Ep. 62: Look For A Shidduch and Go On Shlichus with Rabbi Tzvi Grunblatt

00:00 Speaker 1 We didn't send you to make the calculations of the economic policy of the country. Your job is Your job is spreading Yiddishkeit and spreading the mayones with confidence in the Aibishter. Surely people will ask you what you think about the future. You should say you're not a prophet, but you-- your job is to spread Yiddishkeit and the mayones with Emunah b'Hashem. This was that.

00:49 Speaker 2 I'm Yossi Kamen. Welcome to Among Chasidim by Der Her, an ongoing fabrengen 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. Shalom Aleichem, Rabbi Grunblatt. How are you?

01:08 Speaker 1 Baruch Hashem. Aleichem Shalom. Okay. Thank you very much. So, um, looking forward to this conversation, and I would like to begin, um, you are the shliach and the head shliach in, uh, Argentina, uh, but you're also from there. So maybe you could give me a little bit of the background of how, uh, your family, I guess, got to Argentina, where they come from, and, uh, we'll start a little bit with your upbringing, and we'll, we'll, we'll go from there. Okay. You know that the Yom Huledet of a Chasid is the day he came to Lubavitch, that we have to start from there. But since you are, uh, asking from another point of view, is, uh, my parents, Aleichem Shalom, they both Holocaust survivors. Uh, my father from Hungary came after the war in תש"ז, forty-seven, and, uh, my mother came from, from Berlin, nineteen forty to Uruguay. Um, both Baruch Hashem, they went through-- Uh, they didn't go the atrocities they went through, but they went through the, the whole hardships, et cetera. My mother, when she came, she was fifteen years old. In the ship were two hundred Jews, and only two families kept kosher. One of them was their family. And people were telling them, "This is finished already. What you doing?" And they were strong. They couldn't get a job in Uruguay without working Shabbos. But my grandmother said, "The Aibishter saved our lives, not we should live as non-Jews. We definitely were going to get Parnassa." A week later, they got

03:17 Speaker 1 Parnassa. My father was in a labor camp, not concentration camp, through the war, and, uh, he had a, a Chasidishe upbringing. My, my, my-- From my s- mother's side was a Yekishe upbringing, but the frumer Yekishe upbr- upbringing from the Adas Yisroel Gemeinde in Berlin. The, the Rebbe davened there in Berlin in the shul that I, I imagine that my grandfather davened there and my mother davened there because it was just two blocks from where my mother lived in Berlin, and they were part of the Adas Yisroel. And, uh, by the way, also the Rebbe came to America with the Rebetzin תש"ז together with my great uncle in the same ship.

04:14 Speaker 2 They both did.

04:15 Speaker 1 Yes. And they, they had-- They talked a lot, behulo behulo with the Rebetzin Hannah. They told me that the Rebbe was in his, in the room-

04:24 Speaker 2 Rebbe Saim HaMishka?

04:26 Speaker 1 No, the Rebetzin Hannah.

04:28 Speaker 2 Oh, oh, oh, you mean, you mean when, when the Rebbe came תש"ז? Okay.

04:31 Speaker 1 Yeah, תש"ז, yeah. Rebetzin Hannah was talking with them, and the Rebbe was closed in his room the whole time. He didn't come out. He was in the room the whole time on the travel there. Behulo efen, uh, my father had a Chasidishe upbringing, uh, not Chabad. They knew about Chabad and Hungarian one. They were not specifically Chasidim from a definitely Rebbe. They were Chasidim from all tzadikim. And, uh... But my grandfather, he, on the first Seder of Pesach after getting married, he made the Seder in half an hour and ran away to be by his Rebbe's Seder. Mean that he had, he had the, the Lachluchis, the, the Nekudot, you know? And, uh, my father was in yeshiva also before the war, and, uh, and during the war-

05:41 Speaker 2 In Hungary?

05:42 Speaker 1 In Hungary, yes. And during the war is, uh, there was the, the Jews were under Hungarian, uh, control doing the, the military. My father had to do military service and under the Hungarians, but the Hungarian were under the Germans And they had to work and build and do things, trenches, w- um, uh, ways, uh, highways for, for, for the German, uh, army. And, uh, they were under the Germans and under German system. And, uh, my father, Baruch Hashem, never lost one day of putting on Tefillin all over the war and not later. Even half a year, he was running from one place to the other, never lost one day of putting on Tefillin. And he even had a, a Pesach Seder there under the noses-- the nose of the commander of the Hungarian com-- of the, of the, of the German commander. They gave him reshuz. He got a package of two kilos matzohs from his father, and they gave him reshuz to make a Seder. And this was, this is a nice history, that the reason why he-- they-- the commander gave him reshuz because it-- this was like a s- a military, uh, system and they-- my, my grandfather could send letters to him, and he could send letters back. And the censorship saw that my grandfather wrote to my father, "My distinguished, honorable, very capable son," et cetera, et cetera. My father answered him, "I'm not honorable. I'm not distinguished. I don't even... I'm not-- I'm just your son." And, uh, looks

07:33 Speaker 1 like this was noitze chein. The, the commander told clearly my father this was noitze chein by him. He spared us. That's why he gave him reshuz to make the, the Seder there. My father also built a sukkah there u- underground. Under the ground, he built a sukkah. He told me how he davened Yom Kippur there, v'chulei v'chule. Uh, but after the war, uh, my father came to Argentina and, uh, he came with payos even to Argentina. And, um, he was always, uh, Baruch Hashem, he was always Frum, and he always had the Chassidishe general Hungarian nekuda in a, in a, in a specific way of, uh, of, uh, being mehader in mitzvahs, v'chulei v'chule. This is the-- this is about my m- let's say, basically my grandparents. Um, my f- my, m- m- myself, I was raised by them, Baruch Hashem. Um-

08:39 Speaker 3 That was, uh, your parents?

08:41 Speaker 1 This was my parents. Yes, yes, yeah.

08:43 Speaker 3 Okay.

08:43 Speaker 1 Parents and my grandparents, yes. I can say more, but I don't think this is interesting here for this note.

08:49 Speaker 3 Okay.

08:49 Speaker 1 Uh, this is not the point of the note. And, um, when I was a sm-- uh, uh, young, again, I was, uh, by the Yekke She Kehillah, my father was the president of the Yekke She Kehillah in Belgrano of Rabbi Oppenheimer, alav hashalom, for seven years. He was the president, but he never was a Yekke. He never raised us as Yekkes, never raised us in the minhogim of Yekkes. All-- He raised us on the min-- Chassidishe minhogim, Nusach Sefard, the hand matzah for the seudah in Pesach, uh, going to mikveh. My father used to go to mikveh every day, had a shiur Gemara six-thirty in the morning. And, uh, in my house, we heard always, uh, Chassidishe sipurim, not Chabad. Really, I have to say that I never heard about Chabad and about Tanya, about the Alter Rebbe before I came to Rabbi Baumgarten. This was when I was already twelve, thirteen years old. Never heard. But yeah, in my house, yes, we heard about Reb Elimelech, Reb Zusya, the, the Baal Shem. The M- the Mezritcher Maggid also we didn't hear. No. The Cheze, Kadishah Levi. My father used to look into all these books Friday night by the table. Kadishah Levi, Noam Elimelech, all these books. This was the books, the Rahamim Hakodesh, v'chule. And, um, that means that I had the nekuda of, of Emunais Tzadikim. By us, the Tzadikim were the Chassidishe Rebbeim. I never heard really about other kind of Gedolei Yisroel. Never heard. Yes, the Chasam Sofer I heard,

10:37 Speaker 1 Rabbi Akiva Eiger I heard. When I studied in yeshiva with Rabbi Baumgarten, sure, I heard the Rishonim, Acharonim. But, uh, in my house, let's say the, the, the, the Tzadikim, the Tzadikim always were from the, from the Chassidishe, from the Chassidishe, let's say, camp, camp. Even though my father told me that in his house in Hunga- Hungary, they had a Tanya. They made a Yonsef when it was the geulah of the Friediker Rebbe after it Beis Tammuz was a big simcha. They made a special Seudah.

11:15 Speaker 3 Yeah.

11:16 Speaker 1 They said tehillim when the Friediker Rebbe was in jail, and, uh, my grandfather studied Alter Rebbe Shulchan Aruch. But, uh, I heard all this only after I came to Chabad, not before. And my father even didn't know what is Primis Atara. I als-- When I came to yeshiva, I would write Primis Atara. Yeah, my fa- father asked me, "What's Primis Atara?" It's the Atara. What's Primis Atara? Chitzinis Atara. He didn't underst- he didn't understand the difference. But by the time my father became a Lubavitcher, full, full-fledged, let's say full-fledged-

11:51 Speaker 3 After, so after you did?

11:53 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah. After we came to yeshiva, yeah. Um, and he, he started giving shiur Chassidus in yeshiva He, he, he taught Tanya to baal teshuvahs, se- 17-year-old, 18-year-old in yeshiva, and he was so happy about it that he had to go through heart surgery, and he was so happy. It made him so, so healthy, given the sheer that the surgery was postponed for a few years.

12:30 Speaker 2 Hmm.

12:30 Speaker 1 When he had through the surgery years later, he got an infection. He passed away from the, from the surgery. The, uh, bepel, that means the, the, the highest was God in the Tanya, the doses. And another thing I can tell you that my parents used to invite all these people for the Seder. People, they don't make a Seder, they should come. Family, they should come to see the Seder, to teach them the Seder, to see the Seder. And I remember in one conversation, they were speaking about, uh, Frum people, not Frum people, and my father said on the conversation, "Kol hachayot, the Lubavitcher know how to speak to non-Frum people." This I heard a word as kol hachayot, not specially said. Okay, and, um, I, uh, at-- When I was 12, I really went to yeshiva called Chofetz Chaim, and, uh, we studied in yeshiva Chofetz Chaim one year with a Litvisher Maggid shiur. Next year came Rabbi Baumgarten, alav hashalom. He was our Rosh Yeshiva.

13:41 Speaker 2 Can you, uh, tell me about Rabbi Baumgarten?

13:44 Speaker 1 Huh?

13:45 Speaker 2 Can you tell me about-

13:45 Speaker 1 I became there at... No, no, I, I, I knew him-

13:48 Speaker 2 One second

13:49 Speaker 1 ... from far because I didn't leave Rabbi Baumgarten with the-

13:52 Speaker 2 Can you tell me about him? Can you, uh-

13:54 Speaker 1 Ah.

13:55 Speaker 2 Tell me about, yeah

13:56 Speaker 1 Sure. Sure, sure, sure, sure. Uh, he, he-- When he became the Rosh Yeshiva there in the Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim, they ga- they put him a condition he cannot teach Hasidus and cannot make Lubavitch propaganda. This was the condition. He didn't wanna go into the job, but he asked the Rebbe, and the Rebbe told him, "You take the job." And he, without making any propaganda and without teaching Hasidus, he made Hasidim. Like the Rebbe told him on Yechidus once, "You don't have to put my name. People see you, they see me. You don't have to put..." Yeah. And, uh, this was the reality. We saw it. W- I knew other Orthodox Frum, ehrliche Rabbonim, but I saw a difference. There was a difference between them and Rabbi Baumgarten. It was a, it was some kind of a difference. Uh, even the way he davened, the... Even the, the way he davened, I remember that I could see that when he would davened, without any external, um, uh, attitudes and a conduct, I see-- I saw his face how he was connected. I saw he was in his-- I saw he was connected in his mind, in his... I saw him connected. I saw him connected. Besides this, when he used to daven, he used to daven, he used to daven with a, with a great, with hearts. He used to cry sometime. Uh, I remember Erev Yom Kippur, we went out from the mikveh, went to daven Mincha. He went to the Amud. He couldn't say

15:42 Speaker 1 the words of Chazarat Hashatz. He was so moved Erev Yom Kippur by the davening, crying, he couldn't say the words. And he was a Mamesh, a Yid of Mesirat Nefesh, Mamesh for Mekayem his Mitzvot. Mesirat Nefesh. He built-- He lived on the fifth floor, really sixth floor in America, the sixth floor, and he didn't have a porch and didn't have a, a patio, a chutzar for a sukkah. He built a sukkah on the air on the sixth floor. He had a Baal Teshuvah called Engineer Polichenko, that he wasn't an engineer already for years. And he took him, and the engineer make, took two eisens, uh, irons, uh, poles going out, and he make a small floor, a sukkah like the shiur of zeid chaf tfachim by zeid tefachim, a shiur rosh ivri v'rubo mishulchan lei as a sukkah. He should have a sukkah. Next year, he already had a bigger sukkah that he had three people to be able to have orchim. I had the zchus to eat in his sukkah there on the sixth floor. The-- Really, you were trembling when you're going out, but he made sure that he was everything, uh, everything okay. And, uh, we saw he was a mehadel Pesach the way, uh, he didn't drink the water from the, from, from, from, from the, from the kitchen. He brought bote- water from outside the city, from a, from a bor, from a well, from a bor, from a mayim for, for Pesach to drink. He... This is what we

17:30 Speaker 1 saw him. He was a special Yirashamai Yid betachlis, betachlis. But we saw in him he was so devoted with students, totally devoted to the students and to the family, to the students. Even we saw how he was devoted to the porter, the, the, the doorman, the doorman of the yeshiva because we, we moved to another building and, uh, they moved out the bui- to another building. It wasn't the Chabad yeshivas yet. It was a Rabbi Baumgarten's. He was the Rosh Yeshiva. It was Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim in the building of... called Granzin Ish- And we had a picture of Reb Israel Zalman Melzer, Melzer there on the wall. Thi-this is the yeshiva where Rabbi Baumgarten taught. And, um, but the doorman used to shave with a, with a sakin, with a knife.

18:25 Speaker 3 Razor.

18:25 Speaker 1 With a, ah? With a razor.

18:27 Speaker 3 Razor.

18:27 Speaker 1 With a razor. Rabbi Baumgarten w-daged to give him a matanah, a shaving, kosher shaving machine. He shouldn't be raised with, with this. But he, he daged for every student. He used to br-bring bananas for us. We should have what to eat. He used to buy the ball, the ball, the plastic ball for, for, for the recess. He used to buy it for us. He was totally devoted. And came shavuos, came shavuos, uh, we were, we were 14 years old, and, uh, we were not living in the same shchuna, but we wanted to be shavuos by Rabbi Baumgarten to be s- learning with him the whole night, et cetera, et cetera. He, he put, uh, mattresses in his house on the floor, on the floors of all the rooms full with mattresses, with bochrim sleeping in his house to be with him. He was, he was sick with, uh, he, uh, with, in his feet, and he couldn't walk, but he-- What did he do? He brought the whole kita, the whole kita to his house. He was lying on the bed with a big Gemara on the bed, all the bochrim around the bed, and he gave the shiur there from the bed. This was... And then also he used to travel to the Rebbe and he used to write, uh, uh, uh, bako- ba-brochos for us, and, uh, he used to have, uh, the Rebbe's picture in his house. And, uh, I saw, the first time I saw a big library of Sifrei Chassidus,

20:15 Speaker 1 I never saw so much, so many Sifrei Chassidus. I saw it, saw it in, saw it in his house. And, uh, he was really... He, he, he not just had a influence on us. He had a influence on the Yiras Shamayim of the city. He brought in the concept of whole of Yisroel in the, in the Shemirat Shabbos Kehillah, in the Frum Kehillah in Buenos Aires then. He had a big haslo- a big haspa'ad. He was part of the kashrus, uh, vaad, the Vaad Hakashrus of the city of... But, but wasn't from official city, but he... For three, three Rabbonim there, three different Ra- three different Rabbonim, the-- He was the Chabadnik, and he was very well-respected because he was a Yirei Asei Sefer, he was a Talmid Chaham, and he was a real Yirash Shamayim. And people, uh, had-- I'm, I'm talking the Haredi Shl Elom had a lot of confidence on, on, on his psakim and on his halachas. This is, uh-

21:20 Speaker 3 He, he-

21:20 Speaker 1 Yeah

21:20 Speaker 3 ... he didn't, he didn't speak to you about the Rebbe, about Lubavitch, about Chassidus. He didn't speak about it.

21:25 Speaker 1 No, no. Almost no, no. I never, I never learnt Tanya, not one word Tanya before I came to, to New York, to, to yeshiva. Never. Uh, first time I learned a sicha, first time I learned a sicha was with Mr., uh, Sandhaus, alav hashalom. Zvi Elimelech Sandhaus, alav hashalom. He was a Lubavitcher Chassid, a full-fledged Lubavitcher Chassid because Rabbi Baumgarten had the minhag that when a bocher traveled to yeshiva to New York, the whole yeshiva used to go to the airport, and it was like an hour travel to the airport with a, with a, with, with a, with a city bus. We went with the city bus a whole hour, but the whole yeshiva went. He w- he built it, the whole concept of going to yeshiva to learn with a g-achshavas. And the Rabbi, Mr. Sandhaus went with us also in the bus, and he took a Likutei Sichos with him, and he sat with me. He learned with me. I remember Sichos from Shabbos Parshas Vayigash, the, the day min sameach, Chayim Medaber in the Mishkan, the difference of Mishkan with Beis Hamikdash. This is the first sicha I ever learned. But no, he-- Be-Be-Be-Be Adar, when it was the Six Day War, he told us what the Rebbe spoke on Lag BaOmer about having confidence at the Rebbes tehillim of Elohim Shomer Yisroel. And he told us what the Rebbe said, the, from the Rosh, I think he brought, that bizchus hanochas tefillin yikuyam in, in the ancient tzavot and in the

23:11 Speaker 1 merit of putting on tefillin of a Jew, it, it, it will be, um, it will, it will-- this will protect the Jewish soldiers on, on the battlefield. He told us this, and this had an impact, impact on me that I went on Mivtzat Tefillin even though I was 12 years old. I even wasn't bar mitzvah, and I went with another person. He's a rabbi in Colombia. There was just a earthqua-quake in, in, in Colombia. He's a rabbi in Colombia, Rabbi Goldschmidt shlita. He was then a menahil of, of, of, of the Beit Sefer of the pr- uh, of the elementary school of Rabbi Oppenheimer. And we went together on Sunday to do Mivtzat Tefillin. And I went in the shul of Rabbi Oppenheimer, and I put a big sign of what the Rebbe said that in zchus of putting on tefillin with the s- with, with Yidden, you're protecting the soldiers. This, this way, let's say, he had-- He, he transmitted, he transmitted Rebbe, but on, on, on a, the practical way, on, on, on, on, on a Mani Yisroel way, on, on, on, on from this point, but not on Derech Hasidim bemeyuchad, not on, on, from, from, from, from this part. The Derech Hasidim we saw in him-himself, in his life. We didn't learn from the book. We learned from the person.

24:40 Speaker 3 Mm-hmm. Wow. So, so he sent you to New York to learn in yeshiva. That was, that was the say there.

24:47 Speaker 1 Is it-

24:48 Speaker 3 That's what happened.

24:48 Speaker 1 No, it wasn't exactly like this. Most of the students in our kita, the parents were Frum, basically, let's say. But yeah, Shemirat Shabbos, yes. But they, they, they didn't have a, uh, uh, they were not-- They came to Argentina, their parents and grandparents before the war, and it was very weak. They didn't have these concepts of yeshiva. They, they were not, let's say, put it in these ways, they, they, they, they were not Yei Dia Sefer. They didn't know which yeshiva is yeshiva for them. My father had a dayen. My father went through Shas. I mean, my father had a... He knew what he... And Rabbi Baumgarten was very mechabed. He didn't wanna force. He was Moishe, not forcing. And he, he gave my father the, the, the, the choice. He should choose a yeshiva for me. He didn't force a yeshiva. But I didn't tell you the main part of the story. I'm telling you all the, all the narishkaitn and not the main point. The main point is when I was 14 years old, I was 14 years old, uh, I wanted to learn in yeshiva the whole day, and not only mudrei chold. I was learning, uh, high school, mudrei chold, and half a day in the yeshiva. Half a day yeshiva by Rabbi Baumgarten, uh, an hour was playing ball. Half an hour was doing travel in the kita and making from-- fun from his English. And, uh-

26:31 Speaker 4 From his English?

26:32 Speaker 1 Yeah, because he was sp- speaking Spanish-

26:35 Speaker 4 Ah

26:35 Speaker 1 ... mixing with English, and we used to make fun with him.

26:38 Speaker 4 He was, he was an American, yeah.

26:39 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And we used to make fun. We would play with him, laugh with him. We should climb on top of him, like children climb on top of the father. We used to climb on top of him. And, uh... But I wanted to learn in serious yeshiva. I was already 14 years old, 14 and a half. I wanted to, to learn in normal yeshiva for 24 hours a day. And I wrote a letter to the Rebbe. I was 14 years old, wrote, wrote the Rebbe, and I sent it by, by mail. Uh, by-- I went to the post office. I didn't tell nobody, not, not Rabbi Baumgarten, not my parents. My mother that came from, uh, from Berlin, she wanted me university. Okay, she already knew I wouldn't go to university, but at least finish the high school. And I was then in the sec-- finishing the second year of high school. That means I three-- had three years more of high school. I cannot go three years more of high school. And-- But I-- Those days, your parents ruled on you. It's not like today. And my mother was a Yekate. A word is a word. Ordnung is Ordnung. I wrote to the Rebbe, "I want to learn in yeshiva." In 30 days, I got the answer of the Rebbe, Ksav Yad Kodesh, a Chasimas Ksav Yad Kodesh. The Rebbe gave me a broche, and the broche was, Those given the letter. Those given the letter. But the nes is given-

28:35 Speaker 4 Whoa, whoa. One second. You have to translate it.

28:37 Speaker 1 Huh?

28:38 Speaker 4 Say it in English, the letter.

28:40 Speaker 1 The letter was to a, to a boy, 14-year-old boy from Argentina, never wrote before to the Rebbe, didn't have any introduction to the Rebbe. Nobody told the Rebbe who I am, what I am, what... Just I wrote to the Rebbe, "I want to go to learn in a yeshiva." That's all. And the Rebbe answered, uh, "Add intelligence and dedication in learning Torah and being very mehader, very spec- spe- special, uh, be- doing mitzvahs with, uh, in a beautiful and complete and special way, then this is the way to receive the blessings of Hashem in what is needed. You surely heard about the shiur of saying Tehillim after davening, how it is divided on a monthly w- monthly, yeah, on, on the months, and you should keep this shiur from now on, and the Aibishter will fulfill the wishes of your heart." And the Rebbe signed with his signature in person. I got this answer. Took one month, one month, I got the answer. And this year, bederech nes, I went to yeshiva. But there is-- there was another nes. My father wanted to send me to a Oberlander Ungarische yeshiva. He told me, "Chassidus, you have-"

30:22 Speaker 4 In, in New York?

30:24 Speaker 1 In New York, yes. Uh, my mo- my father said, "Chassidus, you have time after you get married. You know a lot of nigleh. You will know a lot of nigleh, then you, you, you, you go on in Chassidus. Now is the time to learn s- uh, seriously nigleh." That's why he wanted to te- send me to Oberlander Ungarische yeshiva. And I had a, a uncle in New York, and, uh, he was a Hungarian Chassid. Uh, and, uh, they went with Rabbi Baumgarten. Rabbi Baumgarten went to look a yeshiva for me here in New York together with my uncle And they went to four different yeshivas. Matasdorfer Yeshiva, Wiener Yeshiva, I don't know. But, but anyways, this was 1969, bring a 14-year-old boy, a 15-year-old boy from Argentina, who is going to take care of him? Who is going to... Who knows who is this guy? What is he going to do? Uh, and besides this, yeshiva cost money. All kinds of obstacles. N-no yeshiva was ready to take me. My uncle, even though he was a Hungarian Hasid, yeah, he was in the line of Satmar, he wasn't a Satmar Hasid, but in those w- in this line. But he said, "I don't understand why, why, why, what is the problem?" He has two friends, they are learning in Chabad. Was, uh, Chaim Lapidus, zal zayn gezunt, and, uh, Binyamin Feilan, zal zayn gezunt. Those two, they were learning in Chabad. He has already two friends in Chabad. Why doesn't he go to Chabad? My

32:15 Speaker 1 uncle said. Rabbi Baumgarten said, "I don't have any problem. I don't have any problem." But the father asked for another yeshiva. And then Rabbi Baumgarten wrote to my father, and I remember he wrote to my father, "God is witness that I wasn't the one to press Chabad. It was your brother who br- be- brings your son to Chabad." B'kolo ven, it was a second nes, a second nes how I came to, to... I think about. I say it in few words. I came to Chabad because there were no obstacles to come. I said, "What's wrong?" It would be asking for money and this and this. I don't know what would have been. I mean, surely I would have been in Chabad because this was dargo haliena, and I see clearly how the Rebbe picked me up to come, like he picks up everybody to come. The answer right away and the nes that it came. It was really mil malo. It was really mil malo that I came. It wa- it wasn't my choice, not at all. I didn't know where I was coming in. Yes-

33:24 Speaker 4 Yeah

33:24 Speaker 1 ... I knew a, a yeshiva, it's a yeshiva. But I didn't know something special in Chabad different from others. Not at all. Not at all. And, uh, and, and, and that's why I say it would be obstacles. I say to a lot of menahalim-

33:43 Speaker 4 Yeah

33:43 Speaker 1 ... when they make a lot of obstacles to, to students.

33:45 Speaker 4 A lot of, a lot of tuition.

33:47 Speaker 1 A lot of tuition. If they would charge tuition like charged today, Rachmanah Litzlan, I don't know where I would have been.

33:56 Speaker 4 And, uh, I, I'm sure you know that you're not the only one. There's a ma- there's a whole finite group of people that ended up in the Lubav- in Lubavitch yeshivas because they were not charged tuition and their parents like, liked that option, right?

34:11 Speaker 1 I, I, I say all... When I even speak to non, non-Frum people, and I tell they ask me for my story. They come to Argentina to see and about an Argentinian boy because I didn't come from America. I'm Argentinian. How did you come? And I tell them, "No, I came to Lubavitch because it was, uh, free of free tu- free tuition." That's why I came to Lubavitch. That's the reason. Okay. I think this is... Then I came to, to, to yeshiva.

34:40 Speaker 4 To where?

34:41 Speaker 1 I came to Ocean Parkway.

34:45 Speaker 4 Uh, like, uh, your, your, like, uh, ƔMesmadish, whatever, high school.

34:48 Speaker 1 Yes, yes. Mesmadish, yes. There were Rabbi, Rabbi, the... Rabbi Ushpahl was, uh, the Maggid Shiur in Nigle. Rebbe Yael was my first Maggid Shiur in Chassidus. He was my mashpia when I arrived here at 15 year old, and he was my mashpia by 16. And then, uh, I, I, I was by Rebbe Meir in Morristown for two years, and then came back to... Also was again a shliach in, in, in, in, in, in, in Ocean Park, was as a shliach. Rebbe Yael was, uh, vital my mashpia, the kids there. And, uh-

35:24 Speaker 4 So I have two, I have two questions which are probably connected. I want to hear about the first time you saw the Rebbe. And w- my second question, which is probably connected to this, you don't really know anything about Lubavitch, about the culture, about anything. You don't... And you, and you said you have two friends, but like, how, how, how do you... How was this, the landing in, in Lubavitch like this from, from Argentina? May, may, maybe you could tell me about this.

35:48 Speaker 1 I will tell you. I came to Lubavitch. I thought that Lubavitch is like any yeshiva. I didn't think that it's something different. You sit and learn Torah. El amai, all yeshivas learn Mussar. They learn Chassidus. And, um, even I came to yeshiva Monday m- Sunday morning, I came into Seven s- into, into Ocean Parkway, in yeshiva. Till Friday, I didn't see the Rebbe. It's not that they took me to come to, to, to, to, to Krias HaTorah, to Mincha. Nobody even didn't speak to me to come. I would have come. I, I have nothing against, Chas v'Shalom, I mean, but, uh, but nobody told me even to come. To tell you more, I came... The first Shabbos that I came to, to, to 770, almost I went to W- Williamsburg. Why? Because I had a, an aunt living in Williamsburg. She wanted to invite the, the, the, the, the, the nephew to come for Shabbos. And I was going. For me, it was natural. You go to family. What's, what's, what's the problem with it? Then they put p- pressure on me. "No, no, no, no. You come to 770. You have to see." "Okay, okay, okay." They, they had to put pressure on me, but because of fami- family things. I mean... But nobody explained me- A Rebbe, not one word. It's only by me was because Emunas Tsadikim, the Rebbe is a tsadik, and that's it. Not, not, not something special. Not, not even like, like the Manhig Yisroel. No, he's the, the

37:33 Speaker 1 big, uh... Yes, the tsadikim of our generation. And for me, sure, it's who's to come. Uh, definitely, definitely. But nobody-- I'll tell you more. I got into seven seventy. Nobody told me, "Now the Rebbe is coming in," or, "The Rebbe is going to come in." No. I was standing there by the corridor, and suddenly it opens. It opens, and I see the Rebbe. This was the moment I remember clearly, the moment I saw the Rebbe first time. This was, this was the moment. And farbrengen next day, even though was- wasn't normal to be farbrengen, but since it was before Shabbas, before Yud Shvat HaGadol, the Rebbe started farbrengen, sh-- farbrenged every week from Shabbos Vayechi. Shabbos Vayechi was the first Shabbos I was by the Rebbe. Vayechi gelebt is, uh, from Shabbos Vayechi, farbreng Vayechi and Sh'mos and if I-- And, and by farbrengen in Shabbos poshet, the whole atmosphere, the whole sichas, the whole thing took me to another world. Also was without no preparation. I just knew the Rebbe is going to speak. I knew c-clearly the Rebbe, a tsadik, God of Israel, uh, sure. But it was such a experience not from this world, being there by farbrengen. This was... And then I made up, "I'm st-standing there listening to the Rebbe. I have to take something from what the Rebbe says."

39:23 Speaker 4 You knew Yiddish then?

39:24 Speaker 1 I knew Yiddish, but I didn't know a Litvishe Yiddish. I didn't know a Litvishe Yiddish. And half of the words in Yiddish are also Lashon Hakodesh words in a Litvishe mifta. Beis, eh, ese. I wasn't used to this, this mifta at all. At all. But I made myself, "I have to take something from what the Rebbe says." And I made a point from every sicha to take something, at least one sure, one clear thing, one thing put to keep my... And, and really, when-- Later on, when I look at the sichas after I understood and I learned the sichas, I saw that I remembered nekudos what the Rebbe spoke then, five seven that really they stood in my head from when I later, uh, uh, wrote, uh, uh, learned the sichas. And the, the second very important thing was when I started learning sichas with a younger man. He was a shaliach there, Folly Minkowicz. He start learning with me sichas by night after Seder. Really, it, it caught me. I liked it. It's And then, not the first week, this was rarely the first week, but later on, I start learning Chassidus, start I got very impressed from Chassidus. Never, never heard such ex- such concepts at all. And then later on, when I learned in Tanya about Nefesh Hasheinis B'Yisroel, and that by everyone, and that I myself have a chelek Eloka, it went out of my mind. I, I, I... It, it, it shocked me totally. Shock-- It moved me, shocked me,

41:40 Speaker 1 and changed this concept, changed my whole understanding of what is a Jew and what is the, the, the life of the Jew, was like a revolutionary concept that moved me. Every bachur and every kid in Lubavitch knows it, but they don't take it serious. They don't appreciate it. They don't appreciate what means to have a chelek Eloka mimai mamash in yourself and what... They don't appreciate it since I didn't know from it before. And I was fulfilling mitzvahs behitot, mitzvahs behitot. But even though it like, it, it mamash was an impact, incredible impact. This was the first thing. The second thing when I learned creates every second, creates again from nothing the whole existence. This totally shocked me. I remember the Beis Midrash in, uh, Ocean Parkway was in the main floor, and the dormitory was upstairs in the third floor. I remember walking the, the stairs to the dormitory because this I learned, uh, by night, uh, Tanya by night after Seder. I remember walking upstairs the stairs. I was like, like would have drunk bottle mashke, a whole bottle like was I was like shocked. Totally shocked. Totally shocked. But I want to tell you together with this Parshas Vayechi, the Rebbe spoke about Sefer Torah of Mashiach. I knew already about Sefer Torah of Mashiach because Rabbi Baumgarten told us that the Rebbe said to finish now Sefer Torah of Mashiach. I knew about the whole about and Mashiach's coming, . I knew that about the 20 years, Shimshon, all this I

44:12 Speaker 1 knew a little because I heard from Rabbi Baumgarten, and a little also because the, the Binyomin Faitland wrote me letters. And on the letters that he wrote me, he wrote me about the whole ruach that's going on in seven 70 around and this and this. And really, what he wrote to me had an impact in me that I said, "I wanna come before because I wanna be there for Mashiach." This, uh

44:46 Speaker 4 So you did, you, you did know something before you came?

44:49 Speaker 1 I did the, uh, the basic thing, I think I knew. Yeah. Uh-

44:57 Speaker 4 So it's in Vayechi?

45:00 Speaker 1 Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That I want to tell him Parshas, Parshas Vayechi, the Rebbe spoke about Sefer Torah of Mashiach, but he spoke about being with, uh, ois, with a letter to give the opportunity every Jew to be part of the Sefer Torah of Mashiach. And even though I just came to America and I didn't know so well English, I, I studied a little English because I went to high school in Argentina, but, uh, uh, I spoke Spanish, not English. And we went with the other Argentinian boys. We went on the street. I remember on the streets, stopping people, asking them about writing. It was just the first week, the first week after the first fabrengen, the second week of my being here was no , no doubt that I have to do this. Nobody had to talk me in, "You have to do this." Was no, no, no doubt. You have to go and make people to be part of Sefer Torah. And I felt you are talking here about big, big things. We're not talking business as usual. Here we are talking about big, big, big things.

46:26 Speaker 4 So you're basically describing the, the process of how-- I mean, how you become a . Like this is, this is all happening. You're, you're picking up the Rebbe. You say this just, just, just from being, being there. And I guess the, the Rebbe should give you a that you're able to be in tuned it.

46:52 Speaker 1 It was-- I want to tell you, it, it took, uh, for half a year, I used to with a . Uh, there I came to Lubavitch, I with my under the, the, under the, under the coat, under the... And, uh, also, I didn't change my minhagim as I came into Lubavitch. I, I didn't care what other people do. I did what I have-- what I believed in, I did it. And I, I kept my whole minhagim. I . I put on tefillin, not on, on the Lubavitch way. And I didn't care that other people did different. But I keep my minhagim, and I kept everything. And this was for half a year, a little more than half a year. When I came into Yechidus the first time, this was, uh, Sivan, Sivan, before my . Then I decided to change to become, let's say, a full-fledged Lubavitcher. Yeah. And, um, by Yechidus, I asked the Rebbe if to change all the minhagim and everything. And the Rebbe answered, "If this is a decision for always, I should do it." That means the, the, the, the passage was like half a year. But the of the, of the specialty, uh, the Chabad, when I started learning Chassidus, is like it opened me the eyes about the whole Yiddishkeit. It's like a, a new Yiddishkeit. It's the same Yiddishkeit, but it's, it, it started shining. Same Yiddishkeit, shining, shining.

48:51 Speaker 4 Um, and this is something that you saw in the Rebbe also?

48:56 Speaker 1 The Rebbe's just way of talking, the , the , the... You felt it. You felt it. You felt it. You felt... There is an, an expression of Reb Yael in the first letters that he wrote to his father when he came . And he said, in Bamish, in the first letters that you see, you see-- He, he writes to the-- to his father, "You see that he's a "" He writes about the Rebbe to his father in Bamish in the beginning, "You see he's a "" You saw and you felt the Rebbe is different than, than everything.

50:01 Speaker 4 Okay. Um, so we're getting close this time of year, we're getting close to Rosh Hashanah, to Tisha. Is there anything you wanna share from the first, uh, for the first Tisha, for maybe from first Rosh Hashanah? Tkias, I don't know, may-maybe you can share a little bit about that.

50:20 Speaker 1 I, I knew Tekias is, uh... And I understood Tekias by the Rebbe is something, but I never experienced it. I had to imagine, but I didn't have any clue how it is. And I have to tell you, I was, uh, I was very shy. I wasn't the pers-person asking around and, uh, investigating. No, I, uh, was very shy. And, uh, I was fifteen years old, sixteen years old. Then Rosh Hashanah I was already sixteen years old. Yes. Uh, and nothing, coming from Argentina, here, big city and whatever. But I, I knew that I have to get a good place. I have to catch a good place. And I came very early in the morning, Rosh Hashanah in the morning, and I stood next to the bimah. Not the first row, I understood that people there. Second, third row. It came to Tekias, I was at the Aron Kodesh. And I wasn't inside the Aron Kodesh because there was a door. If not, I would be inside the Aron Kodesh. That means I was pushed to the end, and I felt so bad. Says, "I'm going to be here by the Rebbe, not going to be able to hear anything." See, yes, but not hear anything, nothing could say. Because I was used, the Rebbe davening to-- for the Omer, the Rebbe davened very, um-

51:54 Speaker 4 Low.

51:55 Speaker 1 Ve-very?

51:56 Speaker 4 Low.

51:57 Speaker 1 Low, very low. Yes. The same Haftara. Shabbos Maftir, Haftara, you had to push the first rows to be able to hear something. And, uh, I said, "Oh, what's going to be here? I'm going to be here and not..." Then started Tekias, and started the pasuk. It was like... It looked like the Rebbe going out to war. He was going out to war. And then all the psukim and the brachot. Okay, it was Other world, other world. Psukim, the brachas, the Tekias, uh, Yeah, yeah, yeah. Same thing happened Erev Yom Kippur. This stuff should have seen. Erev Yom Kippur, I, I, I came for the Bracha of the Temimim. When I came, it was already after the Bracha and I was here. Because nobody told me nothing, nobody explained me nothing. Da, da. I came. Says, "How come there's nobody here?" Said, "No, it was already."

53:28 Speaker 4 A griner.

53:31 Speaker 1 Huh?

53:33 Speaker 4 It's a griner. You have to figure everything out.

53:37 Speaker 1 But anyways, but

53:45 Speaker 4 Oh, so I wanna-- So I, I wanna get into that in a minute. Um, so you already said that you learned in, uh, Moshiach Parkway, then, uh, Morristown, then at Seven-Seventy. So I wanna talk about the Farbrengers in a minute, but, um, you shared something earlier about, uh, your first Yechidas. Are there other things from the s-subsequent Yechidas or answers from the Rebbe that you got when you were a bachur that you, you would, uh, that you can share?

54:17 Speaker 1 At first, from the first Yechidas, I wanna tell you, I was very, how do you say, um, went in three o'clock, four o'clock in the morning, I don't remember. I felt like, you know, going into the Rebbe. But the Rebbe started speaking with such a love. You felt both of the Rebbe embracing you. This is the first time Then it wasn't the first year, I think it was maybe the second year or the third year. The Rebbe used to read the pidyon, the letter. He used to read, uh, the, um, one time, mark things on the side, and then he used to come back from the end, from the end, going back, and he was answering you. But while he was answering you and reading, his head was down, and the, the, the, the, the, the hat used to cover, at least by me. You couldn't see clearly the, the, the, the, the Rebbe's face 'cause the hat was covering most of the face, and the Rebbe was down, the head was down The Rebbe, the end of, of answering everything, the Rebbe picked up his, his head, his head, the cup, yeah, and he looked. He said, "Give him a mazeh," the Rebbe's face shining. He said, "Give him a mazeh, mashio, bashio." It wasn't a mazeh of fabrengen. It wasn't a mazeh even of the mazeh of a maimar. It was another mazeh. The Rebbe looking at you with such, such connection and with such love, shining, shining, shining, shining, shining. This is

56:48 Speaker 1 in general. Then the first yechidas, the Rebbe point out Yeah. And, uh, later years, in one year, he, he said, That's what he said. That's what he said. That's what you write. This you cannot do. The other thing you don't know how to do. But since it's written, you will toil and you will succeed, and this is being said to me, to you, and to everybody, and there is the toiling, definitely there is a succeeding. That's-- This is one thing. And, uh, then I can tell you, uh, the last yechidas... Now, one yechidas, the, the first yechidas a-after, uh, I already was on shlichas, um, the-- I wanted to ask for a blessing, a special blessing for something connected to that slof of my shlichas, and I didn't write it because I was ashamed. I was ashamed to ask such thing. The Rebbe gave me the bracha in the words that I thought it. Mamash. I will not tell you what I wanted, uh, to ask. But he gave me mamash in the words I thought I wanted to ask. This is one thing. Another thing, um... Okay, it was, uh, the last yechidas a-also in the room. This was, uh, Mem-Alef, Mem-Beis, uh, those things, yeah. And I wrote a letter.

59:54 Speaker 4 This is when you're on shlichas already?

59:56 Speaker 1 Yes, yes. I wrote the letter, and, uh, I gave it in two, three days before yechidas in order the Rebbe should be able to, to read it before that. I don't have to read it while I'm standing there. When I come in, the Rebbe tells me that he, he couldn't read the long letter I wrote him. If there was any questions there. I didn't answer anything because I'm not going to, to stam- be talking to the Rebbe. And the Rebbe said then, "No, is good. If there is no question, it's good." Or he said, "No, better, better. It's better. It's better." If there are, uh, questions or doubts, should they get discharged, nullified, discharged? If it still remains some kind of a question, we will answer you in the time. This was in the last yechidas. Yeah.

1:01:36 Speaker 4 So what do you-- So what does that story mean?

1:01:38 Speaker 1 You can-- Everybody can translate what he wants. I think it's clear the Rebbe's work is don't waste your time. Be, do the positive work. Do, do, do. Don't waste your time with all kinds of questions and analysis ahead, analysis ahead. I guess I had an answer when I, when I, uh, when I got... This is a whole story, no? When I got, uh, married-

1:02:18 Speaker 4 I wanna, I wanna get to all that

1:02:20 Speaker 1 No, but I will tell you what, what-

1:02:22 Speaker 4 Okay

1:02:23 Speaker 1 ... when I got married, uh, was Yechidus. It was, uh, it was after Simchas Torah, Lamed Heh, Shemini Atzeres Lamed Heh. Yechidus was the Rebbe was sitting by the door of Gan Eden Noael Yein with a small table, and he was receiving the Panim about giving out Tzedakah, dollars for Tzedakah. I gave him my pan, my tzedakah, and an hour and a half after Yechidus, the Rebbe answered, uh, the, the, the, the, what I wrote and, a-a-and, and the Re- the Rebbe said, "You are exaggerating in all your negative assessments. You are exaggerating. You are exaggerating with an exaggeration. "Yeah? And he wrote, "You should make use of your capacity of analyzing things in Limud HaTorah, in learning Torah, and your Shlichus in Hafotze, and the Rebbe's there is with you." That means this was the Rebbe's guideness. You have power. Don't use your analysis to see what's wrong. Use your analysis to see how you can build better. And an interesting thing the Rebbe said, "First, I was going out on Shlichus." Was the moment I was going out on Shlichus, even like this, he said, "First, Limud HaTorah and then Shlichus in Hafotze."

1:04:29 Speaker 4 Oh. Okay. Were there also, um, answers like minus that you received when you were a bachur from the Rebbe besides Yechidus?

1:04:41 Speaker 1 No, it was mainly I'm working in the Seches. Uh, I, I had-

1:04:44 Speaker 4 No, but I'm saying per-per-per- personally, personal stuff.

1:04:50 Speaker 1 No, because, uh... No, the, the-- No, the, the-- I, I tell you something. I, I, I was after, uh, Shemini Atzeres, was in middle of Cheshvan. I got a offer for a Shidduch. And even though I, not that I was running for a Shidduch, but I also didn't wanna be a as an Argentinian boy, an Argentinian boy, and, uh, don't have family here taking care of me, et cetera, et cetera, who knows me. I get an offer. I shouldn't be stupid just to discharge it. And I wrote to the Rebbe. I remember it was five o'clock or four o'clock in the morning, got the answer of the Rebbe because those days the Rebbe was Bechadrei HaKodesh in his room. And we were working in Seches in, uh, my Modim, in Anochez, in, in, in by, by, by, by the floor of the Anochez here next, next door to Seven seventy. Because I got a telephone at four o'clock or five o'clock in the morning from Rabbi Klein, Alav HaShalom. "We have an answer for you." And the answer was, "Don't think about the Shidduch till you don't finish, uh, Yoreh Deah." I finished Yoreh Deah, let's say, Hey Nissan. And Ches Nissan, I got the Shlichus and, and the Horo for a Shidduch.

1:06:25 Speaker 4 Wow. Okay. Wasn't there an answer from the Rebbe with the Rebbe took parts of Tanya?

1:06:33 Speaker 1 Uh?

1:06:34 Speaker 4 With, with words from Tanya, Someone told me it's, uh, an answer.

1:06:40 Speaker 1 Nah, the Rebbe said, uh, You didn't, uh, like the Alter Rebbe said, "You didn't make yourself Then you have to..." He said, "You have to be happy to be in order to, to, to Limud HaTorah." Um, uh, the, uh, think like this, yes.

1:07:16 Speaker 4 Yeah, I'm, I'm, I don't understand exactly what you're saying, but maybe -

1:07:19 Speaker 1 No, but what do you mean you don't understand?

1:07:22 Speaker 4 It sounds like there's more, but -

1:07:23 Speaker 1 No, no, no, no, there, there... Yeah, yeah. Like he said when-- Different things, you know. Uh, he said, "When you have some thought that, uh, brings in you some kind of issues of weakness, think that you are a Shliach of Rabbi Seino Nasiyeinu." This the Rebbe told me when I was a bachur. What did I-

1:07:50 Speaker 4 Yechidus.

1:07:51 Speaker 1 Huh?

1:07:52 Speaker 4 In Yechidus.

1:07:53 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah. Yechidus as a bachur. The Rebbe told me, "Since, like you write here in that tzedakah, that you teach Shiurei Chassidus," 'cause I used to go Thursday night to teach Chassidus, the Shiurei Chassidus from Tzache, from Meirane's Alav HaShalom, yeah And they say, since you write here that you teach Chassidus Tutin HaFos HaSamayanas, you are a Sheliach of Rabbi Seir Nesi'einu, you should think about this, uh, when you have any weakness, you feel weak in your, in yourself. The, the, thus, thus, thus it given.

1:08:30 Speaker 4 Mm-hmm.

1:08:35 Speaker 1 Rebbe said, they said like the Rebbe said, "Avodas hatzil davta kazain." But don't be ma'arich mit, mit, uh, ivrik ariches in all the ne- in, in, in negative things.

1:08:57 Speaker 4 So Avodas hatzil, uh, shouldn't be spent on, uh-

1:09:02 Speaker 1 On the Chesbon HaNefesh.

1:09:04 Speaker 4 Mm-hmm. Well, it should be b-simcha or whatever.

1:09:10 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then Rebbe said, he said in Midanig, "Avodas hatzil davta kazain." But not the, the, the, the Chesbon HaNefesh, uh, the Rebbe said, "Rebbe, Chesbon HaNefesh, da zain beitim kvuim u'metzumtzumim," fixed and limited times. Under Sachakiv dav zain, Avodah Zot lehisiv in Avodas Hashem itech simcha. The Sachakiv-- For the Chesbon dav zain to add in Avodas Hashem itech simcha. The sins, Avodas Hashem is the whole day because even kol ma'asech Hashem shamayim, kol derechech odei u, everything what you do has to be in with the kavana from Avodas Hashem. That means you could be simcha the whole day.

1:10:01 Speaker 4 Okay.

1:10:02 Speaker 1 Okay.

1:10:04 Speaker 4 Anything else before, before I, before I move on?

1:10:08 Speaker 1 Uh, I-- Okay, we could, uh... You, you're going to have the schlichas. Okay, go on to schlichas then I tell you.

1:10:18 Speaker 4 No, no, no. Okay, fine. So, so let's stop. Let's go backwards. So you mentioned to me that the Rebbe's fabrengens was your life and the integral component of being there.

1:10:33 Speaker 1 Geleb mit dem.

1:10:34 Speaker 4 Geleb mit dem, no. So maybe tell me a little bit about that, and I wanna ask you about-- Then I'll ask you about the, the Hanakos. So may-maybe tell me about the Rebbe's fabrengens klal.

1:10:46 Speaker 1 Every fabregen was Iberlebenish. I don't know how to ti-- to translate.

1:10:54 Speaker 4 It's good. You can, you can, you can keep it, no?

1:10:57 Speaker 1 Yeah. Yeah. It was Iber-- Every fabregen was a Iberlebenish. The whole-- Every sicha, every-- The Horos and the way and, and, and the Biurim. And we didn't, we, we didn't just-- And take we, I talk those that we heard the sichas like with Rabbi Shon Haritonov, zal zayn gezunt. We used to talk over the fabregen later, like, uh, we, we were standing also on the details, on the details that the Rebbe said. This, th-this, this chidush, this chidush. Sometimes people take just the global idea, but in the Rebbe's-- When you listen good, the Rebbe's fabregens, first of all, you have to take the global idea, no question. You have to take the global idea. But later on, every concept, every word, ev-- Is, is a whole inyan. But geleb, we felt how the Rebbe is putting in so much new thing, richtige Sachen, shiny things. Some of-- A word is thrown here in the middle and there a word in middle. And then also how the Rebbe, like Sh-- Uh, Sholum used to say, "The Rebbe knew the entire Zohar and Talmides." He says like, we felt every fabregen wasn't just the Rebbe saying a psanukah. The Rebbe was going through the whole Zohar and Talmides, was g- And, and, and shaping the whole Zohar and Talmides and giving you a cooking all Zohar and Talmides. This was like, like you, you came into fabregen, it's like you came to-- You're going now to hear a new world. We were like, uh, coming Chadashim mamash.

1:12:54 Speaker 1 It's not like such Chadashim. It's not like a routine, okay, another word. No, no, no. We coming here to a historical one time event, an, an unique event, and that's what-- That's the way we, we heard. We were, uh, anxiously waiting to the fabregen, and when the Rebbe was speaking, this is what we used to take and appreciate everything the Rebbe said. But I have to clarify that those days, till Tishrei Lamed Heh, wasn't like it was after Lamed Heh. Halachas kama vekama, not like today. Those days, to hear a tape of the Rebbe, I went to Tishrei Hazor, I remember. I went to Tishrei Hazor of a huge fabregen. I got somebody that had the tape, and I had to go to his house and sit there the whole day to hear the, the fabregen because he wouldn't let me take the tape with me out of the house. Okay, this wasn't a problem. I just wanna tell you, today you have everything. The, the fabregens used to come out weeks, months, or years after the Rebbe said it. It's not today, like-- Or after Lamed Heh when it started coming right after Shabbos. I remember a maimar, a maimar, uh, uh, four weeks later. Between you and me, who will learn the maimar four years-- Four weeks later? And, and how it was... And also you didn't have this forum of Chassidus that the maimorim were built on, that you could be ma'ayan. It-- Every word was a pearl, a treasure that you

1:14:54 Speaker 1 could have. It's not today. Today you have everything, everything put, organized. You can hear it, you can read it. You can read it in English, you can read it in Hebrew, you can read it in Yiddish. The words of the Rebbe, with Biuri MaHar"AT and Mareh MKemes, and that-- It's a different world entirely. That's why I wanna tell you to then to appreciate the sure it's not you can... It's not like starting a fabric today. Starting a fabric today, sure you can appreciate it. If you don't do it, you're just, uh, I don't know what words to use. Then you need a big You need a You, you need to come to to, to, uh, to come to and to make sure that you understand And that's, that is what made me I have to engrave in myself what the Rebbe is speaking. I'm here. I have to know what the Rebbe is speaking. This is what I forced myself to remember what the Rebbe says and, and to concentrate and to have, and to pick up what the Rebbe says. You cannot have the, the, the feeling how it was then, the, the, the, the, the, the Hmm. And I wanna tell you, I regret it, but you know, uh, uh, cannot do anything today about it. I regret all the things that we didn't ask the Rebbe then. The Rebbe was for us. The Rebbe gave himself to us. We didn't make use of all the Rebbe was giving us. Why? Because we,

1:17:10 Speaker 1 we, we, we were afraid because

1:17:14 Speaker 5 You're refer-- You're referring to when you were w-writing and then-

1:17:18 Speaker 1 Yes

1:17:18 Speaker 5 ... uh, you were able to ask the Rebbe

1:17:20 Speaker 1 Yes, yes. He thought the chutzpah, what you're writing was uh, uh, but it really was a mistake. It was a big mistake. It was a big mistake.

1:17:31 Speaker 5 Okay, one second. So how did you get involved in ? I mean, it, it sounds like because you were being and the Rebbe said bring it, you were a good candidate, but, but what, what actually happened?

1:17:40 Speaker 1 I wasn't a candidate. I just was... I went, I went to, to And after I started writing a little for myself. And I also by I put a word here, I put a word in, and then I was helping, uh, the other people that were writing their It was a natural, uh It was natural. Used to go to Rebbe in the house to hear the after the Until it came, I mean, um, the other ones that were, that were used to be writing and they hold up just a little time after the And then they, they asked me, "No, do you wanna go continue writing?" Okay. It was a natural, uh, thing. It was not, uh-

1:18:34 Speaker 5 So you wrote and-

1:18:36 Speaker 1 Not I didn't write

1:18:38 Speaker 5 Okay, so let me ask you about that because as someone who, uh, watches and listens to the it, uh, are still, you know, you know, if they're really, really focused, be able to, to be able to, to understand to, to transcribe it and to make a from it. Now, I don't know if even all of the people that wrote the were capable of writing I don't know. So w-what, what is the process of, of, of understanding of transcribing from the Rebbe? Maybe you can talk about that a little bit.

1:19:15 Speaker 1 No, we, we... You, you had the You, you, you, you, you, you made a, a basic of the right after the Rebbe said the you... On your head, you made some kind of a, of a what it was and well, yeah. And the also we had the and the schools of Rebbe that he had clarity in the gave us the, the in the It was really the schools of Rebbe. Yes. We added But the main, let's say, uh, the the spinal... I don't know how to say it.

1:20:07 Speaker 5 Spinal.

1:20:09 Speaker 1 Yeah.

1:20:09 Speaker 5 The spinal cord.

1:20:10 Speaker 1 Yes. This was, uh, Rebbe Even that he wasn't, uh, but he was listening to somebody else saying it, but he was organizing it, putting... Even he didn't write the but he was the spinal-- I'm talking on the, on the, on the Shabbos so without a-

1:20:35 Speaker 5 Tape

1:20:35 Speaker 1 ... without a tape. Or you had also the writing of the on the second day of They used to write, uh, the Rebbe was speaking, they were writing.

1:20:48 Speaker 5 Right.

1:20:48 Speaker 1 Yes. And then you had the, the, the, the, the tapes, but I have to tell you, whoever listens to a tape, not because he listens to a tapes means that he can understand the . We had to, however, very much to understand what the Rebbe wanted to say, how the Rebbe built it, what was the connection to one part to the other part. It, it was a hard... Not because you had a tape you knew... Even you had the typed word by word doesn't mean that you understood what the Rebbe was saying. You had to-

1:21:26 Speaker 5 And this is specifically Maamarim as opposed to-

1:21:28 Speaker 1 Yes

1:21:28 Speaker 5 ... Sichas?

1:21:28 Speaker 1 Yes, yes. No, there were Maamarim that were clearly. No. 'Cause sometimes in Maamarim, the Rebbe used to say a few words very Bekitzur, and it meant the whole Inyan, that you had to understand the whole Inyan to see the connection to what is being said before, what is the build-up.

1:21:47 Speaker 5 Mm-hmm.

1:21:49 Speaker 1 This pack of the Milin flow from Rebbe that he understood the Maamarim.

1:21:57 Speaker 5 Right. Okay. So was there something spec- specific happening in your times, like a Chiddush in the way the Maamarim were being produced? Like was there something new, or you're just continuing with what happened before?

1:22:14 Speaker 1 The way they were produced? Um, no, it was, it was Maamarim Ekemis Maamarim Ekemis unten. And then the Rebbe-- once the Rebbe said to write, uh, Maamarim Ekemis, the Achar Zeh, not the Tachah Zeh. In order-- You don't have to write one af- u-under the other one. But, uh-

1:22:35 Speaker 5 What, what is that? That Maamarim Ekemis. What's the two ways?

1:22:37 Speaker 1 The Maamarim Ekemis, you have to write the, the Maamarim Ekemis because it started giving out with Maamarim Ekemis, the Sichas and the Maamarim. It was in the lately year. And even the Bil- the Biltemuga I'm talking.

1:22:49 Speaker 5 Right.

1:22:49 Speaker 1 Before the Biltemuga didn't have Maamarim Ekemis under. And, uh, the Rebbe said you can write o-one after the other. You don't have to write one under the other.

1:23:01 Speaker 5 Ah, okay.

1:23:01 Speaker 1 You put the one and next to it the two and next to it the three. They put it one in one Shulit, two in the second line, and three in the third line. But, uh, uh, I will tell you what happened with, uh, in Lamed Zayin. In Lamed Zayin were different things that happened. One thing that happened was that, uh, Rabbi Groner came out from Rebbe's room, and he brought the books that the Rebbe gave him from each one of Rabbi Sein Lesyeinu, uh, with the paper inside that he should have all the mentions and the places of Rabbi Sein Lesyeinu, what he, what he mentioned. But he g- he came out f-from the Rebbe's, from the Rebbe's room with the books in the hand, and he gave it to me, the books to... Before, used to-- the Rebbe used to write it, "Baal Shem Tov, this book in this, in this place." Looks like in, in this time, the Rebbe even didn't have the time to write it, and he sent out the books that he used with this paper inside and sent out all the books. This is-- And then we wrote in Hanoch. It was two Maamar. It was Maamar by day and Maamar Motzei Shabbos . And, uh, we sent in the Hanoch from by day with the She'ele, with the question. Or even we didn't send the Hanoch yet. No, we just sent in the Hanoch. We just sent in the question. And the Rebbe first-- the Rebbe wrote Maamarim.

1:24:55 Speaker 1 Ein Maamar. The central Maamar should be the Maamar of Motzei Shabbos more, more in public. Yeah. And this Maamar should be the basis, and the the a-add-addings and, uh, changes of the M- from the Maamar by day, we should put either in brackets in the Maamar or under, under the line or the... Yeah. And we choose to put it under the line. That's the way we organize the Maamar. But we didn't understand that the Rebbe wanted to be Magiya the Maamar. No, didn't understand.

1:25:42 Speaker 5 Yeah.

1:25:43 Speaker 1 For those years, the Rebbe wasn't Magiya Maamarim. Lamed He. Lamed He was Magiya. W- Lamed He, after a long time, after a long time from Lamed Beis or Lamed Alef, uh, uh, the Rebbe was Magiya the, uh, Achai Gogol and then Tzimmer Mishpat. And later on, we found in the Rebbe's room also Lamed He was also Muga, but he didn't give it out. Um, and then Lamed Vav was a Maamar also that he was Muga , but unexpected. And Lamed Zayin, nobody s-s-- In those days, nobody dreamt the Rebbe Magiya Maamarim. Nobody dreamt. And, uh, only special occasions, Mamish. Uh, and, uh, we, we prepared the Maamar. The Rebbe, the Rebbe was Magiya it, yeah. But the question was-- We had a question that, uh, the Rebbe brought from every one of the Rebbe, and he want-- brought from the Rebbe Mahrash, the Koho from Rebbe Mahrash, uh, that, that three Madregas in Teire, Yerushho, Yegio, and Matone. Three Madregas in Teire. And he explained it in the Maamar what it is And we asked the Rebbe, the explanation the Rebbe gave on the Maamar was different, what, what, what means Yerusha different than what the Rebbe Maharash says. The Rebbe is entitled to say what he wants, but he, he said it in the name of Rebbe Maharash. That's why we asked.

1:27:33 Speaker 5 Mm-hmm.

1:27:35 Speaker 1 And I will tell you, we were stupid, but, uh, the Rebbe answered, uh, we should write the way the Rebbe Maharash says. the people that heard the Maamar, what he says. The same way they don't understand the explanation how this comes together with the Rebbe Maharash according to your question. Yeah. That they're asking such a... That this is not what the Rebbe They will, they will not miss anything if if they don't know about the whole thing. Why were we stupid? Because we had to understand if we could put the, the, the Rebbe Maharash says like this, and they put The Rebbe, Rebbe is obliged. The Rebbe added to something, but, but we-- since we were he mentioned Rebbe Maharash, and he said... That's why I said we, we did some stupidities. We did some stupidities there. There was another Maamar of, uh, and the Maamar speaks different Madregas about the Maamar of et cetera. And we asked that we, we see there is no compabili- compatibility in the Maamar. And the Rebbe answered, "This is the whole concept of the Maamar."

1:29:31 Speaker 5 There's no compa-compatibility with the Maamar that it's Musadan?

1:29:35 Speaker 1 No, no. In the same Maamar, first he says that is this, then he said another way of This doesn't, doesn't come together. The Rebbe said, Maamar Toyichnu, the for the Maamar is to show the, the to show always what is the of Chabad-Lubavitch. I mean, we, we had the You're talking here this is not compatibility. This is the whole Maamar to s- Yeah. The idea was to show how goes all over the Madregas. Then there was the Maamar of, uh, There was Yeah. Also-

1:30:47 Speaker 5 So the-

1:30:48 Speaker 1 Yeah, the Maamar came out-

1:30:50 Speaker 5 Right before the heart attack.

1:30:54 Speaker 1 Yes, in the morning. Um, the Rebbe went-- We saw the Rebbe went into the sukkah with the Maamar and came out with the sukk- from the sukkah and gave out the Maamar, and the Maamar was even I don't say Uh, piece attached, a piece of cake. That mean the Rebbe was eating while he was the Maamar, and the piece of was attached. Come over and I took the piece, and I ate it. But, uh... And he gave out the Maamar. When we received the Maamar, we, we were not sure the Rebbe was not I mean, the Rebbe was but it wasn't like a normal prepared Maamar. We, we, we had doubts, but we didn't wanna ask. We used to-

1:32:04 Speaker 5 You see, it, it was, it wasn't heavily Muge like usual.

1:32:07 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah. But it... Yeah, it wasn't heavily, but it wa- it was. It had, it had Hagoah. Because I-- In, in it was a Maamar, where the Rebbe was a whole part with a strong Hagoah, strong Hagoah, but he put on top of it That's why the Maamar came out the word We made a, a difference from other Maamarim. point.

1:32:49 Speaker 5 Point.

1:32:51 Speaker 1 The Rebbe said But the Rebbe-- That's why we were afraid. But he, the Rebbe didn't say

1:32:57 Speaker 5 Mm-hmm.

1:32:58 Speaker 1 We had to... Let's-- What we did do, we wrote-- We sent it in like for Hagoah, like, like a Maamar Muge, but just added the word The Rebbe didn't add the word The Rebbe didn't add the word We could have not put the word Hanoch also, but we were afraid. We added the word Hanoch. And then that there, the Rebbe, uh, he, he, he writes, that the Chacham is being recognized on his attitude and behavior, how he eats, how he drinks, how he does business, et cetera, et cetera. On the word the Rebbe added, uh, and adding The heart of the wise is on the right side with the

1:34:04 Speaker 5 This was in the first Hagah?

1:34:08 Speaker 1 Was in the second Hagah, I think.

1:34:09 Speaker 5 So, so this is on

1:34:12 Speaker 1 Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. After what happened, we understood why the Rebbe-

1:34:22 Speaker 5 After the Holocaust.

1:34:22 Speaker 1 -wanted to put something about the heart. He would put in the Maamar something about the, his heart to, to, uh, to be the heart to, to... I don't know. But I, it was clearly because it wasn't something that gives you a special explanation in the Maamar, add something in the understanding of the Maamar. Uh.

1:34:47 Speaker 5 So

1:34:48 Speaker 1 Then there's another Maamar, the where the Rebbe speaks about the and he asks, he says he brings from the Tzemach Tzedek or from the Alter Rebbe's Maamar or from Tzemach Tzedek, could be a And the Rebbe asked a question, how could be is there that, uh, he-- The Rebbe he's That means his, his, his satisfaction is And how could you say somebody that his satisfaction, his is, is, is he should be a And the whole, the Rebbe put a lot of work into it in the Hagah, and in the second Hagah again, how he, the whole piece of Tanya there very, very strong the Rebbe put in there for a whole a few shuras.

1:36:25 Speaker 5 Okay.

1:36:25 Speaker 1 Then another interesting thing I can tell you was besides what was so special? was the year the Rebbe was seventy-five years old. And for three Maamarim after later on was, uh, Shabbos Shelach. Then was a third Maamar. A third Maamar, I think it was also in Tu B'Shevat, the third Maamar, I don't remember. Or maybe In the three Maamarim, the Rebbe added, added a He was seventy-five years old. It wasn't usual the Rebbe adding things to Maamarim

1:37:25 Speaker 5 Mm-hmm.

1:37:25 Speaker 1 The Rebbe added... And in one of the Maamarim added like six, seven shuras with the Biur on the Pasuk, on, on the Pasuk, uh, uh, that of his This was very interesting that Rebbe on three Maamarim he added a Biur on this Pasuk when he was seventy-five years old in the I don't know if people not notice these things. Uh,

1:38:04 Speaker 5 I don't think people even knew what, that, what the Rebbe added, right? Only you people knew.

1:38:11 Speaker 1 Yeah, but I think we, we point it out, I think.

1:38:17 Speaker 5 Mm-hmm.

1:38:18 Speaker 1 We make a point of it. But okay, he added once. But you see three Maamarim in when he's seventy-five years old, make a point of it, is not...

1:38:39 Speaker 5 It's not what?

1:38:41 Speaker 1 Is not some.

1:38:43 Speaker 5 Yeah.

1:38:43 Speaker 1 Is the word. Sometimes we, we are, uh, we have a yetzer hara with the Rebbe Rabbis, with the We take things, uh, you know, cold.

1:38:58 Speaker 5 Mm-hmm.

1:38:58 Speaker 1 Everything is

1:39:06 Speaker 5 Okay. Are there any other Maamarim that you wanna highlight right now?

1:39:13 Speaker 1 At this moment, I don't remember. Uh, can highlight something different. It was on, uh, with the Maamar, but wasn't in a time that I was writing Maamarim. It was already when I was on I was here at Third Kislev. There was a And the next day, I traveled back to Argentina. I mean, it was-- I came to the-- I don't know why I came Bedюк in this, uh, something to do with my work of raising-- fundraising, I don't know. And I wrote in to the Rebbe and, uh, that I'm going back. And the Rebbe wrote me back, Surely you took it yourself. You took with you the of yesterday's Maamar. That means it was, it is-- It wasn't And I came here for, for fundraising. You surely took with yourself the hanacha of Yeah.

1:40:36 Speaker 6 Okay. I ho-hopefully, uh, everything you just said will add to that. So you, you were doing the ma'amarim till your chasuna, basically.

1:40:45 Speaker 1 Yeah.

1:40:46 Speaker 6 So maybe you could tell me a little bit about your shidduch and your shlichus, and I think they're connected, right? You already alluded to it. Maybe you can tell me what happened over there.

1:41:01 Speaker 1 Rabbi Baumgarten of Ashodem used to travel in the Argentinian summer to Israel to visit his parents, to London to visit his daughter, and then used to come to New York to visit another daughter, and mainly to be by the Rebbe. He arrived on Friday morning in London, and he had a, um, ACV, uh, a cerebral incident. How, how, how, how, how do you say, uh-

1:41:42 Speaker 6 Like a heart? Oh, a stroke.

1:41:46 Speaker 1 A stroke. He had a stroke, and, uh, he passed away from this stroke. And, um, before even he came to Leva-- came to New York, he was brought to New York. He's buried behind the Rebbe, And, um, Rabbi Klein called another bochur and me to Rabbi Chodakov. And Rabbi Chodakov told us to take care of the things that Rabbi Baumgarten was taking care, especially about matzahs, to make sure that in Argentina there's going to be hand matzah for Pesach because Rabbi Baumgarten was bringing every year hand matzah. And he used to bring also other kosher products for, for matzah, oil for, for Pesach, oil, other things, potato starch. And, um, we asked his son, Pini Baumgarten, and he said that everything is taken care, is going to be matzahs. Okay. But that, that means already before the, the, the levaya came to New York, uh, the Rebbe was already daigening what's going to be with Rabbi Baumgarten's position as Shliach in Argentina. By the way, uh, Motzaei Shabbos, the, the-- before the program of Chassidus of Rabbi Weinberg, alav ha-shalom, uh, the Rebbe, I think, called Moshe Pinchas Katz, I think it was. He was also part of the Vaad for Nafos HaChassidus in the radio. And the Rebbe gave him money and told him that he wants to sponsor the program of Motzaei Shabbos of Rabbi Baumgarten, alav ha-shalom. Now, g-g-going back, after, uh, um, the levaya and everything, Rabbi Chodakov told me to get in contact with Anash in Buenos Aires. It used

1:44:12 Speaker 1 to be, let's say, uh, be-between five and 10 Anash families in Buenos Aires then, to get in contact with them and to see if they have somebody to suggest to come in, in place of Rabbi Baumgarten. And they gave me the... I, uh, the-- I, I went to Rabbi, to Rabbi Chodakov, and so I told him the-- told him that they suggested me to come as a Shliach. Okay. Rabbi Chodakov told me, "Okay. Write to the Rebbe if you are ready to take the position." I wrote to the Rebbe very straight asking, that is I'm ready if this and this, then I'm ready to take this. To see if the Rebbe wants it and, uh, if the Rebbe wants it and, uh, I'm capable for it, I'm ready to give myself over to the shlichus. And the Rebbe surrounded all the words, the Rebbe wants it, the Rebbe wants it, and I am capable. He surrounded the whole thing. And, uh, in the same letter, uh, when I wrote that I was proposed to write in to the Rebbe, I said that I know that the Rebbe wants, uh, somebody to be in kollel the whole year. Besides the point, I even don't have a- Even don't have a, don't have a, don't have a collar, then I don't have a wife. I-- How can I go to Shlichas? I got this. The Rebbe answered, "You have a Shidduch with Shlichas. Look for Shidduch." Besides that, he surrounded the whole other words. He puts, "You

1:46:30 Speaker 1 have a Shidduch with Shlichas." And then about what I wrote, the Rebbe wants to be in Kollel a year after the marriage. The Rebbe wrote, "Kan shoyne, he is different." Okay, um, then-

1:46:52 Speaker 6 Now you have to find the Shidduch.

1:46:53 Speaker 1 Uh?

1:46:54 Speaker 6 Now you have to find the Shidduch.

1:46:55 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, yeah. This was, uh... They have- They have to find the Shidduch and went through three days. I didn't have, uh, any normal offer, any proper offer. I wrote into the Rebbe, "I don't have any proper offer." Already three days, the Rebbe told me to get a Shidduch. The Rebbe gave me a, a broche, Azkirat Yisrael. Some he laughed, but he said, Azkirat Yisrael. And the same day, I got from three names, uh, the Shidduch of my wife. It was a whole-

1:47:36 Speaker 6 Three, three different people?

1:47:38 Speaker 1 Yeah. Uh, it was a whole Hashgochah Protis about it also. Anyways, mamash Hashgochah Protis about the Shidduch. And this was-- I, uh... And then I wrote into the Rebbe, Yut Alef Nisan. I got from the Rebbe, his onion. Chalomot Pesach. I went, I met my wife first time. Since it was Pesach, we met in her house. And Dalet Iyor was already divorced. That means from Yut Alef Nisan till Dalet Iyor took the place, the whole, the whole thing of the preparation of the Shidduch. Okay, me, I was going on the Rebbe's places. My wife was nineteen years old. Never heard about Argentina. And, uh, here, she had to decide a Shidduch, go to Argentina on Shlichas. In one decision, everything. She says she didn't have any doubt she wanted Shlichas. There was no doubt by her, by her group of friends, you go to Shlichas, no doubt about it. She was nineteen years old, and she accepted the, the whole thing, the whole package. Okay? After the Rebbe answered both for the, for the Shidduch, and after-- And, and, and the answer when we wrote about when making the Chassan, et cetera, et cetera, the Rebbe said, "Iso Lesham Koidem Achassan" should co-go already to Argentina before the wedding. "Veyagzer Likan Leachassan" and come back here for the Chassan. And the Rebbe took care of the ticket. He paid for the ticket. And, um, um, I asked the Rebbe, "I'm getting married." Vov, Vov Tammuz was the marriage. And, uh, this-- we were here. Uh,

1:50:13 Speaker 1 I was traveling Take Vov or Zayni, or I was traveling to Argentina.

1:50:18 Speaker 6 What year is this?

1:50:20 Speaker 1 Lamed Ches.

1:50:21 Speaker 6 Mm-hmm.

1:50:23 Speaker 1 And, uh, I asked the Rebbe, uh, if since I'm traveling to Shlichas before the wedding, I have to learn before, uh, the wedding, if I am-- if I have a refuz to take from my Shlichas two hours a day, one hou-hour from Nigle and one hour for Shlichas-- for, for Chassidus. And then I also ask, "And how should I organize my Sidri Alimut when I'm already on Shlichas?"

1:50:57 Speaker 6 When you're married.

1:50:58 Speaker 1 Kavua. Kavua. And the first thing the Rebbe answered, "Kaposhut," obvious you can take the two hours and learn. And when I get later, the Rebbe answered, "Yachlit BeAgia Hazman," decide when time comes. When I received the answer, really, I felt like the Rebbe didn't, didn't answer me. "Yachlit BeAgia Hazman", you decide. Like the Rebbe pulled himself out. He doesn't wanna take achrayus of my learning. He doesn't want-- He doesn't wanna say, and then I don't fulfill. I don't know why the Rebbe said like this. But like he moved-- he removed himself from, from the union. That's what I felt as a groys idiot in this moment. But really, with time, I understood this was the answer. When you are a Shlichas, you have to decide. There are moments when you have more time. There are moments you don't have time. There are moments that you need it. You need it And you have to make time. It's not something that is, uh, how you say, uh, is not nailed how to do it. Every situation is different. Every moment, the situation is different. Every... That's what Rebbe said, . You will have to decide because it is not c- I cannot give you one for always. The for always is you take decision how to, when to learn, how to learn.

1:52:55 Speaker 6 Mm-hmm.

1:52:56 Speaker 1 My wife- Yeah. Yeah. My wife stayed in New York for the chasunah, and I was coming back two weeks before the chasunah. One week before the chasunah and one week before because I almost-- I barely saw my wife at all 'cause I, uh, saw her first time and already traveled. How, how, how m- how many times did I see her in the... So I came a week at least, two weeks before the chasunah to see her again. Anyways, uh, came Shavuos, came Shavuos, and, um, was yechidas. Klalis already started. Yechidas klalis then after Shavuos also the Rebbe sitting by the door, receiving the panim, giving the dollars. And a friend of my, uh, wife that was getting married was going on yechidas. And Rabbi Klein tells my wife, "Are you going on yechidas tonight?" And he said-- my wife said, "No." "Why?" He said, "Why not?" "I'm going to go into yechidas when my husband, when my choson comes, comes. I'm going to go a chos- a boruche for chasunah alone. I go to a boruche together with my choson when, uh, when he comes back. When he comes back, uh, okay, it's going to be sheva berachos. You'd be s- you'd be stamus. You got to be married vof stamus. You'd be stamus. In the end of the sheva berachos, we will go into yechidas." And Rabbi Klein s-said, "You go in today, and then you go again." The kid said, they say there was that first went all the chasanim and then went

1:54:58 Speaker 1 all the kallas. When my wife came in front of the Rebbe, the Rebbe took a pack of dollars, looked at her, put the pack of dollars down, took a, took a bigger pack of dollars and gave it to her. After the yechidas, my wife asked around... Now, she received five dollars of-- by, from the Rebbe, and she asked. She saw five dollars is a, is a pretty good number. She didn't hear that the Rebbe gives out five dollars . And she asked to other girls. Those times all the girls were friends of the same kid. I mean, it wasn't a big, a huge oilam from the whole world. It was a... Ask everybody got three. Only three dollars. She got five. What happened was that when she told me she's going into yechidas, I told her, "I have to get, uh, prepared because when you are going to go there, I'm also going to be there. The machshave, the rotsen. You're not going. I also want. I'm going to be with you the machshave since I'm going with you on yechidas." And we explained. We understood that the Rebbe gave my wife five dollars 'cause she also gave for me because even though the Rebbe didn't ask her her name, they were g- the whole shul of girls. She went through. When the Rebbe looked at her, she-- He already had the dollars in the hand, put it down and put-- took more.

1:56:52 Speaker 6 Amazing. Okay. So then you had the chasunah. The takah went again sheva berachos. That's what happened.

1:57:01 Speaker 1 Yeah. Yeah. And then happened what I told you, the story of megazim ubiyeser.

1:57:10 Speaker 6 That was-

1:57:12 Speaker 1 Yeah. This was by the yechidas then.

1:57:15 Speaker 6 So then you went as a couple to Argentina?

1:57:18 Speaker 1 Yeah.

1:57:19 Speaker 6 So what happened going to Argentina?

1:57:23 Speaker 1 What happened was that, uh, okay, the Rebbe first gave us a shliach mitzvah, and he also gave me pesos, Argentinian pesos. Three thousand Argentinian pesos he gave me. That really these pesos were not, uh, already i-i- in, uh-

1:57:52 Speaker 6 Circulation

1:57:52 Speaker 1 ... in circulation. And they were already changed because they had on, on, on top of them, they had a, a stamp changing their value. That means was already changed one time the value and then was out of circulation. But that means the Rebbe had these dollars from long time ago. He kept the dollars, gave it to me, three thousand dollars. Uh, three thousand pesos. Were three bills. Each bill was thousand pesos. Each bill was thousand pesos. And, uh, he gave me Uh, $5. $5. When, when we stood next to the door of Gan Eden HaTachton-

1:58:36 Speaker 6 So you went together this time?

1:58:37 Speaker 1 Yes, yes.

1:58:38 Speaker 6 Mm-hmm.

1:58:38 Speaker 1 We went together to receive the berachah for, for, for going out on, on the shlichus. Yeah. And, uh, we, uh, we're standing there. The Rebbe came out of, from, from Mincha, and he saw us, and he said, "Zol zain gute psules. Zol farn gezunterheit." And first of all, the normal way the Rebbe used to say was, "Farn gezunterheit. Mezol herrn gute psules. Zam psules teyves." I traveled a lot of times. All this the Rebbe used to say, "Farn gezunterheit. Mezol herrn psules teyves." This time the Rebbe said, first, "Mezol, mezol, mezol herrn gute psules. Mezol farn gezunterheit." He said it farkert, and he said everything in Yiddish. D-different than always. The second thing, the Rebbe stressed every word he said. He didn't speak flu-fluent. Was s-s-stressing e-every, every word. After this, I told my wife, "Something is happening." Cholayfa, we took the plane. Took the plane. The plane was supposed to make, let's say, uh, to Buenos Aires, two, two stops in the middle. We might have made three stops and, uh, took time, uh, et cetera. Ar-arrived to Chile. Arrived to Chile, uh, already late morning. Was supposed to arrive early morning and right away to come to Buenos Aires, trav-- mamshich to Buenos Aires. And, but arrived late morning, and people were started complaining. But... No, but before, um, I forgot something. And they said, "Our plane is leaving nine o'clock at night." People started complaining. What this-- "We, we, we came late here. Then we have the whole day in, in, in

2:01:12 Speaker 1 Chile. Nine o'clock at night we have to leave." Was, was, was... People started complaining. Then was a military regime in, uh, in Chile, and they controlled the airports and everything, and also the company was a national company, LAN Chile. And I told my wife, "What do they think? They can plan it out? They, they say like this, it's like this." I mean, I mean, but, but, but you-- you're talking also forty-eight years ago. What, uh, what you complaining, uh, to the people in the company? They, they said the plane is going out at nine o'clock. It's going out at nine o'clock. What can you do? Then I said, half an hour later, they call up all passengers of this flight of LAN Chile, "Go boarding." What happened? We're boarding. Okay. Looks like the tzinus of Katebsa in effect. We're boarding. We came-- We went out on a plane of another company called Aero Peru. And, uh, we went on top on, on this, uh, uh, flight. Like at one o'clock we went on top. Yeah. We arrived in Buenos Aires two thirty. When we arrived in Buenos Aires, they say the luggage is not here. Why? Because they transferred some of the passengers. All the passengers, they already went to eat. They sat down to eat. They s- they, they stayed there already. Said, "Okay, we're going tonight. Okay." Those that were waiting just there went into Aero Peru, and they, they only transferred a few passengers, half of the passengers, let's say. And without

2:02:58 Speaker 1 the luggage, okay, came to Buenos Aires. We say, "Okay, we will wait for the luggage." Wait for the luggage. We didn't go back to the city because to go back city is one hour, come back is another hour, again then hour, hour. Okay, we stay then wait, wait there for the luggage. It's already-- It was like nine o'clock at night, ten o'clock at night, people come running into the airport. What happened? The plane fell down. The plane coming from Chile fell down. I told the guy, "You are joking." He says, "No, it's true." What happened was-

2:03:38 Speaker 6 There's passengers on it.

2:03:40 Speaker 1 And he, he... Listen, listen. The p- the, the, the plane, I don't know why, went down two kilometers before the airport and got into the trees. There is a, a, a sadeh. A, a sadeh, a, a field next to the airport, and it got stuck in the, in the trees of the sadeh. What happened was that since the, the plane was half empty because half of the passengers went in the prior flight of Aero Peru, they all had time to, to jump from the plane. There was not one casualty. Not one casualty. And right after the people f-jumped down, the whole plane went on flames. And we have-- I have in my house the paper, the newspaper, big headlines, "By miracle was no, no," uh, how do you say? "Catastrophe." Not one person passed away, died. Not one person. So then, the Rebbe talked clear, and I got yet the word. I-- So then I say .

2:05:11 Speaker 6 You had no luggage.

2:05:12 Speaker 1 No luggage. No luggage. But But Most people say they came with the sack on their back. You came without a sack on your back? No, I had it on the back. Okay, fine. But not the rest of the stuff. Yeah, I had it on the back. Yeah, yeah, because I had all the of the that I had and answers with me. Wow. I wanted to send it in the luggage, and my brother came and says, "You don't send this on the luggage. You take this in the hand." I said, "What's the difference in the hand or the luggage?" What's the difference between the hand or the luggage? Uh. Also the, the, the, the, the, the, the Shabbos candles there that I-- the Shabbos lighter uh, that I brought for the Hasida. All these thing we had in the, in our hands. All the, all the precious things that you cannot recover, we had in our hands. And what happened was, okay, all my... I met a nurse. I, I, I met a, a lawyer for, for these kinds of accidents. One time I s- I saw him, not, not before and not after, only one time. And he told me in the code that what they want, the companies wanna pay is according to some kind of value of the gold, and that this is not legally right. You have to mod-- You have to, uh, ask, request. They should pay you according to, uh, to, to London, the value of the gold in London.

2:06:48 Speaker 1 And when they, the vice president came and, and he started telling me, "We're going to give you this and..." I told him, "No, but you have to give me this. This is..." "Okay, what did you have inside?" I, I told him what I, uh, I just got married. The kids said they gave me seven thousand dollars. With this seven thousand dollars, we paid to buy an apartment. And my, my, my father and my mother-in-law, they both gave us money to buy again all the things in America, and then we got it here. But the kids are... And next morning, I called up Rabbi Hodakov. I told him what happened. And the Rebbe's answer was This was the Rebbe's answer. Mm-hmm. Amazing. But it was interesting that the Rebbe didn't make any, any fuss of it. Any, made any... You know? Like, "Forget about it and keep on going." Mm-hmm. He didn't make from it a whole story. Uh, Okay. So tell me, tell me about... So what, what were you doing there? What, what was the Uh? What did you do then i-in those early years? Oh. Now, first of all, I tell you something. I'm not going b-- Let's, uh, let's change a little the Seder. A month later, after we arrived, a few parents came to ask, asking us we should start a, a, a girls' seminary, a high school. Why? Because these girls were learning in a Bes Yankov school in Buenos Aires, and there, here what used to be election-- There

2:08:50 Speaker 1 are elections here in the Yiddish Kehila. There are also, like in Israel, you have the par- different parties. The same parties you have in Argentina also for the Yiddish Kehila. And the, you had in the Haredische Yigwan two parties. And the girls, these girls didn't work for the party of the school. They worked for another Haredische party. It's like a party in the government? No, in the Kehila. In the Kehila. Yeah, okay. Yeah. And there was a rabbi. He was a big, big misnagid. He threw out all the girls that didn't help for this party. And the parents of these girls came to us and told us they were connected more to Chabad, those, those parents. They have some connection to Chabad, Rabbi Baumgarten. We should... Why don't we should open a, a, a high school for the girls? Fifteen girls. I wrote in to the Rebbe, and the Rebbe gave me an answer, a gevaldig answer. The Rebbe answered me like this. Your starting point in your work, between brackets, the first year, to put good fundament, base, strong base, make strong and amplify The things that Chabad has in Argentina, they already exist- existing. And the word underlined. That means everything well-organized And the Rebbe gave me to understand that he wants me to build up an organized institution, not just the Hasidisher or the Chulu Chulu. I should start a new, a new way of, uh, of, uh, of work of Chabad in Argentina in a well-organized institutional way. And then the

2:11:42 Speaker 1 Rebbe wrote, "Moyset Misukana," then, the, oh, "Bedarkei Noyam." No, this is the first thing is to yeah. And then he wrote, "" To conquer your-- conquer public opinion, "Bedarkei Noyam, Bedarkei Sholem" on a, uh, agreeable, how you say? On a pleased, pleasant, and peaceful way. Then he wrote, "Moyset Misukana," an institution of this type, we're talking about, uh, 15 girls. "Moyset Misukana Yidrish Riv Simas Liboyus Manoy" will demand from you ro-ro-- the m- the, the majority of your attention and your time. And as he wrote that this is also connected to Machlikess. No, the other is, uh, it has to be devoted "Lehanal" to what I wrote you before between brackets, "Bizuz Hakaayom." So it's gonna be distraction- Yeah. -from your, from your shlichus. Yes. And when he wrote me everything that Darkei Nem-- Darkei Sholem, at the end he wrote, "Heipe Hanal," conquering public opinion in a pleasant way with Darkei Noyam is opposite of going and open an institution because they threw out the girls, you go and you open another institution. This is not the way the Rebbe wants you to work. This for me is a fundamental Mamish Kaf line. Things has to be mebusasim, good, solid base. Not do things, cha, cha, cha, cha. It has to be solid. It has to be a base. It has to be strong. Yeah. And then the Rebbe told me, "Even you, you don't do things with the Recha Kaf. You have, uh, 15 girls receiving education. You have to put yourself

2:14:24 Speaker 1 into it. You don't do it with the Recha Kaf." There's no 15 girls talking 48 years ago. There's another way. It's not like today. Uh, they have the problems. We didn't have the problems that we have today. Rebbe said, "No. Chinuch, type of Chinuch, you, you have to put yourself inside. You don't do it ." And also the Rebbe befin Mesudor, I'm still working on it to do things well-organized. I didn't accomplish it yet. Okay. Why did I say this? You asked me what did I do at the beginning. When I came here, there was some in Yoni Chabad. There were things that Rabbi Baumgarten did before. I first referred to take... I remember I just came, uh, eleph, eleph, eleph, eleph Rosh Chodesh of, started shiurim, and, and there was the whole, uh, Bei Ram Tsori, Im Tzir L'Mishpoti Podem, learning Chassidus bekesher mit, mit, mit Beit Hamikdash. It was already the whole campaigns that started already in the Lameds. I'm talking we were already Lamed Ches. It was a lot. And then started Mivtzoim, going with the people, going with the those people close to Anash and Anash to go, uh, on Mivtzoim. It was a big, a big work, big work. That wasn't-- And that wasn't really done yet in Argentina. Huh? That wasn't done yet in Argentina when you came. No, it was just done. But now I came, I have to take care of now. And also was Yeshiva. Rabbi Baumgarten had the Yeshiva, um, let's say 20, 25 kids,

2:16:09 Speaker 1 uh, gold, every one of them. The one that you were in, in the Rosh Yeshiva or he had a- No, I, no, I'm not. Because when I was, I was in Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim. He had his own Yeshiva at that point. He has a Yesh- Af- He was thrown out from Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim. Mm-hmm. And also, th-there was an organization that was connected to Rabbi Baumgarten. The scenes they were connected to Rabbi Baumgarten, they were also thrown out from, from their building. And then when they were thrown out, and Rabbi Baumgarten was thrown out from Yash- from, from Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim because came this same Misnagdishe rabbi came. Then he, he, he made sure threw out everybody, Chulu. And, uh, then today there's no-- these things don't exist anymore. Baruch Hashem, everything we represent. Sholem, Shaloh, Chulu, BeChulu. The- I'm talking history from 48 years ago. Mm-hmm. And he started his own yeshiva. He started his own yeshiva in a, in a apartment that a family close to him, uh, Abud family helped him, gave him an apartment to-- for the yeshiva, and, uh, Chaim Lapidus started... Now, he was then, he wa- Yeah, he was already back. He was already back from New York, and he, he was supporting the yeshiva financially, and, uh, he started the yeshiva. And, and this was the basis of, of, of-- The basis of Anash was the yeshiva that he made. And from them came out the, the, the, the first shluchim. When I came, I, uh, I

2:17:59 Speaker 1 appointed shluchim. Started-- Uh, the first thing I did, BeEzrat Hashem Yitbarach was to start Machne Gan Yisroel, Gan Yisroel Camp. We got married Vov Tammuz, and Tammuz here in Argentina is winter vacation. And, uh, first of all, we had Merkaz Shlichus in Argentina. We restarted Merkaz Shlichus tav shin lamed vav and lamed zayin. I went with Rabbi Daniel Levy. He's a shliach four years already in city Tucuman, one and a half hours by plane from Buenos Aires. And we went to Merkaz Shlichus in whole provinces of Argentina, 10 cities each time for a whole month. And, uh, it was Merkaz Shlichus also this year, and we started a camp with this same bochurim, started a camp. I was in New York getting married while we had a camp here in Argentina for non-frum children. It was a camp for non-frum children, and this was the first, let's say, new peuleh, camp Gan Yisroel. We had, like, forty, fifty kids overnight camp. Not from-- Not from families. They had the, uh, emun. They have the confidence to give their children to these Orthodox rabbis. It was a special time also in Argentina politically. It was under a military regime, and all organizations were, like, closed by, by the government. All the youth organizations that mainly they were more lefties, they were all closed. That's why I didn't know the whole thing, but the peuleh, this made it a lot of kids. We brought kids from all c- from all the country. We traveled with a, with

2:20:07 Speaker 1 a bus from bringing from, from different cities. We brought kids, seventy kids. This was this half a year later, we had a, a, a, a, a summer camp. And later on, I tell you, right away, the first month, I was asked from a school called Wolfson School to teach the kids bar mitzvah. Okay. I taught these kids bar mitzvah. Some of them, I just found them forty-eight years later. Yeah. But the main, the main story is that twenty years ago, we took over the Wolfson School, Chabad. Mm-hmm. Wow. The, the school was going into bankruptcy. By a nes, mamesh, we took over the school. The school just had one hundred and eighteen children left, and today the school has five hundred and fifty children. Wow. But this was the first school where I went in that I taught the children to put on tefillin. It was a conservative s-school under the conservative movement. But the meneheles was Orthodox-minded. That's why she called me to teach. This was the first peuleh, let's say, outside. Wow. Were there, um, other herois that you got from the Rebbe over the years for the shlichus? I had to settle. I, I, I, I had to... We, we, we-- I had to settle. I wrote, I wrote to the Rebbe after two, three years, I was on shlichus maybe, yeah, three years. I, uh... The, the, the, the Yiddish kehillah called for a meeting, called for a meeting for all the O-Orthodox organizations that, uh, assimilation is very strong, and

2:22:13 Speaker 1 now they-- nobody is doing nothing. I was sitting there, and I felt very bad. What do you mean nobody's doing nothing? We were working. We were used to go to schools. We had, uh, uh, we had sukkah mobiles. We're going to all the non-religious schools. We, we used to go to all the country clubs of the non-religious. We went everybody. We gave shiurim. We, we, we, we brought Ra- uh, Professor Branover, all of our shluchim to Argentina to give lectures. We had, uh, we had great, great peules, mamesh, great peules we had here. And, uh, how do they say nobody's doing anything? Okay, you can say it's not enough, but not to mention the work of Chabad. And when I wrote a, a, a, a duch to the Rebbe, I used to write a duch everything that's going on. I wrote a duch, I wrote about this meeting, and I wrote they had chelishus hadas. They didn't mention the work of Chabad But I didn't ask for the question. He was part of a whole long . And next to it, the Rebbe put a question mark and a, and a, how you say, exclamation mark, and wrote next to the words , what means "Korev levadai shehaysod yud sh'lohem hu mehakinas sofrim meihatslachosoi vedal." Then we had the whole about the matzahs. You know them? I mean, uh, it's a- What's the story? Huh? What's the story of the matzahs? Yeah. The story of the matzahs was Mem Alef, Mem Beis, as I remember.

2:24:13 Speaker 1 Mem Alef, Mem Beis, um, was a big, big devaluation in Argentina of the dol- of the peso, and somebody told... And also in, in Brazil, and somebody told the Rebbe about it and told that, uh, it's going to be a problem with matzahs because you bring... Matzahs come from Israel, and you pay dollars, and it's going to be a price that people will not be able to afford it. And Rabbi Holokov contact me and ask me if there is enough matzahs. Really, I didn't see a special... But he asked me if there are matzahs. I told him, "Really, there's not enough matzahs," because there was here a main, a main factory baking matzahs, but the main production was without no hashgacha, kemach min hashuk, nothing. And even make a, a... Most of the people in the street used to buy these matzahs, and they brought matzahs from Israel, but for, let's say, ten thousand kilos, five thousand kilos. So not for the whole-- for hundred thousand Jews that live in Buenos Aires, hundred and fifty thousand Jews. "B'kitzer," I answered, "No, it's not enough." He said, "How much you need?" I told him, "No. If there are two hundred thousand Jews, at least one kilo per, per, per Jew for a whole week, one kilo matzah for Jew." He said, "I need two hundred thousand kilos." Two hundred thousand kilos is like four hundred thousand pounds. Need four hundred thousand pounds. Mm-hmm. And I say, "How many matzahs arrived? Two and a half thousand kilos."

2:25:56 Speaker 1 Okay. That's what it is. But the Rebbe was very involved in it, very involved in it, and I felt that the Rebbe was on the, on the telephone. I think so, but... Wow. And, uh, and I wrote everything to the Rebbe. Everything to the Rebbe, what we did, the whole... Even I also wrote there was a Satmar, uh, Rav though that was a friend of mine, that he was asking me what's, what's going on because the matzahs were machine matzahs. Were machine matzahs. And if a Lubavitch take machine matzahs, what take when hand matzah? And he heard, he asked me, "Why do you give out matzahs, uh..." It was, I think, hashgacha of Soloveitchik. "Why don't you bring a better hashgacha for machine matzahs?" I wrote everything to the Rebbe. "B'kitzer," next year, next year, I was in New York together with Rabbi, uh, Veitman, and Rabbi Holokov calls us. And we used to go all Shevat when the summer here, go to New York. It was before Pesach, and- You used to go to Rabbi, Rabbi Veitman together- No, no, no. But he was also from Brazil. He's the same... Yeah. Yeah, and, and we were both- I, I ju- I just interviewed him, and he spoke about how you and him went to Russia together. Yes, yes, yes, yes. But here is another story. This- Mm-hmm. This story took place in seventeen seventy. Mm-hmm. And, uh, Rabbi Holokov calls us both, and he ask us if we need matzah for this year. How

2:27:39 Speaker 1 much matzah do we need? He ask us how much matzah do we need. I told Rabbi Holokov, "Rabbi Holokov, last year you asked me how much matzah do we need. I told you we need two hundred thousand kilos. You sent two and a half thousand. Whatever you will send, we will use." That's what I told him. Two days later, Rabbi Holokov calls us again to his room and tells, "The Rebbe was very non-pleased from your answer. You have to say what you need. You don't have to make the calculation of the other person." Wow. From there, I also got a strong . Then we had another thing that, um, some yeshiva wanted, we should take them over. We, we wrote to the Rebbe about it, that they, they, they came, and they want to give over the whole yeshiva. And the Rebbe answered, "oy atem choshvim she'omar cach." "Ha b'kitzer o inyan" The Rebbe was very involved. The Rebbe was on the telephone speaking to me about it and even giving the name, the whole... But the Rebbe had a clear condition. Chabad doesn't make shutfas with nobody. And said because when you have two different shutfim, this is the way for machlokes. It has to be one balebos. There is one balebos, no machlokes. Okay? So the Rebbe didn't want Chabad to do something in conjunction? Yes. That's- If we take over, we take them in consideration. The Rebbe wanted to keep their name, everything, take them in consideration. Like Los Angeles, the

2:29:42 Speaker 1 yeshiva. Yeah, yeah. The Rebbe brought them, them... The, the Rebbe brought the example from Los Angeles. The Rebbe said- To you? In Yichas? Yes. On the phone. On the phone? We're speaking. Yeah. Mm-hmm. You know, like Chabad. The Rebbe spoke... You heard the Rebbe on the telephone? Yes. Yes. The Rebbe said, like, Chabad. Huh. And, and he said Yeshivas Chabad Buenos Aires... Buenos Ay- No. The yeshiva was called... Okay, I don't wanna ex- give more detailsabout it. And, and, uh, at the end, they said there should be a, a vat of three Balebotim if there is any, any misunderstanding. They, they should be like a consulting vat. And, uh, the Rebbe said, Like he, he drew himself out of it. Since like this-

2:30:55 Speaker 7 And that-

2:30:55 Speaker 1 Huh?

2:30:56 Speaker 7 Like that's, that's all, that's all I'm saying about this topic.

2:30:59 Speaker 1 Yes, yes. And Rebbe said every... No, Rebbe before that, previous says, uh, everything has to be legal. The Balebotiskait has to be legal. Legal, legali. That's, that's why I'm saying it because I think this is a in, in, in, in .

2:31:31 Speaker 7 Mm-hmm.

2:31:32 Speaker 1 And when I came into Yechidas half a year later, more than half a year later, came into Yechidas in the room, the Rebbe, the first thing the Rebbe asked me, "What happened with the yeshiva?" This is the first thing the Rebbe asked me. I say, I told to the Rebbe, The Rebbe laughed and said,

2:32:17 Speaker 7 You don't, so you don't, you don't have to always blame it on the Rebbe. I'm saying the Rebbe saying, "I'm telling you-

2:32:21 Speaker 1 That's what I said. The Rebbe telling,

2:32:28 Speaker 7 Wow.

2:32:29 Speaker 1 And then the Rebbe says, "Don't worry. Don't become, uh, this, uh..." How do you say, uh, ? Don't, don't become, uh, this, uh-

2:32:46 Speaker 7 Dejected, dejected.

2:32:47 Speaker 1 No, no. Don't, don't become, uh... Without, uh, don't make-- Don't feel bad, let's say. Don't feel bad. Keep on going your, your, your, your, your work and give big broches.

2:33:02 Speaker 7 Well, the tach is a yeshiva now, Chabad National.

2:33:05 Speaker 1 Yeah. Today, the Yeshivas Chabad today is a big yeshiva, 160 bochurim and then Siftah.

2:33:11 Speaker 7 Yeah.

2:33:11 Speaker 1 We're now thinking about rebuilding the whole, the building. No, what are you talking? Bochurim learned in Mamash. They couldn't believe it.

2:33:40 Speaker 7 Wow. Okay. There's a story you had with, uh, answer.

2:33:49 Speaker 1 Oh, this was 10 years.

2:33:52 Speaker 7 Yeah.

2:33:53 Speaker 1 Ten years after I was on Shlichas, I wrote a tzedakah to the Rebbe-

2:33:59 Speaker 7 Mm-hmm

2:33:59 Speaker 1 ... asking a broche but I wrote that I feel after 10 years, I feel more, I feel weaker and weaker . That's what I wrote, the, the nikude. And the Rebbe pointed about it, What did I understand? Melech, you are a Shliach. Melech. Aber zoken. That means you feel weak you have, you feel we-weak, weak As a Shliach can, can feel weak If you are a Shliach, you cannot feel like that. I wrote to the Rebbe after 10 years of Shlichas, I was expecting some kind of a broche. But if you don't feel after 10 years Shlichas, you don't feel the privilege, you don't feel you're strong, you don't feel the simcha, you don't feel the chayas, you are a zoken uchsil.

2:35:23 Speaker 7 Okay. It's good. Did you ever write to the Rebbe about, uh, the ail of, of the, of the ail Caspi? You know, the financial burden that you, that you have? Uh, any interactions with the Rebbe about that?

2:35:35 Speaker 1 Uh, it was another story. You, you want to hear the whole, the whole 48 years in, uh, in, in three hours. Anyways, what was, was toshimin beis was the war of the Malvinas in Engla... In, in England they call it Falklands, but this is really Malvinas are Argentine They are Malvinas, not Falkland.

2:36:04 Speaker 7 Okay.

2:36:07 Speaker 1 Izve choveifen was the war. It was a very hard time also economically in the country, and I had to go and pick up some five hundred copies of, uh, of Thought of the Week. It was the Sichas Hashavua, the weekly sicha. And I didn't have money for the bus to go pick up the, the sichas. But I cannot call up somebody asking, "Do you have money to go with the bus?" It's a shame. I called somebody for donation, then I called another, and the people answered me, "You know, I already went through a war. I'm really thinking what's going to do here and if I'm staying here." I got two answers like this. I just felt, "What? What's going on here?" Yeah. I pick up the phone. It was two o'clock in the afternoon, Argentina time. Maybe in America it was one o'clock or twelve o'clock. Anyways, but it was a time when in order to get in contact to America, you needed two to three days to make the connection and also later on that America should call you back to also it used to take another day to make the connection. The maiser, I, I pick up the phone, I called up. Five minutes later, I get connected to the international service. Okay. I already get connected. They connected me to seven-seventy. But seven-seventy had two telephone numbers that were known for everybody, maskilas. Four nine three nine two five O and four nine three five two five-- Uh, four nine three nine

2:37:52 Speaker 1 two five one. They were the two, the two telephone numbers of maskilas, and they were always busy. Always busy. You have only two telephones in the world, central, two telephone lines, busy the whole time. Even if pick up, I had to s-- I wanted to speak to Rabbi Holokof to speaking about the situation. Dav men zen because Rabbi Holokof worked in Merkos and in Machne, and I don't know how other things, what he... And, and if he was working for Merkos, he didn't pick up Machne things. If he was working in Machne, he didn't pick up for Merkos things. I don't know where he was holding exactly. If you can pick up my phone. That means I had to go through a lot of mesochim uparsoes, a lot of barriers till I get to Rabbi Holokof. But here, got connected to America right away. Telephone rings. Whoa. It's not busy sign. It's ringing. "Rabbi Klein?" Right away f-f-gives me to Rabbi Holokof. No. I tell him the whole story, what's going on, and I leave it. That's it. "Okay, we'll call you back." Ten minutes later, I get a phone call from Rabbi Holokof. Also take one day. Right away. I saw that tal in Shamayim psichim, the, the, the, the tir of himels and ale ofn. S-s-sgeita sei, sgeita. Psst. And Rabbi Holokof says, "You asked for money a, a, a, a time ago." Tik taka. This was like in Sivan and, uh, was, uh, uh, it was Adar or Shevat by Rabbi Holokof

2:39:43 Speaker 1 asking for money.

2:39:46 Speaker 7 I'm not following. You asked for money before?

2:39:48 Speaker 1 Yes, in Adar, but never got an answer about it.

2:39:52 Speaker 7 Ah, okay. Mm-hmm.

2:39:53 Speaker 1 No, I got an answer. Rabbi Holokof told me-- You know what he told me? "Vos, you coming to take money from the Kaiser's oitzer. You come from the treasure of the tsar, you come take money. You have to bring money to the tsar's, uh, treasury. But you coming to take money from the tsar's treasury." This was his answer. Izve choveifen... But I forget about it. Okay. Uh, it's then-- But Rabbi Holokof says, "You asked for money time ago. The Rebbe appointed to give you a loan." The Rebbe wrote two thousand dollars, but he changed it to three thousand. You should have an idea, in this time, a worker, a clean worker in the Beis Chabad used to receive twenty-five dollars a month.

2:40:56 Speaker 7 Mm-hmm.

2:40:57 Speaker 1 That means two thousand doll- three thousand dollars was money.

2:41:01 Speaker 7 Right.

2:41:01 Speaker 1 And okay. "And you give it back the way you want and when you want." Ts. "And then the Rebbe gave you-- The Rebbe said," I say it like this. "The Rebbe said, 'Give over to you and the other shluchim. We didn't send you to make the calculations of the economic policy of the country. Your job is afos hasayaadus v'mayones. Your job is spreading Yiddishkeit and spreading the mayones, chassidis." He didn't say chassidis, he said mayones. Yeah. Uh, "Surely," Uh, uh, "Bit bitocham Hashem," With confidence in the Aibishter. "Surely people will ask you what you think about the future. You should say you're not a prophet." But you, your job is to spread Yiddishkeit and the ma'yones mit b'tochon Hashem. This was the answer.

2:42:19 Speaker 7 Unbelievable.

2:42:20 Speaker 1 And this is for me a key answer because if not, I wouldn't be able to go over all kinds of crisis and situations that we went through here in Argentina. We started building the new building of the school that finished already two years ago in the worst moment of pandemia of, of, of COVID.

2:42:43 Speaker 7 Mm-hmm.

2:42:43 Speaker 1 We're not allowed to be two people together, and then we start building. The worst moment. Kids are, uh... But the story didn't finish it- there. This was on a Tuesday. Thursday, a good friend of mine, Mr. Salomon Sutton, very prominent Sephardic family here in Argentina, told me, "Go to such, such bank," it was a Jewish bank, "Speak to the president, ask him for a donation. They have money now." I told him, "It's already after banking hours." It was after 3:00, after 4:00. He says, "No problem. You go, you bang the door by the street, you say you wanna speak to the president, and you ask for the donation." Okay. I came there, I banged the door. It never occurred to me I can bang the door of a bank after banking hours. But I went and banged the door. They opened me. I say, "Well, I come to speak to the president." They let me go up to the president's office. I speak to the president's secretary, and it's-- and he goes into his office. He says, "Wait, he will receive you." At 7:00, he received me. I tell him, "You don't know me. I'm doing here the work of Chabad." He says, "I know you very well. I know whatever you do. You don't have to tell me." It was first time I was meeting him. "Tell me what you need." And I told him, "I have a debt of people twenty-five thousand dollars, and it doesn't let me work because of the debt.

2:44:46 Speaker 1 I cannot do things because I have to concentrate the whole time, and I have to pay paper." He says, "Don't worry. Tomorrow we give you the twenty-five thousand dollars."

2:44:56 Speaker 7 Wow!

2:44:58 Speaker 1 This was the first big donation that I received from a donor. I was receiving money from Lapidus family, very nicely, yeah, by, by, for the yeshiva. But from somebody out of the Chabad circle was the first big donation. Then I received some millions from them.

2:45:23 Speaker 7 From the, from the bank?

2:45:24 Speaker 1 Yes.

2:45:28 Speaker 7 Wow!

2:45:28 Speaker 1 The Tzareno, the, the bank went bankruptcy. It's a whole story.

2:45:39 Speaker 7 Okay. So that's a little bit of a taste of the, of the, the miracles of Shlichus. So did you, did you bring, uh, Baal Ba'al to the Rebbe?

2:45:50 Speaker 1 Sure.

2:45:50 Speaker 7 Any story, any stories that you wanna share about that?

2:45:53 Speaker 1 I brought the Baal Ba'al to the Rebbe that, um, he broke-- He went bankrupt, see, three times. He was a Gvir, and three times he bu- he, he is This is by dollars? What are, what is it? No, no, no. It was

2:46:29 Speaker 7 Mm-hmm.

2:46:31 Speaker 1 And, um, ask for a bracha. And since then he became But lately, and also he wanted to marry his children. They have not one child married. He didn't have no money. In one year he married two of his three children. But this year, just a few weeks ago, one of his children showed me a letter that the Rebbe wrote to his father. Then I didn't know about the letter. The Rebbe tells him, wants to thank him for his help, what he's doing for the missions of the Rebbe, especially what he's doing to make bigger The Rebbe sent him the so- some-- The Rebbe thanking him for what he's doing for the missions of the Rebbe, especially for and underlined Then I have some other Baal Ba'alim. I cannot tell these stories because they are too private. Miracles

2:48:00 Speaker 7 There's a video of someone asking, uh, with you, I think by Machneh Israel, that sh- if sh- she heard that the, the Rebbe said whoever wants to be a Gvir could raise their hands, but she wasn't there, so she's asking the Rebbe a bracha for that.

2:48:14 Speaker 1 No.

2:48:14 Speaker 7 Remember that?

2:48:15 Speaker 1 Yeah, sure

2:48:18 Speaker 7 That's just something that I saw

2:48:20 Speaker 1 They've had brokers for miles and they have the gambling. The miles and they have the-- On King Axome.

2:48:33 Speaker 7 This family?

2:48:34 Speaker 1 Yes. And they know that the Koach is of the Rebbe. Last week, I was by the oil, Chavov. I called him up and asked him if he wants to have something special. And he says, "Should be able to do vital, the, the Albert, this." And then I tell him, "No, you are a partner of the Rebbe because we're now a soldier."

2:49:08 Speaker 7 Amazing. So let's end off like this. Um, how do you, uh, live with the Rebbe today in your personal life and Shlichus? And what does it mean to be a Hasid after Gematamos?

2:49:27 Speaker 1 We leave it for after Mashiach comes.

2:49:32 Speaker 7 The what?

2:49:33 Speaker 1 If you leave it after Mashiach comes, okay, it's, uh, this is, uh, too personal.

2:49:43 Speaker 7 How you're a Hasid is too personal?

2:49:45 Speaker 1 Who says I am a Hasid?

2:49:52 Speaker 7 Sound- At least you sound like one.

2:49:56 Speaker 1 I know, but you asked me to be, not to sound like. This you can-- other people can, can, can give you for sure.

2:50:09 Speaker 7 So what's the message to, to me or to anyone that listens that wants to be a Hasid today? Maybe connect to the Rebbe today the way you're describing it.

2:50:20 Speaker 1 Learn the Rebbe's Sichas and Chassidus. This is the way. Through this you have e- you have everything. Th- through this you get to everything. Through this you live with the Rebbe, and you actually get to everything.

2:50:38 Speaker 7 It's that simple?

2:50:39 Speaker 1 Yes. Uh, it's simple to say. You have to do it. Yes, you learn, you are living it, then okay. Then you, you work on yourself. Then you work on yourself. But you have with what w- with what to work.

2:51:04 Speaker 7 Mm-hmm.

2:51:04 Speaker 1 You work with the Rebbe. You don't work with, with your, uh, stomach ideas.

2:51:14 Speaker 7 Sounds very simple and a big Aveida, and, uh, I appreciate very much that, uh, this very geshmake conversation, and you should continue, uh, to ful- to fulfill the Shlichus.

2:51:28 Speaker 1 Amen. Ame-- I hope it's, uh, it's, uh, how you say? Leto Eres.

2:51:34 Speaker 7 A hundred percent. I definitely will be.

2:51:39 Speaker 1 Bye-bye.