Episode 216 - The Husbands of the Mitteler Rebbe's Daughters

00:01 More stories about the Mitteler Rebbe. The Mitteler Rebbe’s daughters married sons of tzaddikim. One daughter married a son of Rabbi Mordechai of Chernobyl, who was the son of Rabbi Nachum of Chernobyl, a student of the Maggid of Mezritch. A second daughter married Rabbi Yisrael of Cherkassy. And here are a few stories. “The chassidim of the tzaddik Rabbi Yisrael of Cherkassy used to help themselves freely to their Rebbe’s shirayim. In other words, he had barely tasted his food before his chassidim emptied his plate. His wife, the Rebbetzin, saw this and was not pleased. That was the custom of the Polish chassidim, but she had never seen such a thing in her father’s home, the Mitteler Rebbe’s. She approached her husband, Rabbi Yisrael of Cherkassy, and said, ‘But you’re not eating anything. Is this right?’ The Rebbe of Cherkassy answered her wittily, ‘You should know that thanks to the chassidim taking my food on Shabbos, we have something to eat all week.’” And another story about the Mitteler Rebbe. “There were two business partners. One was a chossid of the Mitteler Rebbe; the other was a misnaged. It happened that the misnaged’s daughter, G-d forbid, fell ill, and the doctors could find no cure for her illness. The chossid told his partner several times, ‘Go to the Rebbe.’ The misnaged replied, ‘You know I don’t believe in such things. There are no prophets nowadays, and only Hashem can help her.’ But when he saw her condition, the chossid said, ‘Go to the Rebbe.’ The sick girl’s father told him, ‘If you come with me, I agree.’ The two of them traveled to the Mitteler Rebbe. The misnaged said he would give the Rebbe eighteen silver rubles if his daughter recovered. The chossid went in to the Mitteler Rebbe, explained why he had come, and added, ‘Please, Rebbe, do this so that it will be a kiddush Hashem, after I urged my partner so many times to come here.’ At the time, the Rebbe’s son was also there,

02:49 Rabbi Nachum. The Mitteler Rebbe asked his son Rabbi Nachum, ‘What do you say? Should I promise him? After all, he’s offering eighteen rubles, and that’s my livelihood.’ He then turned to the chossid, told him to bring in his partner, and promised him that the girl would recover.” And another story. “A chossid of the Mitteler Rebbe worked as a teacher in a village. He was always telling his employer wonderful things about his Rebbe. Once, one of the children of the villager who employed him became seriously ill. The villager said to the teacher, the Mitteler Rebbe’s chossid, ‘Well, you’re always telling me about your Rebbe. Here are eighteen silver rubles. Go to your Rebbe, give him the money, and have him promise that the child will soon recover. If he won’t promise, don’t come back here.’ When the teacher heard this, he didn’t know what to do. He found it difficult to go to the Rebbe and ask him for a promise, as the villager had demanded. What did he do? He traveled to Lubavitch, went in to the Rebbe’s son Rabbi Nachum, and told him the story. Rabbi Nachum said, ‘What does it matter to you? You’re only a messenger.’ Even so, the chossid did not want to go in alone and asked Rabbi Nachum, ‘Perhaps you could come in with me?’ Rabbi Nachum agreed. They both went in to the Rebbe. The teacher explained to the Rebbe why he had come. The Mitteler Rebbe turned to his son and asked, ‘What do you say? Should I promise him? I’m thinking of taking the money, since that’s my livelihood.’ The Mitteler Rebbe took the money and promised that the child would recover, and indeed the child did.” Another story about the Mitteler Rebbe. After the passing of the Alter Rebbe, his chassidim split. Some went to the Mitteler Rebbe and became his chassidim. Others went to the Rebbe of Strashelye and became attached to him. It was known that the Rebbe of Strashelye captivated his listeners with the Chassidus he taught, so the Mitteler Rebbe’s chassidim resolved not to listen to any Chassidus from the Strashelyer, lest they be drawn to him,

05:30 leave their Rebbe, and become chassidim of the Strashelyer. But once, two of the Mitteler Rebbe’s chassidim were invited to a relative’s wedding. They tried to get out of going and did not want to attend, because the Rebbe of Strashelye was related to the families making the wedding. They knew he would come and would presumably teach Chassidus, and they feared being drawn to him. Still, they felt uncomfortable staying away from the wedding. What did they do? They decided that if they arrived while the Rebbe of Strashelye was teaching Chassidus, they would hold a handkerchief between them. The moment either one felt himself being drawn to that Rebbe, he would tug on the handkerchief. That would signal the other to watch over him and bring him back to where he had been before. And so it was. The two Chabad chassidim came to the wedding and listened to the Chassidus taught by the Rebbe of Strashelye. Each felt that, against his will, he was being drawn to that Rebbe as though by magic. They began tugging at the handkerchief, one pulling this way and the other that way, until the handkerchief tore. Both Chabad chassidim went over to the Rebbe of Strashelye, stayed with him, and became his chassidim. The Mitteler Rebbe’s chassidim told their Rebbe that his chassidim, including the wealthy businessman, had gone over to the Strashelyer. The Mitteler Rebbe said, ‘So what? I’ll have one less beggar.’ Indeed, that wealthy man became poor and a beggar, as did his children and grandchildren; all of them were destitute. One of his grandsons was the rabbi of Ramat Gan. His name was Rabbi Shloime Zalke Landau. ‘He told me’—this is Rabbi Kahn speaking—‘he told me this story several times and said he had a grievance against the Mitteler Rebbe for turning them into beggars.’ And another story about the Mitteler Rebbe. One of the Mitteler Rebbe’s chassidim was called Sharfe Yarmulke, meaning “sharp yarmulke.” Sharp—that is, he was a great scholar. He was a man of understanding. Everyone who knew him stood in awe of him and was afraid of him, but he was very warm toward Rabbi Peretz, the rabbi of Chernigov.

08:32 Rabbi Peretz once asked him, ‘Why are you so warm toward me?’ The chossid answered, ‘How could I not be, when the Mitteler Rebbe held you in high regard?’ And he told him an interesting story. ‘Once,’ he said, ‘I came to the Tzemach Tzedek’—that is, after the Mitteler Rebbe passed away and the Tzemach Tzedek became Rebbe—‘and I asked him to send me to the city of Chernigov—to send, excuse me, to send one of his sons to Chernigov to serve as rabbi. The Tzemach Tzedek suggested you. Then I remembered that when I had been with the Mitteler Rebbe before his passing, he had said, in a few broken phrases, “Peretz of Smilovichi, a fine young man.” In other words, Peretz is an outstanding young scholar. So I agreed to your selection as rabbi. Now tell me, how could I not be warm toward you, when my Rebbe appointed you rabbi here?’ And another story. One day a young man came to the Mitteler Rebbe. It was not his first visit to the Rebbe. The Mitteler Rebbe told him to study the Tanya and the book Imrei Binah. The chossid did as his Rebbe instructed and studied both books. Over the course of a year, questions arose for him in Imrei Binah, and he came to the Mitteler Rebbe with his questions. The Rebbe told him, ‘I did not write Imrei Binah the way my father wrote the Tanya. My father wrote the Tanya with precision down to every letter, even a vav, but I did not edit Imrei Binah that way.’ The Rebbe continued, ‘Study it once, study it twice, three, four, and five times, and then you will understand.’ He writes here in parentheses that this young man was Reb Leibel Batlan of Dinaburg. Reb Leibel’s son, Rabbi Aharon Yaakov, told the story to Rabbi Zislin, and from him, writes Rafael Kahn, I heard the story.