What Led Julius Stulman to Donate to Beis Rikvah

Welcome to our weekly program, "The Inside Story of Chabad in America," through the Mindel Archives.

Since we are now in the month of Tammuz, as we mentioned last week — and Chassidim call this month, even though it's called [the month of Tammuz], "Chodesh HaGeulah" [the Month of Redemption], as we explained — this is also Yud Beis Tammuz, the birthday of the Frierdiker Rebbe. So now we are between the birthday of the Frierdiker Rebbe and the [unclear] that was on Yud Gimmel Tammuz.

So I want to share with you, and read if I have time, original, fascinating letters from the Frierdiker Rebbe, and also from the Rebbe, that they wrote to a person by the name of Mr. Julius Stulman — a special person. Mr. Stulman was the one who helped the Frierdiker Rebbe come to America. His son — the visa, the affidavit, he signed, and he took responsibility to support the Frierdiker Rebbe.

So here I have a collection — all original letters that the Frierdiker Rebbe wrote to Mr. Stulman. Mr. Stulman answered Dr. Mindel. The Rebbe — he was called then the Ramash — [wrote as well, and it's] fascinating, which I will share with you.

As I mentioned, I was very close to Mr. Stulman for years. I went to his office almost every day. He was in my house a few times, and he came to my simchas — as in this book, there are pictures here where he was. And I got to know him through Rabbi Nissan Mindel. Here is a picture of him — this is from his younger years.

Now, the Frierdiker Rebbe wanted him to be part of Merkos. The Rebbe saw his potential, and by sharing these letters you will see what the Frierdiker Rebbe writes to him. It's unbelievable what he saw in Mr. Julius Stulman. Sometimes the Frierdiker Rebbe writes to him "Yehuda Stulman"; most of the time he writes "Julius," his English name.

He was a clairvoyant, meaning he knew things besides — I'll give you an example. I once walked into his office, and I was holding my hand in my pocket. So I walked in, he looks at me, he said, "Schapiro [?], I know you have six cents in your pocket — take it out." I had six cents in my pocket. He knew that. He was a special person.

Now, this Mr. Stulman — once he was sitting in [Beis Rivkah,] where my children learned, on Church Avenue, the old building. It wasn't the best neighborhood. And he was sitting there, and they — my children — came; they were in the fourth grade, fifth grade, sixth grade, elementary — and they were running. So Mr. Stulman asked them, "Why are you running?" So they said, "Well, we have to go to the washroom." "Why didn't you go to the washroom at school?" So they told him — my children were young — they told him that it's an old building, the washroom is in the basement, it's dark, and they're afraid to go there. So they were running to get to the washroom.

He was shocked. He tells me, "I want to see you tomorrow in my office." I come into his office, and we started to talk. I told him that Beis Rivkah has no money — they're still in the old building. This was before Lefferts and Pacific was open; it was built — there was [a building on] Crown [Street] and [one] on Church Avenue — and they have no money. So it's a problem.

So he says to me, "Okay, what I'm going to do for you is this" — because he did promise the Frierdiker Rebbe something, but that's another story — "I want Rabbi Mindel to open an account" — Rabbi Mindel was part of the committee, absolutely; the Frierdiker Rebbe had made him so in the '40s — "a special account for the building. I'm going to give money for the building, but I want Rabbi Mindel to be the one to give out the money. You have to have a building — how can this be, when the children come like that?"

And then he wrote checks. One check was $140,000 — I have it right here. One check was $68,000. One check was $5,500. One check was $175. One check was a hundred. Anyway, quite a few checks — I have copies of some of the checks over here. And he says, "As soon as Rabbi Mindel will arrange with the committee of Beis Rivkah that there should be a special fund especially for the building, I will give you the checks." And the checks came afterward. This was the beginning of the Pacific [Street] building. Later on, of course, there wasn't enough money to build the building, but this was the beginning of what he gave, and he had promised the Frierdiker Rebbe about being a supporter — but we will come to that, maybe in the future.

So this is Mr. Stulman. Now I want to give you a glimpse — I don't know if I have time now — a glimpse of the connection between Mr. Stulman and the Frierdiker Rebbe. There are letters here — probably, I don't know, over a hundred — originals, of how he spoke to him, how he saw his name.

There's a letter here from 1950, after the passing of the Frierdiker Rebbe, that the Rebbe wrote to him — I have it here — that we both have a [unclear] — we were both together in his room before his passing, and the Frierdiker Rebbe told us what our goal in life together is. That's why he writes over here. I'll share with you — not today, probably — he was the one [involved with] the classes in Manhattan, which I will go into another time. There's so much — there was a Mr. Cowan, Alexander Cowan [?], who had a class in Manhattan, and the Frierdiker Rebbe wanted to know every single week what was being done in the class — a class of lawyers. They had a class in the Bible — unauthorized — and we'll talk about who wrote it, the whole thing. And he sent Rabbi Mindel to those classes — it's a whole story which I will not go into today because there is no time. There's a lot — it's unbelievable, the things of this — and I think I will share that with you in the future.

I wrote today an introduction to the book of letters of the Frierdiker Rebbe, so I want to read from it — about Mr. Stulman, his background, and how he got connected to Chabad. And then I'll share with you some letters. Most of the letters — not most, but many — were written in Yiddish or Hebrew, so I'll have to translate them into English. We'll see. But this is an introduction, so you'll understand who Mr. Stulman was, and what the Frierdiker Rebbe saw in him.

Part of — his name was Yehuda — the Rebbe called him Julius all the time; two times the Frierdiker Rebbe wrote "Yehuda" to him. So Yehuda's vision for the world's perfection led him to be connected with Chabad while the Rebbe was still in Europe, in the late '30s. Julius was introduced to the Rebbe through their mutual friend, Mr. A. Cowan [?], during which the Rebbe expressed a deep spiritual connection he felt for Yehuda — you'll see it in the letters. The Rebbe sensed that Divine Providence had privileged Yehuda with a gift to infuse a great, eternal light into our people. This is all from the letters of the Frierdiker Rebbe. So [the Frierdiker Rebbe found] in Yehuda a worthy partner in the work of Chabad in the United States of America.

Being established shortly after, in the early 1940s — "With the help of God, my worthy son-in-law," the Frierdiker Rebbe writes, "Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, together with our dear friend Mr. Cowan, and my best friends Mr. Hodakov and Mr. Mindel, Julius was invited to join in these efforts." And indeed he did participate, during the early years, in the establishment of Merkos, the nucleus of Chabad education and outreach, and during the years as well with his loyal support of the Rebbe and generous contributions to the Rebbe's holy work.

It was during these early years that a number of Chabad efforts were established and launched. This was Released Time — he was involved, he gave money. We have over here, in the book, the girls' school called Beis Rivkah — also called [unclear], which many people don't know — Mesibos Shabbos, and publication work. And in all of these, the Frierdiker Rebbe saw Julius's role as vital as the donations that were made in the construction of the Mishkan in the desert.

And these are the minutes that I have over here — fascinating minutes — maybe I'll have time to read that. The Frierdiker Rebbe wrote to Julius — maybe I can read that now — just about the minutes, that he wants to see him. This is written March 3rd, 1944:

"Today, Mr. Stulman, is the last day of the fourth year since we met personally, on the 9th of Adar, February 18, 1940, when our essential feelings were for the first time locked together into a spiritual bond and soulful comprehension beyond words. Already, when still in Europe, I received correspondence from our dear, good friend Mr. Cowan about you, Mr. Stulman, and as if impelled by a hidden spiritual force, I felt that you are the person whom Divine Providence had privileged with a gift of an inner, inestimable [quality], to infuse a great, eternal light into our people. When I arrived in the USA on the 9th of Adar and met you, Mr. Stulman, for the first time, it became clear to me, to my heartfelt joy, that my intuitive feeling had correctly foretold me about you. I was supremely delighted to meet with you, with profound spiritual confidence that our get-together will bring eternal light to our people. But an enormous undertaking such as this requires preparation, in order that it be truly successful. With God's help, during the past four years, I made strenuous efforts in the way of preparation. With the help of God, my worthy son-in-law, Rabbi Schneerson, together with our dear friend Mr. Cowan, and my best friends Mr. Hodakov and Mr. Mindel, have created the proper foundation for the great spiritual work which you, Mr. Stulman, have been chosen by Divine Providence to carry out, with my participation in it, [with] much happiness. I invite you, Mr. Stulman, to join me on Thursday, the 28th of Adar, March 23rd, God willing, [when] we will meet with my son-in-law, Rabbi Schneerson, and our dear friends Mr. Cowan and our associate Mr. Mindel" — (Rabbi Mindel wasn't a rabbi yet at that time) — "to confer on the important enterprise, with God's help."

And then the Frierdiker Rebbe gave him a [unclear] — I mean, we have the meetings — the Frierdiker Rebbe told Rabbi Mindel to write — we have his handwriting — to write up the meeting. They had three meetings. This is something special that I think I should share with you.