbe’s love. It was a moment of love. The Rebbe encouraged them and looked at each one. It was one of the most beautiful moments. And the next day there was that mistake by—what’s his name?—the gabbai, Finsa[?], who said [unclear], and it was Yom Tov and they needed to [unclear], and there were two mistakes. That is, he announced one-thirty. The Rebbe... Usually it was toward the end of Shabbos, toward the end of Yom Tov, that the Rebbe would farbreng. Yes, the Rebbe once... Interesting.

1:32:57 Speaker 3 On Rosh Hashanah too, the Rebbe farbrenged. Rosh Hashanah ’91 also fell on Shabbos. On Rosh Hashanah the Rebbe farbrenged at one-thirty, right after Musaf. The first day, I think. I don’t remember. On Rosh Hashanah ’91 the Rebbe farbrenged on Shabbos. Yes. Oh, on Shabbos. Shabbos Rosh Hashanah. Yes. At one in the afternoon, one-thirty in the afternoon. I don’t remember. Maybe it wasn’t one-thirty, because davening ran a little later, but it was right after Musaf. I don’t remember. I don’t remember. I was there. But what was it again? Yes, that was a beautiful sicha too. With the Rebbe then, it was as if—how do you say it?—you could see the Rebbe under a magnifying glass. ’91. Yes. But you weren’t eighteen anymore then, right? Were you? You weren’t. No. You were already a chossid. I remember being a child then. What do you mean? At my brother Dudi’s wedding, I was still before bar mitzvah, so I don’t know why, but you could feel that the Rebbe had said a sicha, as though people had been waiting for it. That sicha about “Noam Eli siach.” “Noam Eli siach” has the gematria [unclear]. “Noam Eli siach.” Yes, four minutes. There was also a sicha at the entrance to the small zal. I don’t quite remember whether it was on the steps or on the path. Not on the path—on the steps, but nearby. I remember how people crowded in there. Yes. You could hear a little, fairly clearly. I was... ’91. Well, I wasn’t there anymore. Yes, no. But you know, I don’t remember the part about “Boruch Hu uvoruch shemo.” I remember... of page 350. Yes. Shabbos Rosh Hashanah. I don’t remember. Our minds are small; we have to bring these things back to mind. Sometimes you...

1:34:34 Speaker 3 I often tell my friends: learn, learn, review the sichos, and then you remember. You learn a sicha and suddenly a word the Rebbe said rings a bell. Sometimes one word the Rebbe said brings you back to the occasion. That’s how it is. I know from experience: you remember something, you learn it, you see it, and there it is. That’s why I go over a lot, even the earlier material. I watch sichos from when the Rebbe arrived, and from our years too. It makes a difference. Where were you when you heard about 6 Teves? When I heard about 6 Teves, I had actually gotten up early. That day, I was sitting in the dining room, and people were talking. They said, “Wow, what a cold, sunny day. It’s a day suited to 6 Teves, not a day suited to Didan Notzach.” That was the joke they used to make. But I... There was a feeling. Right, there was. Because people knew something was coming. We were walking on [unclear] Street, and [unclear] Street was where the group was studying in the meantime. It was actually one street over from [unclear]. Yes. And suddenly Menachem Mendel arrived and shouted, “Didan Notzach!” So I closed my sefer and ran straight to the school, because I knew things would be in an uproar. It hadn’t started yet. Afterward the dancing started, and the watches started, and all of that. Listen, where was it—at your father’s house? The Rebbe had already said, in the sicha the next day, right, that everyone abroad should go to the Ohel. But the thing is, there was a sicha on 6 Teves, and suddenly the Rebbe took out the Rambam. A surprise sicha. A surprise, because everyone thought it was over. People always thought the Rebbe would go upstairs. That’s Menachem. I happened to be inside, and it was... The Rebbe finished, and then the Rebbe continued. There’s a final part—I don’t remember what it was about. Now, when the Rebbe... they’re standing, you’re standing like a wall to make sure there won’t be any commotion. When the Rebbe finished the

1:36:28 Speaker 3 After the sicha there was, uh, a release of tension, and suddenly the Rebbe returned to the sicha. That made it even harder to contain yourself. But then the Rebbe said that everyone should ask for whatever they wanted. The Rebbe said he would go to the Ohel the next day, and then people knew their prayers would be brought to the resting place. So they went everywhere, and it was beautiful to see: when the Rebbe went out to the Ohel, they filled the entire trunk, inside too. That’s one of the things—well, we don’t understand it. I don’t claim to understand it at all. We don’t understand any of these wonderful things. But the point is that we need to remember them, that’s all. That’s our life. To remember one more thing, and one more. I’m always sitting with bochurim, saying l’chaim—even when it’s hard to live it. Another story. You can say l’chaim over water. Another story, another story about the Rebbe. Another moment with the Rebbe, another farbrengen of the Rebbe’s in 5748. Those farbrengens of 5748... [unclear]. Yes, joy. Yes, you’re remembering it now. Not really all of it. The joy at the [unclear] will bring Moshiach. Yes, right, at the [unclear] on the seventh day of Pesach 5747, the Rebbe also danced with great joy. On the seventh day of Pesach 5747, the Rebbe stood up and danced in his place, truly joyfully. Do you know where the Rebbe got up to dance? You can see that the Rebbe... Do you know the... the seventh day of Pesach 5747. 5747. I heard from Reb Shmuel Fuchs [?] that it was 5748, on the seventh day. The Rebbe danced on the seventh day. He was very happy, really. The Rebbe delivered sichos every day, every day, on Sukkos and Pesach. I’m saying the seventh day of Pesach was either 5748 or 5747. Someone told me 5748. I don’t know, but I do remember. I remember, though I need to check that detail. But it was something.

1:38:15 Speaker 3 Because, for instance, do you know that Chanukah children’s rally in 5746, when the Rebbe said it should be joyful? 28 Kislev. You can see it sometimes. Even when we were with the Rebbe, there were many times when you could see that the Rebbe, how should I put it, wanted to bring out joy. You could see it in his face. [Unclear] too. What? [Unclear] joyful inside. It was the same there. In other words, you could see the joy on his face too. Yes. Look, I always say that I remember three times when the Rebbe made gestures with his hands. Gestures. I mean, the Rebbe made motions with his hands. The Rebbe speaks—you know the Rebbe speaks a lot with his hands. The Rebbe is Jewish. You know? Do you know that video with Binyamin Gordon [?]? Yes. The Rebbe, on Sundays at dollars, speaks a lot with his hands. But at farbrengens, the Rebbe’s hands were under the table. We stood off to the side. If you spoke to the Rebbe with a question or an answer, the Rebbe’s hands were under the table. Where was your place at the farbrengen? Here, to the Rebbe’s right, up above. Above the Rashab. Above the Rashab, higher up. In the direction of the Ohel. Right. And then you could see, you could see his hands. Sometimes, yes. There were a few times when the Rebbe took his hand out. I remember three times. One time—l’chaim. Say l’chaim over water. Feel it. L’chaim over water. We’re farbrenging; that’s what people do at a farbrengen. Everyone listening to this is refreshed and brought to life. There was a time when... that was the winter [unclear], my brother. It was also the winter [unclear]; in 5747 there was a Chabad House and the winter [unclear]. Even Yisroel Gedalya Trov [?]. I have a rav, my brother, G-d forbid. Even for [unclear], there was a rav. Even for [unclear], there was a rav. Then the Rebbe raised his hand like this, diagonally. The order was... It doesn’t matter; people will never say the Rebbe was speaking about someone. No—

1:39:56 Speaker 3 It doesn’t matter. He asked, as though he could point to someone like this. He stood—or closed his hand on the table. “Do you have a rav?” That was it. The second time the Rebbe did that was on Shabbos Chazon. Shabbos Chazon. The Rebbe spoke about the Beis Hamikdash, and it was a very joyful farbrengen. The vision of... what’s his name? Of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, which appears in... what’s it called? [Unclear] of the Rebbe of Berditchev. By the way, the Rebbe of Berditchev had the merit that every year, on the Shabbos before his yahrzeit, the Rebbe mentioned him. Yes, every year. That’s one of those things: every Shabbos, every year. Yes, the Rebbe mentioned him. The Rebbe didn’t mention yahrzeits except for Chabad... And there’s the Chofetz Chaim, whom the Rebbe mentioned once. The Rebbe didn’t mention his yahrzeit, but it happened to be on his yahrzeit. Uh, in 5749, [unclear]. A famous, powerful sicha about Rosh Hashanah falling on Shabbos. Yes, yes. That’s where the Rebbe mentions the Chofetz Chaim. I don’t think the Rebbe mentions that it was his yahrzeit, of course. Rather, he mentions that he had the strength of [unclear], and that’s why his books spread so widely. Yes, I remember that too. And 3 Elul falls close to his yahrzeit too. Yes, yes. No, this was the Rebbe on Shabbos Chazon 5695. The Rebbe spoke about it at length. The Rebbe didn’t speak the way it appears in Likkutei Sichos, [unclear], because that wasn’t the Rebbe’s wording. It appeared there too. But I remember that when the edited sicha came out within a week, people said, “That’s not it; those aren’t the Rebbe’s words. It takes something away.” But the Rebbe stood up and raised his hand over the table. After the second sicha, the Rebbe said a sentence in a cheerful tone: “Surely—

1:41:28 Speaker 3 there’s such a large crowd here...” Someone—the Rebbe was speaking about how, at night, a Jew is shown something, or something is shown to him from Above. That already at night a voice is heard... Does anyone remember? As if to say, surely, surely there’s someone here. Yes, at that point he said, “Surely there’s someone here who was shown it.” Then the Rebbe stood up. The Rebbe was very joyful and danced very, very joyfully, truly with joy. The Rebbe danced with joy. And just before that, he pointed, as it were, toward the crowd: surely there’s someone here, surely there’s someone who was shown it. The third time I remember was on Shabbos Shemini [unclear]. Shemini [unclear] was after Pesach, right after Pesach. The Rebbe brought up words of Malchus, words about “the merit of the many revives the dead,” which had been said about his students. About the Rebbe too. “The merit of the many revives the dead”; “Even the least among you can revive the dead.” The Rebbe was joyful then too, during the morning sicha, and it also appears in the sicha in [unclear]. The Rebbe raised his hand. The Rebbe said, “The merit of the many revives the dead,” and pointed toward the crowd. Yes, and I always say to my friends: you say the Rebbe wanted something from us. You say it’s hard to say no. “The merit of the many revives the dead.” What we were there for, what we saw, must be passed on. We have to pass it on; we have to see how to do that. But, yes, listen, the love for the Rebbe... On the other hand, I’m not sure. In 5749, after Pesach, with the [unclear]. The Rebbe also said that anyone who was in doubt whether he had—whether he had intended the Geulah—should drink again. Yes, not a fifth cup. Besides the fifth cup, the Rebbe said that anyone who doubted whether he had drunk with the Geulah in mind should drink the four cups again. The Rebbe drank a lot, so afterward it was always Pesach... Those who were at the sicha—this was the fifth cup. But that was the Rebbe. It was, it was Thursday. It was Friday. So first of all, [unclear] was brief. Yes, of course, afterward that night, after [unclear], the Rebbe went to his room. He went to his room, and the Rebbe cried. The Rebbe cried, and then he went. But the next morning, at ten [unclear], the place was full, because there were bochurim there. No one could go to sleep before seeing the Rebbe come down the stairs. The Rebbe called out, “[Unclear] what?” They began [unclear]; yes, two minyanim remained. So understand the love, that love for the Rebbe, which awakens love—the foundation is love. You say, “Wow, let’s go back for one more moment,” and that “foolishness” of seeing the Rebbe come down, healthy, healthy. Yes. They tell about one of the elder chassidim—I no longer remember who—who said that when people come back from the Rebbe, someone asks, “How is life?” Someone else asks about [unclear]. “How does the Rebbe look? How does the Rebbe feel?” Right. And somehow that becomes part of the group. Right, before that, when you arrived, you became... That’s what you wanted to hear. Right. Then you become one of the household. You become... In the middle of Shvat. You don’t say how the whole month of Shvat... But on Shabbos Parshas Terumah, the Shabbos of the week of Mordechai Baruch, the host, there was a farbrengen. The farbrengen was about the Rebbe; you couldn’t see anything on Friday or Shabbos. On Shabbos, you could see the Rebbe’s great pain. Yes, yes, yes, the great pain, and that foolishness with the pyramids—I think about that all the time. But, but that’s... How do you say it, the children...

1:43:09 Speaker 3 He drank with the Geulah in mind—that we would drink another four cups. The Rebbe drank a lot, so afterward it was always Pesach. For those who were at the sicha, that was a fifth cup. But that was the Rebbe. It was, it was Thursday. It was Friday. So first of all, Boruch was brief. Yes, of course, afterward that night, after [unclear], the Rebbe went to his room, went to his room, and the Rebbe cried. The Rebbe cried and then went on. But the next morning, at ten [unclear][?], he was a completely different person. No one could go to sleep before seeing the Rebbe come down the stairs. The Rebbe called out, “More? What?” They started again—yes, two minyanim were left. So you understand the love, that love for the Rebbe. His crying aroused love; at its core, it was love. You say, “Wow, let’s go back for just a moment”—and that “silly” thing was to see the Rebbe coming down the stairs, healthy, healthy. Yes. They tell a story about one of the elder chassidim—I no longer remember who—who said that when you come back from the Rebbe, someone asks, “How is the Rebbe? How does the Rebbe look? How does the Rebbe feel?” Right. And that’s how you really become part of the group. Right, before that, when you arrived, you changed. That’s what you want to hear. Right. Then you become one of the household. You become... in the middle of the month of Shvat. You don’t say how the month of Shvat [unclear]. But on Shabbos Terumah, the Shabbos in the week of Mordechai Boruch, the host, there was a farbrengen. The farbrengen was about the Rebbe. You couldn’t see anything on Friday; it was Shabbos. On Shabbos, you could see the great pain on the Rebbe’s face. Yes, yes, yes, the great pain. And that foolishness with the pyramids—I think about it all the time. But, but that’s it. As the children say...

1:45:10 Speaker 3 They do, but never mind. Terumah, Tzav, and Ki Sisa. Right, the Rebbe didn’t—the Rebbe didn’t hold a farbrengen on Terumah. You know, it was simply that the Rebbe wasn’t there. There just wasn’t a—[unclear] to see the Rebbe on Shabbos. Since the days of Eisav. Yes. All right, you can daven Minchah in the evening even without the usual arrangements. We went to the Rebbe’s house for Minchah, but they didn’t let us in. So we just stood outside in the cold. The blind was open, and for a moment we saw the Rebbe at the window. At the window, because the Rebbe would come over to the window. Right, right, right. There was a window in his room. On Shabbos we saw the Rebbe; we hadn’t realized that the window was by the shtender, so he was much closer to it. That’s how things were arranged there. It was Minchah, and afterward we stayed outside. What else could we do? It was cold outside, too. We asked them to open it a little; we called out to the Rebbe. They opened the window a crack, and we davened Maariv with the Rebbe through that little opening. Afterward they announced that they were opening up. So we ran to the Motzaei Shabbos sicha. But—the Shabbos Terumah sicha. Yes, yes, but then we ran. We managed to run there, but that moment—that moment when you can’t get in, you’re just an ordinary bochur. You haven’t seen the Rebbe for a week; we hadn’t seen the Rebbe for a week. So we went to the window. Afterward, you know, there may have been Shabbosos when we saw the Rebbe for much longer, but those moments—that was the moment. Those are moments you remember just like that. The davening at the Rebbe’s house. I was at the house on [unclear], in the morning. I have a document showing that he was there. It’s the [unclear] I keep in my pocket. That was on [unclear], when the Rebbe suddenly came down after Shacharis. Shacharis had ended. Shacharis had ended. Off to the side was a round table where people would put on tefillin. There were stairs; he was coming down, and we were standing there—one person taking off Rashi tefillin, another putting on Rabbeinu Tam, and another

1:46:57 Speaker 3 in the middle. Suddenly you heard the door slam upstairs. All at once everyone stood up, and the Rebbe came down the stairs. There was a sicha. The sicha after Shacharis. Yes, I mentioned it in the sicha about [unclear]. Apparently that was [unclear], because the Rebbe continued after Pesach. I know it was about birthdays. Birthdays. Birthdays. Yes, and apparently that was when the sicha took place, and that sound. There was also the general letter then. It’s very interesting that the Rebbe was involved with the subject of birthdays; that’s when I noticed it. The general letter of [unclear] dealt with the world’s birthday in thought. I haven’t checked the details. [Unclear] was about participating in the Torah gathering. Yes, there was participation in that. There was an explanation—an explanation of the birthday campaign. Yes, after Pesach. It was, so to speak, a sicha on Nigleh. Yes, yes, explaining the Nigleh. Sustenance—there is sustenance, there is no sustenance. Right, that’s right, that’s what was distinctive about it. Yes, but—what I wanted to say was this. There’s also a story about when people knew. On 19 Kislev [unclear], there was a blessing for the Rebbe. And he said that ten years earlier—now he was afraid for himself, because he was on his way to—things that—yes. All right, in 5749 that wasn’t the blessing for the Rebbe. Right? He was—he wasn’t—what was the name of the person who gave the blessing? Ah, Schoenfeld? No. Rabbi Shimon [unclear]. Ah, Rabbi [unclear]. Rabbi Yitzchak [unclear]. That—and I think it was also in Kislev, but I’m certain about 11 Nissan. But right now I’m talking about the earlier Kislev. So on the fifteenth of [unclear], he said that since the Rebbe had promised him a decade earlier that he would merit to give the blessing, he was giving it then. We thought he was doing it early: after all, he hadn’t said 5749, and he hadn’t said 5748. When the month of 5749 arrived, because it was for 5749, so to speak? Yes, 5749 was—sorry, in 5739

1:49:03 Speaker 3 was his fiftieth. The Rebbe blessed him for [unclear]. And he said, “Now we’re entering [unclear].” After that there was [unclear]; that was the last time it happened. But the following year he didn’t give the blessing either, because of that. But on Motzaei Shabbos, 11 Nissan, there was tremendous joy with the... That Shabbos the Rebbe held a farbrengen, with the niggun, with Rabbi Yoram. Shabbos was 19 Nissan; the whole Shabbos there was a farbrengen called “Erev 11 Nissan.” Ah, yes, yes. Sorry—“the sons of Korach.” [Unclear]. The Rebbe spoke the entire time about the sons of Korach. Throughout the whole farbrengen. The kapitel of [unclear]. Yes, what happened? There was a niggun committee. That was it. Go on, tell it. There was a niggun committee, and they chose a niggun without the part of the kapitel beginning “A song, a psalm”—without that “A song, a psalm” part. They opened the farbrengen with the one they had chosen. With the chosen one. And Rabbi Yoram went up before the farbrengen, at one-thirty or at eleven-oh-nine, right before it began. Rabbi Yoram went up to the table and said, “The farbrengen should proceed in an orderly way, [unclear].” They had made their decision, and no one was going to change things. They didn’t want a disturbance there. Then the Rebbe delivered the first sicha—apparently there were two sichos. Yes. The second sicha, and suddenly the—because the Rebbe had been speaking about [unclear], and everyone was afraid. But suddenly the niggun burst out. It had only just begun—the Rebbe made a motion like this, and—with “the sons of Korach.” So on Motzaei Shabbos he didn’t give the blessing either. You know that in [unclear], too, the—the whole thing. It’s the niggun “How Great Is Your Goodness,” and then there’s also, you know, the verse “Gladden the soul of Your servant.” The Rebbe spoke

1:50:50 Speaker 3 a great deal at the farbrengen about “Gladden the soul,” and it hadn’t been part of the verse—they added the “Gladden.” Someone brought it in, shouted it at the farbrengen, even suddenly in the middle of a sicha, after [unclear]: “Gladden the soul!” And that’s how it caught on. Now, someone who wasn’t at the farbrengen doesn’t understand the significance of “Gladden the soul.” But for someone who was there, the niggun, the “Gladden the soul”—it was very... It’s very, very interesting how the Rebbe’s kapitel—yes. We don’t always notice it, but it goes along with him every day, in every general letter that year. It’s the theme of the year. Yes, yes, the theme of the year. You can see it in the telegrams. In the telegrams. Right, right, it grew. That’s how it is; it’s true, it’s clear. For the Rebbe it was as though that was the—no, abundance, blessing. Right, that’s the kapitel. And during a farbrengen, too, if he [unclear], the Rebbe will suddenly mention a phrase, verses from—verses specifically connected with that verse. With that kapitel. That’s—right. Listen, every, every farbrengen, every... every Simchas Torah, every farbrengen has that, but it depends on the time you’re in. I’ll tell you. On 2 Nissan 5748 there was also—well. On 2 Nissan 5748, we—I put out... Generally, on 2 Nissan there was matzah baking. You know, the matzah baking that takes place on Rosh Chodesh. Because 2 Nissan fell—2 Nissan fell... The matzos he sent to Eretz Yisroel. Right. Generally, the Rebbe didn’t hold a farbrengen on 2 Nissan. Yes. Like this year, when 2 Nissan was on a Friday, on Shabbos the Rebbe was [unclear]. But 2 Nissan can’t [unclear] on Shabbos, because it isn’t yet Pesach. Yes, so we didn’t have that. No farbrengen. There was no farbrengen on 2 Nissan, only in 5748. In 5748, that is. He delivered a sicha.

1:52:43 Speaker 3 All right, what I’m saying is—our matzos in [unclear] were very beautiful. Generally, the Rebbe’s matzos are baked on Erev Pesach. Most of the time, the Rebbe didn’t make matzos for himself for our sake; the Rebbe did it to inspire others. Sometimes it happened earlier, but not in our years. The Rebbe didn’t make matzos for us, but when it came to matzos to distribute to us, the Rebbe did make matzos. That—that happened. That’s how it was. Yes. But then, in 5748, the Rebbe came back, and the Rebbe spoke about “my brother, the king.” “My brother, the king.” There was—Chaim [unclear], the nasi, yes, yes. We were at my place for that; my wife was at home. Yes, my wife was at home. We were in a large group. We were outside, near my father’s house. We were a group of ten or fifteen bochurim, standing in the street and dancing—dancing for joy. Meaning, where did you hear the sicha? At [unclear]. And then the dollars—after the dollars. So we went to—no, actually, I got a dollar that day, but we went—after the dollars we went to the house. We went as far as the Rebbe’s house; there were dollars there. Give her one; take one; we’ll get one there. Afterward we danced, and then it went quiet, because we bochurim were there dancing in the road. Suddenly the curtain moved. We ran away. The upstairs curtain or the downstairs one? Upstairs, upstairs. Upstairs was already—the curtain moved, and we ran away. We were afraid. As someone who hadn’t been there before—two months earlier, before we arrived there—I had been there as a child, but not... That life, when you’re living in the same place, in the same building as the Rebbe, it’s... It stays with me. An Israeli bochur who comes to the Rebbe, who comes with a group, realizes: wow, back home we’re used to it being... When it’s morning at the Rebbe’s, it’s the opposite for us. Suddenly you’re living on those same hours. At first you—but you get used to living on their schedule. Just one bochur, one time...

1:54:27 Speaker 3 At ten at night, [unclear]. You didn’t hear about any special quiet, as though you were thinking, “The Rebbe is in the room”? No. If he was there for an hour or two, what could you really do? Because it was closed; [unclear] put the instructions in there, the whole... The [unclear] was closed. Right. That’s it. That’s it. But still, they could sit and talk. Yes, they turned them over. What excuse does he have? Do it. The Rebbe is sleeping in the room and learning, and you’re— Yes. Whether at home, in a village, or in a city. Yes, right. All right, so what was the last date you were there as a bochur? Well, 5750. When did you get married? I got married in the winter of 5750, toward the end of the winter. Right, in 5750 I was there in Tishrei. You weren’t, and I was there in Tishrei 5752. I was there for Simchas Torah 5752 too. I wasn’t there for Simchas Torah 5751. So in 5752 you came as a married man? Yes. Grandpa wasn’t there. Why wasn’t he there then? He wasn’t feeling well. He wasn’t feeling well. In Tishrei 5751, there were two farbrengens on Shabbos Bereishis, right? Over three days, yes. Yes, the Shabbos Bereishis farbrengen. My grandfather wasn’t at the second farbrengen. Grandpa what? He wasn’t there. Why? The Rebbe looked around. He had finished working on Chanukah, lay down for a little rest, fell asleep, and didn’t come to the farbrengen. Then my father came to get [unclear], and afterward my father came to get [unclear]. So I asked him, “Where’s Dad?” My father said, “Wait, I didn’t say...” So I said... Because the Rebbe sensed that he... But in any case, in Tishrei 5752 he wasn’t there. So my grandfather said that apparently the Rebbe, then...

1:56:19 Speaker 3 He knew. He was there afterward, but he wasn’t there in Tishrei 5752 because he had fallen. He had diabetes, so the wound wouldn’t heal. A wound on his leg became complicated, and so on, and he developed a high fever before Sukkos and was lying in the hospital. My father was with the Rebbe. They told him, “Your father isn’t feeling well; his condition...” And it passed with the [unclear]. I have the story at home, that my father—

1:56:42 Speaker 9 With the [unclear].

1:56:42 Speaker 3 With the Rebbe, with the [unclear].

1:56:43 Speaker 9 There’s a picture of it there.

1:56:44 Speaker 3 There’s a picture. Why? Because he stopped by the Rebbe then and asked for a bracha for his father. The Rebbe gave him a bracha, and he recovered. The doctors—he collapsed because the doctors told him he had an illness. They had just happened to see something on his leg and told him he had this illness. But he didn’t, and the Rebbe gave him a bracha, and it went away. He returned to normal functioning. He passed away two years later from a heart condition, not from that illness.

1:57:08 Speaker 9 In 5754.

1:57:09 Speaker 3 Yes, not from that illness. The doctors had said he had an illness and there was nothing to be done, as it were—

1:57:13 Speaker 9 So maybe he came in Tishrei 5752, but on Sukkos 5752? The whole...

1:57:16 Speaker 3 No, he didn’t come. He wasn’t there in 5752. He only came in Tishrei 5753.

1:57:20 Speaker 9 So Tishrei 5753, yes. That’s when he saw the Rebbe for the last time.

1:57:22 Speaker 3 Tishrei 5753? My grandfather was there in Tishrei 5754.

1:57:24 Speaker 9 He was there in Tishrei 5754 too?

1:57:25 Speaker 3 Yes, yes. Only by then, in practice, he was already— That’s when the arrangement began where he didn’t stand behind the glass, with the curtain—

1:57:31 Speaker 9 The curtain.

1:57:31 Speaker 3 He was only upstairs.

1:57:33 Speaker 9 Moravitz’s—he had...

1:57:34 Speaker 3 Yes, Moravitz’s, yes. He had it, and he was upstairs. But until then, he had been there.

1:57:42 Speaker 9 In Tishrei 5752, you saw things as a married man. It was a little different from being there as a bochur.

1:57:45 Speaker 3 Yes, yes.

1:57:46 Speaker 9 There were several things in Tishrei 5752 too.

1:57:49 Speaker 3 The Rebbe’s sicha on the night of—

1:57:51 Speaker 9 The night, the night of Tishrei 5752.

1:57:52 Speaker 3 Yes, yes. The Rebbe came close to the edge, right where I was standing. The Rebbe came close there. You could see the Rebbe—

1:57:56 Speaker 9 Between the two platforms. The platform was up by the ceiling.

1:57:58 Speaker 3 Yes, yes, yes. But really, the Rebbe was... The Rebbe wasn’t quite— The Rebbe was translucent, always translucent. Seeing the Rebbe—I can’t forget that sicha, the Rebbe’s face. I was standing close and heard the sicha, but it was—

1:58:16 Speaker 9 I stood next to you.

1:58:18 Speaker 3 Yes, that could be.

1:58:18 Speaker 9 My brother Dudi was by the pillar. Between the shtender and there was a table, a bench, and the pillar too.

1:58:25 Speaker 3 Right.

1:58:26 Speaker 9 There was some piece of metal on the pillar. He stood on it, and I sat on his shoulders. Not during the sicha—during hakafos.

1:58:33 Speaker 3 Oh.

1:58:33 Speaker 9 During the sicha I stood next to you.

1:58:34 Speaker 3 Yes.

1:58:35 Speaker 9 If I’m not mistaken, I even remember Dovid—Dovid Rothenberg was standing with you then.

1:58:38 Speaker 3 Could be, yes.

1:58:39 Speaker 9 I think so too, because there were a lot of guys on the bench.

1:58:42 Speaker 3 Yes, yes. There was space up above too; they put something there. People were there too. Kanievsky used to practice there, but that was when he was older.

1:58:49 Speaker 9 During the sicha, Binyamin too—when the Rebbe touched something, I remember Binyamin climbed up somewhere. The platform was up by the ceiling then. That was when it was highest—

1:58:58 Speaker 3 Yes, yes.

1:59:01 Speaker 9 And I remember Dr. Weiss was there, very young at the time.

1:59:08 Speaker 3 Yes, yes.

1:59:09 Speaker 9 The Rebbe apparently touched something on his tzitzis. They said maybe it was a sign that— It looked like he was about to jump, so the Rebbe motioned to him with his hand to calm down, as if to say everything was all right. I’ll sit—

1:59:19 Speaker 3 What, what was the significance of touching the tzitzis?

1:59:21 Speaker 9 Maybe they thought the Rebbe wasn’t feeling well, that he was ill. Because, in general, the Rebbe didn’t dance vigorously during hakafos.

1:59:26 Speaker 3 Didn’t dance at all, yes, yes.

1:59:27 Speaker 9 It seemed that he...

1:59:28 Speaker 3 Yes, yes. All right.

1:59:30 Speaker 9 But there was the hakaf— There were blankets, there was—

1:59:32 Speaker 3 Yes, yes. But the Rebbe’s were short, not long. Listen, we’re talking about—

1:59:36 Speaker 9 No, at the third hakafah, the Rebbe started three niggunim. The Rebbe started Reb Leivik’s niggun, “Nye, Nye,” and the Niggun HaGeulah. That was in 5752, that was—

1:59:56 Speaker 3 Yes, that was 5752. But first of all, I laugh—we’re talking about the Rebbe in 5752, asking why the Rebbe was standing for so many hours while we passed by with the... the Four Species, yes. It’s not...

2:00:15 Speaker 9 The Four Species on Sukkos 5752.

2:00:16 Speaker 3 Yes, yes.

2:00:18 Speaker 9 And before that was 14 Elul, the day of my brother’s wedding. My brother Itzik got married on 14 Tishrei.

2:00:22 Speaker 3 Oh, with the children.

2:00:23 Speaker 9 With the children. I remember Leibel coming down.

2:00:25 Speaker 3 Yes, yes. I remember that, I remember.

2:00:26 Speaker 9 Do you remember the Rebbe coming down after Shacharis, knocking, and telling the children?

2:00:30 Speaker 3 Yes.

2:00:32 Speaker 9 I was already past bar mitzvah.

2:00:35 Speaker 3 Yes.

2:00:35 Speaker 9 I didn’t go through anymore. Well, what happened? Before the dollars, there was the siddur. The siddur, [unclear]. So he went in with his wife; my parents went in with Itzik. They brought the two little children with them, but they wouldn’t let me go in. They were the first ones, immediately after the dol— The siddur. The Rebbe gave the children [unclear].

2:00:57 Speaker 3 Oh, and the children.

2:00:58 Speaker 9 And Chaz—Chazi. That’s how the dollar distribution began, and then he left.

2:01:03 Speaker 3 They were the first.

2:01:04 Speaker 9 Then he went to the Ohel.

2:01:06 Speaker 3 Yes, I remember that.

2:01:12 Speaker 9 That was one thing in 5752. It was 19 Tishrei; every Sunday was Erev Yom Tov, with Yom Tov on Monday.

2:01:17 Speaker 3 Yes, it was incredible. And dollars too.

2:01:18 Speaker 9 And the Rebbe didn’t skip a single dollar.

2:01:19 Speaker 3 Yes, yes.

2:01:20 Speaker 9 Not a single dollar.

2:01:21 Speaker 3 Look at that. Is it normal?

2:01:22 Speaker 9 There were dollars on Erev Rosh Hashanah, and [unclear]...

2:01:26 Speaker 3 Yes. I remember Erev Yom Kippur, the Rebbe gave—the Rebbe... No, it’s silly that I’m talking about this. Yes.

2:01:33 Speaker 9 In any case, he had already gone on Monday.

2:01:35 Speaker 3 Yes.

2:01:36 Speaker 9 But the dollars—and people wouldn’t pass them up. Even on Erev Yom Tov, people felt it was important not to miss out. So they came on Sunday.

2:01:45 Speaker 3 Right.

2:01:45 Speaker 9 On Erev Yom Kippur 5752, [unclear]. We went over; there were so many people. He didn’t go home to eat—not even to his room to eat. As if there was time.

2:01:53 Speaker 3 Yes, it was really crowded there.

2:01:54 Speaker 9 In 5752 it fell on a Sunday.

2:01:56 Speaker 3 Yes. It didn’t fall on... also—

2:01:58 Speaker 9 There was also something for the women, and dollars too, and lekach.

2:02:03 Speaker 3 Yes.

2:02:04 Speaker 9 Maybe it was together. No, no, it wasn’t together.

2:02:08 Speaker 3 On 15 Sivan it was together.

2:02:09 Speaker 9 Yes.

2:02:10 Speaker 3 You were there on 15 Sivan.

2:02:11 Speaker 9 No, in 5752. I was there on Shabbos Chazon 5752, but the amount of time the Rebbe gave each person was...

2:02:18 Speaker 3 The distribution on 15 Sivan of the... After the Rebbe finished distributing the personal items—the lekach, the dollar, and the brown envelope with the water inside, the [unclear] water—

2:02:36 Speaker 9 I drew it from the [unclear].

2:02:37 Speaker 3 And a general letter.

2:02:38 Speaker 9 From the Tzemach Tzedek.

2:02:39 Speaker 3 Yes, yes. And a general letter from [unclear].

2:02:41 Speaker 9 No, that was [unclear]. After that, the Rebbe also distributed Kitzurim of Tanya.

2:02:44 Speaker 3 The Kitzur was before that.

2:02:45 Speaker 9 The Kitzur was on Sunday evening.

2:02:46 Speaker 3 Yes, but the Rebbe just kept distributing and distributing.

2:02:49 Speaker 9 There was a general letter at [unclear]. There was a general letter.

2:02:54 Speaker 3 Yes, there was. The Rebbe finished distributing, then moved quickly toward the Aron Kodesh, turning to hold the [unclear]. The Rebbe made a wrong movement with his leg. You could see the difficulty on the Rebbe’s face, so to speak, and the Rebbe began to walk. I said, yes, yes. He began to walk, went to... and the Rebbe pointed to something on the floor.

2:03:15 Speaker 9 There was something on the floor.

2:03:16 Speaker 3 Yes, the Rebbe stood up, and you could tell from his movements that something was going on. Meanwhile, the Rebbe moved his foot, sort of turned it, and started walking. You know, the Rebbe devoted hours to this. Afterward, it seemed—

2:03:30 Speaker 9 Didn’t you think about it during the parsha?

2:03:32 Speaker 3 Huh?

2:03:32 Speaker 9 Didn’t you think about it during—

2:03:34 Speaker 3 Yes, yes. We went for dollars once every two weeks, and we didn’t always go.

2:03:36 Speaker 9 No, in our time people went all the time— I remember my friends saying, and my older brothers telling me not to go. I would go on Sundays when it wasn’t Erev Yom Tov. The guys went too; there was a sicha every—

2:03:51 Speaker 3 People went all the time. Two dollars, more than that.

2:03:54 Speaker 9 Yes, those were the guys.

2:03:56 Speaker 3 The number of sichos.

2:03:57 Speaker 9 Yes, yes.

2:03:58 Speaker 3 Dollars were... Listen, those were days unlike anything else. The Rebbe gave and gave and gave, to the point of mesirus nefesh. In everything—in the sichos, in yechidus, in this too, yes. In this too... What can I tell you? Remember [unclear][?] There’s so much. Really, it’s... it’s... it’s overwhelming. But with Hashem’s help, we’ll merit it.

2:04:21 Speaker 9 That we’ll keep refreshing ourselves and, above all, that we’ll see the Rebbe back with us soon, Rabbi Zalman. It’s going to be— We’re living through days of miracles now. I, uh—

2:04:28 Speaker 3 Very soon, really.

2:04:28 Speaker 9 Now, all this— We’re talking about the Gulf Wa— the Gulf War. You were in Israel, right?

2:04:33 Speaker 3 Yes. When the Rebbe spoke afterward, what did the Rebbe say? That Hakadosh Boruch Hu—huh?

2:04:37 Speaker 9 It’s unbelievable.

2:04:38 Speaker 3 The Rebbe gave.

2:04:38 Speaker 9 The miracles today—

2:04:40 Speaker 3 Yes, yes.

2:04:40 Speaker 9 The whole Gulf War is like one day of miracles here. What’s happening today—we’re living through a day—

2:04:45 Speaker 3 Miracles every moment.

2:04:46 Speaker 9 It’s something—

2:04:48 Speaker 3 It’s, it’s, it’s... [unclear]. It’s all right; I simply don’t know. Nobody understands what this is.

2:04:55 Speaker 9 With Hashem’s help, we’ll see the Rebbe. There’s tremendous strength in that, and we need to keep living and refreshing ourselves. Very soon, we’ll be back and refresh ourselves with the Rebbe.

2:05:04 Speaker 3 Very soon indeed.

2:05:06 Speaker 9 There’s tremendous strength in that.

2:05:07 Speaker 10 Thank you so much for listening to this episode of “Lehisraanen,” with Rabbi Zalman Yaroslavsky, about moments he saw and experienced with the Rebbe. The episode was hosted by Rabbi Nachum Goldshmidt. Production: Aharon Freiman. Rabbi Shimon Kaplan assisted in producing the episode. May everything be good. May we all have a good Pesach and arrive ready and refreshed for the luminous day of 11 Nissan, and may we merit the coming of Moshiach Tzidkeinu immediately. We’ll meet again in the coming episodes. Lehisraanen.