Ep. 67: The Gerrer Chossid Who the Rebbe Always Stopped For with Rabbi Elimelech Neiman

00:00 Speaker 1 And the Rebbe saw that I was always busy with Hasidus, more than once he told me. It makes the Rebbe think that I was ight in the Zach nochit. You could talk about your private things also. Like I will listen to you. You could talk to me also.

00:18 Speaker 2 If you've been enjoying this podcast, please like and subscribe so that others can enjoy it as well. In addition, if you've benefited in any way from Among Chasidim podcast and would like to give something back, you can do so today at derher.org/donate. I'm Yossi Kamen. Welcome to Among Chasidim by Derher, 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, Rebbe Melech Neiman. How are you?

01:02 Speaker 1 Eli Melech.

01:03 Speaker 2 Eli Melech Neiman.

01:05 Speaker 1 Baruch Hashem.

01:06 Speaker 2 Thank you so much for being here. Now, I wanna say that I grew up watching videos of the Rebbe, and you're a very common, uh, feature in Kish HaBracha by dollars, and the Rebbe is always asking you, and you're always reporting to the Rebbe about what's tutzeh and what's happening by the Gerrer Rebbe and back and forth, and so many times I've seen you. So it, uh, Hashgacha Pratit that I met you, and, uh, that we're sitting here together. But I'm interested, you're obvio- obviously very involved in Hasidus Sibures. How did it all begin? I mean, I mean, you could start from where you came from, where were you born, and your upbringing a little bit, and how you got to be involved in this.

01:48 Speaker 1 Well, the truth is that I always liked to go to Godoli Yisroel, and I always liked to go to the Rebbe. I started going to the Rebbe when I was younger. And later on, I started coming to the Rebbe, and the Rebbe stop-- used to stop me and talk to me. And the, as continued, began closer, closer, and closer, and the conversations be- started becoming more and more.

02:18 Speaker 2 Okay. So you're talking about, like, when you were a young bachag, you started coming, or in German? Like, like, what, what, what years are we talking about?

02:25 Speaker 1 No, it happened after I got married. In German.

02:31 Speaker 2 So were you coming as, like, uh, in an official capacity, mitzvot ger or on your own? Like, how, how was it like?

02:36 Speaker 1 No, I, I came as myself. I came as myself. And, and I used to come to the Rebbe, and truthfully, the Rebbe st- started talking to me. That's the truth. And once that started, I became closer and closer. And once I started being oysik with Sochachiba, truthfully, I have to, I have to mention Rabbi Yosef Rosenfeld. He was the first person in Chabad who came and asked me a favor for a moysit, and that's how we st- I started becoming closer to Hasidus and Chabad.

03:19 Speaker 2 'Cause you were already involved in Hasidus in Borough Park.

03:22 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And since I had a lot of connections, he asked me for a big favor. And, and, and I came through for him.

03:32 Speaker 2 So that was your introduction to, to Chabad.

03:34 Speaker 1 To Hasidus in Crown Heights.

03:36 Speaker 2 You were very young then.

03:37 Speaker 1 I was very young.

03:38 Speaker 2 Like in your twenties or thirties?

03:40 Speaker 1 Uh, could be I was thirty years old.

03:42 Speaker 2 Wow.

03:43 Speaker 1 It was nice a lot of years ago. But I had Siyata Dishmaya, Baruch Hashem, and he came to ask me a big thing, and he says, "Meilech, you could do it." He spoke, he, he still had some Polish blood in himself.

03:57 Speaker 2 Oh, he's, uh, he comes from Gerrer.

03:59 Speaker 1 Of course, of course, of course. His Zaida went to his semester. His father was from Gerrer, I think. But, uh, we were, we, we had shichas, and he knew me, and I knew him. And he, he, he, he, he gave me all the homework for the, for the thing. And Baruch Hashem, Baruch Hashem, had Siyata Dishmaya. I had a schis to be able to help him out. But then there were certain internal issues in Crown Heights with other moistes, which I really didn't know how to go ahead. And I c- I was coming already to Lubavitch and had already connections with Reb Leibel Corona. And I reached out to Reb Leibel, and I asked him, "How do I go about with this thing?" And he went into the Rebbe, and he asked the Rebbe. And I got a very strange tshuva from the Rebbe. The Rebbe answered me then, And that gave me a very big responsibility.

05:08 Speaker 2 That he's relying on you.

05:09 Speaker 1 What?

05:10 Speaker 2 That he relies on, on you.

05:11 Speaker 1 The Rebbe relied on me. But then I said a lot of Tehillim, "Hashem, please guide me in the right direction." And I studied a little more the whole issue, and I discussed it then with Rabbi Rosenfeld, and we came up with a certain idea which it came out that they, they should get it. And I helped the other people also with other things to make everybody happy. And I went back to, to Leibel. I told him what my plan is. He said, "Reb Zichron, I want you to talk to the Rebbe before I finalize." And when he went to the Rebbe, the next day he called me up, said, "The Rebbe told me, 'Yeah, this is what you meant.'" So I was very happy. I was very thankful to Hashem.

06:02 Speaker 2 Hmm.

06:03 Speaker 1 And at the end was everybody was happy.

06:05 Speaker 2 Hmm. Amazing. So at this point you start-- Is this when you started coming to the Rebbe often?

06:13 Speaker 1 I was coming a little bit already, but then I was kinda starting... Th-this was the thing that kind of pulled me to come more often.

06:19 Speaker 2 This was the, the gateway, the entrance.

06:22 Speaker 1 The, the entrance to become more.

06:25 Speaker 2 So you're already in, um... I think it was the Pnei Menachem that came to Yechidus?

06:31 Speaker 1 The Lev Simcha was still alive.

06:33 Speaker 2 Right.

06:34 Speaker 1 He was well. He's still, still well. You're talking about, you're talking about, uh, forty years ago, what I'm telling you right now, over forty years.

06:41 Speaker 2 You're talking about early, like early mems.

06:44 Speaker 1 It was, uh, earl- It could be mem.

06:48 Speaker 2 Mem. Taf Shin Mem.

06:49 Speaker 1 Taf Shin Mem. Or if Shalamatess will talk to you right now.

06:56 Speaker 2 So you're saying that, uh, Lev Simcha was alive.

07:00 Speaker 1 He was still, uh, in good years, Lev Simcha.

07:02 Speaker 2 Right. And but-- And you were in the Yechidus with the Pnei Menachem, when the Pnei Menachem came.

07:08 Speaker 1 Pnei Menachem used to come a lot to the Rebbe. I was, uh, unfortunately, when the Lev Simcha came to the Rebbe for Yechidus, I couldn't be here because Lev Simcha came from Borough Park to Crown Heights, from Crown Heights to Williamsburg. And they asked me, he was a whole day for a nice few hours in Williamsburg, and I had to set up the whole place where he was gonna be in Williamsburg by somebody, Zilberberg. And I was o- I was origi-original from Williamsburg, so I had to go straight to Williamsburg that day.

07:44 Speaker 2 You were born in Williamsburg.

07:45 Speaker 1 Yes.

07:45 Speaker 2 Grew up there.

07:46 Speaker 1 So I had to be in Williamsburg to set up everything, so I couldn't go with the Lev Simcha-

07:52 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm

07:52 Speaker 1 ... to Crown Heights to the Rebbe that time.

07:54 Speaker 2 So can you explain me-- I guess, I think we needed a little bit of this, the background. What's the, the relationship with, uh, I guess the Beis Yisroel and the Lev Simcha and the Pnei Menachem with the Rebbe and Labavich? Like, I mean, a lot, a lot of... And I was watching the dollars and the Kesher Blacha. They always give a report about what's happening, but they got it. Is it-- What, what the-

08:15 Speaker 1 Well, the Beis Yisroel was the shliach of his father, the Imrei Emes, to the wedding of the Rebbe's wedding.

08:25 Speaker 2 So he was at the Rebbe's wedding?

08:26 Speaker 1 He was at the Rebbe's wedding. The Imrei Emes was invited, but the Imrei Emes couldn't make it, so he asked his son, the Beis Yisroel at that time. Was in Varsha, I understand.

08:37 Speaker 2 Yeah.

08:38 Speaker 1 Yeah. Uh, the Lev Simcha came to America twice as Rebbe, and one of the times he came to the Rebbe at that time. Pnei Menachem came a few times to America as-- A couple of times, more. I was always with him. I always made the appointments. I was always with him every time, and I always brought him to the Rebbe every time. And the Rebbe of today also came to America. I was-- I also brought him to the Rebbe when he came.

09:18 Speaker 2 Yeah, you could see in the, in the video you-

09:20 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, yeah

09:20 Speaker 2 ... you're right there.

09:21 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah.

09:21 Speaker 2 And when he, when he's there.

09:22 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah.

09:24 Speaker 2 So I think that when the Pnei M- when the Pnei Menachem came, that was one of the early-- That was like in Taf Shin Mem. There's like, um, there's a pic-

09:33 Speaker 1 He came, he came then to a wedding of his, of his, of his son, Arya, who he, he got married to the daughter of Menachem Klein.

09:46 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm. So what happened about Yechidus?

09:50 Speaker 1 Uh, he came officially as a, uh, with a invitation to the wedding. He, he, he br- he brung a lot of people. That time there was a very interesting story. He came along with a few nephews, with a few people. One of the nephews was a Nachman Alter. Sorry, that's an in- an interesting story that you think about. That u- that nephew, Nachman Alter, was a brilliant, brilliant person. And he, he, he was a nephew two times because Nachman Alter's grandfather was a brother of the Imrei Emes and Mosheatzalu. It's nobody. His, his, his, his grandfather was a son of, uh, Nachman Mosheatzalu, and his mother was a daughter of the Imrei Emes. So he was twice a nephew from the Pnei Menachem. And he had written a letter to the Rebbe over twenty years before this, uh, time he came to the Rebbe regarding Sidras HaMashiach. Since he was in Israel, and that's sure there's no Achrei Mot on the Shmini Atzeret. So he claimed that Sidras HaMashiach is Shmini Atzeret, not Achrei Mot. He wrote a seven-page letter to the Rebbe. This story is a famous story, but I heard it myself from him, 'cause when he used to come a lot to America, he used to eat by me Shabbos. I was very close to him. So then we would shite. And he wrote to the letter. A year later, the Rebbe answered him. It was one and a half pages to, to prove all the things that he wrote. The Rebbe

11:47 Speaker 1 explains to him that all the reasons that he's writing is not correct. Now, he is an Israeli, so he wrote Alter Alef, Lamed, Taf, Reish. His grandfather, the Imrei Emes, was from Poland, so he used to write Alter Alef, Lamed, Tes, Reish, his grandfather, the Imrei Emes. So after the Rebbe finishes the letter, the Rebbe writes on the bottom of the letter in Yiddish- If his grandfather wrote Alter like you with a tuf, or Alter like you with a tes, or Alter with a tuf. That's all.

12:29 Speaker 2 Okay.

12:29 Speaker 1 That's how the Rebbe finishes up the letter, last part of the le- letter, last line of the letter. When he came over 20 years, 20 and a half years later-

12:39 Speaker 2 With the Pnei Manachem

12:40 Speaker 1 ... with the Pnei Manachem, he never wrote a letter to the Rebbe. He never was in America. He never saw the Rebbe. He comes in with his Pnei Manachem, his uncle, and Pnei Manachem, he came with two more nephews.

12:54 Speaker 2 You, you were there. You were there.

12:56 Speaker 1 Yom Ha'alte was there, and one nephew, and Moshe Sheinfeld, and could have been was another one. And the Pnei Manachem introduces all the nephews to Pnei Manachem, "These are Pnei Manachem, "These are my nephews." He was the youngest of them all. He was the last one. So when it comes to him, uh, Pnei Manachem says, "This is my Pnei Manachem, Shemaia Alte from Bnei Brak. This is my nephew, Shemaia Alte from Bnei Brak." On the second, the Rebbe asks him, "You resent, that was written, 'Alter with the tuf?' You are the one who wrote to me Alter with the tuf?" He tells me, when he told me the story, again, when he spoke to me about the story-

13:42 Speaker 2 Afterwards

13:42 Speaker 1 ... afterwards, he says, "It's like I wrote the letter 10 minutes ago, and it was 20 years later. I never was... The first time I'm here, it's the only time I ever wrote a letter to him. We never had correspondent a different time."

14:00 Speaker 2 Yes.

14:01 Speaker 1 Interesting.

14:02 Speaker 2 It's mehodik.

14:03 Speaker 1 Mehodik.

14:05 Speaker 2 This is something you saw with your own eyes.

14:09 Speaker 1 Yeah. Well, he himself was so oppressed, this person-

14:14 Speaker 2 Right

14:14 Speaker 1 ... when he was talking about it.

14:17 Speaker 2 Wow. And this that, uh, if he, the Pnei Manachem that time davened Mincha with the Rebbe?

14:22 Speaker 1 Not that time, no.

14:23 Speaker 2 Different time?

14:24 Speaker 1 Different time. A different time.

14:25 Speaker 2 Or that?

14:26 Speaker 1 He came here, I told you, he came a few times.

14:28 Speaker 2 Right.

14:28 Speaker 1 He was a few times by the Rebbe. It was a lot of times by the Rebbe. More than once, more than three times.

14:32 Speaker 2 Very interesting picture that he's sitting.

14:34 Speaker 1 Yeah.

14:34 Speaker 2 It came out only a few years ago. He's sitting in front of the-

14:37 Speaker 1 I had the picture ready a few days later.

14:40 Speaker 2 Oh, okay. I-it was not my first time.

14:43 Speaker 1 Yeah.

14:43 Speaker 2 You're, you're in the picture at that time.

14:44 Speaker 1 I'm standing over there.

14:45 Speaker 2 Yeah. Oh. Um-

14:50 Speaker 1 The Rebbe told him-- He was standing, and the Rebbe told him to sit. Pnei Manachem was standing.

14:55 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

14:56 Speaker 1 With the-- 'Cause he always stands by davening, but the Rebbe told him to sit.

15:01 Speaker 2 So they brought a chair.

15:02 Speaker 1 They brought a chair.

15:02 Speaker 2 Yeah, it's not a regular seat over there.

15:04 Speaker 1 The Rebbe told to bring a chair.

15:06 Speaker 2 Uh-huh.

15:08 Speaker 1 Interesting, the Rebbe was sitting on a bench, and he is sitting on a chair.

15:11 Speaker 2 Chair.

15:12 Speaker 1 I was there. I still remember it.

15:14 Speaker 2 And that's, uh... I mean, Misami is so up close, the Rebbe's HanhaGa, with the, everything with the, with the prittus, the Rebbe sitting on a bench, you know, these type of things.

15:27 Speaker 1 I davened a few times on that room over there.

15:29 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

15:30 Speaker 1 Whenever I used to go to that shul, I told you I used to come, a lot of times I used to come to Mincha, to Maariv. He said, "Lady davened downstairs," but he said, "I don't know who's upstairs."

15:40 Speaker 2 So every time you go to Eretz Israel, you would go to the Rebbe before?

15:43 Speaker 1 I used to send, notify a day before that I'm going to Eretz Israel, and I used to come to daven Mincha or Maariv, and the Rebbe always used to call me in, give me Shelich Mitzvah money, and send, give me how much if I go myself, I go with my wife, and something with the child. The Rebbe used to give me ten shekel for each person.

16:10 Speaker 2 In Gan Eden Atach.

16:11 Speaker 1 In Gan Eden Atach.

16:12 Speaker 2 You, you go, you would go into the-

16:12 Speaker 1 He would always call me in.

16:15 Speaker 2 Hmm. I think there's something famous that the Rebbe told you one of those times.

16:22 Speaker 1 It was one time, I even remember when it was, because, uh, it was a wedding from Rabbi Yom Tov Klein, made a wedding of a child, and I came to the wedding. So I came to Maariv, and after Maariv, before the Rebbe goes out, he turns around to me, like I should follow him. So I was following him. I came inside, and then I was going with the child, and at that time, it was after the Rebbetsin passed away, because the door was open for his room. He went in, and he came out with two ten shekel. Leibel tells him, "A fort mit a kind." So the Rebbe goes back in, and the door was open, and I couldn't get to myself for a long time, because I saw the bed over there. The bed was... I don't know if it was a thirty-inch bed. Forget about a thirty-six-inch bed, and the mattress was... I don't know if it was three inches, not even three inches. It was the, the smallest folding bed that I ever saw, and I just, I just couldn't handle it. I just... This is, this is... I knew that, uh, "Mo shebeini ish el ekim," but ish, as long as ish, you have to make sure that the time that he has to take care of his "ishmatam saf shasaicham" should be... It was probably this what he wanted, that, uh... But I, I, I was, I was, I was very emotional for, for a long time.

18:02 Speaker 2 Just from seeing that.

18:03 Speaker 1 I couldn't, I couldn't get to myself. This is, this is what it is. I saw it that I couldn't get to myself. And he came out with three ten shekel, and when he comes out, he tells me, "Ich darf ech zog a yashr keyech." Look at him He saw that I was, he versteht nisht. He said, "Nein." He said, "You can't make zogen a vot ketz Yisroel, and with them can I make shlich Mitzvah to send tzedakah ketz Yisroel? And he weiß that he hold as when we send shlich Mitzvah tzedakah ketz Yisroel, helps us bring Moshiach. And he weiß, I'm a zogt of mich as if I'm crazy for Moshiach." I got very emotional because he was speaking to me so warmth, so personal. So I tell him, "Halavai, halavai vot gevin noch azalecher vot gevolt Moshiach, and the Aibishter zoll shoin helfen, and the Rebbe zoll shoin fiden a keg Moshiach." I told him, "Halavai, halavai, it should be very more, should be so warm and wanting Moshiach like the Rebbe. And Hashem should help that the Rebbe zoll shoin fiden a keg Moshiach bekurav mamash, mamash, mamash." And the Rebbe gave a scream, "Amen. Mamash, mamash, azoy wie iz zogt. It should be like you say, amen, mamash, mamash." And I was-- At that minute, I saw like Moshiach is his life. He's Moshiach. He wants Moshiach. That's all he wants, only Moshiach. All his life, he wants Moshiach. And after, when the Rebbe back in the room, Leiba comes over to

20:05 Speaker 1 me with tears in his eyes, and he tells me, "Melech, az kh'kayft oylem haba. Melech, you just bought yourself oylem haba," the way he answered to the Rebbe. And it came from my emotion, from my personal feeling, the way the Rebbe was talking.

20:24 Speaker 2 Wow. So you didn't, um... It sounds like, I mean, in all the-

20:33 Speaker 1 It came natural.

20:34 Speaker 2 I'm saying, yeah, in, in all the-- And I'm watching the videos. A lot of times it's, uh, you're giving a report, and the Rebbe reflect noch about what's happening in Ger, and how's the Rebbe, the Ger Rebbe doing. But you're saying that it was like it wasn't just that. There was some, like, uh, connection, an emotional connection that you had with the, with the Rebbe personally.

20:56 Speaker 1 Let me tell you, um, you get a little older. Today's time, I always saw that I worked very hard, I was very busy, and I came a lot. I had such a, a magnet that pulled me to come to Seven seventy to the Rebbe. Whenever I came to the Rebbe, I don't think there was ever a time that I went by the Rebbe, the Rebbe himself. If it was downstairs, I came to Halomoit, the Rebbe would walk by, he stop talking to me. There wasn't a time. And Beshas Masa, I tell you the truth, we all knew that the Rebbe was the greatest of the greatest, but you're still young, you don't concentrate, you don't stop thinking. Now, years later, you grow up, and you see that normally Rebbes that passed away, there comes the next Rebbe, and, you know, mefages da bisel. Today, in Lubavitch, it doubles, it triples. It becomes much more, more shlichim. It's becoming stronger and stronger. I meet enough Lubavitcher. A lot of them come over, talk to me. Uh, much, much more. It's becoming stronger. You don't see this in the world by nobody. And you're not talking to Lubavitcher Chassid officially, even though in Ger they call me Lubavitcher. But after all, I come from Ger, I'm a Gerrer, but it's unbelievable. It's unbelievable what's going on. It's, it's-- And me myself, Beshas Masa, I wouldn't have stopped thinking for a minute. "Meilech, look what, look what's going on with you. The Rebbe stops you every time. Look

23:11 Speaker 1 what a smile he gives you." I didn't think Beshas Masa. I knew that it's different. I knew it's great. I knew everything, but the way I think today, no way. I think today much more. Clear, I'm a little older. You get smarter, you get brighter. Today, you slow down a little bit, so you're thinking more. But it's unbelievable. You go to the Ohel today, twenty-four hours a day, there's people over there.

23:44 Speaker 2 And you feel a connection to the Rebbe today?

23:48 Speaker 1 I put on a licht every single day for the Rebbe.

23:52 Speaker 2 Every single day?

23:53 Speaker 1 Every single-- Besides Shabbos.

23:55 Speaker 2 You light a candle every single day?

23:57 Speaker 1 Every single day.

23:58 Speaker 2 Wow. Wow. Okay. This is amazing. I think-- It's also interesting what I noticed is that also you came with your family many times.

24:13 Speaker 1 I wanna tell you, I was, I was very busy in Haschemist. I worked very hard. And the Rebbe saw that I was always busy with Haschemist. More than once he told me, "It makes the red wing down as a zach nochit. You could talk about your private things also. Like, I will listen to you. You could talk to me also."

24:38 Speaker 2 On Shabbos Parashat, Tachchin Yud Daled, the Rebbe founded Keren Hashanah under Machane Israel to ensure that every single Yid has the zechus of giving tzedakah every single day. The Rebbe explained that Tishrei is a chodesh haklali. It's the general month that sets the tone for the entire year, and by securing our daily tzedakah right at the beginning, we will be able to draw down continuous brachos for the rest of the year. There's a few points to Keren Hashanah. First of all, it's for the entire family. The Rebbe urged that every single person should contribute for their family, men, women, and children, so that everyone in the family is covered. And the idea is that it's calculated by the days of the year. You give a set amount corresponding to the numbers of days of the year, whether it's a dollar a day, fifty cents a day, or eighteen cents a day. It's multiplied by the days of the year, and especially in a year like this year, which is a leap year, you have to calculate the days of the year for a leap year. And it's a daily thing. Through Machane Israel, the money is physically dispersed on your behalf twice a day, before Shacharis and before Mincha, and before Shabbos and Yom Tov, and when it's actually physically given. The Rebbe encouraged everyone to take care of this as early as possible before Rosh Hashanah, so the year starts with this, with the complete zechus. Take a minute right now, calculate the number

26:05 Speaker 2 of days of this year, count up your family members, and head over to MyKerinHashanah.com. That's M-Y-K-E-R-E-N-H-A-S-H-A-N-A dot com to secure your daily tzedakah and continuous berachahs for the entire year to come.

26:24 Speaker 3 I s-- I, I wanna tell you, this was me, me. I think back later, this was my, my biggest things. I once had, uh, an appointment on a Sunday morning with the mayor of Bnei Brak. There was a reason everybody wanted I should bring him. He-- The mayor wanted to come.

26:45 Speaker 2 To the Rebbe?

26:46 Speaker 3 To the Rebbe-

26:46 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

26:46 Speaker 3 And Lubavitch. It was a, it was a reason. Mayor Moshe Ibnstein, he was one of the best mayors Bnei Brak ever had. And we made up with Leib Groner that he's gonna come a quarter to eleven. Eleven o'clock starts the Dallas. He should come fifteen minutes before. Have time to talk. And Friday afternoon, I got a very high fever. And, and, and, and, uh, I call up Leibl, tell how I'm feeling, but I'm gonna work out from my side. The car should bring him, a person should be with him, somebody who understands Lubavitch a little bit, and I'll make sure you tell me who should be there, and he told me that person's gonna be there. It's gonna work out. So it worked out. He got there. They called me right away after it. Everything worked out good. I know it was two thirty, three o'clock, Leibl calls me up. I says, "Leibl, all this is going good. Everything was okay. Why you called me?" I says, "Ich shtey du mit the Rebbe." And the Rebbe, then I came in shtiebel noch daler, and the Rebbe came after Dallas. He asks me, "Melech in shtuge vey in hand." So he tells me, I told the Rebbe, "Ich zukh fun the Rebbe, ad as kerifen ad efirs ken ish git, as king hoyche fiver, and es ish kimen, and chaged im fertik." So the Rebbe asks me, "Rebbe fleig mich, os gelebt mit dem haint, os efirs haint?" So I told the Rebbe, "Nein, ish gebt

28:26 Speaker 3 dem."

28:26 Speaker 2 It's Leibl saying.

28:26 Speaker 3 Leibl tells me, "Ad Rebbe tem gefleigt. Ez a rif mu fegen, vos a makh gez. Ich vun vis vos a makh gez." So Leibl calls me up after the Rebbe finished Dallas, before he's going out to Doyle, the Rebbe wants to know how I'm feeling.

28:43 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

28:43 Speaker 3 Ze khem, Baruch Hashem, padem. Shoyn. Monday morning, it's like ten to eleven, Leibl calls me again. Ich ya Leibl, wat nechne gedert. Vecht ya, ve the Rebbe, yetz gebets al div, ve ve ze bachstand. Now, the Lubavitch Rebbe is a little busy person, and he doesn't have what to do is to call up Melech Neeman how he's feeling. So it's very Monday. Tuesday, the same thing again. Calls me up again. And this really, I got a little... So Wednesday morning, I called up Leibl before he went out of the house.

29:22 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

29:23 Speaker 3 Ich fiz besser. I feel better. I'm going out of the house today, and don't worry, tell the Rebbe.

29:28 Speaker 2 Uh.

29:30 Speaker 3 I wanna tell you, the godless of people, of these giants you see on these small things.

29:43 Speaker 2 Yeah. Amazing.

29:49 Speaker 3 It's amazing.

29:52 Speaker 2 I mean, this is, uh, I mean, this is the something that, about the Rebbe that's, uh, unique. Saying the-

30:00 Speaker 3 Something? A lot.

30:06 Speaker 2 Yeah. So I'm, I'm trying to figure out, the Rebbe is very interested. I wa- I watched the-- I just wanna, if in case our listeners don't appreciate, we're talking about this probably on video, uh, half an hour worth of, of, of things that, uh, the Rebbe answered there, and you're speaking, you're telling the Rebbe, like there's, there's a lot of, a lot, a lot. And so I'm watching how every time you're giving a detailed report, the Rebbe asks you, like, "Well, what, what happened?" Rebbe gedert Rebbe, like, "Well, what, you know, did he come out? Did he, did he, uh..." Rebbe will ask, "Did he tell Eplach? Did he, did Rebbe, did he give out Eplach? Did he speak?" Every single time the Rebbe's asking.

30:55 Speaker 3 Certain issues on certain times.

30:57 Speaker 2 Yeah, and it's about, about his health. How do you explain that? I mean, this is, I think it's a unique thing.

31:03 Speaker 3 Well, let me tell you. The Rebbe had a olfach klayisru. Truthfully is I saw a lot of times in Ger, by the Beis HaSho'el I saw it also. They weren't only-- They didn't care only for themselves or for their Chassidis. They worry about other Chassidis also. So the Rebbe was concerned for either Kedosh of a Ger. If the Rebbe wasn't well, they wanted to make sure that the Chassidis was continuing, so that he was concerned what was going on in Ger when the Rebbe was not well. So he wanted to know if The Tovrim, the Oylem, if he-- people came into him, if he gepravit, if he had a Tishin, if he fabrank with the Oylem, if he said Torah, if he, he knew that certain times he used to get out the, the, the, the, the Lev Simcha was f-very know that he used to give out fruit for the Chassidim. My shver was very close to him because he lived in Eretz Yisroel before the war, and the Lev Simcha was also there. So my shver once asked, my father-in-law once asked the Lev Simcha, "Why do you give out apples, fruit for everybody?" He says, "I don't want anybody to go out empty-handed from me."

32:25 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

32:26 Speaker 3 So it was a known thing that the Lev Simcha gave out. So the Rebbe was to known about it, so that's why he asked it. "Did he give out fruit?"

32:33 Speaker 2 Yeah. The Feld Appleach.

32:34 Speaker 3 Feld Appleach. "So you do that. Give Appleach." So the Rebbe was concerned. He wanted to make sure what's going on. I say he was c-- He, he followed up on all these things. He was a monarch not for the Ba'al Shem Tov, for Kleisro. That's how I look at it.

32:52 Speaker 2 Yeah. And I saw also in this capacity that you were bringing people with you constantly, whether it's a friend, whether it's a Hava Knesset, I saw some local politicians also you brought. So you're, you're always bring, bringing people with you.

33:13 Speaker 3 I knew it was the right thing to do.

33:15 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm. So was there any, um, stories you had personally with the Rebbe regarding you yourself that's worth sharing?

33:33 Speaker 3 I had a lot of stories. I'll try to bring out a story that could be interesting because it's, i-i-it's, it's lately also. It-

33:47 Speaker 2 You can say all of them, by the way.

33:49 Speaker 3 What?

33:49 Speaker 2 You can say all of them.

33:51 Speaker 3 I'll, I'll-- Let's start with one story. I won't use a name because I don't know if the people want. A few, a nice few years ago, I was in Borough Park, and two brothers, both do not live in New York. They live in two different states. Who they... I know them, I know their family, their parents, their grandparents. Meet me, and it says, "Melech, zogen za meise veng de Rebbe." He says, "Di yiskat." "Tell us a story that you had with the Rebbe." These two brothers tell me, ask me. I said, "Why?" I just told them that story, what I told them, but that's the fact. I told them that, um, I have one of my children, my fourth child, z"l, and her, I had a daughter that was born in Chodesh Adar, the month of Adar. And I called up Leibel, and Leibel, two, three days later, had a letter from the Rebbe, Mazeltov. Whenever I got a letter from the Rebbe, always was added a few words written onto the letter. By now, all these letters that I got, I gave over to my children already. They're married, they're already parents of children. And that was Adar. Normally, Nisan, for example, there was Yud Aleph Nisan, a big fabrink, and there was Yid Gimel Nisan. Thirteen days in Nisan was a shorter fabrink. The Yortsayt from the Mashab.

35:40 Speaker 2 From the Tzemach Tzedek.

35:41 Speaker 3 Tzemach Tzedek. So I went to that because I knew that that fabrink is gonna be finished. You see, I'm not too big in the Ba'al Shem Tov. I didn't go Yud Aleph. I was more than once Beis Aleph also. But-

35:53 Speaker 2 I was about to say I saw a video of Yud Aleph, yeah.

35:55 Speaker 3 Yeah, I was more than once Yud Aleph also. But normally, I would go Yid Gimel.

36:00 Speaker 2 Erev Pesach.

36:01 Speaker 3 Erev Pesach. Mamash Erev Pesach. You know, that was surprisingly. Uh, Yid Gimel is a day before Erev Pesach. The... And I especially looked. If the men are there, okay, but the Ezras Nashim was full to capacity.

36:18 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

36:19 Speaker 3 I checked it out once. It's also very interesting. You know, who, who's preparing for Pesach.

36:25 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

36:26 Speaker 3 So I came to the fabrink, and, and, and, um, when the, uh, the, the, the whole fabrink was over, like, a quarter to eleven, ten to eleven. But before that, a little bit already, the Rebbe started giving out dollars for the tankist. I was supposed then to get a pack of dollars as a tankist in Borough Park. At the end-- Somebody sent me a clip for that also. At the end of that fabrink, the Rebbe's starting to fold his brown bag, and he turns around to me. He's looking for me. I was sitting in back of him, and he calls me over. He asks me a question, and unfortunately, I didn't understand. He asked me three times the question. The question was, "Vos makht dus mezhenkele?" But I didn't understand. He was trying to cover the microphone.

37:22 Speaker 2 You couldn't hear?

37:23 Speaker 3 I couldn't understand what he said. He's talking very low.

37:25 Speaker 2 Right.

37:25 Speaker 3 'Cause he didn't want the microphone to hear, and he covered the hand, the microphone also. 'Cause you see it later on the clip that they sent me. But after three times, "You don't understand what I'm saying?" I says, "No." "You, you had a girl?" I said, "Yes." "This girl is your "This girl is your mazinkele, your youngest?" I said, "Yes." "And how is the mother of the child?"

38:01 Speaker 2 Oh.

38:01 Speaker 3 "And how are you?" So he was talking to me half a minute. Sure. And then he says, "Me," he wishes me a good Yom Tov for me and my wife and the family. Sure. That was the whole story. It was after the farbrengen he called me over to talk to me. This after a few minutes before that he gave me the dollars. So after that, everybody heard already. So they wrote it in "Beis Hayayyim." I used to have a-- I used to make a simcha every two years. So it goes by two and a half years, and I still didn't make a simcha. So my-- I had a few Ger friends. I told you, they used to call me Lubavitcher. "You go to Lubavitch. We're gonna stay in Ger, you go to Lubavitch." Four children. I said, "Your mazinkele, that's your youngest. That's what they are." I have four children after, don't worry.

38:53 Speaker 2 They, they knew that the Rebbe told you this?

38:56 Speaker 3 It was in Beis Hayayyim.

38:57 Speaker 2 Ah, okay.

38:57 Speaker 3 Beis Hayayyim, it's called.

38:59 Speaker 2 Yeah, yeah.

39:00 Speaker 3 So the whole story was in Beis Hayayyim. They were teasing me, "Meilech." That's it. I was a igger man. I was very os mensh. This story I'm telling to these two Lubavitcher inglad who came for a simcha in their family. And so after two and a half years, it comes to Erev Yom Kippur. I take my four children, and I go to the Rebbe for lekach. So first one goes, "All four of them." I come, the Rebbe looks at me, he says, " Besuras toivos." He us- If he doesn't talk to me, he would say another word. He always tell me another word by-- when he wouldn't talk to me, it was a big lie I was going through. He tells me, "Besuras toivos." And I tell the Rebbe these were my four children. "I gave you more, you didn't see?" "I wanted to have a beracha for more children." So he tells me, "It was already included in the besuras toivos I told you." Sure. I finished the story to these two inglad. One of them starts crying. I says, "Why are you crying? I told you a story that I just..." Ah, I'm forgetting to-- After I came home, I told my wife the story. And after Yom Kippur, she found out that the Rebbe's true, correct. I was expecting.

40:47 Speaker 2 She was expe-

40:48 Speaker 3 She was expecting.

40:48 Speaker 2 So when the Rebbe told you this-

40:50 Speaker 3 She was expecting.

40:51 Speaker 2 She was already expecting a baby. Wow.

40:52 Speaker 3 Yeah, yeah. She was expecting already. And I was telling this story to these two inglad. One was start crying. Says, "Why are you crying? I'm telling you an interesting story, a nice story. You asked me for a story." So he tells me, "I'll tell you." The other brother tells me the one who's crying, he didn't have children five years. He just went to the oil to notify the Rebbe that his wife's expecting. He asked from the Rebbe a beracha about Peh. And we're coming out from the oil, and you're the first person who we meet.

41:28 Speaker 2 He asked the Rebbe for a beracha for the-

41:29 Speaker 3 For a beracha about Peh for notifying the Rebbe that his wife is expecting.

41:37 Speaker 2 And they meet you, and they-

41:38 Speaker 3 And they meet you. So he said, "Let's ask from you for a story. And you tell us this story, and what does the Rebbe tell you? Besuras toivos. So we just got the beracha about Peh from you."

41:50 Speaker 2 Wow.

41:52 Speaker 3 We just come from all this right now. You're the first person we're meeting from the oil.

42:03 Speaker 2 It's a .

42:07 Speaker 3 .

42:07 Speaker 2 Yeah. So you're seeing, uh, the of everything that the Rebbe gave you.

42:13 Speaker 3 Just to give over this beracha.

42:14 Speaker 2 Yeah. Yeah. Amazing. I was watching a video. Last night, I, I was looking at some videos before, uh, we met. I see a video. I couldn't hear anything. It was -

42:27 Speaker 3 You, you, you, you, you, you can see on the video the Rebbe tells me besuras toivos.

42:31 Speaker 2 Yeah.

42:31 Speaker 3 If you see the video with my four children-

42:33 Speaker 2 Yeah

42:33 Speaker 3 ... you can see it.

42:34 Speaker 2 Okay. I saw, I saw another video. The Rebbe's talking to you, that you go with a few people. That was more regular, that you gave a report from the Ger Rebbe, and then introducing the people. But then all of a sudden, the, the camera, like, um, go, uh, cuts, and then you're talking to the Rebbe. And the Rebbe's like, um, very an- um, animated. The Rebbe's with, uh, moving his hands. It, it sound-- I can't hear. There's a lot of noise and singing. But it sounds to me like the Rebbe's talking to you about, like, a specific inyan in askanus. So w-were you in contact with the Rebbe about specific inyan in askanus?

43:17 Speaker 3 A lot of things.

43:18 Speaker 2 Can you share something?

43:20 Speaker 3 Uh, uh, let me tell you. I'll be very, I'll be very open to you. First of all, the first thing is Whenever I w-- people knew that I went to Kosher Brucha every time, and I had lines of people wanting to come. So the first thing is I took my families of very, very close people who came here for Yontif, very, very close. So that was the first thing. Second thing is, it was a sconess thing that I knew that I-- the Rebbe let me know that it's between the two of us. So I had people standing next to me who didn't hear what I was speaking to the Rebbe. So this I knew, this is it, and I'll tell you the truth. let me forget about it. If the Rebbe doesn't want, I should know. And that's why I told you, and I told a lot of people, people beg me, "Meilik, why don't you write a book?" I says, "Because my book is the more not to write than yes to write." So the truth is, about the Rebbe, I will talk to anybody and everybody. About my personal things, I, I don't do-- And the things that I spoke to certain people about certain things, it was probably Hayest Hashem, let me forget about it. If I don't have to talk about it, they ask me not to talk about it, I don't, I don't... I will, I will not reme-- I don't remember some, most of the things. I tell the

44:49 Speaker 3 truth. Hayest Hashem, let me forget about it. If somebody asks me certain things, there are certain things that were such great, big things that it doesn't go out of my head. 'Cause I-- There's another thing is, there's a verse from the Kotzker Rebbe, Hashem is a rememberer of everything that is forgotten. The more you forget, the more Hashem remembers. So there are certain things that I don't mind to forget 'cause Hashem is gonna remember.

45:20 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm. So you're saying that when it come, when it came to the personal things that, uh, you know, that, that's fresh by you and the, and the

45:32 Speaker 3 So certain-- But for, for personal people th- I wanna tell you.

45:35 Speaker 2 The Re-

45:36 Speaker 3 The Rebbe saw that I'm so with him with his things that he asked from me sometimes. He, he-- More than once he told me, you, you could talk to me. I will talk to you about your, your things also. And I used to, I used to. I used to send labels more than once in, and he used to answer me. So when I came to him, he even told me, "You can, you could talk to me also about your personal things." That's what he meant to say. You see it on the tape more than once, that he tells me, "You could, you could talk to me also about your things."

46:10 Speaker 2 Okay. So I have one specific question that the, um-- Were you involved-- The Rebbe spoke, uh, fabringen in Purim and Vav. They were, they were passing some law in New York, um, about, uh, and the Rebbe addressed it by fabringen. I think, I think Neyach-- I re- I read that Neyach-

46:34 Speaker 3 Who was not involved?

46:35 Speaker 2 Yeah, Neyach Dir was-

46:36 Speaker 3 I brought Neyach Dir to the Rebbe there.

46:37 Speaker 2 Oh, so can you tell me about that? What-

46:39 Speaker 3 I brought Neyach Dir to the Rebbe, and he was a long time with the Rebbe. And twice in middle, the Rebbe sent me out to the people outside. When... Go out please and tell the people-

46:59 Speaker 2 The maskiras.

47:01 Speaker 3 Whoever's outside.

47:02 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

47:03 Speaker 3 That I am holding him up. I wanna talk to him. The Rebbe wanted to speak to him.

47:06 Speaker 2 So it was a chidus? Neyach Dir-

47:08 Speaker 3 That was a

47:09 Speaker 2 So it was like a, it was like a, it was a-

47:11 Speaker 3 Private conversation

47:11 Speaker 2 ... private conversation.

47:12 Speaker 3 Yeah. I was inside the whole time. And the Rebbe was explaining, he was explaining what he was to do, and the Rebbe gave him a lot of guidance, and he-

47:19 Speaker 2 Do you remember what the Rebbe said?

47:20 Speaker 3 Specifically what the Rebbe said, I can't say. 'Cause the Rebbe asked me twice to go out in the middle, and then I came back in. Twice.

47:28 Speaker 2 So you were the contact to get Neyach Dir-

47:31 Speaker 3 Yeah, to come to the Rebbe

47:32 Speaker 2 ... to come to the Rebbe.

47:32 Speaker 3 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He always thanked me.

47:36 Speaker 2 Neyach.

47:38 Speaker 3 He's not alive anymore.

47:39 Speaker 2 No, he, he passed away during COVID. He was a judge or... That was later.

47:42 Speaker 3 He became a judge later.

47:45 Speaker 2 What was he then? A coun-- Uh-

47:46 Speaker 3 A council member

47:47 Speaker 2 ... council member?

47:47 Speaker 3 'Cause he was the lawyer.

47:48 Speaker 2 Yeah. So the Rebbe-- There, there was some type of a law that they were passing with, for, for rights, for, uh-

47:54 Speaker 3 Terrible

47:55 Speaker 2 ... for... I mean, there was a-- That was the beginning of... And the Rebbe addressed this whole concept of-

48:01 Speaker 3 And I brought him to the Rebbe.

48:03 Speaker 2 Yeah. It was... I mean, it was a pub-- The Rebbe addressed this publicly, the whole... A-and, and it's basically-

48:07 Speaker 3 Of course

48:07 Speaker 2 ... became a famous thing 'cause this, this whole issue of teva became- ... famous today.

48:12 Speaker 3 Terrible, terrible.

48:12 Speaker 2 And the Rebbe addressed it before-

48:13 Speaker 3 Yeah, yeah

48:14 Speaker 2 ... before it was the... And it was because of like, I think, certain rights that were being given. So what, what did the Rebbe want at the law should not be passed?

48:21 Speaker 3 He, he, he, the Rebbe-- And he, he, he was also explaining that they, they didn't even know they were gonna have enough council members to be able to fight it at that time already.

48:30 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

48:31 Speaker 3 So the Rebbe, he-- I remember the Rebbe told him certain things, how he, he thinks could we get more people to join. That was right-

48:39 Speaker 2 To vote, to vote against

48:40 Speaker 3 ... to vote against.

48:43 Speaker 2 Okay. You can look up the sicha. It's printed. By the way, it's in, it's in English also.

48:46 Speaker 3 Yeah.

48:47 Speaker 2 That sicha was in English, and the Rebbe edited it in, in English as well. Uh-

48:52 Speaker 3 Listen, it was a-

48:54 Speaker 2 Yeah. The Rebbe explains that just because someone is born with certain teva doesn't mean that we should encourage it and it's positive. If someone's born with something that's negative, you could, you should, you should try to deal with it instead of accepting it. And the Rebbe says that- Yeah. And the Rebbe says that the problem is that this is the opposite of 'cause it's not productive, right? There's no, there's no, uh, hemshech.

49:20 Speaker 3 But I remember twice the Rebbe asked me to go tell outside that I'm holding, I'm asking to say he's not-

49:28 Speaker 2 Right. It was important to... Well. So the, so these are other things that are local.

49:35 Speaker 3 A lot.

49:35 Speaker 2 These are not ger or like-

49:37 Speaker 3 No, no. A lot of things

49:37 Speaker 2 ... this is, this is a local issue.

49:40 Speaker 3 Yeah.

49:41 Speaker 2 Like a, a New York, a New, a New York issue.

49:44 Speaker 3 Yeah.

49:47 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm. And I also saw, I also saw you, uh, introduced, um... It looks like it w-- I don't know if he was-- And it looks like it was the first time he was there or, uh, Dov Hyken also you brought to the Rebbe.

49:59 Speaker 3 Dov Hyken. Well, uh-

50:00 Speaker 2 Yeah

50:01 Speaker 3 ... Andrew Steiner brought to the Rebbe. There were a lot of people to, uh-

50:06 Speaker 2 Right. Because in those years you were very, very involved in Hasagos Bachal in, in New York. Among Hasidim is brought to you by Hasidish We live in a chaotic world, a world where for us Chassidim as they say, nu lo ra'ayu. We do not have the ability to hear and see the Rebbe on a daily basis, yet we know that the Rebbe is very much with us, and Chassidus Chabad is alive and thriving more than ever before. One needs to only tap into it. Chassidei Der Her provides you and your family with the tools necessary to tap into all of this, whether it's the monthly magazine, the way it all began, whether it's Der Her books, Der Her online content, and so much more. Men, women, and children throughout the world benefit and use these tools on a daily basis. Whether it's children enjoying the children's magazine that comes along with the regular Der Her or enjoying the children's podcast, whether it's Bachurim in Yeshivas receiving the Der Her, whether it's girls in high schools enjoying Der Her Club in their local high school. People all over the world and from all walks of life enjoy and utilize these tools and take advantage of it. If you're not already subscribed to the Her monthly magazine, do so today at derher.org. That's D-E-R-H-E-R.org. Der Her is a dynamic organization which is committed to continue providing these tools, grow on a constant basis, and do all that we can to help this effort. Baruch Hashem, it takes

51:58 Speaker 2 a lot of resources and finances to make this all happen. You can be part of Der Her through your financial support as well through visiting our website, derher.org, or through contacting us to setting up a meeting. Thank you very much. Enjoy the rest of the podcast. So what was the-- I saw another clip that I was trying to figure out that the Rebbe... You came with your wife, and Rebbe gave you another dollar, and then the Rebbe, the Rebbe tells another woman, a Rebbetzin, the Rebbe says, " I owe you..." The Rebbe tells her, "I owe you a letter." What, what was that about?

52:37 Speaker 3 She was the daughter-in-law of the Premanachem. Her husband was Arye Alter. She wanted to come-- Sh- uh, her, her husband passed away.

52:48 Speaker 2 Who-- Uh, that's the chasuna that the Rebbe-

52:51 Speaker 3 That the, the, the-

52:51 Speaker 2 The Premanachem

52:53 Speaker 3 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

52:55 Speaker 2 The one they were talking in the beginning.

52:56 Speaker 3 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

52:57 Speaker 2 It was that wedding.

52:58 Speaker 3 Yeah, yeah.

52:58 Speaker 2 And so then she-- then he passed away young.

52:59 Speaker 3 Then he passed away young, and she was there with, with her son.

53:01 Speaker 2 They lived in, in America?

53:03 Speaker 3 They lived in America for, for a while. Later, she moved back to Israel, and she has a son, Avremel, who was a young kid then. I think he was probably three years old. Her son today is one of the chashuvest to mention, one very chashuve in Israel. He says thir-ty-two shiurim a week.

53:24 Speaker 2 Hmm.

53:26 Speaker 3 Became rosh yeshiva today.

53:28 Speaker 2 He's the-- So he's the Premanachem's ainikel.

53:30 Speaker 3 Great ainikel, yeah. But he's, he's one of the chashuvest ainikel. The chashuvest ainikel today.

53:38 Speaker 2 So what, why, so why is the Rebbe saying that he owes her a letter?

53:41 Speaker 3 She wrote a letter to the Rebbe. Not-- A, a, a few weeks before that.

53:48 Speaker 2 After her husband passed away.

53:49 Speaker 3 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

53:52 Speaker 2 So then I owe you a letter. And the Rebbe said, she asked for a bracha, and the Rebbe says, "You have your shver."

53:59 Speaker 3 The Premanachem. And, uh, and, uh, and, and he was still only rosh yeshiva. He was not even Rebbe that time.

54:06 Speaker 2 Yeah. Rebbe, she says, "I want, I want your-"

54:07 Speaker 3 "I want your bracha."

54:09 Speaker 2 Yeah. Interesting. So that's-- So, okay, this is-- So there's something... So then there's something famous, I don't know how much you wanna talk about it, but it's famous, I have to ask you, that there was a Tashrin nun, there was a yechidus that you had with other Gareid Hasaganim. So I don't know if we have to go into all the details of the whole backstory of everything, but c-can you just give like a, a basic thing, like what, what, what happened there? Like something basic and then what the Rebbe told you.

54:48 Speaker 3 Let, let, let me, let me, let me, let me first make a little hagdama, a little, uh, introduction. There's a very interesting word from the Imrei Emes. There's a Gemara, People ask me sometimes, "Meilech, you're a Gere Chassid. How is it that you could become so close to Lubavitch? You are close to the Rabbi Feinstein, such other Gedolei Hasaganim. How is it that you could go-- How, how is it that you become so, so different?" So I always answer with this word. The Gemara says, just like your face is not equal one to another, so is your mind not equal. So the Imrei Emes used to say, "Just like my face is not like your face, and it doesn't bother you that I look different than you, and doesn't bother me that you look different than me, it shouldn't bother me that you think difference. It shouldn't bother you that I think difference."

56:03 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

56:05 Speaker 3 You got it?

56:06 Speaker 2 Yeah.

56:06 Speaker 3 So let me tell you By big people, uh, people could think different. People could act different. And when the Konger Rebbe asked me to come to the Rebbe regarding that issue that time, I knew right away.

56:30 Speaker 4 What was the issue?

56:31 Speaker 3 The issue was, at that time, was the issue with, with the ge-- the, it was after an election, they wanted to make a government, and in that's role, the Maskitola Toider wanted to go with the left.

56:46 Speaker 4 With Peres, Shimon Peres.

56:47 Speaker 3 Shimon Peres, and the Rebbe was against that, unbelievable. And, and they were, they, they were just sixty-one exactly, and if two-- at that time, part of the Aguda, you had Oirga and Mizrachi, and if these two people are not gonna vote, they don't have the government. And Reb Avig told their people, Mizrachi, and they must have also probably heard from other people also in the Aguda. So the-

57:26 Speaker 4 Not to make the coalition with Peres.

57:28 Speaker 3 Not to go with Peres.

57:28 Speaker 4 Not to vote for the coalition with Peres.

57:29 Speaker 3 Not to go with Peres. And, and so he asked me to go speak to the Rebbe.

57:36 Speaker 4 So what happened was they disappeared.

57:39 Speaker 3 They disappeared. They were not there for the vote.

57:40 Speaker 4 They were not going to vote, so the whole government, the Peres government fell apart.

57:43 Speaker 3 So that it's coming from here. So they asked me to please go talk with the Rebbe. So I was a shaliach.

57:49 Speaker 4 So the Ge, Gere want-wanted to make this government with the-

57:53 Speaker 3 Not Gere, the whole Maski-- I wouldn't, I wouldn't say the whole, but the Rav and the Maskitola Toider wanted it.

57:58 Speaker 4 Mm-hmm.

57:59 Speaker 3 I wouldn't say all of them.

58:00 Speaker 4 Mm-hmm.

58:01 Speaker 3 Because we, uh, I don't, I don't wanna go into any names.

58:04 Speaker 4 Some of them didn't.

58:05 Speaker 3 Some of them didn't, but there was a Rav. So, um, so, uh, they came to the... So the Rebbe was trying to, I expect me, "Why come along? This is p'kiah nefesh." So I told him, "I'm just now a shaliach," though I told him, and they wanted. And the Rebbe was like, "He can't send a shaliach. I'm just a shaliach, and that's it." And when they were, they were started, they were finished, and that's it. And it didn't happen, Taka. These two people did not go along, and the whole thing fell apart.

58:45 Speaker 4 And then Shamir became the Prime Minister.

58:48 Speaker 3 Yeah. He, uh, Peres couldn't put together. And, uh...

58:56 Speaker 4 So what did, what, what did it mean to the... I think the Rebbe, you went also with someone else in, in-

59:03 Speaker 3 I took him along 'cause I had to go.

59:05 Speaker 4 Mm-hmm.

59:05 Speaker 3 So I was-- I didn't wanna go myself. I, I need somebody in case I don't catch everything exactly. So something I have to know, I hear something, expect to get back. I didn't-- I want to have two people to hear. So I took, I wanted the, the Laski wasn't there, so I took Pruskolvik. So that's it.

59:22 Speaker 4 So the Rebbe Beis was very insistent that p'kiah nefesh is the only here.

59:28 Speaker 3 Yeah, yeah. I relayed my message back. That's true, that p'kiah nefesh.

59:37 Speaker 4 Right. Very interesting. And I mean, that, that, that was like, um, I mean, I'm, I'm imagining that it was an interesting, uh, moment in, in, in-

59:53 Speaker 3 I, I had such a, I had such interesting, very interesting moments in my life. Not the first time.

1:00:06 Speaker 4 Yeah.

1:00:08 Speaker 3 I made a berakhah before.

1:00:14 Speaker 4 And it, it also became very infamous because that was, uh, what, what happened that Yechidas was written down. And-

1:00:22 Speaker 3 There was one of the people over there wrote it down. There was a few people who came, who came there, were there.

1:00:27 Speaker 4 Right.

1:00:28 Speaker 3 So I don't know who wrote it down. And it came out not correct the way we spoke.

1:00:34 Speaker 4 I think the Rebbe also didn't want it to be... I think he said, the Rebbe said that-

1:00:38 Speaker 3 It is. So I don't know.

1:00:40 Speaker 4 It was printed that, I think that, that week it was already printed, uh-

1:00:42 Speaker 3 Yeah. So and one of the people there wrote that.

1:00:45 Speaker 4 Mm-hmm. And afterwards, did the, the relationship with the Rebbe change or, or, or went back?

1:00:53 Speaker 3 I don't know. I, I came to Rebbe after that.

1:00:58 Speaker 4 I saw, I saw a video in a few years after that in the Beis and then-

1:01:02 Speaker 3 Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've, I've, I've nice... Yeah, a few times I spoke to him after, yeah.

1:01:08 Speaker 4 Mm-hmm.

1:01:09 Speaker 3 Listen, I, I let the Rebbe know that I'm your shaliach. I'm just giving you, you know. I tried to tell him why they so the Rebbe said, "P'kiah nefesh." But Rebbe, I would say p'kiah nefesh, p'kiah nefesh The Rebbe-

1:01:24 Speaker 4 They're giving away land is, is-

1:01:26 Speaker 3 P'kiah nefesh

1:01:27 Speaker 4 Is any, any, any government that's gonna be open to the concept of giving away land is because p'kiah nefesh and we can't make a coalition with them.

1:01:33 Speaker 3 Then was the left wasn't so bad. Today, the left is much worse.

1:01:37 Speaker 4 Yeah.

1:01:38 Speaker 3 So you see it.

1:01:39 Speaker 4 Right. And after... Did you also, did you, how, how was it for you? I mean, after when the Rebbe had a stroke. So then-

1:01:55 Speaker 3 I came once or twice.

1:01:57 Speaker 4 You came once or twice?

1:01:58 Speaker 3 Yeah. Once or twice. I came to Beis Medrash. The Rebbe was on the-

1:02:02 Speaker 4 On the balcony.

1:02:03 Speaker 3 Balcony.

1:02:06 Speaker 4 Mm-hmm.

1:02:07 Speaker 3 It was very hard.

1:02:08 Speaker 4 Very hard?

1:02:10 Speaker 3 I don't know about you people

1:02:12 Speaker 4 Now I'm asking you

1:02:13 Speaker 3 It was very hard.

1:02:15 Speaker 4 What did you feel?

1:02:17 Speaker 3 What did I do?

1:02:17 Speaker 4 What did you feel?

1:02:19 Speaker 3 I feel like a bait in the abishta. Moshiach doesn't come in.

1:02:28 Speaker 4 The rabbi told you he's-- They say I'm, I'm crazy about Moshiach. So I mean, h-how... Like, looking back at, uh, uh, at, at all of this and-- Like, how do you feel about it, hint?

1:02:49 Speaker 3 Or I say, hint. Hint, I feel that everybody wants Moshiach. The Satmar can be shining on the Lubavitcher, the Lubavitcher can be shining on Satmar, as long as Moshiach doesn't come in.

1:03:00 Speaker 4 But how do you feel about the, the, this whole th- this, this... Everything you had with the Rebbe, what, what, what do you, what do you feel about this?

1:03:07 Speaker 3 I don't understand what kind of zchus I have. I don't understand. I don't understand why. I, I can't, I can't. Me, myself, personally, I don't understand what zchus I have. With my fleishike oygen, with my eyes, my personal eyes and my personal brains, I don't... I ca- I, I can't understand.

1:03:36 Speaker 4 You're saying it's a zchus that you had, uh-

1:03:40 Speaker 3 Of course.

1:03:44 Speaker 4 I, I s-

1:03:44 Speaker 3 I miss him every day, to say it in one word.

1:03:50 Speaker 4 You miss the Rebbe?

1:03:52 Speaker 3 You sometimes think you would rather wanna be old first and young later. These are one of the things. 'Cause when you get older, you understand a little better, you understand better.

1:04:06 Speaker 4 It's very... I mean, I-- you can see just from, from the videos, I can tell that it's not... I mean, yes, there's a, there's a technical function that you have, and, and you're giving reports about Rebbe-

1:04:22 Speaker 3 No, it was more

1:04:23 Speaker 4 It was much more than that. Like, the Rebbe was happy when you were there. You know, the, the, the... There, there's something-

1:04:31 Speaker 3 There was a certain connection. I felt it. I felt it.

1:04:38 Speaker 4 Yeah. And I also saw that the Rebbe also gave it to your children also a little bit.

1:04:47 Speaker 3 I once came to a Mincha with my son. He must have been, I don't know, nine, ten. I don't know how old he was. And people even know I have a, I have a nine-nickel in a circle who calls me up every single week. He's married by now already. So I came to that circle, I brought him f- a nickel from the Rebbe. Dollars, Rebbe? Nickel. I have a pack of nickels. So once after Halomoid, I came Halomoid to dine with the Rebbe in the big shul. They weren't going back, so my, my young son was standing there. The Rebbe gives him two nickels, and then the Rebbe gives me a whole pack of nickels for me. They didn't even know the Rebbe gave out nickels.

1:05:37 Speaker 4 Hmm. That's what the Rebbe told one of your kids, um, "This waxed and now you're asking Sibbe-"

1:05:44 Speaker 3 Nice, yeah, Av Yosef. My wife was standing there. So my wife said to me, "So resembling waxed, Elchi Yid." So I said to her, "Elchi, this is a shine."

1:05:54 Speaker 4 The Rebbe said that?

1:05:55 Speaker 3 No, icha said.

1:05:56 Speaker 4 Oh, you said. Uh, afterwards. I think the Rebbe also told you that, uh, that your son should be a Ger-- grow up to be a Gere Chasid, right?

1:06:05 Speaker 3 He always used to say, "As a learning Gere Chasidus."

1:06:08 Speaker 4 Chasidus.

1:06:10 Speaker 3 He always say, "You should learn Chasidus." And essence learn Gere Chasidus.

1:06:15 Speaker 4 I saw one of the Rosh Yeshiva, I think, that you brought, a Gere-

1:06:18 Speaker 3 Also, you guys learn Chasidus.

1:06:19 Speaker 4 Yeah. The Rebbe was telling him is that, that even though it's a, like a Chidush-

1:06:24 Speaker 3 I once complained to one of the Lubavitcher. He, he... These Lubavitchers want you to become Lubavitch Chasidim. The Rebbe didn't want you to become Lubavitch Chasidim. He want you should be Lubavi- you should be Chasidish Yiden, Elchi Yiden.

1:06:37 Speaker 4 Mm.

1:06:38 Speaker 3 He said so many times.

1:06:40 Speaker 4 Yeah. I saw-

1:06:42 Speaker 3 He asked me why he was asked by the, by the, by the, by the Rebbe. He gave an apple to his, uh, toyte. If he, he, you know, he, he, he wanted every... You know, choles. He was a Rebbe for choles, for all.

1:06:54 Speaker 4 I saw also the, the name of the meistes of the school is Yagdo Teyre in Gere, right? So a bunch of times, the Rebbe is referencing the Indian of Yagdo Teyre, the Yagdo, Yagdo Teyre. The Rebbe was always talking about Yagdo Teyre. And even I think there was a... One of the, one of the times you brought some... It's a different... The name... The yeshiva had a different name. The Rebbe said, "Okay, fine, but it's still connected."

1:07:12 Speaker 3 It was a cheder, it was a yeshiva. Uh, you know, yeshiva Kahanist, yeshiva Gedola.

1:07:17 Speaker 4 And also to the Gere Rebbe, I think the Rebbe, one of the broches the Rebbe was telling you was as, uh, about his gesund, uh, seine refua, seine alter. The refua seine alter.

1:07:30 Speaker 3 No, because Yom Tov was there, Rosh Hashana time.

1:07:32 Speaker 4 That's when it was? Right, yeah. That, that's the Gere, uh, the Gere Rebbe's name.

1:07:39 Speaker 3 Alter Lechaim.

1:07:40 Speaker 4 Alter Lechaim. Uh-huh. You told me, um, on the way in, interesting, uh... You started telling me interesting story when you went to Poland. What was, what was that about?

1:07:50 Speaker 3 I told you whenever I went at the circle, I went to Poland. So, um, I used to come before that, and I used to come after that. So when I went once to Poland, and then that's a shul. So you're talking about it was mem. To Shimon, I went to, to Poland. It was real communism at that time. And I went with my brother, two other people. We were four people. We organized a driver to take us around. When we came to the town of Ger, we didn't know that the main street of Ger, there was an army base. And my brother had a camera, and he want to take a picture of the main street of Ger. And we didn't know there was an army base. When we went to the small street where the Gerer Rebbe's yeshiva was, there was two jeeps with soldiers came to us. And they asked... We, we didn't understand what they were talking, so they were talking Polish, we were talking English, and there was no language understanding between two of both of us. Till we understood he wanted the camera. And my brother understood that he want the film. So he opened up the camera, he gave them the film, but then they understood that my brother wanted to void the pictures what he took. By now we were arrested. We were taken to jail for the day, and we couldn't get out. There was a few sentences then in Poland. The whole thing, we gave a

1:09:38 Speaker 3 whole commotion because they, they would try to find out from us, we were Americans. The story went out. It was all over the media in the next few days in Israel, in America, the Jewish media. And I went to Israel from there. By the time I came back to New York, I'd been in every media in, in, in America. When I came to daven Mincha to the Rebbe, Rebbe, I see when I walked in, the Rebbe looked at me. After Mincha, when the Rebbe walks out, he turns around to me like I should follow him. Outside in, in the hallway, the Rebbe stops to me and gives me Shalom Aleichem and says to me, "Iz hent gezetsn. In de baba tshi gavein a chive gezetsn. A choshuve gezetsn."

1:10:38 Speaker 4 So it's a choshuve thing to be in jail with us.

1:10:40 Speaker 3 Yeah, like he want, he want make me feel good.

1:10:43 Speaker 4 Yeah.

1:10:43 Speaker 3 "Ni iz, uh, iz hent chayoitzn bei sasirim. The aybeshe the hulfis ot a gantz leib zan, a gede for yoitzn bei sasirim." Years later I understood what he meant. Years, years later.

1:11:02 Speaker 4 Had a continuous bracha. It's a continuous bracha.

1:11:04 Speaker 3 Yeah. I didn't forget it.

1:11:06 Speaker 4 Wow. Wow.

1:11:09 Speaker 3 Well, these were the small things of-

1:11:12 Speaker 4 What do you mean?

1:11:21 Speaker 3 I had a friend-- I'll finish with this. You asked me what I mean. I had a friend who had a, who had a daughter. A friend of mine much older than me, much older than me, who was from South America. Could be it was printed, but I heard it from the person, who had a daughter, who brought her to learn here in America. There was no school in South America. And he met a person in an elevator, and the person gives him Shalom Aleichem, and he asks him, "From where are you? You're not from here." First with a bent town hat. He doesn't know who he is. He says, "I'm from South America." He tells him where he is. "Where in South America?" He tells him where he is. "You have a mikveh by your place?" He says, "No." "What do you do?" "We travel." Over an hour, it was two hours. "Why shouldn't you have a mikveh in your city where you are? So what are you doing here?" He says, "I brought my daughter to school here." "Shine." Goes by years. Years, years, thirty years. His daughter gets married, and the Rebbe gives out dollars. And he goes by, by the Rebbe. He says he's gonna wait in line if he wants to get a dollar. And the Rebbe gives him a dollar, and the Rebbe calls him back. "You have a mikveh in your town already?" And the Rebbe says-- And he says to Rebbe, "Yes." "So here you have another dollar."

1:13:31 Speaker 3 And he goes out. He says, "What's..." He doesn't understand what's going on here. It took him a few days till he catches that person in the elevator was the Rebbe, when the Rebbe was still alive.

1:13:45 Speaker 4 Wow.

1:13:51 Speaker 3 When the Alter Rebbe, the, the Fediger Rebbe of Rizhyn was still alive. So he went to the Preh Menachem to tell the story.

1:14:03 Speaker 4 Mm-hmm.

1:14:03 Speaker 3 This person went to the Preh Menachem to tell the story. "Look at this, a moifes."

1:14:09 Speaker 4 Mm-hmm.

1:14:11 Speaker 3 "I was without a beard then. Now with a beard." This person didn't have a beard the first time. And he tells the Preh Menachem, "A moifes, a moifes. He recognized me. He knew who I am without a beard." Preh Menachem says, "Az er iz gezorgt." He was worried, he was concerned if that city had a mikveh already. That's the godless. You understand what I just told you now?

1:14:50 Speaker 4 You continue explaining.

1:14:51 Speaker 3 Huh?

1:14:52 Speaker 4 Continue explaining.

1:14:54 Speaker 3 So this-- A person who was concerned for every corner in this world, every city, every state, every person in this world should have Yiddishkeit, should have everything they need. That's the godless. A moifes is the things. These are the big things. That's what I wanted to bring out to you.

1:15:21 Speaker 4 Amazing.

1:15:22 Speaker 3 That first was a gevuraset.

1:15:24 Speaker 4 Yeah. Yeah. I wanna tell you one thing, that I've been doing these interviews for a little while now, and Baruch Hashem has been a, a lot of them. So usually it's someone that I know or I know of, and then, uh... And, and it's interesting what they have to share that I might not have heard of, so it's very geshmak, right? When I met you, Bashkaha Pratus, and I recognized you, Bashkaha Pratus, which is also 'cause you look a little different-

1:15:55 Speaker 3 It's the first time we met.

1:15:56 Speaker 4 Yeah. And so you look a little different than you looked in the, in the, in, in the videos. Um, to me, like, I don't know what happened to that guy, uh, the Meylech Neimand. I have no idea what happened to him. Like, where, where... So for me, w- just seeing you and talking to you now, I feel like it's like a, agris from, from the Rebbe. That, that, that's, that's how I feel when I'm talking to you. So yasher koach for that.

1:16:24 Speaker 3 Ash koach for giving me the opportunity far amblingen abas laminis chachomim, and the koach from the Rebbe. It should go weiter. And gezucht zecher zan, sebis Meshiach Tzidkeinu vegilei shlama bimhairi vimeini, amen.

1:16:42 Speaker 4 Amen. And bizeycher what you told the Rebbe then-

1:16:46 Speaker 3 Mamush, mamush

1:16:47 Speaker 4 ... the Rebbe's gonna feel like a Meshiach.

1:16:48 Speaker 3 Amen.

1:16:48 Speaker 4 Mamush, mamush.

1:16:49 Speaker 3 Amen.