Ep. 26: Growing Up In A Time When ‘Shlichus’ Was Not Yet Understood with Rabbi Yosef Gansburg

00:00 Speaker 1 We are soldiers. We are shluchim, but the shlichas has to be that you have to know you have a boss. And you can't do what you feel. Even if spiritually you feel that this is uplifting you, you got to know if this is your post now. You can't go away from your post.

00:18 Speaker 2 If you've been enjoying this podcast, please like and subscribe so that others can enjoy it as well. In addition, if you've benefited in any way from Among Chassidim podcast and would like to give something back, you can do so today at derher.org forward slash donate. I'm Yossi Kamen. Welcome to Among Chassidim by Der Her, an ongoing farbrengen about life as a Chassid, our vibrant connection with the Rebbe, and inspired living shaped by the way he teaches us each and every day. This episode is dedicated to the Nishmas HaRav Sadiya ben Rav Mordechai, Alava Shalom Dahan, and the Refuah Shleima for Chana bas Nechama Dina by Shaul and Sheindi Dahan. Bruchem habayim, Rabbi Gansburg. Thank you so much for making the time to be here.

01:14 Speaker 1 Thank you very much. My pleasure.

01:18 Speaker 2 I understand in your case, there's, besides the Egonis Chosim, there's also a rich history in the Mishpacha of where you come from. So I think it might be a good idea to start that way. I personally remember your father very well from 770, but that, you know, and know some things, but I obviously don't know all of it. So maybe you can start off that way and I guess lead into where you entered the picture, where you came from, where you were born, V'chulum.

01:52 Speaker 1 So if you don't mind, since you want history, I'll start the history one generation earlier.

01:58 Speaker 2 Perfect.

02:00 Speaker 1 I was raised by two Zeidas that, Zeidas and Bobas. Zeidas both learned in Lubavitch. My mother's parents got married in Lubavitch before, right after the Rebbe left from Lubavitch. And my father's family is traced to the Alt Rebbe's brother and Chassidim. And so is on my mother's side. My elder Zeida was big Chassid of Rebbe Rashab. And when I was a kid-

02:41 Speaker 2 One second, you have to say his name.

02:43 Speaker 1 His name. So my father's father was Berel Gansburg, and my mother's father was Fole Khan, who everybody knows is the father of Rebbe El. Rebbe El is my uncle. And so I was Nischanek Al Birkov, not only as a Zeida, and the Iker also used my Melamed. And my Zeida was a Varmer Chassidish Erid, a Beindel. And he and my grandmother, Mamash, raised me. My parents were, can I know, busy with Asconas Siburis. And my grandmother put me to sleep with Chassidish Emaises. So since I was a little child, that was my upbringing.

03:34 Speaker 2 This is in Krakabad?

03:35 Speaker 1 That was in Tel Aviv first.

03:37 Speaker 2 Tel Aviv.

03:37 Speaker 1 Yeah. I grew up in Tel Aviv till, I'll actually bring it up a little later, when we left Tel Aviv. But I was raised in Tel Aviv. I learned Cheder in Tel Aviv. It was a small, nice Kehila, very Chassidish Kehila. The Shul was a center of Lubavitch in Eretz Yisrael at that time. Krakabad did not develop yet the way it was later. The Krakabad started Tov Shin Tes. Until they started to stand on their own two feet, took quite a few years. Tel Aviv was Merkaz Chabad, the Shul. The other Chassidish Yidden was, they came from Lubavitch. And every Shabbos, Bar Kiddush, they were reminiscent of Lubavitch and the Varam Kait from Lubavitch. That was definitely part of the DNA of my upbringing.

04:35 Speaker 2 So you grew up experiencing this. You remember all of this.

04:39 Speaker 1 Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, I was a kid, but let me give you as an example. We were Mechunach, the kids. I was a little child, young child. We were Mechunach that the biggest schools that we have, the merit is to go and bring Farbaisum for the Farbrengen. We used to fight who should go. I mean, that was the Ruach that time. There's certain episodes that I still remember from the Farbrengen. Certain, I mean, I was a kid, but as I said. And definitely, as I grew up, my mother and my father, my father was, as I will mention, was Memune as when the Rebbe became Rebbe. Actually, I should retract and go back before my birth. Since now there's a lot of conversation about going to the army or not. So my father was a Bocher Tov Shin Ches. And in the household, there was Mamish, very strong, a very heavy load, Shverikait with Parnosa. So my father went to help my grandfather. At that time-

06:06 Speaker 2 He was married already?

06:07 Speaker 1 No, no, no, no. I'll He's a Boche.

06:10 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

06:11 Speaker 1 And at that time became the shailah about going to the army or not.

06:15 Speaker 2 The War of Independence.

06:17 Speaker 1 The war that's just broke out at that time.

06:20 Speaker 2 Right. Mm-hmm.

06:21 Speaker 1 And the shailah was they didn't-- they knew that the Rabbeim's shitah was against Zionists. And here is Tzva Hagalil Yisrael was a Zionist, uh, entity. I don't know if it was called yet Tzva Hagalil Yisrael or not, but... So there was a, a yid, a young man, Geis Rabbeinu Rifkin in Chabad later, uh, who wrote, uh, pre- a letter to the previous Rebbe, and the question was very clear. Are we allowed to mobilize to the Zionist army? And, uh, I'm quoting, the Friediker Rebbe wrote which means a short-sighted people. Well, uh, let's interpret it whatever you want, but that's what the F- Rebbe wrote, Friediker Rebbe. Obviously, Rebbe spoke about people that were not in yeshiva, and it was clear. But anybody who is not in yeshiva is . So that was one detail what I, I think is important to know that the Rebbe saw it as, as pikuach nefesh, and there was no with, with, uh, with, yeah, Zionist, not Zionist, that's not the issue at all. but now it's a different situation.

08:04 Speaker 2 So there might be an issue, but we have to protect the Yidden, basically.

08:07 Speaker 1 Yeah. That, that, that was, that, that was the answer. Another detailed story in, in the same ve- in the same vein, the same topic, uh, my father had two more brothers. And, uh, both older brothers were mobilized to the army. My uncle Leibel Gansburg and my father were both mobilized. Their younger brother, his name, he was known as Heske Gansburg. He was, uh, by the Rebbe many, many years, and he started the Nikunim Bafra Brengen as known. Uh, he came to America, Tov Shen Zion, to the Rebbe, to Friediker Rebbe. So my Zayde wrote a letter to my uncle, and the teiche was how can you sit over there and your brothers are fighting in, in, in the front?

09:09 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

09:10 Speaker 1 And my uncle did not-- I mean, he obviously can't play the what to respond, and he went over to the Rebbe, our Rebbe, and he showed the-

09:21 Speaker 2 Before the war.

09:22 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah. We're talking about Tov Shen Ches.

09:24 Speaker 2 Yeah.

09:25 Speaker 1 And he showed the Rebbe the letter. The Rebbe read it, and the Rebbe told him like this. I will say it in Yiddish, and I'll try to translate. I don't know if he said the word ariko, a deserter. I th- I think it, uh, he, when I heard it from my uncle, he said deserter. So again, we see a very clear shitah-

10:08 Speaker 2 You didn't translate.

10:10 Speaker 1 I-I'm sorry. I- since you were assigned by my father-in-law to, uh, sit and learn, so if you get up now and you go to the army, you're a deserter. Uh, each one has their mission, and to the Rebbe it was very clear, if you sit and learn, that's what your mission is, sit and learn. And if you don't sit and learn, we have the obligation . So I, I thought that that was a interesting detail that, uh, ma-many people may question that, but this is clear from the Rebbe's shitah. Um, I also wanna mention something, and that was after the Rebbe became Rebbe. My father was, at that time, uh, very young. My father actually was in the army, and he managed to be l-literally present. His group, uh, conquered, uh, quite, uh, large parts of the north part of Eretz Yisroel, Be-Be-Beich-- Emek Be'chan and Nazareth, uh, and that, that region, Emek, uh, Yisroel. And then they, they transferred them to the south, to the Gaza area, and there's a whole story, Mamishi had Mesirus Nefesh, uh, which I don't think it belongs here, but what it does belong, my father was wounded. He was h- six months in the hospital. And then they had to-- they graft him. Baruch Hashem. Th-there's many stories regarding that. My father also wrote a diary for the entire, uh, duration that he was in the army. But, um, after he was released from the hospital, he got engaged to be married. And, uh, he was a chosson

12:13 Speaker 1 when Yom Kippur took place. The chasune was scheduled for Beis Nissan. That was scheduled before Yuchvat.

12:22 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

12:24 Speaker 1 I'm almost sure it was with the broche of the Frediker Rebbe. So, uh, at that time, everybody begged the Rebbe to accept nasius, and, uh, my father had a brother and a future brother-in-law here. Rabbi Yael came right after-

12:44 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm

12:44 Speaker 1 ... Yuchvat, which, uh, he was here already, and, uh, my uncle was here from before, my other uncle. So-

12:52 Speaker 2 By the he- he- the younger brother went to, went to learn, but he didn't, I guess.

12:58 Speaker 1 Who?

12:58 Speaker 2 Yeah.

12:59 Speaker 1 My father wrote to the Rebbe, the Rebbe told him... It's back and forth letters. At the end, the Rebbe told him not to go, at the end.

13:05 Speaker 2 Yeah.

13:06 Speaker 1 First he got permission, then the-- My unc- my Zaidy said Poshke must have helped. The Rebbe told him not to come. He begged to come, but, uh, it didn't work out.

13:16 Speaker 2 Okay. So-

13:18 Speaker 1 But, uh, what I wanna say is that in the-- Everybody started to ask the Rebbe, uh, that, that he should accept the nasius and the, the Mekubal's, uh, nasius. So my father wrote to the Rebbe a letter, he was still a bocher, uh, asking the Rebbe to accept the nasius. And there is a letter that the Rebbe responded to him, a gen- gen- klali protel like a general letter, and then the Rebbe writes Ksav Yad, and the Ksav Yad is published in the Igress. And I just wanna read, uh, the couple of words that Rebbe wrote in the Ksav Yad. I, I have it copied over here. Uh, "Umashe Koisef" is quoting what my father wrote, "Ono Chusu Aleinu Unzait Chulu." So my father wrote, "Please have rahmonis on us, have mercy upon us and accept." But the Rebbe s- Rebbe copied, "Ono Chusu Aleinu Unzait Chulu." That's what the Rebbe writes. "Are Lo Ze Torich Liyes Hayichilis." For that you need to have the ability. And the Rebbe writes like this, "Cheches Atzmiim, Cheches Hayiuliim, Cheches Agluiim, Ushleimus Levushei Machshava Di Berumaysa vechulo vechulo." You need to be complete, perfect in essential powers of the neshamah, obviously. Cheches Yuliim, that's the next stage. Revealed Cheches and completion in thought, speech, and action, et cetera, et cetera. So, uh, first of all, we can see what the Rebbe was looking within him and what, what a Rebbe is. Uh, it's, uh, it's a mir in di gesach. The second thing I was thinking to myself

15:18 Speaker 1 already, my father was then a bocher still, a chosid. Such words. Rebbe didn't write stam as a-- to, to anybody. Yeah. So that, that was about that.

15:31 Speaker 2 And let, let me ask you, your father, he, he, he never saw the Rebbe, I'm assuming?

15:36 Speaker 1 My father until-- No, no. My father-

15:38 Speaker 2 At that point.

15:39 Speaker 1 No, at that point he didn't see. Tov Shin Yud Ches, my father came for the first time.

15:45 Speaker 2 So he wrote to the Rebbe.

15:46 Speaker 1 He wrote to the Rebbe to ask the Rebbe to come, come to the Rebbe as a nasi. And the, the Rebbe answered him with such words.

15:55 Speaker 2 Wow.

15:57 Speaker 1 So again, I think that was something that, uh, that is negei. Th- that's a published thing, but I f- I felt that-

16:04 Speaker 2 Yeah

16:04 Speaker 1 ... this, uh, right thing to bring it up. Um, l- l- I wanna say one more thing if, if we go in the history, a couple more things. In, um, the Rebbe, and then this I heard from my father, it's also perhaps some of it is printed. The Rebbe wanted that Yahr Zeit should be led the way the Rebbe wants. And to be honest, the elder Hasidim, the older Hasidim had a very hard time shifting from the era of the previous Rebbe, which although the fr- the Rebbe also demanded, uh, doing with others, represent the Shluchem in America, et cetera, in, in, in other places maybe. But the, the Hasidim had a hard time to, to switch.

17:02 Speaker 2 You mean to like a Chabad Tzemach Yisrael?

17:04 Speaker 1 The Rebbe ma- demanded out. Outreach, outreach, outreach. Uh, what's it? Dav davnen was the outreach, and dav learning, uh, tha- thes- this kind of things. The Rebbe then demanded that all moises should r- they, the, the administrations should resign, and then he will appoint them anew. In other words, that they're his workers, they're-- they have to be subjected to him, not, not from before. And most of them, the Rebbe reappointed, but the Rebbe did change. The Rebbe put a controller, mevaker, on each and every one of the moises, which the Rebbe appointed.

17:47 Speaker 2 Like finan- a financial? Like a financial-

17:50 Speaker 1 N- n- no

17:50 Speaker 2 No, in general.

17:51 Speaker 1 Financial and, and, and what's going on. He was responsible to report to the Rebbe. The Rebbe writes it in a letter, I've seen the letter clear, that the mevaker is not a havra and holech. He's the controller, and he is to report to the Rebbe, and the Rebbe will say what to do.

18:09 Speaker 2 Which moises are you talking about? Hagudas Ha-Chabad-

18:10 Speaker 1 All moises. All Hagudas Ha-Chabad and the Toras Emes and Kahal Chabad and, uh, the Yeshiva. All moises had to resign The Anholers and the Rebbe reappointed, and the Rebbe added in most cases, sometimes Rebbe changed, but Rebbe, uh, uh, added the Farish, a controller in each and every one of the Maises. This is something also that not too many people realize, that Rebbe Mamish wanted to... Uh, at that time, Agudas Chasidei Chabad was all from the Alter Chassidim, and when the Rebbe started to demand, it, it was very hard for them. So first, the Rebbe instructed that there should be a representation of the Tze'irim in Agudas Chasidei Chabad, and the Re-- it was, uh, two people were appointed. That was my father and Rabbi Shlomo Leibov, who later became the Yeshivosh. So they started in Agudas Chasidei Chabad, and it still didn't move anywhere. So then the Rebbe was Meyassed into Shiyud Beis, a separate, uh, institution called Tsirei Agudas Chabad, and they were appointed as the Vaad of Tsirei Agudas Chabad.

19:36 Speaker 2 So before the Rebbe made the-

19:38 Speaker 1 Tsirei Agudas Chabad, the Rebbe tried to go through Agudas Chabad.

19:40 Speaker 2 So what I'm saying, in America, the Rebbe was Meyassed the-

19:43 Speaker 1 Oh, later. Much later. Much later.

19:44 Speaker 2 Later, yeah. Tsirei Agudas Chabad is later. So you're saying-

19:46 Speaker 1 The Rebbe-- When the Rebbe was Meyassed Tsirei Agudas Chabad in America, it was Bedugmas Eretz Yisroel.

19:51 Speaker 2 Uh-huh. Okay.

19:52 Speaker 1 Just the Rebbe wrote that. The, the first Tsirei Agudas Chabad was in Eretz Yisroel.

19:58 Speaker 2 So that, that was your father and Yisroel Leibov.

20:00 Speaker 1 Yeah. And then they added to the Anhole more, but they, they were the first. My father became, I think, the Maskir. Yisroel Leibov, the Yeshivosh.

20:09 Speaker 2 And that's how it became that Tsirei Agudas Chabad was running all the Chabadas in Eretz Yisroel.

20:13 Speaker 1 They were running the school. Yeah. It was, uh, the Rebbe had to push it a hard time, uh, to, to accomplish. And even then, it was very hard to move that nobody, nobody literally moved out of the hub of Chabad, whether it was Tel Aviv, Yerushalayim, or Kfar Chabad later. The Rebbe had to fight it. So now I'll, I'll come to, to the next stage.

20:43 Speaker 2 You mean like the concept of Shlichas, that whole idea?

20:46 Speaker 1 Concept of Shlichas, that's correct. Uh, when my Tofshin Yud, Yud Ches, my, my Zayde came for the first time to the Rebbe Tofshin Yud Zayin, and my father, uh, went for Tishrei Tofshin Yud Ches. My father had several Yechidas, three times, I think, uh, the, the Rebbe called him in, gave him all kinds of instructions. But, um, one of the, uh, things the Rebbe has then demanded, I think it's an interesting story I told over quite a few times, the Rebbe demanded from my father that when he comes back, the Rebbe wants at least ten new schools of the Reshet. Reshet, all Yisroel, Yitzchak, that the Rebbe has that time established for schools from-

21:39 Speaker 2 So what's id- what's the idea of the Reshet?

21:42 Speaker 1 The Reshet was Befarish from, uh, Olim for, for... Uh, uh, actually, I saw a letter the Rebbe said that they should establish schools only in places that there is no Frum schools from any type of, uh, of, uh, denomination. Is it Hagudah or Mizrahi? Nobody... You know, to-- We're not catering for the Frum schools. We're catering for people that used to be in their hometowns in, in the Oriental countries, especially observant. They came to Eretz Yisroel, and, uh, they took him away from Yiddishkeit. And, uh, that time, actually, I should mention, there was a group of Yeshiva Bochurim, uh, called Peilei HaMachane HaTorati-- HaTorani. And the, the head was, uh, Reb Shalom Ber Lipshitz. He was a Tomim, and he headed the organization, and Rabbi Shlomo Leibov became their secretary later. Uh, uh, in Tzach, he didn't take money, but over there, Poshet for Parnasa, he became their secretary. He was quite loaded. Um, so they helped a lot to go and go into Frier places and try to register, uh, children. So my father all the way, I think from Tofshin Yud Beis, he became a teacher. My mother became a teacher. My mother first was, uh, teaching Beis Yaakov, and afterwards she moved to teach in Reshet. And the Rebbe demanded two-- 10 new schools. There was, I think, three new, three or four schools until then. There was a school in Yaffo, in Zarnuga, in Kfar Saba, in Malcha. I think it was four schools before. The Rebbe wa-- told my father

23:24 Speaker 1 he wants 10 new schools. Ten. So an Yechidas, my father mentioned to the Rebbe, "Ich hob meyre", I'm afraid that when I come back, it won't be accepted. Ten new schools are wildes ach. You know, it's wild. So the Rebbe told him, "Ir dayn givazen afen Tzion?" Have you been to the oil, the Friediker Rebbe? So my father answered, "Mitn guf bin ich given." With my body, I was there. So the Rebbe said, "Oh, mit di neshomo zaynt ir given a zach frier." With the soul, you have been much earlier. "Zaynt ir doch givazen afen Tzion. Vemeile hot ir di kechos." You have been to the Tzion, so you have the, the power to go and do so.

24:14 Speaker 2 Oh.

24:16 Speaker 1 It's also, uh-

24:18 Speaker 2 Yeah. By the way, Sam, for interest, did your father ever saw the Friediker Rebbe?

24:24 Speaker 1 My father did not see the Friediker Rebbe.

24:26 Speaker 2 Yeah.

24:27 Speaker 1 My father saw the Rebbe's father, because on their way out of Russia, my father was a child, he's nine years old. So they went through Yekaterinoslav because my Zayde's parents were there. So at that time, Reb Leivik tested him in Gemara, I think. Uh, so he saw Reb Leivik, but the Friediker Rebbe, I don't think he saw.

24:51 Speaker 2 No.

24:52 Speaker 1 My father's Bris was the week of Yud Beis Shvat when the Rebbe came out of jail. My father was born Peh Zayin, and the Rebbe went to Malachovke. My Zayde lived in Moscow, which is nearby. So at the beginning, the Rebbe s- uh, said maybe he'll try to see if they want that he should be Sandek. But, uh-

25:11 Speaker 2 The Friediker Rebbe.

25:12 Speaker 1 But the Friediker Rebbe. But, uh, the, the-- Then this, this was too, too risky, and the Rebbe canceled, so the Rebbe did not come to Lubavitch.

25:20 Speaker 2 But if there was a Svara the Friediker Rebbe would come back to Moscow to be the Sandek.

25:24 Speaker 1 No. Ma- Ma- Malachowke and Moscow is next to each other.

25:29 Speaker 2 So they were gonna do-

25:30 Speaker 1 It's like

25:30 Speaker 2 They were gonna do by the Friediker Rebbe or the Friediker Rebbe-

25:33 Speaker 1 I don't, I don't know the details, but, uh, it was canceled because-

25:35 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm

25:35 Speaker 1 ... it was too, it was too risky.

25:38 Speaker 2 Okay. So, so-

25:39 Speaker 1 There was, there was a close connection, obviously. Uh, uh, there was a Vaad in, in Moscow that, uh, was, uh, leading all the underground work for, for, for the Rebbe, and there was, uh, my two Zaydes and the Meish Gurarie. That was the official Vaad. The, they, they were very close-knitted before they became a Chutanim.

26:01 Speaker 2 Uh-huh. And then they were all together in Tel Aviv later.

26:05 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah.

26:05 Speaker 2 This, this, this group.

26:06 Speaker 1 This group, yeah.

26:08 Speaker 2 Oh, very interesting. Uh, so back to your father. Um, so-

26:13 Speaker 1 So that's what I wanted to say. So when he came back, he started to work, and, uh, it wasn't easy financially and from the government, and-

26:25 Speaker 2 Wasn't the government funding for it, or that didn't happen yet?

26:28 Speaker 1 Government funding. He had to have X amount of kids, and then after you had the X amount of kids, was also not easy. But it was three new schools were established, Bepey Mamish, and I- I would say that this is the beginning of Shlicha in Eretz Yisroel. It was my father and Reb Uri Ben Shahar, and Reb Avrohom Mordechai Silberstrom were the first individuals that left to, to establish the schools.

26:59 Speaker 2 So they picked up their families and moved to these places?

27:02 Speaker 1 No. So my father, in the beginning, there was nowhere to live, so my-- the family stayed in Tel Aviv, and my father was there alone, and he came every other Shabbos home. It was not easy.

27:13 Speaker 2 Where, where was this?

27:15 Speaker 1 In Ta'anach, which is the school is still in existence, Adei Mazet. Today is a nice, uh, group of Lubavitchers there.

27:22 Speaker 2 Oh.

27:23 Speaker 1 They, they became later the only school. They kicked out the Frail. In the first year, there was two schools. That, that's a story on, on its own. I don't wanna go into it, but...

27:33 Speaker 2 So your father was, was, uh, living in Ta'anach and your family's in, in Tel Aviv?

27:38 Speaker 1 Aviv. And then it came from the Rebbe a letter, and, uh, then we have the letter that the Rebbe says that the family has to be together. So, or he has to leave, or the family would come, and my mother moved with us. And here came also, uh-

27:52 Speaker 2 What do you mean with y-- you mean you moved with your mother to your, to your father?

27:55 Speaker 1 Father, yeah, to Ta'anach.

27:57 Speaker 2 To Ta'anach. So you went on Shlichus?

27:59 Speaker 1 Yeah. Yeah, that was the beginning of-

28:01 Speaker 2 So you like the f-

28:02 Speaker 1 Nobody, nobody was calling it Shlichus at that time. It was before-

28:06 Speaker 2 So you're the first, uh, Mishpacha in Eretz Yisroel that did such a thing?

28:10 Speaker 1 Um, I said there was three Mishpochas at the, the same time. Um, it was, what's interesting actually is, is also, um, when my mother decided that she's moving with the family, she started to be harassed by Ziknei Hasidim that she's not allowed to do it. What kind of Meshugas? The kids, they have nowhere to... There's no school. There was nothing, Mamish. And, uh-

28:41 Speaker 2 Where, where is Ta'anach?

28:43 Speaker 1 Ta'anach is if you know where Afula is. At that time-

28:46 Speaker 2 So it's very far

28:46 Speaker 1 ... it was, at that time, a four hours drive at that time from Tel Aviv. At that time, there was no cars. It was, it was, it was, it was far. It was by the Syrian-Jordanian border at the time. It wasn't near a Mokim Yishu. Uh, I'll soon tell you about it something, but let, let me finish what I'm saying now. Um, so my mother wrote to the Rebbe, and she wrote that people tell her that, uh, your husband is crazy and he's, he's, he's Matkil to everybody. I mean, it's, it's not, it's not, it's not Lubavitch. And, uh, we have a full lar- large page letter from the Rebbe to her. Godel Chuso veAshrei Chelko, that she was Zecher to be able to go and, and, and, and, and strengthen Yiddishe Kinder and Chinuch. And, uh, a very, very strong letter, and that the Rebbe is over there, use the word chastising. What kind of Hasidim is will tell you not to go? You're calling him Ziknei Hasidim, the Sefer Chaim. It was a very strong letter from the Rebbe. The Rebbe was Mechanech. It's, it's... It wasn't, uh... It was a change in the whole perception that we, we, we, we don't live where the hub is. We, we gotta go out.

30:17 Speaker 2 It's amazing. It's amazing how the Rebbe, also in America, so the first Shluchim, so there's a, there's a, a bunch of letters to Alter Rebbe or the parents of that Echad. Like it's a-

30:27 Speaker 1 Yeah

30:27 Speaker 2 ... the Rebbe had to revolutionize the whole, the whole thing.

30:30 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah. It was very hard. Now, to be honest, uh, we moved to Ta'anach. I was in a Cheder. Cheder, the Cheder in Tel Aviv was a Hasidish Cheder on a, on a very nice level, so to speak. And I came to Ta'anach.

30:49 Speaker 2 How old were you?

30:51 Speaker 1 I was eight and a half. And there was... Where, where are they sending me? In school there, my sister, who's younger than me- Had to go to fourth, fifth grade when she was six years old or something like that, seven years old. And I was... Th-there was nothing there. There was no... They, they used to s- The, the, the people came from Kurdi- Kurdim, Kurdistan, Turkish, and Parsim. That was the three villages that Tanach compile- comprised. Very, very Amaratus. Not that-- They were

33:28 Speaker 2 Wow.

33:31 Speaker 1 So-

33:33 Speaker 2 So you're mamash the, uh-

33:35 Speaker 1 That's the pioneers

33:36 Speaker 2 You're the pioneer of, of the

33:40 Speaker 1 I, I would, I would say so. Again, I don't believe that there was anybody else in Eretz Israel, to best of my knowledge, that was the first to send away a kid is, it was meshuggah.

33:50 Speaker 2 And you stayed with your bubbe and zeide living in Chabad at that time?

33:52 Speaker 1 No. I stayed with my f- grandfather's brother. My f- grandfather had a Leib Khan, you know Berel Khan from the... His f- his parents. So I stayed in their house, a great uncle and aunt. And, um, uh, I was in Cheder in Chabad. To be honest, I don't think it was as hard as on me as on my mother. I was a ben yochid. I have two sisters, and it was very hard. But Baruch Hashem.

34:24 Speaker 2 Ashricha chelkecha v'geidah zechuschka.

34:27 Speaker 1 That, that's Baruch Hashem.

34:31 Speaker 2 Okay.

34:32 Speaker 1 Uh, so let's, let's move. Again, I just wanna give you a little bit more history, so I think some people will benefit. Um, the first time I have seen, uh, uh, that the Rebbe referred to, uh, uh, letters about me in particular was my Hachnosas L'Cheder. There's three letters from the Rebbe about my Hachnosas L'Cheder. Once my father asked, I, I-- apparently something I was in gezunt, it's not completely, so should he put me to Cheder or not? And the Rebbe wrote, and I again, I copied it. Um, the Rebbe wrote that, That if the doctor, who is a doctor friend, will agree, then I can start to visit the Cheder. Then my father got a letter by the words, and my name, I, I was very pleased that he started. And the third letter is to my Zayde, and this is, uh, actually a mefas goli from the Rebbe, which I, I brought the Igress. It's the letter is published in the Igress. I have a cousin who is six months older than me, and he had Hachnosas L'Cheder more or less the same time as I did. And the Rebbe writes to my Zayde, and I'm opening it up, and I, I, I wanna... It's in the Igress, and I don't know-- I did not know about the letter until, uh, the Igress were published. But it's a little scary because the Rebbe writes like this to my Zayde, the end of a letter.

36:55 Speaker 2 This is which Zayde?

36:56 Speaker 1 Fole, Fole Khan. We're concluding the letter with a good besura, a good tiding that you brought, that That they brought in, uh, Erev Shabbos Breishis, your grandson, not me, my other, my cousin, Lecheider. Ve'yirotzen shemiben chamesh lemikra yigdale beneser lemishnah, ben Yud Gimel L'mitzvot kip sakha Mishnah. Just like similar to the Bar Mitzvah letter, that you go from stage to stage. So I was pleased. Next paragraph. V'lep surosei hateiva asher be'yem be'ezmar cheshvan ichnitsu es nerde Yisav Simchei sh-shlita Elcheider yirotzen sheyida-

37:49 Speaker 3 Shlita

37:49 Speaker 1 Huh?

37:50 Speaker 3 Shlita.

37:50 Speaker 1 Shlita. Sheyigdali es chosi dereishomayim v'lamdan. So you have two eineklach. Both were taken into cheider, and the Rebbe gave each one a different brocha. My cousin is a very, zo zain gezunt, but he didn't remain a Lubavitcher Chossid.

38:14 Speaker 3 Hmm.

38:15 Speaker 1 So bach nosa lecheider, the Rebbe already said, gives him a brocha that yigdal, et cetera. And the brocha to the next einekel that yishvi chossidireishomayim v'lamdan. I, I, I don't know how they took it at that time. Obviously, I wasn't aware of it. But this is a letter actually from, from yesterday. Chof Tes Mar Chesvan Tes Zayin. Tov Shin Tes Zayin. It's exactly from yesterday.

38:45 Speaker 3 Mm-hmm.

38:46 Speaker 1 Seventy years.

38:48 Speaker 3 The Rebbe's setting out the, the map.

38:50 Speaker 1 Yeah. I'm saying this is-- It's, this is a mefas galui, I mean.

38:56 Speaker 3 Yeah.

38:59 Speaker 1 Um, I wanted, uh, I also have a, a excerpt which maybe you could like to read in the letter that the Rebbe wrote to my mother before she went to Taanach. The Rebbe writes like this, "Bizmanenu ze asher le'achrei zman hahashmodes, rachmon al Islam v'lei aleinu." In our days after the Holocaust. "Ubeder de'ikve se de'mashiacha." In the time of the hills of Mashiach. "Kapis gam kvei kochameir v'chomi. Inei ze melech haMashiach eime dacha kosleinu." So Mashiach is standing behind the wall. "Ve'eino yemchake elo lesiyum ha'aveido hamuteles al deireinu." And he's only waiting for the work that is placed on our generation. "Shehikalo lefier ech ma'avedos she'aderes shekodmunu." That our avedo is lefier ech lighter than the previous generation task. "Ari al kol echad ve'echad lekayem ha'ne'emar bekosuv." Each one has to fulfill what is written. "Hacholos yeimar gibeir ani." That the weak should say, "I'm strong." "Ube'achlotov etekeiv boze moitzi gam hakeichos ha'ne'elomim sheyu begilui." That will bring out these hidden powers that each and every one of us has, has that should come out in a revealed way. "Ubemele yuchal yifel kam apam im kocho mashar im hoyo ze bizman rogil uv'tnoiv regilim." So you can do a lot more than if it would be normal times. This is, uh, a-again, words that are-- This is in, in that time that was extremely, extremely pushing. You have to do, you have to do what your job is. Don't talk to anybody. Do what you have to.

41:11 Speaker 3 Very foundational letter on, on deireinu, the what I, what I-

41:15 Speaker 1 Yeah. Yeah, yeah

41:15 Speaker 3 ... what I've been raising.

41:17 Speaker 1 Very clear. Very clear this, uh, very clear instructions, uh, with, with, with the Rebbe's keichos.

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42:59 Speaker 1 When my father decided to send me to Kfar Chabad, actually, also we got a letter from the Rebbe. Not we, it's they, my parents. "Venigeil cheider limud bnom, Yisav Simcha Schlita." That's the first thing that you have to l-- that he has to learn the child in a place that obviously over there the was not up to par. It should be with my consent. And my mother should be consenting. So based on those conditions, it should be successful. So again, Baruch Hashem

44:09 Speaker 2 It's very ama-- it's amazing that the Rebbe saying that the, that you have to agree as well.

44:14 Speaker 1 I was, I was eight years old.

44:16 Speaker 2 Yeah.

44:17 Speaker 1 Eight years old. Should be

44:21 Speaker 2 That's amazing. Someone told me that he had a, a difference of opinion with his father about if he should-- which yeshiva he should go to. He was a bachur already. He wanted to go to His father didn't want. His father was the rosh yeshiva in Lubavitch, Adirim. And his father wrote to the Rebbe that, "My son wants to go here, I think he should go there." And the Rebbe answered, "Has to be what your son wants." Yeah. Right.

44:53 Speaker 1 Yeah, bachur is different than, than a kid.

44:55 Speaker 2 An eight-year-old.

44:56 Speaker 1 I was, I was eight years old, but obviously the Rebbe wanted it should be with my con-my consent.

45:03 Speaker 2 Okay, so what was it like in Kfar Chabad those days?

45:06 Speaker 1 Kfar Chabad was a... I mean, listen, it was definitely a I mean, it's new to me after the few months that I was away. But, uh, Baruch Hashem, I, I had an excellent, uh, group of, uh, chaverim and the melamdim. I had the cheder, I don't have to tell you. And then I grew up in Kfar Chabad since then. Uh, Kfar Chabad, uh, I had the opportunity to learn one year. My father learned by Reb Sheya Bruk. In that time was in Tel Aviv, but Reb Sheya in my days was in Rishon LeZion at his yeshiva. My father very much wanted I should learn in Rishon.

45:42 Speaker 2 There was already yeshiva Kfar Chabad?

45:45 Speaker 1 The yeshiva was in Lod. The yeshiva-

45:46 Speaker 2 Oh, it was based in Lod, and Sheya Bruk was in Rishon, a different, different yeshiva.

45:51 Speaker 1 Yeah. Yeah. Reb Shlomo Chaim was the mashpia in, in Lod. The big yeshiva, Yeshivat Daat was in Lod. Kfar Chabad was a cheder. So when I was ready, I think it was in the middle of the eighth grade, Pesach time, uh, my parents then moved from Ta'ana. They established a school in Holon, also in a, in a ma-- in a g-- in a neighborhood which was the lowest class, Gesekon. There was crime and everything. Baruch Hashem, my father, uh, opened a school. There was, uh, over 400 students.

46:35 Speaker 2 Hmm.

46:36 Speaker 1 And my mother was teaching. It started from nothing, but, uh, the first year my mother and father taught-- My father was the principal and teacher, my mother the second class, and then the, the, the, they didn't want they should be together, the So my mother, uh, was teaching in, in, in Bat Yam in Lubavitch school, in the, in the Reshet. My father was the menahil in Holon for quite a few years. So... And then I, I me-- I lived at home, obviously, in Kfar Chabad. Then I was a year in, in Rishon by Reb Sheya. He was, uh, my magid shiur in, in Gemara. He was magid shiur in Hakot HaTeyre, we learned by him. And then I moved to Lod. I learned, uh, two and a half years in Lod. That's Yeshivat Katan and Mechina. It was, uh, very, very strong, especially the last year in Mechina. Uh, that was a very strong year. Uh, we had the, the rosh yeshiva was Rav Zelig Feldman, alav hashalom, and then, uh, tzelah yiruh, Reb Yechezkel Abrams became by us mashpia, and he put into us more than anybody else, Rebbe, Chasidus, and Varemkeit. Uh, I owe him a lot.

47:55 Speaker 2 Really?

47:56 Speaker 1 Yeah. He, he was, uh... I would say that the biggest push that the kite got the desire to go to the Rebbe was from him. Well, there was other factors, but, uh, I would say he was a tremendous, uh, push that-

48:16 Speaker 2 To go learn by the Rebbe or just to go, to go visit?

48:19 Speaker 1 Rebbe-- No, it wasn't visiting, it was the yoniu for Rebbe, lev miten. I also had the, the, the ple- the, the privilege, you have, I would say. My father came from the Rebbe every plane that passed by, and Kfar Chabad is near the, the airport. Every-- Ah, I wish I would be on the plane going to the Rebbe. I was a kid. I grew up on that.

48:48 Speaker 2 Yeah.

48:48 Speaker 1 That, you know, it, it's, it digs in. Ah, I wish I could have gone to the Re-- I can go on the plane to the Rebbe. So that, that was, um, a big DNA, uh, investment in, in, in me that, uh, that's... But the truth of the matter is, my father wanted very much I should go to the Rebbe to learn. My father, uh, uh-- My bar mitzvah was 5754. 5755 Pesach, my father was here by, was by the Rebbe. And when he was in yechidus, he asked the Rebbe, "If it's appropriate, I should come to learn there." And the Rebbe said, "" That so young, the supervision is there better. So obviously I waited, but the next year, already and we moved to Kfar Chabad to the zal, to the Yeshivat Daat. So I asked again if I can come.

50:01 Speaker 2 You wrote to the Rebbe?

50:03 Speaker 1 Yeah. My father was definitely o-on my side, and, uh, the Rebbe sent me to the anhole. To my surprise, Reb Shlomo Chaim was not against it. Although the Anhole didn't give me a official, uh, agreement to go, we decided that I'm going, and if I'll be able to settle over here, there will be mask him, I'll stay, and if not, after Tishra I'll come back. So I came Tishrei, Tov Shin Tov, it's a Sof Chavov, Elul Chavov. I came to Seven Seventy. What was interesting is that my uncle, my father's brother, Eshke, as you Melitus tell, so he went into Yechidas before I was in New York yet. On Yechidas, the Rebbe asked him, "Nu, what's going on with your nephew? Did he come already? No, you should settle gezunterheit." So before I came, I knew already that I'm settling.

51:13 Speaker 2 Yeah.

51:13 Speaker 1 So the Rebbe-- Again, I came from the Rebbe, the, uh... I was before the army yet, so I didn't have a problem leaving. I was young.

51:26 Speaker 2 Right.

51:27 Speaker 1 Uh, the next year when I went in Yechidas, I already got a Tzav Kria. Uh, in other words, I got, uh-

51:36 Speaker 2 Draft

51:36 Speaker 1 ... a letter. I need a draft, uh, letter. My mother was thinking, should I become, uh, not go and later on I'll have problems.

51:44 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

51:44 Speaker 1 So I asked the Rebbe, and the Rebbe told me to stay. Rebbe told me to do what the others that stayed here, I should do the same thing. The Rebbe told me to stay. That's it. That was, uh, uh, Yechidas.

52:00 Speaker 2 And you had-

52:01 Speaker 1 So-

52:01 Speaker 2 You had other Chaverim that were, that a- w- that came?

52:04 Speaker 1 I had Chaverim that came. I have, uh, Chaver Boruch Elalem, who came a year before me, and the same year with me came a few, Yossel Losh, Yossi Paris. A year later came Chaim Proust. It was a whole group. I, I would say our kite was, was moving towards it. We were very much infused with, uh, with, uh-

52:25 Speaker 2 So maybe you could describe a little bit, uh, your coming to the Rebbe for the first time. Like what, what, uh, that was like.

52:34 Speaker 1 Me, obviously, uh, I remember the first time seeing the Rebbe, saw the Rebbe by Mincha, and Shehecheyanu. And, uh, the first Tishrei, I mean, you know, Tekias, I remember Tekia, the first time Tekias was, uh, I mean, I don't know how to describe, but, uh, definitely, I remember Arkops, I remember Napoleon's March. I would say tho- those, uh, those are the highlights. I did not go in Yechidas till my email letters because I stayed here-

53:20 Speaker 2 Because you weren't a, you weren't a guest.

53:22 Speaker 1 That's correct. I knew already that I'm staying, so I didn't take... The first time I went in a Yechidas was for my email letters. That was this. But then I went to Newark, and I studied in Newark for two years.

53:38 Speaker 2 So you, you, you-

53:39 Speaker 1 We used to come. For every farbrengen we used to come in. Newark, we, we were excellent two years, uh, the first year especially. Rabbi Saul Friedman was our Rosh Yeshiva, and Meyloch Mashpia, Nachum Sternberg was the Mashgiach. It was a, it was a, it was a solid two years, uh, especially the first year. And, um, then we, we came to Seven Seventy.

54:07 Speaker 2 After two years in Newark?

54:09 Speaker 1 Yeah.

54:10 Speaker 2 So this is, um, Chazak Chaf Tes.

54:14 Speaker 1 Yeah. So, so Sof Chaf Tes we ca- we moved to Seven Seventy.

54:19 Speaker 2 And-

54:21 Speaker 1 I was Seven Seventy basically till, till I got married. But one year, Tosher Lamed, we were sent to Ocean Parkway. We were the first kvutzeh. The Rebbe spoke a sicha then, so that was, uh, shlichas. We were, with that, uh, the Rebbe, uh, we, we were in, in, uh, Ocean Parkway as Alter Bachrim, as Shlichim. But we came for all farbrengens, also from Newark. I didn't miss, uh, any farbrengens. Even the few sudden farbrengens, somehow I was there. So-

54:55 Speaker 2 Somehow you made it. I have a question. Um, when you're in Eretz Israel, so there's no hookup those years, so you arrive to the Rebbe the first time-

55:07 Speaker 1 You, you, you're reminding me-- I'm sorry, I'm interrupting you.

55:10 Speaker 2 No, go ahead. No.

55:11 Speaker 1 You're reminding me a episode that, that, uh, is, is worthwhile most probably to describe. People will not understand. The, the relationships with the Rebbe was very limited. It was a maimer a sicha, the odd that came in, the odd picture, and that's basically it. And, and the emphasis also that you need to learn. Mugedikei Maimorim, it was not, uh... I remember the first time I was in Tel Aviv, must have been Tesayan. I was a little kid, and somebody brought a eight-millimeter strip. You know, the-- There was no videos. There was no-- There was a eight millimeter From the Rebbe, either it was a shtikel farbrengen, a small s- uh, snap from the farbrengen.

56:10 Speaker 2 A video?

56:12 Speaker 1 It was no video. It was eight millimeter, you know-

56:14 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm

56:14 Speaker 1 ... like a very primitive in those days. But it was the first time that we saw the Rebbe on, on a wall. So the whole Anash in Tel Aviv, 130 Mishpachas, wherever it was, gathered. I remember with Moshe Ashkenazi, Rav Ashkenazi, Moshe in his house, and they got a machine. We saw the Rebbe on the wall. This I do remember. I remember ътke dikach that there was one guy, I know I'm not going to mention his name, he want to see the Rebbe a little closer. He doesn't know what a movie is, what a video is. He got closer, and the Rebbe's nelem gibom.

56:56 Speaker 2 He's standing in front of the-

56:58 Speaker 1 Yeah, he, he... It w- We were so far from that era, but that was the first time I think that we saw the Rebbe in movement, in, uh, to whatever extent. It was with- without audio. It was, it was video.

57:14 Speaker 2 Right.

57:16 Speaker 1 Uh, uh, I remember that. I mean, otherwise, in other words, it made a reshim as a, an, a child to see the Rebbe for the first time-

57:23 Speaker 2 Right

57:23 Speaker 1 ... besides, uh, the, a picture. I also remember, if you're asking in, in, in my upbringing, the relationship with the Rebbe, I remember when the שלוחים תוש"ט came. The Rachmana laitlan, the five, uh, students and their counselor were murdered by, by terrorists, the Fedayuns, we call them. The Rebbe send 10 bochurim from America, one from England, and o- uh, one from France, and one from, I think it's Australia. So it was 12 bochurim, uh, to come and comfort the kilof Anash. Uh, uh, they, they've known already who they are. They were, they are Rabbi Kolinsky, Rabbi Shemtov, Rabbi Omkor, uh, Bodelheim, Ben Chaim L'chaim, uh, and, and others. Um, I can tell you that my father was not home for three weeks, for as long as they were there. My father took me to the airport to greet them. I remember in my mind, on my father's shoulders, and the, the Rebbe shluchim. It was, it was, it was such an awesome thing. It's the Rebbe shluchim. Uh, the shluchim also, uh, farbreng with all the children. And I remember gathering in, in, in Chabad in front of the old shul, Beis Menachem. That time was the old shul. And they taught us Mi Pikel, and they gave each and every one of us as a gift from the Rebbe, a Mincha Meyriv and a small bottle of Kosher Boruch. Uh, th- those are my memoirs. Uh, uh, I remember also Shabbos, a few other episodes. I was a kid, as I said, but I

59:19 Speaker 1 still remember it. It made a tremendous impression. I would say that these kashas to the Rebbe definitely intensified in a tremendous way through those shluchim, that, that mesira shluchim. It was, it was tremendous. And us kids were definitely there. We, we were-- We benefited from it. So this is-- this was our connection. But otherwise, uh, Chof Hey, the Rebbe was magiya a few sichas, so we learned it. But-

59:52 Speaker 2 The Hasidim

59:54 Speaker 1 Yeah. And then also started to come tapes. I remember a few-

59:59 Speaker 2 That, that's I want, I wanted to know if you ever heard the Rebbe, yeah.

1:00:01 Speaker 1 Yes, yes, yes. I remember sitting you Beis Hamozof farbrengen. I remember it. I-- It's a hazret a few times. Uh, yes, we did get... That period, we started to get, uh, tapes that we were sitting the whole zal and listening to the whole farbrengen. Not, not live, obviously. It was a month later. I don't remember when it was. But that was-

1:00:26 Speaker 2 The namas the whole yeshiva sat and listened to it

1:00:28 Speaker 1 Yes, yes, yes, yes. That was a whole major event.

1:00:35 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm. So-

1:00:38 Speaker 1 Different things had a aim

1:00:40 Speaker 2 For the farbrengen

1:00:42 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah.

1:00:43 Speaker 2 So when you came to the Rebbe, so you're familiar with it, but obviously everything's very-

1:00:49 Speaker 1 It was new

1:00:50 Speaker 2 ... new.

1:00:50 Speaker 1 It's new. It was definitely new. And, uh, the Rebbe definitely was our life in yeshiva. There, there, there was nothing else. I mean, at least I can talk for myself that that was the center of our lives. Um, I, I, I wanna tell you another thing that, uh, comes to mind from, from the, from that תקופה. Uh, the-- In, in Parshas Tetzaveh, תוש"ט was the first time Thursday night I went in on Yechidus for my-- It was my first Yechidus. That's why I got that farbrengen. I didn't go back to Newark. I stayed in New York, and it was a sudden farbrengen, so I didn't miss it. The, the, the Rebbe Kalikov called in a group of bochurim, eight bochurim at that time, and proposed to them to go to Australia for, for two years with certain conditions. But six bochurim went. But Shabbos was a meir'n dike farbrengen, and I do remember quite well that farbrengen. Uh, I have seen many hazores of that farbrengen, so I don't wanna go into it. But, uh- I do remember the, the Rebbe's was That was, uh, as a kid, that was, uh, tremendous. But what I wanna say is that before they left, there was a a good, uh, bye party for them upstairs in 770. And Rabbi Hodakov spoke. And I do remember what he spoke, one of the, one of the things. He said that in Iyim Yem the Rebbe writes that a neshamah comes down to this world for 70, 80 years to

1:02:52 Speaker 1 do a favor once in ga- in gashmius, in kol sh'ken ruchnius. So he said, "Can you imagine a neshamah valger tzach, a neshamah runs around to find where is my shlichus?" Here the Rebbe took a group of young bochurim and tells them, "Mar bet zvoi, this is your shlichus why you came down in eylom haze. This is your place." So that was again, uh, a push towards the whole idea of, of, of, of lichus. I still remember it.

1:03:30 Speaker 2 Right.

1:03:31 Speaker 1 Uh, so, so that was a very strong nekude that we were nischanach that without that there is no life, so to speak. So if you don't mind, I, I, I wanna skip a little bit. I wanna come to, uh, a ra'ayah I had from the Rebbe, a tzel when I came to einas hashidduchim. Uh, in yeshiva Baruch Hashem, I had the zechus not only to be with my, uh, mashpiyim and rosh yeshivas in yeshiva, but on top of that, I Baruch Hashem had in New York two uncles, which I owe a tremendous hakoras hatov. I used to on a regular basis eat al shulchan om. After farbrengen the krias I was by Reb Yael and I had the zechus to have chazore right after the farbrengen. Uh, many times Reb Yosel Weinberg that was supposed to speak on the radio meitzoy Shabbos used to come along and he-

1:04:45 Speaker 2 So he used to do-- So Reb Yael basic the Shabbos with, with, with the chazore?

1:04:49 Speaker 1 Yeah. Uh, I'm going to say something, I don't know if it's nege or not nege, but, but, uh, it's an interesting detail that, uh, that I remember. There was a certain individual who got involved with Lubavitch. He came from a Frum Yekisha background. He was a educator, and he got involved with, uh, heading a, a Lubavitch school. He was the menahil. And I believe this was his first time by the Rebbe Tishrei, the end of Tishrei, middle of Tishrei. And at that time, the Rebbe had a tremendous, tremendous koch in Rashi sichas. The style that the Rebbe spoke then many times of farbrengen as Rashi's learning with a ben chamesh lamikra with a five years old. And the Rebbe used to use the expressions the ben chamesh lamikra asks, and the be- ben chamesh lamikra answers, and the ben chamesh lamikra bavont, uh, is commenting and, and, and so on and so forth. So it was after farbrengen, and this individual came also to Reb Yael's house, uh, to hear chazar. And as they were-- It was a Gishmek Rashi sicha. I, I don't remember, I think it was Parshat Vayelech somehow. But it was a Gishmek Rashi sicha, and the Rebbe spoke and elaborate on it, and he's sitting with open mouth and drinking every word. And after a half hour discussing the Rashi, he asked, he-- to Reb Yael, "I'm sorry if you don't mind, I wanna ask who is the mechaber for ben chamesh lamikra?" He thought that there is a sefer

1:06:40 Speaker 1 that is called Ben Chamesh Lamikra, and Ben Chamesh Lamikra asks and Ben Chamesh Lamikra answers. I, I remember that it, it was so live, it was so-- Uh, it was a, a stam shtuzim, but, uh, I still remember that.

1:06:56 Speaker 2 So it's like-- It sound your connection to Reb Yael also helped you understand the importance of the sichas and to be involved in it.

1:07:04 Speaker 1 Yael, Reb Yael gave us shiurim from the day we came to seven-- From the year we came to 770, unofficial. He started to teach us every Thursday night in 7:49 in the kitchen, and later in Ocean Parkway, Tosh Lamid, he gave us morning and evening he used to come. Mama, she-- We learned some mechbon with him, and he put it into our brain. He was so devoted, and later, uh, it was-- We have a very special relationship with him. And to be honest, I was very, very much influenced by my other uncle, who was a varmer chassidishe ringeman. Ibere Igeb bilev onefesh. To the Rebbe, he was, uh, he had the zechus that he-

1:07:49 Speaker 2 Ashki Azburg.

1:07:50 Speaker 1 Ashki, uh, he, he used the Likutei Sichos. He and Reb Heishke Dubrawski were, um, making the loshen. How do you say it? Uh, uh, signal the-

1:08:04 Speaker 2 The style. The styling of the language.

1:08:07 Speaker 1 Styling and the language improved. So he used many, many hours And, uh, uh, he definitely made a mark on me as well, as far as the warmth and the desire, uh, to see this into the Rebbe and to, to Shlichas. Uh, I had a very good group of Chaverim.

1:08:28 Speaker 2 Were you around-- Were you there, like, when his wife passed away, that, uh-

1:08:31 Speaker 1 Yes, I was in the house then.

1:08:33 Speaker 2 You, you were, you were living there?

1:08:35 Speaker 1 I, I came-- I was in Ocean Parkway that year, but Tishrei, I was in their house. I was living in their house, literally. It was a, a very interesting, uh-

1:08:46 Speaker 2 Right

1:08:46 Speaker 1 ... period. Uh, it was a very hard period. I remember that Simchas Torah that the Rebbe jumped up and started to dance when he started HaNigun. Uh-

1:08:55 Speaker 2 Do you want to t-t-say it a little bit?

1:08:58 Speaker 1 Okay. I mean, unfortunately, my aunt, my, uh, my, uh, my father's brother's wife, she was thirty-seven years old, and, uh, she had a group of, uh, young children, and she encountered, uh, uh, the yana machla, and within months, sh-she was gone. Sukkes. The levaya was Halomied, so they didn't sit shiva yet. And it came Simchas Torah, Shemini Atzeres Simchas Torah, my uncle used to go to a shul to be a mesamayach. So he took the k-

1:09:38 Speaker 2 Halucha.

1:09:38 Speaker 1 Ta'alucha. So he took the kids with him. And, uh, then came to the proper HaNigun, and he was the one who started the Nigunim. So at one point, he started famous Freilecher Nigun. The Rebbe gave a jump up, kicked the chair back, and started to dance with a million ikerenskait. It was definitely connected. It was very clear. It was a scene to see the Rebbe. Mamash, I've never seen the Rebbe should kick his chair. He jumped up. So, so that-- I'm saying bechal, the whole, the whole hall of heroes there. The Rebbe pushed him, and the Rebbe, the Rebbe lived with, uh... The Rebbe looked, uh, looked after.

1:10:51 Speaker 2 After.

1:10:51 Speaker 1 Pushed. The Rebbe pushed him later on to look for a Shidduch, and the Rebbe pushed the Shidduch. It was, uh-

1:10:59 Speaker 2 And you're saying he had a, a big influence on you. I mean, there's a lot of the-- We have a lot of the, the, the Mishpacha printed things that he wrote right from before the Neseus when he was, when he was there. So he's, uh-

1:11:10 Speaker 1 I was, uh-- I, I, I can't skip to say that he definitely gave me a tremendous Chassidishe warmkeit, uh, dedication to the Rebbe, not to do a thing without the Rebbe, and, uh, Ibri Gebenkeit. That was Menorabiel, obviously, I don't have to say. But from both sides, uh, I owe them both a tremendous amount of Hakoras Hatov. And then Chaverim, uh, definitely helped, the good Chaverim, the tremendous group. Uh, I wanna keep, as I said, to, um, to before, uh, the Inasa Shidduchim. When, uh, my parents were in Eretz Yisrael, so somebody proposed a certain name. I gave it to-- Uh, my sister was married already, and, uh, my uncles, they looked into it, and the report came that it's-- it c-could be suitable. And it was the first time I wrote to the Rebbe about a Shidduch. And I wrote that this one and this one was Matz-Matziami, this and this Shidduch. And, uh, they looked into it, and it seems reas-- it seems reasonable. And I asked the Rebbe, "A, should I be interested in Shidduchim? And if yes, is this Shidduch suitable?" And I don't know what came to me, but I ended up writing that since my whole life I'm hoping to go on Shlichas, and the father of the Meduberes is in business, and I wrote the words, "Hayim Yesh Lachshesh," that that will distract Shlichas. The Rebbe responded, "Yesh Lachshesh."

1:13:18 Speaker 2 Wow.

1:13:20 Speaker 1 Yandikt.

1:13:21 Speaker 2 Wow. See-

1:13:26 Speaker 1 That's it. I, I never saw her. I never... That was it.

1:13:32 Speaker 2 So you're pasht had a s'chost to see the Rebbe mamish directing you in the, in the Shidduch.

1:13:38 Speaker 1 I, I think that that's, uh, it was, uh, actually when my current, uh, the next Shidduch that came serious was my wife. My schwehr was also obsestikal in business, business and shmatas. So-- But I know I have to ask.

1:13:56 Speaker 2 Right.

1:13:56 Speaker 1 So I asked the same question. The Rebbe cr-uh, crossed it out, "Lisanyan." And then I had another shayla, and Rebbe Lahamshich. Uh, I had Baruch Hashem full deck of direction, uh, on a medium LaHashem, yeah, that mamish the Rebbe was interested in every single way of development-

1:14:22 Speaker 2 Right

1:14:22 Speaker 1 ... of, of, uh, molding me as a person and, uh-

1:14:27 Speaker 2 The frat, the frat that you have the same chashash by, by your wife and the Rebbe-

1:14:31 Speaker 1 I wrote the same words after I-- I mean, I know already what I have to do, right?

1:14:36 Speaker 2 Right.

1:14:37 Speaker 1 The Rebbe answered me clear, "Yesh Lachwish." I didn't expect, uh, such words, right? But so-- But the Rebbe crossed it out, "Lisanyan."

1:14:47 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

1:14:48 Speaker 1 So I thought that that was, um, uh, very interesting. And then I had a, a Yechidus with the Rebbe before the Chassanah, which also I can Ibizor Gavot that, uh, was N'gel HaRaben, not N'gel HaRaben.

1:15:07 Speaker 2 What year?

1:15:09 Speaker 1 Lamed Heh. I became a Chosson Lamed Heh right after Tishrei. Uh, that-that's Neguel take at the time because summer Lamad Gimel, the Rebbe made a sudden visit, uh, to the Kehilah, to Yadua. The Rebbe was ex-extremely unhappy. I'm not going to the details. I was still in Yeshiva. The Rebbe then I remember by far breaking-

1:15:41 Speaker 2 Rebbe was unhappy with what he saw in the Kehilah.

1:15:44 Speaker 1 Yeah. There was a first, uh, expression the Rebbe wants to close the Kehilah. And I remember the Rebbe used the word, "You didn't learn in Yeshiva Be-asmada O-shkeda, what are you doing in Kehilah?" Something along those lines. So in my mind, I was thinking, that wasn't the biggest Masmid in Yeshiva. Do I have to go to Kehilah? The Rebbe is not happy. If I'm... I'll go on Shlichus right away. Now, I had a kala. The fact that we're going on Shlichus was likayim L'shaila. There, there was no question, uh, before I saw that it was a commitment that we're going on Shlichus. Uh, there was, there was no shaila about it. But she wanted I should go for a year to Kehilah. We're going on Yechidas before the Chasana. So we have to write to Rebbe to ask what to do after the Chasana. That became a shaila, how do you write? Because I wanted to write, uh, we're asking the Rebbe what to do, where to go to the... But she wanted to write that she wants me to go to Kehilah for a year. Clear. I said, again, it was not a shaila about Shlichus. So we decided to write each one the way we wrote one title, but, uh, we wrote that the, the Negue to his status after the Chasana. So the, the kala wants I should go to Kehilah for one year, and we're asking the Rebbe what to do. That-that's all we wrote. I didn't want to write that

1:17:35 Speaker 1 I want, I don't want, uh... The Rebbe took the title, looked at it, and started to smile, and he said, "You write that she wants you should go to Kehilah. Aber lernend av stu doch. You need to be the one to learn." And the Rebbe stopped, and he's waiting for an answer. Uh, to be honest, I, I didn't know where to bury myself. What should I say to the Rebbe? Anyway, I, I uttered, "If the Rebbe halt, as if Davgen in Kehilah, well, if Gening Kehilah. If the Rebbe holds that I should go to Kehilah, I'm ready to go." So the Rebbe says, "Aber es dav zain or it's mu zain," I don't remember if he wrote as mu zain or as dav zain, "mit a simcha vetuv levav." And he stops, and he's waiting again. So I have to answer. So I said, "If the Rebbe halt ich soll gehen in Kehilah, is dos mit a simcha vetuv levav." So the Rebbe said like this: "Eiber simcha vetuv levav, it is zeir haglaich hazach apeinu. If it is mit a simcha vetuv levav with a joyous, glad heart, then it's a right thing for one year. Zeir haglaich hazach apeinu." Th-that was, that was it about that. But the Rebbe wanted to hear clear it's not, uh, it's mit a simcha vetuv levav. And even after I said, "If the Rebbe halt as if Davgen in Kehilah, it is mit a..." It was a name. Eiber simcha vetuv levav, it's like laich hazach. That's

1:19:24 Speaker 1 not that. That was also a clear, uh, direction. I was in Kehilah for one year. Uh, Borscht. I'm a very good year in Kehilah. And I, to the date, Rishon this year, I went out. Uh, we-- I got married Beis Nisan. So I went in Rishon this year. Rishon this year, I went out of Kehilah.

1:19:44 Speaker 2 A year later.

1:19:46 Speaker 1 A year later. I was there exactly a year. So again, uh, Berl Shemtov from Detroit came to me with a proposal that for the summer, I should come for two months to be the camp rabbi. I don't have yet any. I didn't want to hear anything during the year. The Rebbe told me to learn. That's it.

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1:22:10 Speaker 1 So I didn't have anything yet. Some names, all kinds of... So I asked the Rebbe, and the Rebbe answered me immediately, came out the tzetl, "Dov or Kabua." It should be something permanent, not, not temporary.

1:22:27 Speaker 2 If you're doing shlichas, it should be, uh-

1:22:29 Speaker 1 It was not vashail. It was definitely shlichas, aber permanent. Don't, uh, then not-- Don't take, don't take, uh, part-time. Don't take-

1:22:39 Speaker 2 Oh, oh, that so was the shlichas-

1:22:42 Speaker 1 That is not one. The shlichas await. Instead of starting looking now, you'll say you look after summer.

1:22:48 Speaker 2 Uh-huh. And the Rebbe said no.

1:22:50 Speaker 1 And the Rebbe said no. So, so then, uh, I put in, there was a few atoes, and then the Rebbe circled, uh, Toronto. So I said, "Baruch Hashem," uh, uh, "in, in two weeks, we're celebrating 50 years shlichas in Toronto."

1:23:12 Speaker 2 Oh. So the way, the way it worked was, uh, you were atoes. That, that was the-

1:23:19 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah.

1:23:19 Speaker 2 -situation.

1:23:20 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah. That, that was normal.

1:23:24 Speaker 2 Yes.

1:23:24 Speaker 1 We gave him va- various places that proposed, and the Rebbe directed us.

1:23:32 Speaker 2 So before we go into shlichas, I just wanna step one step back. Um, were there any, um... Is there anything from Yechidas or things when you were a bachor that, that you wanna share?

1:23:49 Speaker 1 I can say one thing that stands out. Otherwise, I don't think I had anything, uh, those years. Some women that would give a brocha. Again, on a personal that I s- I, I looked at it very, very personal, was in one of the Yechidas, uh, I wrote about my learning, and suddenly the Rebbe's asking me, "Where is thine chavrusse in Nigle?" Rebbe asked me, "Who do you learn with Nigle?" So I said, the Rebbe said, "Zostem zogen as noch dem vos milernt op artikl, Gemara artikl, Teisfes, daf men iberre- iberreden oysvenik vos mot gelernt." That was my... Thereafter, we learned a, a piece of Gemara or Teisfes, we should res- repeat it by heart what we learned. So that was, I, I mean, I felt that bechalal that the Rebbe had a personal-- It's, it wasn't just another thing. It was a personal to-touch that Rebbe gave me a roah how to learn.

1:25:07 Speaker 2 How to learn, yeah.

1:25:09 Speaker 1 Yeah. That, that was something I, I thought that... But bechalal, the Rebbe touched upon everything. The Rebbe gave us clear hedroas in everything we did. At least I can talk for myself. I, I, I was zecher that, uh, we had Yechidas, uh, before we went to Toronto.

1:25:34 Speaker 2 What happened?

1:25:36 Speaker 1 So first of all, we didn't have children yet. The Rebbe gave us a brocha, Mishana Moka, Mishana Mazal, that when you change a place, you have a change in, in your mazal. Baruch Hashem.

1:25:53 Speaker 2 You wrote to the Rebbe about, about, uh, children?

1:25:55 Speaker 1 Yes. Yes, yes. So yeah, we were at that time, uh, already a year and a half and nothing hap-- Over a year and a half and nothing happened. So, so we wrote. It, uh, I mean, it wasn't a disaster, but, uh, the Rebbe gave us a brocha. The Rebbe gave my wife 10 single dollars to give out to anyone that she will be mashpia to start to light Shabbos candles, and a book of matches for the Rebbe's chassidim. So that, that was-- We had. The Rebbe gave us a lot of brochas then. Tzlacha.

1:26:37 Speaker 2 The Rebbe, Rebbe had that ready before?

1:26:38 Speaker 1 Yeah. This is the, the from the drawer, the Rebbe took out.

1:26:43 Speaker 2 Okay.

1:26:43 Speaker 1 The Rebbe gave, uh, brochas, uh, tlacha, shlichas. During the, the shlichas, I also had Baruch Hashem private moments, so to speak. Not Yechidas, that was my last Yechidas by the Rebbe before we began the shlichas, then we couldn't go on Yechidas. But I had a few private moments that were very, very strong, so to speak, besides setlach that, uh, we had constantly answers. I, I wanna, I wanna maybe repeat a few episodes, not just Yehudit's. One day, I, I was standing in line by dollars. And before me stood a younger man from Crown Heights, I'm not going to mention his name, with his son. The son was younger than me, so he was, uh, either older teenager or something like that. And the son-

1:27:44 Speaker 2 What do you mean older than you?

1:27:46 Speaker 1 The, the son was younger than me a little bit. The son was-

1:27:51 Speaker 2 By dollars?

1:27:51 Speaker 1 By dollars. Um, we were going by dollars.

1:27:53 Speaker 2 To later years, yeah.

1:27:55 Speaker 1 Yeah.

1:27:56 Speaker 2 Okay.

1:27:57 Speaker 1 The son went off a little bit, a little bit longer hair, but, uh, whatever. And apparently he was not by the Rebbe for a while. And as the father came with the son to the Rebbe, I was standing behind, the son introduced, "This is my son, so and so." The Rebbe said, "Halavai v't'er gitrach vegmir v'fil yitrach vegniem." I wish that he would think about me as much as I think about him.

1:28:33 Speaker 2 Hmm.

1:28:34 Speaker 1 So this is a very powerful, uh, message from the Rebbe, how the Rebbe cared every single child. Th-this, I, I felt it had to be shared. Um, one of my famous moments with the Rebbe-- You know what? Let me retract first and just mention, I think since I'm, I'm already telling special moments, uh, with Rebetzin, Rebetzin Chaya Mushka, I had two times that I had a small interaction with her. One time was by the Seder, and I'll explain what it was. It's known that the Rebbe, till for as long as his mother-in-law was alive, he was inviting the Rebbe and the Rebetzin to the Seder. And the Rebbe conducted the Seder, and at that, uh, to the Seder, anybody who wanted was able to come in. So the Bochurim, whoever came, there was a, a group of special, unique individuals that were invited to the Seder, and they were sitting, and we stood around the table. The Rebetzins had their own room in the dinette. That's where they had the Seder. I didn't have a family in New York, so the Seder took 20 minutes or a half hour.

1:30:15 Speaker 2 You ate in the yeshiva?

1:30:17 Speaker 1 We ate in the yeshiva, so we-- The re- the first night, the Rebbe used to come to visit. Before the Rebbe's Seder, he went to the yeshiva. So when the Rebbe came, we were already all the, the, the keva, the Seder plate was prepared by us, full cup of wine. The Rebbe go- went around and gave a brocha. Sometimes the Rebbe-- I remember that year, the Rebbe, they prepared the small little glass, uh, plates, very small, for the meaning in order it shouldn't, it shouldn't wet the matzah.

1:30:53 Speaker 2 The matzah.

1:30:55 Speaker 1 So the Rebbe looked at it. He says-- Again, I don't remember the lotion, but the Rebbe says there has to be only six things on the matzahs. In other words, that this is a double chashu. So the Rebbe didn't, uh-

1:31:10 Speaker 2 Like it

1:31:11 Speaker 1 ... well, didn't like it. And then the Rebbe gave a brocha. But as soon as the Rebbe left, we made kiddush and made tzimmes, morokeyach for a second, and, uh, in old time, when we came upstairs, the Rebbe was not there yet. 'Cause the Rebbe gave out matzahs, uh, the Rebbe was not there yet. That was Chof Zayin, both dorim, and Chof Ches, both dorim. Chof Tes, first Seder, there was a large group who came from Eretz Yisrael, and somehow more Bochurim stayed. The pushing was unbelievable. It's a very interesting Seder. I remember I st- I stood right behind the Rebbe. And the Rebbe, the L'eynes and the Floyefs, daily the Rebbe did with his hand, "L'eynes and the Floyefs daily, Levad, Ike, L'eynes." And then the, they started to s- at the end, the Rebbe started to pause the station, Yerushalayim, and he started to make with his hands, and the Elom, after Dalet cases, the table started to move, as a chair f-broke, and one of the guests fell down, and it was, it was not a pretty sight, the gashmius. The Rehagav, that Seder, I remember a bocher who stood behind the Friedik Rebbe's chair. The, the Rebbe was not sitting the head of the table. There was a set chair with everything in front of the Friedik Rebbe's head at the table. And the Rashag, the Rebbe's brother-in-law, sat on the right side, the Rebbe sat on the left side. But the Bochurim were all around. So this particular bocher stood

1:33:04 Speaker 1 behind the Friedik Rebbe's chair. And that year was extremely, extremely, uh- Pushing and then-

1:33:15 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm

1:33:16 Speaker 1 So by, you know, subconsciously, the bocher put his hand on the Friediker Rebbe's chair. The Rebbe gave him such a look. I actually saw him not long ago. He said-- he asked him if he remembers that look. He'll never forget it in his life. The Rebbe's, the Rebbe is here. How dare you touch? Uh, that, that's a, that's a stam detail that I thought, um... There's a lot what to, to talk about the Seder with others, uh, I'm sure as of already, but I-

1:33:53 Speaker 2 You could do a whole podcast on the Seder.

1:33:56 Speaker 1 The Seder alone, yeah. So Boruch Hashem, it was-- there's six bochurim.

1:34:00 Speaker 2 Uh.

1:34:01 Speaker 1 I, I wanna say something specific. So, um, because there was a chaos and some of the guests came over to the Alter Rebbetsin, to Rebbetsin Kahaneman, and told her that, uh, that they will not come if the bochurim come in. So I don't know who called Dan Holler or Rabbi Mantik, uh, Rabbi David Raskin, and told them that they will not let in anybody till after Schwecha Moscow. And even then they'll let, uh, a little bit at a time. Uh, they came and announced in yeshiva in the Seder that, uh, no one should rush. We're a small group of bochurim, and we decided we're going. They won't let us in, they won't let us in. That's it. I believe there was 10, 12 bochurim. I don't think it was much more than that. We stood. You know, when you go upstairs, there's the landing, the upstairs landing before the door.

1:35:07 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

1:35:07 Speaker 1 We stood there. The guests were in there already. We stood. Uh, the, the, the bochurim, "What are you doing? You're not, you're not bothering anybody." We stood in the hallway, period. After a while, the door opens, and the Rebbetsin, Chaya Mushka, came out. Of course, we moved aside, and she went down to the Rebbe's room. She went into the Rebbe. She was there for a few minutes. The Rebbe was not upstairs yet.

1:35:38 Speaker 2 He didn't come in.

1:35:40 Speaker 1 No. Then she comes out, she goes up, and she turns to us and says, "Zeitar zeigut. Macht plotz for the guest to dur gehn." Make room for the guest to pass by. Which guest? The guest was in. It's for the Rebbe. A minute later, the Rebbe's door opened. The Rebbe started to come up. We stood aside. She opened the door, and she held her hand on the knob like. As the Rebbe came in, she made with her head, "Come in." So she let us in, and she locked the door behind us. So this group had the privilege to be there for a whole Seder, second night of Pesach.

1:36:37 Speaker 2 The Rebbetsin.

1:36:38 Speaker 1 The Rebbe, Rebbetsin let us in. So that's one of the encounters I had on a personal level with her. Afterwards, Vefarbrenge, the Rebbe spoke, Al Sicha about it, but that's nothing foreign. The second encounter I had with her, also on a personal level, is the Rebbe used to come seven seventy, whatever time it was, ten, 11. There was a Seder that the bochurim used to go to the Rebbe's house, and the Rebbetsin used to prepare a thermos with hot water, I believe, in a paper bag to bring-- we used to go home, pick it up. The Rebbetsin used to prepare it between the door and the, and the screen door.

1:37:23 Speaker 2 The front room.

1:37:25 Speaker 1 Front, the front door, between the outside door and, and the second. There's a thing-

1:37:31 Speaker 2 Yeah. They ca- they call it a mudroom, the mudroom.

1:37:34 Speaker 1 Not in the room. I'm talking about outside.

1:37:37 Speaker 2 But there's a, i-i... Not in the house?

1:37:39 Speaker 1 Outside.

1:37:40 Speaker 2 Ah. Ah, outside.

1:37:40 Speaker 1 The front door, there's a-- in front door, there was like a screen-

1:37:45 Speaker 2 Uh

1:37:45 Speaker 1 ... door. So between that, it was on the floor. So it came out, Rebbe Meir Arelis, Memunah. Every time someone else went. So I came out a few times that I also went. It was a spring day, but, uh, I c- I went to, to get the... As I was approaching the, the, the house, I see that the Rebbetsin is outside. Rebbetsin was on the, on the landing where the grass she picked up, sh-sh-flowers, uh, sh- I don't know. She was, uh, she was outside in the garden, like, uh, in the front yard, all the way in the front. I, I mean, I wouldn't... You know, I go, I, I do my, uh-- I wouldn't... All of a sudden, she saw me, and she turned to me, and she started to, "Oi, zeitar zeigut. Ir mus mir entschuldigen." She didn't prepare the thermos yet. She was talking with such a, like I'm the prime minister, with such a, uh, shtike Yechve, a little kid, yeah. "Zeitar zeigut. Ir, ir trankumen un tsuvartn. Tsvey minute." I didn't wanna go in at that time to go into the Rebbe's house. It was... Who went into the Rebbe's when I'm there? But who goes into the Rebbe's house? This is, uh... But she insisted that I should go in. I went in, and I was glued to the door, to the outside door, like I was... It took two, two minutes. She prepared it, and she came back and gave it to me, and again apologized, ches sored.

1:39:26 Speaker 1 So, so that was my, again, a personal encounter I had with Rebbetsin. And, and, and you saw she, she cared. Uh, uh, uh, she took your time. She... It doesn't matter who you are. So, so that, that stam I wanted to mention. That was, uh, it was probably something, uh, interesting.

1:39:48 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

1:39:49 Speaker 1 But, uh, I, I, I started to say before, I used to bring a lot of groups to the Rebbe from time to time.

1:39:59 Speaker 2 Adayem?

1:40:00 Speaker 1 Adayem. And you'll, you'll hear why Adayem.

1:40:04 Speaker 2 Okay.

1:40:05 Speaker 1 Adayem. Bechol is to bring groups, uh, all kinds of groups. It was, uh, from time to time.

1:40:11 Speaker 2 Shabbos.

1:40:11 Speaker 1 For Shabbos, yeah, but they're closed for Shabbos. Sometime later on for dollars sometimes, depending. Not only for Shabbos. And to be honest, uh, my personal broches that I got from the Rebbe was when I brought groups perhaps more than other times. Rebbe gave me very, very strong broches personal when I brought groups. Rebbe told me that one time, "Yarich lamal mamlachtei." And, but that particular Shabbos, I brought, uh, quite, uh, 50 people about a full bus. Noshim, Noshim were tough. We stayed in the Crown Palace Hotel, used to be the, the Grace of Palace. And, uh, Friday, I used to give in to the Rebbe a reshima, a list of Shemon ve'Shemimom, the names, mothers' names of all the participants and the itinerary. Now, Bal Lamashke. So that Shabbos was Shabbos Melech Mov. We-- The reason it was Shabbos Melech Mov, that time Rebbe didn't farbrengen every Shabbos. The only Vaday farbrengen was Shabbos Melech. And Ov was the lightest Shabbos in seven seventy. The kids are in camp, the counselors are in camp, Bochem American shlichas. So it was, uh... it's an easier time to come. So I gave in the settel and itinerary, and, uh, at the end of the farbrengen, the Rebbe said that, uh, "Divim som geshtalt Mashke, only etzaruf genom mach bizayn." Those who brought, uh, gave in Mashke should go-- come up and, uh, announce what the Mashke was about. That was, uh... So I came up actually with, uh, my colleague, Moshe Spalter. We were both there. The

1:42:08 Speaker 1 Rebbe took the bottle and, uh, poured a little bit to both of us, said L'Chaim. And then the Rebbe said like this, "Esteit horeiet eino shebikro, erech ole ogemi, umizmachris tishna lashon habo." I'm not sure if it was Tishna Lashon Habo or Tishke Lashon Habo. Whatever it is, that was the Rebbe's words to us. Which means that the-- it's written that when you see a fig that is about to ripen, you take a, a bag and you cover it, and you have to take it to Yerushalayim as bikurim, the first fruits. And when you come, you're getting the blessing you should repeat or merit next year to do again. So that was, uh... First of all, we see that the Rebbe called bringing people to the, to the Rebbe bikurim. As I had-- This is mamash the Rebbe told me. I mean, it was-- other people heard it too, but the Rebbe told it to me personally that you should bring people to bikurim. So I took it literally, and the next year, I brought a group to the Rebbe the same Shabbos. And I was zecher that the Rebbe spoke a whole sicha for the group that came from Toronto. It's interesting, when the Rebbe was magiya, the sicha, the Rebbe crossed out the word Toronto and wrote Tes with a di-- with a dat. I don't know why, but this is in, in the Hanochah you'll see- Tes ... like Tes with a dat. That's the Rebbe's correction. Hmm. Uh, that second year,

1:44:07 Speaker 1 the Rebbe spoke a whole sicha, and what is interesting from that second year was the Rebbe spoke, "L'chura, why are you bringing a group? They have over there a shul and jewry and else good and fine. And there's still Tula D'Garve, Til-Tilula D'Urche, et cetera. The, the, the person gets tired and then you're moving and..." But the idea is to come to be together, davening together, learning together. And the Rebbe mentioned, "And to go to the tzion together." To go to the oil, to the tzion together. That was not on our itinerary. Mm-hmm. Because at that time, we didn't go to the oil. It wasn't, uh... But the Rebbe said we have to change the whole itinerary with the bus. It was a whole gesheft. But from then on, we started to make sure that we go to the oil together. That was ha'ivah from the Rebbe. The Rebbe told us also-- The Rebbe said like this, "The..." When the Rebbe gave L'Chai the Mashke, Rebbe said, "Tell Doha Bisal should give out a little bit here, and the rest, you should have a farbrengen in Toronto. Bal ge toch Shabbos Chazon." Uh, no. "Bal ge toch Shabbos Nachamu." And the Rebbe said, "Over friar ge toch Shabbos Chazon." Rebbe Levi Yitzchak Arditcher said, as we know, written in the same Midrash, "Is the hemshach will sein in Toronto Shabbos Chazon." The Rebbe says, "You should have the continuation of this farbrengen in Toronto." At first, the Rebbe said- It's, it's Shabbos, Shabbos Nachamu. And

1:46:03 Speaker 1 the Rebbe like say-- But before that is Shabbos Chazon. And Chazon, Rebbe Levi Yitzchok says that they're showing each and every Jew the third Beis Hamikdash, so you should make the continuation in Toronto Shabbos Chazon. So that was, again, I heard that I had from the Rebbe clear. Um, and, and then the next year I brought again. The Rebbe spoke again a sicha. The Rebbe did not mention Toronto the third year, but the Rebbe spoke about the kvutze that came, the group that came, and concluded the sicha, so the kvutze and the Eim Habrachim should start the Nigun of Aratz. So that was three years in a row. Right. Uh, so Baruch Hashem, since then, excluding the year of COVID, the years, two, three years of COVID, this is my Shabbos to bring a group. Shabbos. Shabbos Yeah. I've, uh, I've been by the oil before when the, when the kvutze was there. But that's why, that's why it's this Shabbos, not our Shabbos. Shabbos That's, that's, uh, became since Tov Shin Nun Heh, I believe. Mm-hmm. Mem He. Mem He. Mem He. It's over 40 years, Baruch Hashem, that, uh- The group ... the group, that bringing a group. And there was, um, you, you brought the group to Dollars. Were there- Of course ... any yanim that happened then by, uh, by Dollars? There was all kinds of yanim. I don't have it clear. There was, uh, one guy, some guy with, with Romania, with Yugoslavia. I, I don't remember it 'cause I

1:47:52 Speaker 1 don't wanna repeat it. Uh, there's a famous video that, uh, I brought, uh, the group and one guy that was a guest, uh, from Eretz Yisrael, he asked me if he can join, which I did not know who he was. So obviously, I say, "You wanna go to the Rebbe?" So he came with us, and by Dollars, he stopped the Rebbe and spoke to the Rebbe about giving back land. And this is a famous, uh, 10-minute video that the Rebbe speaks to him. He was one of the heads of the Sh-Shalom Achshav. Oh, yeah, yeah, that video. Yeah. So that's, that's one of my- So you didn't know about how he's gonna do this? No, I did not. I stand-- I'm standing there right behind him. Right. Yeah. Okay. 'Cause, uh, that was one of the people that I, uh, I brought to the Rebbe not knowing, uh, who he was. Uh-huh. Right. He, he came to say the opposite- He came to s- to, to, to try to debate, to change. I mean, whatever. But, uh- It's very good v-- I'm saying it's very, for us, chassidim, especially today in Israel- Yeah, yeah ... it's like, uh- Very, very interesting video. There are very-- A, a lot of interesting, uh, vertlach, uh, that the Rebbe... Uh, I, I should also mention, uh, one year was before Dollars, not Shabbos . I think it was in the summer, but I don't remember exactly when. I brought a group, not large, and I think Zusha Zilberstein

1:49:20 Speaker 1 from Montreal also brought a group for that Shabbos. Sunday morning, we all stood in the foyer. Then when the Rebbe comes from the house, say or something. And again, I, I am not clear what took place, but the Rebbe sent out to each and every one of us on a sticker. Right. Let me pull it out so- You carry it in your wallet? I carry it in my wallet. That it's not, uh, new already, but this is the . A little closer. Ah. It was on a sticker. Uh-huh. On a roll, and each one got one. That's not a re-- That's not a regular thing. Uh, that's why I'm, uh, I'm repeating things that were unique. Yeah. Otherwise, what's the point of, uh, repeating? Yeah. So this I got also... I told you that when, when I brought groups, I, I had on a personal level such a... I, I felt that the Rebbe wanted it. The Rebbe wanted we should bring people to the Rebbe. Yeah. And that wanted, the Rebbe wants. And I believe that the Rebbe, the Rebbe to bring to the Rebbe bikurim is, is a mitzvah. And they say, "Allen," although I, I, I heard it myself, but, uh- S- Let me ask you a question. Uh, is there any other story you wanna share? 'Cause I wanna ask you a different type of question. Go ahead. I'm saying I'm listening to everything that you're saying, from your fathers, zaydes, and, uh, chassidun that you were around, then hearing

1:51:28 Speaker 1 from the Rebbe alein the importance of schlichus, what you mentioned about the Chabadik of... So it seems that-- I mean, I'm especially thinking about the letter that the Rebbe wrote to your mother about, uh, the tafkid of dereinu or our, what our job is in this, uh, generation. Yeah. So what it like-- This was all happening live then, and, and you're, you, you experienced it happening and, and, you know, in re- in real time. My question is that for- Today's youth in Galit and Bacherim, um, I mean, it's still the Tafkid Ereinu. So what is the-- how do we impart or live with this, uh, knowing the importance of the job of our generation? I guess that's, uh, my question. Yeah. I'm g- I'm going to try to answer, but there's another story which is, I-I think, a very powerful story that I wanna share with you. So I can either share it before your question or after your question. Uh, let me share- Go ahead. Share the story. Yeah, because this is something that, uh, is not as known. Uh, not as known. It's not known, unless a few people that heard it. Um, it was Tisha B'Av base. My father, four years was by the Rebbe, and he had the tremendous yearning to come to the Rebbe. It was the second year where he's established a new school in Holon, and my father BeChlal established Holon, and theref- thereafterward, he established a school in Nazareth. And, uh, my father was a, a tremendous

1:53:12 Speaker 1 activist. And he wanted to come. B-But Tisha is the beginning of the year. So somehow his He said, uh, he didn't-- he said he can't go. Uh, he listened to him. So my fa-- Again, without going into details, my father- But they work, they work for the That's the setup? Yeah, he got us. Yeah. Officially, the Rebbe insisted. Rebbe insisted not to go into but to go under independent. Not Mizrochi, not attached to any party, but under Clear, under the government. The That's it. Because of my father decided he's leaving, he, he arranged a substitute with all his and he came to New York. He came to New York, so the way, the way I remember it is Khadakov called him and told him that if he would be alter Hasid, he would be told to fly right back. But this, he's not being told, but he's in Eretz Yisrael, and all the answers he'll get there. He came without permission. He's in Eretz Yisrael. No. Yeah. You, you don't, you don't exist there. Yeah. He-- The Rebbe didn't answer Of course, nothing. You can imagine what kind of a... By, by the way, then to come to the Rebbe was, was a half a year's salary. You can imagine what, what he felt like. The majority of the crowd did not know about it, just a few very intimate friends. So there was-- I, I think I can say who it was, uh, a Hasid by the name of Meir Bluzhinsky, a Hasid from,

1:55:35 Speaker 1 from Eretz Yisrael. Yeah, a legend in, in his own name. He went in on Yechidus. When he was on Yechidus, he decided to tell the Rebbe. He said, uh, that Gansburg is here, and he's so heartbroken. Maybe the Rebbe should let him in. On his own, he asked the Rebbe. The Rebbe responded, and that's what I, uh, telling you the way it is. The Rebbe lifted himself in the chair. He says, When you send a soldier on the front, and he hears that a king comes in a nearby place, and he will leave his post and go and see the king, the Rebbe said, "If so, I have no reason to sit here." In other words, you gotta be a soldier that, that listens to what he says. So, I mean, obviously, he left the way he came. Then he got letters from the Rebbe. I mean, Baruch Hashem, my father had afterwards a lot, a lot of the Rebbe. This you did wrong, be aware, and that's it. You're a soldier. A soldier needs to listen. And I, I think this is a very, very strong lesson which I have in my life. I think about it many times. We're soldiers. We're shluchim, but we're-- the shlichus has to be that you have to know you have a boss, and you can't do what you feel. Even if spiritually you feel that this is uplifting you, you gotta know if this is your post now. You can't go away from your post. So, so

1:57:50 Speaker 1 the, the-- I learned a tremendous lesson from this story, so I felt that, uh, I should share it. Okay. I think you answered my question. Okay. I don't remember what exactly your question was now, but, uh... Uh, okay. The, the Yad Ereinu has to know that, uh, we have a post. Absolutely. The Rebbe, the Rebbe gives us a post. Yeah. We were assigned, and Baruch Hashem, I, uh, I know that this is my shlichus in life, and everybody has to know that they have their shlichus in life. And changing is, is, uh... That's what the Rebbe wants us to do, and that's what we need to do, and that's what we continue to do. Im Yirtze Hashem the Rebbe again. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Okay. Gansburg. And, uh, you said it's 50 years, right? 50 years, yeah. Some time- So, uh, should be a good for the next 50 years. Amen. We sh- After the is also, uh, shlichus. Let, let him come already. From then on, we'll, we'll work it out. We'll figure it out. Okay. and, uh, Thank you very much. Yeah. Thank you for listening. I hope that some benefit will come out of it. I, I believe that a tremendous amount will, so Okay.