0022 - Hurricane David

00:01 Everyone knows the story of the Rebbe concerning Hurricane Andrew, but there is another hurricane and a story with the Rebbe that many people do know, but many people don't know it, and that's a hurricane that happened much earlier. That happened in the year Tofshin Lamed Tes, 1979. And they said that there's a hurricane coming towards Miami Beach, possible towards Miami Beach, and that was called Hurricane David. And first there was a hurricane watch, as they say there is, that when there's a hurricane coming and they possible it'll come towards a certain place, that place is under hurricane watch. Then when it gets closer and it's more chance it'll happen, it turns into hurricane warning. So I remember we were here, there was finally a hurricane warning, and they said to make all the preparations. And I remember having all the preparations, even taking the seferim out of the bottom shelves, putting it on the tables, so it's in case, chas v'shalom, it floods, it shouldn't ruin the seferim. And we made all the preparations, and then they said we should evacuate. Now, I don't remember if it was a mandatory evacuation or they just recommended it, but they said to evacuate. So we decided we were going to evacuate. So finally it was, I think, Sunday morning, and then they said it's gonna come that evening. So we decided we're gonna evacuate. But before we left, we were going to Coral Gables. Rabbi Eliezer, he had a Chabad house there, and there it was more

01:19 safe, and we had little children in the house. So we were going to Coral Gables to stay there during the hurricane. But before I left, we left, the family left in the morning, I tried to call seven seventy, called the office, called Moskiras, that they should ask the Rebbe for a bracha. Now, maybe other people also called, which possible that all, many people called. I don't know, I could just tell the story of the way I was involved. So I called, I couldn't get through to Moskiras, so I called my parents' home. My father answered the phone, and I asked him if he could do me a favor, since I can't get through to Moskiras, he should walk over to seven seventy. I was matreav him, but it was important. And I said, "Go over and give over Moskiras. They should ask the Rebbe for a bracha." And as soon as I asked my father to do this, we got into the car, and we drove all the way to Coral Gables. We came to Coral Gables. We heard rumors that the Rebbe said this, the Rebbe said that. I didn't know, so right away I picked up the phone, I called Rabbi Klein, and I asked him, "What's going on?" So Rabbi Nyoman Klein tells me that he got the message my father told him. Like I said, maybe there are other people also told him. Maybe they have their story. I don't know. I just know my father told him. And he said

02:21 he wrote down on a tzetl, and when he went into the Rebbe, he gave the Rebbe the tzetl in the Rebbe's hand. And in the tzetl it said that there is this hurricane coming, and they say it's a very serious one, and, um, our nash in Miami are asking for a bracha. That's what he, he wrote. So the Rebbe on the spot wrote on the tzetl these words, "Kenirei magzimin." It looks that they're exaggerating, which right away it sounds so interesting that the Rebbe sitting in New York, in Brooklyn, is telling us that the hurricane center is exaggerating what they're saying. But when he wrote, the Rebbe wrote that tzetl, those words, and he gave it to Rabbi Klein, Rabbi Klein tells the Rebbe, "Aber anash in Miami home meire." This is what he told me he said, "But anash in Miami are afraid." So all the Rebbe did was he took his hand and made like the Rebbe could make like with a movement of his hand, ah. Made like a bitl dike movement, ah. And that's all he said. We heard that, so Baruch Hashem, so we knew that there were nothing to be afraid of. But we had already gone there, so we stay there. And somehow they borrowed someplace a TV, and at night we're sitting and watching, and they were talking all about the hurricane coming mamish, and it's coming straight towards Miami Beach, towards Miami Beach, which in the place where we were would also be very strong winds.

03:36 And we were waiting for the strong winds to come, and it was very shvach. And in the middle we saw on the TV that they were saying that for some reason they don't know why, but all of a sudden when it got pretty close, it just made a turn, and we got very little of it. And then we were all saying that the Rebbe, when he made the ah with his hand, moved it away, and tak at the last minute it moved away. And basically for us really nothing happened.