A Story the Frierdiker Rebbe Wrote on 2 Pages

Welcome to our weekly Mitzvah Yitzchak Shabbos program.

Today is Chof Cheshvan. Today is the birthday of the Rebbe Rashab, the Frierdiker Rebbe's father. So I want to share with you a story that the Frierdiker Rebbe wrote. And I have the original. He wrote it to Rabbi Nissan Mindel, b'ksav yad kodesh, the whole two pages. And then he said they should type the letter, and he signed also the typed letter. And I will try to translate this into English, the letter that he wrote.

It says—before I read the letter, I just want to say—that on Mitzvah Yitzchak Shabbos, to say a story of the Baal Shem Tov is a segulah for parnassah. So there are three loves, davka. Not only Mitzvah Yitzchak Shabbos, but every night is good to say a story of the Baal Shem Tov — not only Baal Shem Tov, but any tzaddik. Not only Mitzvah Yitzchak Shabbos, but every night.

So I want to read to you soon. Excuse me — a story of the Rebbe Rashab. I'm sorry, it's not the Rebbe Rashab, but it's the year that it happened — the year of the Rebbe Rashab's histalkus. This happened in that year. And it's really in the new book that I told you came out — you can buy it in the stores. And many other new things that you can find in the book, I think, will be very interesting.

Now, in 1944, there was a group of intellectuals, doctors, lawyers, scientists, and they got together — maybe 25 people — every Wednesday night. And Mr. Alexander Cowan — he's known; I think he wrote a booklet, a film, on Mezuzah, printed by Glass — he gave the shiur, this lecture. And this class was on the Bible, unauthorized. This was the class, every Wednesday.

The Frierdiker Rebbe and the Ramash, or whatever he was called then, were very, very interested in this class — an adult education class. And the Frierdiker Rebbe sent Rabbi Nissan Mindel every week to participate in the class, because he said maybe they have certain questions that he should answer, but he told him to go. And they were waiting for him to come back every single Wednesday. The Ramash was in the Frierdiker Rebbe's room waiting for Rabbi Mindel to come back. And they wanted to hear in detail what happened — how many people, how did it go, and what were the questions and answers. It was an unbelievable interest.

And the Ramash, the Rebbe, wanted to participate. He wrote down — and in the midst of, in a few weeks, we will study what the Rebbe wrote — questions and answers, what to discuss in the class about B'rias Olam, the creation of the world. B'icham, will discuss it. Very interesting, it was unbelievable.

One time Rabbi Mindel came back and he said to the Rebbe — the Frierdiker Rebbe — that today it was sich gefelt chiyus. It was a little boring; people weren't that interested in today's shiur. "I don't know, maybe the maggid shiur wasn't the same." So the Frierdiker Rebbe said, "Tell them a story and they'll get the chiyus back. And I will write down a story." So the Frierdiker Rebbe, with his own handwriting, wrote down this story in 1944. This was written to Rabbi Nissan Mindel, and he should share the story with his class, and that will give them chiyus.

So now I'm going to read to you what the Frierdiker Rebbe wrote down. He started like this — this is English; I mean, this is like a translation from the Hebrew.

"It was in the summer of 1921, in the month of Tammuz, when I was invited to appear at the Cheka, the extraordinary committee, later to be known as the GPU — the equivalent of the Nazi Gestapo, and dreaded no less. I was in Rostov, the city in Russia, and the invitation was the customary one. As I was davening, still mourning after my father — this was in the year of av aveilus of the Rebbe Rashab — three Chekists entered the room, armed to the teeth with rifles, guns, Caucasian knives, and a belt of ammunition, not attempting to disguise hatred. They went up to me and said, 'You are required to accompany us immediately to the Cheka.' Two of them were of the Yevsektsiya — that's the Jewish section — and the third one was a gentile.

"When I told them I wish to conclude my prayers — because he davened by himself, for he was an aveil for his father — the two Jews almost fell upon me, trying to take off my tallis and tefillin. And were it not for their gentile companion, they would have forced me to accompany them before concluding my prayers. The gentile guard, however, prevailed upon them to let me conclude my prayers."

Now, in parentheses, the Frierdiker Rebbe continues writing: "Incidentally, I recognized one of the Jews as a native of Shavel, who had once come to me for help, and I secured a position for him with a tobacco firm, and eventually gave him some money to start a business on his own. That was, of course, before the revolution." End of parentheses.

"When I concluded saying the last Kaddish — that's Kaddish d'Rabbanan — I took off my tallis and tefillin and accompanied them to the dreaded Cheka. I had an armed guard on each side of me, and one walking behind, like a very, very dangerous criminal. In those days, one never knew whether one could come back alive from a visit to the Cheka — a very dangerous time.

"I was led into a large room, with some fifteen men seated at a long table on each side, with two men at its head. I was placed at the end of the table, still surrounded by the armed guard. One of the two men sitting at the head of the table turned to me, saying, 'We are members of the committee investigating religious activities under the auspices of the party. We are engaged at present in investigating the Jewish faith. We had some questions cleared up by Rabbis Berman and Goldberg, whom we had invited here. Now, you have been invited to clear up some questions with regard to Kabbalah and Chassidus.'"

He spoke in Russian, the Rebbe writes. "I replied in Yiddish." And the friendly Chekist knew Russian very well, but the Rebbe did not want to speak Russian, only Yiddish.

"I have already been invited twice before the Cheka, when I already stated that I would not deviate from my principles, and the man — or devil — hasn't been created yet who could make me give up as much as an iota. Before I managed to conclude a few words, one of the Chekists present, sitting near the head of the table, picked up the gun lying in front of him."

Then he writes, in parentheses: "In addition to being armed with a gun, each one had a gun lying on the table before him, no doubt to intimidate those taken for an inquisition." End of parentheses.

"Saying, 'This story does away with many principles and opens the mouth of the dumb,' they said. Then I said to them, 'You are absolutely mistaken. For this story impresses only those who do not believe — these cowards who have only one world and many gods, to whom each passion is a god, and they are afraid to lose this only world. But as to we Jews, who have only one God but two worlds, this story does not frighten, and even makes no impression whatsoever.'"

So they said — the Rebbe writes — "'We have not called you for the purpose of annoying you,' said the chairman. 'And let's hear your principles — maybe we can get together on them.'" So the Rebbe said, "My principle is that I do not wish to hear or to speak any other language but Yiddish — Jewish — even amongst Christians, and especially amongst men who belong to the Jewish people."

So they asked the Rebbe, "How do you know that we are Jews?" one of them asked. So the Rebbe answered, "Maybe I'm mistaken, and not all of those present here are Jews. But my grandfather" — meaning the Rebbe Maharash — "could recognize a Jew at a glance, even in the street. Once, when he was in Kiev, walking along Kreshchatyk Street, he stopped a young man dressed in modern clothes, clearly anxious to disguise his Jewish origin, and asked him where a famous professor lived. The young man became incensed and said, 'How do you know that I am a Jew?' Said my grandfather, 'The bris left an effect upon your nose.' Now, I cannot recognize by that same criterion, but I still believe I am not mistaken."

The Rebbe writes: "The first question was, 'You observe your faith in every detail — you keep your head covered, you wear tzitzis and tefillin and so forth. Now, all these things — do you do because of conviction, or because of your faith and habits?' So I answered, 'From absolute conviction.' 'If so,' they said, 'convince us also, and bring us to the same spiritual level as you.' So I answered, 'I am prepared to oblige you, and surely you will give me an opportunity to fulfill your request. You will admit, however, that if a student of astronomy is stopped in the street by someone with a request to explain to him the system of the stars and the planets, surely the student of astronomy would tell him, "I cannot explain it to you here in the street right now, but if you really wish to learn, come up to the planetarium, and you will see with your own eyes, through the telescope, the movements of the stars and planets." Similarly, I say to you: if you really want to learn and be convinced about our faith in God and the Torah, come with me to the house of God, put on tefillin, eat kosher, observe Shabbos — then your mind will be clarified, as well as your heart, and you will be able to understand an ethical thought, and I will surely bring you, little by little, to that conviction in the truth of our faith and in Torah.'"

So they said to the Rebbe, "But first explain to us intellectually, and then we will take it upon ourselves to observe the Jewish faith. But until then, we cannot accept the religious matters as truth." So the Rebbe answered, "You surely know definitely that food not merely satisfies the stomach — it gives strength, it even fattens, because it turns into blood and flesh. In medicine the process of digestion is clearly explained. But suppose someone said, 'I shall refuse to eat until it will be explained to me how the food turns into blood and flesh' — it is necessary to believe and eat and drink first, then go and study medicine if you wish. And it is also the same with religion."

Now, these words that the Rebbe wrote had a profound impression on the people. And Rabbi Mindel shared with them the story — they were allowed to talk about it. And this gave the whole class a chiyus again, that was unbelievable.

Now, here I want to end off. This is a lesson to whoever is talking about — lecturers, speakers — we speak about philosophy, we speak about God, and as we all have to do everything, but this has to be said, that the Rebbe says in letters: na'aseh v'nishma. Na'aseh means first do, and when you do, the nishma will be easier. So when people explain about God, about believing in God, we have to tell them: put on tefillin first, keep Shabbos, eat kosher. So when we speak about the Aibishter, you'll be able to understand it much better. This is the lesson of tonight.

Im b'ezrat Hashem, next week we will continue our weekly program. Thank you.