Memories of the Rebbe’s Childhood Melamed

Welcome to our weekly Motzei Shabbos program.

Tonight is the yahrzeit of my Zeide, my mother's father, Schneur Zalman ben Yitzchak. And I want to dedicate this program l'ilui nishmas my Zeide. He was the Rebbe's melamed from the age of around seven to, I think, eleven, eleven and a half.

As a matter of fact, I do want to say that when my father-in-law went into [unclear], and my son Schneur Zalman was born — the bris was then — after the bris, the Rebbe asked him, "What name did I give him?" So he said, "Schneur Zalman, after his Zeide, after the Rebbe's melamed." So the Rebbe said, "Er zol oifvaksn vi zain Zeide" — "He should grow up like his grandfather." "Er hot mir oifgeshtelt oif di fis" — "He put me on my feet."

Can you imagine the Rebbe should say such a thing, that my Zeide put the Rebbe on his feet? And that was when he was a melamed for just these few years.

I remember that when my Zeide came later on, in 1953, he wasn't well. He came to the Rebbe for yechidus, and the Rebbe told him to sit down. My Zeide said, "How can I sit in front of the Rebbe?" So the Rebbe said, "How can I sit in front of my melamed?" Imagine the kovod and hadras ponim the Rebbe had for my Zeide — this was from years before. So they were both standing, maybe close to two hours, both standing and talking, remembering from years ago certain things — how things went then, when my Zeide was teaching the Rebbe.

My Zeide was always a special, special person. At the end of this program I want to share with you something personal that I experienced.

Now, my Zeide was very close with Reb Levik, the Rebbe's father — they used to call him Reb Levik. Reb Levik was the Rov of Yekaterinoslav, and my Zeide was the teacher, and he was also a shochet. And Reb Levik ate from his shechita.

So I want to share with you just a few things that my Zeide told me about Reb Levik.

One thing he told me — I wrote this down — the Rebbe Rashab asked Reb Levik, "Do you give shiurim in Chassidus?" Reb Levik said yes, "I'm giving a shiur in Hemshech Samach Vav" — Samach Vav was maamarim from the Rebbe Rashab — so he was giving a shiur in those maamarim. The Rebbe Rashab asked him, "Where is the shiur up to?" He said, "On page two." "So how long have you been giving the shiur already?" He said, "It's already two months." The Rebbe Rashab said to him, "What can one say on one page for two months?" So Reb Levik answered him — he began mentioning the comments and explanations he had on the maamar. He told this to the Rebbe Rashab. So the Rebbe Rashab said, "When I wrote the maamar, I didn't think of all these comments" — he didn't have that in mind — "but they are all true." That's what he told Reb Levik. This is what I heard from my Zeide.

Another thing I heard from my Zeide about Reb Levik: he said Reb Levik gave a shiur in Rashi, explaining Rashi according to Kabbalah. Reb Levik always used to speak Kabbalah — he was called a baal makubal. So one of the people asked, "Is this what Rashi had in mind?" — about the commentary of Reb Levik. Reb Levik answered, "I don't know, but Rashi wrote his commentary with ruach hakodesh, so surely this explanation is included in the Rashi." That's what he told him.

Another thing I heard from my Zeide: once the council of Yekaterinoslav, where Reb Levik was the Rov, decided to build a park over the Jewish cemetery. Reb Levik had to supervise it — he was the Rov, so he had to supervise them. Before Reb Levik there was a Rov there — I remember my Zeide mentioning the name, a Ber Wolf — he was called Dovid Zev of Kuz [?] of Vetki [?]. I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing the name correctly. He was the Rov there. So when they opened up his kever, they found his body — twenty years, he said, twenty years — my Zeide was there twenty years later — and his body was completely intact; nothing was touched.

So my Zeide said that when Reb Levik opened it, his face became red, and he began to be full of tears — his face full of tears when he saw it.

Now, by the way, I think that also when they moved the Rebbe Rashab in Rostov, after many, many years, they opened it up and the body was completely intact — my Zeide told me that the face, you could see, the face of the Rebbe Rashab with his beard, was like shining, after many, many years.

My Zeide many times visited Reb Levik — they were friends, they were chaveirim. He came to his house, and Reb Levik came to his house. And I know that my mother mentioned to me that she remembers the Rebbe running like a kid in the house. The Rebbe came to learn at my Zeide's house, and she was there — so she was in the house seeing the Rebbe running there.

My Zeide once told me that on Shabbos Hagadol — you know, rabbonim speak about Pesach; people go home, they eat, then they come to shul to listen to the derasha about Pesach, hilchos Pesach — the Rebbe's father had a minhag to put on a tallis, and he spoke about Pesach. A lot of rabbonim were there; it was a full shul. And his derech was — excuse me — to start with nigleh, and then go into Kabbalah. He spoke long — the Rebbe has that style of speaking, I think, like Reb Levi Yitzchak — long.

Anyway, in the middle of talking, Reb Levi Yitzchak stops, looks around, and says, "I don't think people understand what I'm talking about" — deep Kabbalah. But he pointed to that ingeleh, this boy — the Rebbe was then eight or nine years old — standing in the back by the door: "Er versteht" — "He understands what I'm saying." This was when the Rebbe was eight or nine years old.

My Zeide told me that the parents of the Rebbe — meaning Reb Levi Yitzchak and Rebbetzin Chana — were not at the wedding, at the Rebbe's wedding. The Rebbe's wedding was in Poland, in Warsaw, and they were in Yekaterinoslav. So Reb Levi Yitzchak wrote exactly a 101-word telegram to his son, to the Rebbe, for his wedding. While he was writing it, the tears came out from him — the tablecloth, my Zeide said, was wet from the tears — as he wrote the 101 words to the Rebbe, the chosson.

The night of the wedding, the Frierdiker Rebbe was very freilich — many people came, my Zeide was there. The Frierdiker Rebbe said a maamar. My Zeide said that the very minute the Frierdiker Rebbe started to say the maamar at the Rebbe's wedding in Poland, Reb Levi Yitzchak started to say a maamar in Yekaterinoslav at the same moment.

In the middle of the dancing, that night of the chosson, my Zeide jumped on the table and was dancing, and his shirt tore. Anyway, my Zeide was so happy — he said it was a zechus that his talmid should become a son-in-law of the Rebbe.

Now, my Zeide learned with the Rebbe and the Rebbe's brothers — one was named Berel, one was named Label. And people in Yekaterinoslav used to say that the family had nice "mebel" — mebel means furniture: mem-beis-lamed — mem is Mendel, the Rebbe's name; beis is Berel; lamed is Label.

Before my Zeide started to learn with the Rebbe, Reb Levik told him that the Gemara says the teacher's teacher was Shmuel bar Shilas — which is roshei teivos for "Shivisi Hashem l'negdi tamid," "I place God before me constantly." So every teacher must understand that before teaching a child he has to have in mind, "Shivisi Hashem l'negdi tamid."

Now I'll tell you something personal. This was before my Zeide passed away. I was in yeshiva, I was a bochur. I came home, and I saw my Zeide sitting on the sofa, crying, and he was saying Mishnayos — my Zeide always had the Mishnayos by heart, he knew Mishnayos by heart all the time. My Zeide always used to say that a person says Mishnayos by heart because after a person passes away, after the taharah, until the kevura — the burial — it takes time. What does a person do while lying on the board? He says Mishnayos by heart. So my Zeide always said Mishnayos by heart — he was known for that.

So I came home on a Friday, and I asked my Zeide something — I saw he was talking to me, but I couldn't understand him. That's when he had a stroke. So I helped him go to his bed and lie down, and we sat and kissed him. He lay down, and I went and called Dr. Alex [?] — in those days there was no telephone, or maybe there was, but it wasn't like today, it wasn't reliable. So Dr. Zalman [?] came and said that he had a stroke.

So anyway, on Shabbos, Dr. Zalman told us — the Rebbe wanted to know, Friday night and Shabbos, how my Zeide was doing. But my Zeide had a stroke and was already in a coma.

Motzei Shabbos — that Motzei Shabbos — I was standing in the hallway, near the small zal, over at 770, near the small shul. All of a sudden, the Rebbe, maybe an hour after Maariv, went home — in those days he didn't drive, he didn't take a car, in those days he walked. He went out and saw me standing there. So he motioned to me — in other words, "Come to me." The Rebbe turned around, went to his room, and I followed the Rebbe.

In the Rebbe's room it was pretty dark. Why was it dark? Because the Rebbe had a lightbulb off on Shabbos — apparently the Rebbe hadn't made Havdalah yet, so he couldn't put on a light before Havdalah, even though one is allowed to, but apparently he didn't. So there was just a small light. Imagine — I was standing with the Rebbe in a dark room; I was shaking.

The Rebbe opened his drawer and was doing something which I didn't really see, but I heard paper rustling back and forth, maybe a minute or two. Then, after a couple of minutes, the Rebbe turned to me, took out a matzah, and told me, "Give it to the Zeide, give it to your Zeide. Matzah is [unclear] — it's food of refuah. You should have a gut voch, a good week." Later on he mentioned again, "Gut voch." I think he said it twice — a normal "gut voch," a good week. And put it in his mouth — if you can't put it in his mouth, if it's too hard, soak it in water and put it in his mouth.

So I took the matzah. The Rebbe walked out first, so I was behind the Rebbe — I closed the Rebbe's door since the Rebbe had already gone ahead. The Rebbe walked home. I went across the street to my Zeide, and I told him, "Zeide, I have matzah from the Rebbe." And even though he was in a coma, he shook, as if reacting to the Rebbe. So I put a piece of matzah in his mouth, and it didn't go down. So I soaked it in water and put it in his mouth — it went a little bit.

Anyway, the next day was [unclear]. [Something about the Rebbe asking, unclear.] But he passed away a week later, on a Friday.

He passed away. The Rebbe went to the levaya, went to the cemetery. But he didn't go in by the kevura. My Zeide is buried near the Frierdiker Rebbe, but the Rebbe didn't go in — there's a gate, so he stood outside the gate. Rabbi Shmuel Levitin asked him, "Why doesn't he go in?" The Rebbe said, "In order to go in, he has to have a hachana, a preparation, because he has to go in to the Frierdiker Rebbe, and that requires a hachana." But he didn't have [time to prepare], so he couldn't go in, but he stood the whole time at the gate, far away, watching the whole kevura.

The Rebbe wanted to pay for the matzeva, because he wanted it written on the matzeva that "I learned by him." And if you look at the matzeva, it says that my Zeide taught him.

So on the Shabbos after that, the Rebbe spoke about how whoever passes away on a Friday, it's a great thing. And by the way, I remember hearing — I think it was from Reb Mendel Futerfas — that there was a mashpia, Reb Chaim Kesselman, a big mashpia in Eretz Yisroel all his life, who always said, "If I pass away, I want to pass away on Friday, and the kevura should also be on Friday." That's what he always hoped — his whole wish was to pass away on Friday and be buried on Friday. Now the fact is, what happened — he passed away on Friday, and they could barely make the kevura before Shabbos; they buried him maybe a few minutes before shkiah. They almost didn't bury him in time. The whole story was that his wish was fulfilled.

And then the Rebbe spoke about — well, I want to mention — Reb Ushpoler [?], alav hashalom, did the taharah in those days. He said that looking at my Zeide when he was lying for the taharah on the board, you could look at his face — he never saw such a lebedike ponim, a lively face, a lively face, a lively face. My Zeide was a special person.

Anyway, since today is his yahrzeit, before the show is over, I want to mention one more little thing. My Zeide's wife, Zelda, his second wife — my mother was from the first wife, who had passed away — [a story about letters is referenced, unclear]. She passed away, and at the burial she was buried across from my Zeide. So I said, I don't know — he said, "When you go out from the room, ask her right away, tell me, I would want to know." And the fact is she is buried across from him. And he was looking for a ner [candle] to give me — he was looking but couldn't find it. He said, "Go to Rabbi Jacobson [?]." All of a sudden he asked him — Marcus [?] together — [unclear] — that he wants to give a ner to me, that I should live in the house where my Zeide and Zelda lived.

Anyway, be well, everybody. Please — amazing. Mashiach now. Thank you.