Ep. 31: The Rebbe Means What He Says with Rabbi Shlomo Cunin

00:00 Speaker 1 'Cause the Rebbe says what he means, the Rebbe means what he says. Correct. Listen, the Rebbe says, "Do what you could do." The whole second class, another year with Tehillim. I never miss a day putting on Tehillim at least one year. On the planes that I fly back and forth once a month, in the lounges. Not an easy business. Not an easy business, but you do what you gotta do. One more woman using a mikveh, one more meshichist, one more follower of the Rebbe, one more Tehillim, one more mezuzah. That's what it takes. That's the that is what ties us to our Rebbe.

00:42 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/donate. I'm Yossi Kamen. Welcome to Among Chassidim by Der Her, an ongoing fabrengen 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. A gute vokh, Rabbi Kunin, how are you?

01:24 Speaker 1 I'm fine.

01:25 Speaker 2 Okay. for being, uh, here. Uh, I know you're here at Shabbos Mevarchim, but, uh, thank you for making the time to talk to me.

01:34 Speaker 1 It's my pleasure 'cause Der Her plays a very important part of the Rebbe's wonderful, wonderful continuing leadership. 'Cause Der Her helps people to understand that we are never alone 'cause the Rebbe is the best tatty in the world, in all of history. No good tatty, no good father would leave his children alone. So the Rebbe set it up, a special system, how Chabad Lubavitch should go forward, and that one of the most important things was Agudas Chabad. My grandfather, Menachem Mendel Taumin, one of the found-- founders of Chabad in America, was part of the first Agudas Chabad and put up a lot of money to buy 770. Agudas Chabad has always been, from the earliest days of its existence, with the understanding that we are servants of our Rebbe, and what the Rebbe wants from us is what we do. We have no own regular beliefs. La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la. We follow the directives of our Rebbe, and when you follow the directives of our Rebbe, then you don't go lost. It's as simple as that. My first situation with Agudas Chabad, I was in 770, which I come very often. Now I come every Shabbos Mevarchim, many years already. Rabbi Botachov was looking for me. I, I go, "I'm going to the office." You never know what that means. I said, "Yes?" The Rebbe's the one who appointed you now to Agudas Chabad. I give it over to you in name of our Rebbe.

04:00 Speaker 2 Do, do you remember when that was?

04:03 Speaker 1 Many, many years ago.

04:05 Speaker 2 It was after the Sfarim.

04:06 Speaker 1 Huh?

04:06 Speaker 2 It was after the s- After the story of the Sfarim-

04:09 Speaker 1 Much before

04:10 Speaker 2 ... before?

04:11 Speaker 1 You're talking about the Sfarim-

04:12 Speaker 2 No, not the Sfarim in Russia, the Sfarim-

04:13 Speaker 1 Now, you mean the-

04:14 Speaker 2 Yeah, with the, with the library here.

04:16 Speaker 1 No, that, not... No, no, no. It was after.

04:18 Speaker 2 It was after that. Okay, so let me ask you a few questions. Uh, we'll go back to Agudas Chabad soon. So you mentioned that your Zeide was part of Agudas Chabad in America, and I wanna know about your, um, the, your early years and your early connection to the Rebbe, like where, where you're from and, uh, your, your first interactions with the Rebbe.

04:46 Speaker 1 My initial meeting with the Rebbe was at a fabrengen. Halamei Sukkot. I was a young little kid.

04:59 Speaker 2 Where, where did-- Where were you living?

05:01 Speaker 1 I was living in Bronx, New York.

05:02 Speaker 2 Bronx.

05:03 Speaker 1 I was born in the Bronx. My father was born in Manhattan. I'm a third-generation American. But all, my whole family's always been connected to the Rebbe. All the Mendel Kunin, 'cause that is the source of . It was before the crash in 1929, the stock market crash, and my Zeide, he made his money from the stock market. He gave away .

05:36 Speaker 2 He was a Lubavitcher Chassid?

05:38 Speaker 1 Oh, of course.

05:39 Speaker 2 So he's from Russia.

05:40 Speaker 1 Yes.

05:40 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

05:43 Speaker 1 So whatever the case is, he takes me by the hand. "We're gonna go now to the Rebbe at 770 to a fabrengen." That's the first time I was with the Rebbe. Then we were going to public school, PS 114. Why? Because Zayde Mendel, together with Zayde Motta, also a, a ‹foreign language› Philadelphia. They went to see the one school, one school in ‹foreign language› for ‹foreign language›. So they, they said, "Before we send the children there," I was much younger, "we're gonna wanna see ourselves what it looks like." They told the people, "We're gonna be here for a day, then we'll make a decision." They sat there for a few hours. They said, "Bye-bye. Thank you." What did they figure out? That unfortunately these teachers were the, were the ‹foreign language› from Europe o-originally, and not only that, they smacked the kids.

07:06 Speaker 3 Hmm.

07:06 Speaker 1 "Get up, sit down. Shut up!" They said, "The king of ‹foreign language› was always waxing onto Semitism. The children will be here. They're going to grow up to be anti-Semites." So what he did was, so Mendel Simpson, al av harachamim, was hired to come to the Bronx, teach me and my brother a few times a week after we finished in public school. Public school, we went with big yarmulkes. Big yarmulkes, directly across the street from my house. And that's how the first time I met with someone who was really involved on a day-to-day basis-

07:49 Speaker 3 Shalman

07:49 Speaker 1 ... which was Rabbi Simpson. Then I was 11 years old. My brother, ‹foreign language› was going to be 12, and we're going to see the Rebbe. So the Rebbe looks up at my mommy, and my mother, which today is her yahrtzeit, Rachel ‹foreign language›, very close to the Rebbe. The Rebbe treated her as his own daughter. She asked the Rebbe questions in the letters. "Should my children take hay fever shots to stop the allergies?" Simple things back and forth. My mama, al av harachamim, would sit by the piano and play in the Bronx. ‹foreign language› Tears would come down on her face. "Mama, why are you crying?" She wouldn't say anything. Finally, one time, I was really grown up, I said, "Mama, please, you have to share the information with us." She started to cry. She said, "I never wanted you to know, but all of my family, my brothers and sisters and their children, were all killed by the Germans. My father, Motta Wilska, got for them passports, got for them all papers necessary to come to America, citizen, everything." And you see the letters. He sent them letters, "Come, come, come. I'm gonna send you the documents." Zayde say, "Don't worry about it. Nothing's gonna happen. We're in Warsaw. It's gonna be good." He writes another letter, ‹foreign language›, "Come to America." Another letter comes back, "We are not coming." He sends another letter, ‹foreign language›. That's the last letter they received before all of them were killed. So this is the background

09:58 Speaker 1 where I come from.

09:59 Speaker 3 Mm-hmm.

10:03 Speaker 1 We met, my rebbe and myself, because of the Rebbe. What happened? In America then was a breakdown of Yiddishkeit. If you didn't work on Shabbos, you couldn't make a living. Very, very bad. There were Yidden that said, "I'd rather die a ‹foreign language› in Europe than die a ‹foreign language› in America." That's what America was about. My Zayde Wilska in Philadelphia told my mommy, "I only ask from you a few things when you to get married. Number one, he has to put on tefillin every day. Number two, he has to keep Shabbos, he has to keep kosher, and you will have to go to the mikvah. And if you don't keep these four things, don't come crying, ‹foreign language›. Don't come crying by my funeral and then by my kever." That's what America looked like. So Walter came to the, to the boat to meet the ‹foreign language› of the ‹foreign language› Rebbe.

11:13 Speaker 3 Who?

11:13 Speaker 1 His name was M-Mottel Chefer, if I remember correctly.

11:16 Speaker 3 That's right.

11:17 Speaker 1 I ma- I may make a mistake. And they met each other. They g- Both the Zaydes met each other at the boat. They looked at their beards. ‹foreign language› That's how America looked like. That's how I came into the picture.

11:36 Speaker 3 Mm-hmm.

11:37 Speaker 1 That's how our family came. So now we're by the Rebbe, and Rebbe looks up at my mommy and says, "Now is the time they will have to go to the yeshiva." ‹foreign language› Mama says, "It's very far away."

11:53 Speaker 3 Yes.

11:53 Speaker 1 The Rebbe says, "Well, we have a dormitory. Put them in the dormitory." My mama said, "But doesn't matter, ‹foreign language›. This is my two eyes." I can't-- how can I be away from them? So the Rebbe starts. The Rebbe says, "First and foremost, you will go Sunday morning..." Excuse me. "You will go Monday morning by train to Yeshiva. There you'll get a room. It'll be Monday..." Actually, Sunday. "You'll go on Sunday on the train. It'll be Monday alone. Tuesday, you will come," the Rebbe is saying this, "to bring sandwiches to them and take care of that," which we did. Now, so you've, you've seen them already Sunday before they left. Now you-- the Rebbe is saying this, "Now you're seeing them on Tuesday 'cause you're going to them." So you have Wednesday and Thursday you wouldn't see them. Friday, they're coming home.

12:55 Speaker 3 For Shabbos.

12:56 Speaker 1 For Shabbos. So isn't this something that could work? That's my introduction to Umze Rebbe. How he takes, how he took the time to take two little kids and handle them as if they were mamish his kinder, which we are. That's my beginning. From there, from Bais Medrash Elyon, I then went to Newark and Grohmann Avenue as one of the talmidim there. From there to Seven seventy. Then sixty years ago, sixty, six zero years ago, went to the Rebbe. My rebbetzin was then seventeen years of age. "Ad mojim bas bo maleah u'shuv haveh a ful shlema," okay. And the Rebbe said, "But they took far enough shluchas in California."

13:53 Speaker 3 This is in, this is in the yechidus before marriage?

13:55 Speaker 1 Huh?

13:56 Speaker 3 This is in the yechidus before your marriage?

13:58 Speaker 1 This is in the yechidus before we got married, correct.

14:01 Speaker 3 Mm-hmm.

14:03 Speaker 1 We w- We got married in December, and in Nisan, right after Pesach is when we went on shluchas. So then the Rebbe looked up, and the Rebbe says, "Shleimes einem in gantz California." My parents were in the same yechidus with us.

14:24 Speaker 3 So it was einem in gantz-

14:25 Speaker 1 Einem in gantz California.

14:27 Speaker 3 Conquer whole California.

14:28 Speaker 1 In, in the, the sixties, we would not say capture, we would say liberate. 'Cause those were the sixties. You say the words ca-capture, you're finished. And that's what happens. That's how we land now in Los Angeles. Rabbi Itzik was here, al avraham smu davit. His job was to work with the Holocaust survivors.

14:51 Speaker 3 Mm-hmm.

14:51 Speaker 1 Many of them who, who were, were drifting away from Yiddishkeit, their families destroyed. He would travel to other cities to do the same. It wasn't a job to build moises. So when the Rebbe sent us, we're people of action. As soon as we hit the ground, we said, "Where is that place we can be for Shabbos?" Oh, Young Israel on Spaulding and Melrose, not far from where we were living in the Fairfax District. So my rebbetzin was very good with artwork, and she made a drawing. "Shabbos party. Children, no charge. Candy, songs, sodas, free of charge. This is the address." She made a beautiful list.

15:45 Speaker 3 To your house?

15:46 Speaker 1 Huh?

15:47 Speaker 3 To your home?

15:48 Speaker 1 No, to Young Israel.

15:49 Speaker 3 Young Israel, okay.

15:50 Speaker 1 To Young Israel. We stood by the, by the doors of the kids coming out. We gave it to them. Candies, soda. Baruch Hashem, must have had twenty girls upstairs in the Bible show with my rebbetzin, and at least that amount with me downstairs. Baruch Hashem. That's how we started.

16:14 Speaker 3 Mm-hmm. I have a question for you. Um, I'm just gonna step one step back before California. When you were a bachur, you spoke about, you spoke about that from when you're a child, this, uh, this, uh, connection like a father to, to, to a child that you felt with the Rebbe. Um, how did you f- Ho- Was this the same feeling when you were bachurim, and was there like an, an involvement that you had, like, like a child to the Rebbe? And when-

16:43 Speaker 1 It only kept getting stronger and stronger and stronger. 'Cause you see, many people didn't have the understanding that the Rebbe needs something b'gashmiyus. So the Rebbe would come, and there'd be a snowstorm, so the car couldn't come in to the service lane of Eastern Parkway. So the Rebbe would have to walk out from Seven seventy down the stairs, and then the Rebbe would have to go to get to Seven seventy to walk on the sidewalk in the snow. But we knew that the streets were being swept, so we got a snow machine.

17:30 Speaker 3 Like a snowplow.

17:31 Speaker 1 I bought a snow machine that... A snow blower.

17:34 Speaker 3 Snow blower.

17:34 Speaker 1 It's like l- It looks like a lawnmower. And what I would do is clear the way. Uh, Rabbi Lipskin and a few of the other bachurim worked with me to clear the way to be able to have a way the Rebbe could walk. We would do the stairs of Seven seventy. We'd always wait more or less for when the Rebbe is coming out, clean the stairs quickly, and then hide yourself. You don't stand with your face like this. One time the Rebbe decided to come out a little bit early . And there was a snow blower blowing snow. Thank God that the funnel was where the Rebbe's suitcase today, in that direction. It had its own traction with its wheels. I see the Rebbe coming, wasn't standing in front of the madam. So I put my face in the snow. The machine is still going forward . Still, still going forward on its own. And then my face is like this into the snow, and then I feel something. The Rebbe's looking. A great shmeckel. So this is all good. So we would then go when necessary, where the Rebbe would walk from seven seventy to, to Kingston Avenue down to where the Rebbe had the apartment, Rebbe Sarah Hannah.

19:00 Speaker 3 Mm-hmm.

19:02 Speaker 1 So we would clean the way, the whole way. That's when cars couldn't go. It's like this, that would go with cars. We'd have to clean the steps. But this time the cars couldn't go. So that's what we did. Then came the question, but is that Shabbos? What's gonna be Shabbos? Terrible storm. I gathered together a group of winter Chabadim and said, "We have to have only Shabbos, the Shabbos. I want a lot of hot water." They had an apartment, and, and before six seventy, sixty Eastern Parkway, come out near the corner of, of Brooklyn Avenue. This was the Jaffe and Jaffe, the English people with hot water they had. I said, "You have to prepare a lot of hot water, 'cause we're gonna have a ienia Shabbos." The ienia Shabbos is that we will go for a walk on Shabbos in the snow. What could be more h-happy than going for a Shabbos day to walk? Got a group, a couple of the Chabadim. We went upstairs, got a lot of hot water, and we started walking.

20:17 Speaker 3 Mm-hmm.

20:20 Speaker 1 Kingston Avenue, and then we crossed the street, because then the streets were being plowed, so it would be no problem that they would walk in the street. All of a sudden, a snowplow is coming, which pushes around this, uh, all the, all the stuff that we set. Now we're stuck on the corner of Brooklyn Avenue and Eastern Parkway. So I said, "Chabad, ienia Shabbos." Stuff like this. Like was at the oil.

20:52 Speaker 3 Exactly.

20:53 Speaker 1 The Rebbe would stand in the water. How could you let the Rebbe stand in ice water?

20:56 Speaker 3 Like in the... They would like, um... The water would come up in the, in the cold.

21:00 Speaker 1 I'm talking about now the, going to the oil.

21:02 Speaker 3 Yeah, at the oil, there was like a puddle of water.

21:05 Speaker 1 At the oil, at the, the Rebbe would... Originally, the Rebbe would put the packages on the wall.

21:10 Speaker 3 Mm-hmm.

21:10 Speaker 1 Hope it come along with ienia. At the wall, the pack are getting bigger, and the Rebbe's... I'm always working from the little room. The Rebbe's balancing them. I took my life in my hands. Again, my Rav Mel Lipska helped me. We built a board like this with clips, with, with back on piece of plywood. Put it, two piece of wood holding it on the wall and set it free. We, we... ienia, it's not an easy story.

21:43 Speaker 3 Right.

21:44 Speaker 1 It doesn't work that way. But you gotta do what you gotta do. Rebbe walked in. We're watching from the corner. Rebbe takes, puts the pack on the board. Rebbe takes one, another little bag or so to put in, uh, uh, torn off piece he wants to take back with him, using the clips as if it was always there.

22:04 Speaker 3 Clips, yeah, like-

22:05 Speaker 1 Huh?

22:05 Speaker 3 They had like clips to put the bag.

22:07 Speaker 1 Yeah, u-use the clips to hold these bags, and all the bags will lie just on, on top of the board.

22:14 Speaker 3 And Rebbe just used it as if it was always there.

22:16 Speaker 1 So very easy to roll.

22:18 Speaker 3 Rebbe used it as if it was, it was always there. Rebbe just used it.

22:20 Speaker 1 As if it was always there.

22:21 Speaker 3 Mm-hmm.

22:22 Speaker 1 Then the next step is it got to be too small. So I built a bigger one, bigger walls. Ultimately, both of them ended up by me because when they went to put in the, the... When we used to put in the second board, the first board was surplus. Then when they made that little booth, that would be worthless again. It wasn't necessary. But then we see the Rebbe standing in water with the sneakers, ice water. Again, you take your life in your hand when you play at the oil. We got two by sixes pieces of lumber, two by fours, and built a little platform this high. Shaking. How do you do something like this? Rebbe walked in, stood on the board perfectly, just the way it's supposed to be. Then there was a fire at the oil with the butyl with not knowing how to connect the propane gas from the tank to the heater that was put in to, to warm.

23:32 Speaker 3 You were involved with putting in the heater also?

23:34 Speaker 1 No.

23:35 Speaker 3 No, that's okay.

23:35 Speaker 1 The heater, and there was also a, a, uh, encasement-

23:39 Speaker 3 Mm-hmm

23:40 Speaker 1 ... of plywood and metal. So now somebody else was driving the Rebbe 'cause he wasn't capable.

23:48 Speaker 3 Because he got injured when he, uh-

23:50 Speaker 1 He was injured.

23:51 Speaker 3 Mm-hmm.

23:52 Speaker 1 The other person, what he, what butyl would do is hold the, when it would rain or snow, then he would hold the umbrella over the Rebbe.

23:59 Speaker 3 Mm-hmm.

24:00 Speaker 1 Right next to where the Rebbe's

25:15 Speaker 4 What am I gonna do? I took a deep breath. I took the board. I walked right in front of the Rebbe. The Rebbe straight in the eyes Rebbe looked up, "Oh." Took two steps back, stood on the board. And why am I sharing all of this? You asked me before, what's the youth? What's a bachur? What's all these things is. You have to know. from heaven to be tied to our Rebbe, it starts off with you. And when you take the first step, the Rebbe then takes you by the hand. But you have the responsibility to tie yourself to the Rebbe. How do you do it today? So many years have gone by. How do you do it? Just do it. If the Rebbe wanted, the Rebbe could do-- could appoint someone to do whatever he wanted. He didn't appoint. He appointed committees, like a He appointed committees. I told you the story about Friday night with the Gadol, right? When Khodorkov called me.

26:23 Speaker 5 Yeah.

26:23 Speaker 4 I told you that story. That's how I got involved.

26:25 Speaker 5 Right.

26:26 Speaker 4 It was a that fought the first case against a gentleman, I don't wanna even say that, who stole from downstairs.

26:34 Speaker 5 From the Seder.

26:34 Speaker 4 And now the Rebbe is talking about a farbrengen and nobody knew what it's about. Rebbe starts to scream, So everybody thinks, How do you in Shabbos? If you're connected, you know what to do. I took a folding chair upstairs by-- up the wooden stairs by the door where the librarian, who was a dear friend of mine, Tilla Sully, would go in. I sat on the chair. "What are you doing here?" 'Cause the Rebbe says what he means. The Rebbe means what he says. the Rebbe says, Do what you can do. Don't sit and cry. Another I never miss a day putting on tefillin with at least one Yid. On the planes that I fly back and forth once a month, in the lounges. Not an easy business. Not an easy business, but you do what you gotta do. One more woman using a mikvah, one more neshech, one more memory of the Rebbe, one more tefillin, one more mezuzah. That's what it takes. That's the That is what ties us to our Rebbe. And when you are tied, you always see the Rebbe's hand. Never ever alone.

28:11 Speaker 5 So I have a question for you. Um, you're talking about never ever alone. So I know that everyone knows the story of the shluchim in California. You know, we've all been exposed to it, the telethon and other things like that. But it didn't happen in one day, and, uh, you, you started talking about you and your rebbetzin, how you started off. But I think right away, a few months later or a year later, you're already bringing people to the Rebbe and starting the pa'ulus in a big way in California. So maybe-

28:41 Speaker 4 Right

28:41 Speaker 5 ... maybe you can tell me a little bit how that, how that happened and the Rebbe's, uh, reaction to what you were doing in California.

28:51 Speaker 4 I have to be here for three weeks to talk.

28:54 Speaker 5 Well, we'll try what we can.

28:55 Speaker 4 I'll give you an example.

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30:51 Speaker 5 through your financial support as well through visiting our website, derher.org, or through contacting us to setting up a meeting. Thank you very much. Enjoy the rest of the podcast.

31:01 Speaker 4 I take everything the Rebbe says literally So it's a sha-- ayin alef mosdos, right? Shnas haShivim from the Rebbe.

31:11 Speaker 5 The Rebbe said, "Taf taf shlammen beis"

31:13 Speaker 4 Taf shlammen beis.

31:13 Speaker 5 Seven years to make, uh, seventy-one institutions.

31:15 Speaker 4 I'm making mesad, and people are saying that I should retire. But look, hold on, a matana, ayin alef mosdos, seventy-one new institutions. Right away, I scribble a little note. I stood next to Meir Hala, Kal VaShaal. Easy to pass things up. Only me and my Rebbe can understand my writing . Peter has said, "Meir Hala, settle with them. Second to ten percent."

31:37 Speaker 5 Ten percent of the seventy-one institutions.

31:39 Speaker 4 Ten percent of the seventy-one new institutions. Baruch Hashem. There was one young man that was there. We had bought already before that for the Rebbe's birthday, we bought a little crown for the Rebbe sefer Torah. Like this was no crowns, only on meshiach sefer Torah. I spoke to Rabbi Gordon, "You have any idea?" He said, "Why not try a kesar?" So handmade from three different sort of beautiful little kesar.

32:10 Speaker 5 For the Rebbe's Torah.

32:12 Speaker 4 For the Rebbe's sefer Torah. When we went to the Rebbe, we gave the Rebbe as a matana, the kesar. Then I bought with a Rebbe, a young man that was in one of the cities in California, working for a different mosad. I said, "You keep saying you wanna go haShlichus. You wanna go haShlichus? Come with me. If you don't, don't talk with me." "I'm ready, okay?" Going to the Rebbe, I introduce him as the first shliach already.

32:43 Speaker 5 You brought him into the Rebbe?

32:45 Speaker 4 Into the Yechidus. I took him with me.

32:47 Speaker 5 Ah.

32:47 Speaker 4 Shaking like this, he was. Took him in. That was the first shliach of the seventy-one-

32:52 Speaker 5 Mm-hmm

32:52 Speaker 4 ... mosdos that we needed. And we created... By the time we were finished, we did twelve new mosdos. Not so mech mosdos like a wolfin, ma basharomin. What the Rebbe says, he means. What the Rebbe means, he says there's no such thing as vad kevod haprimius. The Rebbe

33:13 Speaker 5 Mm-hmm.

33:13 Speaker 4 What the Rebbe says he means, what the Rebbe says he does, and you will do. That's the first step in all of this. So then we opened up in one year twelve mosdos, not seven. As far as that's concerned.

33:31 Speaker 5 Mm-hmm.

33:32 Speaker 4 A mobile, a mobile Mitzvah tank, um, different cities, there's Monica, Berkeley. The whole, the whole, the whole real places. We're sluchin Fairfax Avenue, sluchin all over. Each time we go into the Rebbe to give a key. We give a key. One time I recall the Gov says the Rebbe will, like we looked, I was bringing a photographer. The Rebbe wanted that we should take a p- a photographer should take a picture of what's giving him the key in Yechidus room.

34:01 Speaker 5 Yeah.

34:02 Speaker 4 The Rebbe looks at the key, and the Rebbe says, "Shloime, kenest madini shlamen." I start to shake. "Kenest madini shlamen." The Rebbe smiles. "Has he done geshrin?" We're then-- We're talking about San Diego, which we called then S Diego. "Has he done geshrin? Samech alef nun. Kenest."

34:25 Speaker 5 The Rebbe didn't wanna take it because it said San-

34:27 Speaker 4 Huh?

34:27 Speaker 5 The Rebbe didn't wanna receive it because it said on it San-

34:30 Speaker 4 This is it. This is like when I'm to submit him.

34:32 Speaker 5 Mm-hmm.

34:33 Speaker 4 When has, when has the baforn, when the Rebbe takes it. Stand and answer. "Oh, where is the ketach?" The Rebbe says, " Morgen gefree. Yodel, bring scotch. Bring scotch tape." And the Rebbe then with the heilike hand tears apart little pieces of paper, which I still have. Puts it on AN, little piece. Alef nun, a little piece. The Rebbe with the heilike hand tears off a piece of the pl-- of the tape. Tapes up ayin nun, tapes off AN. Yes, kenest madini shlamen.

35:11 Speaker 5 Wow.

35:11 Speaker 4 Yes. Well, I'd go s-- I could sit here all week, not just all night.

35:16 Speaker 5 Mm.

35:17 Speaker 4 But many, many stories like this.

35:18 Speaker 5 Right.

35:19 Speaker 4 And then in, in the first year, we raised millions of dollars. We bought buildings. The first year-

35:25 Speaker 5 The first year.

35:26 Speaker 4 Of Shi- Shnas haShivim.

35:27 Speaker 5 Oh, Shnas haShivim. Okay.

35:30 Speaker 4 We raised millions of dollars, but still we're now two hundred thousand dollars in debt. I never asked the Rebbe for money. We go into Yechidus. Rebbe looks at the report. "Moshe Shimon, you have some geld?"

35:46 Speaker 5 That the Rebbe saw the report of the financials?

35:48 Speaker 4 He-- The Rebbe read the settle, but no one did settle or talk about money.

35:52 Speaker 5 Uh-huh. So the Rebbe says-

35:53 Speaker 4 The Rebbe was checking this settle. I go like this. People, that's the two hundred.

36:03 Speaker 5 You shook your head that you need two hundred thousand.

36:05 Speaker 4 Huh?

36:06 Speaker 5 You shook your head that yes, two hundred thousand.

36:08 Speaker 4 Yeah, then the Rebbe says, "Mm." I said, "Uh." "Kums, Shloime, I could give him the geld. I'll give you the money." Rebbe opens up the holy drawer and starts to count money. I start to shake. I walk out, the Rebbe goes like this. I come over. But I break this, Rebbe. The Rebbe says, "Shloime, this is not thousand dollar. It's for keeping each dollar, each bill, which is a hundred dollars, for twenty thousand dollar. With them is to have two hundred thousand."

36:45 Speaker 5 So the Rebbe's telling you to sell each hundred dollar bill for twenty thousand dollars.

36:48 Speaker 4 For twenty thousand dollars.

36:49 Speaker 5 That's, that's two hundred thousand dollars.

36:50 Speaker 4 That's good. You have two hundred thousand. You have emunah. You do with emunah. You don't believe, you gotta believe. So right I called up, you know, the driver, a bottle of Crown Royal. There was no Gazeta then. Um, uh, Stick of Lekach went to the first career. I tell him, "Sir, what is it you need?" He says, "Money, you know I don't need." But my daughter, my granddaughters are going out with goyim, marrying horses, very wealthy girls. They're gonna marry goyim. You know I'm not Orthodox, but to marry goyim? What are their names? What went on? Call up on the phone. What was the Rebbe on the line for my cell phone? He goes, "That first bill. That they'll marry, they'll become more religious and marry Yiden." Next one. Another person called Roland Lala. That's the name I'm saying because he used it even in the article. Roland Lala, who was really fighting for existence in real estate development. Very, very, ve- very, very dangerous stuff he would be doing.

38:09 Speaker 5 Mm-hmm.

38:09 Speaker 4 I walked in. I said, "Um, y- what is it you need from the Rebbe?" He said, "What do you mean you know what I need? I need millions of dollars." "Look, see this bill? We'll start off with you'll give me a check for twenty thousand dollars, and I guarantee you at least a hundred times as much." "Would you put this in writing?" "I'll have my secretary type it up." I said, "Of course." And I start to shake. Okay, sounds like a lot of money. Yeah, the Rebbe said, "Uh-huh." Called him up. He became a multi, multi gazillionaire. And likewise, all the rest of the stories.

39:07 Speaker 5 Wow.

39:08 Speaker 4 Everything that, uh, what we asked for, we got. Period. There's more stories. I'll be here for a week, but that's a fact. So what does it come down to? It comes down to belief. If you don't believe, how do you walk into a big revered and tell him a story, write him a letter guaranteeing him on paper? How do you do this? How do you tell a guy who never kept kosher or anything else that his, uh, his, his wife was worse than him. She was from Bialystok in Russia . She's proud to say that my Zayde would smoke a, a g-- a, a big cigar right in front of the shul because he had nothing to do. Or, uh, fast-forward a few months later, she said, "What did you do?" He already had died from then, Rochlin. That was the name. "What did you do? What's the guitar? Come, I wanna talk to you. What did you do to my daugh-- my granddaughters?" I said, "Why do you ask?" "They would always come to my house to eat. This time they came, they don't wanna eat." I said, "Why aren't you eating?" "Because the house is not kosher. What did you do?" And they married Poshetut Mi Yiden. They're living there. It's just That's what it's all about. And today is more important than ever before. There never was in history such a time as this time. Now is the time. That's where Gurasidi Chabad comes in to this picture. It's Gurasidi Chabad who

40:39 Speaker 4 filed a lawsuit with their budel. The first one dealing with the Higgas Seforim. Seforim here that was stolen from the library here, and we had the schus. Incredible story. The Rebbe's talking about it for many, many years ago. The Rebbe's talking about farbrengen. I thought I would get you a pamphlet that tells a lot of these stories. The Rebbe says this farbrengen said, "David, international for the goodest." Those who have international connections should use it for the good. We're still human. You look around. Nobody there that looks like you got this connection. Makes no difference. In the morning, my phone is ringing. "Jerry Weintraub." He was the chairman of my telephone. "The Rebbe spoke to me. Tell him I'm ready." I said, "Don't be afraid, Jerry. I don't talk to the Rebbe."

41:41 Speaker 5 What do you mean he, he... The Rebbe spoke to him?

41:43 Speaker 4 Uh, he, he was in California.

41:46 Speaker 5 Yeah.

41:46 Speaker 4 He said, "The Rebbe spoke to me. I will do what he wants me to do."

41:48 Speaker 5 So he was watching the farbrengen?

41:50 Speaker 4 Huh?

41:50 Speaker 5 He was watching the-

41:51 Speaker 4 We'll soon come to that.

41:52 Speaker 5 Oh, okay. Yeah.

41:53 Speaker 4 So I come in with Thompson, he didn't put on. I can guarantee you. I said, "Jerry, I can't really do that. You have to give me some more information." He said, "I was playing with my satellite dish. And as I'm clicking, clicking, clicking, the Rebbe is talking. And then the Rebbe's talking about who has international connections should use them. I knew the Rebbe meant me. That's why I'm calling you. Tell the Rebbe." I said, "I don't talk to the Rebbe. I will ask the budel to explain this to the Rebbe in the car. It's very difficult." As I say, I like this guy, Abe Thompson, Abe Thompson. Whatever the case is, I figure before the Rebbe goes home, Yudel-- I'll tell it to Yudel, he'll tell the Rebbe in the car. By Mincha, the Rebbe's looking at me. Looking and looking and looking and looking. Okay. When finished Mincha, I walked the hallway. That Rebbe was looking for me. The Rebbe The Rebbe wants to see you. The Rebbe's standing by the door And there was sagte in Russland ändert, things are changing in Russia. Du hast a gute friend, sein Namen is Jerry Weintraub. You asked a question, I'm answering you. Dein Namen is Jerry Weintraub. Er hat a gute Chaver, sein Namen is Armand Hammer. Armand Hammer is spilt bei beide Seiten, he plays both sides.

43:39 Speaker 5 Who was, um-

43:41 Speaker 4 Armand Hammer was one of the wealthiest Jews in the world.

43:44 Speaker 5 He was a businessman.

43:45 Speaker 4 Uh, Occidental Petroleum. Petroleum u-units all over the world.

43:51 Speaker 5 So the Rebbe says that Weintraub has a friend, Hammer-

43:53 Speaker 4 Has a friend called Armand Hammer

43:54 Speaker 5 ... who plays on both sides.

43:55 Speaker 4 Und er ist in on both sides with Russia and America.

43:58 Speaker 5 Mm-hmm.

44:00 Speaker 4 Sachen ändert sich is all Weintraub reden mit Hammer und Rebbe sagte: "Bring mir die Sfarim."

44:06 Speaker 5 The Sfarim that are in Russian.

44:07 Speaker 4 That Weintraub should talk to Dr. Hammer, and then Dr. Hammer will get the books.

44:13 Speaker 5 The books that, from the Rebbe that are in Russian.

44:14 Speaker 4 Yeah. And the Rebbe said, "Andere sagen," meaning the man from downstairs, "Az mot alts verbrannt," was burnt, "aber ich weiß das nicht," I know it's not so.

44:27 Speaker 5 People in Ru-- See, in Russia they said that Sfarim-

44:29 Speaker 4 Not in Russia. The person who worked in the library here said-

44:33 Speaker 5 Ah, said that it-

44:33 Speaker 4 ... according to his information, it was all burnt in Kyiv.

44:36 Speaker 5 Mm-hmm.

44:38 Speaker 4 It, I think it was Kyiv. "Es nisht azoy," the Rebbe says. Then, how do you do this? Weintraub has, had a big castle in Beverly Hills. Says, "You are going to come Friday night to me for a Friday night dinner together with Dr. Hammer and me." Said, "I don't go to a place that's not kosher." "What do you mean?" I said, "Exactly that." He said, "I can kosher your kitchen." "So but you, what do you do with the plates?" I said, "The plates, we'll have to use paper plates." "Use paper plates in my house?" "If that's the case, I'll buy regular glass plates." "No, you're not gonna do that. Wait a second," he says. "I have brand-new plates. They have my initials on them, JW," because they couldn't do it for themselves. So we'll take brand-new plates, and that will be used for the Friday night dinner. "Can we kosher your kitchen?" "Yes," he didn't know what he was getting into, which we did. And we had o-one of our people there watching over, says, "Is everything good?" Friday night he comes, he says, he introduces me to Hammer. And I knew this was a chance. This was a chance. By the way, I'm missing a point in the story, which I'm gonna go back to for a second before that. So then the Rebbe gives me, going back to where the Rebbe was talking to me at the door. So after that is the Weintraub oder Chaver, the Rebbe said, "Nod di achtsun dollar

46:12 Speaker 4 far Weintraub, so will er hoben a fulle shlema."

46:16 Speaker 5 Rebbe gave eight dollars.

46:17 Speaker 4 Rebbe says, "Here's $18 for Weintraub. He should have a fulle shlema, a full recovery." Nod di far dir achtsun dollar, for you, for me. I take the Rebbe's words very, very serious. Like the Rebbe says, "Tot yeder eyn hobt zol zey kenen beyem Meshiach," that's exactly what the Rebbe means. Er gibs uns eber, aych, tot alts vos ihr kent. That's what the Rebbe means. That's what the Rebbe says. Clearly. So whatever the case is, I land in California. I call a very dear friend, chairman of the telephone. I call Beverly Hills mansion, no answer. Call his cell phone, no answer. I call the h- the castle in Mansion Mirage. Somebody picks up the phone. I say, "I have to talk to him." "You can't talk to him." I said, "What do you mean I can't? Of course, I can." "He will not talk to you. He's not able to talk to you now." Something's wrong. I go into George Ekhenam, alav ha-shalom, a great sekvir, a dear friend of his. "Georgele, tell me, what's going on with Jerry?" He says, "It's a secret. Jerry had a hiatal hernia, very se-severe, uh, that needed a very, very important operation. Nobody knows. He's in the hospital at Sinai, but it's not under his name. You'll never find him." I said, "Okay, thank you." I go to the hospital. "Rebbe, you have to help me now. How am I gonna find him?" So I go to the emergency room. "Do you know someone by the name of Weintraub?"

48:08 Speaker 4 "No." And a, a Russian nurse who came from Russia as a nurse, now working in the hospital, says to me in Russian, "Shati khashet aleyn, what do you want?" I said, "I want a person that came in with a hiatal herni-hernia, which needs to have a surgery, and I have to see him. By the way, I'm his rabbi." She says, "One second." Goes upstairs. "He's coming soon out of the recovery room." Jump to the elevator, get off. As he's coming out of the recovery room, I said, "Jerry." He opens his eyes. "Chanan, give me the Rebbe's money." Can you understand this? You can't.

48:51 Speaker 5 Yeah.

48:52 Speaker 4 So that's how the whole shlichus with the Sfarim started.

48:54 Speaker 5 The Sfarim started.

48:55 Speaker 4 Then the Rebbe said, when we went, we saw that we had to take a whole meshlachas there. So the Rebbe said, it was, it was myself, it was, uh, Nisan Mendell, alav ha-shalom, it was, uh, uh, from the library, Shalom Bai Levin, and that's how we went.

49:14 Speaker 5 The Rebbe sent you to retrieve the Sfarim from, from Russia?

49:17 Speaker 4 Yes, sent them on a shlichus to find the Sfarim.

49:19 Speaker 5 To find them? Because they, they didn't even know-

49:21 Speaker 4 To find them and get them, everything.

49:22 Speaker 5 Right.

49:23 Speaker 4 So the Rebbe said, "Az ei vi zu der kaynd," I don't remember which day in Chodesh Cheshvan, "iz fort mit aych mit der Amom. Un az ei vi maalt is chavdaled Cheshvan, fort mit aych mit der Alter Rebbe." I took a deep breath. "Az ei vi der Rebbe zunt a meshulekh, er fort mit undz dem Rebbe." Rebbe said, "Amen." That's how the shlichus of the Sfarim started, all built on a... That's what the Re-- This, I could sit here for a week, but that's at least the beginning of a story. Haguda Sicha Chabad is the one soon that we had orders from the Rebbe to start Haguda Sicha Chabad soon as we came to Moscow, which we are the members, myself, Rabbi Levin-

50:10 Speaker 5 Haguda Sicha Chabad of Russia.

50:11 Speaker 4 Yeah, of Russia. Rabbi... Later it was Aron Ruff.

50:14 Speaker 5 But there's a sec-- This is, this was by the sec-- There was a second shlichus, right? Is that when that happened?

50:18 Speaker 4 Right. That's correct. So that's how Agudas Sich Chabad-

50:21 Speaker 5 Why was there a second shlichus?

50:22 Speaker 4 Huh?

50:23 Speaker 5 Why, I'm saying what happened during the first year?

50:25 Speaker 4 I could be here for a week. We have to talk about Agudas Sich Chabad. So that goes back to the fight that still goes on today. We ultimately went second time with Rabbi Aronoff, became part of the shlichus.

50:36 Speaker 5 But what happened in the first shlichus was to identify that the Sfarim existed.

50:40 Speaker 4 Oh, okay, good.

50:41 Speaker 5 So then, then you did that.

50:42 Speaker 4 Okay, let's, let's, let's start there. Good. We come there, we were VIP. Dr. Hammer's people. He says, "You can't come on my plane, but I'll get you the papers." I still have the passport 'cause Ru- uh, Russia was closed. He had a big office, big building in the middle of Moscow, Hammer. So we have to do... How do we now find what to do? Hammer says, "I spoke to everybody. Nobody lies to me. They're not here." I said, "We'll have a meeting together with the Minister of Culture. He's the one who holds the handle on the libraries." "No problem, but it's not gonna help you. It, it just doesn't exist." So I said to, "There only am one, one person to go." So I was the one to go to a special place of the Minister of Culture. Before I left, I said to Shalom Ber, "Make, mach for me a list. Make me a list." We have the catalog, by the way, of the books. We never lost it. All the Sfarim in Russia, we have the catalog of. So I said, "Mach me a Reshima, make me a list of which books are rare." So, uh, at least 13 books, very different one from the other. Very different. Not... Some of them not expensive at all, very cheap. Some of them very expensive, a mishmash. We come in to this meeting. Other people were waiting there also. Barbara Walters from CBS was there, and somebody was playing the piano. I realized this is

52:39 Speaker 4 the end of the road. This is my chance. I have the Sefer in my pocket. Come in. Dr. Hammer is also there, if I remember correctly. He was standing with two armed guards, the Minister of Culture, machine guns from both sides. Hammer was not there, excuse me. Mixing up another story. Mimah, before I went in, somebody with Barbara Walters was taking more time. I said to, I started to cry, "Rebbe, I need you. This is the one chance we have. I have the Sefer." They call me in. I dry my eyes. He had a, a, a translator to translate. "It's a pleasure to meet you." I said, "And I also, pleasure to meet you." I said, "I'm here because the Rebbe is my life, and the Rebbe's books are the Rebbe's life. I know these books." He says, "Look, I spoke already to Dr. Hammer. I told him they don't exist." I started to cry. He, he, he, he, he got confused. He says, "What can I do to help you more?" "Take out the list. Find for me at least these 13 books in the Lenin Library." And then I threw myself at him to give him a hug. The guys with the guns started to lift the guns. I, I he-held him like this, big guy like a, a bear. Held him like this. I started to cry. He said, "Shh. I'll take care of it to you." Comes the next morning, we get a call from Dr. Hammer's office in Moscow. "Go

54:47 Speaker 4 to the library. They found the 13 books." We come in, we go to the... Now, listen, Mendel, you have to understand, spoke Russian and understood to read Russian as well. I said, "Show me in the catalog these books." Opens it up, it says Poliakov, not Schneersohn. Poliakov brothers were two wealthy Rosh Yeshiva Yidden that gave the Rebbe a lot of money. They had Shaychus to these Sfarim like I have Shaychus to the moon. That's the bottom line. So we figured out what happened here. They started putting the Sfarim under name Schneersohn. They hid them under name Poliakov. That's how the fight to the Sfarim began.

55:46 Speaker 5 Mm-hmm. So you came back from the shlichus. You didn't get the Sfarim, but we knew that the Sfarim existed.

55:52 Speaker 4 We know that it exists. Hammer says, "Now I'll get it. Don't worry about it. I'm gonna get it. We're gonna get it. We're gonna get it." Mimah said, "You know what? We got a clown. We were told-" I maybe mix up two stories, but if I didn't, man, whatever. We were told not to go to Merina Russia. We were people that were dangerous people. We were told to go to Merina Russia. We went there.

56:24 Speaker 6 Not to go?

56:25 Speaker 4 First, we were told not to go.

56:26 Speaker 6 Uh-huh. By who?

56:27 Speaker 4 Then, I'll tell you how we did go.

56:29 Speaker 6 By who? By who?

56:31 Speaker 4 Huh?

56:31 Speaker 6 Who told you not to go?

56:33 Speaker 4 We were told that, that all mishochas was told not to go to the Merina Russia shul because we are dangerous people.

56:40 Speaker 6 But who told you that?

56:42 Speaker 4 Chodakov.

56:42 Speaker 6 Chodakov said it. Did he?

56:46 Speaker 4 So then we found the books. Now, I get a call from Chodakov. "Rebbe zot, uh, du zolst kumen tsu forn. Zolst kumen tsu forn. You have to come." "Shoyn nem an a plain." I know the Rebbe's on the line. I said, "Ich hob gerunn dem neder. Ich hob nisht a veg gehn fun Rusland aun di Sforim." Quiet. And you hear the Rebbe overriding Chodakov. "Mir zol eym zorn. Az er zol areingehn in Merina Russia." Which we were told before not to go. "Gefindn drei Yidden un mat der neder zayn un kumen tsu forn." We had already gone to numerous other cities looking for the Sforim before this conversation started. The main thing was where we found them was the stuff in Moscow. There are other places with Sforim from Lubavitcher Yisroel we didn't find. We went to, uh, Der Rebbe Patros. We went to, we went to Leningrad. We went to various cities to look. I fast-forward, now I'm backing up. Never forget. I go to Merina Russia, man. I land. I'm saying Kaddish for my father, O Voshom Habdovid. I'm standing there by Mincha, by the Omet Adam, and I started to sing. And standing by the Omet. The Rebbe me, I think, cooked and doing them once like this. "Didan Atzah, victory is ours." Then the Rebbe called me into the office, Yechidas. "Dos is ikh dir, ikh hob dir tzurik gerufen. I called you back because the trial of the Weinberg estate," which is another long story with the Rebbe. Twenty-one million

59:06 Speaker 4 dollar gift that we got, uh, l'maaleh mederech hatevah, to be able to fulfill the Rebbe's promise. It's from there was spring to chatalah ribe. It's a sikha on tape. "Wer veistu wer vet landen?" Where he will land.

59:24 Speaker 6 The Rebbe said about you.

59:25 Speaker 4 Huh?

59:25 Speaker 6 The Rebbe was talking about you.

59:26 Speaker 4 Yes. "Aber ikh geredt az oy springen, val andere springen a hundertsatsike yorn alte mentsh. Ot egar springen bis der levone. Der Rebbe hot az mot zogn az vos er kumt." That's another long story with the Weinberg estate, twenty-one million dollars. But I'm not gonna be here for a week, so we'll continue.

59:52 Speaker 6 So the Rebbe told you to come back so you can attend-

59:54 Speaker 4 Because the trial w- was coming to... Monday, the trial was-

59:57 Speaker 6 In California.

59:58 Speaker 4 Yeah, but we're going to court on Monday.

1:00:01 Speaker 6 Mm-hmm.

1:00:04 Speaker 4 It's a mission of all of this. I came back to California. I went to lie down to sleep a little bit. There's knocking on the door, my eden. Which the Rebbe, by the way, in Yechidas said, "Mit davka gemer yasher koachei lan eden, baruch echad, vos er hot getrogn the last, carry the yoke of the Sforim the ganze tzeit du bist in Rusland."

1:00:38 Speaker 6 The yoke of the, of California.

1:00:40 Speaker 4 Yeah, the, the, of the monies.

1:00:41 Speaker 6 Right.

1:00:42 Speaker 4 We owed eighteen million dollars. Interest rates went up to twenty percent.

1:00:46 Speaker 6 You owed it to the bank.

1:00:48 Speaker 4 To the bank.

1:00:48 Speaker 6 Mm-hmm.

1:00:49 Speaker 4 Not one bank, thirteen banks. Whatever the case is, he says to me, "Shlema, you have to stay here. I want to, to go to the Rebbe. You have to stay here." "What is it?" He started to cry. He said, "The Rebbe's Nechama Mushkas are back." In the middle of all of this. But the same Rebbe Nechama Mushkas told their Budel, um, as soon as we... She was very much on top of the whole Sforim story with Vasha. She told their Budel, "Shlema du forn dem Sforim. Ik gedoenk viz dem oy gezan in the shrankin, the bookcases, by the Rebbe Rashab." She was so excited.

1:01:48 Speaker 6 She remembers. Mm-hmm.

1:01:49 Speaker 4 "Ik gedoenk viz dem oy gezan." After that, called by Rashab.

1:01:54 Speaker 6 Mm-hmm.

1:01:56 Speaker 4 And then the story goes on and on and on and on.

1:01:58 Speaker 6 So then, so then there was another shlichus, like an analef. There was a, there was a second shlichus?

1:02:03 Speaker 4 Right.

1:02:05 Speaker 6 I guess after the fall of communism-

1:02:07 Speaker 4 To, to, to spend on time here figuring out dates we're not going to.

1:02:11 Speaker 6 Right.

1:02:12 Speaker 4 We have a booklet which we'll give you so you can fix up whatever you need.

1:02:15 Speaker 6 Yeah. So I have a question. Um, so yes, I know there was a second shlichas, um, I think it was in Tafshanan Alaf. It was a chiddash that, uh, the new group had, and that's-

1:02:24 Speaker 4 Right

1:02:24 Speaker 6 ... also the Rebbe formed Agudas Chabad in Russia.

1:02:27 Speaker 4 Right.

1:02:28 Speaker 6 Um, and, um-

1:02:30 Speaker 4 And I say again, I'm not very good with dates, but it's all printed.

1:02:34 Speaker 6 Yeah. And it's, a lot of it has been printed in the, the Her as well. Sa'ye-

1:02:38 Speaker 4 Mm-hmm

1:02:39 Speaker 6 ... sa'ye our conversations and sa'ye, um-

1:02:41 Speaker 4 Sa'ye

1:02:41 Speaker 6 ... the story of Russia.

1:02:43 Speaker 4 Yes.

1:02:43 Speaker 6 Um, and ultimately, the, I'm saying this is something that still needs to happen, the, the Danatzach of this forum in Russia, the issue returns. But I have, I have a question for you regarding... So you said that the Rebbe Chadukav appointed or told you that the Rebbe appointed you to be part of Agudas Chabad. Um, I don't know if everyone is familiar. What i- I mean, what is the function of Agudas Chabad? What does it mean and why is it important?

1:03:09 Speaker 4 The Rebbe, Agudas Chabad was founded, as I said, with my Zayde in the times, and a few others, Jacobson, Rovashon. I don't remember the names of the others. It's public documents. And when the fight for this local Sfarim here became, it became the Shlichas Agudas Chabad locally, the fight. The court case was under the name of Agudas Chabad.

1:03:39 Speaker 6 Mm-hmm.

1:03:40 Speaker 4 Reb Yehuda was the one fully in charge with this. And then he had Nafluen, so zang gezunt. And that's how the fight began. The, the Hige fight.

1:03:57 Speaker 6 The, about the library in Seven Seventy.

1:03:59 Speaker 4 About the library in Seven Seventy. And that's what the first time Agudas Chabad was seen in a massive kingly road. And Rebbe made it clear that it's the differences of opinion between Shluchim. Agudas Chabad should figure it out, either them or VaAd Abodim Lubavitch, and numerous other things. The Rebbe, that's all printed stuff. We have a meeting every week, every Wednesday. The members of the Agudas Chabad have a phone meeting. I'm sorry, not a phone. How do you call it?

1:04:38 Speaker 6 Zoom.

1:04:40 Speaker 4 A Zoom. I'm not very good at the current technology.

1:04:43 Speaker 6 Yeah.

1:04:45 Speaker 4 We have a meeting once a week, and we deal with many issues that it's very, very important to deal with.

1:04:52 Speaker 6 Right. So the Rebbe m- the Rebbe wanted Agudas Chabad to be the body that, um, deals with very important Lubavitch issues.

1:05:01 Speaker 4 Yeah. For example, there's a, there's another, there's a Shliach, uh, I'm not gonna say which country. There's a Shliach, uh, whose husband died, and then the other people said, "Wait a second. Your husband is dead. You have to cover the deficit like he did because you claim you want to control." He said, "You should be the one." We have to deal with the issue.

1:05:33 Speaker 6 Mm-hmm.

1:05:34 Speaker 4 Numerous other things like this.

1:05:36 Speaker 6 So you're saying this is something that the Rebbe-- I know also that after the Svarim, um, I think it was in Tafshon Nun, the Rebbe redid all the corporation, all the papers, and made all the members, and, uh, the Rebbe incorporated everything-

1:05:50 Speaker 4 Right

1:05:50 Speaker 6 ... made sure everything was up to date. The Rebbe, the Rebbe put a lot of focus on, uh, on, on, uh, establishing Agudas Chabad.

1:05:57 Speaker 4 But the bottom line is, the Rebbe spoke clearly what the responsibilities of Agudas Chabad is. It's so important for the local people here. The local people, which I love all of them. I come here Shabbos I love to see the people. The love is mutual, Baruch Hashem, most of the time. But whatever the case is, everybody has to understand that you can't go doing things that are wild. And so a Hefkever is not a Hefkever. The Rebbe set up a system. If you believe that the Rebbe is the Rebbe, you have to follow this system. And if you don't believe, get yourself a job as a young, useful rabbi someplace. There are plenty places that could use Chabad people. The Rebbe Six thousand Shluchim all over the globe. The Rebbe We have in California four hundred and twenty-three Shluchim, over two hundred Moises. Every time I come to Seven Seventy, somebody comes over. "Reb Shleime, can I talk to you? I, I wanna go as Shlichas to California."

1:07:08 Speaker 6 Hmm.

1:07:09 Speaker 4 And we tell them the rules. You wanna live by the rules, that's good. Don't wanna live by the rules, go to a different place.

1:07:16 Speaker 6 Right.

1:07:17 Speaker 4 And this is us, Rebbe Shluchim. I'm very close to the Shluchim. Very close.

1:07:24 Speaker 6 Okay. So this is, uh, an important matter. Okay. One of the integral components of being a Hasid are the Chsidushei Yomim Tovim and Yomim D'pagara. Whether it's Heh Teves, Yud Shevat, Yud Aleph Nissan, or Gimel Tammuz, these days give us an opportunity to connect with our Rabbeim, to connect with each other, and be better Hasidim. What is the story behind each of these days? How did the Rebbe commemorate and celebrate these days? And most importantly, what are the lessons, the takeaways, and the action items, needed for each of these days? All of this and much, much more are answered in the new set recently published by The Her. Our Days is a journey through the Chabad calendar in story, meaning, and practice. With over seven hundred beautiful glossy pages, with elevated content, beautiful, beautiful photographs, you, your family, and friends will enjoy and live with each Chassidishe Yamim Tov. This book is a must for every Lubavitcher home, for every shul, for every school. It is a perfect gift item. This will not collect dust. It will be used day after day, month after month, year after year. You can have this set. Go to derher.org/ourdays. Order your set today and start living the Chassidishe Yamim Tovim.

1:09:02 Speaker 4 But one point I wanna tell you again, and I've said it before, I'm gonna say it again.

1:09:06 Speaker 6 Mm-hmm.

1:09:07 Speaker 4 I solidly believe in any millisecond, we'll open our eyes, and we'll see the Rebbe standing on the steps of seven seventy, melubush bikisah shel Moshiach, coming to take us out of this, the last, the darkest of all the exiles. There never has been as man of such emunah peshutah like the wonderful Bochurim that I've been with every Shabbos Melach to the last Gulf. They are emunah, and they are simcha, and they are bitachon since the whole Torah is getting going to the army of Israel since Gevet Haza d'Orah. Never been such a generation. They, they knock on the doors, "I wanna go off shlichus." For what? To have to raise your own budget? Have to tr-travel miles to a mikvah till you, till you build it? Why? 'Cause they believe. It's all about belief. Emunah, simcha, bitachon. That's what it's all about. That's what it's all about. And it's not easy. Not easy at all on anybody. It isn't. Every day when you say on Nesekah in Shemoneh Esreh, "Nesekah shebechol yom imanu." Nesekah, "Bechol es." So many miracles that you have. "Ve'ovreich tzoharai mataiv l'chol mechah." Mechah means hamakahs. "Shemeion kinut Lach." And what do you say afterwards? "Shemeon machas sameach dovod avdecha. Ve'yes atzmiach ka'neitor mishuas echah. Keil yeshuas echah kivin ukol hayom." What does that mean? And more of that in Shemoneh Esreh. You don't believe? Then make yourself believe. Go to the oil. The Rebbe's with us. Go to the oil. If you don't find an answer, I'll tell you a

1:11:06 Speaker 4 simple story. So I don't just take people because we have discipline, no chachmas. We haven't got. If there's something wrong, you will go to this va'ad, to that va'ad, no va'ad. You wanna work here, that's what a contract says. Either you listen and follow what you're doing or you're out. So one time, a young couple, this is simcha. A young couple comes to California, tired of hidden. " however, we couldn't. We wanna go off shlichus as my wife, fine. And we really wanna go to a place that's on the ocean. That's where we wanna go. Place on the ocean. We love the ocean." I said, "If you love the ocean, there's an ocean in Florida called Rabbi Kov, alav hashalom, dear friend of mine, alav hashalom." Tired of good friend. I've talked to him as sick as he was practically till he died every day. "You-- That's what you're looking for? That's where you're gonna go." "You wanna go? This is what I need." He looks at... We did our research on that place. It's like a desert. In the summer, it could be a hundred and twenty degrees. I said, "Look, that's why I'm offering you the shlichus. Either take it or leave it. Go there and see if you'll find the answer on the Rebbe." Tired of hidden, they enter the car, they go. Almost a while later or a day later, my phone was ringing me. "We saw the Rebbe's hand. We went to a 7-Eleven to get some cold water in

1:13:03 Speaker 4 the city. Somebody comes over to us and says, 'The Rebbe sent you to me.' I'm c-becoming more and more religious. I love the Rebbe, but how can I find the Rebbe? I've graduated past this point. I need... The Rebbe should send me someone." You, that was sent to me by the Rebbe. You can put that, put that in rational why, it's not over yet. They come back. "Okay. Now go to the oil." Why not settle to the oil? The way you do it, the way I do it is first you want your settle, go to the mikvah, put on the kittel, realize you're talking to the Rebbe. Want your settle. When you walk in, the first thing you do is look at the screen. If you don't find an answer in fifteen, ten, fifteen minutes, then go to the oil. Pour your heart out. If you didn't find an answer at the oil, when you come out, look at the screen again. I'll do it. This is simcha. Calls me up. This is a very, very subtle person, not a shlema kurim, that's excited like this. Calls me up. "Rabbi Cohen, Rabbi Cohen." "Shh, tell me what happened." "I looked at the screen when I came in, no answer. I went to the oil. I felt something very positive, but I still have no answer. I walked out, and what did I see? The Rebbe's talking to somebody. Had no fear to go a desolate desert." 'Cause that's where the Jews came, and that's how

1:14:57 Speaker 4 they received the, the Mishkan and the Torah L'khul.

1:15:02 Speaker 6 So I have a question, um, regarding... So you, you, you mentioned a lot of things, uh, eight million dollar loans, eighteen million dollar debts, and you're saying Was it ever hard to do, to do this? Did he ever ha-- Did the reb ever tell you something about, about these, uh, matters?"

1:15:20 Speaker 4 If it was hard to get the money?

1:15:22 Speaker 6 No, to, to, to continue going.

1:15:26 Speaker 4 The rebbetzin talked us up, uh, continuous story. Now that we have some time. First we'll say l'chaim.

1:15:32 Speaker 6 L'chaim v'bracha.

1:15:33 Speaker 4 It's only, uh, water with honey.

1:15:35 Speaker 6 L'chaim.

1:15:44 Speaker 4 After a sicha.

1:15:45 Speaker 6 Which sicha?

1:15:47 Speaker 4 It was yud gimmel tishrei, I believe, or yud gimmel nisn.

1:15:53 Speaker 6 But Yeah. Mm-hmm.

1:15:56 Speaker 4 But I did run away, go out knocking on doors. "Hi, I need a million dollars." The big

1:16:03 Speaker 6 'Cause you had- You had eighteen million dollar debt, basically.

1:16:07 Speaker 4 Eighteen million dollars debt.

1:16:08 Speaker 6 Okay.

1:16:09 Speaker 4 And now the interest rates went up to twenty percent. Figure that out.

1:16:13 Speaker 6 Mm-hmm.

1:16:21 Speaker 4 But you gotta do something about it. Knock on doors, knock on doors, knock on doors. Meanwhile, 1980, there was a fire that burnt the building down. First kabbalah center in the world on a college campus. 'Cause when we there, we sent us to California. First thing we did was Shabbos. Then we opened up a, a global war to open up which we succeeded. Then we had an afternoon But then I was invited... Before this happened, going back a little bit, I was invited. We're sitting in our house getting seventy-five dollars a week to eat, uh, and to run the organization with. Seventy-five dollars a week.

1:17:10 Speaker 6 From the

1:17:12 Speaker 4 Yes, from the My wife, Davidson, was my secretary. She would have one on the knee, taking care of and doing the work that has to be done. So she says, "Daddy, you should take this phone call. Sounds very important." "Hi, I'm from Temple Isaiah," big Reform temple. "Yes? Can I help you?" "Yes. The Sioux Indians were supposed to come this Sunday." That's an Indian tribe from many years ago. "They were supposed to come to speak to the graduation class, teenage kids. Confirmation, excuse me, it's called. They canceled, and they were supposed to come to talk about a vanishing tribe 'cause they're all dying out. You are from Macedon. You are also dying out. You're also dying out. Most of you were killed in Europe." "I'm listening." "Do you speak enough English to be able to address this group?" I said, "Uh, I think so, a little bit." "So you think you could speak enough?" "Yes, I think so." "Okay, come Sunday this and this time." I fill up a lawyer's briefcase with pairs of tefillin, three lights for the

1:19:09 Speaker 6 There, there was a Jewish group.

1:19:11 Speaker 4 Huh?

1:19:11 Speaker 6 It was a Jewi- a Jewish group?

1:19:12 Speaker 4 Temple Isaiah.

1:19:13 Speaker 6 Temple Isaiah. Okay, yeah.

1:19:15 Speaker 4 One of the biggest Reform temples still today.

1:19:16 Speaker 6 Mm-hmm.

1:19:20 Speaker 4 I come there. Nobody greets me. African American or cleaning guy says, "Come in. Please go in." I go in. Somebody walks in, big tall guy. "Hi." He says, "I'm Rabbi Lewis. I understand you speak enough English that you would be able to talk to them. Do you really think so?" "If I really think so? I speak a better English than you do. You speak an English from Hamburg, Germany, where you became a rabbi. I speak an English with a B- Bronx accent from the Yankee Stadium. If I can speak English, of course, I can." "You will come to my office after you finish, okay?" He comes storming in. "What is this?" "You should know. You're a rabbi. It's tefillin." "What are you doing in the heads of my kids?" I said, "You asked me to come to speak. That's how I speak. And I thought I could be able to speak to them." "You will come to my office." Come to the office. Before I get in, there's an African American secretary. I said, "I'm going to see Ra- the rabbi." She said, "You have an appointment to see him?" "Yes, I do." I walked in. I used very strong language Telling him, "How dare you treat another person like this?" He started to cry. We became "... good a friend." He said, "I will get you appointments to speak to the Hillel groups on the college campuses." He became a Yedid Nefesh, Reform rabbi. That's how I entered into the colleges.

1:21:27 Speaker 6 Mm-hmm.

1:21:28 Speaker 4 Well, now, go to UCLA and talk to... The kids were hippies, hippie kids. You, you could smell them before you could see them. Long hair. That was the '60s. I was invited to speak. We hit it off together 'cause they were crazy, and they felt I was crazy, so a good match. Started to come to the house. So one Friday night, I had a little, little Shabbos. We took the mattresses off our beds, and we put them on the living room floor, and the hippie kids would come, the, the girl hippies. Feed them, make Shabbos. At the time, my rebbe would talk to them a lot. Next week, the boys would come. Take them to shul with me a block away, Rabbi Ginsburg ... But it was getting out of hand. The landlord says, "You can't do this. You really can't." I said, "But I have to." I'm shorting a whole long story. Bottom line is we went to another place. They said, "You can't." Then finally I said, "You know something? I'm well accepted at Hillel," because I became very friendly with the rabbi there, the campus Hillel rabbi. "I gotta find a place near the campus. I don't have a penny." Okay, we get into an army surplus truck that would pull the trailer, that, that we, uh, mobile classroom that I had. It's the tank. Now, we're driving around in the truck. I see that that building is great. It's right across the street. Those years, the fraternity houses were taken over

1:23:19 Speaker 4 by the hippies. So most fraternities went out of business 'cause it doesn't fa- match a fraternity with the, with the m- m- mokot ha-chaim of the hippies. Two different worlds. Make a long story short, we stop. I get the telephone number. "Okay, boys, who has a dime? We have to go to the Safeway and call Marvin Goldsmith," our dear friend who was a real estate broker. Avraham Levitasaki says, "I don't." Victor Kurtzman, "I don't." And, "I don't." How are we gonna call the broker to buy a building? We had soda bottles left, five cents a bottle deposit, and that we gave the kids for the release time. I said, "We have the soda bottles. We'll give them into Safeway. We'll get money. We'll call." Call up Marvin Goldsmith. So to short you a very long story, I told him what my ... The Rebbe's rejecting your, your, your ideas. The Rebbe wants something else. Then the building came up. Aha. The Rebbe embraced it with two hands. When, when we came to give the Rebbe the key... I'm not gonna go through all the miracles how we got the money.

1:26:46 Speaker 6 At that time, there was no prototype to follow. This is how you make a shlichas. Nothing-

1:26:50 Speaker 4 Right

1:26:50 Speaker 6 ... It didn't exist. Yeah.

1:26:51 Speaker 4 That's about it, whatever. Went to shul. The Rebbe said, "Yeah," said yes and no, and subsequently, the Rebbe said, when we gave him the key to Marvin Goldsmith, buy a building, the Rebbe said The, the, the Benyon shops as a Chabad house. Why do we do Chabad house? Because what would the kids on a college campus understand? Lubavitch, it's a city. Wisdom, understanding, a house, wow. Chabad, that's how it started. It was only Lubavitch houses wherever it was. So whatever the case is, we go to give the Rebbe the key. The Rebbe looks up at Marvin and says, "To which Chabad house is this?" He's a, a big lawyer, worked in the attorney general's office. He says, "Rebbe, there's only one." The Rebbe says, "Don't be so humble. It will spread from the west to the north," which is San Francisco. I'm just telling you what it is, what we're talking about. "From the north to the south," which is Diego. "From the south to the east, where we really need them. You should call them all by the same name, Chabad House." So when a person comes into Chabad House and then moves to another city, he opens up the telephone book and looks for the words Chabad House. You should call them all by the same name. That's how the movement started. And all the miracles that we got the money, I'd be here for three weeks, not one week, explaining all the stories.

1:28:36 Speaker 6 Well, yeah, what happened in Tach Shemem when the, the and you started knocking on doors and asking for a million dollars?

1:28:41 Speaker 4 Oh, you're going... When, when the Rebbe told us... Slowly.

1:28:44 Speaker 6 Yeah, you were in the middle of saying that.

1:28:46 Speaker 4 Okay. When the Rebbe said the Sicha, so right away the next thing is the next morning we were knocking on doors with Emunah. Come back to California, knock on doors, knock on doors. Now we already had a telephone. This is after the telephone when we raised money. So you go, looks at the big names, right? With big monies, that's where you go to. Everywhere we went, slam dunk, slam dunk. Finally, it was a r- r- real gevaltike, big company that, that they gave us, uh, $10,000 on the telephone. I think this is what we're gonna do. And if you call and agree, you never get an appointment. You knock on the door, it's a different story. Whatever the case is, I never go alone knocking on doors because maybe there'll be a woman. She can't do that. Oh, the shades are open. In, in the West Coast we tell you, if the shades are open, if your wife is in the kitchen, you are not gonna sit and teach a woman or a girl alone. And then, so then one day somebody walks in and say, "Hi, Rabbi, I have to learn with you today because my husband has a bad cold." Then what you do is "So do I. My wife will have to teach you." I don't allow it. We don't allow it here. Should be no place allowed. No place allowed. If there's three or four of them together, fine. But one-on-one, no way. That's our policy. Going back to where we

1:30:27 Speaker 4 were before. Where were we?

1:30:29 Speaker 6 You were saying that you can't get an appointment. Yeah, big, big-

1:30:32 Speaker 4 Right. So I said, "No, I come there. I come there with my, with my Aiden."

1:30:37 Speaker 6 You never... You said you go with some, with your Aiden. You... Okay.

1:30:39 Speaker 4 Yes, I go with my Aiden. Ring the bell, gigantic castle. "Who are you here to see?" I text, I tell them the name. "Do you have an appointment?" "No, but she's a contributor." "Please come in." With a shmate on his arm. The way-- That's the way they live in Beverly Hills. This little thing comes out, four and a half feet tall. "What are you doing here?" I said, "What do you mean? You, you sent me $10,000." "But what are you doing in my house?" I said, "Give me a chance, I wanna talk to you." "No, I'm not interested to talk to you." "But give me five minutes." She goes This big gigantic dog comes. She says, "You see the dog? You're not getting out of here. He'll bite you." I say, "He'll bite me, I'll bite him back. I'm not afraid. Let's continue talking." She says, "No, 'cause if not, uh, I'll bring out a few more, then I'll call the police." That's the time you know she really means it. Okay. So what do you do after that? Sit down and cry? No. You continue to knock on doors. That's what you do. Now you gotta remember that this comes after another, the chiddish on the phone that we had, 'cause two things come before. After the Rebbe's Sicha, shortly after, Chabad House had burned down. So I would take the homeless upstairs in my house. They would come upstairs in my house. Never had to turn someone away. This guy comes, well-dressed. He

1:32:26 Speaker 4 said, "I need a place to stay." I said, "Of course. Go upstairs. Come in the morning, I'll give you some coffee and some cake," which we would do. A couple days go by. You see he's a very sophisticated person. First thing, very sophisticated person. He said a couple of days go by. He said, "Rabbi, you wanna know something? You saved my life. I have a gigantic business in Alaska. I have a private jet. My wife has a private jet. We would fly to Seattle from Alaska to do whatever we have to do and fly back to Alaska." One time, usually I would fly, if I'm flying, I would take the wife with me. This time I was so busy, so I said to my wife, "Why don't you go take our daughter away? We'll spend the week there, and you fly with your jet. I'll come in a little bit later and join you." She says, "Okay." Then he says, "I get the news, the plane crashed. She got killed together with my daughter. You saved my life." Yichi. He said, "I wanna tell you, I'm a multi, multi-millionaire. I owe you everything." Mazel Tov. Ma-ma-mazel tov. Mazel tov. Called the banks, the answer's coming. It's here. It's, it's incredible. And I... "Tell me, what are you doing?" "I'm building a school. Come over to Yeshiva." Middle of building our Chabad. Another story with the Rebbe you'll remind me about after we finish this. Very important. "I wanna see the school." Go to the school,

1:34:17 Speaker 4 he says, "This is too cheap. Order these things instead of those, these things instead of those. I'll give you the money. I have all the money in the world." So now I tell the banks, the main bank, I said, "You know what? I'm gonna get five thousand doll- five million dollars now, and you'll see from there we will be able to help. He'll soon continue to help." "Good." First thing, "Hi, you told me about all the big monies. I need five million dollars now to give the bank. I told them, the main bank." He said, "I'll get it to you." I said, "Well, I'd like to get it today as a wire." He said, "I can't do a wire because it's cash that I'm gonna give you." I said, "That's fine. So when am I getting it?" "You're getting it tomorrow." "What time will I get it?" "I don't know, morning, early afternoon." This is Thursday already. "Nu, where's the money?" He says, "It's coming. It'll be here Friday." Saying, "Come to the house for Shabbos." It didn't come. "What happened to the money?" "It got stuck in, in the... The plane got stuck with the cash." I smelled already something, but I believe. I said, "Listen to me, either you will bring the money Saturday night like you say, or don't ever, ever come back to this house. I never ever wanna see you. The Almighty God wanted to show me a test if, if my belief is in place," which I told you

1:36:10 Speaker 4 the story with the Rebbe, "and if not, don't you ever come back here again." That was the last time I ever saw him. Okay, fine. Now we're ready in the new building, the new Chabad House, but very raw. We had a few offices, secretary. Called without the saying the madam. I'm sorry, I made a mistake. Back up. It was before our anniversary, Yud Dalet Kislev. I was supposed to go Yud Tes Kislev, two madam. He says, "For your anniversary, I wanna take you and your wife to dinner at the Milky Way, Kosher restaurant."

1:36:53 Speaker 6 This is the same, this is the same guy?

1:36:55 Speaker 4 Same guy.

1:36:55 Speaker 6 Yeah.

1:36:55 Speaker 4 That's before... That's the end of the story-

1:36:58 Speaker 6 Mm-hmm

1:36:58 Speaker 4 ... how I knew it came to an end.

1:37:00 Speaker 6 Okay.

1:37:00 Speaker 4 "I wanna take you to the kosher restaurant. I wanna pay the bills." Come to the restaurant, he orders fancy wine, stuff like that. I don't do this bachara. I don't let nobody take me personal things, restaurants, this, that, but I had to with my wife. This is... He orders this, orders that. I order just a few simple things. And the g- the ma- waitress comes with a bill turned upside down, ken og yur, on the tray. Gives him the tray. He looks at it there. Hundred and some odd dollars. I didn't bring my wallet. I haven't got a credit card. I had no money. Then I knew it was over. Then I knew it was over. Then I told him the story at night, as I told you before. So now all the banks are cr- go crazy with some sugar. Sugar's like gelt. Went to the Rebbe. Rebbe gave me a nickel. Rebbe said, "A fifth million." "Where are you from?" Rebbe, "For five million dollars." Next thing, we get Metamora. Staff staying there. Very, very tight. Receptionist tells me, "Hi."

1:38:30 Speaker 6 Who, who told you?

1:38:31 Speaker 4 Huh?

1:38:31 Speaker 6 Who told you?

1:38:32 Speaker 4 My receptionist.

1:38:33 Speaker 6 Receptionist. Yeah.

1:38:34 Speaker 4 The, the, the initial calls that come in. She greets the people. "Someone here to see you. He says he wants to help you." Here we go again. He gave me his card. It says Senior Vice President, Citigroup, Citicorp, the big bank, international bank, senior vice president. Yichi, come into the office. Says, "I wanna tell you, I know what you do. Nobody does what you do. And I know you're in a lot of financial trouble. You should only own the spiritual part of this organization. I had a life-threatening story happen to me. I said I only wanna do charitable work. I will handle the money. I know you're in a lot of trouble." "Okay." He says, "So I'm gonna start handling it, okay?" Call up the banks. I sent copies of the card, senior vice president. Matter of fact, I show him. We, we owe a lot of money. He's, he was in New York, so I'm, I'm gonna go see his office. "Schloimele, he's a goyim. Uh, uh, he's a giant," he said. Says, "Gitz, Gitz, follow him." "Fine." Tell everybody this is the way it's gonna work. He hires secretaries. He lends, us some money, hire secretaries. Then the people start coming from Citigroup to look over all the books. Uh, bo- had women, two other ladies to go through these things. "Yeah, this is it." Now, he lived in New Jersey. He worked in New York. So Purim is coming. So he said, "You know what? I'd like to go meet the Rebbe."

1:40:46 Speaker 4 I said, "You can come to the farbrengen on Purim." And the whole time we're keeping the Rebbe abreast of all of this, on the phones such and such. I, I, I think I didn't tell you something before which I should've. Wh- when the Bernstein thing came apart, every morning I would call, I would sing "One day they saw me, hey Rebbe, amen." And then from there, But after the Bernstein story, I put it down something, I started to cry. A mixing of two stories. Makes no difference, straighten it out. Then that happened after the second one. I was right in the first place. So then we go to scrap what I just said that comes-

1:41:47 Speaker 7 Mm-hmm

1:41:47 Speaker 4 ... that comes on the second guy. You can cut this out of there.

1:41:51 Speaker 7 Yeah, yeah.

1:41:54 Speaker 4 So what happens is Menashe Sadon comes into my office, that's his name. He tells me what to do and all of this. Hired secretaries and people come, as I told you before. And now he wants to go to the Rebbe. I said, "Good, I'm going for Purim. Meet you in New York." The whole time we're keeping the Rebbe updated every day what's going on. Very strong. Rebbe Strong. So now I take Sadon, we meet him in New York. His, his wife also came. Big limousine. I never sat behind the Rebbe, ever, by a farbrengen. Always in front. Behind the Rebbe, not for me. This time, I had to give in to take him over to the Rebbe with So after the farbrengen, I said to come, we'll go over to the Rebbe. Go over to the Rebbe. I said, "Rebbe, this is Menashe Sadon. He is saving the Rebbe's institutions." He smiles and says, "Yes, I'm doing that. I'm saving the institutions." Rebbe looks at him and says, "You should have a peaceful life. You should have a peaceful life." Oops. "Menashe, you, you're pale. Come, come, come, we have to go. You don't, you don't feel good." "I'm okay." "No, you're not. I'm looking at you. Come, come." Took him off, took him to the back of the shul, had someone go upstairs. One of my kids at the time, my was taking care of the wife. "Come." Come down. We were supposed to fly together two days after. I was supposed to wait

1:43:58 Speaker 4 in New York. First thing in the morning, I get a plane back. I go into... He never let us talk to any of these people, the bankers or anything else. One lady was against the market. I come in, say, "Hi. Supposed to be here with Menashe, still in New York. But a few things I wanna ask you about the $10 million grant that we're getting from Citigroup." She says, "Grant? What kind of grant? Who told you you're getting a grant? It's a loan, but only if you could bring your big man, Jerry Weinshall as a guarantor." I said, "If it means Jerry Weinshall, what do I need you for? And we know you know Armand Hammer. They'll guaran-" "No, no, no. Armand Hammer not gonna give you a dime."

1:44:53 Speaker 7 Hm.

1:44:57 Speaker 4 The next morning, I start to cry. Now I have to deal with him yet, who's controlling everything, hired all these people. So what do I do? I call up the C- it's like, I feel begin to madden. And I started to cry. Never done it before. The, the, the Rebbe says, I said, " " Rebbe's talking to me, he says, "" "Ah." The Rebbe going, "Jerry Weinshall, ah. Uh, full page ad in New, New York Times, ah." Everything I said, "Ah, ah, ah, ah." Uh-huh. Uh-huh. That's how we then started to go door to door.

1:46:20 Speaker 7 That's how you started raising money?

1:46:21 Speaker 4 Really big time. But n- no, that's how we started not getting any money. So we come to one place. How much, what time is it now?

1:46:30 Speaker 7 Yeah, now, now you have to finish, so, so finish this off, and we'll finish with this.

1:46:34 Speaker 4 What time is it now?

1:46:35 Speaker 7 It's 9:15, so-

1:46:36 Speaker 4 I gotta go

1:46:36 Speaker 7 ... so you have to finish the sent- you have to finish the story

1:46:38 Speaker 4 We have to finish the sent-- make a long story short-

1:46:40 Speaker 7 Yeah

1:46:40 Speaker 4 ... we, we knocked on all the doors, said, "No, no, no." We knocked on one door, a long story, I'll tell you at a different time, but the bottom line is this woman passed away and left a third of her estate to Chabad, and we got ultimately, after a big fight with the heavens of office, we got $21 million.

1:46:59 Speaker 7 Wow.

1:47:01 Speaker 4 Cash.

1:47:03 Speaker 7 And, uh, this is, uh, the message for, uh, for everyone.

1:47:07 Speaker 4 It's the most important thing-

1:47:08 Speaker 7 Wait, wait, you have to speak into the mic.

1:47:10 Speaker 4 Huh?

1:47:10 Speaker 7 You have to speak into the mic. Speak into the mic.

1:47:14 Speaker 4 The main important thing is