0056 - R' Mendel Futerfas First Meeting the Rebbe

00:01 I remember when Reb Mendel Futerfas came the first time to the Rebbe. Uh, there was a whole thing about his coming out of Russia, all the things that they did in order to get him out. But first he came out on Rosh Chodesh Kislev, came to England. And I remember when he came, so by the Rebbe's minyan, Rosh Chodesh Kislev, Shloime Kunin was there, and he started singing. I don't know which niggun he started singing, whether it was Sholom or something. I don't remember what, but he started singing by the Rebbe's minyan because Reb Mendel Futerfas came out from Russia. And it was a big yom by everybody because the Rebbe had spoken about him. Yut 4 Tov Shin Chof Beis, which is two years earlier, the Rebbe by farbrengen spoke about him in Russia. That's Bana Yiden, Bal Mesirus Nefesh, that works on mikvaos, et cetera, et cetera. And I remember when that sicha came out, they gave out the Anochi Bilti Mugi of that farbrengen. They didn't print the sicha. That was print-typed separately and wasn't given out in public because it was afraid it might fall into the hands of the KGB who were looking at all kinds of things. So it wasn't given out. But lepel, the Rebbe spoke about him. So he became... Besides that, people knew about him from before, from the other Hasidim, but this itself made him into a legend. So when he came out, he given a mamash a gvaldik yom and by the Rebbe's minyan,

01:14 Shloime Kunin was singing a niggun. He came to the Rebbe, Yut Kislev. There's a whole story there about which, which I'm not so familiar, the proteas, I wasn't involved with why the Rebbe, the Rebbe didn't talk in yechidas first. But lepel, when he came to the farbrengen, Yut Kislev, at the end of the farbrengen, he came over to the Rebbe to give a bottle of mashke, like many people would do by the, the farbrengens. Now, people thought that Mendel Futerfas came to the Rebbe the first time out of Russia. You could imagine what kind of kiruv him will get, what the Rebbe will do. The Rebbe, it's like gemach nish wisending. The Rebbe throughout the farbrengen, he said, "L'chaim." The Rebbe shook his head, said, "L'chaim." And even when he came over to the Rebbe, he gave the Rebbe the mashke. The Rebbe poured in like he did to everybody. He poured into his own cup, gave him his cup, gave-- told him to distribute it. There was no fuss. And that-- But lepel, people understood why the Rebbe didn't make this fuss, because there's no question that agents from the KGB were by the farbrengen to see what the Rebbe was gonna do. Because those years, it's clear that there were agents from the Russian government, from the KGB, that used to come to farbrengens. I remember myself that one farbrengen, there was a guy who came with a little camera that was called a pen camera. Those years, we're talking about Chaf Beis,

02:22 Chaf Gimel, Chaf Daled, Chaf Heh, those years, this was a yikar hamatzis, a very expensive little camera that was the size of a pen. And this guy was not taking pictures of the Rebbe. There are people who used to come to farbrengens that you don't know who they are, and they used to take pictures of the Rebbe. They came to, they took pictures. This guy was taking pictures of the crowd. I was stand, I saw he took pictures of the gantsen Olam looking on all the people, because this was not so much longer, so, so long since they escaped from Russia. And they definitely, and we know from the Rebbe also, that they definitely came. So the Rebbe, that's why probably the Rebbe did not make a fuss of his coming. Then he went to the yechidas. So I remember after yechidas, he came out, and there was a farbrengen in Seven-Seventy upstairs. I can't say I remember what the farbrengen was about. I mean, a certain protea, but, but the main thing I remember is that he said in the yechidas, he asked the Rebbe for a brocha, he says, for Asher Sassonkin, who was still in Russia. And he said, the Rebbe told him, as these words, "Asher is she'no higir. Asher is here already." And the way I heard the story then, that they said no one had any idea that he got a permission to leave. It could be he didn't even get it yet. I don't know. Later, I heard

03:31 that maybe they knew already, but Reb Mendel didn't know. But anyway, the Reb Mendel said that he doesn't understand, but the Rebbe said, "Asher is she'no higir. Asher is as if he's here already." And very soon after that, he got his permission or, I don't know, maybe he had the permission before, I don't know. He went out of Russia. But this was the, the way he was nesakal by the Rebbe when he came the first time. And from then, he started farbreenging a lot in Seven-Seventy. And as we know, Reb Mendel, the, the, the great Chossid, Reb Mendel Futerfas.