3 Things to Remember About Being a Shliach

Episode 114: "3 Things to Remember About Being a Shliach" (ד' בשבט תשפ"ב)

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

Last week we read the note that Rabbi Mindel wrote about his fifth trip — only part of it — and I said I would finish it this week. One short paragraph I want to finish from last week, and whoever didn't hear it can always click back and see it. I just want to read one short paragraph:

"The city of Dnepropetrovsk, formerly Yekaterinoslav — the Rebbe's father, Rabbi Levi Yitzchok Schneerson, was chief rabbi of the Jewish community in this city, when he was banished to Siberia for five years. In the spring of 1939 his wife followed him into exile. They left behind their home with a library of some four thousand to five thousand volumes, many of which contained his scholarly annotations in the margins. In addition, he left behind hundreds of handwritten scholarly articles and pamphlets. At the end of the exile, the chief rabbi and his wife settled temporarily in Alma-Ata, since, on account of the war, they could not return to their home. We have reason to believe," Rabbi Mindel writes, "that this collection, for its part, may have been transferred to other libraries in the city, such as the university library or the city library, to which we wish to go — to Dnepropetrovsk, after Kiev — in order to trace the collection, or whatever has been left of it. Needless to say, this collection too is part of the Rebbe's heritage, and especially cherished by him, being the son of the owner, and also because the collection of books is of special significance for Chabad literature, its history and development."

This is what he wrote. Now, until today — that's over forty years — and the manuscripts are still not back.

On the other trips that Rabbi Mindel was sent by the Rebbe, he went alone, undercover, and it was mamash with great success and a lot of miracles, as I spoke about in the last few programs. He wrote down, when he went — the years the Rebbe sent him: 1958 to Moscow; June 1961, Moscow and Riga; August 1963, Sochi and Moscow; June 1967. The Rebbe told him, right after the Six-Day War, he should go to Israel, he should meet [President] Shazar and he should meet the Prime Minister, and then the Rebbe told him he should go to Russia, to Leningrad and Moscow.

This was all undercover. Now he came back — he came back alone, as was mentioned last week, and we mentioned why. When he came back, the first thing he did was go to the Rebbe's yechidus room. He gave the Rebbe a full report, he showed him the papers, also what the other two [who were sent with him] gave — the report they gave him — he also showed to the Rebbe. He was in the yechidus room for about an hour. Now, everything is written — he wrote everything down. I don't know; some things I can share with the other two if they wish, maybe, but some things I can't even share — what was spoken in that room.

A day after Yud Shevat, the Rebbetzin called Rabbi Mindel — she wanted a full report of that trip. So Rabbi Mindel said to her, maybe we can wait until the other two come back, so we'll have a full report, because they're not back yet — he doesn't know when they'll be back. So the Rebbetzin said: she wants to hear from him only, because his report is real and accurate — that's what she said. So she spoke to him in Russian.

The Rebbetzin was very close with Rabbi and Mrs. Mindel in general. The Rebbetzin always used to call the house — even when they were in my house, the Rebbetzin also called for them — they were pretty close. So Rabbi Mindel said to the Rebbetzin, "I'm not feeling well now, I have to see a doctor, so maybe I can see you in a few weeks, okay?" Unfortunately, a few weeks later the Rebbetzin passed away. That's how it was — she passed away.

Now, talking about the Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, I want to tell you my personal experience — one myself — which maybe a couple of years ago I already said, but whoever didn't hear, I'll say it over. Just one story, since now we're in the month of Shevat, her yahrzeit, so I'll tell you one story from my experience. But before that, I want to give a hakdama — an introduction.

The Rebbetzin did not have many friends. What I mean by that is, the whole world was her friend — she had a few close friends whom we would call close, she had some friends that visited her from time to time, that came to the house — but when I say the word "close," she didn't have many. She had one close friend, the closest, like a sister, and her name was Manya. Manya was a nurse of the Rebbetzin, and then she became the nurse of the Frierdiker Rebbe. Manya also lived in Long Beach; she was also very close to Rabbi and Mrs. Mindel — she lived in Long Beach, Long Island.

Manya came on the boat with the Frierdiker Rebbe and the Rebbetzin. Rabbi Mindel had the cover — we spoke about that — they took a plane from Riga to Sweden, from Sweden they took a boat to New York, and Manya was the nurse of the Rebbetzin [unclear].

Now, we were close to Manya, as I said. Manya, when she came, lived upstairs in 770 — in the same building — the Rebbetzin lived on President Street. So I used to come every single day upstairs to visit her [unclear — "my mother-in-law"?]. So she became close with Manya, and they were mamash like sisters. For ten years, every single day she used to come, and they were very close — this is what I mean by being close. And I spoke to Manya; Manya told me certain things about the Rebbetzin, and certain things — that's not important now. So this is Manya; she was very close to the Rebbetzin.

I want to tell you a personal story about the Rebbetzin. This was two years after I was married. Manya lived in Long Beach, Long Island, and my father-in-law [Rabbi Mindel] lived in Long Beach, Long Island. So my father-in-law went to a farbrengen on Yud Shevat. In those days the Rebbe's farbrengens were huge — the farbrengen would go very, very late, maybe two or three in the morning. So she [Manya] asked Rabbi Mindel, "Can you give me a ride to the Rebbetzin?" She would sit by the Rebbetzin for hours, she spoke for hours, and the telephone also [was busy]. So he dropped her off at the Rebbetzin's, [saying], "You go to the farbrengen, and after the farbrengen, pick me up and take me back home to Long Beach."

Fine. My father-in-law dropped her off, and after the farbrengen he left the car at my house, and he asked me, "Do me a favor — go and pick up Manya, bring her here, and I'll take her back to Long Beach." So I went to the Rebbe's house, I knocked on the door, the Rebbetzin answered the door, and I said, "I'm here to pick up Manya." She said, "Just a minute," like that. She went to tell Manya that somebody was waiting for her, and then she came back to the door and spoke to me. I was nervous — I was young then, I was very nervous in front of the Rebbetzin. She said, "Come in, I don't know what's with the young fellow — come in, sit down." She asked me about the family; she spoke, while I spoke to her. I had an envelope in my pocket, and I lost it — I don't know, I got so nervous in front of the Rebbetzin, I don't know where the envelope went. So, nervous, I said to the Rebbetzin, "I hope I didn't leave anything here" — that's what I meant to say, I meant, the Rebbetzin saw that I was nervous. I said, "I hope I didn't leave anything" — that's how I used the expression. So she smiled at me and said, "Of course you left — you left a very, very good impression." This is the Rebbetzin, this is her edelkeit [refinement]. By the way, I found it [the envelope] later at home — it had fallen out — but that's not the point. The point is the midah [quality] of the Rebbetzin, what the Rebbetzin said to me.

Going back to Rabbi Mindel — I want to say [regarding] this trip of 1988, this [collection] we are still waiting for, which the Rebbe wanted to be in New York — as Rabbi Hodakov wrote, Rabbi Mindel spoke [and] wrote, there are three conditions in shlichus, he said — I have it written down.

One thing — Rabbi Hodakov always said — is, if he doesn't know what to do, he always has to think, "What would the Rebbe do," and he has to have yiras shamayim [fear of Heaven] — that's number one.

Number two is, go together — we have to be united, one people with one heart, not that one thinks one way, one says another way, and one says, "Well, I want to do it this way," and you can't do it the other way — that cannot be, that's not called a real shliach.

And the third thing is: no personal motives. A person always has to think of the truth — what he is doing the shlichus for.

And Rabbi Hodakov gave a mashal from filming. He said: when we go to film with somebody and we have a problem — the person doesn't want to be filmed — it's not the person's fault, it's my fault; I don't know how to relate to the person. If I knew how to relate to the person, then the person would want to be filmed. So what I'm saying is the same thing.

So I want to give a bracha that the Eibeshter [Hashem] should be korev mamash — all the manuscripts should come back to New York — as the Rebbe wished, as my father-in-law had at the yechidus, and this is what the Rebbe wanted, that this [material] should be back in New York, and this should be korev mamash — this will give a great nachas ruach. And this is what I wanted to say as a continuation to the other trips that my father-in-law had.

So, next week, next Tuesday night, we'll have our Thursday night program. Thank you very much.