Rebbetzin’s Remark About a Miracle of the Rebbe

Historic Treasures — Episode 165: "Rebbetzin's Remark About a Miracle of the Rebbe"

Welcome to our weekly program, The Inside Story of Chabad in America, through the Mindel Archives. This week is the outside of our Rebbetzin [i.e., about the Rebbetzin]. I want to read to you a letter that somebody wrote to the Rebbe, and the Rebbetzin wrote something back — that I'll mention toward the end of this program. But first I want to tell you — and maybe I mentioned it once — I saw the Rebbetzin many times. When I was [visiting], she was going upstairs, to her mother, to her sister. But I want to tell you, two years after I was married, my father-in-law lived in Long Beach, Long Island.

Manya — we know Manya was the nurse of the Rebbetzin. Manya was the nurse. Here we have a picture of Manya and the Rebbetzin. This man [my father-in-law] gave me that picture. Let me just tell you, she became a nurse for the Frierdiker Rebbe, and she was like a daughter to the Frierdiker Rebbe. When the Frierdiker Rebbe used to give presents to his two daughters, he also gave a present to her. She lived upstairs before she was married. Then the Frierdiker Rebbe arranged the shidduch — and the whole story about that, I'm not going to go into now, because we don't have time for that. So Manya was married afterward, and they lived in Long Beach also, very close to the Mindels.

So, two years after I was married, there was Yud Shevat, so my father-in-law drove to the farbrengen. Before that, Manya had called my father-in-law and asked him, "Can I have a ride with you, because I want to go to the Rebbetzin." Manya used to sit with the Rebbetzin for hours and hours and hours, speaking on the phone. I don't think the Rebbetzin ever had such a close friend. She called her like a sister, mamash. She sat with her hours and hours, years and years. They were very close from 1940, when she came, to when the Frierdiker Rebbe came in '41 — she was upstairs the whole time, so she was very close to her.

So Manya said, "Drop me off by the Rebbetzin, and you go to the farbrengen, and don't pick me up." Anyway, my father-in-law dropped her off, parked the car, went to the farbrengen — and in those days the farbrengen went until about two-thirty in the morning. So after the farbrengen, he came back and asked me, "Can you do me a favor — go to the Rebbetzin's house and pick up Manya and bring her here, and I'll take her to Long Beach."

So I took the car to the Rebbetzin's house, and I knocked on the door. The Rebbetzin opened the door, and I said, "I'm here for Manya." She said, "Just a minute," and she went and told her. While Manya was getting ready, the Rebbetzin came back to the door and said, "Come in." I was nervous — I think I was twenty-four years old, and I was very nervous in front of the Rebbetzin. She said, "Come in," and she wanted to make conversation while we were talking. I had an envelope in my pocket with some money in it, and I touched it — I got very nervous and I thought I had lost it. So I said to the Rebbetzin, "I hope I didn't leave anything here." She just smiled and said to me, "Of course you left — you left a good impression." That was the way the Rebbetzin was.

So I want to tell you a story about the Rebbetzin. My wife and her mother went to visit the Rebbetzin at the library — this was the last time; she passed away [shortly after] — at [unclear, possibly "Schwartz's"]. She called the house and wanted to speak to Mrs. Mindel — they were very close — and she asked her to come visit. My wife went to visit the Rebbetzin at the library, and they sat together for about forty-five minutes, together with her mother. That was the only time I met her — like this. The Rebbetzin, in those days — this wasn't even in the sixties or seventies, you know, which is what people think of the library — we think of the library in the eighties, but this was the Rebbetzin at the library even years before.

I have a letter here [from the Rebbe], dated [unclear]: "I was very pleased to receive your regards, and also your very kind gift, the Luach Yerushalayim 5627, with handwriting and annotations by your grandfather — who was also my great-grandfather — Rabbi Avraham Dovid Lavut, of blessed memory. It will make a cherished addition to my library. This was written years ago, and I trust it will also be of practical usefulness. Consequently, if you or your brother have other material by other ancestors — such as letters, notes, and so on — I would very much appreciate it if you would make them available to my library, as a gift or as a loan. I will remember you and your wife in prayer in accordance with the content of your letter. May God grant that you should have good news to report, and that together with your brother and all the members of your family you should continue the great tradition of your and my distinguished ancestor, Rabbi Avraham Dovid Lavut, of blessed memory — that you should do so in good health and a happy frame of mind to a ripe old age."

This shows that the Rebbe was concerned about the library years ago — that's why I read this letter now.

Now I want to read to you a letter that someone wrote to the Rebbe. This is from 1968:

"Dear Rabbi Schneerson, in my letter to you in March I explained that we had followed the advice you gave me in Kislev regarding observance of the laws of family purity. As you know, my wife had not had her period without the aid of drugs for over five years, and had stopped ovulating. Following our meeting, my wife's period began to occur. For several months the doctor said an improvement had occurred, but that my wife was not yet ovulating. In June, my wife's period returned again. We just learned that my wife is now two months pregnant. The doctor said it was a miracle — he, of course, did not know that we had been following your advice. For all this, I wish to thank you for your prayers and advice. At times like this, however, the joy is so great that I do not know what to say. As you know, I have a PhD in engineering and have devoted my life to scientific analysis and explanation. In a deep, mysterious way, there is no question that Hashem acted, as He did for [name]'s wife. I feel in a way that I have devoted my life to an incorrect set of premises which merely mask reality. Tomorrow I shall become thirty-two years old. I wish to become learned in the Torah. I also wish to offer my time and energy to your movement in any way that you might consider useful."

At the bottom of this letter, the Rebbe made an arrow and wrote, "to contribute to my library." This was in 1968, and the Rebbe wrote that.

Now — this paragraph is important. The man's wife had called the Rebbetzin and told her about the miracle. The Rebbetzin's reply to her was: "Just like my father performed miracles, so does my husband — he is an extension of my father. My father loved every Jew, same as my husband. My father belonged to the chassidim, and so does my husband."

At the time, when the Rebbetzin — there was a stenographer, he was a ba'al teshuva of mine, his name is David Levy. He told me a few things about the Rebbetzin and asked her about certain things, so that's something I want to talk about another time — what the Rebbetzin spoke about with David Levy.

In the meantime, next week we will continue the weekly program.