The Coat the Rebbe Didn’t Want Returned

Welcome to our weekly Mitzvah Shabbat program.

I found here a letter that the Rebbe wrote to Mr. Yisrael Leib Lavut, and I want to share this letter with you. It's a very short letter.

"Greeting and blessing. I was very pleased to receive regards from you and also your very kind gift, Luach Yerushalayim, 5627."

And I have here the Luach Yerushalayim with handwritten annotations by your grandfather and my great-grandfather, Rabbi Avraham Dov Ber Lavut — the Rebbe's great-grandfather, through his mother's side.

"It will make a cherished addition to my library, and I trust will be also of practical usefulness. Consequently, if you or your brother have other material by our ancestor — such as letters, notes, and so on — I would very much appreciate 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 contents of your letter. May God grant that you should have good news to report on the above, 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 A.D. Lavut, of blessed memory, and that you should do so in good health and in a happy frame of mind to a ripe old age."

And the Rebbe signs this letter.

Now I want to say something here, after seeing this letter, that maybe some people don't know. In the year Taf-Shin-Mem-Hei, the Rebbe said a sicha that whoever has chafetzim — possessions, assets, or sforim, manuscripts — of the Frierdiker Rebbe in their home, it's like having a bomb in the house. So people were then very confused.

What does the Rebbe mean? Many people throughout the generations — the time of the Mitteler Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek, the Alter Rebbe, the Rebbe Rashab — they collected manuscripts, letters, or chafetzim that were from the other Rebbes, and also later on from the Frierdiker Rebbe. How did they get it? Some collected, some got matonos — presents. Some people found, and some people, if I may say, were selling it in the old Soviet Union. So they collected it, they got it. Now they were thinking, should they give back those letters, those things? It's like you're having a bomb. And so many people were confused.

Now, that sicha that the Rebbe spoke was at the time of the whole issue of a person who had stolen sforim. This is basically what the Rebbe was talking about at that time, but people were afraid, people didn't know. So some people said, "Listen, the Rebbe is talking about a particular person who did something." But then the Rebbe said whoever has — because maybe he sold some things to other people — they should give it back, chas v'shalom. So they didn't know what to do.

Now I want to share with you something — maybe I told you once, a few years ago, I don't remember. There was a nurse — the Frierdiker Rebbe had a nurse, Manya. We spoke about her before. She came on the boat with the Frierdiker Rebbe. She was the nurse of Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson, the Frierdiker Rebbe's mother. And she came on the boat with Rabbi Hodakov and Rabbi Mindel.

She wasn't married then. So when she came to 770, upstairs, she lived upstairs with Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson — she was the nurse. And later on, the Frierdiker Rebbe made her shidduch — that's a completely different story, not important for now.

So she got close with Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, very close — they were mamesh like sisters. Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka used to go upstairs to her mother, Rebbetzin Chana, almost every day, and they were together, they spoke. And afterwards she went to the Rebbe's house many times, and they were very, very close.

So when the Rebbetzin Shterna Sara passed away, in Taf-Shin-Bet, the Frierdiker Rebbe was then in Chicago. So he wasn't at the levaya, I don't think. My father-in-law, Rabbi Mindel, went to Chicago with him — there are a lot of stories about it, which there's no time for today, to remember the things that happened then.

But when the Frierdiker Rebbe came back, he wasn't well. So she became the nurse of the Frierdiker Rebbe. Be'emes, the truth is that she had already been a nurse in Riga for the Frierdiker Rebbe, for the Rebbetzin Shterna Sara. But the Frierdiker Rebbe was younger then and healthier. Later, after Shterna Sara passed away, she became again a nurse to the Frierdiker Rebbe.

And by the way, talking about a nurse — I don't know, maybe I shouldn't say this — but when the Rebbe had a heart attack, they called her in Long Beach, where she lived. They called her to come to the Rebbe, because the Rebbe didn't want to go to the hospital. The doctor — every doctor — said he must go, and the Rebbe refused. So what should they do? So they called Manya. Manya was close to the Rebbetzin, very close — to the Rebbe too. I think the Rebbetzin mentioned Manya should come. Manya came, for the second night, I think.

So Manya came, and Manya went into the room — the Rebbe had a bed there. So Manya said to the Rebbe — she was the nurse, I mean, she could say it, I guess — "Rebbe, the doctors tell you to go to the hospital. You tell everybody to listen to doctors. Did all the doctors say go to the hospital? Why don't you go to the hospital?"

So the Rebbe told her, he says, "Let me ask you something. If I tell you something, and I remember what — and the doctors tell you something else — who are you going to listen to?" She says, "Of course, the Rebbe." So — listen. So she couldn't answer, and the Rebbe didn't want to go. The Rebbetzin was very —

Anyways, this reminds me about Manya. So she was very close to the Rebbetzin. Now, when she wanted to move — she wanted to move to Eretz Yisrael. She moved to the convent... [as heard — unclear reference]. The Rebbetzin was a little bit unhappy, because she was a friend — the Rebbetzin was quiet, the Rebbetzin didn't have many friends. I mean, she had friends, but not like that. So she wasn't so happy about it, but the Rebbe said, "Okay, you can move."

So Manya came over to me — she was in this house — and she says to me that the Frierdiker Rebbe gave her a coat, a week before histalkus. And the Frierdiker Rebbe told her, "I don't need it anymore," and he gave her a few coats.

This coat was sewn, and it says on the label inside — maybe I'll show you later, the label — it says "Schneerson, [League?], 1929." I don't know if it was sewn for the Rebbe's chasunah — the Rebbe's chasunah wasn't in 1929 — so I don't know. But this is the coat she had, she had it in the closet.

She says to me, "Shalom Ber, you know, it's a very heavy coat. And by the way, in the coat I found — not cigarettes, but you know, those little black cigars, the little tiny cigars that the Rebbe — I found them over there, I put it away in a bag, I don't know — but the Frierdiker Rebbe smoked and he put it in his pocket."

Anyways, so she says, "I can't sleep. I want to give you a matana, I want to give you a present." I said, "Oh, a big yasher koach — the Frierdiker Rebbe's coat, you're giving me?" Of course, I took it.

Anyways, by the way, I think she told the Rebbetzin — the Rebbetzin said it was good. She told the Rebbetzin she couldn't sleep, so the Rebbetzin was glad that I —

Anyways, so I had the Frierdiker Rebbe's coat. When the Rebbe came out with the sicha that whoever has the Frierdiker Rebbe's chafetzim, it's like a bomb — I didn't want to have the coat. I told Rabbi Mindel. He says, "You got it as a present — that's not what the Rebbe meant."

I said, "Please, I don't want the coat. Please give it back to the Rebbe." He didn't want to. When he went to dictation, you know, he never had any private inyonim to bring up — when you work for the Rebbe on the letters, he never used it for private inyonim, always. But I begged him so much. I said, "What should I do with the coat? I don't want it, I don't want it now."

He did me a favor. So when he went to dictation, I put the coat in a bag, and he took it in the car, he went to 770, he put it in the Merkos room, and he went into yechidus, to the dictation room, to the Rebbe.

At the end of dictation, he said to the Rebbe that Shalom Ber has the coat — it seemed like the Rebbe already knew that I had the coat, maybe from the Rebbetzin — that he has the coat, but because of what the Rebbe said about a bomb, he doesn't want it.

So the Rebbe smiled, and the Rebbe said, "Nit dos meinig, un nit em meinig. Gib em tzurik." [It's not this that is meant, and not that that is meant. Give it back to him.] "Un es zol hobn gezunt brachos, brachos, un brachos." The Rebbe gave — not only that, I even got brachos.

So this is the coat that I have. Now, if the Rebbe would have wanted it — like he asked Mr. Lavut, for example, for a loan or for the library — of course I would give it to the Rebbe, but I didn't do it, because the Rebbe didn't ask for it.

So this is what happened with the coat. I'm mentioning this in connection with the Lavut letter, so I wanted to mention it.

Now, talking about Reb Chaim Moshe [?] — I just want to tell you a story, I met him. Manya lived in Long Beach, as I said before, and Rabbi Mindel also lived in Long Beach. So Manya asked him — you're going to the Farbrengen, the Rebbe's Farbrengen, can I go with you, and after the Farbrengen you'll drop me off at the Rebbe's, pick me up, and take me back home.

So the Rebbe's Farbrengens in those days went very, very late, till maybe 2:30, 3:00. So he dropped her off at the Rebbetzin's. They sat all night, and they spoke — they were close. And after the Farbrengen, Rabbi Mindel came home and he says to me, "Do me a favor, go pick up Manya by the Rebbe's house and bring her here, and then I'll take her home."

I took the car — this was maybe a year or two after I got married, I was a young man. So I went to the Rebbe's house and knocked at the door. The Rebbetzin answered, and I said, "I'm here to pick up Manya," and she made like, "Just a minute." I was waiting by the door. She went to the back to get Manya — to tell Manya that somebody was waiting to pick her up.

So while Manya was getting ready, the Rebbetzin came back to the door and said to me, "Come in" — in English she spoke to me, I don't know why — "Come in, come in." And then she asked who I was, my name, and we spoke, and she asked me a few things — "Sit down," you know. I mean, that was overwhelming for me.

I had in my pocket an envelope of maybe 20, 25 dollars — that was a lot of money in those days. And while I was talking to her, I reached and it wasn't there. So I was so nervous, I didn't know what I was saying. I said to the Rebbetzin, "I hope I didn't leave anything here" — I didn't say I lost it, I just thought something happened to the envelope.

So she smiled at me and she said, "Of course you left — you left a very good impression." That's how the Rebbetzin was, very gracious. Anyways, that's when I met the Rebbetzin. I saw her going many times to 770, but that's the only time I spoke to her.

So, mentioning the Rebbetzin, I thought I would tell the story — maybe I mentioned it once already, but anyways, this is the story with the coat. And the same idea goes for other things — people who have things that they got as a matana from the Rebbe, it belongs to them, I guess — same idea. I don't know, but I just know that if a person gave a matana, it has nothing to do with the other matter. I wanted to mention this today.

So, anyways, that was before Yom Tov, before Shavuos. And the Rebbetzin is holding — and there's a matana — and don't forget to bring all the children to shul to listen to the Aseres Hadibros, and gut Yom Tov.