R' Meir Refoel's (and a Niggun from R' Moshe Charitonov)

00:07 Speaker 1 This episode is sponsored BeZchus Chana bas Miriam in honor of her birthday, and also BeZchus of her husband, Nachum Zvi HaCohen ben Rivka, in honor of their anniversary, dedicated by their son, Reb Alter Shulych yeah. May they have many more years of healthy, happy life together. The Chasid Reb Meir Refael, he was born around the year of tet kuf heh, and he was a descendant of the Seder HaDoros. In the year of tet kuf nun, he was elected to be a member in the Vaad Hakalah of Vilna as the representative of the Hasidim. Reb Meir Refael was a big vir and he had a big house in the city and a factory for making mashke. After he was Mesekerav to Hasidus, his house became the center of Hasidish life in Vilna. Almost all Hasidim who would come to Vilna would stay by him, and also the Hasidish shul was in his house. At a certain point, he was taken to a Din Torah by a committee of five people who were chosen by the Misnagdim to fight the Hasidim. And at the Din Torah when they asked him, "Why did you connect to the Hasidim?" He answered, "In our community, I didn't find the truth, and by them, I saw the truth. That's why I connected to them." Later on, this committee, which basically ran the city, asurd to buy mashke by the Hasidim in general, and specifically by Reb Meir Refael's. And they even said that anyone who bought any mashke from Hasidim should

01:46 Speaker 1 return and get a refund. This was right before Pesach, and this very much damaged Reb Meir Refael's business. In Cheshvan, tet kuf nun tes, this was during the arrest of the Alter Rebbe, so a few of the heads of the Hasidim in Vilna were also arrested in connection to the Alter Rebbe's arrest, and he was sent with a few Hasidim to Petersburg. However, after a few weeks, they were all released. About the way Reb Meir Refael's became a Hasid of the Alter Rebbe, it is told that there was once a Hasid that his son-in-law escaped and left his daughter Agunah. Three years passed and the husband didn't show any signs of appearing. So the Hasid and his daughter, who was an Agunah, traveled to the Alter Rebbe and poured out their hearts to the Alter Rebbe asking him for help. So the Alter Rebbe told the wife, the daughter, that she should travel to Vilna and go to the Parnes HaChabadish, which at that time was Reb Meir Refael's, which was not a Hasid at that time, "And ask him to find your husband." So right away, the relatives put together a sum of money to, uh, enable her to travel to Vilna, which was far from there. And they told her, "If the Rebbe said that's what you should do, then go to his house, to the Parnes HaChabadish's house, and demand from him to find your husband." And they warned her that, "Even if they kick you out of his house and they

03:13 Speaker 1 make fun of you, even if they hit you, suffer all suffering that you need, but don't let go until he finds your husband." So after a lot of travels, the woman came to Vilna and she went straight to Reb Meir Refael's house. Reb Meir Refael's was not home at that time, and, uh, his wife greeted her. And when she told Reb Meir Refael's wife why she came, she started to laugh like, "How would my husband know where your husband, who escaped home three years ago from some far city we d- that we don't even recognize, how would my husband know where he is?" When Reb Meir Refael's came back home from shul, his wife told him about this strange lady who was here demanding that he should find her husband. And then Reb Meir Refael's wife added, "Now I understand why you guys make so much fun of the Hasidim. Strange people." The Agunah, the lady, overheard this conversation and she announced to them that, "I'm not leaving your house until you find my husband." So Reb Meir and his family rebuked her and tried to explain to her that this is ridiculous, but nothing helped. So when Reb Meir Refael's saw that, uh, he can't get rid of her, he said, "Look, I can't find your husband within a day. You gotta give me some time. So go to the Achinasos Rochel house, stay over there, and we'll see what happens." And he thought that by that it would just get rid of her.

04:38 Speaker 1 However, she didn't let go, and every day she would come to his house and scream and demand that he should find her husband. Reb Meir told th- this to his friends. That just added more fuel to the fire against the Hasidim in the city, and this became the topic of discussion in the city. One day, Reb Meir was called to come to the police station, 'cause from time to time, the police would call him to identify Jews who were arrested for not having ID on them, and any Yidden that he would recognize, they would release. So he was called to the police, and they went through a list of prisoners. And when they called out the names of the Yidden arrested and the places where they're from, suddenly they called the name of a Yid from a certain city, and Reb Meir realized that that's the name of the Yid, the husband of that lady who comes to his house every day from that same town. So he asked the police people there if they could let him go home and come right back. And he ran home, and he called this lady, the Agunah, and he asked her for some signs how to identify her husband. So she gave him some signs, and he came back to the police station and checked out this person, and it fit the bill. It was, it was the right person. So Reb Meir went back home. He took this woman with him. To the police station and

06:03 Speaker 1 she identified her husband, and the mayor released him and convinced him to give a get to his wife. From that day on, the Mayor of Falls' yachas relationship to the Chassidim changed. He understood that the way people are treating the Chassidim in Vilna is not appropriate. However, he didn't finally decide who is right. He wasn't fully convinced that the Chassidim are right, and he thought, "You know, maybe it was a coincidence," and therefore he decided to keep the story in his heart and wait till he gets more further information. One Erev Shabbos, two young Galait came to Vilna, and you could tell on their faces that they were businessmen and Talmidie Chachamin. So the Mayor of Falls, which was a big machnis orch, went over to them and invited them to his home for the seudas. In the beginning, they refused and they said, "We have money to pay for our own seudas." And they said, "We're actually on a, in the middle of a trip. We just stopped off for Shabbos here." But the mayor begged them. He said, "It's gonna be my honor because to have a guest, especially if he's a Talmid Chacham, will be a big honor for me." So eventually they agreed. While they're eating the seudah, the mayor noticed that his guests are sad, and from time to time they let out a deep sigh. So he asked them what's wrong. So they said that, "We were hired by the government as contractors to do a certain job, and

07:26 Speaker 1 when we finished doing the job, some Goyim told the government that we cheated and we're soon going to have a court case in Petersburg. And all the lawyers that we discussed this with said that we're probably going to be arrested and sent to Siberia for a few years. And we're traveling to Petersburg now to try to solve this." So when the Mayor of Falls heard that, he thought for a little bit, and then he said, "Listen, I'm not a Chassid, but I do advise you to travel to the Rav of Liazna," meaning the Alter Rebbe, "and maybe he will save you." And he told them that story that I had with the Guna. And then he finished off by a personal request. He says, "Please, if you come back home peacefully and you'll be safe from this situation, please stop off in Vilna on the way home and tell me what happened." So they took his advice, and they traveled to Liazna to the Alter Rebbe. They went into the Alter Rebbe. After they told Alter Rebbe about their problem, the Alter Rebbe asked them, "Do you know how to learn?" So they were surprised about the question, and they thought, "If this Rav wants to test us in learning, why is he doing that now while our heads are occupied with, with the tzaros that we have?" But out of respect and manners, they answered, "Yeah, we do know how to learn." So the Alter Rebbe asked them, "If so, tell me what's the

08:42 Speaker 1 meaning of this Gemara? "That the kingship down here in this world is similar to the kingship of Hashem." The Alter Rebbe didn't wait for them to answer, and the Alter Rebbe himself gave an explanation. He said, "Just like by Hashem, when you daven to Hashem Shemoneh Esreh, so the beginning of a Shemoneh Esreh is the first three brachot is praising the Aibishter. And only after praising the Aibishter for three brachot, only then we ask for our needs. So too, it's in the kings down here that if you wanna ask a king for something, first you have to praise the king with chashuveh titles, and only then you should request whatever you wanna request." And then the Alter Rebbe finished the conversation, and he wished them, um, that they should be successful and send them out. So they came out of the Alter Rebbe's room quite angry. Says, "Instead of, uh, giving us advice what to do, he just gave us some nice words about some Maamer Chazal." So they continued to travel to Petersburg, and all the lawyers that they met repeated the same verdict that they're probably going to be severely punished. Only one lawyer told them some advice that they could try out. He says, "Try to meet the Minister of Eternal Affairs and ask him to grant you and ask him to, to take off this whole situation." So they try to find out how could they meet with the minister. So they heard that at a certain garden in the city,

10:07 Speaker 1 the ministers relax and take walks. However, regular people were not allowed into that garden. It's only if you manage to bribe the guard you could enter. So they bribed the guard, and they waited in the garden. And when they saw a very chashuveh-looking person walking through, they approached him, fell down to his feet, and begged him to save them. The minister listened, and then he said, "I'm not the right minister. You're looking for the Minister of Eternal Affairs. I'm the Minister of Education. However, since I could tell you guys are Jews, can you explain me this Maamer Chazal? "That the kingship down here is the same as the kingship by Hashem? Because the king asked me to explain him that, and I wanted to find out how do the Jews explain it." So they right away remembered the explanation of the Alter Rebbe, and they explained it to him. He liked the explanation, and he promised them that he will convince the Minister of Eternal Affairs to help them out. And that's what happened. They were completely released from any charges. And when they saw that, the both of them became Chassidim of the Alter Rebbe. And when they passed through Vilna on the way back home, they told the, they told the Mayor of Falls everything that happened. And that was the straw that broke the camel's back that turned the Mayor of Falls into a Chassid. Reb Tuvia Belkin related that before the tzadik Reb Moshe from Slavita founded the print house of

11:31 Speaker 1 Slavita, he was a Chassid of the Alter Rebbe. So he traveled to the Alter Rebbe to get advice from the Alter Rebbe how would he get the permits from the government to open up the print house, because the Minister of Education made it very hard to get permits to open up a Yiddish print house. So the Alter Rebbe advised him to travel to the city of Mohilev and find over there a Yid named Reb Yisroel the Melamed, take him from there, and travel with him to Vilna. And that's it. So Reb Moshe, which was a Chassid of the Alter Rebbe, didn't ask any questions. He traveled to Mohilev And after a lot of research, he found Reb Yisroel the Melamed. Reb Yisroel the Melamed, which was not a Hasid, was quite surprised that some Rebbe from the other side of the country sent somebody to him. He says, "Why me? I have nothing to do with any ministers. I don't even speak Russian fluently. I have Talmidim I have to teach. I can't just leave them to travel to Vilna." But Reb Moshe didn't let him go and he said, "The Rebbe also knows that you're a Melamed, and if he sent me to you, the Rebbe knows what he's doing. I'll find a substitute for you and I'll pay you a nice sum of money and come with me." So Reb Yisroel the Melamed agreed. They came to Vilna, which Vilna is not the place where you'll find a minister. It wasn't the capital

12:47 Speaker 1 city. So they came to Vilna. They went to Reb Meir Rafal's. And Reb Meir Rafal's himself, which was already a Hasid, was, uh, also surprised. The Minister of Education should not be found in Vilna, he should be in Peterburg. But since Reb Meir Rafal's was a H- uh, was a Hasid of the Alter Rebbe, he knew that if the Rebbe sent him there, this must be the right place. So after a few days, Reb Meir and his guests went out on a walk through the streets of Vilna. When they passed through one of the streets, Reb Meir noticed a Joshava-looking minister who was looking strongly into the face of Reb Yisroel the Melamed. So Reb Meir Rafal's went over to this minister and he said, "I noticed that Your Honor is, uh, looking at this Jew very strongly and looks like you wanna meet him." So the minister said, "Yes, indeed, I wanna meet this Jew. Let's meet tomorrow in my hotel tomorrow afternoon." So the next afternoon, the Reb Yisroel the Melamed came to this minister, who greeted him very friendly, and he asked him, "Where are you from?" So Reb Yisroel the Melamed said where he's from. So the minister said, "No, incorrect. You're from Shklov, no?" So the Melamed said, "You're right, actually, but 20 years ago, I moved out of Shklov." So the minister asked him, "Do you remember that 20 years ago in Shklov, the community gave a punishment to a certain Yungerman in the community, which they tied him

14:08 Speaker 1 in the hallway of the shul to embarrass him because he did a certain sin? So you should know I am that Yungerman, and you had rachmanus on me and you untied me so I was able to run away and not suffer through this shame. I ran away to Peterburg and I went up in the ranks of the government till I became the Minister of Education," after he became a Christian, unfortunately. So the Melamed said, "Yes, yes, I remember that." So the minister told him, "I wanna repay you a favor. Tell me what brings you to Vilna." So the Melamed said, "Oh, yeah, my good friend over here, Reb Moshe, wants to open up a print house in Slavita, and his Rebbe sent him here to Vilna." So the minister right away said, "I agree with pleasure, without any pay. You don't even have to pay for the permits." And he was amazed by the Ruach Hakodesh of the Alter Rebbe that he sent him to Vilna. And he offered Reb Yisroel the Melamed, "Why don't you come to Peterburg and I'll give you some high position in the government offices?" But Reb Yisroel Melamed said, "No, thank you. I prefer to go back home." So the minister wrote a big check for, uh, Reb Yisroel the Melamed, and he promised him to take care of him in the future, too. When Reb Yisroel Mela- the Melamed came back to Reb Meir Rafal's house, he told him the whole story. And that's when Reb Yisroel the

15:24 Speaker 1 Melamed also became a Hasid of the Alter Rebbe. The house of Reb Meir Rafal's was always full of Hasidim. They would always come to his house to learn Hasidus together, farbreng. One of the rooms sat a Melamed, not a Hasid, who taught in private Reb Meir Rafal's children. And there was only a thin wall between the room where he was learning with Reb Meir Rafal's children and the room where the Hasidim were learning Hasidus together. So whenever the Hasidim would speak Hasidus, the Melamed will stop the learning to listen in to the Hasidus. At a certain point, Reb Meir Rafal's noticed that the Melamed is not teaching his children because he's listening in to the Hasidim, so he rebuked him, "Why are you wasting time?" So he went back to the learning, but after a while he couldn't hold himself back and decided to listen again to the Hasidim. So Reb Meir Rafal's went in again and said, "Why are you wasting time?" So he said, "You could take away my job if you want, but please allow me to join you guys and I wanna learn Hasidus." Once, Hasidim were standing behind the door of the room of the Alter Rebbe, and they listened in to what's happening inside. And the Alter Rebbe inside his room was having an argument with his son, the Mitteler Rebbe. And the Hasidim heard how the Alter Rebbe tells his son, "How could you compare me to my Rebbe?" Meaning the Mezritcher Maggid. "My Rebbe had 60 Giborim,

16:43 Speaker 1 60 great tzaddikim of Talmidim, and I don't." So the Mitteler Rebbe answered, "You also have." "Who are they?" asked the Alter Rebbe. So the Mitteler Rebbe started to list Hasidim. And amongst the names that he was listing was Reb Meir Rafal's and his son, Reb Zamen. Reb Meir Rafal's and his son were amongst the Hasidim who were outside listening. And since it was so pushy outside, they were literally lying on the floor. So when their friends, the Hasidim, heard that the Mitteler Rebbe mentioned their name, they pinched them and said, "Ha, you see? You're also from this, uh, 60." We'll finish off with a nigun from the Hasid Reb Moshe Charitanav, from the Charitanav brothers from Nikolayev. We'll first play it from Nichayach, and then a recording of Reb Yael Kahn, alav hashalom, singing it by fabrengen and also describing this nigun being sang by the Rebbe. And you will notice that it's different nusach and it's a different style than the way it's sang in Nichayach.

18:19 Speaker 2 אחד אמר אני מתפלל אתה רואה? הוא אומר הוא אומר כל פעם זה ניגון של גויים עלה למעלה. לא חושב על עצמו. בן אדם מסתכל בגשמיות על ציור יפה, הוא יכול להסתכל שעות. ומה אתה מסתכל כל כך הרבה? יודע לדעת את המנגנו-- את הציור, לדעת מה מורכב ובמשך חמישה רגעים הוא תופס. כאן אדום, כאן ירוק, המרובע כאן. לא, בכלל לא תופס אבל מה מסתכל הבהמה? יש פירוש החיים. הדבר תפס אותו. אבל ממילא הוא נכלל בדבר. אין לו שום מלישה וזה הכל. לא, יש ניגונים, חסידים, זה אבל לא חסידות אמיתית. זה היה. יש ניגונים. תיקחו את כל החסידות של ניגונים זה, זה לא. אני כבר לא מדבר ניגון של הרבי של חסידים בידיעה שזה לא לוקח זמן. זה. מה? זה גם פרט למאושפלט. זה גם פרט למאושפלט. זה ניגון של גויים. זה ריצ'י. זה פישמן.