Ep. 47: What We Saw Was Only Half The Story with Rabbi Yosef Gopin

00:00 Speaker 1 I'm gonna tell you, many farbrengens we saw the Rebbe coming in. Two thousand and seven, three farbrengens. And the geschmack was the Rebbe comes from min Hashamayim to who? People like us. The general idea of the farbrengen with us, people felt such a kiruv from the Rebbe to us.

00:28 Speaker 2 This episode is dedicated l'ilui nishmas hashalucha, Hinder Gittel Alta Chaya bas HaRav Hasid Reb Israel, dedicated by her family. In addition, this episode is sponsored by Machne Israel. Stay tuned later in the episode to learn more about the new wedding hall packages provided by Machne Israel. I'm Yossi Kamen. Welcome to Among Chasidim by Der Her, an ongoing farbrengen about life as a Chasid, our vibrant connection with the Rebbe, and inspired living shaped by the way he teaches us each and every day. Good morning, Rabbi Goprin. Shalom aleichem. How are you?

01:12 Speaker 1 Baruch Hashem.

01:14 Speaker 2 Okay, thank you so much for making the time on a busy Erev Shabbos to, uh, have this conversation. Let's talk a little bit about Rabbi Goprin and where Rabbi Goprin came from. Maybe you can tell me a little bit about your parents, where, where they came from, when you were born, the chulu.

01:32 Speaker 1 Okay. First of all, thank you for giving me the opportunity. I think Erev Shabbos is a special time. We can talk better, maybe more this-- the ruach of Shabbos is almost here. Anyway, about me. My name is Yitzchok Goprin from Far Chabad. I was born to my parents, HaRav Yeshayahu Goprin, alav hashalom, and, uh, my mother, Sora Goprin, uh, Mayasdim from Far Chabad. Uh, even the Jewish people where they came from, Mayasdim means the founders of Far Chabad and the founders of many of the Cha- Far Chabad mosdos. And, um, and they were, uh, very, very influential in Far Chabad and made a quite an impact on many of the, the, of the residents of Far Chabad in many ways. They came from Russia. They were born already after the revolution when they're, when the communists were trying to crush Yiddishkeit. Uh, my mother was in a small shtetl called Karlevezh in, uh, Ukraine. In the small shtetl was a little bit easier to, to grow up as Hasidish, uh, kinder because also the, the communists did not, uh, have such a, uh, interest in the small places. And she grew up in a very Hasidish shtetl, a Hasidish, a, a Hasidish, uh, little town and a Hasidish home and a Hasidish big family. It was a big, a big family. My mother's family is the Shapiro family. They lived there in this little town. And she was there for the f- first 18 years of her life, she was in that shtetl called Karlevezh.

03:13 Speaker 1 And then she moved to Leningrad, where she find my father. My father came from Kharkov. Right after the bar mitzvah, the Hasidim in Kharkov, Rav Zalman Sarah Bransky, Rabbi Priskin, Rabbi Mendel Futerfas, at the time told my father and my zeide his place is in Tomchei Temimim. At that time, Tomchei Temimim was not a big yeshiva. It was small branches-

03:40 Speaker 2 He wasn't from the Lubavitcher mashpacha?

03:43 Speaker 1 He was. Well, of course. My, my zeide, sorry, my zeide was a Tomim. My zeide learned Lubavitch. And my elder zeide was a big Hasid, uh, Mendel Mame Yoffa, but, uh, he was, uh, a uncle to all the Lipskers and a zeide to all the Goprins.

04:02 Speaker 2 Hmm.

04:03 Speaker 1 He was a, a big Hasid, Rabbi Mendel Mame Yoffa. Rav Zalman, Rav Zalman Schimondworkin, um, always reminded me that he remembers as a young bocher in Lubavitch the way, uh, my grandf- my great-grandfather, uh, Mendel, Menachem Mendel Mame, Mame Yoffa, used to come for shoshana to the Rebbe Rashab, and bat kias, he was pushing and fighting with the bochurim to have a very good place to listen to Rebbe Rashab kias. And he came to Rebbe Rashab and looked for a choson for his, uh, for, for his daughter, Baila, and, uh, shirra happened, and then they moved to, they lived other places, but the main thing what I wanna talk about is Har- Kharkov. When the elder Hasidim in Kharkov told my zeide, my father, "Your place is not in, in Kharkov, but you have to go Tomchei Temimim." And there was small little groups like cells of, of Yeshivot Ktanos, Yeshivot Delos in different cities, in different parts of Russia. And my father-

05:05 Speaker 2 What year, what years are you talking about, Vlad?

05:07 Speaker 1 Uh, 1932. Tofrish, 1932, '33. And he went to Berdichev. At that time, Rav Shaul Brook, Rav Shaul Brook had a yeshiva in Berdichev with weak mesirus nefesh. My father was there. Then they, they-- It's a whole story where they went from city to city to city, and, uh, the, the, and the, the-- By the end was they came to Georgia, to the city of Kutais. In Kutais was a small group of Chabad families, the Lipskers, the Mankins, uh, the Perlovs, and they hosted the bochurim. And in, in, uh, in, in Georgia, was much easier to have a yeshiva because the, the Sefardim, they were strong believers, and they helped and they supported. And behalal, we know that Stalin Was a little bit afraid from the Georg- from the Georgian Jews, from the Gruziya, Gruzishche, uh, Gruziyani Yidden because he himself was from Gruziya. He's, uh, he was therefore-

06:13 Speaker 3 He didn't wanna stand up at them

06:15 Speaker 1 He didn't wanna stand with them, therefore it was a little bit easier, and after my father's group, other groups came. Till towards the end of the World War II, there was a yeshiva there in Gruziya. My father was a, he was a Hebrew man, and besides being a Bochur in yeshiva, he helped out with the administration to get money, to take-- to find food, to find... And my father's Chaverim were Rabbi Shimon Kaplan, Moshe Angaisinsky, Meshulem Morozov, uh, Rabbi Hillel Pesner, uh, Nissan Pinsan. They were together, this group were together many years together with the Sira Snefesh, of course, that bound them together. Anyway, when it came time to raise money, they had to travel from Gruziya to Leningrad, 'cause at that time, Leningrad was a big center of Chabad Hasidim, and all were good business, business people. My father came. He didn't know anybody, but he was told to go to Reb Peretz Mochkin. Reb Peretz was the elder Hasidim in Leningrad at the time. He organized, he organized, uh, a big fundraiser, and my father, with a big money to travel in those days, a whole week train ride from Leningrad to Gruziya to have thousands of rubles under his belly was very dangerous. And my father had a beard already. He was a, he was a suspect. And then on the train, you have to daven and you have other things to do. My father went once and twice, and one of his trips when he arrived to Leningrad, this story we

07:58 Speaker 1 did not hear from him. My father never spoke. But, uh, Reb Mendel Raskin, Alav Ha-Shalom, from Chabad, Dovid Raskin's brother, two older brothers, Yisroel Ber Raskin, told us the story on my, on my father's shiva. My father arrived one time from, from Gruziya to Leningrad, and he came to the Shul. He saw two Bochurim, la, teenagers, not in yeshiva. My father found out that is, uh, the Raskin boys, Dovid Raskin's two older brothers. My father went to their father, Reb Yankiv Yosef, and he told them, "What are Bochurim doing here? Take to yeshiva." Yeshiva, Tzakonas Nefoshos. My father told him, "No, you must take them," and he worked on him, and he agreed to send the two boys to the yeshiva in Leningrad, in, uh, Gruziya. They told the story to us. They were the first time on a train. They were afraid from everybody. They had this, they, they had some beards growing up, and my father looked like a Hasid, and my father davened on the train, Russian Rabbeinu Tam. And, and one day the, the train stopped for a day. My father went to look for a mikveh, and they were out of their mind. They were afraid, but then they went to the yeshiva and they spent many years. These two boys became Hasidish and Yirei Shamaim in that yeshiva. Okay. My father came back to Gruz- to Leningrad, Tov, Reish, Tzadik, Ches or Tzadik, Tes. Reb Yeini Kahn was, was the Mena'hel from the yeshiva, told him, "We're trying to

09:33 Speaker 1 expand the yeshiva. There's more Lubavitcher kinder." And they want him to travel to Samarkand to see if it's possible to find a place the Bochurim can come there. My father traveled, spent the whole summer, and they're gonna make it happen, and didn't happen right away. My father went, moved-- went back and the war happened.

09:58 Speaker 3 There-- So there was already Lubavitcher Hasidim in Samarkand?

10:00 Speaker 1 There was, there was, there was no, was some, some Bukhari Yidden. That was no Ashkenazi. The only Hasid was there, Reb Simcha Gorodetsky. But the Bochu- was Bukhari Yidden, but they had connection to the Rebbe, to the Frierdiker Rebbe, to the Rebbe Rashab, but they had connection of from Lubav-- to, uh, to Lubavitch from the Shluchim from Rebbe Rashab. And, um, when the war broke out in Leningrad, Tov, Shin, Alef, my father was already married, and they knew the Nazis are c- the Germans are coming closer to Leningrad. And my father decided to travel to Samarkand. And he not only traveled by himself, he made a big campaign in Leningrad to travel. And many Hasidim went to Leningrad because-- to Samarkand because of my father. When we're sitting shiva for my father in Crown Heights, a few ladies, our Mishpacha, came to talk to us, and they're telling a very special Veyter about my father. Was in Sef Ovat Cholas Elul Tov, Shin, Alef. My father arrived to Leningrad to Kharkov on the way to Samarkand, and he told the Hasidim, "Please run away. The Nazis are moving fast." Where to go? Go to Samar- go to Samarkand. Is the Mish- Pinsker Mishpacha there, the Deitsch Mishpacha, the Hitrik Mishpacha, the Korf Mishpacha, all decided to leave. And a very short time after that, Yom Kippur, Tov, Shin, Beis, the Nazis already arrived to Kharkov and they wiped out the Jewish community. And my father was, was, uh, came to, came to Samarkand and was,

11:48 Speaker 1 uh, in German to get Mechol Titlebaum and Yisroel, uh, Yisroel Levin, Shomberg's father, Sara Cheider. And this is a lot of stories there. We'll skip it And my father ran away from Samarkand after the war with all the Hasid-- Be-before everybody went, he went on his own before they'd organized trains called the Shaloms. My father in, uh, in the summer of Tov Shin Vav went, uh, to Lodz, from Lodz to, to Poking.

12:21 Speaker 3 It was the same thing with the forged, the Polish passports.

12:24 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, part of it, yeah, but he wasn't-- he did it by himself, not to a group. My father, my Zayde, my uncle, my two uncles, and my young-- my, my, my, uh, my brother Zalman and my older sister, they were little kids, they came. And when they arrived to Poking, Rebbetzin Chana was there. And she was a very special lady. The way she greeted them, she welcomed them. You know what was it to escape Russia, to come to, to come out of Russia. She was very close to my mother, to my father, and she remembered my sister very well. And my father came to the Rebbe Tov SheYov Veyis. The Seder was the-

13:03 Speaker 3 She remembered them, you're saying later she remembered. Yeah.

13:05 Speaker 1 Tov SheYov Veyis is about sixty years later. My father came to the Rebbe. At that time, the Seder was the Hasidim, the guest giver at this role was a Seder, uh, order, uh, who goes when they go. Rebbe, uh, Moshe, um, Moshe Leib Rochtin organized a Seder for the Orchim to go to visit the Rebbetzin. They went in groups. My father comes in, the Rebbetzin remembered him. And the Rebbetzin asked him, "How's your daughter Razel doing?" 'Cause she remembers when they arrived to Poking, she was not feeling well. She remembered it. That kind of person she was. Anyway, my parents came to Far Chabad, to Paris, Far Chabad, and they started-- My father became the menahal of Tzefer Meloche.

13:56 Speaker 3 When were you born?

13:57 Speaker 1 I was born Tov SheYov Dalet in Far Chabad.

13:59 Speaker 3 Far Chabad. Mm-hmm.

14:01 Speaker 1 And, um, Far Chabad was at the time a small little village with no ele- with no electricity and no gas.

14:09 Speaker 3 So when did, when did your parents arrive to Far Chabad?

14:12 Speaker 1 Tov She. They were from the early, the early families, Tov She Teth.

14:15 Speaker 3 Some Abba Shenefield, the Rebbe established it. They were there.

14:17 Speaker 1 Yeah, they, they, they were the first dashim, and they were very active in settling Far Chabad and, uh, organizing it and making it, uh, Far Chabad as we know it today. And, um, the Rebbe Tov SheYov Dalet started Tzefer Meloche, and the, the Askanim, the menahalim looked for a young man to run it. And they, they, they asked my father to become the menahal, and he worked many years in, in Tzefer Meloche in the great difficult times. There was no money. Was a, was a lot of talmidim. Was no facilities. But my father started from scratch to build Far Chabad together with, uh, the

17:20 Speaker 3 Could you tell me a little bit more about the Hasidim that were there in Far Chabad?

17:25 Speaker 1 There were a lot of Hasidim, but to ex-- give an example, there was a, there was a, there was a I'll give an example of Far Chabad Shabbos after, after the meeting is o- was over. Many Angelaite kept sitting in the corners of the shul, and Jungelite, altere, and where they were sitting and davening berechas. And that's it. The, the tziyur from Shabbos in Far Chabad, who went home? The Balabat went home. The Hasidish didn't. Davening Jungelite, Lachsi Jungelite, the altere Who was the tsadik for Chabad at the time was the Kotzker Shlomo Chaim Volken. Was a lot of elder at Timim, Rabbi Mordechai Meir Geier, was, was a, he was, uh, Geshe Mendal's father. He was a... For example, another one was the Gavriel Kagan, he was a shehechet in Far Chabad. He was, uh, Leib Kalevsky's grandfather. A real Hasid. He davened Marias Shabbos in the old week. There was, there was, there was a Hasidishe ruach. You saw the people are Hasidim, living Hasidism, and they're learning Hasidism. Shabbos, Friday night in shul, there was a big shiur in Kote Tale. Rav Elon was a allerlei gitzait after Mincha to Ma'ariv. Nobody was rushing home to daven Ma'ariv early. It was a shiur. The same thing Shabbos morning. In addition, was chavruses of Yagelait learning Hasidism by themselves. I said the Shabbos morning was, they came to shul Shabbos morning, was a big shiur, and many Hasidim and all chavruses or the other smaller groups was a-- Hasidism was like, that was

19:10 Speaker 1 the life. There was a, the seder, the, the seder of Shabbos, Hasidim and Marias, and then the Kiddushim. And there was a-- Because there, Rav Elmer, richest of Hebron, is a kid, it was a kiddish. Uh, it was not too much far bison there, but it said for hours, and, uh, it's a tugge retzach. People talk to each other and inspired each other. And there was a very... As kids watching it, watching the, the warmkeit, the, the closeness to each other, it was a very... Made a very big impression. Is one of this was a-- For Chabad was a... Then we went as kids, the shi-- For Chabad had only till eighth grade. Then we have to go to Lod for mesivta, for, uh, eighth grade and higher. There was a couple yeshiva, Lod, the yeshiva in Lod was also a wonderful yeshiva in the Pardes at the time. We had wonderful magid shiurim and ma-mashpiim, but then we came to Far Chabad, to the Kotzal. And I wanna say, coming into Far Chabad was a wonderful yeshiva. Was maybe a hundred and fifty to a hundred bochurim maybe there. Was top the end of Tov Shech of Zayin. Elder bochurim, younger bochurim. The zal was packed. Mas dorim, the zal was packed. Everybody sat and learned. Ke- people kept sdorim. Was a shtarke hashgacha, ain't called Kazama shgia. They had good rosh yeshivas, and it was very strong learning. In addition to it, Rabbi Shlomo Chaim was a mashpia. Rabbi Shlomo Chaim had the

20:46 Speaker 1 power to create an atmosphere in yeshiva of Hasidishkeit, of davening, behaving, his kafia. He would speak about it every day. Rabbi Shlomo Chaim made us Tanya shiur every day for the whole zal for forty-five minutes, and they-- Of course, the Tanya shiur, but really was a fabrigen every day, and everybody stayed there. Is if you want or don't want, he created that, the ruach of davening, ruach of, of yirshomayim. It was a very-- It, it was-- The reason that Shlomo Chaim made such an impact, Shlomo Chaim was a very warm rebbe. He was, he was very enthusiastic. He was full of energy. When he spoke, you could see he means it. And beside the point, the, the respect the bochurim had for Shlomo Chaim, because you look at him, what was his seder hayom? He went to the mikveh at 5:30 in the morning, then he went home. He came to the yeshiva at seven in the morning and gave a shiur in Hasidism every morning. Then he stayed with the bochurim when davening. Then he went to his room upstairs every day to one, two o'clock every single day, davening Marias. When you see a man doing it every day, when I came to Far Chabad, he was seventy-two years old and still doing it, you cannot... It's real. Was very real. It was-- And therefore, people listened to him because you know he means it. His fabrigen, shmaka fabrigens and his... And he, and he, and he called bochurim privately. Uh, myself, he

22:32 Speaker 1 called me over many, many times, and he gave me a very hard time. He demanded, he pushed me, I do this and that, and, uh, and that's the way he became close to the bochurim. The bochurim felt the per-

22:48 Speaker 3 He was involved personally in, uh-

22:50 Speaker 1 Personally with many men, with many bochurim. And, uh, he felt a bochur has potential or a bochur has a problem. At the f- at the same time, there were a lot of American bochurim there, English bochurim, but they maybe, uh, they maybe didn't understand exactly what Shlomo Chaim stands for, what Shlomo Chaim is demanding. N-nevertheless, he find a way to call them over, to speak to them on their level. You find today, English bochur, American bochurim, they have tremendous memories of Shlomo Chaim. What they remembered, the fabrigens I'm not sure they got, but he called them over, and he gave them little adrocha on their level. Is I wanna say Far Chabad, the yeshiva, Far Chabad itself was a wonderful place.

23:40 Speaker 3 So you stayed there till, till you went for kutze?

23:44 Speaker 1 Is, uh, I did no kutze. I go before kutze. I went on my own.

23:48 Speaker 3 Before kutze. Okay, so I wanna ask you before that. So obviously, something brought you to go before, to, to go to the Rebbe.

23:54 Speaker 1 No.

23:56 Speaker 3 What was the, um, what was the klal?

23:58 Speaker 1 Okay, is a, let me say, let me, let me say that something else. The klal, we're very far from seven-seventy. Sichas almost did not come. My morim did not come. They came very late. And when they come late, is, uh, this, uh, bish, had to learn something came. Is a, both was a tremendous tzirna by the bochurim to the Rebbe. Was a tzirna. Bochurim were talking about it, especially a bochur came from seven-seventy. The bochurim, the kutze came, is they're telling us stories about the fabrigens, about this, and they wa- about the, what, what was going on-

24:38 Speaker 3 Which kutze?

24:39 Speaker 1 Uh, Tov She'a, Member Tov Shech of Zaim, my brother Zalman's kutze came from the Rebbe. And I could see one thing, the bochurim came back. They were-- Had such a tzirna to go back. You could see in them, they felt they left, they left the mokher khoim. My brother Zalman was a, Shondor Wolf was a good chaver of mine. He was older than me, but he was telling me stories about the fabrigens, about... And they created a tremendous tzirna. Between young, the young bochur Far Chabad, what was the goal? To go to the Rebbe. And the Zalman came the second time from the Rebbe, and there was a bo- was a ultra bocher, two chaverim, the Zalman and Oskar Wolf. They farbring him with us, and it was a very, the good, uh, the Menes Hashpoded. And they pushed me to go to the Rebbe. To go even before, earlier, but I was able to manage, to manage something to go on my own and to be able to stay, to stay there unlimited.

25:48 Speaker 4 How'd you do that?

25:50 Speaker 1 That is, uh, too private to talk about it. And, uh, anyway, I did it. And, uh, but I-- also something else. As children in Far Chabad, used to come Orchim from Seven Seventy. All the Orchim came back from Tishrei. They were telling us about Tisha B'Av, the Rebbe. And ma-ma-- the chutzot melamdim went on the first charter to the Rebbe. In Far Chabad, in Talmud Torah in Far Chabad, was a s- was a, the Talmud Torah was also a dormitory with a lot of outside kids from Tel Aviv, from Bnei Brak, learning Far Chabad Talmud Torah. And, and together was listening to the stories of the ingalite coming back from the Rebbe, describing Tisha B'Av, the Rebbe. Describing as little kids, you have no idea what it did to us. What it did to us, like, it's a mamesh Seven Seventy is in Gan Eden. Mamesh It's a young age, we always wanted to be there. And during the years, Orchim came, told this and told stories, give over, give over, uh, fabringins from the Rebbe. The Rebbe was demanding people come back from the Rebbe to give over the fabringins. And we were listening to them. When the tapes came in from the fabringins, we listened to Rebbe's tapes. It was just unbelievable. To listen to the Rebbe's call, the Rebbe's sichas, the Rebbe's maimar, the Rebbe's, the Rebbe's singing. And always by the big fabringins, the Rebbe's always a sicha for Far Chabad. We always saw that Far Chabad is special by the

27:48 Speaker 1 Rebbe. It was a feeling like this. I wanna go back for a moment in Talmud Torah in Far Chabad. My zayde was the dayyan with Talmud Torah in Far Chabad. He ran for many, many years. And, uh, the Talmud Torah had a dormitory building. When they came to Far Chabad, they found a structure unfinished where the Arabs started. My zayde built a building in Far Chabad, Tov Shin, Yud Aleph, Yud Beis. And made a dormitory there. He and my bobe were running the, the Talmud Torah. My bobe ran the kitchen and the dormitory, and my zayde was the menahal from the cheder. And made hiring teachers and, uh, and, uh, he, he ran the cheder. Anyway, it's Far Chabad when it-- But I'm saying all of it when it has come to a point, Far Chabad is a unbelievable thing. When I came to the Rebbe, Tov-- I walked in, I walked into the Rebbe. Chof, of Tov Shin Chof Tes in middle of the fabringin. Many people ask the question, "What did you feel? What did you feel?" I, I felt nothing. I know what to feel. I know what I see. What I... I know there's the Rebbe, I'm here, finish. That's how I felt. I didn't look for feelings. That didn't matter to me. I know I'm right here by the Rebbe. Baruch Hashem, I came, and now is the time to be here, do what I have to do, to be with the Rebbe, and to tell the fabringins, and to

29:31 Speaker 1 learn the fabringins, and to chazer the fabringins. And Baruch Hashem, a good chaverim from Far Chabad were together with me at the time. Moshe Havlin, Akiva Cohen, Palmen Druk, Moshe Perman. We were together there. They came before me with a few of us chutzot, but together we were fabringing together, chazering together. And it was a very, very, uh... It just didn't matter. One thing I wanna tell you. Far Chabad was a wonderful place. When it come to the Rebbe, Far Chabad, I forgot about it. I became all of a sudden, in compare what's going on here, seeing the Rebbe every day and spending Shabbos with the Rebbe, the fabringins, and the Rebbe's mafteer. Just seeing the Rebbe by Mincha. Just being by regular Mincha. It was a, was a different world. A different world. It's all the g'iluim, all the fabringinis, and all the chassidishkeitin, and all the adroches, and all the ruach, and all the ashpoes what we had in Far Chabad became pale. When we saw the emes from the Rebbe, it's not only the emes from the Rebbe. When just being the Rebbe's fabringins and just being with the Rebbe- The Rebbe was not just talking. It was an absolute, absolute emes. The Rebbe was speaking about is not, uh... We have to, we have to learn, we have to understand, we have to believe. The feeling was that is it. That is it. The way the Rebbe spoke, just the way. And just being with the Rebbe. The feel before Tishrei,

31:23 Speaker 1 came Tishrei, the Rebbe's kippas and the Rebbe's hakafos, that was totally out of the world. Make us look to think, did we have a, a Tishrei before coming to the Rebbe? I remember we Bochurim with Zolker Bochurim after Tishrei a little fabringen. This one Bochurim gets up and said, "How could we even think we had a Tishrei in Far Chabad?" It was not just a... It was a different world. The Rebbe picked up people like us, simple people, Rebbe picked us up and wah, put us into another world. Not only the fabringen, just being with the Rebbe by, by a regular Mincha upstairs in shul. That there was a small crowd, the Rebbe comes in, and the Rebbe at end of davening checked out who is there. He looked around the room very, very quick inspection, and we're trying to hide from the Rebbe, Rebbe shouldn't see me. It was, it was... But just the unbelievable existing, being there, being in that room with the Rebbe, that's... It made it... It made us forget about-- Not just forget, like we felt that he existed before.

32:48 Speaker 4 Yeah.

32:48 Speaker 1 You cannot, you cannot imagine the Rebbe's kippas. You cannot imagine... If somebody can come and tell you, "Yossi, let me describe to you the Rebbe's kippas." He doesn't know he's talking about it. Impossible. Somebody come to describe the Rebbe's hakafos, impossible. You can tell this or that, but there's no way to describe it. I remember in Far Chabad, in Far Chabad Rosh Hashanah, is the Reb Shlomo Cheim with his, uh, group of talmidim davening by riyhoz on Rosh Hashanah was a sad day, wa-wa, and this and Chassidis Bremer, Chassidis Shaden. Kabalos HaMalchus came to the Rebbe, was a, was a different, different Rosh Hashanah, different... Th-this is, uh... I will say it, if-- I will, I will try to say the word the way the Rebbe describes it in my Morim, That was, that, that was happened that day.

33:55 Speaker 4 Felt-

33:55 Speaker 1 That was that-- I didn't-- I don't know what I felt. I felt something totally out of this world. The Rebbe's face, the Rebbe's look. The Rebbe walked in Rosh Hashanah by night, it was seven-seventy, it was a Friday night davening, was a face, a different ponim. A different ponim, a different face. A different face. Bechalal Friday night, bechalal there was a different face by the Rebbe. When the Rebbe walked in Friday night to seven-seventy, it was like we could see the Rebbe's not there. When he walked downstairs, the Rebbe, when he walked from upstairs downstairs something Friday night, the way the Rebbe walked, it was like not here. A regular Friday night it was. Rosh Hashanah was... What it means, I cannot explain to you, but I know the Rebbe was not here, the Rebbe was a different... He was what the Rebbe is, what the Rebbe was, what he really he is. A little story happened Rosh Hashanah night, Tov shel Lamed. It was Friday night, Rosh Hashanah, and the Bochurim like to stay close to the Rebbe, but it feels Rosh Hashanah. And happened to be I was, I was young and aggressive and, and energetic. I stood up in front of the Rebbe, and the Seuda was Rebbe's coming, say Tehillim, and then start Kabbalat Shabbat because Rosh Hashanah. Rebbe start Kabbalat Shabbat, all of a sudden we hear somebody screaming from the Baibbel Schul, from the woman's gallery, somebody's screaming. Somebody's screaming, and then another person. In few seconds, the whole

35:58 Speaker 1 Baibbel Schul was screaming. They stopped the, they stopped the Kabbalat Shabbat, and all the young men ran upstairs, and they stopped the Minyan. And the Rebbe was saying-- At that time there was no Bima yet, Rebbe was staying on the floor. Rebbe was staying on the floor with the, with the, with the, with his face Mizrach. And the Rebbe, after ten minutes or more, the Rebbe turns around, around, "But was daven finished? Why don't you daven?" The screaming and the yelling, Rebbe didn't hear. We davened, Niste peda-- It was, it was near the Chazan. It was-- You, like you could see it. This is-

36:58 Speaker 4 So everything that was described to you in Far Chabad about the Rebbe was much more when you actually experienced it?

37:09 Speaker 1 You can des- you can describe events, but to describe a tziur, a ruach, a feeling, you cannot describe it.

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39:14 Speaker 5 part 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.

39:25 Speaker 1 And you went- I, I wanna say, I wanna say something else to you, another. I remember my first Shabbos with the Rebbe. The Chassidim of Ohr Chaim Elul Tov, Shinchof Tes. It was a very small crowd. Bochurim were still in camp. In the country, it was a very small crowd, but if I bring in, we'll stay very close to the Rebbe. And I remember there was a group of young Gilad, Shluchim on top of Shluchim, Gilad, Chassidishe Gilad, staying next to the Rebbe. My first Shabbos, I saw a tziyyur from Chassidishe Gilad staying by the Rebbe with such a gagoyim to the Rebbe, staying the Rebbe like... It's not just the, um, bidles tzum reb, what they also said, because that's for Purim, from gagoyim to the Rebbe. That made such impression on me. I never heard about it, but the Rebbe spoke about it. I saw Chassidishe Gilad, either Rabbi Isaac Shve, Zelig Katzman, Gershom Mendel, Reb Itche Springer. They were, they were in Gilad lache the time, stay around the Rebbe, that was all sort. Made a big impression. But anyway, let's go to... That's what Rosh Hashanah. Yeah, go ahead.

40:41 Speaker 4 So you, you went, um, you had Yechidus in the-- when you came in the beginning?

40:46 Speaker 1 No, I had Yechidus, uh, in Cheder Shoner. Yechidus in Cheder Shoner. And, uh, it was a very, um... Again, people ask, "What did you feel?" I felt nothing. I came to the Rebbe, and my first Yechidus was a very special Yechidus as a bocher this age, trying to become a sht- a tashlikel mensch. And we feel this opportunity to... But the Rebbe, with me, the Rebbe, Rebbe can... I wrote a, I wrote a letter to the Rebbe at Mitzetel. The Rebbe answered me every line I wrote, every paragraph, every s- every alef, beis, gimel, dalet, even to my seder. And he gave me very, very admirable stuff in there, but like I don't want it to talk about it now.

41:46 Speaker 4 Is there any of it you can-

41:46 Speaker 1 Of a briga.

41:47 Speaker 4 Is there any of it you can share?

41:49 Speaker 1 The, the, but the main thing out of this is, uh, we'll talk about it some other time. I don't want to... But very, very, very good. Very good. That was-- I could see the Rebbe saw a bocher coming in. He does know-- He does not know what's happening with him. Let this-- Let me straight them out. That was the feeling. Interesting, the next year, went to Yechidus. I went to Yechidus every year, my Yoma letters. And different, different questions, different issues. But I wrote something, I wrote something in Mitzetel, something I wrote the year before. Now, the Rebbe starts the Yechidus by ans- answering me. It did not go according to my s- order, to my seder. There was like a sikhe, a inyan, and all the c- all the questions were answered in that inyan. And Rebbe-- Rebbe's called, Rebbe finished. Then Rebbe's, Rebbe tells me, "You wrote this and this. We spoke to you about it last year."

43:07 Speaker 4 You didn't remember?

43:09 Speaker 1 I should remember. The Rebbe, the Rebbe answered me everything. But I wanted to-- I needed some other And the Rebbe told me, we spoke about it last year.

43:18 Speaker 4 Oh.

43:19 Speaker 1 And the Rebbe could tell me, you remember, you remember I talked to you, yes? No, the Rebbe said no. The Rebbe repeated not only the same idea, not only the same words, the same meaning. I was thinking the Rebbe put a tape on from last year. You know what year was when the Rebbe died from, from, uh, from, uh, to . There was one of the most stormy years by the Rebbe. the ceasefire in Suez Canal, Russians, Russian demonstrations, was a very, very stormy year by the Rebbe. Rebbe take this... That year, Rebbe took the whole world into his hands. Rebbe was challenging the whole world. The and was not only to the, to, to the, to the Israel government, to the . And not only to the to the, to the Zionist, uh, religion, to the they were, they were attacking everybody that year. Because that year was... And how many people came to him? A young bachur comes in, Rebbe doesn't forget it. But I felt at the time it's not that Rebbe loves me and cares for us. I realized a Yechidus is not a meeting. The Rebbe is a . And it's, the Rebbe totally involved in it. It's totally . You're coming into the Rebbe, the Rebbe not give you an answer, and give you an answer. Oh, Rebbe spoke last year about, look at, look, see it here and there. No. Rebbe didn't take a chance. I could see the Yechidus is... It's something doesn't exist anywhere, it cannot

45:21 Speaker 1 exist. Something a totally different world. When a, when a person come to Yechidus to the Rebbe, the Rebbe is like . What you ask to the Rebbe, Rebbe took it, Rebbe took it into himself and it was there forever. That was my feeling.

45:41 Speaker 4 Okay. Thank you for sharing that.

45:44 Speaker 1 And there was a, and there was a, a, I never really... I tell you something, I want to just say, Yossi, I didn't share this with, for many years with nobody. Lately, I became more confident in myself, I share it. But I didn't because it was something... And, and it was a very, very, and I just thought about, may I tell you? my father came for Tishrei here, and we see my father in a sukkah, a couple of yelait bachur farbrengen. And farbrengen given. And I shared this story with my father. What my father tells me, "I'm not impressed. The Rebbe is a, Rebbe is a gut zikhron. A person, a gut zikhron, a person depends what, a person depends on zikhron. Ooh, a gut zikhron. The Rebbe's Yechidus is not a zikhron. It's the Rebbe, a different world." My father gave me a lesson that night about this.

46:45 Speaker 4 What's the lesson?

46:47 Speaker 1 And we saw a lot of things by Yechidus. This is... A lot of things we saw the way the Rebbe answered you, what he answered you, what he didn't answer you. When you walked in Yechidus you could not hide from the Rebbe anything. By the Rebbe you couldn't pretend. He knew what to answer you. He knew what you need, and he knew what you really mean, or you wrote something just for .

47:23 Speaker 4 How do you know what to write? You spoke to Mashpia about it?

47:29 Speaker 1 What's, what's right?

47:30 Speaker 4 What to write in the letter.

47:33 Speaker 1 Uh, unfortunately, I didn't speak to Mashpia. I wrote, I wrote what things on my chest. I wrote thing what I struggle with. I wrote things I feel I needed. I need help in it. And the Rebbe, by Yechidus was a different approach, and sometimes the Rebbe added to your previous year. Added. And suddenly was like, one time he added something totally different. What he didn't even ask, but the Rebbe knew you should ask. He gave me sometimes something about something I didn't ask bachlal. Why I didn't ask? Because I didn't feel a shaiches to it. I, I, I asked him what I feel I need, what I'm struggling with, I'm dealing with. But to, to ask one time Rebbe told me, didn't even ask for it. And, uh, I felt like Rebbe's like, "Okay, you didn't ask me, but you should do it." Bachlal, I saw many time the Yechidus. Rebbe's approach to us was not what we think we are, what we are capable. He talked to us way he thinks we are capable. Things we can really do. Rebbe did not rely on us what we think, what I can or cannot. A few times he told me a certain thing what... And we, we saw by Yechidus, but the Rebbe's is, uh, bachlal, I wanted to say by Yechidus, the Rebbe's farbrengens, it's not exis- It was such a geshmakhe farbrengens, yes. But that was not the whole thing, the farbrengen geshmakhe. The Rebbe walked into farbrengen sometimes, was you see it's

49:43 Speaker 1 coming from, from . You could see it's coming from different place. Rabbi Simpson told a story. And Rabbi, uh, Rabbi Eliyahu Simpson, he was, uh, he was the head of, head of the Vaad from, uh, for Moshiach. He was, he was going to the Rebbe Yechidus a few times to begin what to do, what not to do, how to do. And the Rebbe made him a list who he's gonna honor, but how to raise him. If you watch or you listen to the tape, he was in Gansen Sotumult. The Rebbe kept correcting him. When he called the people, he was... And people were surprised, Rebbe. Rebbe, uh, the Reshime, the list, what, what happened to him? He told, he told the Zeine Klach. This. He walked into the Rebbe's room to pick up the Sefer Torah to bring him downstairs. He walked into the Sefer Torah. The Rebbe was going behind him with a box. The Kesser. He told the Zeine Klach, "If you know what happened in the Rebbe's room before he came downstairs, you would, you would not be surprised I was on Sotumult." I'm gonna tell you, many Fabreges, we saw the Rebbe coming in to seven seventy Fabreges. And the Gishmag was the Rebbe comes Amin HaShomayim to who? To people like us. In general idea with Fabregit, as people felt a such a Kiru from the Rebbe to us. Give an example, my first Shabbos with the Rebbe was Shabbos Re'ei Tovshin Choftez, Shabbos Shabbos Mevorchim, a Fabrege. The next

52:06 Speaker 1 Shabbos, Shabbos Sheftim, a surprise Fabrege. I was looking at what's going on in seven seventy every day after people are the Fabrege, surprise Fabrege. Everybody, Anoshim, the excitement was unbelievable. The Posheid of Borchim, the Tzelish of Borchim, who was there? A Fabrege, a surprise Fabrege. What was it? A Fabrege means the Rebbe's coming down to us. Everybody felt it. The special Gishmak I remember was on the Gishmak with the Rebbe's Rashi Sichas. Was very interesting. Gishmak is Sichas. That was not the Gishmak. The Rebbe spoke this, this Sichas before the Maimer, Tifei, Yonim, Chiddis, whatever. The, the Maimer, Rashi, the, by Rashi's Sichas was the feeling we are Melamed is teaching little children. He spoke our language. And we explained the Rashi, we asked the Rashi, and we, if, if he, he tried to answer this way and that way, in the language of the Rebbe, the Rebbe's Tziur was like a Melamed mit Kinder. Azak, Azak Varemkait, Azak closeness. People wait for the Rashi for that reason. The closeness from the Rebbe to us. You could see people with their, they're gonna Chidas, so they koch the Rashi Sichas with the... And that's what Gishmak in the Rashi Sichas. It's not what's the Gishmak in Sichas. The feeling was Rebbe's Fabrege suddenly sit with the hand like this, a Melamed mit Kinder. The hand as a, was a different kind of, a different Tziur. With the Chumash, Rebbe was with his finger, the Rashi's of those and the Poshes of those, was a Melamed

54:08 Speaker 1 mit Kinder. A Maimer, the Rebbe says it, the Rebbe is not Shomayim, not the Maimer. But the Rashi Sichas, that was the Gishmak. Because we all knew the Rebbe's... When he counted the Fabrege, he came from a different place altogether. And that was the, listen, I had a friend, a Polish hos who became a Lubavitcher. I told him, I was in seven seventy, five years of Borchim. Five years, you were not a little bit bored? Listen, he told, Rebbe, this was such a Gishmak be there. Such a, the Fabreges. Mechlal just be with the Rebbe Mechlal, you see what? We couldn't get enough of it. Nobody thought to, to, to go, to travel somewhere to... It didn't exist. It was just a... And that was the Fabreges when Rebbe was, was... Of course, I wanted... A kop is a separate story, and, and, and, and, and, uh, and a kis is... In Yonim LeGamre, I will tell a little story, you'll see.

55:22 Speaker 6 You may be aware that having a simcha and celebrating an engagement of a loved one is a very, very happy occasion. At the same time, can be a very stressful time. The exorbitant amounts and costs that are involved with making a wedding in today's day and age really can take a very big toll on the chassan's parents, on the kallah's parents, and all around create tremendous, tremendous stress. Something needs to be done. When the Rebbe started Kirna Chamish, one of the components and one of the needs that the Rebbe was addressing was specifically hachnasas kallah. In fact, over the years and in recent years, Kirna Chamish has given out Subsidies help and aid to those in need making a wedding. But the time has come to do something drastically different and to make a real, real impact. In the last few months, Keren HaChamesh has launched a brand new wedding package where someone can make a full Crown Heights wedding for under thirty thousand dollars. That is a savings of thirty to fifty percent for an average family on the wedding costs. This is something that is right in line with the mandate that the Rebbe gave Keren HaChamesh when he founded it to help with thechnas hakalah, and this is something that will help everyone in the community and will hopefully bring relief and the ability to celebrate simchas in the proper way without financial stress or worry. To learn more information, you can log on to hall.kerenchamesh.org. That's hall, H-A-L-L, .kerenchamesh, K-E-R-E-N-H-A-C-H-O-M-E-S-H.org. I

57:23 Speaker 6 was on a plane not long ago towards Israel, and across the aisle, I can see this of the Rosh Yeshiva, and I could see the, the Litvisher Rebbe, a little bit of the, a little bit of bitterer Geizer. We're sitting, we look at each other. He looks at me, I look at him. Shalom Aleichem, vi heystu? He told me his name. His name. I asked him, "You are, you are from this, this yeshiva, yes?" One of my cousins was teaching in your yeshiva. Oh, which of your cousins? It's your cousin. I know him. I know his father and... It's a losher. Rabbi Mandel from Yeshiva Brooklyn was a Telzer, a Telzer Talmud. And my cousin, Berel Shapira, was teaching there many years. And he tells me, that's your yeshiva. The Rebbe told him to stay in my yeshiva, not to go away. I told Rebbe, "Prove this yeshiva, G-d." We keep saying, we start talking, a long ride, long flight. And I, I, I told him about, about his Rosh Yeshiva, about gift. We talked about a lot of things we talked. I told, "You people make decisions about the Rebbe, nothing with the Rebbe's." No, we know there's a big goy, and we know it. There are big goy in the Rebbe. I want to say, I want a few points in this. He's much older than me. I ask him, "Do you remember the Six Day War?" Of course, I remember it. "Do you remember the pachad Am Yisrael had two weeks before

59:04 Speaker 6 the war?" Of course, I remember. What happened like Beamer a week before the war in seventy-seven day? The Rebbe got up in front of thousand people, thousand Jews, like Beamer parade, and he spoke with such a klorkeit and such a bit tochen that the, the matzah in Eretz Yisrael is gonna be, not to be afraid, it's gonna be good matzah. That matzah will bring Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael to a higher place than ever. A week later, we saw it happening. When the Rebbe, the Rebbe spoke to Am Yisrael, Rebbe spoke, I told him. It's not the Rebbe. The Rebbe screamed. He could see the Rebbe felt the pain of Am Yisrael, the worry, and the Rebbe, the Rebbe, the Rebbe was screaming. And I told him, "Don't believe me? There's a video from it." Then, then I told him like this: "You remember me, Yehudi?" Of course. Tuv shel Olam, the Rebbe started. Tuv shel Olam was in, in America, many me Roshi Yeshivas, many Rebbes, big Rebbes, and many Roshi Yeshivas, and many Rabbonim, and many Askonim. Here, the Rebbe saw a situation endangering Am Yisrael. The Rebbe was a voice in a desert. Kol Yisrael ba Midbar. Alone. Where, where the whole world. Oh, my yeshiva, my yeshiva, my, my, my Hasidim. For who, the Rebbe worried? For the whole world, and it didn't stop for years and years and years. And not you, you guy-- I told you guys not only didn't help, some of you guys were interrupting, interfering, and

1:01:03 Speaker 6 sabotaging the Rebbe's effort. There was a Klal Yisrael lead. Then he asked me, "The Rebbe never came to these, to the-- The Rebbe never came to the Hasidim for the daily Yisrael." I said, "Why should the Rebbe go there? Tell me one reason. What's happening in the Is-- in this, in this Hasidim? What's good for us, for our... The Rebbe, the Rebbe is not asking us. The Rebbe is Klal Yisrael. The Rebbe won't waste his time with you people about the yeshivas, how to get more money from Washington." There was never... Do you know? There was also, also there, there, there I wanna tell him, "Rosh Yeshiva, I wanna describe to you the Rebbe's kiyus." You know the Rebbe from his lamdus. You know the Rebbe from his, uh, okef and the Rebbe's haskonus. I wanted to describe the Rebbe's kiyus to you. I describe it to the best of my ability. He became so bottled, so... If you would be the Rebbe's kiyus, I told him, you would be the Rebbe's kiyus chossid.

1:02:19 Speaker 1 We departed best friends. The deal was I'm gonna s-- when I come to Ameri-- back to America, we're gonna meet, this and that, but never happened. I didn't have time, and he is... I don't know. I'm not sure he's alive or not. He's, um... And Rebbe, that is a few months ago, important to know. I have a friend in Crown Heights, a, a successful businessman, very quiet, younger man. And he-- One time I come, uh, I met him in Crown Heights, he wants to talk to me. One of his friends is one of the big, uh, personalities in the frum world in Brooklyn. A very known guy, but influential person. A Hasidish, a little Yeshivish, uh, but, but a man with a big lot of respect. And he had certain questions about the Rebbe. I'm not here for Hasidim today, but the Rebbe does-- The Rebbe's not... There's no other thing aside the Rebbe. I didn't want to touch the word Mashiach, but, uh, I could see that where it's coming. That's my friend. He, he knows about your Chever, very serious people. Where it's coming, the Rebbe is... We didn't look at the Rebbe. Okay, I know there is a big tzaddik. There is a, a tzaddik Gomorron, Talmid meisters, but I'll, I'll... But those, the, the Rebbe is absolute. Wh-what's going on here? I told my Chever, "I'm not gonna answer you now. I'll write you something." Send it-

1:04:04 Speaker 6 Your, your friend was coming to you with... What, what say to him?

1:04:08 Speaker 1 What say to him? I wrote him s... I wrote down a whole letter. I send it to him. Still give one. And I told him like this, very simple thing. And it's important to know where we coming from, Hasidim coming from. He's growing up in Chabad, growing up Klal with the Rebbe. Rebbe is Rebbe's my Morim fabregens. But the Rebbe's caring for Klal Yisroel, our lemon. We saw him, I, I'm looking for a child in Chabad. The Reshet, Tzcha, Puulas, making big Puulas, Simchas Tehillah, to invite more. The Rebbe carefully go to the Merbo Road, go everywhere to help him, and Rebbe was pushing him. And there was other people pushing for their, for their community. Rebbe was for Klal Yisroel, and the Hasidim in, in the Hasidim Klal saw the Rebbe. The Rebbe is for them. Not just his, uh, with, with serious Nefesh. What's happening in Australia, Rebbe Morocco, in Tunisia, in Paris, in London. And they're hiding stuff in Russia. In those days, we all knew the Rebbe's connections in Russia. And with this absolute serious stuff. It's not just, you know, I have money, I have a good mind, I can give ideas, I'm a good marketing, I can do this. Absolute serious Nefesh for all the time. The Has- the Hasidim saw him. What did they saw? Never been anything like it. That is a Nekuda for Mashiach. Mashiach Hashem is a Mashiach care for everybody. Didn't exist ever in history of the world, of history of the Jewish people.

1:06:05 Speaker 1 This of, this, this kind of Barnem and Ibergem guide for Mesires Nefesh. Not just, "Let's do it. It's a good thing to do. Why not?" There are people doing a lot of good things. You see, how long it's going? Fine. You see when Ashveri guide, forget about it. Rebbe did not stop to do more and more and more and more, send Schluchim and building and building where it's coming. This is a Shliach Mashiach Hashem. As we young age, growing up around the Rebbe, with the Rebbe, what do we s- what do we, we, we see besides seeing Rebbe's Kedusha, Rebbe's Hilika, Rebbe's Lamdas, Rebbe's my Morim? What way Rebbe looked at Klal Yisroel. And way the Rebbe demanded from his Schluchim to be like him. Get out with Mesires Nefesh. There was no money available. There was nothing available. Rebbe had money to spend, to send. The Rebbe gave money to Schluchim. But that feeling of absolute Ibergem guide with Mesires Nefesh for Klal Yisroel, first of all, that itself inspired a generation and still inspiring generations of people to go out on Shlichus. As-- Are you wondering why Sh- why Sh- why Hasidim look at the Rebbe's Mashiach Hashem? That we grew up in it. It's that we grew up in it. That what we saw.

1:07:47 Speaker 6 Reality.

1:07:48 Speaker 1 Reality. When the, the Rebbe's every letter, sending letters, fabregin, sending Schluchim, pushing in every opportunity. Again, example, my daughter, my sister, she's a m- nine years older than me. She was a young girl in Chabad. In Chabad was no high school for girls at that time. It was two options: A moderate school in Tel Aviv, high school for girls, or a Best Yakov school in Jerusalem, in a dormitory in Jerusalem A letter came from the Rebbe to send kids to the dormitory in Yerushalayim. Bet Yaakov. Talk about Tof Shin Tes Zain, Tof Shin Tes Vav or even earlier. Chabad Yerushalayim was like, in those days, like Yerushalayim in New York today. Different world. Far away. The conditions of Bet Yaakov dormitory and my sister was a rushing young little girl with a mother, you know. My father, they were gays, nothing gained. For some reason, they didn't. My sister, when the Rebbe heard she's going, I saw the letter. The Rebbe wrote a letter to my father and to her. And then the Rebbe writes in his letter to her, "There's a girl from Holland there. A girl moved from Holland in Bet Yaakov. Please be mekarev here and be mechazek here." Every opportunity, a little girl. And I'm sure you saw the... Huh? That would be in Merchlichus. Yes, a little girl is going to seminary in Bet-- about 14, 15-year-old girl going to seminary in Bet Yaakov, Yerushalayim. There's another girl from Holland there. Please, I'm a mekarev her. Be mekarev her. Every

1:09:56 Speaker 1 opportunity, the Rebbe saw the world, everybody. When I came to Hartford of Shlichas, I davened a small little shtiebel here. It doesn't exist anymore. Shtiebel for the Holocaust survivors. I came to Shul on Shabbos. I see a guy with a shtreimel. A Yerushalimer guy. He sees me. He runs over to me. A Tabatsky, a Lubavitcher? My name. I did not go up in. He told me my name. What's his? My name is Yosel Sheinberger. Yosel Sheinberger was one of the fiercest of the Edah HaChareidis. He was the maskil of Edah HaChareidis. And that was a known name. I think it was a brother-in-law from Amram Bloi, I think, if I'm not mistaken. He was a fedder to the Herzl family. Okay. We became very friendly Shabbos. What was he doing? He was coming to make the balabos there, Rosh HaBalabos. There's a gvir, but a Yiddishe zeit geschmacke mensch. He wanted to spend Shabbos with him. This he tells me. So this is Zain? Ich tu gar nisht on the Rebbe. The gefichidis, he was mir tut als mit the Rebbe. And he didn't tell it to me. He had to impress me. He's an older guy, but a young guy. I came, I was 25 years old. He was an older, known guy. But I say that he said it. Edah HaChareidis, they did things. They trusted the Rebbe. You know why they trusted the Rebbe? The Rebbe cared for them too. Years later, I'm coming into a yeshiva in West Hartford, and I

1:12:17 Speaker 1 see a Yerushalmi, Yerushalmi, he looked like a peyes. I don't know what he's doing there. Mishpocha, perhaps, the reason was. He sees me, comes over to me. Tabatsky, I told my name. He already knew my name. He knew my mishpocha, mishpocha. My brother Zalman's wife was mishpocha with him. He tells me, "Let's go outside for a walk." He said, "I'm a Yerushalmi from the Schlesenberg, Schlesenberg, Schlesenberg, from a Yerushalmi mishpocha. I was a chevra man, and I want to go to business." He's a group of older Yerushalmi, Edah HaChareidis, and others asked me to become an asken, to help mishpochas, all kind of things. He said, "We need a person like you." And I accepted it. And I did tremendous things, still doing. I used to go to the Rebbe. The Rebbe guided me, every little thing. I love the Rebbe, Zochter Mir, and he start crying. He was crying. I love it. I miss the Rebbe. I hope to live the Rebbe. I hope all the Rebbe. Then he tells me, "You know what happened a few days ago? Somebody brought me a tape from the Rebbe saying Shlichas, HaSor Betev, Estofshin, of A." The guy was crying to his subtitles. He was crying. Older Yerushalmi to see the Rebbe saying Shlichas like this. The point I want to bring out here, the Rebbe's reach, not the Rebbe's reach, the Rebbe's commitment, dedication to Am Yisrael was to everybody. We don't see it anywhere. The Rebbe, we don't see it in the childhoods like

1:14:17 Speaker 1 this. People cannot do it. It's not a natural thing. It's not human. People, I like this one, like that one. The including and the being part of everybody. The Tzenatkin, the Tzenatkin, the Tzenat something, what is it? And that Hashpoeh is going on forever and ever. You think where it's coming? Where it's coming, the Rav and Yungleit going on Shlichas. We have to go on Shlichas. Um v'chalal to go on Shlichas. To go on Shlichas, what I meant to Shlichas was almost didn't make any sense. To come to community, nobody wants you, nobody knows you, nobody cares for you. And not only those one, people say, "Get out, get the hell out of here. Who needs you here?" And we went, we didn't care what people think about us. We had no money. We had nothing. I think it was-- We are such a . That is the Rebbe. The Rebbe gave us the Emunah, the . "Gay, don't worry. Gay." Huh? What? It's not us with we are the to be on that level. I met a chaver of mine those days, he tells me, "You know what?" And suicidally tells me, "To go a place, no money with no language."

1:16:06 Speaker 7 He told you then?

1:16:07 Speaker 1 That time.

1:16:08 Speaker 7 You just speak English.

1:16:10 Speaker 1 I went as... I spoke enough to, to get money what I needed. Anyway, the point I'm saying to you, that tsugaing, the to go places like this, you think it's coming from Hashem? Are ba-- Are we are ? And that's it, the idea of Roy Israel, the maamer Rebbe gave us of . The Rebbe could have the maamer is Roy Israel. Rebbe gave it to us two weeks before order, and that's, that is the-- that's a maamer for after order. The maamer is not to tell us, "Hey, there used to be a Roy Israel, Moshe Rabbeinu, Mordechai, the Rebbe, Russia." They give us a maamer for now, the future. What's mean Roy Israel? Roy Emunah? Emunah? The Emunah what the have to go on Shlichus is coming from the Rebbe.

1:17:24 Speaker 7 One of the integral components of being a Hasid are the and Yom Ha'Ephagrah. Whether it's Heh Teves, Yahr Shvat, the Alef Nissan or Gimmel Tammuz. These days give us an opportunity to connect with our Rabbeim, to connect with each other and be better Hasidim. What is the story behind each of these days? How did the Rebbe commemorate and celebrate these days? And most importantly, what are the lessons, the takeaways, and the action items, needed for each of these days? All of this and much, much more are answered in the new set recently published by Der Her. Our Days is a journey through the Chabad calendar in story, meaning, and practice. With over seven hundred beautiful glossy pages with elevated content, beautiful, beautiful photographs, you, your family, and friends will enjoy and live with each . This book is a must for every Lubavitcher home, for every shul, for every school. It is a perfect gift item. This will not collect dust. It will be used day after day, month after month, year after year. You can have this set. Go to derher.org/ourdays. Order your set today and start living like . Okay, Shekhath, uh, for, uh, I don't know what you call it, or the, the . You call it . I wanna, I wanna ask you a little bit, uh, just to backtrack a little bit about your personal experience. So I know that the, the Lameds, you already mentioned briefly, after Lamed, there was a lot happening, the Yehudi and the, the protests

1:19:24 Speaker 7 in Russia, Lamed to Lamed Alef. Um, what would you say are notable-- You already mentioned the Kabbalas, uh, the Kabbalas . Um, w-what are other notable events or that transpired in the-- your years in seventy-seven that you would wanna talk about?

1:19:53 Speaker 1 First of all, Moshiach Sefer Torah was, uh, it was so big, we really did not know how to interpret it. What's going on here? There is one, one thing I can tell you. The Olam saw it as something out of this world. But the Rebbe too, Mesira Sefer-- Meshiach Sefer Torah, Messiah. S-selling the let-- selling, uh... People should buy letters. And then the Fabringen Erev Shabbos, one-third Erev Shabbos in Shvat, the Fabringen and Sefer Torah was a big excitement building up to it. Thursday night, the Sh-- The, uh, the, the came from Eretz Yisrael, a whole plane came from Eretz Yisrael. Rav Shlomo Chaim came, my Zayde came. Old and young Hasidim. It was a big, big group came for, for, for, uh, for Yahr Shvat. The Rebbe did not go home and waited till the comes. When the came, the Rebbe called in Simpson and told him to announce that tomorrow one-third will be the Simpson Sefer Torah, and it's going to Fabringen You have no idea what happened in seventy-seventy. Abba Ari was upstairs at time. The, the Tzerai was the, the-- to hear his words, to him seeing the, so Azak, so Azak sort is pilots, Azak sort i-instructions. Then the Rebbe said, uh, they called in the Askonim from Australia where they were in the Pirsum was Sefer Torah. It was a frame wall, Danchig, small heifer, Anoah Glitzenstein, and Shlomo Chaim. They went to the Rebbe, they gave him, uh, the, the, the, the Rebbe, all the simas and, uh,

1:21:49 Speaker 1 what the Rebbe special, the, the Tikitis. But, uh, if the Rebbe walked into Farbrengen again, as I described to you before, the Rebbe's face Rosh Hashanah, the Rebbe's face walking into this to the, to, to the Beis Midrash, to Farbrengen with a box. The Rebbe's face was... Never saw anything like it. When the Rebbe sat down and started sikering the Yamho special, the, the instructions from the Rebbe, the Rebbe's voice, it was, it was such a, s-such a instructions. I mean, so, it was so emotional, the Rebbe. Just listen to the tape, the way he's saying it. And then the Ax-Axon Sim Sefer Torah. And I think one of the biggest Nissi was in seventy... The biggest Nissi in seventy-seventy was that people remained standing on their places. There were so many warnings before that, warning, "People should not move. People should not stay in one place." And people didn't move. People stayed in the place, the whole thing. It was a very... It was a, so the, the Sim Sefer Torah about it was a lot of but, um, people know about it, it's nothing what I can add. Interesting happened. Motzei Shabbos, at Farbrengen Erev Shabbos, Shabbos one-thirty, with the Rashashiver. And the, the big Fabri, we would say Shabbos. Rebbe done Mariv that time downstairs, the Chilush Mariv downstairs, and the Rebbe went upstairs. I was still staying there. A short of the Mariv, the Rebbe comes in with ano-another Sefer Torah. The Rebbe come down from his room with a Sefer

1:23:53 Speaker 1 Torah, put it in the, put it in the, in the room, in the and went upstairs. What was it? From where was the Sefer Torah? It was not discussed. No discussion about it, nothing. A similar two thing happened. I remember Erev Shabbos Sichas, upstairs. We're staying upstairs waiting for Erev Shabbos, staying upstairs. All of a sudden, I see Benyamin Gorodetsky is coming, and I see the Pincus family is coming, all the Shia Pincus is coming, and I see his, uh, sister-in-law from Tunisia is coming, and I feel something happening. Something going on. Dovid Raskin is showing up. "Get away. Nobody should stay here." And he said, "Everybody go downstairs." We're downstairs. All of a sudden, I see on the, on the there, Yehuda Glinski is staying with a camera. And all of a sudden, the Rebbe comes up with a Sefer Torah, put it on Kadesh, and we get up and Mincha. By the Omed was a Yemant called at the time Dovid Fisher. He was a oval. He was staying by the Omed to Davel Mincha. The Rebbe, Rebbe turns around and he said, "Shia Pincus should have Mincha." And the Rebbe yelled out, "Dovid, !" Then we find out it's a Sefer Torah brought from Tunisia to the Rebbe.

1:25:49 Speaker 8 Tunis. Yeah. I, I-- It was, uh, the, the first article in Der Herald that I personally worked on was, uh, we had a thing describing a picture. So I found, we found it. It's a, it's a picture that's around. And, uh, but there was two-- Uh, I spoke to people that knew. They says, "Either it's Tach Shalamit or it's this thing with Tunis," and I had to figure out which one it was. I was able to figure it out 'cause I saw this, and you could see the clock in the picture, so you can see what time it is.

1:26:17 Speaker 1 It was four, five, five o'clock?

1:26:18 Speaker 8 Yeah. So based on that, I don't remember the time, but based on the Yemantim, I was able to figure out it can't be Motzai Shabbos. It must be the-- from Tunis.

1:26:24 Speaker 1 Was it, I do-- It was four Mincha, F-Shabbos afternoon. I was there, and then this is, um...

1:26:33 Speaker 8 Mm-hmm.

1:26:34 Speaker 1 Now, but a big thing was that is, uh, you know, Yuchvat said the... A lot of this spoke about it, Yuchvat. It was, uh... Pirushim, I'm not gonna give you. I can't what I saw. It was a, a big Elom, big Elom for Nashim. It's the first time a big Elom came, but people didn't come. The Rebbe many years came. It was a big, uh... It was the-- For that time, it was the biggest, uh, gathering for Hasidim.

1:27:07 Speaker 8 They had asked him- -to make for this big Fabrengen, so the Chaim assembly and it was all-

1:27:11 Speaker 1 That, that, okay. That, that's it. You wanna hear about this? At that time, there was a, Shlomo Chaim was there and Reb Nissan was there. Reb Shlomo Chaim farbracht, Bochum and Shlomo Chaim farbringen. He farbringen the whole night till six in the morning. Shlomo Chaim not to farbringen. And but, uh, to make it... To himself, some people a little nervous, is they put next to him Leibl, Leibl Raskin and, uh, Achmed Sudak. Sitting next to Shlomo Chaim and with his talmidim. Farbracht ganz a nacht.

1:27:51 Speaker 8 Rabbi, Rabbi, Rabbi Abrams son he was sending to Rosen. Yossel Abrams.

1:27:58 Speaker 1 I can't remember. I can't remember it. I didn't pay attention. Maybe I said this. The packed, packed zal. And Ben Cher, Rabbi Tzvi Shemtov, was sitting across our table the whole night, giving vorting his roch. Listen, that week, that week, every night since the Rebbe Farbringen such instructions, so many Chassidim, that Farbracht and Farbracht, the zal was packed twenty-four hours. The Gishmak, Rebbe Zussert, Rebbe Zussert, the zal was such a special time, like out of this world. Lamed Beis, Lamed Beis, I was a little bit older.

1:28:49 Speaker 8 Now listen.

1:28:50 Speaker 1 A little bit after Lamed Beis, I was older already. I was more, I was almost many more years since I was seventy. And, uh, it was a, it was a biggest tzedakah before that. People took of Chassidus and this and that. It was a very, building up, there was a very, the whole, uh, from Yutshvat till, uh, you know, all these people were doing things and things. So it, so it was a big, uh, the Farbringen events when, uh... And I wanna say something. That Farbringen, Kiruv Farbringens, Gishmak Farbringens, Tifer Sikhes. It was like when the Rebbe, they say, "Scabrus," the Rebbe, they say, "Scabrus." Biurim doch Biurim. The Rebbe walking in the Farbringen was a different, a different, uh, look. The Rebbe's face was, it was a malchusdik. Zussert. That's a different look of the Rebbe. And Farbracht like the Zussert, Zussert. Such a power. The Gishmak at Tifer Sikhes. Somebody from the Chassidim comes to me and he asked me if I was there. I said, "Of course I was there." What was the feeling? It's a feeling the Rebbe Misgalus. The face of the Rebbe was glowing, the Rebbe. Sikhes, Zussert, Sikhes doch Sikhes. But, but, but, but the day and the Rebbe Shazai Isarus, it feels the Rebbe, the Rebbe should, it feels the Rebbe should be... The face was You missed the whole point.

1:30:47 Speaker 8 This was then?

1:30:47 Speaker 1 The Rebbe should be... Yeah, no, no, a few years ago.

1:30:50 Speaker 8 Mm-hmm.

1:30:50 Speaker 1 Now he have a big Chassidim.

1:30:51 Speaker 8 So what's he saying that I what?

1:30:54 Speaker 1 The Rebbe comes Ogeron. Like I made the other point. We was Bochum. That's what we wanted. We want to see Rebbe's Malchus. Nobody needed the Rebbe. Nobody was looking for... We looked the Rebbe Misgalusin, the Malchusin, the Tifartein. There was so Rebbe, so Rebbe. The way Farbracht with Girev, the ganzindus Rebbe Zussert, the way Rebbe looked like. Was, uh, we didn't, we feel not comfortable the Rebbe to come. He was, Rebbe was. That was the Gishmak in a nacht. Is, we didn't look for, we didn't look for, uh, Zvent. Rebbe walked into this Farbringen, the Rebbe, it's like the Rebbe just got melech, the Rebbe. So beautiful, so Gishmak, and so... It's an amazing event. The Sikhes doch Sikhe. Of course, the, the the Nigunim, the Hasid was given. Similar thing we just tell you. Purim Lamed Aleph. The Rebbe came to Farbringen a few minutes late. Listen to the tape. Rebbe came in five minutes late. And the Rebbe gave the reason why he came late. Kidron, he said the, "We sent shluchim to the Sass Canal, and we, we were waiting for them to come back to hear a report." And then when the Rebbe said, "Amokey be, Amokey be Yocheid." And the Rebbe didn't, the Rebbe did not cry, but the Rebbe's voice was breaking down. But the kids in that Farbringen, from the beginning, there was, um, many key instructions, the Rebbe. Sikhe doch Sikhe, the ganz ain. Gishmak Sikhes, Tifer Sikhes, the Gishmak Meimar. After the seventh Sikhe. Heske Sadening.

1:33:19 Speaker 1 The niggy was going on almost an hour. I never saw anything like it. The tape, listen to the tape, the tape could not handle the noise. And the Rebbe didn't stop emitting this full cup to everybody. Zelig slowly walked over to the Rebbe to say l'chaim. For forty-five minutes, an hour was unreasonable. I never saw anything not before, not after. Was going on, and the person from bomb cake said, "On gin," there was We sat in the corner there, the right corner. And Rebbe Bentche was there, Rebbe Elshemte was there. was there. Berel and Bentche to Itche Spri, Itche Itche, Itche got up, a big cup of wine. Rebbe prayer, a cup of wine. That kind of feeling was that night there. So, so clear.

1:35:17 Speaker 8 Let me ask you, um, you mentioned that in those years the Rebbe started speaking about all of these. I guess that's when it really started the Rebbe talking about the in the world. What, what-- How did you... Can you elaborate on what it meant for the to, to hear all the sichas?

1:35:48 Speaker 1 The Rebbe spoke the sichas, most of them were out, out of pain. We saw the Rebbe's pain. The Rebbe's care for Klal Yisroel. Years later, I was going with a-- I was walking with a Alter Rebbe Hasid. It was the time We're walking, and he asked me a question. "What do you question? What was the sichas? What do you ?" Is like you ask again the answer I gave you just now. The Rebbe's pain. The Rebbe's We saw that the Rebbe to care for a Yid is not from, from the Rashi sichas or from the Maimar or from this sichas or other. To what Gzem HaRav, this also hemsha for the Rashi, hemsha for the... And many of the sichas the Rebbe spoke about Mi Yehudi usually what came-- the Rebbe spoke the, the, the, the of Zeyar. The Mazbir, the Rebbe was Mazbir a Zeyar, a of Zeyar. And many, many times in this Zeyars was Zeyar talk about the and that led into the sicha of Mi Yehudi. This was a hemsha. But the Rebbe, we saw care for Klal Yisroel is Zeyar, is Rashi, is Maimar in hemsha. They can find it in Yorum. How can Mi Yehudi can I go to sleep right now? Let me lie down. Rebbe will see all that we're doing. Rebbe's expression, this and that. That's my answer to you.

1:38:18 Speaker 8 All right. I can see that, uh, especially the place where the Rebbe always discusses these in none of the first two sichas. It's in the Yeah, it's when the Rebbe knows it. Um, and also those years, you were by the Suddas upstairs, the Suddas also.

1:38:40 Speaker 1 Uh, in the Suddas I was for the last, the last Seder Tov Shelam with the Rebbe. If not the last Seder, Purim Tov Shelam-- uh, Pesach Tov Shelam Ed, nobody's going to the Seder. 'Cause Tov Shelam upstairs was a sicha for the Rebbe, bachurim should not come to the Seder. My first Pesach with the Rebbe, we're sitting in the Faratsto building on Kingston Avenue. The Rebbe came to the bachurim, and the Rebbe goes back to his mikvah. He said, "I will sit with another, another chaver." The Rebbe's mikvah stayed the next door, and I'm sitting here. Me and my chaver decided to mikvah quickly. We sneaked out, we came there. The door was locked.

1:39:25 Speaker 8 Who was your chaver?

1:39:26 Speaker 1 Huh?

1:39:27 Speaker 8 Who was your chaver?

1:39:29 Speaker 1 Moshe Perman. From Caracas. Is a... We came up there upstairs, door is locked. Particular person is going, going from upstairs downstairs, "Get, get away from here. It's not for you." We stay there, and another bachur came, and he, uh, came stay with us, Fiche Vilinkin. Same three of us there. All of a sudden, the previous Rebbe's, uh, nurse, Maniac, is going from upstairs downstairs, from third floor to the second floor. There's a key. "Kindalach, come to line." ." We came in, we're afraid to get in. We stay by the door. But we're afraid the Rebbe will see us. We stay by the door, watching for the door, watching the door to the, to the door to the, to the header of the, of the service.

1:40:31 Speaker 9 Dining room.

1:40:32 Speaker 1 Dining room. But little by little, got courage. We got closer. Every so Rebbe Seder, to tell you the truth, it was my first time there, by the Rebbe Seder. I was more, uh, focused on, on the whole Seder and the Rebbe itself, not so much on-

1:40:58 Speaker 9 How is-

1:40:59 Speaker 1 I mean, how you-- I didn't-- The, the, uh... Look at the Rebbe, so there was more, uh, Rebbe said, "I got, uh, this and that." I didn't look at the, the Kisaseim exactly just so the Rebbe-- For the Kisaseim, I didn't look. I look at the Rebbe, but, uh, but just being the Rebbe Seder, the Rebbe stay there, there was diff-- It was, it was the first night, and it was very quiet the whole night. Very, very quiet. Actually, it was like to himself. And, uh, by the end of the Seder, the Rebbe, we did, did, did-- He calls it the Kos in the bottle, bottle for the Kos. Nobody knows what, I didn't know what Rebbe was doing there. And the Rebbe walked out with the Nigun, rosy station. Towards the end of the Seder, more people came or Bochurim came, and the Rebbe walked out. The Rebbe's structures, walking out from the Seder to his room was like Simchat Torah. Most of the Bochurim staying downstairs in the great data. And the Rebbe was going down the steps. It was, uh, so she's-- Maybe we could see the Rebbe's coming out to Mitzrayim. It's amazing.

1:42:20 Speaker 9 Mm-hmm. Okay. So you were in seven seven, you said for five years?

1:42:27 Speaker 1 Yeah.

1:42:27 Speaker 9 So what happened by your, by your Shidduch? Anything, uh, the shift from that?

1:42:33 Speaker 1 We got engaged. Engagement And, uh, my wife was at the time at a seminary in, um, in, uh, Paris. Chabad seminary for girls. We came to the-- We came, uh, Yechidus after we got engaged. We told the Rebbe we wanna get married before Pesach and come back after Pesach here to go to the Kollel and start the next year to look a job for teaching. And Rebbe told us, "No." To, to make the, to make the wedding in Tammuz. To finish the Shana. My wife should finish the school year in Paris, make the wedding in Tammuz. for Y"D base Tammuz. before or after, but for the Zman Tammuz. Then Rebbe tells me-- tells us, "If you finish in Tammuz, make the Chassanah in Elul." In those days, the Rebbe was pushing, make the Chassanah as soon as possible.

1:43:57 Speaker 9 Shorter, yeah. The, the Rebbe always want to make it shorter, yeah.

1:44:01 Speaker 1 Tammuz. Engagement at Tammuz. Elul. But we saw later on, so if the Chassanah was in Elul-- We, we got married in Tammuz. Tammuz. The Chassanah was in Elul, a lot of things would be different. The Rebbe saw things, what's gonna happen.

1:44:36 Speaker 9 Mm-hmm. You can't share what that is.

1:44:43 Speaker 1 Anyway, I was in Kollel. It was a time Shluchim started to grow. And Shluchim came to offer Shluchim in Kollel. Nobody approached me. Nobody came to me. And I speak English, and I'm, uh, I need experience. getting o-- getting offers. I get no offer. I wa-- I was not worried. I got some offers, but, uh, Yisroel there is a Chaver of mine, and he just started out in, in, uh, in, uh, Amherst. He needed help.

1:45:18 Speaker 9 This is Lamed He.

1:45:20 Speaker 1 Lamed He. Summer Lamed He. And Zalman Deitch, alav hashalom, was, uh, very involved with Yisroel at the time to build Amherst. And Zalman was a good friend of mine. Zalman, and Zalman told Yisroel I'm the right person. And, and I'm, and I'm very grateful to Yisroel giving me the opportunity to go on Shlichas. And Shlichas, I, I told Yisroel that, um, I cannot see myself all my life working with students in Amherst. And I wanted to, after a couple years of s-help you to be established, I'll move to Hartford That, that was the agreement. There was the Rebbe's... And then what happened? When Rebbe-

1:46:11 Speaker 9 So this is the chatzil. This is the chatzil

1:46:13 Speaker 1 ... Yeah, the chatzil.

1:46:15 Speaker 9 You wrote this to the Rebbe, this whole thing?

1:46:16 Speaker 1 I wrote Rebbe about it. Things also Rebbe arranged other things that, uh, Rebbe had, had advised to go to Australia. Rebbe-- Rebbe was Australia or Amherst. Rebbe told me to go to a place that according to their estimation, they'll be more successful. Went to Amherst, and I think I loved it very much with the students, but I know it's not I... And I came to Hartford and, uh, I mean, the rest is history.

1:47:03 Speaker 9 Were there hechalot from the Rebbe that you got in your sifris in, uh, in Hartford?

1:47:13 Speaker 1 It was not personal stuff, but it was because always, uh... One I-- One what I know, I can tell you one thing. I realized how much the Rebbe appreciate you write a doch to the Rebbe. I wrote doch to Rebbe very, very often and as detailed as possible. And the time when I wrote of- very often and very detailed, I got more response from the Rebbe. And the Rebbe answered me most of-- often so many doch Rebbe said he's kabbalah the tach as mangrome, but constantly answers. But that was another thing with the shailas the Rebbe had answered, but this is not, uh... Maybe bafabrigi one time we'll speak about it.

1:48:16 Speaker 9 Mm-hmm. Okay. So what, what, uh, when-- I understand that coming to Hartford then and today, there's a big difference in the influence of the, of Chabad in, in the city. So how would you describe in, in, in a few paragraphs what has happened from when you came till now?

1:48:41 Speaker 1 When I came to Hartford, that was the first full beard in Hartford. Nobody knew what Chabad is all about it. Nobody cared about Chabad. Nobody liked Chabad. Even the Orthodox community was not welcoming, the least I can say. And the establishment was trying to do whatever they can to send me back to New York. The question was asked: "Who sent you here? Why did you come here?" I told them: "Thank God they didn't ask you to come here. The Rebbe sent me. The Rebbe's shliach. Shliach from the Rebbe." There was a lot of resentment and there were very difficult times in the beginning. Of course, there was no money. It was, it was very difficult to be in a community, to feel the community is hostile. The establishment and there were other movements, other institutions, the more progressive looked at me as a enemy to them. But I didn't care. This was very-- I didn't, I didn't... I, I know that's the shlichus, that's all. What I said, we did and we did and we did. We did shiurim, we did the camp, and we did the campus. We, we kept doing puras after puras. And with time, people realized that, uh, it's nothing. There was no magic here. Pushya Tom puras. And the, the, the Rebbe's mitzvoim and especially about mitzvoim to make, to make, uh, I mean, with the Purim, to make a big Purim, uh, uh, to make example, we had in the earliest when a Purim, I could do it with

1:50:35 Speaker 1 the Chabad, a small, tiny Purim. I decided as of Motzei Shabbos Purim, I rent a hall, a big hall in the Orthodox synagogue, a big hall I rented, and I announced it's gonna be a royal Purim party with a band, free refreshments, home edition, salads. At that time, five hundred people came, the first Purim. And we did year after year, and we kind of came big events. And we-- I think we did things, we did things I-- today I look back, how did I have the courage to do that? We brought down TD Bank Hall of a Hanukkah event. Over two thousand people showed up. We made event after event, and we kept... And, um, of course, uh, little, little by little, people start to think differently about Chabad. The original, uh, the original, the original establishment, thank God, of-- most of them are really passed away, but it was-- there's some remnants left. But I didn't pay attention to them. They, they don't like it? Too bad. I didn't go to them. I didn't bother them. And listen, we had, we had, we had Nissim and the Fluores after 11 years in Hartford We made a Chanukah surprise of, of a most modern fancy building in the heart of the community. I wanna tell you, I look back, where I got the idea even to have the c-courage to, to phone them? Thank God, we had your shi-uh, Abba Labov's Davy Chase.

1:52:40 Speaker 9 He lives in Hartford.

1:52:41 Speaker 1 He will... He lives in Hartford. He was very, very helpful to, mamish helpful to us. And I wanna just tell you one thing about Davy Chase, was a big supporter of Rabbi Herschenson. Rabbi Herschenson educated him, and he made him a from the Rebbe. Rabbi Herschenson made him a from the Rebbe. It was the Rebbe-- We built a Chabad house and, uh, today in our area we have, we have today 12 Chabad houses around us. And I tell you, see, I'm telling you one thing, it's like that little story happened to me. And there was an organization at the time, was organizing called the Seed Program. They did it here in Hartford one year, two years, and then it start to fade, fade away. The head guy came from New York to make a, to make a A meeting with the rabbis, all the older rabbis here, how we can save it? Is I asked the head of New York guy, he was a Litvisher guy, "Tell me what is the outcome of this program after it?" And he tells me, "Unfortunately, not too much." He asked me, "Do you have any idea?" I tell him, "Yeah. If you learn them Tanya and Hasides, it'll inspire them." There were four older rabbis in town. One of them was Yitzchak Avigdor, older rabbi, a local survivor, and he gets up, say, "Rabbi Gop, you shouldn't speak because your success is not you, it's your Rebbe." It's the Rebbe's he tells me. In front of everybody, he's--

1:55:04 Speaker 1 and that was, that what he saw. That's the Rebbe's. I wanna finish with one point about, uh, was a very stormier in the, in the aspect of the Rebbe's has began the tanks, Mitzvah Tanks. Made a very big storm in New York. A storm in New York, of course, positive, and a kitrug. But the Rebbe, the Rebbe knew the tanks is a different a different style from a The the tank was a different world, a different And the Rebbe knew what's gonna be the reaction. But the Rebbe is the Rebbe. Full force tank and the Rebbe was it was... Of course that, that caused the article, particular rabbi to write a very negative article about it. And the Rebbe came out very strong against that article. A few weeks later was a situation that the Israeli leader, let's not mention names, please, was in Israel, in Manhattan, at a very special fundraiser, a private site for the Mizrachi party. When a particular person was asked, he said, "In Europe, we fought the Hofets Chaim, and now we're gonna fight the Lubavitcher Rebbe." Was, I was in Gimnazo already. I see this around, and, uh, I see a particular guy, he was the treasurer of the Mizrachi party. He was at that event. He was very close to the Rebbe. It was by Mincha, and the Rebbe called him in. It was a long time with the Rebbe. The next day or two, front head-headline, front head-- for the front page headline-

1:57:53 Speaker 9 In Algemeiner.

1:57:55 Speaker 1 Algemeiner, about this, what the guy said. Front, the front page headline. And we know the Rebbe told him to do it. They're writing, I know Rebbe told him to do it. I know about it. At the time I know about it Is now everyone was Mi Yahudi. The article, the article in, uh, Forverts about this guy was became on the, uh, a . And the Rebbe, at that time, the of the Rebbe. But was a, was a very, was a very, uh, serious time in '77. People didn't feel it, but we know about it. It was side effects of the thing also. Some people did stupid things. We know it's a tough time in Lubavitch. Rebbe addressed it . I know it's a tough time. We know. But that farbrengen was a farbrengen. Sicha after sicha. And then in the middle of farbrengen, shluchim, meizters came to the Rebbe with and with gifts. A gift to the Rebbe. The was the Rebbe was sitting there via Melech. That was such . And the, like the , the Ming Gornisht. And balabos after balabos came to the Rebbe. Uh, shliach after shliach with dos, and there was everybody. It was 45 minutes to an hour. I was sitting there and push it see the Rebbe. The Rebbe . Like there was going around the Rebbe... It doesn't matter. To the Rebbe, nothing matters. The farbrengen. By the end of the farbrengen, the very famous video, Uforatsru. Rebbe dancing Uforatsru was . We could see the Rebbe

2:00:26 Speaker 1 knows what's going on in the world. Uforatsru, Gornisht. And Rebbe was dancing. Look, watch the, it's a video. Rebbe was dancing. There's a video of the whole farbrengen. It was a it was. One of the sichas of the farbrengen a was a lot of people came to the Rebbe's. Rabbonim, dignitaries came. Mayors and senators came. At the time, the yachas, the relation with Israel and America was very tense. Very tense. That the big disagreement about the Israelis pulling out of parts of the Suez Canal. President Ford was pressuring Israel to move far away. Israel didn't want to go, and they said, "No more weapons." Made embargo. But that farbrengen was a guy named Joseph, Yosef Cahner. He was the head of the security of the defense delegation in-

2:01:29 Speaker 9 Cahner?

2:01:31 Speaker 1 Cahner. He very close to the Rebbe. In middle of farbrengen, he walks over to the Rebbe. "The Rebbe, look who's behind you. Congress people, senators. We are in trouble with America. Please say a few words about Israel." The Rebbe said a sicha about the moral obligation for America to support Israel. Beautiful sicha. A tiny country in a sea of, of, uh, goyim with, uh, a jungle. The only democratic, democratic country is Israel. They share the same values, same principles. Beautiful sicha. The next day we were standing outside Merkaz Yaarecheinu, a couple of block with your light. We see Nissim Mindel walks out from the Rebbe's room and turns to us. Does anybody has a copy of this sicha? So it typed. Say yes. Can I get it? With a went upstairs, brought it to him. He translated to English, and that sicha entered the congressional record, and that sicha made a big impact in Washington. Yossi, I wanna thank you for giving the opportunity that if Shabbos, is a long time, and God shall help, there should be no more interviews. The Rebbe should come back to take us out of galus and, uh, and bring the geulah shleimah . We cannot do it anymore. And you'll see when the Rebbe come back how many people will be there waiting for the Rebbe and embracing the whole Rebbe's galus. Millions of Jews will reading today the Rebbe's galus. Let's hope and let's pray it's gonna happen . Good Shabbos and .

2:03:36 Speaker 9 Amen.