0229 - Esther Baila Liss - She Earned It

00:01 My mother-in-law's mother, my wife's grandmother, was Esther Bella Liss. She was the wife of the famous Hasid, Chaim Meir Liss, who learned in Lubavitch, and later he became one of the big mashpiyim. He was a Polisher, but from Poland as a kid, he went to Lubavitch, and then later on he became one of the big mashpiyim. The Friediker Rebbe actually once by a farbrengen said to him that Im Rebbe is far dir. The Im Rebbe was a sefer written by the Mitteler Rebbe with very, very hard ma'amarim, and most people don't even understand it. And the Friediker Rebbe said to him, "The Im Rebbe was written for you." He passed away in Samarkand, and when the Lubavitchers escaped Russia in תשע"ז, by false passports claiming that they are Polish, she and her daughter, my mother-in-law, helped them a lot. Because if they claimed that they were Polish, but they didn't speak one word of Polish. So when they crossed the border, they did a lot, and they put themselves out, both of them, and they went pashut hammesirat nefesh to help him. And even after they crossed the border, and then they also had to do things, and no one spoke a word of Polish, so they ran, they led the-- some groups because they spoke Polish, and actually went hammesirat nefesh for it. And one of the people that they were involved in when they went out was the Rebbe's mother. Later when they crossed the border and they were in Pucking, so she

01:22 also had a strong shlichus to the Rebbe's mother because she felt that she was able to help her, and she helped the Rebbe's mother. When I became a chasan, my sh- future schweiger wanted to make the vort, my vort, in his house. He lived in Borough Park. He wanted to make it in his house. But I ta'ina that the Rebbe wants that all simchas should be made in Crown Heights. But he ta'ina it's his house, that's where he lives. He lives in Borough Park. And plus, he said that his mother-in-law, which is the grandmother, Esther Bella, it's hard for her to travel on, uh, other places. She was weak. She had a heart condition, et cetera, et cetera. So therefore, he claimed that he wants that. But I ta'ina, "No, it has to be in Crown Heights." So he said, "You know what? Ask the Rebbe." So I wrote to the Rebbe, and I wrote that my future schweiger wants to make it in his house. And also, it's because his mo-- his fa-- his, his mother-in-law, it's hard for her to travel outside of her house. But I say, I wrote this to the Rebbe, that I feel that the Rebbe wants it to be in Crown Heights. And my schweiger said that whatever the Rebbe will say, that's what he'll do. So I asked the Rebbe, "What does the Rebbe want we should do?" So the Rebbe did this. He underlined twice the word bebasei. When I wrote that he wants to do

02:37 it in his house, he underlined twice the word bebasei, which means that since it's his house, obviously it's different because this is where he lives. So he made two lines under the word bebasei, and then he underlined the few words that I wrote that for his mother-in-law, it's hard to travel to a different place. He underlined those words, too. And then he added this, and he said, "Val pize yase kein." According to this, you shall do this. Do it like that. Make it in his house. And then he added in Yiddish, "Zi hot es kosher fardint." She really, really deserves it. It's an expression in Yiddish when you want to say someone deserves something, the lotion is zi hot es kosher fardint. And it's interesting, b'chlal when the Rebbe would answer on the letter itself, he would write just a few words as an answer, so he always mostly answered in loshn kodesh. Whether you wrote it in loshn kodesh, you wrote it in Yiddish, you wrote it in English, his answer usually would be in loshn kodesh. And here the Rebbe wrote this expression in Yiddish, "Zi hot es kosher fardint." Obviously, the Rebbe knew all her accomplishments, and maybe it's even connected to the fact that she had a shlichus to the Rebbe's mother. So the Rebbe wrote, "Zi hot es kosher fardint." So this was the answer of the Rebbe, that he underlined the word bebasei twice, which makes this a main reason because it's his house, this is where he lives.

03:51 And then when he underlined the words that shala chames eitich ye kosher me'eid l'insei lemokim acharit, for his mother-in-law, it's hard to travel other places, the Rebbe wrote, "Val pize yase kein." According to this, you shall-- In other words, when I asked, "What does the Rebbe want to do?" The Rebbe said, "Val pize, this is what you should do. Do it over there." And he added the words, "Zi hot es kosher fardint." And on the date that I wrote that, uh, we're planning to make the vort, so the Rebbe wrote, "Ve'yehei b'shor tov u'metslach."