#18 R' Avrohom Ber from Bobroisk

00:04 His Majesty King Charles III may have a speedy recovery, refua shlema, dedicated by the British mispallelim of Beis Eliezer Yitzchok in Crown Heights. The Chossid, Reb Avrom Ber from Bobruisk, known as Avrom Ber Yirmiyahu, was a ba'al hasidei of the Tzemach Tzedek, the Rebbe Ma'arash, the Rebbe Rashab. At the bar mitzvah of the Friediker Rebbe, Reb Avrom Ber was one of the guests, and over there he shared his life story, and somebody wrote it down, and it is printed in HaTomim. And this is what it describes in HaTomim. The Chossid, Reb Avrom Ber, was known amongst the Chassidim, even though he was a kvadpeh, he did not have a clear speech in worldly matters. However, when he spoke divrei Chassidus or a story, he used to speak very clearly and, and well. His height and his hadres ponim would make a strong impression on people. His father, the Chossid Reb Yirmiyahu, was born in Hamel, was a businessman and a lamdun muflag, he was a big talmid chacham. And when he was a younger man, he once saw the holy face of the Alter Rebbe. However, he was mainly mekushar to the Mitteler Rebbe and to the Tzemach Tzedek, and he was from the Mekurevim of the Chossid Reb Isaac Hameler. So the Chossid Reb Yirmiyahu raised his son, Reb Avrom Ber, by the best melamed, and since he was a baal kisheonos and chushim niflaim, he was very successful in his learning. And the lamdim of Hamel were very much mekarav him. And once

01:41 he became a bocher, Reb Isaac Hameler took him as a talmid. Reb Avrom Ber learned by Reb Isaac Hameler for four years with tremendous shkidah, and when he was seventeen, his father brought him for Shavuos, taf res gimel to the yeshiva that was then in Lubavitch by the Tzemach Tzedek. "My father," related Reb Avrom Ber, "had a lot of parnasah, and from year to year became wealthier and wealthier. He used to give a lot of tzedakah, and besides for that, my mother was a baalas hachnasas orchim in a tremendous way. And once it came the time for my father to travel to Lubavitch, they will make a raffle in, in the town who from the Chassidim will be zoche to travel together with my father on his wagon, and my father will sponsor his trip." "When I was six years old, which was in the year of taf kuf tzadik beis," related Reb Avrom Ber, "before they brought me to cheder, so my father brought me to Lubavitch for Shavuos. After Pesach, I already found out that this year my father is going to take me for Shavuos to Lubavitch, and from Lag BaOmer and on, the preparations for the trip were on the way. On Lag BaOmer, they used to make a big seudah in one of the big shuls, and Reb Isaac Hameler used to say Chassidus. And since there wasn't enough space for all the Chassidim and the baalei batim, so they used to c- so they used to celebrate for three

03:06 or four days in a row, and sometimes even five or six days." There was an old minhag in Hamel that the Shabbos after Lag BaOmer, they will make it into a Yom Tov, and they used to call it a freileche Shabbos, just like the Shabbos bereishis of after Simchas Torah. And if Lag BaOmer fell out on a Sunday, they will celebrate the whole entire week until after the Shabbos, the freilecher Shabbos. The seder of the celebration was that after davening, all the lamdei Chassidim and the gvirim and the skanim will come to the house of Reb Isaac Hameler, and they will speak about all the matters that need to be fixed in the city, beruchnius, and all the physical needs in the city that need to be fixed. And they will make a estimation of money, of how much money is needed for different needs. Then they will go and visit the cemetery, and from there they will come to that shul where they set up the seudas mitzvah. That's on the day of Lag BaOmer. All the days of the celebration, Reb Isaac Hameler would say Chassidus. And during those days, they used to ge-- they used to collect all the estimated money that's needed for the needs of the community that they set out on Lag BaOmer. Those days were also used to make a hachnasat l'cheder for the boys who came to the age of cheder, and they will also test the boys in cheder and in yeshiva to see their knowledge.

04:34 When Lag BaOmer fell out on a Thursday or on a Friday, so Reb, Reb Isaac Hameler instituted that then the celebration should go on until the second Shabbos after that. Since that year, Lag BaOmer fell out on Erev Shabbos Kodesh VeChukosai on a Friday, so the celebration went on for the whole entire week afterwards until after Shabbos VeMidbar. "So I," said Reb Avrom Ber, "since I knew that these days my father is going to bring me into cheder for the first time, and afterwards he's going to take me with him and with all the Chassidim to Lubavitch, I was in a very high mood. I was very excited. I will never forget that trip, and the impression of that trip was engraved in my heart. Four wagons, each wagon was attached to two horses. We left Hamel, and on each one of those wagons were fifteen passengers, some of them sit, some of them sitting in two lines inside a wagon, some of them sitting on the sides of the wagon. Two of them were sitting by the steps, and two were sitting next to the wagon driver. All of them excited and happy. The wagons were just as a resting place for an hour or two. However, most of the people would actually walk by foot with a simcha and a pleasure that cannot be described." In the first wagon was sitting the Chossid Reb Isaac Hameler, my father, and some more Chassidim, and I sat by my father across from Reb Isaac Hameler.

06:08 Sunday morning, early morning, my mother woke me up to rush and get dressed and go to the house of Rabbi Isaac Homoler because from there they would leave. With a unique simcha, my mother put on me the new garment that she sewed for me, and she told me to wear it only on Shabbos and when I'll be zoche to go into the Tzemach Tzedek for yechidus. When we came to that street where Rabbi Isaac Homoler lived, that despite the fact that it was a very early morning hour, the street was already hustling and bustling for many people, just like on a market day. And once we came to the house of the gaon of Rabbi Isaac Homoler, the courtyard was already filled with people, men, women, and children. Some were speaking excitingly. Some were dancing, singing, and four wagons were standing there ready to go. To enter Rabbi Isaac Homoler's house was impossible because the house was packed with people, and my mother was not able to find my father. So while we were standing there, we found out from people that that whole entire night, Rabbi Isaac Homoler was speaking chassidus, and as soon as it became light outside, they davened with a minyan, and just a little while ago, all the lamdim and the gvirim in the city came to go and escort, to be melaveh Rabbi Isaac Homoler on his way to the Rebbe. Some little while passed, and all of a sudden we heard sound of singing, and suddenly people started

07:35 to come out of the main entranceway and out of the windows while singing and dancing, and they were actually, while they were coming out, they were facing the house. And the dancing, the singing was so loud that all the people in the courtyard, uh, right away stopped whatever they were doing and paid their attention to the entrance. After a few moments, the face of Rabbi Isaac Homoler was seen by the door leaving the house, and he stood, and he benched the whole community who were there saying goodbye, and he went on to the wagon. That's when my mother saw my father going up also to the wagon after Rabbi Isaac Homoler, so she started to scream, "Yirmiyah, Yirmiyah, here is Avrohom Ber. Take him. Don't forget Avrohom Berke." But my father did not hear my mother, so when I saw that my tati forgot me, I started to cry loudly, and the wagon started to travel slowly. Everybody were standing around. As soon as the wagons started to travel, they started to sing A Freilechen Ingen, and they walked behind the wagon to escort it. In the meantime, my mother saw Rabbi Yisroel Aharon the melamed, and she told him that my father forgot me and that she called him, but he didn't hear her. So Rabbi Yisroel Aharon the melamed picked me up, and he made his way through the big crowd until he got to the wagon where my father was sitting, and he put me down over there. The wagon traveled slowly,

08:59 and the crowd that was escorting the wagons was becoming bigger by the moment because each street, more hundreds of people were joining. They kept traveling out of the city, and before all the hundreds of people from Homel managed to turn back to go back to Homel, the people who came from the city of Balitsa who came to greet, who came to greet us, the Hasidim who were traveling to Lubavitch already met us. Meaning before all the hundreds of people from Homel managed to turn back to Homel, the group from the next city came to already greet us. In Balitsa, Rabbi Isaac Homoler came down from the wagon with my father and all the travelers, and, uh, they, they left the wagon. This time I didn't leave the wagon because I was afraid that my father will forget me again, so therefore I just stayed sitting in the wagon, waited for them to come back. Five days, from Sunday, Parshas Nasso, until Thursday, we traveled from Homel to Lubavitch. We passed a few small shtetlach, big shtetlach, villages, and each place that we come was a simcha v'yom tov. And on our trip, we met more wagons who were traveling to Lubavitch from Obruzhsk, Smilyan, Tulchin, Minsk, Borisov, Shklov, Shklov, Rogachov, and more cities, and also a bunch of groups who were traveling by foot. On Wednesday, when it was Mincha time, we were supposed to arrive at the city of Dobrujna. The last stop, which was in the village of Zalishchyna, which over there lived

10:38 the Hasid Reb Elya Moshe the Mussaf, 15 or 16 kilometers away from Dobrujna. So when we came to Zalishchyna, we found over there many wagons, about 20 or 30 wagons parked, and a few hundred people lying down on the grass on a big field right outside the shtetl, right across the street from the courtyard, from the chatsar of the Hasid Reb Elya Moshe the Mussaf. Here and there, you were able to see tens and tens of groups of people together, some speaking, some sleeping, some eating and drinking, some chazzaring chassidus, some are dancing a chassidishe tantzl, and I kept holding onto my father's garment so he should not forget me behind. The Hasid Reb Elya Moshe the Mussaf, his sons and his son-in-laws, his wife, his daughters, and his daughters-in-law, his grandchildren, his brothers and his sisters, and all of their families, they were all busy serving this huge crowd of Hasidim that were traveling to Lubavitch and to give them food and drink and everything for free. Reb Elya Moshe used to say, "Everything that the Rebbe accomplished in Shamayim for me, 99% belongs to the Hasidim and just 1% for me. So eat, my friends. Eat and drink because it is the bracha of the Rebbe and a present of the Aibishter that you are eating. Eat and drink, and be merry. Be happy. Eat and drink so you should be Hasidim ba'alei koach ugevurah to serve the Aibishter with Torah, mitzvos, and avodas shebalev." In the village of Zalishchyna We met the

12:15 famous Hasidim, Harav HaTzaddik, Reb Hillel Paritcher, and Reb Yitzchok Ozeritcher. The big simcha of when Reb Isaac Homoler met these two Hasidim, Reb Hillel Paritcher and Reb Yitzchok Ozeritcher, you cannot describe. And all three of them ate together the seudah in the house of the Hasid, Reb Eliyahu Moshe the Mutzlach. When we left Zaliszczyki, we left together with about 40 wagons and camps and camps of people walking by foot, most of them carrying their briefcases on their shoulders with a cane in their hand. Amongst them, people who were singing Geshmake Nigunim while people on the side answering him back with great simcha. Our way led us through a big forest between tall trees, and the voice, the sound of their singing was heard very far, and each one of the tnuos of the song, of the nigun, was heard as if there is a group of people singing far away in the forest that are answering back to what we're singing over here because of the echo. From far, I saw the end of the forest because over there the sun was shining, which was not so in the forest because the branches of the trees covered up on the sun, and it seemed as if it was already shkiya inside the forest, but only in the end of the forest you're able to see some light. And soon afterwards, we came out of the forest onto a wide, big field, and the sun was shining strongly, and in front of our eyes was seen

13:48 a tall mountain. All the people in the wagon besides for Reb Itzik Homoler and the old Hasid, Reb Yechiel ben Reb Meir Ba'al Brechi, and the goyen, the old goyen, Reb Zalman Dov the Milchiker. So besides for those three, everybody else came off the wagon to walk by foot until we came to the top of the mountain. When we came to the top of the mountain, from far we were able to see the roofs of the homes of the city of Dubrovno. However, it was r- it was still more than two kilometers away. And we saw on the bottom of the mountain a big crowd standing on the two sides of the way. And after a short while, we found out that this is the Hasidim of the city of Dubrovno, um, accompanied by the famous goyen, the Hasid, Reb Nechemya Dubrovner, who came out to greet us. The Hasidim were traveling to Lubavitch. When, when we came down from the mountain and we came to the place where Hasidim of Dubrovno were standing, that's when Reb Itzik Homoler came down from the wagon to see the Harav HaTzaddik, Harav HaGoyen, Reb Nechemya Dubrovno. My father also m- went with him, and he put me next to Reb Avrohom Meir, the wagon driver, that he should, uh, keep an eye on me, and he told me to follow all instructions that he tells me to do. Since I was very tired from the way, I was actually sleeping, uh, and therefore I didn't even know

15:10 that we arrived in the city of Dubrovno. When I woke up, Reb Avrohom Meir, the wagon driver, was already after breakfast, and he told me that in about an hour or two we're gonna be on our way again, and towards the evening we will come to Lubavitch. And on Thursday evening we came to Lubavitch. Erev Shabbos Kodesh, an hour before shkiya, the shul, the big shul, was already packed with people. And on the bimah that was in the middle of the shul were standing the sons of the Rebbe and some of the older Hasidim, amongst them Reb Itzik Homoler. And then somebody made an announcement that the Rebbe is coming. It became very quiet, and all the eyes were looking at the place of where the Rebbe will be coming from. And a moment later, I was standing on one of the ovins being held by Reb Avrohom Meir, the ba'al hagalah, and I saw a man wearing white clothing and a fur hat on his head walking towards the bimah, and he sat down on a chair that was prepared for him. And with a mighty voice, he started, "Vay'daber Nosson es Toras Pinui Gesher Gam Hehem", which is a ma'amar which was then later on printed in the Likkutei Torah on Parshas Nosson. I remember how I entered with my father then to the Rebbe for yechidus. Many hours my father was standing in the room outside of the Tzemach Tzedek's room to wait, and he put me sitting on the window. And

16:38 once it was time for my father to enter, my father asked somebody to get me from the window, and he passed me from hand to hand over the heads of older Hasidim to my father. My father entered the Rebbe's room, and I was holding onto his garment, schlepping behind him. The room where the Rebbe was sitting was a big room. By the walls were closets filled with Sifrei Torah. The Rebbe was sitting by a big table, and on top of it were a few Sifrei Torah, notes, and pushkas of coins, and two lit candles. When my father entered the Rebbe's room, the Rebbe was looking at a Sefer that was open before him. And when my father came close to where the Rebbe was sitting, the Rebbe picked up his eyes from the Sefer, and he looked at my father's face, and he looked at my face. My father was shaking in his whole body. I also became overwhelmed, and I started to cry quietly. And the Tzemach Tzedek, the Rebbe, stretched out his hand to take the note that was in my father's hand 'cause my father was so overwhelmed that he just stayed standing in his place not knowing what to do. So my father stood still, his head bent downwards, and tears were coming down from his eyes onto the floor. In the first moments, he held himself in to cry quietly. However, after a little while, he burst out in a loud, crying voice. And when I saw that my father

18:06 was crying, my heart shrunk, and I cried quietly, and I looked in the holy face of the Rebbe. For a while, the Rebbe wrote the note that my father gave him. And while he was reading it, for about two or three times, he looked at my father's face and at my face, and then the Rebbe spoke to my father. When the Rebbe started to speak to my father, my father stopped crying, and his lips were moving to repeat quietly all the words that the Rebbe was telling him. For a long time, the Rebbe spoke to my father. Afterwards, my father asked the Rebbe a few questions, and the Rebbe answered. And when the Rebbe finished, my father said, "This is my son. Be'ezras Hashem, I'm bringing him into cheder, and I'm asking the Rebbe to bench him." And he brought me close to the Rebbe. For a moment, the Rebbe was misbonen, he was thinking, and he closed his holy eyes. After a few moments, he opened up his holy eyes, and he looked at me, and he said, "You should be a shakdan," meaning you should be devoted to your learning. "Do not be holech bato," meaning don't go around wasting your time. "And Hashem should help you to be a lamdan and a Hasid." Then my father answered a loud amen, and I answered amen after him. When we left the Rebbe's holy room, when we came to the small shul, my father picked me up. He burst out in a Chassidishe dance

19:32 with the Hasidim, 'cause that was the minhag those days, that anybody who was zoche to be by the Rebbe in Yechidus, when he came out, he went into a tantsl. For a long time, my father danced until all of his clothing were soaking wet from sweat, as if they took them out of a bowl of water. So he sat by one of the benches on the side to rest a little bit, and he told me, "Sit down and rest a little bit, and then later we will go to the inn of where our Rav is," Reb Itzie Kopeler. I saw that my father, his mood is very, very excited, even though he was physically very worn out. And I was able to see that from the fact that even though he was sitting to rest, but his feet and hands were still clapping and banging to the tune of the people dancing and singing. Since I remember myself, I liked simcha in general and a Chassidishe dance specifically. And from the day that I remember myself, I remember the Chassidishe dancing. I remember that already when I was at the age that I was only able to crawl, I wasn't even able to stand up yet, whenever they would hold onto me, and whenever they would put me by that wagon that's meant to teach little babies how to walk, so as soon as I was in a standing position, I would make those same motions of dancing that I saw in my father's house.

20:48 And when I started to be able to walk and to express a few words, I would scream that I wanna dance a Chassidishe dance. My mother very much liked to be machnis orechim in general, and especially Chassidishe farbrengens. So very often, my father's friends, the Hasidim, would come to us, and they would learn and speak divrei Chassidus. And afterwards, they would go into a dance, a Chassidishe dance, and I would dance with them. I would hold onto the garment of one of the Hasidim. Amongst the farbrengers and the dancers were two yungeleit, wh- which were the youngest of the whole group. And they were very freilecher Hasidim, and they knew how to sing, gishmak. And also their dancing was very unique. And whenever they would start a Chassidishe dance, they will pick me up on their shoulders. Sometimes it'll be Anschel Gites will pick me up, and sometimes it will be Shloime Peshes. And I was in seventh heaven. The small simchas Torah, the kleynes simchas Torahlach, that's how I used to call those farbrengens. And from when I was four years old, when I started to go to the cheder of Reb Elimelech to play with kids my age and to hear stories of Chumash, Nach, and Aggadah, I used to tell my friends that yesterday or two days ago, we had in our house a kleynes simchas Torahlach, a small simchas Torah. And all the friends in my class, and sometimes even the kids in the older classes, were very jealous of me.

22:15 And I felt very high about myself because I was the only kid in the cheder who had little simchas Torahlach in his house. And besides for that, I'm the only kid that had a chance to very often ride on the shoulders of this freilecher Hasidim, Reb Anschel Gites and Reb Shloime Peshes, which is something that no other kids in class or in the whole cheder had a chance to. This is something that I used to use to tease my, the kids in my age in general, and especially my classmate, Schneur Zalman Ber, the son of the Chossid Reb Arye, specifically. Whenever we met, he used to tease me because I was named after my zeide, the father of my mother, who passed away young. And he, Schneur Zalman Ber, was named after the Alter Rebbe and the Mitteler Rebbe. And since he didn't like me, he would tease me about my name. So I used to tease him back about the fact that I'm the only one who has a chance to ride on the shoulders of Reb Anschel Gites or Reb Shloime Peshes. One time, I asked my mommy, "Why the Hasidim who were farbrenged and spoke for a few hours, why are they so happy and they go into a dance?" So my mother answered me, "Because they, the Hasidim, they sat and learned, and they are happy with the Torah that they know, and that's the simcha of the Torah." And that's when I started calling all those farbrengens the kleynes simchas

23:35 Torahlach. And since I was very used to this, uh, kleynes simchas Torahlach, therefore, it wasn't a wonder for me, this big dancing of the Hasidim here in a small shul outside of its Tzemach Tzedek's room. But what I did not understand was why is it davka after they came out of Yechidus? And why is this entering to the room of the Rebbe, why is it called Yechidus? 'Cause I heard Hasidim asking each other, "Were you yet in Yechidus?" And they would answer each other, "Yes, I'm going to Yechidus. I was in Yechidus. Tomorrow I'm gonna go into Yechidus." Or they were telling each other, "You heard this Hasid was in Yechidus. He's going into Yechidus." So these two questions, why going into the Rebbe's room, why is it called Yechidus? And the second question, why when they came out of the Rebbe's room, they dance? That is something that bothered my mon- and didn't let me rest. And when I saw what, that my father is, is in a very good mood, so I asked him these two questions. So my father asked me, "Do you know about the Mishkan that Moshe made by Hashem's command? Do you learn that there was a special place in the Mishkan, that in that place was standing the Aron and the Luchos? And once a year on Yom Kippur, Aaron HaKohen would go there to bring Ketoret and to daven on behalf of all the Yidden?" So I wanted to show off to my father my knowledge, so

24:56 I right away told my father everything I knew about the Mishkan and about the house that Shlomo HaMelech built, about the Kodesh Hakodashim, the Aron, the Luchos, the Avoda of the Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur in general, and him going into the Kodesh Hakodashim in specific, and that when the Kohen Gadol mentioned Hashem's holy name, all the peopleAzara will bow down. I kept speaking and speaking, and I actually showed my father with my body how they will bow down in the Beis Hamikdash, because it's been already two years that on Yom Kippur I was in shul, and when everybody did the Kriya and Ishtachavah by Musaf Yom Kippur, I did it just like the adults. And when I got up from my place, I, I ran to tell my mother, and my mother gave me a slice of, uh, white bread without butter, telling me because it's Yom Kippur. So I was describing and, and imitating all of that to my father in Lubavitch. So my father asked me, "Who enters with the Kohen Gadol to the Kodesh Hakodashim on Yom Kippur?" So I answered, "Only the Kohen Gadol. Nobody enters with him." So then my father asked me, "What would the Kohen Gadol do when he finished the holy Avoda of Yom Kippur in the Kodesh Hakodashim?" So I answered that my Rebbe, Rebbe Lemech, told us that the Kohen Gadol was very wealthy, and he had golden clothing, and he used to make them out of the gold that he has in

26:17 his house. And when he finished his Avoda in the Beis Hamikdash, he would go home, and all the Yidden will escort him singing and dancing, and they will come to his home by the Chatzer, there were set up tables with foods and drinks, and everybody would rejoice with him because Hashem forgave the averos of the Yidden. So now my father asked me, "Do we have a Beis Hamikdash and a Kodesh Hakodashim?" So I answered with a sigh that came out of my heart, "No, we don't have a Beis Hamikdash and not a Kodesh Hakodashim." And then I looked up to my father to see what will be his reaction, what is he gonna tell me? But before my father managed to answer me, a group of people burst into the shul with a freilechen nigun and joined the dancing. And when my father saw that most of the people in the group are from the Hasidim of Hameln, from our town, he jumped up from his place with stretched out hands and with dancing feet, and he joined the dancing. I was a little taken aback that, that I didn't know what to do. In the beginning, I wanted to run also to my father, but I was afraid that from all the adults who are dancing so fast, I'll be trampled over. So I stayed back, and I stood up on the bench. In the meantime, I saw Reb Avraham Meir, the Ba'al Hagalah, that he's also amongst the dancers. So when he passed

27:36 next to me, I called his name, but he didn't answer me. I was standing on a bench looking, and I saw that there in the middle of the dancing, in the middle of the circle that my father was dancing, and around him, a few of the Hasidim of Hameln, amongst them Reb Avraham Meir, the Ba'al Hagalah, and Reb Shlomo Peshes. And all of them, their eyes were closed. Each one had his right hand on the shoulder of his friend, and with his left hand, he was moving based on the beat of the nigun. The heylike hergesh that was shining on the faces of the dancers, I cannot describe. The ahavah d'akhvah and the rejoicing is something that I cannot describe. All of them were holding onto each other with peace and friendship, and I was melting with my desire to join their dancing. Two, three times, Reb Avraham Meir, the Ba'al Hagalah, passed next to me, and I called him, but he did not hear me. Then all of a sudden, I felt that somebody grabbed me from my back, and I flew in the air, and after a moment, I landed onto the shoulders of a Hasid, and I was deep inside the circle of the dancing. So I looked down, and I saw there was Reb Shlomo Peshes who picked me up, and I was extremely excited. And then sometime middle of the dancing, a big announcement came out, "Ad kan, akof alef!" This was the voice of the Hasid, Reb Zalman Yaakov

29:02 Esther dishes, which was one of the gvirim of Hameln. And he was a gabbai in the shul in Lubavitch. And, uh, they stopped the dancing because it was time to daven Mincha, and they prepared for Mincha. All the things that my father told me about the Beis Hamikdash, the Kodesh Hakodashim, the Aron, and his last question of, "Do we have a Beis Hamikdash and a Kodesh Hakodashim now?" left by me a little bit of a feeling of sadness and bitterness. And my mind started to race with a new question, "Why are they happy? The Beis Hamikdash is destroyed, and we don't have a Kodesh Hakodashim today." The Hasidim started to daven Mincha in a rejoicing, singing way. They were davening in a Simchas Torah style. And my mind was racing with this new question, "Why are they so happy? Isn't the Beis Hamikdash destroyed?" And that's when I remembered all the stories that I heard from my Rebbe, Rebbe Lemech, that he told us on Tisha B'Av last year. So I decided that when my father will finish davening Mincha, I will ask him about it. When he finished davening, Reb Zalman Yaakov Esther dishes announced that he's going to bring mashke and farbrengen. And I turned to my father, and I told him, "You asked me if we have now also a Beis Hamikdash and a Kodesh Hakodashim. But we don't have not a Beis Hamikdash and not a Kodesh Hakodashim. So why are you singing and dancing? Why are you so happy? Isn't

30:23 the Beis Hamikdash destroyed?" So when my father heard my shailah, he answered me, "You're right, my son. The Beis Hamikdash in Yerushalayim Ir Hakodesh is destroyed. And when the Yidden will do teshuva, the Aibishter will send us Moshiach, and he will gather us from the arba kanfos ha'aretz, and he will bring us with our homes and our keilim to Eretz Yisrael, and he will rebuild Yerushalayim and Beis Hamikdash. However, now we do not have not a Beis Hamikdash, not a Kodesh Hakodashim. However," says my tati, "since the day the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed till Moshiach will come, Lubavitch is our Yerushalayim." And the shul where the Rebbe davens, that is our Beis Hamikdash. And the room where the Rebbe sits, that is our Kodesh Hakadashim. And the Rebbe, the Rebbe, he is the aron, which in him is the luchos, the Toras Hashem. This is our aron. The look, the seriousness on my father's face when he was telling me all of that made on me a tremendous impression. And I was thinking, "Here, not so long ago, me and my father were inside the Kodesh Hakadashim, and now we're, we're in the shul, we're in the Beis Hamikdash. How moireh dikh is that?" While I'm thinking all of these thoughts about the Beis Hamikdash and the Kodesh Hakadashim, and I heard my father continuing to talk to me. "Do you know, my son, that when Moshe Rabbeinu brought the aron with the luchos inside the Kodesh Hakadashim, he heard the voice of Hashem speaking

31:55 to him from between the keruvim which were on top of the aron?" "Yes," I answered to my father. "I actually heard once Mommy reading that from a sefer to my aunt, and I overheard her describing all of that." "So these words that Hashem spoke from the keruvim," said my father, "those are the words that the Rebbe tells each person from the Hasidim who enters his room for yechidus. The words of the Rebbe, those are the words of Hashem. And just like the Kohen Gadol would enter the Kodesh Hakadashim by himself, so too anyone who enters the room of the Rebbe, which is the Kodesh Hakadashim, he goes in by himself, and that's why we call it yechidus. And just like when the Kohen Gadol came out of the Kodesh Hakadashim after Yom Kippur, him and all the Yidden would rejoice, so too us, the Hasidim, when we come out of our Kodesh Hakadashim, the Rebbe's room, we're rejoicing on all the great chesed that the Hamishpocha did with us, and it was mezake us to be in Kodesh Hakadashim and to hear the Rebbe's brocha." "You should remember well," said my father, "the words of the brocha that the Rebbe benched you. And im yirtzeh Hashem when we will come home, you should tell everything to your mother in detail." At that time, I didn't yet have a chance to show my father that I remember word for word everything that the Rebbe told me in yechidus, the, the whole brocha. But before I had

33:11 a chance to do so, Reb Zalman Yaakov Esther Dishiz came over, and he forced my father to come to the table and to say some l'chaim and to farbrengen. My father gave me a s- piece of cake, and I made a brocha, a berachah me'al hazaynus out loud, and the father and the people who were sitting around heard my brocha and answered amen. And Reb Avrohom David, the chazan, and Reb Boruch Shimon, the einbinder, praised my father for taking me to Lubavitch. "You're a wise guy," said Reb Avrohom David, the chazan, to my father, "that you took your Avrohom Berel to Lubavitch. Now in this generation, we need to be margil, we need to re- we need to educate the sons' Yechidus from when they could start walking, from a very young age." "In my opinion," said Reb Boruch Shimon, "this is actually his mother's wisdom, not his father's wisdom." Meaning my mommy. "She is a machneses orchim and a Hasidische woman." Then I said to them, "I was with my Tatty in Kodesh Hakadashim, and the Rebbe gave me a brocha." And then I looked at my father's face to see if he's allowing me to repeat to them the brocha that the Rebbe gave me. However, my father was in the middle of talking to somebody on across the table. In the meantime, Reb Shlomo Peshez came running, all sweaty, and he said that all the Hasidim from Hamel were already all in Yechidus, and they are now davening Mincha, and in a

34:35 short while they will come here. "For such good news," said Reb Zalman Yaakov Esther Dishiz to Reb Shlomo Peshez, "for such good news, you deserve a c- a cup of mashke and a shtikel mezonos. Here, take and make a brocha and eat." Reb Shlomo Peshez make a, made a mezonos, and then a shehakol on the mashke, and he benched all the people around with a l'chaim, with a shining feleich face. And when he finished drinking his l'chaim, he started to clap with his hands and dance in his place. And then he turned to all the people sitting around, wondering, "You're sitting here in one place, eating and drinking without dancing? I know that the, the Hasid, Reb Zalman Yaakov Esther Dishiz, is a great Hasid, and Reb Itzik Homeler said that he has seichel hayashar, but his kaltkeit and his manners is something that I cannot tolerate. If you guys are gonna listen to him and follow his instructions, you will become like stuffed white geese. Brider, my brothers, uh, we should leave all of this, uh, kaltkeit and manners behind in Hamel. And here when we come to Lubavitch, which is our Yerushalayim, we should leave all of these manners and all of these feelings and being worried about how people are going to look at us." That's what Reb Shlomo Peshez said. Then Reb Avrohom David, the chazan said, "Heh, look who is talking. Heh. When we were jungerleit..." In other words, to understand what's happening here, Reb Shlomo Peshez was a, a

35:58 younger man. Reb Avrohom David was an older Hasid. So he said about Reb Shlomo Peshez after he said this whole thing about leaving your manners behind and, and, and join, and joining the dancing, he said, "So look who is talking. When we were jungerleit, we did not dare open up our mouths in a Hasidische farbrengen. So much more so that we did not dare express our opinion out loud like this. Believe me, Shlomo, this is a chutzpah." "Heh, times have changed," said Reb Gershon Leib the sefer to Reb Avrohom David the chazan. "In our days, uh, things were completely different. The jungerleit knew that they are jungerleit, they knew their place, and they knew that they just need to listen to what the Hasidim are speaking between each other." And the farbrengen went on and on. Then we traveled back home. And when I came home, I told my mother everything that happened to us, everything that I saw on the way, everything I saw in Lubavitch, and I repeated to my mother the brocha that the Rebbe gave me. When I came back from Lubavitch, a big shkeda, a big devotion to learning awoke within me, and the melamed was very happy with me. And in the next zman of learning, my father already moved me up to the next melamed. For the next four years rang in my ears the words of the Rebbe, that you should be devoted to learning and to not- do not walk around wasting time. And his hillike

37:17 brocho that Hashem shall help you to be lamdan and a Hasid, and my father and my mother had a lot of pleasure from my devotion to learning and my anhogah be yiras Shamayim. And when I was 10 years old, and I already had quite a knowledge in learning, my father took me with him again on a trip to Lubavitch, and again I went into the yechidas by the Rebbe. And when the Rebbe finished speaking to my father, he s- he looked at me strongly, and he turned to my father and he said, "His face show that he was devoted to learning." And he asked me, the Rebbe asked me, "What did you learn?" And I, so I answered, "I learned Bava Tzia, Bava Kama, Bava Metzia, uh, and I'm right now in the middle of the perek Mokom She'Noagu in Pesachim. And in Tanakh I learned Chumash with Rashi, and Nevi'im Rishonim." So the Rebbe thought a little bit, then he said, "What you learned is good, and in the future you should finish Pesachim, and then you should learn Bava Basra, Nedarim, Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim, Chumash, keseder ha-parshiyos with Rashi, Orach Chayim, and Panim Yafos. You should learn Tehillim with Rashi, and then you should learn Nevi'im Acharonim. And the Aibishter should help you, that you should be devoted to learning Torah, and you should be a yerei Shamayim, and you should be a lamdan, Hasid, ve-yerei Shamayim." In the following three years from the age of 10 until bar mitzvah, I finished

38:36 Pesachim, Bava Basra, Nedarim, and I chazarred Bava Kama and Bava Metzia, and I knew them very well with all the taamasos. And when my father brought me to Lubavitch for my bar mitzvah, I was zecher that the Rebbe placed his holy hands on my head and he benched me. However, the nusach of the brocha I did not hear. And when we came back from Lubavitch, a Rav Ahavoin, a Rav Ahavos, Rabbi Isaac Homoler accepted me to his yeshiva to be a talmid in the third table, which means the third level. After a year, I moved up to the second table for a year, and then I moved up to the first table. And when I was 17 years old, I was accepted in the yeshiva of the Rebbe in Lubavitch in the second shiur, which the mechaltzir in that shiur was the son of the Rebbe, HaRav Hakodesh, Reb Israel Noyech. And the tester was the Rebbe's son-in-law, HaRav Hakodesh, Reb Levi Yitzchok, atkan from Hatamim