Ep. 42: When My Father Told Me To Hang Up The Phone Part II with Rabbi Levi Garelik

00:00 Speaker 1 The Rebbe wants Limud HaTorah. Everything else is an offshoot of that. The Rebbe, all the Shlichus, the Shlichus comes from the fact that we are doing Haphatzas HaMayonos. It's true that eventually means also helping Yidden Begashmius, but that's not where it starts from. It starts from Torah. That's the number one thing, Nigleh, Chassidus, Peshat, and, and, and that's what the Rebbe would-- Molad is De'ah Savai means Torah. Sefer Hakol Sefer.

00:33 Speaker 2 This episode is made possible by Machane Israel. Pesach is coming up, and the bills are piling up as well. Learn how you can be part of the Rebbe's Moez Chitim a little bit later in the episode. 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. Shalom Aleichem, Rabbi Guralik, and thank you very much for, uh, agreeing to do part two. Many people asked, "When is part two? When is part three? When is part four?" So we'll, we'll move on with part two.

01:15 Speaker 1 It is my pleasure and my honor.

01:17 Speaker 2 Okay. So I believe that, uh, where we left off was when you talked about your visit, um, and when the Rebbe gave the Haggadahs, very, uh, interesting, the Haggadahs that the Rebbe gave for everybody. And my-- I think the next-- I imagine there were subsequent visits that you and your Mishpacha had, or yourself maybe, or later from, uh, Milan. So maybe you can, uh, talk about that a little bit.

01:47 Speaker 1 Sure. Now, let's clarify. The Haggadah I got, I was already here in Yeshiva. I came that year. It was the year of my Bar Mitzvah, so I was already here in Yeshiva. After that, there were a few incident, interesting incidents. Um, one of them, very cute, the following year in Taf Shin Lamed Heh. Sorry, the Haggadah was Taf Shin Lamed Daled. This is Taf Shin Lamed Heh, Kislev. My dear cousin, Rabbi Leibel Oltyan, got married. He m-- actually became my cousin 'cause he married Mrs. Oltyan. She was a Deren, my first cousin. And my mother came for that, uh, wedding. The wedding was around, around Yud Daled Kislev time, Taf Shin Lamed Heh. When my mother had to go back, so as the minhag used to be those days, whoever is traveling back stays in Gan Eden in, in, in the hallway in seven seventy, stands by the place where the sfarim are, you know, that, uh, window. And when the Rebbe comes out from Milche or Ma'arev, and somebody's standing there, that means that they're leaving. So my mother was standing there with my brother and my sister, if I believe. I was then already, uh, thir- fourteen. Now, I was learning in Yeshiva in, in Ocean Parkway. And midta mol, the Rebbe started looking at them like, "Fahrt gezunt erheit." But so- somehow, the Rebbe motioned that they should come in to Gan Eden HaTachton. So Rabbi Groner was there, uh, even Rabbi Klein, my father-in-law, later became, later became my father-in-law. And

03:12 Speaker 1 he said we're just going to Gan Eden HaTachton. So I was thinking, I would assume the Rebbe wants to give them something because they're traveling back. I'm here in Yeshiva, I don't belong there. On the other hand, they're going to Gan Eden HaTachton. Who knows? I, so I asked my, I asked Rabbi Klein, "I'm not traveling, but is it okay if I go in?" He says, "Sure." You know, Chaperaim. Anyways, we go into Gan Eden HaTachton, and he closes the door behind us. So now we're all standing there. The Rebbe's in his room, door's closed, and I'm thinking to myself, "Wait a minute. What am I doing here?" They're leaving, and nich stey da. So I figured, "And I can't leave," you know, it's, 'cause if the Rebbe may come out, it's not nice. So I hid behind my mother, figured, "Let me just stand there, at least I'll hear what's going on." The Rebbe came out. He gave them each one a dollar, you know, before traveling, and the Rebbe gave my mother a fifty-dollar bill, and the Rebbe said, "Un dos iz ayishtat vos in din mesiya." I never heard, "Jasolo," whatever. Uh, and then the Rebbe looks around, and the Rebbe, honest, I saw it there 'cause I was look, you know, I, I put up one eye just to see what's happening, and I saw the Rebbe went on his tippy toes. The Rebbe went like this over my mother's shoulder, and the Rebbe says, "Vos behalst du zikh?" And the

04:26 Speaker 1 Rebbe called me over, and he gave me a dollar.

04:27 Speaker 2 Why are you hiding?

04:28 Speaker 1 Yeah. Why are you hiding? Vos behalst du zikh? Like, well, it, it was a very, uh, how do you say it? Like a... How do I explain it? Uh, kiryat shel chiba. You know, it was like a very, very, like, "Vos behalst du zikh?" You know, you're part of the crew. What are you... No, that was just a very, uh, interesting, uh, that was that. Then, um, in Taf Shin Lamed Tes was the first time that our family was here by the Rebbe. We were all together. Either Taf Shin Lamed Tes or Mem Alef. I'm trying to remember. You could s- you could check that out very simple because that Tishrei, the Rebbe gave out, after Yechidus at the end of the month, the Rebbe gave out for all the men a Tanya with the Rebbe's signature in the back and a siddur to the ladies with the signature. So I remember we went into Yechidus, the whole family, because it's the first time that our family, the whole family complete, was by the Rebbe since Taf Shin Yod Tes. So the Rebbe said that we should come all into Yechidus as a family. And the Rebbe said then, "Un der rav midizein zal nemen, arayn genem haskiras un nemen Tanyas, un di rebbetzin midetechter zal nemen sidurim." That was the lashon. The Rebbe gives a lot of beautiful brochos in that Yechidus. Um, there was one time that I remember going to Yechidus with my father. That was another story. But yeah, but these

05:51 Speaker 1 were the basic, uh... Oh, another interesting thing. In Taf Shin Lamed... Oh, boy. I could look up exactly in, uh, in Likutei Sichos. I think it's Taf Shin Lamed Ches. This was Yud Alef Nisan by the farbrengen- And I came, w- I was, of course, I was here, but if I bring it, um, one of the, the, the, the person who gets the credit for the fact that we are in Italy, his name was Mr. Zippel. I think we maybe we discussed him, I don't remember.

06:19 Speaker 2 Yeah, yeah.

06:19 Speaker 1 Anyways, so his son, he li- his, his family was here in America, not in Italy. His wife was here in Manhattan, and his son. Now, his son-

06:28 Speaker 2 His family.

06:29 Speaker 1 What? His wife and kids.

06:31 Speaker 2 Mr. Zippel?

06:31 Speaker 1 Mr. Zippel's. This m- these four brothers.

06:33 Speaker 2 Oh, okay.

06:34 Speaker 1 So he's the oldest one. His family was here on Park Avenue, and today he's a big doctor in Etchesro. Very, very nice people. Beautiful. Anyways, so he came to that Farbrengen, he was standing next to me. And then I went upstairs after the Farbrengen. We obviously go upstairs to see how the Rebbe goes into his room after the Farbrengen. And, like, five or 10 minutes later, the Rebbe would come out to go home. You know, it was, it was Lebedek. After that Farbrengen, the Rebbe walked out of his room, and all of a sudden, the Rebbe said that he's going to give out nickels, I think, to all the Orchim, all the Orchim that came. So I figured he's also a Neirach, right? He's a, he's a guest. So all the people were... The Rebbe was in the hallway. In other words, right, right, walked out, and, like, right next to the Sfarim's, uh, window. So I took Mr. Zippel's son. It's the only time that I initiated a conversation with the Rebbe in my life. I, I don't think I ever did that bef- any other time. And I told the Rebbe, "This is Carlo Zippel's son." So the Rebbe looks at him, and the Rebbe says in English, and he points with his finger this way towards the Chiddes, "I have a letter for you on my desk." Now, he didn't understand exactly what the Rebbe says, so I told him, I right away told him, "The Rebbe's saying that he has a

07:57 Speaker 1 letter for you on his desk." Then the Rebbe asked, "Where is he gonna be in the next few weeks?" Like Pesach and, uh... So he also didn't understand exactly. I, I told him, "Where are you gonna be?" So he said he's going to be in New Jersey. So now the Rebbe pointed this way to Maskirus, and the Rebbe said that he should leave in Maskirus the address, and they will send him the letter to where he's going to be. That, that was, that was all. But excuse me, first the Rebbe went like this, and the Rebbe went like that. And fa-- So when we walked away, I told him, "You better send me a copy of that letter." He said, "Sure, no problem." Anyways, he sent it to me, and I took it and I printed it in the Kotzker Hasidim later. Very, very Gishmakke letter. He, first of all, he wrote to the Rebbe that he's learning in Yeshivat HaKotel, and he had a question in Chassidus about Ani Hava u'Lecha Nissi. You know, on one hand, we say in the Pasuk, uh, the Rebbe, it doesn't change. On the other hand, we have millions and billions, uh, Ben Livram. Ha- it's famous question in Chassidus. And, and the Rebbe wrote him back a beautiful letter, where the Rebbe says he was very happy to hear that he's in Yeshivat HaKotel. And the Rebbe, in a very short and concise way, it's like in four paragraphs, the Rebbe explains this, uh, the, the, the

09:06 Speaker 1 answer to the question. Very Gishmakke letter. But years later, I found a letter from the Rebbe to Mr. Carlo Zippel in English, where the Rebbe writes to him, you know, one thing, a second thing, then the Rebbe says, "Yeah, it's true that no news is good news, but it would've been nice to hear from you directly that your son is learning in Yeshivat HaKotel," et cetera. Like a very interesante. No, so I, I, I, I was very happy that I did that, you know, that I introduced him to the Rebbe, and this way it sort of made more even the connection between the Rebbe and Mr. Zippel. It was, uh-

09:39 Speaker 2 Yeah.

09:40 Speaker 1 That was one. Then, um, lamed tet, yeah. Basically, the- these were the, um...

09:48 Speaker 2 So this is all while you're here learning in Seven seventy.

09:50 Speaker 1 Not in Seven seventy.

09:50 Speaker 2 Whatever, in New York.

09:51 Speaker 1 This is Ocean Parkway. Uh, this is Ocean Parkway and Marston. Yeah. I went to Marston in Tachslamedches Lamedtes, those two years. Um, s- yeah. Here I would like to take a, uh, mention something very, very important for the Bachurim BeYichid. Those days, there was something called Darsei TMenim, which is Baruch Hashem today it became all over the place. At that time, there was one place they gave out Darsei TMenim, that was Seven seventy. And l- Seven seventy started le- before Shnas Hashivim, before the Rebbe turned seventy, before Yud Aleph, Nisán Tachslamedbeis. For Yud Aleph, Nisán Tachslamedbeis or Lamed Gimel, one of those two, they gave out a book of Darsei TMenim, and the Rebbe gave certain Hirhurais, whatever. After that, they started in Marston to give out Darsei TMenim. The, now, Seven seventy used to give out once in three weeks, let's say, sometimes once a month. And Marston also started, like, once every couple of weeks. I would say in a, in a full Sman, in a year, they gave out, let's say, fifteen. But they had, uh... The summer of Tachslamedvav, when I was still in Ocean Parkway, I had a, um, I have a cousin in Marston, Rabbi Elohim Wolf. So in the summertime, I used to spend time in what's called Turkey, a part of Gan Yisroel with Ocean Parkway. But one year, I had to go to Italy for something. So there were, like, two, three weeks between Yeshiva and going to Italy. So instead of Dreng'sach, I went to

11:23 Speaker 1 Marston, and I figured I'll sit there in the Zal. I'll stay by my cousin, Elohim, and I'll stay in the Zal. Helved Rebbe that Punkt, Rabbi Silverberg from Detroit, had a Balabos who's, who made a switch with Reb Shmulik Heber. Reb Shmulik Heber was Rosh Yeshiva. Reb Shmulik Heber went to Israel, to Israel, to Eretz Yisroel. So he gave his house to this Balabos 'cause this Balabos was a doctor, and he wanted to learn for two, three weeks. So he stayed in Rabbi Heber's house, him, his wife, and maybe even some kids, I'm not sure.

11:51 Speaker 2 Who, who did?

11:52 Speaker 1 This doctor from, uh, from Detroit. Now they need a Chavrusa. They should learn with him from the morning till at night. So they figured, "Oh, perfect. Here's..." I was there. I was there, like, uh, fifteen years old, sixteen years old, and I learned with him literally from eight o'clock in the morning till, uh, nine o'clock at night. Chassidus, Nigla, Gemara, everything.

12:09 Speaker 2 He's a Chassid.

12:10 Speaker 1 Helped the Rebbe there. I used to come at oc- eight o'clock in the morning. Now, sometimes he was there, sometimes not. If he wasn't, there were two people in the zal. At those days in the summertime in Maristown, there were 10, 15 bochurim. There were two people in the zal at eight o'clock.

12:22 Speaker 2 It's after Zman, it's-

12:23 Speaker 1 Yeah, it's after Zman 'cause it's in the summertime. So there was, there were always, like, 10, 15 bochurim in yeshiva. Who was there eight o'clock? Rabbi Meir Chwiel and Levi Yisroel. So we became good friends. You know, we're sitting two people by ourselves. So when this guy wasn't there, I learned with Rabbi Meir, which was ganeyd hamelium. This guy was an open encyclopedia. Mit hamal. Now, I had a hush in typing. Writing, typing, my father did that to me. When I was a kid, my father used to make me write and type. My father made me learn Dikduk. Imagine, just to, you know... I have a whole story about that, but that will appear for maybe for another time. And, uh, he was planning to give out a Ha'aras HaTzimimim that week, but there was nobody to type it, nobody to do it. Didn't know what to do. So I said, "I'll do it for you." And I gave out-- I prepared the whole gilyon, you know, typing eleven pages, whatever we call those days, and I gave out the gilyon. When I came to learn in Maristown two years later, I decided with my chavrusa, by the way, Rabbi Alter Bukiet, he's the Rosh Yeshiva in Lexington. Well, now, the, the rule in Maristown was that you, you learn in Maristown for two years, the first year and the second year. The first year, you're not allowed to be involved in Ha'aras HaTzimimim. Takes time, it's work, and it's typing, and it's, uh, going

13:35 Speaker 1 to printing and... The, the learning part a bisl, you know, but the, the, the practical part, zicher nisht. The second year you can. So my chavrusa and myself, we decided the second year we are going to give out Ha'aras HaTzimimim every two weeks 'cause Baruch Hashem, we started learning the Likutey Sichos, and we had a whole bunch of ha'aras and things there. So-

13:54 Speaker 2 Ha'aras HaTzimimim is in all topics then or it's only the Rebbe's-

13:57 Speaker 1 No, only Sichos. Only Sichos. Ma-

14:01 Speaker 2 Likutey Sichos-

14:01 Speaker 1 All the tate started the following year, taf shii mem, and they started slowly but surely doing in different topics. L- Maristown was strictly Likutey Sichos.

14:10 Speaker 2 And now-- And also what the Rebbe spoke by Farbrengens?

14:12 Speaker 1 No, that started later.

14:14 Speaker 2 So it's only Likutey Sichos.

14:15 Speaker 1 Yeah, that started, like, in the mems is when it started.

14:16 Speaker 2 So the cur- the current Likut, whatever was coming out.

14:18 Speaker 1 Likut or Likutey Sichos-

14:19 Speaker 2 Okay

14:19 Speaker 1 ... or Likutey Sichos in general. And also, Rabbi Meir Chwiel told us a beautiful story, that he went into Yechidus once, and he told the Rebbe that he heard different opinions about the Ha'aras in Maristown. That the Rebbe likes it, and the Rebbe doesn't like it. That he heard different opinions, so he's asking the Rebbe, you know, if, if it's no good, he'll stop. And the Rebbe told him, "Not only it's good, by mir in Tzimmes is dog even a Rosh Yeshiva, and he asked me a question in Likutey Sichos, and I took out the Ha'aras HaTzimimim from Maristown, and I showed him, 'Yeah, a bochur in yeshiva asked this question.'"

14:51 Speaker 2 Hmm.

14:51 Speaker 1 This is what Meir Chwiel told us the story. I heard the story. The Rebbe not only approved, "Yeah, it's mesader." The Rebbe gave a, a miradike push. "Nisht, no, this is good. A Rosh Yeshiva was by me, and he asked me, and I showed him that a bochur fragt a shail." So I figured, uh, uh, that's gonna be my project next year. And, uh, 'cause we were learning regularly Likutey Sichos for a few years, and we had a few gishmake ha'aras that we had, but we wouldn't write in Ha'aras HaTzimimim seven-seven-seventy. We're a little boz, we, we couldn't mir in such ha'aras seven-seven-seventy. So we had, you know. Okay. Comes Chayelul, which is the beginning of this month, and we were able to put together enough ha'aras to make a gilyon. So we made a gilyon for Chayelul, which was in the yeshiva, it gave a miradike koch 'cause the yeshiva was only open a week, a week and a half, two weeks. And omitavall, a gilyon of Ha'aras HaTzimimim comes, so of course it made a nice koch. For Shabbos Bereishis, we gave out another gilyon. Now, don't forget Tisha, there isn't much yeshiva. But we have such on a very interesting chap. One of the Rosh Yeshivas in Maristown at that time was Rabbi Meir Greenberg. Rabbi Meir Greenberg was from the ashdot nimim in America. He learned the Tate of a Das by Reb Shlomo Heiman. He got a miradike going and, and I started talking to him. You know, I want--

16:07 Speaker 1 First of all, he was very-- What happened was the first time I met him, tells him, "Oh, you're Garelik. What's it? So you're Bessie Posner's son." He came to Chicago. When my Zeide was in Chicago, my mother then was two years old, uh, three years old, and he used to pick up my mother. He was a babysitter. And he even told me that one time, you know, he had a beard, and he asked my mother, "Who, who's dime bort?" She was three or four years old, I don't know. And she said, "Dogey tish keregn, viz again a bort." You know. But I'm saying he-- So the moment I came to him, this was, you know. So we started talking about, you know, his connection with the Rebbe and, and this guy was a fountain of information. Fountain. So I told him, "Look, we're doing Ha'aras HaTzimimim. Why don't you write Ha'aras? You have so much." He gave us a Ha'ara for Shabbos Bereishis, like a four or five-page Ha'ara. The minag is to be by the Rebbe that Friday night. The Rebbe used to come down to daven, so, uh, Ma'ariv. Those years, no, the Lameds. From-- The Rebbe used to open up the Siddur, start Lecha Dodi Ranana. And you know, davening Friday night is, uh, you know, takes time. And about two, three minutes into Ma'ariv, the Rebbe would take out the Likut, the Rebbe had in the back of the Siddur, take out the Likut, and the Rebbe would read the Likut

17:23 Speaker 1 with his hands like this on the stand there, his feet tzei, you know, standing. After Boei VeShalom, that's when the Rebbe would close the Likut and continue Ma'ariv. But the Rebbe used to read the Likut. That Friday night, the Rebbe took out the Ha'aras HaTzimimim, and we saw the Rebbe was reading Meir Greenberg's Ha'ara.

17:41 Speaker 2 It was in Likutey Sichos, the-

17:42 Speaker 1 No. Ha'aras HaTzimimim.

17:44 Speaker 2 No, but it was in-- The Ha'ara was on Likutey Sichos.

17:45 Speaker 1 Sure, sure, sure. Sichos, Sichos. No, everything was on Likutey Sichos. Everything was on Likutey Sichos. Ad ka dikach, I'll give you an example. There was a certain ha'ara that he wrote at Yom-- about Yom Tov Vuach, about after Shavuot, the day after Sh- the, the, the day after Shavuot, something called Yom Tov Vuach. And he told me the story, that this was in the early chaf's. He came to Kol Shel Brocha from-- He used to live in Paterson, New Jersey. So right after Yom Tov, they would take the car and come for the end of the Farbrengen. Him, Schonberg Gordon from Maplewood, New Jersey. They would all drive in from New Haven. They used to drive in because the Farbrengen used to go till midnight, yeah? And then Kol Shel Brocha. So they would chaparein and get, uh, part of the Farbrengen, and I once came from Pittsburgh like that. I was in Pittsburgh, Simchas Torah Lamates. Right after Yom Tov- Ran, took a flight, ran to seven seventy after all, come to the end of Kirsh Brecher. It was still me of a bregen.

18:30 Speaker 2 Yeah.

18:31 Speaker 1 Okay. So, um, the Rebbe spoke about a whole thing. The Rebbe-- Because the Rebbe used to say a sikha for the Kinust Torah for the next day. You know, after Yom Tov, the Rebbe says a Kinust Torah. And he says he went by, by Kirsh Brecher, so the Rebbe told him, "Look, resembling Morgan by the Kinust Torah, they'll be happy to speak. He'll speak about what I spoke about." Now, I don't know if he was there Beshas Maisem when the Rebbe discussed the sikha or if he heard Hazar or whatever it was, but the next day, he... So we told him, "Ad Rabbe, write down what you said by the Kinust Torah based on the sikha." At that time, nobody had the Hanakh of that fabregen. So the only information that you had about that sikha was from the Ha'ari, in Ha'ari Satmimim that Meir Greenberg wrote what the Rebbe said. You understand what I'm saying?

19:17 Speaker 2 So he was-- He wrote down something from y-years later?

19:20 Speaker 1 Yeah.

19:20 Speaker 2 Yeah.

19:21 Speaker 1 No, he-- Could be he had notes of it from Beshas Maisem. But he gave us a beautiful Ha'ari. The Rebbe said, "Kah vekah vekah vekah," and he added, "Nechemie de lei," you know. So what I'm saying is that the Ha'ari Satmimim. Okay. When we saw that the Rebbe took out the Ha'ari Satmimim instead of the Likud-

19:40 Speaker 2 You were there?

19:40 Speaker 1 Of course, I was there. I ac-I wasn't watching. What happened was there was a German, he's now in Eseral, Sosaver, a brother to the Sosaver from this forum. We used to call him Hamiri. He used to give out something called Beis Hayenu. He used to stand like this, watching the Rebbe, every single move of the Rebbe. The moment he saw that the Rebbe took out Ha'ari Satmimim, he came running to me, says, "Levi, come over." And I thought I saw that the Rebbe is reading the Ha'ari, but we were-- I was, I was able to see from the, from the typing, I saw that it says Ha'ari. When we saw that the Rebbe took out the Ha'ari Satmimim instead of the Likud, that made us make the decision we are going to make Ha'ari Satmimim every two weeks. Every... Can we consider every two weeks? I I have such on a very simple answer. I took all the Ha'ari Satmimims from Maristan and from New York. I went through all the questions that were asked, and no answer was given. And every week, I used to put on the wall a whole bunch of questions. When you have something what to work with, come then. And that you'll see in the Ha'ari Satmimim of Maristan. You'll see it as a question. The answer doesn't, the answer doesn't, the answer doesn't. Aber stutza. Comes the night... Or now, when are we gonna work on Ha'ari Satmimim? Thursday night. We work for, like, six, seven hours on

21:01 Speaker 1 the teichen. Then I type. Takes me at least, uh, four, five hours to type because we did it on a typewriter and a hair and a heinous and this is a pushet. The next morning, we have to run to Manhattan, from Maristan to Manhattan, to a printing place, 'cause in Crown Heights, there was then yet any printing places yet. The only place was Vadlav at the Sikhas, but of course, uh, I couldn't do it there. In Manhattan, in Chamber Street, two blocks away from the World Trade Center. And then from there, I used to go to Crown Heights and bring the Likud and the Ha'ari Satmimim to the Rebbe.

21:29 Speaker 2 Shabbos.

21:30 Speaker 1 Yeah, Friday afternoon. We're sitting Thursday night, Noach. My Alti, myself, and we're preparing for next week's Ha'ari Satmimim. You know, start preparing to this. Mitam all we saw. Now, the minimum pages for Ha'ari Satmimim, we needed a minimum of Yud-Aleph Amudim in order to look like a normal, like, the Chareidi's Kabbalah. Less than-- You can't make something less than eleven pages. Mitam all we saw that we have enough for eleven pages. So now we started thinking, should we give it out to the Shabbos or not? If we give it out to the Shabbos, that means we gave out Breisis, we gave out Noach, then you have to give out every week. If we won't, we'll give out Lech Lechos every two weeks. On the other hand, the Rebbe read it last week. It's the first Tachshibes. Know that we're gonna have to work ten times harder 'cause every week we're gonna have to. So we decided, this is twelve o'clock at night, twelve thirty at night. You know, a little shishi, we're always up all night anyways. So we figured we'll call Meirlech, Rabbi Meirlech Tzibel. He was the, uh, head of the Mareches. We'll ask him. Twelve-- You could call Meirlech, Rabbi Meirlech at twelve or one or two or three, no problem. So we called him up, and we told him. Rabbi Meirlech says, "Vu seist? Sikha daf min hari zgim. We're gonna quit." Like, no question. And he knew that by saying that, he's taking upon himself a lot of work because

22:43 Speaker 1 he used to also write Ha'aris, and, uh, don't forget... By the way, just so people should know, before the Rebbe used to give out the Likud, there were a few people that looked it over, and he was one of them. He used to-

22:52 Speaker 2 Meirlech.

22:53 Speaker 1 They used to send it to Maristan. He used to look it over. He used to give his, uh, Ha'aris vechulum. Rabbi Meirlech Tzibel was-- You need a separate, uh, podcast for Rabbi Meirlech Tzibel.

23:01 Speaker 2 He was my Mashpia, too.

23:02 Speaker 1 What? He was your Mashpia, too? Oh, okay. So you'll, uh, you'll have plenty. So we gave out the Lik- Ha'ari Satmimim for that week. You cannot-- Today, it's very hard to explain it, but those days, this was not a revolution. The mother of all revolutions. Ha'ari Satmimim, Maristan, two weeks in a row. Seven seventy, Sachakol makes it the case every three weeks, every four weeks, and Maristan alone used to do it once a month. I even heard that the, uh, the, the, the Mareches of Ha'ari Satmimim, the Bachrim, they went to that hall of seven seventy. They should talk to that hall of Maristan, that it's a chutzpah. I'm telling you, it was Lebedig and Freilech. But that's it. That was the push, and we made a Hachlata that we're not going to, Chas veShalom, use time of Seder. We're gonna use the Seder of at night for the Seder Sikhas. And Rabbi Meirlech called us over and told us, "If you need any other time-

24:00 Speaker 2 When we say Seder Sikhas-

24:01 Speaker 1 Yeah.

24:01 Speaker 2 -after Seder?

24:03 Speaker 1 After Seder. Sure, at night.

24:04 Speaker 2 So that's how Seder Sikhas started, the whole thing in Yeshivas, Seder Sikhas, that's where it, that's where it comes from?

24:08 Speaker 1 We started on this concept, if I'm not mistaken.

24:10 Speaker 2 All Yeshivas have after, when Seder-

24:12 Speaker 1 Yeah, I don't think there was something before that.

24:13 Speaker 2 Seder's done at night, all Yeshivas have Seder Sikhas.

24:15 Speaker 1 Don't forget, those days, Likud Sikhas was only till Chelek, uh, Ches, Zain. There wasn't yet, um-

24:22 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

24:23 Speaker 1 No. And then, especially, as I said, I used to put up questions. So Rabbi Meirlech, this gave a Meir di Cheches, and we gave out every week. Lech Lecha, Vayeira, Chayei Sara. Now, I don't remember which Shabbos, if it was Vayeira or Chayei Sara, one of the first weeks. And, uh, like, like after the fourth or the fifth week. Meirlech, Rabbi Meirlech calls us over, Rabbi Alter Buker and myself. "What's your mother's name?" So I said, "Why?" She says, "Because every year he sends into the Rebbe the names of the Mareches, you know, of Ha'ari Satmimim." I said, "Do me a favor. Don't give my name. I don't know if the Rebbe is going to be happy or not because the Rebbe knows what it takes to give out this, and my name is gonna go in as the guy wastes his time, which I really don't. I do keep the Tzdorim and everything, but it may not look so, so..." He told me, "Don't worry. Af meine acherais." All right, of minor cries, but say that. So we gave him our names. That week, we gave him to the Rebbe two things. He gave him to the Rebbe, Duke of the Pooles, of the Bachram, if it's all him, things, learning, all kinds of things. And separately, he gave about the artist at Mimi. And he got those days, the Rebbe used to answer, but they're clown on these general touch him. The Rebbe used to have these papers that said, "Nisqabel vetach." I

25:40 Speaker 1 received a thank you. Besmichus le, let's say it was Besmichus le Yutes Kislev, Besmichus le, whoever the hag, and a word about that, Asker Alatzian. So the Rebbe used to take, instead of writing on each one, the maskiris used to prepare for the Rebbe this Tzetala, and the Rebbe used to take one of these and attach it, that this was the answer to that duch.

25:59 Speaker 3 The maskiris had already-

26:00 Speaker 1 Yeah

26:00 Speaker 3 ... um, the language for that appropriate time.

26:02 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah. The Rebbe used to prepare a language because the Rebbe used to get duchim Leonhard, Baruch Hashem, you know, from Batrikhabad, from everywhere. So the Rebbe used to, as, as, as their answer, instead of writing every single time, because it takes time, the Rebbe would attach one of these Tzetala. And every few days or every two weeks, the, the Nusach would change. So here, when these two things went in, the Rebbe attached to Tzetala, this Kabul vetach. But the one on the Ha'aretz Atmimim, the Rebbe added two words, Biksaviat Katje, Ashrechelkom.

26:34 Speaker 3 Hmm.

26:35 Speaker 1 So of course, we had no question this is the, the right thing. I don't remember if it was the fourth or the fifth or the sixth week, but it was one of those first weeks. I came into Seven Seventy with the Ha'aretz Atmimim a half hour before Shabbos. Now, they say that those days were this, they say that those days was that the Rebbe used to get the mail from, you know, Maskirim used to ring in at specific times. On Friday afternoon, about a half hour before Shabbos, approximately an hour, a half hour, I don't remember exactly, the one who used to bring in the mail to the Rebbe was Rab Shalom Yisroel Chadikav, Rabbi Chadikav's son. Shalom Yisroel is, uh, no, is a, is allowed to talk behind her, a, a special person. I came running into Seven Seventy, and I see Rab Shalom Yisroel walking out from Gan Eden Atachtan. So I know I missed getting in, into the Rebbe before Shabbos. I was devastated. The, I don't want Chas ve'Shalom Rebbe to think that we didn't give out a gillian. On the other hand, it's, it's done. You can't, I can't, I go, I'm not gonna go knock on the Rebbe's door, Chas ve'Shalom. So I went over to Rabbi Groner, I begged him. He says he doesn't know. He'll see, because he usually doesn't go in on Sha- uh, whatever. He said, "You know, give it to me, and then I'll see what I could do." Comes Ma'ariv, and the Rebbe

27:54 Speaker 1 took out the Likud. I literally didn't sleep a whole night. I pushed it. I, I was almost ready to go over to the Rebbe Shabbos morning and say, "Rebbe, I just wanna, I would just want you to know that, that the gillian came out, and I gave it." You know, Afa Zei Vait, but I decide I'm not going to do that, no. Comes Shacharis, and I get this sauce, it comes and calls me middle of Shacharis. The Rebbe then used to sit by many parts of it because it was very after Tosh Lametas. This was the following year, Tosh Lametas. He says the Rebbe walked in, opened up the siddur, and the Rebbe said, "From Hoydu till Nishmas, as I gesagt?" The Rebbe sat down, read out Atmimim till Baruch.

28:35 Speaker 3 Hmm.

28:36 Speaker 1 It, it was obvious. It was, it, it couldn't be more obvious. So that was a very big koch. Ha'aretz Atmimim in Maristan, sta- in Aleiteira started the following year in Tosh Lametas.

28:47 Speaker 3 Tosh Lametas.

28:47 Speaker 1 But this was, uh-

28:49 Speaker 3 It says on each, uh, gillian, I think.

28:50 Speaker 1 What?

28:51 Speaker 3 They write on each gillian.

28:52 Speaker 1 What, the number?

28:53 Speaker 3 Noised-

28:53 Speaker 1 Noised Bishmat Tosh Lametas.

28:54 Speaker 3 Tosh Lametas, yeah.

28:55 Speaker 1 What I'm talking about is Tosh Lametas. This is way be-- This is a year, a year before. So, uh, no, uh, uh, it, it... These little things that the Rebbe did, it gave a chance to the whole concept. First taste, and, uh, it was, it was really nice.

29:13 Speaker 3 Yeah.

29:13 Speaker 1 That was that. That was in Tosh Lametas.

29:15 Speaker 3 And the, and the Ha'aretz and everything in the Sichas that the Rebbe was saying then, that started Aleiteira?

29:20 Speaker 1 That, no, that started... I, I'm not sure exactly which one, but I think that one of the big ones was the following year, when Reb Meir's Zwiebel wrote a Ha'are in Parshas Tazria Metzora about a kvater, uh, if a meuberes could be a kvater. And the Rebbe spoke a Sicha then, and which is printed now in Likud Te Sichas, Chelek Rabais, Parshas Tazria. I think, I think that that was the first time that the Rebbe... Then there was a period of time when the Rebbe Bechal said by Fabregin, the Mezul Shraibman daughters, shailes, and then the Rebbe will pick one and discuss it. After that, there was a lot of thi- In our year-

29:56 Speaker 3 In the mid-mems, the Rebbe is addressing-

29:58 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah

29:58 Speaker 3 ... the Ha'aretz and Sichas.

29:58 Speaker 1 That's very tough Shemem. That's very tough.

30:00 Speaker 3 Yeah.

30:00 Speaker 1 In our year. But-

30:01 Speaker 3 The Rebbe, the Rebbe's usually not happy with the, uh-

30:04 Speaker 1 Das kan zan.

30:04 Speaker 3 I mean, it, it... I don't know if they're happy.

30:05 Speaker 1 Yeah, no, the Rebbe, it was always in a Gishmake way.

30:08 Speaker 3 Yeah.

30:08 Speaker 1 First taste that-

30:09 Speaker 3 I, yeah, exactly. Like-

30:10 Speaker 1 In Mishpat Aharon, we try for Fages Vengdikop.

30:12 Speaker 3 Yeah, the Rebbe says, yeah.

30:13 Speaker 1 Um, another very interesting thing that we did then in Tosh Lametas was, I-- Don't forget, computers then was new. It wasn't yet. We managed to give out a gillian for Yud Aleph Nissan of over seventy pages. Uh, the Rebbe then turned seventy-five or seventy-six. Ayin Vav, I think it was. And we decided to make a gillian of Ayin Vav Amudim, okay? And to bind it and make a maftech in yonim in the front. And I'm gonna tell you a little secret. If you give a look at the f-first Likud Te Sichasin, you'll, you'll... In the, in the front page, when it tells you the Likudim, it only says, Parshat Tazria page. Alef Beis Gimel Dalet doesn't say the Teichan of the Sicha. Later, they started putting in the Teichan. We did that in Maristan. When we gave out a gillian, in the front, we wrote Parshat Va'era. We wrote the Teichan of what the Ha'are is, and then the page. After that, they started doing that in all the Sefarim when they, yeah.

31:05 Speaker 3 So not just the title, but the title-

31:06 Speaker 1 Right. Not just the... Right? We wrote, like, the Teichan of what, what it is. And that's when I look, look at Likud Te Sichas. It'll tell you. It tells you, like, in a, in a line or two what it is. If you look at Likud Sichas before that, it wasn't. We started that concept Um, it is, uh, and then that people were able to go to the Rebbe. Not-- The Rebbe requested that anybody who gave out a Kevitz or whatever, they should give it over to the Rebbe. So we went, and we gave the Rebbe a bound of that half a year with a Sefer like this. I worked through the night with Yankish Lema Goldberg. And we gave to the Rebbe a beautiful, uh, Sefer. You know, all the hours with the Mafteach, with everything. By the way, I forgot to say, when I was in Ocean Parkway, I heard the Rebbe, the Rebbe spoke to them about Kevitzim. Now, I was then fif- sixteen years old, and we were in Ocean- in, in Mes Madresh. And I told, um, the Rosh Yeshiva and, and Menahal, Rabbi Tannenbaum, "I'd like to give out a Kevitz. The Rebbe wants Kevitzim. Even though we're young, we'll, we'll still do whatever we can." So we wrote Pepulim. The Alter Rebbe Bochim, the, the system used to be there were Alter Rebbe Bochim learning in Ocean Parkway from seven seventy, and the Rebbe Yoel would come and give them Shiurim at night. So the first Gilyon that we

32:25 Speaker 1 gave out, we gave out in Ocean Parkway, it was . And I went then to Balsan Printing to do it. It was before computers. And they, you know, with the linotype with the whole thing and whatever. And I remember I came then to Shusterman to print it, and I walked into the, uh, shop, and I said, "I would like to print a Kevitz." And I showed them what I wanna do, yeah. And then, fine. So I left it by them. I came back the next day to see what, uh, what's going on. It's like it's not computers. This is linotype. This is every letter becomes lead, and you have to put... It's a whole story. I walked into the, into the printing place, and Shust-- He later became my grandfather, my wife's grandfather. So he looks at me from afar. He was, he has places in the back over there. He sees me, and he saw that I came kehillah to see what's going on. So he's a . So he goes, "Hineh baal hachalom mei Salozer. Bo!" You know, "You're dreaming. Why are you coming today from yesterday? Are you..." Anyway, but the first we managed to give out the Kuntres there in Gilyon. But I was ashamed to go. They said, "You have to go over to the Rebbe." The Rebbe said then, I was ashamed, so I asked one of the Alter Rebbe Bochim to go with me, and that was Rabbi Herschel Volozhsky, zang gezunt. So there's a picture of how

33:43 Speaker 1 we're both by the Rebbe, but he is actually giving the Hares Dim to the, not Hares Dim, the Pilpul, Pilpul HaTalmidim. And as a matter of fact, you'll see something very interesting there. One of the Alter Rebbe Bochim that came then to Ocean Parkway was Rabbi Moshe Wiener, chad ros bolim zakon. And I asked him if he has anything to write. And he says, "Yeah." And he gave me three pages about beard. And that later became the move to his Sefer on the beard. At that time, he had no dream of giving out the Sefer yet. But, uh, the, that was the beginning of that.

34:16 Speaker 3 That Sefer.

34:16 Speaker 1 So there's a lot of interesting, uh, history behind all. You look at a Kuntres, but really there's a lot of history behind it.

34:22 Speaker 3 Kevitzim.

34:23 Speaker 1 There's a lot of beautiful Pepulim Uchsiddus because the Rebbe Yoel used to do with the Bochim, which is very, very gishmeke stuff. And, uh, and every year since then. I don't know if they give out every year still, but at least then the Rebbe requested it, so we gave it out.

34:37 Speaker 3 Okay. So that's, uh-

34:39 Speaker 1 That's-

34:39 Speaker 3 ... should be an inspiration for the Bochim-

34:41 Speaker 1 Yeah

34:41 Speaker 3 ... to write, uh, Pepulim about this.

34:42 Speaker 1 The, the-- Let me make it very, very clear. A Bocher was learned. I'm not talking about Nigleh Uchsiddus. They're not, they're not making. The Re-- The hanah that the Rebbe has from seeing a Bocher was koch sach in lernen. I'm not talking about the story that, uh, the Grossman says the Rebbe said, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about Pashet, the cup licht in lernen. To the Rebbe, this was, that's what you call misave. That was the Rebbe's taave, to a Bocher was koch sach and, and then fashtse sach, and then we do it in Likutei Sichos, so you sort of, lafashe lo, this is, this is, this is the top. Because I had that, uh, chush, Baruch Hashem, in Tosh Lamid Ches, in the summer, we opened up in Italy a Yeshivas Kayitz, Yeshivas Kayitz Levi Yitzchok. There were two, three years there was, there was no Gan Yisroel. It was a whole story, whatever, and, uh-

35:37 Speaker 3 In Parkville?

35:38 Speaker 1 No, no, in Italy.

35:38 Speaker 3 Oh, okay.

35:38 Speaker 1 In Italy. There was something because they, the, we used to always rent a different place every couple of years. And one time, s- I don't know exactly what happened to something. So therefore, we made Yeshivas Kayitz. So this, we had all the boys, l'chlal pochis, and we opened up Yeshivas Kayitz near Milan. At the end of that Yeshivas Kayitz, I gave it a Kevitz. Pilpul, blah, blah, blah. Fashtse sach, we managed to put it together, and we called it Shaarei Romi.

36:04 Speaker 3 Hmm.

36:04 Speaker 1 You know, because the Rebbe always spoke about Shaarei Romi, Shaarei Romi. And, uh, and I remember, uh, just an interesting, uh, after the Pinya Korr story with Satmar, et cetera. So a lot of the Satmar in Galut started opening up a little to find out what Lubavitch is all about. So two guys, they happened to be in our house, and they saw this Kevitz, and they wrote Pieve di Cadore, Italia. And one tells the other, "You see, Mezaca, give a look in a place that nobody ever heard of. Give a look. They give out Torah." You know, it was just, uh, that was another thing.

36:40 Speaker 3 The Rebbe himself said about Hares that if there's such a thing, kehillah, that Lubavitch is a chassidun in learning-

36:49 Speaker 1 The Rebbe was talking l'chalah about Kevitzim

36:50 Speaker 3 ... look at the Kevitzim.

36:51 Speaker 1 Sure, look at the Kevitzim. They come out for sure.

36:52 Speaker 3 Yeah.

36:52 Speaker 1 Sure, sure. Zecher, zecher, zecher. Okay, um, after two years of Marztan, which is I learned in Marztan, Tosh Lamid Ches to Tosh Lamid Tes. Shvuos Tosh Lamid Tes, I was in Italy. Um, actually, I went home for Pesach, and I stayed in Italy. I didn't come back right after that 'cause I had issues with the army, the Italian army, a whole story. Nothing terrible, but I had to stay in Italy. Italian army I'm sorry? Italian army. Italian army, yeah. Never heard of that. Yeah. Um, so I had to stay there. Now, before I left to Italy, I told the Rosh Yeshiva, that year it was Rav Zalman Melzansky was the Rosh Yeshiva. It was-- I was there the last year of Rav Shmuel Heber and the first year of Rav Zalman Melzansky. And I was very close to him because I knew him, you know, from Paris, et cetera. So right before Pesach, I told him that I'm going to- You knew him from Paris? I, I went for a few visits- Oh, okay. -when I was young, when I was younger. Yes. Um, I went there in nineteen sixty-nine. I was there for a little while. I went there nineteen seventy-three. Tav Shin Lamed, Tav Shin Lamed tes, Tav Shin Lamed gimmel. A few times, yeah. So, um, I told him that I'm going home for Pesach, and I don't know when I'm gonna be coming back. And at that time, what's actually angefangen kochen, the shluchus to Miami. Those days there was Australia,

38:18 Speaker 1 Miami. Australia, Miami, New Haven, and Seattle. These were the four yeshivas at that time. So now was the time for Miami. And we knew that Sefirah time, Shavuos time, right after Shavuos, at around that time, there's going to be the shluchus to Miami. So I told Rav Zalman I'm gonna be in Italy. I don't know why I felt that there's a good possibility I would be one of the people going, and I told him. So he said me, "Um, well, what are we gonna do if you're in Italy?" I said, "A phone call doesn't even cost a dime. You'll call me collect. You'll tell me this, what's going on, and I'll tell you, can I come, can't I come, or whatever, you know." Beseder. I was home, and I used to get every week in the mail, I used to get the Ohr HaChaim, they used to send me the Ohr HaChaim that came out. Comes Erev Shavuos, and I get in the mail the Ohr HaChaim from Maristan, and I see in the back a Hakdosha. Hakdosha, Lezchus Hatmimim Hashluchim to Miami. All my friends on that page. Nisht I knew that it happened, nisht I knew that they're going. Garnished. I'm sitting there in Italy, and I'm watching this Hakdosha, yeah? That's it. All my friends are gone, and I'm stuck back there in who knows. Where I'm gonna go, where am I gonna go? Yeah, maybe New Haven, but Mia-- It was Australia and Miami. These were the two prestigious. I was

39:51 Speaker 1 sh- the whole Shavuos I was devastated. Devastated. Comes Motzei Shavuos, about three o'clock in the morning, and the phone rings in my house. I was up for some reason . I pick up the phone, and who was it? My chevra, my friends in Miami. They're calling me and telling me that they just heard in New York that this Keshel Berach after Shvu-- You know, don't forget this is Tav Shin Lamed tes. It's after Rebbe's heart attack, Lamed tes. You know, everything was anayas by the Rebbe at Farbrengens. There was a Farbrengen on Shavuos bechal that was very happy and, 'cause Rebbe used to Farbrengen Motzei Shabbos those days. And Yom Tov, the Rebbe didn't. It was Shabbos. I mean, it was Yom Tov. And they told me that it's so Lebedik, and it's, it, everything, mit alge der zachen. So, uh, and then they started telling me that th- this whole thing of Miami went very fast, and da, da, and now they're in Miami. I was on the phone with them for at least half hour, forty-five minutes even, you know. And I'm thinking to myself, "Reb Berish Elimelech, what's gonna be now? Where am I gonna..." Like, what's it sein? Okay, anyways, I stayed in Italy anyways 'cause I had to do the Yeshivas gaits. Came back in Elul. I'm in seven-seventy. And Rabbi Klein comes to me and tells me that they would like me to go to New Haven. Now, I knew that was probably that's what's gonna happen. But the

41:07 Speaker 1 guys in that group weren't from my class. They, i-in Maristan, you know, there were a lot of people came from all over the place and, uh, and I told him, "Listen, do me a favor. If it comes from the Rebbe, obviously, there's no question, right? But if not, I have to admit that I'm not gonna be very comfortable or whatever." He says, "Look, my job is to ask if you feel like... But if you ask my opinion, I think you should go." I figured su- after such a... I said, "Fine, beseder, I'll go." In retrospect, I can't thank the Rebbe enough for not having sent me to Miami and for sending me to New Haven. First of all, those two years were of the best years of my life, number one. Number two, I don't know if I mentioned to you last time, I came to America in Tav Shin Lamed gimmel to stay Rosh Chodesh Tammuz. I came to go to Gan Yisro. From Gan Yisro, it was right before my Bar Mitzvah, then I would go to Yeshiva, et cetera. Ca- I came Rosh Chodesh Tammuz, my cousin came to pick me up at the airport, and I went to camp the next day. Came Yud Beis Tammuz, I was sure that everybody's going to New York for the Farbrengen, Yud Beis Tammuz. And mitnola, I see stutza garnished. Nobody's mo-- Like, like the day is going through. The day of, you know, the Farbrengen's at night. The day is going through, like

42:33 Speaker 1 as if, uh, as if nothing's happening. I mean, they talk about Yud Beis Tammuz, but nobody's talking about going to New York. And I couldn't understand. I just came from Italy. For me, the whole life I was y-yearning and waiting to come and see, you know, to be by the Rebbe's Farbrengen. So I did come for a visit in, from Purim till Pesach, whatever. But here it's Yud Beis Tammuz. So I went over to my counselor. I said, "Do me a favor. I, ich kan nisht. I, I, I'll, I'll... Either I'm gonna run away from camp or do- I have to be by the Farbrengen. Unke meises." So we spoke to Rabbi Avraham Schechter there. Anyways, there was a ride going into New York, and I went for the Farbrengen of Yud Beis Tammuz. That gradua- was, that was the last time that Chazar came to the Rebbe. I was able to see at least once, Chazar with the Rebbe and this and that. Fine. Okay. Came Shabbos Mevarchim, and mitnola again, um, nobody's going I said, "I don't understand. You're I think there were... Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what it was, yeah. I come out of the train station, and there's nobody there. It's deserted. Friday afternoon, The here, the subway you mean? In the subway. I came out on Kingston Avenue, and I am thinking, "Should I go into Seven seventy first, or should I go to fourteen eighty?" 'Cause I also had a bed over there, and check something. And allerlei, as

50:39 Speaker 1 I'm thinking, "Yanish, Mittamol," I see Zelig Gottlieb and German. He has a lot of kids. I mean, now they're all mothers and bobbies. But at that time, he was with his little daughters. And I see he's running. He tells me, "Levi, the Rebbe is fabrenging upstairs." These words he said, "The Rebbe is fabrenging upstairs." It was a Friday afternoon, the Rebbe is fabrenging upstairs. The last time the Rebbe fabrenged upstairs was in Tuv Shin, what, Chuf. And now it's Tuv Shin, Mem Alef. So I ran into Seven seventy. I come in. I see, as soon as you come in, the door is closed to the zal. The door is never closed to the zal those days. Who closes the- The door- Today, unfortunately, it's closed. I wish they would- You mean in the, where they have to give dollars? By the Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure. I wish they would open it back up. I don't know who they thought- It's closed since Chavsei Noad, I think it was. The Rebbe's chesed house sitting. That door has to be open, okay? To me, it's like closing the Beis Hamikdash. I'm sorry, today the Beis Hamikdash is closed. That door has to be open, for that was our connection to the Rebbe. When I used to sit there, I, uh... That was the... Anyways, whatever. That door is closed. The door in the middle of the hallway is closed. Everything's closed. But he told me there's a fabrengen. So I figured, the door is closed, it must

51:52 Speaker 1 be something. I didn't know anything yet. So I went to the door in middle of the hall. There was no handle on it. Even today, there is no handle to it. You have to open up, and there's somebody who puts... I, with alekeis, I stuck my fingers in, I opened the door, and right as soon as you come in, there's a table there. And I see a whole bunch of people standing. I think Rabbi Krinsky was one of the people on that table. And I hear the Rebbe's voice. And I said, my first thing was, "I'm not gonna miss this for nothing." There was no place on the table. There was no nothing. And I remember from the pictures, the way the Rebbe fabrengen upstairs, under the window, you know, that goes to the next room, under where there's, now there's sidurim there, yeah. I didn't want to take any chances. I went under the people. Ich hei gekrochen like a mouse. I went straight until that area, and I came out. I came out. You know where I came out? I was almost touching the Rebbe. I was touching the chair, because I came out right by the chair. I didn't realize. And I see who's standing right behind me, Rav Chadakov. So I'm standing now between Rabbi Chadakov and the Rebbe. And the Rebbe's in the middle of saying the ma'amar. I remember the words the Rebbe was saying. "Al totzer esmogev." I remember that. Pesach is right around the corner. With all

53:01 Speaker 1 the stress that exists a whole year, for many people, Pesach adds significantly to that. Between the matzahs, the wine, the clothing that's needed for yourself, for your wife, for your children. We know that there's a big mitzvah of Mois Chitim that everyone takes part of to alleviate these stress points for those that are in need. In fact, the Rebbe would encourage from Purim onwards, and at many occasions, the Rebbe would encourage people to give to Mois Chitim. In fact, the Rebbe had his own Mois Chitim fund. Maskirus would have a list of those in need that would receive funds from the Rebbe's Mois Chitim in an honorable way. This fund continues till today. This past year, over two hundred and fifty thousand dollars were given out to the needy before Pesach. There is so much more that can be done, so many more people can be helped, and nobody should be turned away due to lack of funds. You can be part of the Rebbe's Mois Chitim fund by going to magbis.org, that's M-A-G-B-I-S.org, and clicking on the tab for Mois Chitim. Do that today and be part of this great mitzvah, and join the Rebbe's Mois Chitim fund. Now, Rav Chadakov knew very well who I am, even though I was a bocher. He knew exactly who I am , 'cause I used to go into him a lot because of my father's things in Italy. And here, I'm trying to move. You couldn't move. That place was like sardines. And I pushed, I

54:38 Speaker 1 felt bad for him, 'cause now I'm, I'm totally blocking him. But I couldn't move anywhere. So that's it. I was stuck there, and that was that. And I was right there when the Rebbe, the, you know, the, the whole thing took like, what, maybe 10 minutes. The ma'amar I think was seven or eight minutes. Then the Rebbe asked for wine. I remember Rabbi Mentlick was there. And the Rebbe drank them from a plastic cup, like this one. But the Rebbe, it was two cups, I remember. And he filled it up, and the Rebbe went like this to drink. Off the, off the table, off the chair, yeah. And I, I was, uh, uh, five inches away, kipsute. And the Rebbe drank one. I think the Rebbe asked for a second cup. Then the Rebbe said, "Mazal rein, chaptem zogen l'chaim far dishkia." Whatever. But anyways, but I chapt a rein that ma'amar. And don't ask me why. I was in the middle of mivtzoim, and I ran, and that was that. So that, that was in Memaleh. The Rebbe shtelt helped me. You have, you have sedachnisdik, uh, choshen. Ich veis nisht. I, the Rebbe shtelt mir geholfen that all the years that I was in New York, veshtaytzah, or not far from New York, I, I missed one thing only when I was in Ocean Parkway. I missed Tuv Shin Lamed He after Shavuot when the Rebbe gave tanyas to the people in England outside Seven seventy. That's the only thing that I remember

55:49 Speaker 1 that I missed. All other things, if I was an hour and a half, two hours within New York, and also a second. I was in Gan Yisroel Shabbos Chazzan Lamed He. That's also I did. Be- the whole story, I got stuck because of mivtzoim, and I, I, I probably couldn't make it back to New York. Uh, nobody knew there was gonna be a fabrengen anyways. But, uh, these are the only two things that I missed Otherwise, I was there, the Rebbe shtut mir geholfn every... Now, something just cute. When I was in New Haven, so, uh, I was thinking, "I'm an hour and a half from New York. In theory, if I want, I could see the Rebbe every day. In theory." Those days in Tofshim Ametes, the Rebbe used to go home every night approximately twelve fifteen, twelve thirty. It was a Seder.

56:34 Speaker 4 At night.

56:35 Speaker 1 In that, in that period, yeah.

56:36 Speaker 4 Morning, whatever.

56:37 Speaker 1 At night. Tofshim Mem.

56:38 Speaker 4 AM.

56:39 Speaker 1 Yeah, PM. Uh, after midnight.

56:41 Speaker 4 AM, yeah.

56:42 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah. Right n- now, I didn't have a license. Those days it was a whole Tenou Ba'bochrim. You don't get a license when you're eighteen. Rebbe Vartbiz, uh, till you need it.

56:54 Speaker 4 I think it's from the Rebbe.

56:55 Speaker 1 What?

56:55 Speaker 4 I think it's, uh, it comes from the Rebbe, I think.

56:57 Speaker 1 Earlier years it was from the Rebbe, yeah, but, uh-

57:00 Speaker 4 Yeah.

57:00 Speaker 1 No, my, my, uh, all my, all the guys in my group were older than me, they all had licenses. They, most of them. Anyways, so I decided, I got a license. New Haven was much easier to get it than New York anyways. Right near Yeshiva, two blocks away, there was a place called Rent a Clunker. That it was called, Rent a Clunker. They had cars there. For ten dollars you get a car, ten dollars a day. Includes everything, insurance, also the bills, just to make sure that the gas is full and, uh, you get it full and you give it back full. I used to go sometimes at ten o'clock at night after Seder, shash til, right? And there was only one guy in Yeshiva that knew. I used to go out. I used to go to this Rent a Clunker, and I made up with him. All the cars there were taka clunkers. There was one car that was new. I made up with him. I j- I need that one 'cause I gotta go to New York and back. And he used to leave the glove compartment, the key was in the glove compartment. I used to go, I used to take that car-

57:56 Speaker 4 You had a license?

57:57 Speaker 1 No, I had a license. No, no-

57:58 Speaker 4 Oh, you had a-

57:58 Speaker 1 I got, I got a license.

57:59 Speaker 4 Ah, you got it.

57:59 Speaker 1 Vayg makht a license. Because I always used to ask, uh, guys to, uh, the, uh... I heard that tonight there is something in Seven Seventy, so I used to ask them, I used to pay. I figured, "Enough tyvus. I wanna do it myself in Gendikt." I used to get into this clunker, I used to go to New York, I used to see the Rebbe go home, come back to Yeshiva, and nobody knew I went, nobody knew I came back. It was shash til in Gendikt and, uh, this was one of my-

58:21 Speaker 4 Every night?

58:22 Speaker 1 Not every night, but, uh, every, at least, uh, once or twice a week. I used to do that for ten dollars, you know. I was able to go. It was even cheaper than going with the train. It was... And I could go on my own time, and it's two blocks away from Yeshiva. And this-

58:34 Speaker 4 There's no traffic.

58:35 Speaker 1 And then I went to New York, and it was, um, Chaya I used to... That was that.

58:39 Speaker 4 You should know, I remember hearing this from you when I was a young bachor. You were standing outside Seven Seventy, and you once told me this.

58:46 Speaker 1 Oh, yeah, could be.

58:47 Speaker 4 This was at that ish, I remember.

58:49 Speaker 1 Kenzai. Yeah, so that was, uh, part of the, uh, chavuyot of New Haven. Um, yeah. Then I had some stories with the Rebetzin that year.

59:01 Speaker 4 Why? What happened?

59:02 Speaker 1 There's a few stories, but what happened then was-

59:05 Speaker 4 You had, you didn't have, like, a, a open connection with the Rebetzin before?

59:08 Speaker 1 No. Not only I didn't have, I didn't want to have. To us, you have to remember, the Rebetzin was not off-limits. It, it's a different bo... It, it, it... Ad d'yom, myself and my friends from yene zeyten, you know that ad d'yom we don't walk on President Street on the side of the Rebbe's house. Everything opened up after the Rebetzin passed away. You know, the Rebbe's house. But till Tofshim Mem Ches, the Rebbe's house was not off-limits. Vee kum ich to go not to the Rebbe's house, on the Rebbe's block. I don't, I don't know if I can explain it today, but until today, I cannot walk. The only time I used to go across was either when we used to do shmirah for the Rebbe's house, if you know what that means. In a few years, for, for a few years, when the Rebbe and the Rebetzin were home, uh, Shabbos veikir. During the day, there was somebody there official with a car, with a dust for shmirah because of the stories. But Shabbos, the house next door belonged to a Razal Gurari. So there was a door, there was a window that you could see the front of the house very well from there. So two bochrim were there twenty-four, twenty-four hours.

1:00:21 Speaker 4 On Shabbos?

1:00:22 Speaker 1 Shabbos. Shabbos Yom Tov.

1:00:23 Speaker 4 So you used to do that?

1:00:24 Speaker 1 So I was, we used to have mishmiras. And, uh, no fabrengens for Shabbos. Everything was motzei Shabbos. Now, Tofshim Mem Alef, there was a very fabreng. So during fabrengen, of course, there was nobody there, but otherwise, all the other times. So there were a few stories that happened there. First of all, Pesach. Pesach Mem Alef. First, I told you what happened Purim, yeah? Now comes Pesach. The, the, there was a fabreng in Yud Alef Nissan, Yud Beis Nissan, and Yud Gimel Nissan. Three days in a row. And by the way, there was Birkat Hachamah before also. It's all Tofshim Mem Alef. It was a, a heavy year. It was a -

1:01:01 Speaker 4 It was a Dalet Nissan.

1:01:02 Speaker 1 Dalet, yeah. But it's all the same weeks. You know, Purim, Birkat Hachamah. My sister got married actually the night before. And then came Pesach. So it was Yud Alef, Yud Beis, Yud Gimel was a fabreng. The night of Bedikat Chametz, because of, uh, the sefer Torah of the kids. The Rebbe Yud Alef Nissan Mem Alef started, Zevir Hashem, on Simchat Torah. And then the sefer Torah for the kids started Yud Alef Nissan. So on Yud Beis Nissan was again a fabrengen, you know, to tell the people that the sefer Torah started. Yud Gimel again. It was a levadi gefrale. That year was Erev Pesach, Shabbat Yom. You know, when it's Erev Pesach, Shabbos, when is the, when you daven Shacharit? Seven o'clock in the morning. So we were up three days already. At seven o'clock in the morning was Shacharis, and we were up already for three days, right? 'Cause Yud Alef, Yud Beis, Yud Gimel, the fabrengen. We used to be up all night after fabrengen, you know, going over the fabrengen, typing the fabrengen, et cetera. And we have to prepare the kitchen, bochrim. Then Shabbos morning, we have to be already seven o'clock. Noch mikvah, noch alts, you know, for the evening. And then what did we eat for breakfast? We had no chametz. Wasn't megot chametz. So we made kiddush, and then we took a second cup of wine for, uh, and this was a Pesach dike wine for shtetzach. So you know, you know what we felt like And then

1:02:12 Speaker 1 mit amol, I was-- So I was in 770 with my head down, you know, push to get remult. Mit amol comes my Schwager, Hildavid Krinsky, and tells me, "Levi, don't go away from 770. Stay here." I said, "Why? Is there Fabringen?" He says, "Stay here." So first thing which I did, I ran to 1414. I went to some of my good chaverim today, and I told them... They were all sleeping. They were all push to bed, push to get... And I said, "Get up and come to 770." Anyways, the Rebbe said there's gonna be a Fabringen, but he shouldn't tell the Olam, you know, not to... Well, the eunuchs, about a half hour before the Fabringen, they gave out the... But I was in 770. No, I didn't miss it. So we had the Fabringen. And as, again, another thing which I didn't miss. Motzei Shabbes, the Rebbe went-

1:02:59 Speaker 4 What did, what did they, uh, have at the Fabringen?

1:03:02 Speaker 1 Bananas and water.

1:03:04 Speaker 4 But they had like, uh, ready? They had bananas ready?

1:03:07 Speaker 1 I think the banana was frozen. I'm not sure. I remember the, the bro-- the, the, the Rebbe-- no-nobody knew what the Rebbe was gonna say at the Chaimon. So they had water and bananas. And the Rebbe first ate a piece. The Rebbe ate, and then the Rebbe said, uh... I mean, you can look it up in the Nachman. Very nice. One, "Einer zitzt du nest, un ale stehen un kuken." So the Rebbe gave it to the Rov, and he said he should do with it whatever he feels is correct, and, gave it to Rebbe Zalman Schimen. Yeah, and it was a mirdik Fabringen. I remember the Rebbe spoke about Tzimtzum Ha-Gepsute. And the Rebbe, I remember the Rebbe gave a scream, "Kemen doch meinen as Tzimtzum Ha-Gepsute? S'okt al Rebbe nein. Tzimtzum meine Gepsute." Other mamish with the, with all the keches, you're able to see how the Rebbe is like this, is fighting a war over here. Aber Tzimtzum Ha-Gepsute tze nisht. It was mirdik. Then at night, the Rebbe came to the Bochum Seder. Now, I only saw that three times. And they had a mazel because the Seder used to be in 1414. The Rebbe kitchen is in the basement. Those days, it was on the first floor. When you walk to the first floor, they had a big room, three long tables. There were three kitchens. The first kitchen was a smaller kitchen, which was Pesach kitchen, Fleishiger kitchen, and a Milchiker kitchen. The Rebbe used to come in. The Rebbe

1:04:20 Speaker 1 wanted that when he come, when the Rebbe comes in, all the Bochum should be by their place, the Kadesh should be ready, and the Kos should be full. Now, after Ma'ariv, the Rebbe said a sicha. So we waited till after the sicha. After the sicha, the Rebbe went up to his room, and the Rebbe gave a few matzahs to others, and then he came to the Seder. So we had approximately seven minutes to prepare the, bring our matzahs, prepare the Kadesh, fill up the Kos, and all. Now, the Rebbe used to come in. The Rebbe used to first go into the Pesach kitchen. In the Pesach kitchen was the cook, Mrs. Musia. And Mrs. Musia did all this work for Pesach for one thing, for those two minutes the Rebbe will come into her, and the Rebbe would say a gut Yom Tov or, you know, something that would give her a bracha. Yeah. For her, this was for the whole year. She lived the whole year from this minute that the Rebbe walked into her and because it was, but, but-- 'Cause all the Maskirim and all the people that went together with the Rebbe, they stayed by the door. The Rebbe walked with the two Bochurim, who are the Memunim of the kitchen for Pesach. Pesach, the Bochum used to take over the kitchen. So they went with her, with the Rebbe to Musia. So they were the only ones that were there when the Rebbe went to Musia. So it was sort

1:05:33 Speaker 1 of like a personal thing for her. Then the Rebbe would go through the Fleishiger kitchen, which was all covered. Could-- Nobody used it on Pesach. Why the Rebbe went in? I have no idea. But that's what it was. And the Rebbe sometimes would point out certain things. Then the Rebbe went to the Milchiker kitchen. Then the Rebbe would come out, and the Rebbe would look at the whole room, go, stop somewhere, and that's where he would say the bracha. And every time, the Rebbe would stop somewhere else. Didn't he always stop at the same place. The Rebbe's stood geholfen that every time, wherever I sat, that's where the Rebbe stopped. I was on the, on the other side of the table, you know, 'cause some guys would have their back, and I didn't have the back to the Rebbe, but they were sitting this side of the table, the other side. So I always made sure to sit on this side where I could see the kitchens. And one time I sat here, one time here, one time here, and each time the Rebbe sat mamish right across and said the sicha. That time was Motzei Shabbos, and the Rebbe said, he said the bracha, and then the Rebbe said, "S'shtete shulchan ruch as ve'meheivton kiddush yiten ein of baneiros." You have to look at the neiros of Shabbos. You have to look at the licht. Befrat, if it's Motzei Shabbos, you have to look for beromeiros. There were no candles here in the, in

1:06:48 Speaker 1 the halls. Uh, I guess it was... Nobody started yet, so nobody thought of it. So the Rebbe said that you have to... So the Rebbe went back to Musia, and he-- She was gantz tzudrut. You know, the Rebbe, what, what's the Rebbe coming in for? The Rebbe told her that, "Yes, the Bochum don't have candles." That she mu-- She used to have like a little candelabra that she used to light her Yom Tov candles. Her husband, uh, whole story, him ser a nefesh in Rosh Hashanah. So the Rebbe asked her if she doesn't mind to lend her candles to the Bochurim, so the Bochurim could have yiten ein of baneiros ve'chulam. Fertig. So n-not everybody understood right away what's happening yet. But then when they came out, so they took a table and a chair and a dozen. They put the licht on top, you know, so everybody gets a seat. After the Rebbe left, something very interesting. Musia started crying. You know, "Emes, a alte chassidishe fru." I remember she was retired to us. "Ve mir hom geshribn a brief tsum Rebbe." We used to write a letter to the Rebbe. Amol, veyst doch. Not only amol, any, anytime. "Vo tar iz geglik die Shabbosdik e tischtach?" We used to put out the Shabbosdik, uh, tablecloth. And then noch, uh, gigossin a trer. And, uh, how she fe- fe... And she says she has be'kabbalah alom, "Ach chassidim alom noge vus." If you see the Rebbe twice, once after the other, that's it. It's

1:08:12 Speaker 1 over. They went to, to Yechidas, and there for whatever reason they went back again, that was the last time. And she said, "That's it. The Rebbe's not gonna go anymore to the seder." And I, I think either that was the last time or the next year was the last time. But she was right that it, it's not gonna go forever. The Rebbe actually stopped it.

1:08:34 Speaker 4 To all the locations the Rebbe stopped?

1:08:36 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure.

1:08:37 Speaker 4 That was the end.

1:08:37 Speaker 1 Once it stopped, it stopped. If he wouldn't go to 770, he wouldn't go anywhere else. And, uh, so that wa- Oh, so that was Motzaei Shabbos. No, so we're up already three nights, a whole day out of Pesach, Motzaei Shabbos, the seder. I took schmira by the Rebbe's house between 6:00 and 8:00 in the morning, s- for that Sunday morning. That was my... Okay? 'Cause I figured, who's gonna get up at six o'clock in the morning? The day after the seder, and after all this. And the Rebbe used to go... The Rebbe went home then for Yom Tov. The Rebbe used to stay in 770 Shabbos. Later they made the, the apartment in the back of the library.

1:09:14 Speaker 4 The Rebbe stayed in 770?

1:09:16 Speaker 1 Till then, the Rebbe used to stay in 770 Shabbos, and the Rebbetsin at home. That's where they made the-

1:09:20 Speaker 4 Stay in Lamed Heh.

1:09:21 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, that time. So that's where they made the house, behind the library. So then the Rebbe, the Rebbetsin, b- that, which is another whole Parsha then. But that Pesach, the Rebbe went home, and he walked in the morning. So there were two sets of bochurim. Two bochurim which their job is to be schmira by the Rebbe's house, and then at eight o'clock, approximately 8:00, 8:30, two more bochurim would come, like in the altezeiten, you know, before Lamed Heh, that they would walk behind the Rebbe to 770. I came there at, I woke up at six o'clock in the morning. I ran to the mikveh, and I ran to the house next to the Rebbe for schmira. I was sure there's not, nobody around for nothing in the morning. I came, and my dear friend, Reb Chaim Ajziki was there. So we're sitting there and doing schmira, and we figured, you know, we'll be there till eight o'clock, and then the other guys will come and take us over, and then the guys will come. The guys who would wait for the Rebbe to go to 770 would stand on the steps in the house next door, outside. So in other words, 'cause I heard that sometimes the Rebbetsin would check from one of the windows to see if the bochurim are there. It was seven o'clock in the morning, Sunday morning, after Erev Shabbos, Chol HaMoed, Erev Pesach, Chol HaMoed Shabbos. The street was deserted. No Yidden, Lehavdil, no Goyim, garnish. Sunday morning, beautiful

1:10:40 Speaker 1 day, Seven. Mitamol, the Rebbe walks out of his house, seven o'clock in the morning, and we're sitting, me and Chaim, and we saw the Rebbe just walked out. Now, the question was, what should we do? Should we go behind the Rebbe? The Rebbe c- w- the Rebbe doesn't go himself. You know, we, there's two, always two bochurim behind. On the other hand, there's not gonna be any schmira. One can't go. It's Pas D'Chadash. So quickly we decided we're gonna go behind the Rebbe, and then we'll come back. I have to tell you. Do you know what it means? You're three people in the street, and there's nobody else. It's the Rebbe and the two of us. The Rebbe walked pasht. You know there's a mashal, Melech Basade? The Rebbe's walking. It, usually the Rebbe used to walk fast when he would. You know, there's the Ohel, and there's the... The Rebbe walked, I say, ruich. The ruich, we saw the ruichkeit. The Rebbe went to the corner. They went down to Eastern Parkway. Till 770, there was no... And I was thinking, now what w- should I run in front of the Rebbe to open the doors? Pas D'Chadash there. The Rebbe said, "Geh offen the pug." Somebody came and saw, and it's often far there. So you ran, and you opened the door, et cetera. But that was a, it took a good 10, 15 minutes from the Rebbe-

1:11:48 Speaker 4 Okay

1:11:48 Speaker 1 ... 'cause the Rebbe walked slow. Yeah, and y- you're able to see the... I had such an urge, you know, to have a nice conversation. If I wasn't ish. No, of course not, not with the Rebbe. This was to them. So we were behind, but the Rebbe mamash went Melech Basade. Kipshutoi. That was Tosh Maimaleh. Yeah. Oh, yeah, you asked me about the Rebbetsin. What happened was like this. I came to, to, um, I used to come for Shabbats, you know, here and there. So in the afternoon, Erev Shabbos, I was in the zal. There was nobody there. Bochurim are mitzvim. And one Friday, Rabbi Groner comes into the zal. The Rebbe used to stay in 770. The Rebbetsin was home at that time still. So he says, "Levi, are you busy?" I said, "For you, I'm not busy." Anyways, he says, "Could you do me a favor and go to the Rebbe's house to bring a package from the Rebbe's house to here?" So I asked him, "Wait a minute. Am I gonna see the Rebbetsin?" He says, "No, no, no. The way it works is you go behind the house, you go to the entrance of the kitchen, you knock on the door, and one of the shamashim over there is going to give you the..." It's basically just food for the Rebbe for Shabbos. Now, just for you, just for information, until Tov Shelomites, one of the zchusim that some of the bochurim had, which I also had sometimes, when the Rebbe

1:13:13 Speaker 1 used to come to 770 in the morning, after that, one of the bochurim would go up to the Rebbe's house. The Rebbe's house at the front, there's two doors. There's the gate and the door. The Rebbetsin would leave between the two doors a bag which had in it a thermos and some zeynis.

1:13:29 Speaker 4 In the weekday?

1:13:30 Speaker 1 Weekdays, yeah. So every time a bochurim, you, you know, there were some bochurim that had that job as sort of. I also got it a few times, Baruch Hashem. Anyways, I knew, so I wanted to know if that package is, like, between the two doors. Like, so he says, "No, you go to the back, and you knock on the door." So I said, "You tell me the Rebbetsin is gonna come out, I'm not going." So he said, "No, no, no. Don't worry, just, uh..." Because I had another story a few years before that. I went and knocked at the door. I think it was Chesed or somebody who gave me a package. Yeah, I took it, and I brought it to 770. Comes the next week, and Rabbi Groner comes again. I was again in the zal, and he says-

1:14:04 Speaker 4 You mean the next week?

1:14:05 Speaker 1 Next Friday.

1:14:06 Speaker 4 Oh, Friday. Okay.

1:14:06 Speaker 1 Yeah, on a Fri- Friday afternoon. Friday afternoon.

1:14:08 Speaker 4 Okay.

1:14:09 Speaker 1 I'm in the zal, and he says, "Levi, are you busy?" I said, "No, of course not." He says, "Could you do what you did last time?" I said, "Sure, no problem." I went and knocked on the door, and who came out? The Rebbetsin. This was the second time that it happened to me because it happened one time in Tov Shelomites that I went and brought yogurt, uh, right before Yom Tov, whatever. So I, so I saw her then, but then it was-

1:14:28 Speaker 4 You brought a, a delivery?

1:14:29 Speaker 1 No, what happened wa- No, no, no, no. In the house. What happened was... No, maybe before Lamed Heh. I remember it was a shvus. It was Erev Shvus. It was an hour before Shvus, and Rabbi Groner asked me if I could please run down Kingston Avenue, buy two yogurts, and bring it to the Rebbe's house. An hour before Shvus. I ran down Kingston Avenue, and they told me, "Go to the back. There's gonna be somebody, so they're gonna open the door." I ran to down... Everything was closed. It was an hour before Shvus. Down by Empire, there was a bakery, where now there's a, there's a, there's a cleaners, but there used to be a bakery there. And, uh, the guy was cleaning the floors, but the bakery was closed. So I knocked on the door, and the guy says, "It's closed." And I went, "Please." You know, mamash I was like, "Memgibeten." So, so he came to the door. He says, "What do you need?" I said, "I need two yogurts." So he says, "All right." And he gave me the two yogurts. I gave him two dollars, and I ran to the... I knocked on the door, and whoops. It was the Rebbetzin. I didn't expect it. I didn't... It was the first time in my life, you know, that I get to see the Rebbetzin. I was like, I didn't know what to do. And, uh, the Rebbetzin asked me, "Where have you been?" I, I think that's what she asked me

1:15:41 Speaker 1 then. I was, I was in total shock. I didn't know what to do, and I just, like, gave her the yogurt. Then she asked me, "How much did it cost?" How much did you pay? I, I couldn't get the words out of my mouth. I, I, I... And she felt that I don't wanna say how much. So she said, "No, for the yogurt." You know, there was... And I, I, I, I probably couldn't get the words out of my... I was so in shock. And she went, she took it. She was smiling the whole time, you know. Like, everything's just fine. Relax. And I think she asked me what my name is. And I said, "Garelik Posner," you know, because I figured she knows my grandmother very well, and she heard, you know, my father. Anyways, so she went to her purse, she took out her wallet, and she took two dollars, and she asked me, "Is this enough?" And I went like this. No. So she gave me the two dollars, and that was that. That was in, I think it was 1970. I think it was '70. Whatever. But then, this time when I went and I gave it to her, so then she asked me, "Where have you been? To Rav Groen?" So I said, "Yeah." And she gave me the package. Is it something else? Whatever. That was that. I went. Now, at that time, ninety-nine percent of Lubavitch never saw the Rebbetzin, myself included. Okay? She was unbelievable how she

1:17:03 Speaker 1 managed to, you know, keep herself. I had a very, very good friend, very good friend, who was from France. One of my friends. And I knew that he would appreciate to be able to see the Rebbetzin once. So I told him confidentially, I said, "Look, if you want, there may be a possibility how you could see the Rebbetzin. Come with me to the Beis Hamikdash on Friday. If Rabbi Groen will ask me again to go," because I didn't want to tell anybody I saw the Rebbetzin. It was a private thing. "Come with me, and, and if the Rebbetzin opens the door, knock once and you'll be able to see." And, uh, either that Friday or the next Friday, Rabbi Groen again asked me if I could go. I said, "Sure." So he came with me. We got to the door, knocked on the door, and the Rebbetzin came out. So I was just, you know, standing there. She already knew who I am, you know, from . She went to get the package, and sort of she turned, and she saw there was somebody else there. But he did not have this awe for the Rebbetzin. The way I grew up, you know, for him it was a little different. And seemingly, the Rebbetzin asked him, like, who he is, who he is. And the Rebbetzin knew very well his grandparents. "Oh, you're the..." And he started. They were talking in French, and the Rebbetzin was ecstatic. You know, she's talking to somebody in French,

1:18:31 Speaker 1 to a friend of hers. I stood there on the side. I wanted to bury myself. I literally, I stood like this on the side with the package, you know, with the stairs. And she was looking, like, back and forth. Finally, the whole conversation took, two minutes, whatever. But he was there, and she, you know, they were like buddy-buddy. She, she enjoyed it, no question about it. Then we left, and I asked him, "How did you do this?" He says, "Why not? Look how happy she was." So I figured, all right. Then I decided I can't. I'm not going back there anymore. If Rabbi Groen asks me again, "Oh, I'm not just, I'm not gonna be in the Beis Hamikdash." So it's over. I didn't say the story to anybody. He didn't say it to anybody. Three or four weeks later, one of the Mashmashim Bakodesh came over to me and says, "Were you by the Rebbetzin, like, a couple weeks ago?" So I said, "Yeah. Why?" She said, "Because the Rebbetzin told me, 'There Garelik, a Lebediker bocher.'" I didn't do a thing. I stood there on the side like this. I didn't, I didn't even, the second time, I didn't even open my mouth. She knew already what I'm here for, who sent me, who I am, and fertig.

1:19:39 Speaker 5 So the Rebbe, so the Rebbe's mother said, a ganze-

1:19:43 Speaker 1 A ganze bocher.

1:19:43 Speaker 5 A ganze bocher, and the Rebbetzin-

1:19:45 Speaker 1 She said, a Lebediker bocher. Yeah.

1:19:48 Speaker 5 Lebediker bocher.

1:19:49 Speaker 1 She said a Lebediker bocher. That was that. When I became a Chassan later, this is a very tough, Shememhei.

1:19:56 Speaker 5 Memhei.

1:19:56 Speaker 1 Memhei. Four years later, I became a Chassan to Rabbi Klein's daughter. And Rabbi Klein has a son. His name is Yanki. Today he's Rav Yanki of Klein in Moscow, one of the greatest mashpiaim. But at that time, he was before Bob Shurinish. So one of the things that I used to do, he lived right on the block, three doors away from Seven seventy. My colleague wasn't home. She was in school, teaching, whatever. So I used to go to my schwager, and sometimes I used to take Yanki out. Give her a couple of minutes of, uh, vacation.

1:20:26 Speaker 5 When you're a Chassan.

1:20:27 Speaker 1 When I was a Chassan. One time, I had to go to the bank on Eureka Avenue. There's a bank, a Citibank. So I went. I told my schwager, "Look, I'm going to the bank. If you want, I'll take him out. It'll take me at least forty-five minutes going, coming." She said, "Sure." And I went to Eureka Avenue. I parked the car. I start walking towards the bank. Let's say I'm about forty feet away from the bank. I'm going. All of a sudden, I saw that right parked, the car in front of the bank is the Rebbetzin's car. The Rebbetzin had a brown Cadillac. The license plate was MS one seventy-three. That was the Rebbetzin's car. I give a look, I see the Rebbetzin's car. And mit amol, I see the Rebbetzin is sitting right in there in the passenger seat, and she's looking at us. Now, ignore her, I didn't want to. Nichain. A mensch kuk, you know, say hello, do something. On the other hand, who am I to say hello to the Rebbetzin? Like, vos tut mir? I chapt zich. I told Yankee that he should wave to the Rebbetzin. You know, he's waved at her. He waved to her, and she waved back with a big smile as if, eh. And I went, I went to the bank again. Fartik. I didn't say a word to anybody, nothing. I guess Chesed must, uh, Halberstam must have drove into the guy, and we went to the bank to do. I didn't see him

1:21:44 Speaker 1 in the bank. Could be he was downstairs in one of the offices. Ich veis nisht. I didn't say anything to anybody. Garnished. About three or four days later, my father-in-law, Rabbi Klein, he tells me, "Did you see the Rebbetzin a few days ago in front of the bank?" How she knew, I don't know. Maybe Chesed. So ich veis nisht. But, uh, that was my last interaction with the Rebbetzin. Hmm. Then, of course, my wife, dal zein gezunt. Um, the Maskirim had a, uh, minhag that they, um, they... Anybody got married, so they used to go to the Rebe- Rebbetzin to get a bracha. When we got married, for that, those few months before, my shvater tried to make an appointment with the Rebbetzin, but the Rebbetzin then broke her foot. And it, it took time. And my shvater, of course, would not even dare thinking of going to the Rebbetzin when she's not feeling well. And the Rebbetzin kept on saying, "When? Kuk the kale. When? Kuk the choson." You know, she wanted to see the... So finally, the week before the wedding, it was already in middle of the week, they went to, to the Rebbetzin. They, they went without you. Right. So I didn't go. And, uh, the Rebbetzin gave my wife a envelope, a present, you know, and, uh, nazeviter. So that was, that was that. What I remember is that in Tash Lamid Tes, when it was Snasar HaMichim, 50 years of the Rebbe's wedding, Nshei Chabad of Italy, that was

1:23:03 Speaker 1 also something that I was a little bit involved, they bought for the Rebbetzin a purse. Now, the purse that they bought was from a company called Serapian. Serapian is one of-- At the trey vech veis vos tutza. Aber yene zeitn, Serapian was the name of pocketbooks. So I remember that they sent a pocketbook for the Rebbetzin for, um... And I remember that I was, you know, my father was telling, "The Rebbetzin has to get the number one in the world." You know, that the... So that was that. And I remember also one time I went, uh, this was must have been Lamid Gimel or Lamid Daled. My father was here in New York, and I remember we went to the phone b- Uh, in front of Kingston and Eastern Parkway, there used to be telephones. First there was a booth, then there was telephones, then they moved them right by the train station. So I remember how my father called up the Rebbetzin, and it was a short conversation. But, uh, I asked my father what did, what did the Rebbetzin... That's how I knew the number to the Rebbe's house, by the way. Those days was unlisted. Kein nevesht is the number. Everybody in my class knew that I know the number. And, uh, my father told me that the Rebbetzin said, he didn't, he, it was already at least a year or two that they didn't speak. And the Rebbetzin said, "Oh, azoy ofter gast?" Seemingly, the Rebbe always used to tell her,

1:24:16 Speaker 1 you know, when father comes, you know, the... 'Cause those days was a big thing. My father used to come very often. Shluchim didn't do that those days. So - But your father went to the Rebbetzin? No. No. Uh, well, he did go to the Rebbetzin once or twice earlier. Stamah says, like the older people used to go visit. No. One story was, before my times, in other words, in the late Chof's, early Lamed's, I'm not sure exactly when that was. Milan is the s- at least it used to be, the center of fashion of the world. Milan is, it's, it's known. So, and the center of Milan is, there's a big cloister, whatever. In front of it, there's a massive square called Piazza Duomo. Piazza Duomo has also a lot of stores. Then there's a gallery, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, the, the king, whatever. And that goes from this square to the next square, where you have one of the biggest theaters in the world, Palazzo della Scala. This was the-- So there were two basic, uh, stores that I'm gonna talk to you about. One of them was, my father was once going, and he saw in the window that they were selling three meters, uh, three yards of scheide that I think, uh, King Charles. Now he's King Charles, then it was Prince Charles. He came to Milan to make a coat, and they made it of special cashmere. Thin and thus, a gantse maise. And they had three yards left of it, and

1:25:44 Speaker 1 whoever wants to buy it could buy it. Versteit zich, it didn't cost five dollars. It, uh, my father saw it. He decided such a thing for a king, pass for our king. The Rebbe's to get a new coat. The Rebbe, the Rebbe's, I don't know if you remember. The Rebbe should have a regular coat. The Rebbe should have a, a coat that's passed for a king. My father got one of the balabatim to, to pay for it. My father brought it to New York, and he want- Cashmere coat. What? Cashmere coat. No, not coat. Uh, the scheide. Oh, you brought the scheide. And then he would give it to Hans, and Hans will make the coat out of it. But, but you have to ask the Rebbe first. He can't just, uh... And, um, my father didn't wanna go by himself to the Rebbetzin, so he took along Reb Hendel Lieberman. Hendel Lieberman was famous painter. He was very, very close to the Rebbetzin. So he went with Reb Hen-- That's what my father told me. He went with Reb Hendel, and he presented to the Rebbetzin the scheide, and he said that the scheide is, uh, is passed for the Rebbe to have a coat like a king. You know, "Here's the scheide." I'm not sure what the Rebbetzin said. My father told me the Rebbetzin said, "It's not gonna work. The Rebbe's not gonna go for it." Shtell vos zey redn and thus. So that was the story with the cashmere. Derech haga,

1:26:57 Speaker 1 my father told me that he heard from Reb, from Reb Hendel when he went, you know, they were talking, and Reb Hendel told him azoy maise. There was one year, Rosh Hashanah, the Rebbe came to 770. Usually, the Rebbe used to come at least a half hour, forty-five minutes before davening, you know. Enough time. One time the Rebbe came mamash late, like not late for davening, but much later. It was very strange, like a quarter to 10:00, 10:00 to 10:00, mamash, uh. And the Hasidim wanted to know what happened all of a sudden, like, why? So they got Reb Hendel to ask the Rebbetzin. My father told me like this, that so Reb Hendel said that he asked the Rebbetzin, like, "Was there anything special this Rosh Hashanah?" And she said, "It came Rosh Hashanah by night after the meal. The Rebbe was to Sarah's tender or something in his house, yeah, or something like that. And the Rebbe's a Chones part, you know, Rosh Hashanah by night." I think that she said that he was standing. Standing was Chones part. And the Rebbe stood like this till the morning. The Rebbetzin saw it's already nine o'clock, 9:15, and the Rebbe is still standing like that. Now, she wouldn't dare to do anything, on the other hand. So I'm not sure exactly what she did to get somehow the Rebbe's attention. And the Rebbe sort of turned around, and she said, "Sishin tog. Sishin tog." And the Rebbe said, "Tog?" That was the end of

1:28:27 Speaker 1 the conversation, and then the Rebbe right away prepared to go to shul and whatever. This is something that, uh, Reb Hendel Lieberman told my father. So that was another story with the Rebbetzin. And then, of course, there's another whole parshah, which I'm not gonna go into the details, the Rebbe's hat. We had the zechus to give to the Rebbe the hat. Of course, later, there was some from Bancroft, maybe. At least I have a, I have it in my hand, my father's archive, a letter, Tofshikav Ches, from Zalman Garrari to my father, how he got from the Rebbetzin the exact instructions of the hat.

1:28:58 Speaker 5 Borsalino.

1:28:58 Speaker 1 Borsalino. And I used to go and order it in that galleria. They had, Borsalino had a, a filiale, what is it called in English? The, the factory is in Alessandria, but this was like sort of their office in-

1:29:10 Speaker 5 It says it in the hats, I think.

1:29:11 Speaker 1 What?

1:29:11 Speaker 5 It says it in the hat.

1:29:12 Speaker 1 Alessandria.

1:29:13 Speaker 5 Yeah.

1:29:13 Speaker 1 Alessandria is a city about an hour and a half away from Milan, near Torino. And this was in-- But if somebody in Milan wanted to deal with-- First of all, if you want to buy a hat, you go in there. But we wanted to order the hat, so we had the exact sizes. I even have a piece of a, uh, measuring tape, how big the brim should be, you know.

1:29:36 Speaker 5 You eventually went over to locally.

1:29:39 Speaker 1 Basic nisht. All I know is that I remember I brought once or twice. One time I brought, and my shver showed me that the last one that I brought is still here in Maskirus on the filing cabinet the Rebbe said to, the Rebbetzin said to wait. By still is the Rebbe to, to change from one thing to another, it didn't go so simple, you know. And, uh-

1:29:58 Speaker 5 Are you talking about like in the lameds?

1:29:59 Speaker 1 Lameds. Uh, uh, the letter is from Chaf Ches.

1:30:02 Speaker 5 Yeah. In the mems, the Rebbe didn't change his hat too often. But then-

1:30:05 Speaker 1 But the Rebbe had, you know.

1:30:06 Speaker 5 But the later y-

1:30:07 Speaker 1 Because we brought-

1:30:07 Speaker 5 The la- later years.

1:30:09 Speaker 1 Yeah, later it was basically it was because the Rebbe one time went like this, yeah.

1:30:11 Speaker 5 I think the Rebbe did it, like, once a year. I'm thinking nun and alef, like the, the-

1:30:15 Speaker 1 Yeah. The, no, we didn't bring it in the nuns, no. But I, from those years, I have all the... I, I possibly did it myself. I went-

1:30:21 Speaker 5 But you see on the video that Bancroft was the one that brought it.

1:30:24 Speaker 1 That was by the, later.

1:30:25 Speaker 5 They take the hat.

1:30:25 Speaker 1 By the broches, yeah, you see that, yes.

1:30:26 Speaker 5 Yeah. Yeah.

1:30:27 Speaker 1 But in the, I have the letter with the, all the de- I remember, I remember bringing it.

1:30:31 Speaker 5 Mm-hmm.

1:30:32 Speaker 1 But at those days, the Italian hats, the Borsalinos, you were able to fold them. They used to come in a, in a triangle box. You fold them, and then you Yeah. So that's as far as the Rebbetzin is concerned.

1:30:45 Speaker 5 Okay. So after your marriage, you were here in the Kehillah?

1:30:52 Speaker 1 Yeah. When I got married, I wanted to... Okay, there's another whole parshah in between, which is a yeshiva in Italy. After I finished shlichus in New Haven for two years, due to Tofshei Mem Alef, I went to Italy for three years. Tofshei Mem Beis, Mem Gimmel, Mem Daled. I opened up a yeshiva, a small yeshiva for 10 boys. The Iker, it was my brother, my younger brother's class because we felt that they're not ready yet to go to America. They were, you know, 13 years old, 13, 14, whatever. So I went there for three years. And as a matter of fact, Rabbi Elazar, for example, he was learning in Maristan at that year, in, at that time. So he came back to Italy for a year, maybe even two, I don't remember, also to join. We had a very, very nice group. Uh, Rebbe Alex Namdar, who's today in Sweden. You know, all very, very nice group of 10 boys. My brother-in-law, Rabbi Hazan, was with me now, of course. And, uh, but I was the one that, uh, sort of put it together in the beginning, and I went there for three years to, to run it, leviarech. And, uh, it was very, very nice. There was one very cute story. Tofshei Num, Tofshei Mem Beis was Shnas Hashmonaim of the Rebbe. We're bochur. And we decided that, uh, and the Talmud says that Moshe Rabbeinu, when did he take out the Jewish people? How old was he when he took the Jewish people

1:32:20 Speaker 1 out of Mitzrayim? Eighteen Shmonaim Shonas. They stayed clearly in posuk. So that's it. Yiddalf Nisim Mem Beis. That's it. This is it. I was there Shnas Hashivim in '77, of course. And now comes Shnas Hashmonaim. And here I have the, you know, the, the yeshiva. And, uh, we ha- I remember I was sitting in my father's office. The yeshiva was in the shul. In the back, there were two rooms. And my father's office was in the shul. I'm sitting with my father, Rosh Chodesh Nisan approximately, and I said, "Ta, we gotta do something. It's Shnas Hashmonaim. We have to do something." You know, but really not a plots. I had a, I had a few ideas. My father nixed them. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna discuss what they were. And as we're discussing it, we, there's a knock on the door. Bosi Geshen, one of the ba- nice balabatim, very good friend of ours, not from my father's community, from the, from the Lebanese community, but also very clo- We're all... Milan is like one big happy family, you know. He came. He has a problem. Bosi Geshen His father passed away a few weeks before, a week or two before, which we, of course, we were there, by the way, and everything. And there, there's a problem. What's the problem? The father, after the Second World War, he bought a massive, uh, piece of land in Japan, in Kobe. At that time, there was nothing in Japan yet. The, the stratosphere in Memhei,

1:33:46 Speaker 1 Memvov, this is stuff from Membeis. If the Rebbe wanted to print a Tanya in Japan, so there were a few Lubavitch, uh, businessmen, like Rabbi Shol Chitri, Rabbi Mendel Shemtov. They used to go sometimes, Efri Steinmetz, whatever, but there was nothing there stationed. And his problem is as follows: Because they, the father, has this big shetach there, now, the thirty, forty years, whatever it was, thirty years later, the thing is worth who knows how many times more. So the family has an office over there in Kobe to run this operation. Now, since in Kobe there's no Yiddish guy those days, there's a little shul on Shabbat, ma-mamish nothing. So there's, like, a few brothers and a few brothers-in-law. They would rotate. Every year, someone else moves out there. They have a big house, and someone moves out there for the year. Doesn't have to be the Rosh Hashana, doesn't have to be Yom Tov, but, you know, he's in charge. What's the problem? He says the father, on his deathbed, he said that he wants that whoever is going to be in Japan that year, he should also say Kaddish. So he asked, he came and asked me, "What do, what do we do? There's no minyan there. There's no... What do I do about Kaddish?" I was a bocher, full of energy. I said, "I have an eitzah." "What's the eitzah?" "We have a yeshiva here, ten boys, right? We're gonna ship them out to Japan. We'll now open a yeshiva in Japan. Well,

1:35:12 Speaker 1 it might have come in if they're sitting in Milan or sitting in Japan, right? And the last time there was anything of Lubavitch in Japan was in nineteen forty-six, right after the war. We're gonna-- When you bring a yeshiva to a place, the whole place turns over, right? The Covid Shnas Ashmeini, we're going to open up the Far East." And he said, "Oh, beautiful." He has a big house. There's enough room for ten people. There's a swimming pool. No problem with the mikvah. And you didn't have to be there Yom Tov. This was before Pesach. He says, "You're going to New York for your Dalef Nissen, the Pashtas," right? Because everybody knows over there. "And order a container of food. It'll take two weeks to get to Japan. By the time the guys will get there in a year, the food is there, house is there." In l-- And then he took out five thousand yen, the Japanese money, and he says, "I want you to, instead of going to New York now for Dalef Nissen, go Milan, Kobe, New York. So you'll go see what's happening, prepare it, the Dos and Yentsen." And my father is sitting there, and he, he, you know, he said, "Excellent," you know. I didn't even speak to the bookman. I didn't tell anybody anything. And I figured, "Okay. Here, the Covid Shnas Ashmeini, we're going now to Platz, the whole M-Middle East. Those days, there was no such thing as doing things on your own. You had to

1:36:33 Speaker 1 ask the Rebbe. Today, commission now . But those days, can't do it on your own. So the Rebbe. Okay. I picked up. So he was very happy. I told him, "You know, I'll, I'll, you know, we'll be in touch, and we'll see what happens." The whole thing took not even fifteen minutes. Okay? Here in fifteen minutes, I have the yeshiva in Japan. Okay? So I pick up the phone, call up Maskirus, I speak to Rabbi Groner, and I tell him the whole story. He was ecstatic. He says, "Wow." And I-- And he also knows another thing. When the Gerer Chassids write a plan to the Rebbe, they don't write a plan about something, then do it, and then come crying to the Rebbe two weeks later, "Oh, we don't have enough money. We don't..." No, not with the Gerer Chassids. When we do something, there was-- I don't know if you saw, there was something running around in lately. The Berel Baumgarten was once by the Rebbe, and he was complaining he has problems with his Balabatim from, uh, within where he was, and, uh, he doesn't know what to do. So the Rebbe told him. He was b-- in Italy for a sec-- for a little while, in the first year that my parents were there. So he told him my father's name, and he says, "Balabatim. Pips." You don't hear a word. My father wouldn't do that. They did. So you know- The Rebbe said that? That's what he-- That's what the

1:37:56 Speaker 1 Berel Baumgarten Zeinikel wrote. Mm-hmm. That he heard from his mother, that his mother heard from her father, that the Rebbe said, "Pips." That's what he said. Okay? So here, Leibel knew that this is, it's a done deal, you know. So he says, "Give me about an hour or so, and I'll get back to you." Say that he wrote down the whole thing. He finishes. Uh, it goes by about, I don't know how long it was. The phone rings. It's Leibel. Rabbi Groner. He says, "Leibel, are you sitting?" I said, "Yeah." "Write down." This is what the Rebbe answered. I remember the lesson. The Rebbe, the Rebbe wrote like this, "Me yikach al atzmo achrayus shel kamó vekamó tze'irim be'ir kanal." Who is going to take the achrayus? A bunch of youngsters, such a place. There were no Chabad houses there. There was no nothing yet. You know, if there's Chabad houses, if there's a Yiddish, uh, excuse me, with-- I think it was, he said it was three question marks or something. So I told Rabbi Groner, "I have an eitzah. I have an eitzah." He says, "What's the eitzah?" My father's sitting there and listening to the conversation. He looks at me, and he says, "telephone." I listen to my father, eh? So I said, "Rabbi Groner, sorry, I'll get back to you." The eitzah that I had was very simple. Here, my brother-in-law and my sister were-- He was sort of in charge of the yeshiva, right, the menahal. So I

1:39:27 Speaker 1 figured, I'll offer it to them to come to Japan also. You have a younger man. He's gonna take achrayus. You know, he's going to, you know, with his wife. They had children then? Yeah. Whatever. Well- What? You're offering them to go to Japan, no problem. No- Okay. The Covid Shnas Ashmeinim, you know, you have to do something- Hundred percent. This was all in the spur of the moment. I was a bocher, don't forget. A bocher younger man. Right? Anyways, my father told me, "Close the phones." I closed the phone. My father says, "I wanna tell you a story." Okay? The story he heard from Reb Zalman Shimon Dvorkin. Reb Zalman Shimon, that telt a ze, that one time when he was a bocher in Russia, they went to-- That, uh, the bocher, the mussar haskef of the story is gevaldik. He, they went-- He wrote-- To make a long story short, they went to, in, in Russia, in the, in the Shvere tzeiten, when the Fridy Rebbe was in Leningrad, they went for Sukkos to the, to the Fridy Rebbe, to Leningrad, a whole bunch of bochurim. It was

1:40:33 Speaker 6 He, he lives in Leningrad, no?

1:40:35 Speaker 1 No, he was for a few years in exile.

1:40:37 Speaker 6 Okay.

1:40:38 Speaker 1 Then later he went back to-

1:40:39 Speaker 6 At that, at that time, he lives in Leningrad.

1:40:40 Speaker 1 Yeah, at that time. Yeah, there was a time that Fridy Rebbe and the, and the Ragatchover were together in Leningrad. So the bochurim also wanted to go see the Ragatchover. Nachalamen. It's an opportunity. Ragatchover. He was a Hasid of Reched Fort. The Mashpia of the Yeshiva was Rebbe Kuritzer, Garfunkel. In Eretz, he got killed by the Nazis. Berel was a, a exception of a person, a lamdana, a Hasid, everything. And he didn't like so much this fact that they wanna go to the Ragatchover. So he told the bochurim, "You know what? You wanna go to the Ragatchover? No problem. I'll go with you. And you know what? I'm gonna ask him a question, and he's not gonna know the answer." Ragatchover. There was no such thing somebody asking him, okay, and Ragatchover doesn't know the answer. The Rebbe writes in Likutei Sichos, you know, that is there's a place where the Ragatchover asks a question. Over there, Pashtus Nitzavim Vayeilech about the Kohen even Levi, and the Ragatchover remains BaTzarich Iyon. He has a question, why is it so? Whatever. Tzarich Iyon. And the Rebbe says in the Sicha that this is one of the gitzelte erter where the Ragatchover remains with a Tzarich Iyon. And the Rebbe answers the Tzarich Iyon of Ragatchover by learning Rashi in Chumash. You learn Rashi, for the Ragatchover. You understand what's so tzach? The Rebbe answers a question of the Ragatchover by learning Pirush Rashi . Okay? Anyways, so but, but the Rebbe also says that you hardly

1:42:04 Speaker 1 find him with a Tzarich Iyon, remaining with a question. So now the bochurim take it one turn to go to the Ragatchover 'cause now it's, uh, more interesting. They went to Ragatchover. The Ragatchover saw them. Normally, when people used to come, he used to talk to them for a few minutes and make zero out of them, and he gang gang it weiter. Ragatchover didn't have time to waste. But here, Temimim. Bochurim said, "Ooh, Temimim." He took them in very warm. The famous story that he asked them-

1:42:34 Speaker 6 Nefkimines.

1:42:35 Speaker 1 Is that you come in, uh, Leningrad, to Rebbe, to Rebbe in Leningrad. It's a famous story.

1:42:39 Speaker 6 He said there's, uh, a hundred Nefkimines?

1:42:42 Speaker 1 No, he said there are seven.

1:42:43 Speaker 6 Seven Nefkimines.

1:42:44 Speaker 1 Seven. And then he told them one.

1:42:46 Speaker 6 The Rebbe-

1:42:46 Speaker 1 Then they asked him the other ones, and he said, uh, .

1:42:49 Speaker 6 He said they gave clap, cup and vamp to figure it out.

1:42:51 Speaker 1 Yeah, whatever. Yeah, there's a few versions here. It's printed-

1:42:52 Speaker 6 I heard it from, uh, Berel Movshkin that-

1:42:55 Speaker 1 Yeah, it's printed, it's printed in Midkol Nois. Anyways, so Berel Kurnitse... So then he told him, he said, "You come in hearing other freg." So Berel said that we come in freg. Okay, what's the question? So Berel said to Ragatchover, "When you look in Chumash, state Vayehi Tov, Vayehi Bocher." By Yidden,

1:44:17 Speaker 6 And he was there.

1:45:50 Speaker 1 What?

1:45:50 Speaker 6 Ragatchover was there, you said.

1:45:52 Speaker 1 Ragatchover?

1:45:53 Speaker 6 Ragatchover's at this-

1:45:54 Speaker 1 No, he wasn't there.

1:45:54 Speaker 6 Oh, this-

1:45:55 Speaker 1 Berel Kurnitse was by Hasifa Saraboni.

1:45:57 Speaker 6 He was there, okay.

1:45:58 Speaker 1 The Rebbe Rashab asked a question, he answered.

1:45:59 Speaker 6 It's a shaila, what's the Rebbe's fact?

1:46:01 Speaker 1 And you should know, you, you could do that with Likutei Sichos. The Rebbe asks a whole bunch of questions before the Bier. Go and ask anybody in... If there's gefinen ikin teretz. You won't find that. I tried it many times. Any teretz you'll find, there's still a kasha Mit a mol Rebbe git a teretz, iz lat verstandik. Okay? This is what Berel Kornitzer told, and this is what Reb Zalman Shimon told my father. So my father told me, "Az Rebbe hot a shailah, vest dun nisht visn der teretz." Rebbe's not asking you to find a neitse. No. The Rebbe has a question, geendikt. You stop right there. Don't try to be smarter. And that's why you will see that when the-- somebody would tell the Rebbe something, somebody would tell the Rebbe something, and the Rebbe would go, "Ah?" And the person would repeat himself, that was the biggest mistake in his life. Don't repeat yourself.

1:46:50 Speaker 6 Te tell, uh, that the Rebbe's ah is not 'cause he didn't hear it-

1:46:53 Speaker 1 Ot hazy

1:46:53 Speaker 6 ... he didn't like what was said.

1:46:54 Speaker 1 Exactly. You have to rephrase your question or do something. Don't -- And I-

1:47:00 Speaker 6 By the way, you, you can see this, uh, tested in, in re-- in, uh... There's a few, I'm not gonna say what it's about 'cause I don't wanna-

1:47:07 Speaker 1 Sure, sure.

1:47:08 Speaker 6 But there's a few, there's more than one video where different people say the same thing, and the Rebbe goes, "Ah?" And it's the same exact topic. Like, like-

1:47:17 Speaker 1 I tell you, this is a topic that we could go on this for who knows how long, uh, 'cause I, I checked it out.

1:47:21 Speaker 6 Yeah. Among Chassidim is brought to you by Chassidus Der Her. We live in a chaotic world, a world where for us Chassidim as a seiinu, lo raiinu, we do not have the ability to hear and see the Rebbe on a daily basis. Yet we know that the Rebbe is very much with us, and Chassidus Chabad is alive and thriving more than ever before. One needs to only tap into it. Chassidus Der Her provides you and your family with the tools necessary to tap into all of this, whether it's the monthly magazine, the way it all began, whether it's Der Her books, Der Her online content, and so much more. Men, women, and children throughout the world benefit and use these tools on a daily basis. Whether it's children enjoying the children's magazine that comes along with the regular Der Her or enjoying the children's podcast, whether it's bochurim in yeshivas receiving the Der Her, whether it's girls in high schools enjoying Der Her Club in their local high school. People all over the world and from all walks of life enjoy and utilize these tools and take advantage of it. If you're not already subscribed to the Her monthly magazine, do so today at derher.org. That's D-E-R-H-E-R.org. Der Her is a dynamic organization which is committed to continue providing these tools, grow on a constant basis, and do all that we can to help this effort. Baruch Hashem, it takes a lot of resources and finances to make this all happen. You can be part

1:49:14 Speaker 6 of Der Her 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.

1:49:25 Speaker 1 My father had this thing, when the Rebbe asked him a question, he never answered. Never. Because a Rebbe fragt a sh-- Du vest du visn der teretz. Forget it. But it, it take, it take, it takes guts not to answer the Rebbe. But the Rebbe knows his customers, you know. And, uh, I remember I was in Yechidas once with my father, the twice, maybe twice. And the Rebbe asks about somebody which came into Yechidas, the Rebbe wanted to know what the outcome was. I brought the guy, Gradar, 'cause I met him here in New York to bring him. My father didn't answer. The Rebbe went to the next question, the next, the Rebbe went, like, just questions.

1:50:04 Speaker 6 It's on video.

1:50:05 Speaker 1 No, no. This was in Yechidas.

1:50:06 Speaker 6 No, but dollars.

1:50:07 Speaker 1 Oh, my God.

1:50:07 Speaker 6 There's a video the Rebbe's asking your father questions, your father-

1:50:09 Speaker 1 Oh, about the, the, the gear.

1:50:12 Speaker 6 Yeah.

1:50:12 Speaker 1 Yeah.

1:50:12 Speaker 6 And your father, with, with, he looks with the, with the sm- with the smile.

1:50:15 Speaker 1 Right. So, so this was when I was a bocher in yeshiva. And I remember how, on the one hand, here I'm going to build Japan, the B- The Rebbe hot a kasha, geendikt. There's nothing to discuss. But you need a father like my father to, uh, to get to do that.

1:50:35 Speaker 6 It's the chinuch.

1:50:35 Speaker 1 It was so powerful to me be- because if y- you don't think about it like that. It's all the time. The Rebbe ask something, a person answers. Az get is to say. It's, uh... So that was in Taf Shin Mem Beis. Taf Shin Mem Daled, I went with my father to a, a Sifa Sara Bonim. Very, very... Unfortunately, I can't discuss too much about that, but there was a big Sifa Sara Bonim for three days. I was a bocher. And I knew that Rebbe likes to get information. Michlah. The Rebbe wants duchim and, you know, they don't rely on the fact that, uh, the ruchnis, also bigashmis. What I did was, there were about sixty Rabbonim from Europe at that, uh, about fif- maybe fifty, sixty Rabbonim. It was a three-day, and Lord Jacobowitz was then, uh, from England, and the Chief Rabbi of Yerushalayim, Rav Kuliitz, his son was a bocher, so he came along with him. He was the guest of honor, guest speaker. I interviewed each Rav, each Rav as a bocher, and I sent it a duch to the Rebbe, a detailed duch. I wouldn't show it to anybody today because I wrote as a, like a bocher, and I wrote exactly what I think of each one also. Which that is, today you have to be much more careful. And I got very good reports, I'm not gonna say how, what, and when, about this report that when I sent it into the Rebbe. But, uh, so that was also

1:51:59 Speaker 1 when I was a bocher, Taf Shin Mem Daled, yeah. Then Taf Shin Mem He, I became a choson, and, uh, and the rest is history. I don't know if you wanna talk now about Kolol and, uh-

1:52:07 Speaker 6 No, why not?

1:52:07 Speaker 1 Okay. I'll, I'll do it bekitzer. I was in Kolol. Now, when I got married, my schwinger zal zayn gezunt, I wanted to go on schlichas right after the wedding. Ich hob nisht vas to tun. My schwager- He felt that I should be in Kollel for a year. He says, "You wanna be in Mitmatzla Echslichis? You have to go to Kollel for a year." Which he was right. And then he said, and it's also good for my wife to be the first year next to her mother. He said, "Nachdem kannst du gehen wo du willst. You go wherever you want." And I figured he has a lot of experience. If he says it, I may as well go for it. And, uh, yeah, and I stayed for a year in Kollel. Uh, two weeks after my Hasinah, this was in Adar, Tovshim Memhei. Two week- uh, my Hasinah was Gimel Adar, and two weeks after the Hasinah. By, by the way, just, uh, an interesting point. When the Maskiri made weddings, I'm talking about till Lameth Heh, till Mem Heis. When, when the Maskiri made weddings, the Rebbe used to make sure to go home before the Chuppah, not to interfere into the weddings. Rebbe might even go home, or... So I told my Schwer to tell the Rebbe a later time of the Chuppah, so this way we'll have the Chuppah, and the Rebbe will still be in Seven seventy. Lo pel we came flying in front of Seven seventy, and as we came, the

1:53:34 Speaker 1 Rebbe went out to go home. So, um, the Rebbe Zalman Shimon Dvorkin, who was the Rov in Crown Heights, passed away, uh, right after, uh, uh, Purim, right after Purim, that, uh, Memhei. Two, another about two weeks. So for about a year plus, there was no Rov in Crown, official Rov in Crown Heights. I don't remember it was Shvat time or something like that. Rabbi Heller, who was the head of the Kollel, called over two young elite. One of them is Rabbi Nisan David Dubov, who's today in Wimbledon, England, and myself. And he said that Rabbi Chadak of Kwodamin, that he would like to take two young elite, should go to Montreal to take Shomash by Rabbi Hendel for Rabbonis. I was not interested in going into Rabbonis, absolutely. My father was a Rav, and I know exactly what a Rav goes through, and I said, "I'm not going for this." But I'm not gonna say no to Rabbi Chadak of, or Rabbi Heller. So when he said that, so I told Rabbi Heller like this, "Look, if it comes from the Rebbe, there's no question. But if it doesn't come from the Rebbe, again, there's no question." You know what I mean? I-- If I know that the Rebbe wants it, uh, I'm f- I'll do anything. But if it's not, you know, I... Okay. Goes by another month, and he calls us again, tells us the same story. So I said, "I'll, uh..." Same answer as last time. So he says, "No, I,

1:55:03 Speaker 1 I need an answer." So he says, "Do me a favor. At least write into the Rebbe that Anholer is giving you such a hatzah, and then you'll know. But yeah, yeah, nisht, nisht." I think they got me to write into the Rebbe, and the Rebbe answered, "Kimfurse, katzah Anholer." That's the Rebbe answer. Okay. We didn't hear anything. Meanwhile, happened the Priris, the elections for the Rabbonim, and Rabbi Marlow, and then Solangi Yorn, Rabbi Azdev, and Rabbi Heller were, uh, elected to the Beis Din. This was in the summer of Tovshim Mem Vav. Sivan. I don't know if it was the day after that or two days after that, but mamish right Bismichis, Rabbi Heller called us over, and he said that Rabbi Chadakow said like this, that what we discussed about going to Montreal is bottle, and we should, didn't ask, we should do it here with the Beis Din. And we should g- do it like this. We should keep this man of Kollel, the, the, the, how do you say this man? The schedule of Kollel. Now, the schedule of Kollel is eight o'clock starts Chsidus. From nine to 11, you have davening and breakfast. So he said that he wants us to daven before Chsidus, and from nine to 11, we will sit in the Beis Din together with Rabbi Heller and get, and get to hear the shailas then. And we should start, this was, the, the Hakta was Chof Kesivan. We should start Tes Vav Tamus. Why? "Vaysach nisht." That's

1:56:42 Speaker 1 what he said, Tes Vav Tamus. As far as since we were already in Kollel over a year, and we have to get paid a little more. So he's going to give us, um, two and a half paychecks. Those days, the paycheck was a certain amount, which was not-

1:56:59 Speaker 7 A lot of money.

1:57:00 Speaker 1 A lot of... Right? But whatever it was. And we're going to get two and a half times. Let's say it's a hundred dollars, so we're gonna get two hundred and fifty. And I remember the whole time I was trying to ask my Schwer, my father, Rabbi Klein, "Do you think that it comes from the Rebbe or not?" But he had no clue, and he, uh, this was something Rabbi Chadakow, you know. Then that day, I went to, to the, to the house, and I told him, "By the way, you know, he told us to stay here for another year, and he's going to give, you know, a paycheck two and a half times." He says, "Two and a half times? For sure it's from the Rebbe." He says, "Rabbi Chadakow wouldn't give two and a half paychecks." "No, no, no, no." He said, "For sure, no question." I must say it was one of the best times in my life, that year or two. And I'm not gonna go now through the whole thing, but, uh, uh, but he, he told us that we have to make sure to... Uh, by the way, I didn't have full Smicha yet when I got married. So that was one of the ways why I stayed, 'cause one thing the Rebbe says, you have to have Smicha before you get married. And I had almost finished, but not, so I figured I'll finish it. And he said we should also take Yadin Yadin together with the Shomash. So

1:58:06 Speaker 1 my chevruta and myself, we learned Yadin Yadin. We got Farher by Rabbi Pikarsky privately. And, um, we got Yeri Yeri, Yadin Yadin. And then the way it used to work is he had a telephone. Those days, there was no caller ID or anything. He used to press the speaker when the phone rings, and he would have a conversation with the person who's asking the question. Most of the time- Nobody knew who it is, not the man or the woman, whoever's calling. If it was somebody who wanted to ask something private, then we knew who it is, so he would pick up the phone. But other-- But that was two percent of the time, 'cause most questions that people asked wasn't something private. It was, you know... And, uh, it was really, really, uh, exceptional. You know, Shimush is there's nothing like it, especially like this, and you sit with the Rav. And about a year later, Nissan David Dubov got a sh- uh, hatzah to go to Wimbledon. He left, and then I continued myself. So I was to sit there with Rabbi Heller those two hours, and then at night I used to go to Rabbi Marlow. Rabbi Marlow used to be there till three o'clock in the morning , so we used to come, you know. We used to discuss a lot of things. One of the things that happened in that year was regarding Sheva Mitzvos B'nei Noach. The Rebbe then started talking about Sheva Mitzvos B'nei Noach. So this was Taf

1:59:25 Speaker 1 Shin Mem Zayin already. One day, Rabbi Heller calls us that Rabbi Nissan Mindel, the Rebbe's maskir, told him he should take two yungerleit. I don't know if he said us, but I figured the, these two yungerleit were under maskir's payroll, right? And we should gather everything that there is, and I'm telling you the story just b'kitzur. Should gather everything which there is in Sfarim about Sheva Mitzvos B'nei Noach. So, and he said like this, "Just gather. Just gather." And we should also visit the Fifth Avenue Library in Manhattan. We should visit Yeshiva University Library. And then the lashon was, "Un dos daf nem men nisht meh vit zi a dedrei teg."

2:00:09 Speaker 6 The whole thing.

2:00:09 Speaker 1 The whole thing should take no more than two or three days. We had no idea where to start Sheva Mitzvos B'nei Noach. There's the Rambam, a couple of halachas or whatever, but... And this was Monday afternoon. That means we have to be done by Thursday afternoon. So Rabbi Heller told us that he knows that in the library there's a Sefer, a Chumash. There was a big gaon in, in, in Williamsburg. His name was Reb Yena Ser Shitaif. My mother, when she was a girl in Bais Yaakov in Williamsburg, remembered Reb Yena Ser Shitaif. Okay? They talk about in the Yuds. He was a short guy. He went through the concentration camps. He went through... A meir dyk a gaon. There's Sfarim, beautiful Sfarim of his. So he had a Chumash on Parshas Breishes of Noach, and on the bottom there's a lot of hours about Sheva Mitzvos B'nei Noach. So he said you could start with that, and then achat ven zein veiter. Then I chaptsakh that in, in Tsayklopedia Talmudeis there's a Eretz B'nei Noach. So what we did was like this. Right away that afternoon, we pashut went to my house, and we started pashut writing down everything from Encyclopedia Talmudeis, whatever we could. The next day, we went to the Fifth Avenue Library. We spent there seven or eight hours. Couldn't find kimat garnisht. But there was one thing. There was, uh, there was a file over there. I'm talking about an archive of a Alterav that the family, vysze they didn't

2:01:40 Speaker 1 know, right? So they gave the whole thing to the library. So we went through it, and we thought maybe he wrote something, 'cause he was very int- I don't even remember his name. And one of the things that we came across in that, but now you have to understand like this. The librarian brings out that file, and he sits there and watches you. He gives you paper by paper. So if I go myself, gehen, again, paper by paper. We-we'll, whatever. And we went through the whole thing. He had over there, there was a paper that I recognized that this was the Ksav V'HaKedusha of the Mitteler Rebbe. Okay? So I asked him if I could just have a photostat, and I brought it to Berel Levin in the library, whatever. We found something in German, something about Sheva Mitzvos, but why'd we have to go to the Rebbe said, so we did it. We went the next day to the Fifth Ave- to Yeshiva University Library. So then I found another thing from this Reb Yena Ser Shitaif. And I saw in the beginning it says Shitaif Montzy. So I thought that the guy Montzy is the mechaber. Turns out, so I right away called up from the, from Yeshiva University, I called him up, and it turned out that it was his einikel. He was Rosh HaKoilel in Montzy, and Reb Yena Ser is his zeide. In other words, he still has a father in Williamsburg, and his father is the son of Reb

2:02:55 Speaker 1 Yena Ser Shitaif. So I asked him, 'cause it says over there that in his Sefer he was meyrich. I asked him, "You know anything about the Sefer?" So he says, "You have to call my father." He doesn't know of any Sefer, but call my father. My father will know everything. Okay. So I called the father, and he's in Williamsburg. But der while we had to, uh, so we gave him everything, you know, the way it is. We prepared a very nice thing, and we gave it to Rabbi Mendel on Thursday afternoon. He, he didn't expect us. He vysze, you know, got a job, and then whenever it'll be, and here we came. We were up literally kimat the whole night, Monday night, Tuesday night, Wednesday night. You know, pashut we work nonstop till Thursday afternoon, whatever, and we put together a very nice package, you know, whatever possible. And we made it mesuder by according to each mitzvah v'cholum. Then there was another thing which I did. Today you have-

2:03:47 Speaker 6 You don't know what happened with it.

2:03:48 Speaker 1 Wait, wait. You know, there's Etz HaChaim today. You could do these things, you could do in minutes. Those days the, the only thing that was available those days was, there was something called Dafka. Dafka was a program in Chicago. They were in touch with Israel, with Etz Israel, with Bar-Ilan University. There were a few people that had like Bar-Ilan and somebody that had a lot of indexed shailas u'teshuvahs, and you could get a printout for a chais, 100, $200, whatever. So I paid them then, I don't know if it was two or three hundred dollars all on the phone. They should do it. They have to send it. They UPS'd to the next day, so this we were able to give to the Rebbe sai the package and sai the printout from the... God, it cost me whatever, but lepalel Baruch Hashem. We gave our, bemizach tikun olam this kapitel. It was very nice. But I knew that there's more fartik, and I gave, we gave it to Rabbi Mendel. Now, a couple of days later, I went to the Shitaif, and I came to the house, and he showed me there's a closet which is closed. There's all the ksavim from Rabbi Shitaif. Already 25 years, nobody opened up this closet. So I said, "Can I open it?" A-a-anyways, lepalel, he let me. Mittem al, I find. Those days, you know, when you made a, made a sefer, you had, you got gelis, the proofs. So he had already proofs for a sefer with

2:05:06 Speaker 1 the first three mitzvahs, and then there was a stack of papers like this for the next four mitzvahs. So I said, "That's what I'm looking for." You know, a sefer like this. So I told him, "Can I make a photostat?" He says, "No, no, no, no, no. You're gonna take it, you're gonna print it, you're gonna do..." I said, "I'm not doing anything. I don't need this stuff. The Rebbe needs it, and the Rebbe is never going to print something without your permission." And he was, he was hesitant. I took out $100 or $200. I said, "Do me a favor. Here, you make the photostats, and you bring it to the Rebbe." You could trust the Rebbe. When he saw that I did that, he says, "I trust you. Take." I took it. I went upstairs to 788. They had a photostat. Those days, a photostat machine. I photostatted the whole thing. I brought it to Rabbi Groner, and I told him, When he saw it, he says, "Ah, I think we're not hitting the jackpot, but, uh, we're getting somewhere." About, I don't remember how much later, I get a call from Rabbi Groner. I should come to the office. I came, and he told me that the Rebbe said I should go through the Minchas Chinuch, and go through the whole sefer, and find anything that he says about Sheva Mitzvos Benonaiach.

2:06:23 Speaker 8 What year is this, by the way?

2:06:24 Speaker 1 Mem Zain.

2:06:25 Speaker 8 Mem Zain, okay.

2:06:26 Speaker 1 I went home. I sat up, because the Rebbe used to come ten o'clock in the morning. I made up, "By ten o'clock tomorrow morning, the Rebbe has it." I went through the whole Minchas Chinuch, and I made a list of all the places and what he says about Sheva Mitzvos. And in one place, he writes, That means the Minchas Chinuch wrote a kuntres on Sheva Mitzvos. So I noted that. You know, I made the whole thing. It was, it was ready ten o'clock the next morning for the Rebbe. But I noted that Minchas Chinuch writes that he wrote a... I didn't hear anything from the Rebbe about that. But I myself went, and I called up all the libraries in America, Eretz Yisrael, the family, the Bad family. They only collect from Minchas Chinuch. Nobody knew anything about such a kuntres. And I told them, "Look what he writes in this mitz-- He writes it in two places." That was that. I didn't hear anything. A couple years ago, I saw Rabbi Shlomo Ber Shapiro, and he actually says it in one of his, uh, night things, that he found this, uh... He asked me once, "Did you ever want to read, you want to work on some Sheva Mitzvos Benonaiach?" I said, "Sure did. I gave it to you, right?" He says, "Yeah, do you know that there's a Hares from the Rebbe," and whatever. But the Rebbe never got to see it, right? And-

2:07:38 Speaker 8 They brought Hares on it.

2:07:39 Speaker 1 What?

2:07:40 Speaker 8 They brought Hares on it.

2:07:42 Speaker 1 Something, episodes of dirt and whatever, but, uh, you know, I, uh, I did my job, and, uh, And, uh, but he, he mentioned it in one of his podcasts, you know, that he has. He spoke about it.

2:07:53 Speaker 8 And you don't know what it was for. You don't know what, but-

2:07:56 Speaker 1 It was for Nissim... No, no. Nissim Mendel, in, in one of the Kfar Chabad's, there was an interview with him, and he says that the Rebbe wanted he should make up I don't know. I'm not sure. I, I was asked. I did, and, uh, you know, I... Actually, at that time, Rav Zalman Gourary drove me nuts. Also happens to put something about Sheva Mitzvos Benonaiach. So I just, I gave him whatever he wanted and, but I, I did what, you know, I was asked, and I gave. I didn't, uh, I didn't pursue anything after that.

2:08:33 Speaker 8 Okay, very interesting. Um, so maybe we'll finish off, um, another something with the prime minister of, uh, Italy.

2:08:42 Speaker 1 Yes. The story because of the prime minister is as follows. First of all, um, my father with Rabbi Hazan from Rome, the shliach in Rome, they went several times to the, to the government there, but he was a different story. Here, what happened was... Today, I could say the story already. This was in Taf Shin Nun Alef. The Rebbe was turning 89. The story with the Sfarim in Russia started. They started in Taf Shin Mem Ches. This was already the third year into it, and they got two or three Sfarim through Mondale, this, that, but the Sfarim weren't coming yet. I was-- I decided I'm gonna bring the Sfarim back okay? I can only try, because I knew that Italy and Russia have very, very good relationship. In Italy, there's a big communist party. They're not communists, you know, the, the, in Russia, but, uh, that's what it's called, Communist, uh, Party. And in Italy, there was a person. His name was Gianni Agnelli. Gianni Agnelli was the top person in Italy. He was the owner of the car maker, Fiat. And Gianni Agnelli was personal friend with Gorbachev and, and, uh, the, all the big guys in Russia of all the years, starting from Khrushchev, I think, even. But mamash personal friend. Ad ke dekakt that I heard that, uh, Gorbachev, when, when he used to leave Russia for whatever, he would make a stop in Italy in Gianni Agnelli's house. Pr-personal. Now, he lived in a place called Mirafiori, outside of, uh, Torino,

2:10:33 Speaker 1 where the Fiat is over there. But he was considered the most powerful person in Italy. So I started thinking, "Let me go to Gianni Agnelli somehow. Let me try to figure it out, and I'll get it untern tish." You know? Gianni Agnelli will ask a personal favor to Gorbachev. Sfarim go to New York like they did with the Sfarim from Poland. You know, you don't need just, uh, fartik. So I did some research on this Gianni Agnelli. I went to Manhattan. In Manhattan, there is a, a store called Rizzoli, an Italian store, very exclusive store. I once had a program there I'll, I'll-- If we'll have the time, I'll talk to you about it. Very, very, also very gishmak. And I, I got a book, the life story of this Giannini. Let me see who's his circle, who's his, uh... And I came across a name, a guy by the name of Furio Colombo. Furio Colombo, at that time, was Mr. Fiat USA. He was the representative here. He was a professor in Columbia University. He was one of the top politicians in Italy. He was a Halber editor of the communist newspaper in Italy, and I knew that he's a oy of Yisroel. Somehow, because I found a book of his, he was in Eretz Yisroel punk by the Six-Day War. He fell in love with Eretz Yisroel, and I found out, machei a pargod, that seemingly his father maybe even was Jewish. He is for sure a goy, aber... And I figured, let

2:12:01 Speaker 1 me try to find out about this Furio Colombo. And whatever I read about him, only beautiful things. The person I went to, he looked like Ronald Reagan, you know, real polished person, tall, unbelievably handsome, you know, typical Italian, you know. Anyways, I decided I'm gonna do it with Furio Colombo. Let me have a meeting with him. Let me talk to him. My father came for the thing of the gvirim before Yahrzeit Nisan. Then it was at the end of Adar, Tav Shin Nun Alef. So I called up this, uh, the office of Fiat, and I spoke to the secretary of Furio Colombo, and I said, "I would like to have a meeting with him. My father is here from Italy." You know, I said, "He's the chief rabbi of Italy," even though he's just of Milan and not even the chief rabbi. But you know, rabbino. And, um, "We'd like to have a meeting with him." So the first thing she said, "Before three weeks, there's nothing to discuss. He's booked. You can't..." She said in Italian, "Non riesco a mettere uno spillo. I can't even put a, a, a, a needle." That's how packed it is. So I said, "Look, my father's here from Italy now. He's leaving tomorrow night. If you could get me something, I would greatly appreciate it." She said, "I'll get back to you soon." And I gave her my office number. You know what my office number was? I was teaching then in Darat Teydeh. So I gave her

2:13:22 Speaker 1 the, um-

2:13:23 Speaker 8 Payphone?

2:13:24 Speaker 1 Payphone of Darat Teydeh. That was my office number. Okay. Goes by about an hour or so, an hour and a half. The phone rings. I ran to get it for Steitzach. And she says, "He said for the rabbi of Milan, he is giving twenty minutes tomorrow morning from ten to ten twenty." I said, "Great." I went with my father the next morning. I prepared. I had then one hour, forty years, you know, that album, you know, all about Lubavitch and things like that and whatever. Okay. He came. First of all, he was so bacovadic from my father. You, you can't ima-- You're talking about this guy. He's a big name. He's not-

2:14:01 Speaker 8 Did your father speak Italian?

2:14:03 Speaker 1 No. I mean, it's a little bit. He, he, he go, he get button. My father didn't say a word.

2:14:07 Speaker 8 Oh, okay.

2:14:07 Speaker 1 I spoke the whole time. I'd rather get-- There was another from Italy. One of the tziples was here, and I took him along also with me. Not the brother, one of the children. Whatever. And I gave him a ten-minute speech about Lubavitch and about, uh, the Sefarim, and that's where we'd like to go to Giannini. He says, "First of all, I know the Lubavitcher Rebbe. I've read plenty about him. And as a matter of fact, I would like to have a interview with him," because he is a professor also of journalism. So, and he has different newspapers and whatever. So he would like to have-- "But that's not for now," he says. He says, "You're going in the wrong direction. You don't need Giannini. You need Giulio Andreotti." Giulio Andreotti was the prime minister of Italy at that time. So I said, "Fine, but I've n-- I have no idea how to get to him for some-"

2:14:59 Speaker 8 Sounds good.

2:14:59 Speaker 1 Sure. But you know, So I said, "I have no way how to-- I have no idea how to-- the process." Says, "No, no, no, I'll take care of it. You don't worry. I'll take care of it. Give me a couple days, and we'll, and we'll talk." Just like that. "I'll take care of it." Okay. The whole meeting took twenty minutes. And then I finished off. I said, "By the way, the Rebbe's birthday is in two weeks. If we get it for the Rebbe's birthday, the Rebbe's turning eighty-nine. You get this for the Rebbe, I think we'll manage to get you an interview. I think so. I can't guarantee you." Aber, this was Thursday morning. My father left Thursday night to Italy. Monday morning, I get a call from Rabbi Buttman, Rav Shmuel Buttman. "Levi, who spoke to Andreotti about the Sefarim?" This is Monday morning. The meeting was Thursday. "Who spoke to Andreotti about the Sefarim?" So I said, "Versteit zach." I said, "I have no idea. Why? Maybe call my father. Ask him. Maybe he did." 'Cause I didn't speak to Andreotti. My father didn't, right? So I said the truth. I don't know. I didn't wanna say I spoke to... And I figured, I, I don't think anything happened in two days. I said, "Why are you asking?" He says, "'Cause last night there must have been some kind of a dinner or something." This was right after the Gulf War, Tav Shin Nun Alef. During the Gulf War, Italy was on the

2:16:31 Speaker 1 side of Israel rather than the Arabs, which normally they would be more neite to that side. And because of that, the big Jewish organizations, I think it was Hadassah, B'nai B'rith, some of the big ones, they decided to honor Andreotti for that. So last night there was a dinner or something, and one of the top guys from these organization was sitting next to Andreotti, and he started explaining to him what they do, what... Andreotti, typical Italian, he says, "I don't know. The only Jewish organization that I know is Lubavitch. And I just spoke yesterday to Gorbachev about giving back the library," you know, nonchalantly. So that's what Mula wants to know. Who-

2:17:14 Speaker 8 Rabbi Butman was there?

2:17:15 Speaker 1 No, I... No, he says that he got a call from the guy-

2:17:17 Speaker 8 He heard that

2:17:17 Speaker 1 ... that he just called.

2:17:18 Speaker 8 Yeah.

2:17:19 Speaker 1 Yeah. I think he told me he got a call. I don't think he was there. No, no, I think he told me he got a call from this-

2:17:24 Speaker 8 Right

2:17:24 Speaker 1 ... guy who he knows, so he wants to know, wow, who? So I, but I, but at least I saw that this Furio, uh, uh, is doing pretty well. If on Thursday, by Sunday night, he already spoke to... It's not something to... And I figured, very good. goes by about two, three days, and I get a call from Furio Colombo, and I knew that he did a good job. And he tells me, "I don't know what happened over here." He says, "I spoke to Gorbachev-- to Andreotti. Andreotti spoke to Gorbachev. Gorbachev said, 'Give me two, three days and we're gonna take care of it,' and the Sfarim are coming to New York." But he said, "I didn't wanna call you until I actually know that ready, and then you tell me, you know, what has to be done to bring it over." And he says, "I don't know what happened." He says, "I took all the shortcuts. And I knew that he's saying the truth because I . And he says, "All of a sudden, I came in front of a brick wall, and I cannot figure out what that wall is. There's something not letting it through. Gorbachev promised Andreotti that he's going to let through the Sfarim." And I told him, "You know, because the Rebbe's birthday is coming," and he says, "Yeah, that's exactly what I was trying to do. For the Rebbe's birthday, the stuff should be in New York already." And he says, "I have no..." He says, "Something in

2:18:51 Speaker 1 Russia over there, ." In other words, he, he felt that there's somebody not stronger than Gorbachev, but there's somebody else who has the power to veto Gorbachev or something like that. It, it, he doesn't know. Anyway, so the poil, it, it didn't go through.

2:19:07 Speaker 8 Fell through.

2:19:08 Speaker 1 Fell through. But he had-- But I know that he did it because I forgot the call from Mula Butman about this guy, so obviously. And then I have now some papers where Tachi Andreotti tells Colombo in a, in a, in a memo, "I don't know what happened. I, he told me he's going to do it." You know, like something-- This is politics. This is not stam. This is... So he felt very bad. He was very upset. Very upset.

2:19:34 Speaker 8 By the way, this is not the first-

2:19:36 Speaker 1 What?

2:19:37 Speaker 8 There's other shluchim that- No, no, there's other shluchim that also went through people that have connections to Gorbachev.

2:19:43 Speaker 1 Right. And they thought-

2:19:44 Speaker 8 They don't go, yeah.

2:19:46 Speaker 1 No question.

2:19:46 Speaker 8 Yeah, we know the names, I'm saying.

2:19:47 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, yeah. It, it, I mean, the traits, everything is... No, but that's why I figured, let's all try. Even from the other end, from, uh, if Tachi calls me up, "Okay, Levi, we're ready to go," then I would call all the people involved and say, "Guys, keep it low." You know, not to... Anyways, okay. So now this Furio Colombo, one other thing that he was in charge of, right attached to the Italian consulate in, uh, Manhattan on Park Avenue, there is what's called Centro Culturale Italiano, the Italian Cultural Institute, and he was the president of it. So he does all kinds of very fancy events, you know, with Italians, uh, with either special painters or, uh, all kinds of stuff. And once in a while he may have something Jewish also, but, uh, for not, uh, secular. Very, he's very secular. So he started inviting me to all kinds of functions, and I went. You know, it's a good guy to be close to. Came Hanukkah, right, a couple months later, and he, uh, made a book. He made a book, and he launched it in this Rizzoli, this place that I told you in Manhattan. This is a library. It's gonna be on the second floor, Hanukkah, and the guest speaker is going to be Elie Wiesel, and it was a you know, it's all his friends. And he asked me if I could come, since it's Hanukkah, bring a menorah, light the candles, make it, you know, into a nice Hanukkah party,

2:21:17 Speaker 1 even though it's all going. But still, I came. It was beautiful. Not only that, punkt, then there was somebody from Italy that came from the television in Italy. Not a, a reporter, uh, . And I brought him to the Rebbe Hanukkah, you know, for, for the brachos.

2:21:35 Speaker 8 The brachos.

2:21:36 Speaker 1 And from there, we went to Manhattan to this thing. So it was another . And this, and then I lit the menorah, and we sang Ma'oz Tzur, and everybody... It was beautiful. Beautiful. And it was in the, all the newspapers in Italy, and the, and the TV, I mean, that I... Okay. This was in, uh, uh, Kislev. In beginning of Shevat-

2:22:00 Speaker 8 Num Beis.

2:22:01 Speaker 1 Yeah, all Num Beis. Beginning of, or Teves. I, I have the dates exactly. He calls me up. He says, "Rabbi Garelik, please come to my office. I have a very nice surprise for you." I came to his office, and he says like this, um, "Andreotti, the Prime Minister, is coming to America on a certain date. Nobody knows about that yet. He's coming for 36 hours." In other words, he's landing in the afternoon. He's gonna be here for an evening. Then he's gonna be there in the morning. Actually, more than... Like two days or something. Then the next evening, he has an event in New York University, and the next day he's going back to Italy. Why is he coming to New York University? Because, uh, they printed a book of his, uh, whatever, and that's why. And he says, "What I did was I blocked three hours in the morning from 9:00 to 12:00, and we're gonna bring him to the Rebbe." Prime Minister of Italy to come to the Rebbe. This is . This is... I said, "Great." And I figured, very good. First of all, Andreotti is a person who loves, you know, antiques and all the Sfarim and history, and this and that. Second of all, he has the you know, for Yiddishkeit, et cetera. And I figured to myself, what we're gonna do is like this. Nine o'clock, I'll be in Manhattan. We're gonna drive to Crown Heights from nine to ten, right? In the car, I will prepare him. From

2:23:24 Speaker 1 ten to ten forty-five, we're going to have a breakfast in the library next door to Seven seventy. The Rebbe meanwhile is davening Shacharis. As soon as the Rebbe comes out from Shacharis, he'll meet him for five minutes, you know, just cordial, happy birthday or something.

2:23:37 Speaker 8 Like a yechidas.

2:23:38 Speaker 1 Yeah, but just, you know, not to make a whole big thing because now they, they can't bring him into yechidas. I told him, it was just going to be a cordial, you know-

2:23:47 Speaker 8 Meet

2:23:47 Speaker 1 ... me-meeting, you know, and that's it. And then eleven o'clock, we're back into the car. Twelve o'clock, he's back for his, uh, business in Manhattan. Okay? I had it all worked out, all perfectly set up.

2:24:01 Speaker 8 Moskiris and everything.

2:24:02 Speaker 1 Sure. Now, I told Moskiris, about this to Moskiris only the week before, about ten days before. Because first of all, I didn't want it to get out for two reasons. I didn't want that, uh, it should get out because what happens if he, for whatever reason, won't be able to make it? Or what happens if the Rebbe doesn't want? This is Zaina Bushe, whichever way you turn around, this is a tegnish. So therefore, I decided not to tell anybody. And also, I'm not gonna take a chais for this whole thing. So I told my father, "Yes, I'll write to the Rebbe about it." You know, and then Manashe. This was set up for Beis Adar, Tav Shin Nun Beis, and the Rebbe got the stroke of Zayin Adar Alef. In other words, the Rebbe got the stroke on Monday, and this was going to be the following Monday. So now, everything was in, in limbo. The Rebbe had a stroke. I felt he should come anyways to Crown Heights. Let him come. If he wants to see the Rebbe, so he won't see the Rebbe. Let him come to Crown Heights, and he can't go into the Rebbe because the Rebbe had a stroke. That's fine. Everybody else felt it's not proper, it's not a here, not a him. I couldn't, uh, for state, fight the system, so I gave in. So I called up Furry Colombo. I told him, "Look, the Rebbe got a stroke, and, uh, we're gonna have to cancel the visit

2:25:22 Speaker 1 to..." So he said, "Since Andreotti is planning, you know, he has, he has it on his schedule to visit Lubavitch. So what we're going to do is, instead of him coming here, you will come to Manhattan to one of the programs, and that's where you'll meet him." So this way, my father came in because of Chozain Adar. So he was here.

2:25:43 Speaker 8 Chozain Adar, your father came from Italy?

2:25:45 Speaker 1 Yeah, sure.

2:25:46 Speaker 8 He came.

2:25:46 Speaker 1 As soon as it happened. I think so. He was here. He was here. He was here for sure. And that day, we went to New York University. It was a very exclusive affair. There were only two speakers, Giulio Andreotti and Henry Kissinger. These are the two. Anyways, when he finished speaking, so he came off the podium, and then, you know, there was a whole bunch of people waiting to talk to him. And Furry Colombo calls me and my father, my father and myself, and he tells us, "Come now." We went over to him, and he tells the prime minister, "These are the people from Lubavitch." "Oh." So he calls over one of his Chevre. It took about, uh, a minute, and he comes back with a box. He had brought a present for the Rebbe to give to the Rebbe. Adayem, I don't know what it is. It's in the library somewhere. Ich vey, I can't, uh, figure out. But what I heard then was that it was a psaal alte luche, uh, something, epes, a old Jewish artifact of some sort or whatever, that he brought to give to the Rebbe as a present. But the meeting did not take place for whatever reason.

2:26:56 Speaker 8 Today, we have heads of state coming to the-

2:26:58 Speaker 1 I-

2:26:59 Speaker 8 All day. It's nothing

2:27:00 Speaker 1 Today, this is, after Gimel Tammuz, it's a different ballgame. But at that time to bring-

2:27:05 Speaker 8 Yeah, they want to get down the stick. Yeah, it is, uh-

2:27:07 Speaker 1 Don't forget, you were talking about the Rebbetzin before, right? One thing about the Rebbetzin is, besides for being the Rebbetzin, right, which is obv-obviously the number one thing, she was an aristocratic lady. Pashet, begashmis. Today, people don't know what's an aristocrat. It's different for state. Those days, a prime minister was a prime minister. Today, And, uh, the, the truth is, you have, you have everything as it's maales and chusrenis. There is a shtickel maale to that, that, you know, the, the whole world is one big, uh, chalent-

2:27:38 Speaker 8 Everything is-

2:27:39 Speaker 1 ... fartik.

2:27:39 Speaker 8 Yeah.

2:27:40 Speaker 1 But, uh, those days, a prime minister from Italy should come to the Rebbe, that was a big, heavy thing.

2:27:46 Speaker 8 Yeah.

2:27:47 Speaker 1 And, uh-

2:27:48 Speaker 8 Sure

2:27:48 Speaker 1 ... we almost got it, but, uh, that was the story with the prime minister.

2:27:54 Speaker 8 Okay. Thank you very much. This has, uh, been very-

2:27:57 Speaker 1 My pleasure. Again, I think that the bottom line that I do want to come out from all of this, the Rebbe’s number one agenda was, number one agenda, and as a matter of fact, there was a old, uh, documentary they made on the Rebbe, I think Windows to the Soul or something, and they interviewed me there also, and there's one line that I say about the Rebbe.

2:28:21 Speaker 8 "Leymid, vishkidda, hatzum lo matzliach."

2:28:24 Speaker 1 Excellent. That's the Rebbe's number one agenda. And, uh, this I would like to really be-be ikar to the bochrim. In galut, be ikar to the bochrim. You'll have plenty of time. I mean, Mashiach will be here tomorrow. Yesterday. You'll have plenty of time in life when to do all other things. There's one period, you know, you heard once a beautiful line, "The youth was wasted on youth." Right? There's one period between your, before bar mitzvah till the age of, like, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three. It's, it's ten per-- It's almost ten percent of your lifetime, fifteen percent, whatever it is. There's-- I have all the proofs. I tried my best way to bring out that this is what the, the Rebbe wants Limudat Torah. Everything else is an offshoot of that. The Rebbe, all the Shlichus. The Shlichus comes from the fact that we are doing hafatzat samayones. It's true that eventually means also helping yidden begashmiyus, but that's not where it starts from. It starts from Torah. That's the number one thing. Nigleh, Chassidus, Pashet, and, and, and that's what the Rebbe would, "Mol adif de'e savaye" means Torah. Sof kosof. And we have to get it out into the world. There's no question about that. Aber the bochrim be ikar, the, the youngsters, the, the younger generation today is amazing. I teach in all the, in all the schools. The young generation is super, unbelievably amazing. And it's good that they should also hear what went on at that time, how the Rebbe enjoyed. The

2:30:11 Speaker 1 Rebbe’s enjoyment was when bochrim are Pashet toiling in Torah, no question about it. And of course, to me, if so, and that's the, the truth, when you're feeling with this Okay. Upper Safkos of it all to start from Torah. Bottom line. Okay. Yeah, my son. Your son. Okay. Can you talk about, can you tell us- Yes ... tell us about that? The story is as follows. Um- My What? He's my Who is Your son, Berel. Oh, yes, your Berel? We, we learned this- Ah. I don't know how, I don't know how it was Yeah. The story is as follows: When I was born, I mentioned, I believe I mentioned last time, my parents named me Levi Yitzchak, and Rebbe Zalmana was obviously very, very, uh, appreciative, to say the least. Two years later, my mother became pregnant. So my mother wrote to the Rebbe Zalmana that she's pregnant, and maybe she has some more names that she would like to give. So the Rebbe Zalmana answered back that it is the opinion even of Mainzun DeRebbe Schlita. It's the only place where I saw she write about the Rebbe, the Rebbe Schlita. That via Namen geben, how to give a name, belongs to the parents, and therefore she's not going to get involved. And maybe my grandmother, Pittsburgh, Mrs. Posner, maybe she has some people in the family that she wants to give, so, so she's not going to get involved. At Kadikach, that then the Rebbe Zach, they were born, some Gedalian. They, my

2:31:51 Speaker 1 mother had twins, my sister Shekevitz and Krinsky. They, they were born some Gedalian. Mitamol came a telegram from the Rebbe Zalmana. I, I only saw telegrams to weddings, not, uh, messages. And over it, it says, "Mazel Tov, and how to give the names, the Chosim should decide," et cetera. What I think happened over there was that she sent the letter. She was afraid the letter didn't come on time, so, and the Rebbe must have told her that she, he got a telegram, that the Rebbe got a telegram that my mother went to the hospital to have baby. Didn't say baby, my father just wrote that my mother went to the hospital. They didn't know yet it was twins. So the Re-- so must have told the Rebbe Zalmana. The Rebbe Zalmana must have told the Rebbe that she just wrote a letter about the names, so, and that's why there's a telegram with the name. That's what I gather, which is simple math. So, and the Rebbe, she says clearly about the parents. Okay, that's number one. Now, when we got married, my wife and myself, my name is Levi Yitzchak, my wife is Chana. We were the first couple named after the Rebbe's parents that got married. Plus, it was Hashgacha, my wife was born Taf Shin Hef Hei. Twenty years later, we got married. So we were the first couple. So when we, those days we discussed, uh, a little bit different than what discussed today when we went out. And I told

2:33:06 Speaker 1 her, you know, that, uh, we're the first couple after the Rebbe's parents, it would be proper that we give a name for the Rebbe's brothers. At that time was Yisroel Ari Leib, the bear, and she, of course, had no issue. Then she mentioned, uh, the only thing is that when it comes to girls, the first one he has to, she has to give is Rochel, because my shver's mother, Rabbi Klein's mother, her name is Rochel. And every- she passed away when he was born. That's why his name is Yerachmiel Benyamin, because Yerachmiel for Rochel, and Benyamin because of happened the same thing like Benyamin. She passed away three, four days after he was born. And I said, "Excellent. We could give Rochel with pleasure." Punkt then Igers Kodesz came out. The Rebbe's, uh- And the Rebbe has the famous letter with your thanks as you give the name Rochel. The Rebbe's baby. Right. By the way, I just wanted to mention one more point before I forgot about the Rebbe Yosef Steif. That when I went into the house, I found two letters from the Rebbe to Rebbe Yosef Steif from Taf Shin Hes- Hmm ... about Kibud Av VaEm by, by Ben Nayach. Really? And I, that I asked, that he gave me right, I'd like- So you got the jackpot because the Rebbe- And I brought it to Berel Levin. He was then giving out that Igers Kodesz. That we'll see that this is one of the only ones that it's M'tzilmah Yegeris.

2:34:16 Speaker 1 Mm-hmm. 'Cause I got... And Leibel Bistritzky told me then that he was the middleman between the Rebbe Yosef Steif and the Rebbe in Taf Shin Hes. Interesting. That's what he told me, Leibel Bistritzky. Whatever. Anyways, getting back to the names. So since we, they, we're gonna have, uh, Berel and Leibel, yeah. So at that time, in Taf Shin Mem Vav, my son Leibel was born, we didn't know that Leibel was younger, that it's the Rebbe Berel Leibel. Those days, we didn't know anything. Told us Levi Yitzchak came out, there's almost nothing there. And, uh, Rabbi Zelikson gave out his Hayom Yom, and he, he added the Rebbe's family, and he wrote the Rebbe Leibel Berel. And the Rebbe circled Berel, and he put him that Berel was a Ben HaSheini or something, whatever the lotion that the... So- It's later. Later. Yeah. At, at least we didn't know about that. So the first son, we named Yisroel Ari Leib. And I'll tell you something very interesting about that, too. I'm gonna get to it in a minute. Fine. Now, Berel was born in Taf Shin Nun Alef. It's a long year. When, when? What? When? Oh, uh, Shevat Chaf, uh, Gimel Shevat, I think. Chaf Alef, Chaf Alef or Gimel. Chaf Alef, Chaf Alef Shevat. Now, um, Berel, so the Rebbe Zalmana says the Rebbe doesn't mix in two names. I found out something along these lines, I may not be exact, that Yehuda Shemtov, Rabbi Yehuda Shemtov, you could check it with him, he

2:35:54 Speaker 1 was named after the Rebbe's brother, but the Rebbe's brother is Yisroel Ari Leib. How did he get Yehuda Ari Leib? Because those days they knew his name was Leibel. So Rabbi Shemtov wrote to the Rebbe that he's calling his son Yehuda Leib after the Rebbe's brother, and the Rebbe changed it from Yehuda Leib. The Rebbe added Aryeh, but the Rebbe didn't change it to Yisroel. Yisroel. So that's what I heard. So I saw that the Rebbe will not change a name. He'll add, but he won't change. Especially because I think Yisroel Leib is named after people that are named Yisroel Leib. Yisroel Leib, right, yeah. Yeah, his uncle, the Rebbe Tzemach's uncle. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I heard then, Beshatzmaise. And then I heard another thing, 'cause I started looking around. I see there's no Dovid Ber's around. Yisroel Leib, there are. You know, there were a few, but there are. But Dovid Ber, there's not a single one. I had a friend, Gradre. I have a friend, one of my good friends. What do you mean? Samet Le Rebbe's name also. Yeah, but I'm talking about for the Rebbe's brother. The Rebbe's brother. Talking about named after Rebbe's brother. I had a friend who, when he became a Chosson, his name was Yisroel, and his Shver was also Yisroel, so he had to add a name. So he added Yisroel Dovid Ber after the Rebbe's brother. So his name is Yisroel Ber after the Rebbe's... The Dovid Ber added when he became a Ch--

2:37:02 Speaker 1 when he became a Chosson, and Rebbe gave him a nice Bracha. You know, Aber, I did not-- I didn't know anybody named Dovid Ber after the Rebbe's brother. So I started searching around, and I heard you don't give a name after a Bochur that was killed. Someone young. What? Someone young. Young, killed. That's what I heard. Now, I didn't care. I wanted to give after Rebbe's brother. Aber, maybe it's wrong. So I said, "We're gonna ask the Rebbe." So I wrote-- We wrote to the Rebbe. The letter is all over the place, eh? That Baruch Hashem my name is, uh, Levy Yitzhak, my wife is Chana, and our first son is Yisroel Leib. And I said, "We want to name our second son..." I didn't write a name. I said, "of the Rebbe." Maybe he had two names. And then we wrote, "But later, you know, we didn't see anybody do it." And I wrote, I don't know why. I didn't want to write I heard this reason. And then we wanted to know what to do. To be fair to Rebbe Tzemach, what she wrote, that Rebbe doesn't mix in because... She wrote, she wrote . She wrote because maybe my grandmother has names that she wants to give. So I added, Whichever way, this kid is gonna be named after someone in the Rebbe's family. I figured I'll try. I'll try my best. I gave it to my Shver, Rabbi Klein. He looks at it, says, "Levy, you have no chance. The

2:38:35 Speaker 1 Rebbe doesn't get involved in names." There were cases where the Rebbe set the name after Rebbe. Okay, you had that. Aber a question like this, the Rebbe is not gonna get involved. So I told him, "Look, you give it to the Rebbe. I have eight days to decide, and worst case, I'll have to decide myself what to do." This was Friday morning at about ten-thirty in the morning. He had just brought the Rebbe to Seven seventy about ten o'clock. This was about ten-thirty. No. Did he bring...? No. How did the Rebbe was at Seven seventy? Uh, it was about ten-thirty in the morning. I think the Rebbe was staying at Seven seventy then. Whatever. I go to Bobby Shusterman to pick up the, the Bob for the Shalom Zakor, right? Tonight the Shalom Zakor. I'm there by Bobby Shusterman, and the phone rings. Who is it? My Shver. "Levy, come right back." The Rebbe wrote two words under we write about the name, et cetera. We want to know what to do. The Rebbe wrote two words, My Shver went ballistic. Never saw something like this. The Rebbe should push it, right? Uh, Shmuelu gave a name, Yisroel Ari Leib. The Rebbe thanked him. But that the Rebbe should- Give the name. Now, I was going through a certain hard time at that time, and I think that the Rebbe wanted to appease me. I don't know. I, I, uh, commentaries we'll give to other people to do, but that's no question that the Rebbe...

2:40:07 Speaker 1 But I wanna tell you another very, very interesting practice. Our first son, his name is Yisroel Ari Leib. Yisroel Ari Leib was born Chaf Alef Iyar 57MMV. Chaf Alef Iyar. When I gave the name Yisroel Ari Leib, everybody was asking, like, He was born Chaf Alef. The birth was at the end of the whatever. And, uh, the Rebbe's brother, you know. What? I said, "Yeah, the Rebbe's brother." My name is Levy Yitzhak. My wife is Chana, and he's Yisroel Ari Leib. When was Yisroel Ari Leib's br- uh, uh, Yahrzeit is Yud Gimmel Iyar, so had nothing to do with his birth. We're trying to find out when is his birthday. Rabbi Zelikson asked the Rebbe when the Rebbe made that , so he figured it'll be a little and he asked the Rebbe how... If maybe it's possible to know of when was their birthdays. The Rebbe answered, . At present, it's not known. In Taf Shin Mem, I don't know which year it was that he wrote him. In the Mems, And everybody wanted to know, now it's not known. When will we know? Who's gonna come and tell us what happened 80 years ago? Right? And I said, "If the Rebbe says , that means eventually you'll find out." How? Let the Rebbe take care of it. Goes by a little while, and they gave out a Rebbe's, uh, Rebbe's birth, uh, Yahrzeit. And they wrote a date in Sivan with a question mark 'cause they got it from her. The, the daughter

2:41:45 Speaker 1 gave the passport. Aber, you know, passports, when in Russia passport means absolutely- Doesn't mean anything, yeah. The Rebbe said one time, the passport . Right. You know what that is, the Rebbe's in the- There's a, there's a bunch of, uh- I have the thing. I have the original. 1895, the Rebbe was born. I couldn't... The Rebbe was born 1902. But all the, all the immigration papers are all wrong, you know. Everything is 1895 Anyways, so, uh, Sivan. Later, after Gimmel Tammuz finally came out, the, um, Reshimis of the Rebbetsin Chana, and she writes at the end of Siv-- uh, Iyar, she writes that these days is my son's birthday. So at least now we know it's the end of Iyar. So we have a stickle idea, but we don't know not the year, not the d- About ten years ago or something, they found in Nikolaev the registry of the whole thing, and Israel Ari Leib was born Chaf Alef Iyar. Same exact date as my Israel Ari Leib. That's an interesting point. Then there's another thing which I would like to clarify. There are certain people that say that the maimer of, uh, Bar-- of Bris Milah, uh, that's a my, um, Ash Yativ Charus Kariv that came out in Taf Shin Nun Alef has to do with me. I just wanna clarify what happened and then let anyone learn Pshat vis-a-vis. My, uh, my Berel's bris was, as I said, at the end of Shevat, uh, Nun Alef. In between Leibel and Berel,

2:43:18 Speaker 1 I heard a sh-story from my schwager, Reb Elodavid Krinsky, that... I'm not, I may not say it exact, but I'm saying the, the, the concept that one time after one of his brisin, Rabbi Krinsky, the father, was taking the Rebbe, and the Rebbe always used to ask the family, you know, q-question what's going on and, uh, before the bris, after the bris. And Rebbe used to be very, very much involved in the families of Maskiris. And the Rebbe asked about the bris, and the Rebbe asked, "Ha der tatlik gechazert chassidus?" So he said, "Yeah." So the Rebbe asked, "Welche chassidus?" So he said, "From Tairov Hayir." That's a main mazelach. And the Rebbe said, "From Tairov Hayir?" Like, question mark. Like, this is what I heard, Farti. That was the conversation. Now, this I heard after my Leibel was born. So now when it came to my Berel's bris, I started dushking, w-w-is there any other maimer? Now, today you have all the memorim, all the sichas, all the igras out. Those days, we didn't have all of this. Nisgeven. So I went to my dear friend, Reb Sholom Charitanov, who was a balk in Nifla in the Rebbe's teideh. And I asked him, "Is there any maimer from the Rebbe on bris?" So he says this epes in Tov Shin Tez Vov, a maise with Yolis, with this, with that. Anyway, the story is Rabbi Yolis from Philadelphia. We could have a whole podcast about Rabbi Yolis. One of the few things about Rabbi

2:44:37 Speaker 1 Yolis that I found, is there anybody in every single Igras Kodesz? Is there anybody-

2:44:43 Speaker 9 Mm.

2:44:43 Speaker 1 Rabbi Yolis. Each one of them, there's a letter Rabbi Yolis. Anyways, even Zevin doesn't have in each one. Yolis has in each one. Anyway, so Rav Yolis, he came to... Rab-- For those of you who don't know Rabbi Yolis, when you look at pictures of the Farbrengen, on the left-hand side, there's a guy with a shtreimel. That's Rav Yolis. It's a whole story. Of course, you'll have it at some other time, or you had it at Chayestish. And he came and knocked on the Rebbe's door in Tov Shin Tez Vov one night. The Rebbe asked him, "Was arayom tevis haynt?" So he says, "Ich hav vach nacht. My inikal is having a bris tomorrow." So the Rebbe says, "Where is the inikal?" "In Williamsburg." So he says, "That's why you're here." There's different versions to the story, but basically, he said, "I'm doing the vach nacht here."

2:45:21 Speaker 9 Yeah.

2:45:22 Speaker 1 So I th-I think the Rebbe said to call Rabbi Yolis. I'm not sure exactly, but lepoel, the Rebbe said, "A maimer lekovet de vach nacht, Ash Yativ Charus Karev." I made photostats of that maimer. Very gishmake maimer, a balabatishe maimer, whatever.

2:45:36 Speaker 9 Mm-hmm.

2:45:37 Speaker 1 And I said that maimer by the bris, Farti. This was beginning of Rosh Chodesh Adar, Mishtamei, the beginning. But goes by a couple of days, and my shver, Rabbi Klein, asked me, "What's that maimer that you chazered by the bris?" Now, my shver, I don't know if this was one of the top things on his agenda to know which maim-- We, we had to always have the bris eight o'clock in the morning in the house 'cause nine o'clock he has to be in the office. No matter what, nine o'clock he has to be in the office. Rabbi Chadoikov is gonna be there checking it out, right? So always the bris were in the morning. So I don't know if it's a gelaganim kap pukht. And he asked me, "Which maimer did you chazer?" I never asked the two Gimmel Tammuz. After Gimmel Tammuz is different. But before Gimmel Tammuz, I never, never asked him this from the Rebbe, not from the Rebbe, whatever. One time he asked me, "Do you ever, you ever heard of a certain sefer?" Every time he would ask me a question like that, I would say, "Yes." "Tell me which one?" "This one?" "Yeah. Give me..." I used to run. If I didn't have it, I used to run, buy it. I used to bring it to him. A couple days later, I got it back. So I have a few svorim that, uh, with these kind of stories. I know exactly what happened to that sefer. So, uh, which

2:46:47 Speaker 1 maimer? So I told him. "Okay." Goes by ich wes another day or two, and he asked me, "Maybe you have a copy of it?" I said, "Sure." I ran home, I brung the copy, and I gave it to him. After that, that was it. I didn't hear from him anything after that. But right after that, I went upstairs to Reb Yayil, Reb Yayil Kahn, who used to make the memorim. And I told Reb Yayil, "I'm gonna tell you a story, and you do with it whatever you want." And I told him the whole story. And I told him, "I think the Rebbe's bris is Chey Nissan, a month from now. I think that if we prepare this maimer for Hagah, I would assume that it, it..." Because I said, "I, I can't tell you if the Rebbe asked, you understand? Aber ich smec az epes tut zich dirtnen." And take it, he made a maimer, and it came out mugge from the Rebbe. Now we have a mugge dike maimer from the Rebbe for, for bris, Ash Yativka. So a lot of people think that the Rebbe told me to learn this maimer. No, absolutely nothing. The Rebbe had nothing to do with it. Uh, uh, I will tell you something which-- But I don't want chasanim to take it very, uh... When... Okay, I'll tell you. I got married, it was on a Sunday night. And those days, Friday night, the Seder was in seven seventy. Maybe it's still today, I'm not sure, that

2:48:11 Speaker 1 a bocher chazert a maimer Reb Dovid asked him, "Should I have a bocher to chazzan zameimer before my, you know, between the meharev?" So I chazzan the meharev for Reb Dovid. I'm one of the meharevim, the