Chapter 243 - The Dramatic Story of the "M" Family.

00:01 One of the most dramatic stories about a chossid of the Rebbe Maharash: the story of his life is painful on the one hand and moving on the other. In his diary, the Frierdiker Rebbe tells the chossid’s story. Petersburg. Tuesday, 11 Shvat 5672—that is, 1912. Hotel Esther, room 527. I arrived just now, at eleven-thirty in the morning, on the express train from Paris to Petersburg. It travels along the French and Italian coasts, taking this route: Paris, Marseille, Nice, Monte Carlo, Menton, Ventimiglia, Genoa, Frankfurt, Berlin, Königsberg, Kovno, Petersburg. I spent about two hours in the city and also informed my acquaintances that I had arrived. But since I was tired from the journey and wanted to write down what had happened on this trip, I said we could meet at nine in the evening. I traveled on the express in a private compartment, as every compartment on this train is for one person only. And this is the story. On Motzaei Shabbos of Parshas Bo, the beginning of Sunday, 9 Shvat—that is, two days ago—the train left Paris at eleven-thirty. When I entered my compartment, number three, and saw its arrangements—a table and a chair in addition to the bed, a washroom between two compartments, and a bright lamp—I thought I would be able to write as well. But once the train started moving, I realized that its speed made writing impossible, apart from jotting down notes, and even that was very difficult. Early the next morning, Sunday, 9 Shvat, we reached Marseille. The train stops for about ten minutes and continues on its way. The attendant explains to me that at Monte Carlo, Ventimiglia, and Bordighera the train will stop for fifteen minutes, and at Nice and Menton for about half an hour. Throughout the stretch along the seacoast, it will travel more slowly so that the passengers can enjoy the beauty of nature. I waited with particular longing for our arrival in Menton, because my father, the Rebbe Rashab, and my mother, the Rebbetzin, are now in Menton.

03:32 As I had arranged with my father when I left Menton for Paris, as mentioned in my notes from the second and third of this month—the month of Teves. No, the month of Shvat—when I passed through Menton, my father would kindly come to the station. I would then give him a report on my activities in Paris, and he would give me instructions on how to proceed with communal affairs in Petersburg and Moscow. Nine-thirty in the morning. Sunday. The train arrives at Menton station. Before it had even stopped, I saw my father seated on one of the chairs in the station hall, whose large windows stood wide open toward the arriving train. As soon as it stopped, I hurried into the hall. My father greeted me with a radiant face and a gentle, pleasant smile playing over his holy countenance, giving strength and encouragement to the heart. After a few moments of greeting, I reported everything I had done in Paris. I began with my first visit and ended with our last meeting, held at the Hotel Gordi Nord [unclear], in my room, number 223, at seven in the evening on Motzaei Shabbos, and told him of the decisions we had made as well. My father was very pleased with the results of this trip and arranged how I should carry out the communal work going forward. He approved the plan under which I was to remain in Petersburg no more than a day and a half and, during that time, besides attending the meeting, also visit certain people. On Thursday morning I was to be in Moscow, and that night travel through Smolensk and Krasnoye to our home in Lubavitch. On Tuesday, 25 Shvat, I was to take part in the Kyiv meeting. On Monday and Tuesday, the first and second of Adar, I was to take part in the Petersburg meeting, and on the seventh and eighth of Adar, come to Menton with a detailed report of everything that had happened. The train attendant came over to tell me that I had to board, because the train would leave in a few moments. My father blessed me with a safe journey. I hurried onto the train, while my father remained in the station hall, only moving closer to one

06:24 of the open windows. As the train began to move, my father spread out his holy hands in blessing, as the kohanim do when they bless the people. A quarter of an hour later we were already at Ventimiglia station, on the Italian border, and from there we traveled on. How magnificent the journey along the seacoast was! It would have been well worth recording my impressions of such wondrous sights. But time does not allow it, and I will write only about the impression made on me by an encounter with a member of the chassidic M. family. Due to various circumstances, he had, may we be spared, fallen lower and lower; yet the Cause of all causes, Who devises ways so that no one banished should remain banished from Him, provided him with a remedy. Who is the M. family? It is a distinguished family among Jews in general and among chassidim in particular. The head of the family, Reb Shloime, was born in the city of S. He came from an esteemed family, and Hashem blessed him with sons and daughters and with a large business trading in precious stones and pearls. His main business was in the large cities of Petersburg and Moscow, and he often traveled to Paris, Antwerp, and Amsterdam to bring back precious stones and pearls. Reb Shloime was an ardent chossid. As a young man, he visited the Mitteler Rebbe, who blessed him with a threefold blessing: sons and daughters, wealth, and long life. His son, the chossid Reb M.M., told a long story explaining why his father, the chossid Reb Shloime, merited this threefold blessing; it is recorded in the notes from 5661. Reb Shloime guided and educated his sons under the instruction of good teachers. Whenever he traveled to the Tzemach Tzedek, he took his sons with him. When the time came for shidduchim, he married his sons into families of chassidim and wealthy men of his own circle and brought them into his business as partners. His business expanded over time. His sons and sons-in-law also raised families with sons and daughters and established their own businesses trading in precious stones and pearls. The wealthy chossid Reb Shloime lived a long life and left behind descendants renowned among chassidim and among dealers in precious stones and pearls.

09:19 That is the background to the story of the M. family. And now let us return to the train journey to Petersburg. At six o’clock, the Rebbe relates, I entered the dining car to have a hot drink and, while there, to read some urgent letters my father had given me as I passed through Menton [unclear]. When I entered the dining car, an older Jewish man was seated at one of the tables, eating a lunch of meat and wine. On seeing me, the man approached, his hat on his head, offered me his hand in greeting, and asked whether I was the son of the Rebbe Maharash of Lubavitch, or perhaps his grandson. At first I... At first I thought not to answer him, because I was very upset that he was eating non-kosher food. But at that moment, seeing his face, which radiated a certain grace, I changed my mind and said, “Yes, I am the grandson of the Rebbe Maharash of Lubavitch.” The man’s face turned red when he heard my answer, and tears appeared in his eyes. Without saying a word, he returned to his table, called the waiter, paid him, and left without finishing his meal.