Ep. 98 // "Montreal Shlichus" w/ Rabbi Berel Mochkin

00:00 Speaker 1 I, as Bacher, I became involved in the Zach work. So we needed somebody to... So then Kholodkov called me up one day and said to me, "You asked the rabbi for also." So Irkan, he told me, Ir, Kholodkov was talking like, uh, English, like an elderly person. When I went into the rabbi, my wife to, what do you call, when Chosson Kallah before the Chassanah, I, the rabbi, I wrote to the rabbi, "We are ready to go for schlichas." So the rabbi answered to, "Mamshir zen de schlichas in Montreal."

00:43 Speaker 2 Welcome to Homesick for Lubavitch, a podcast where we explore Lubavitch identity in the year two thousand and twenty-six. My name is Benji Afson, and I will be your host. Let's begin. All righty, we are here in Montreal with a very special guest, Rabbi Berel Mochkin, who, uh, I'm, uh, I- I've been told I have a connection to you from both sides of my family. Uh, I- I don't-

01:17 Speaker 1 You have more of an Eschemto.

01:19 Speaker 2 What's that?

01:20 Speaker 1 Face, you have more Eschemto face.

01:22 Speaker 2 My- my face is Eschemto, but my connection to you, you said, is from both sides. Uh, my- my Zeide... Go ahead, please.

01:30 Speaker 1 Your Zeide was, uh, Avrum?

01:33 Speaker 2 Yeah.

01:34 Speaker 1 It was this. Zeide Avrum is my chavrusa.

01:37 Speaker 2 It was your chavrusa. Can we, can you s-

01:39 Speaker 1 After is a mishpacha.

01:40 Speaker 2 Is mishpacha. Can we speak in English for the sake of the audience?

01:43 Speaker 1 Any way you want.

01:44 Speaker 2 Yeah. For-

01:45 Speaker 1 A chavrusa better.

01:49 Speaker 2 Yeah. A- a- a- as mentions „zoll nisht meynen az ich farshteyn". Um, no, the, I can understand the Yiddish mostly, but, uh, a lot of people listening can't. So we'll speak in English, if that's okay with you. And if you, if we need to translate, it's also fine. Um, you said my Zei- yeah, my Zeide Avrum was a friend with you since, since a child.

02:09 Speaker 1 Yeah, must have been around seven, eight year, uh, six or five, six y- years old.

02:16 Speaker 2 This is going back to Samarkand?

02:17 Speaker 1 In Tashkent.

02:18 Speaker 2 Tashkent. Tashkent, and then, then in Brunois? Or no?

02:24 Speaker 1 Then, uh, he wasn't in Brin- He-- I could be, but I don't remember him, if he was in Brunois. In Paris, we were together again. But Brunois, I don't remember. I believe that, uh, that, no, he, I m- I think he went s- straight to London, to England.

02:44 Speaker 2 Ah.

02:44 Speaker 1 And somehow, I don't think we were in Brunois together.

02:48 Speaker 2 In Paris, you were together.

02:49 Speaker 1 In Paris, we were together.

02:50 Speaker 2 But there was a shtikel cheder in Paris for a while, right?

02:52 Speaker 1 Huh?

02:53 Speaker 2 There was a cheder in Paris for a little bit, no?

02:56 Speaker 1 A cheder? Yeah, yeshiva was a big yeshiva, and it was a-

03:00 Speaker 2 Right. Oh, so the, the yeshiva was in Paris first, before Brunois.

03:03 Speaker 1 Pari- when we talk Paris, it doesn't mean Paris the city.

03:06 Speaker 2 Ah.

03:07 Speaker 1 The yeshiva is in Brunois.

03:09 Speaker 2 Uh-huh.

03:09 Speaker 1 Brunois. Everybody knows Brunois, no?

03:11 Speaker 2 Right.

03:13 Speaker 1 Uh, there was a cheder in, in, in the... Generally, Anash didn't live in, really in Paris. The, all these Anash that came from Russia, they were placed in special places that the joint gave where to live.

03:32 Speaker 2 Right.

03:34 Speaker 1 So it's not in Paris direct. There was one hotel called Modern. He was ca- he was in Paris, but the other ones were around the city, around the main city of Paris.

03:49 Speaker 2 Right. No, 'cause he always told me stories about-

03:51 Speaker 1 But it's called Paris. It's-

03:52 Speaker 2 It's Paris. It's not Brunois

03:54 Speaker 1 ... everything goes un- under Paris name.

03:55 Speaker 2 Paris. Yeah. So he told me he was in a cheder class with Zalman Kleinman and a few other people. He was in, he was in school there for a couple years.

04:05 Speaker 1 Yeah, we were together. Yeah, Zalman Kleinman was there too. I don't remember.

04:09 Speaker 2 Yeah.

04:09 Speaker 1 Could be.

04:11 Speaker 2 So that was Paris. That was in Paris.

04:13 Speaker 1 Sure, Zalman Kleinman is going in Paris. Yeah, in Brunois.

04:16 Speaker 2 Brunois. Mm-hmm. Yeah, and then you said you're also relate- we're also related from the Afson side. You said you're related to my bubbe Chiena.

04:23 Speaker 1 Yeah.

04:24 Speaker 2 The Mochkins are related to the Karasiks?

04:29 Speaker 1 I don't know the, the family name of the, of bubbe Chie- of Chiena that was... Chiena is my bubbe.

04:39 Speaker 2 Ah.

04:39 Speaker 1 It is another words, my father's mother was Chiena.

04:42 Speaker 2 So she was cousins with my bubbe Chiena?

04:45 Speaker 1 Her name was Mazon.

04:46 Speaker 2 Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Well, Chiena was a rare name?

04:50 Speaker 1 Huh?

04:50 Speaker 2 Chiena was a, was a rare name in Russia? Was not a common name?

04:55 Speaker 1 I, it's not a common name because you don't see too many, too many.

04:59 Speaker 2 Uh-huh.

05:00 Speaker 1 What you see, what you do see is from these couple of families which came out after, generations after.

05:09 Speaker 2 Yeah. Do, do you remember the days back in, uh, Tashkent?

05:14 Speaker 1 Something. I was, uh, seven, six, seven years old. Five, six, seven.

05:19 Speaker 2 So what do you remember from there? What general atmosphere do you remember?

05:23 Speaker 1 Atmosphere, a kid with... What, what, what does it mean, atmosphere?

05:28 Speaker 2 Whatever you remember. Uh, any zachronos that you have from there?

05:34 Speaker 1 Obviously, there is... I don't know what so much to describe. By whom we learned. We had, uh, several chadorim, starting from Ivrit and, uh, till in Gemara.

05:50 Speaker 2 Did you feel the, the Hasidim were, were... Was it a, was it a feeling of fear? Was it a feeling of, uh, people were, uh, were, were, were chabrischaft?

06:01 Speaker 1 It was def- definite a time Fear is no question, yeah?

06:08 Speaker 2 Yes.

06:08 Speaker 1 In Russia. But in the time of the war, especially where we were in Uzbekistan, so to say, where Tashkent and the Samarkand was, that was more the Uzbek in the, the, the Sephardic, so to say.

06:26 Speaker 2 Right.

06:27 Speaker 1 So in any case, because of the milchome, because of the war, so they didn't touch so much. They didn't pay attention to the religious people to about the religion.

06:40 Speaker 2 Right.

06:40 Speaker 1 But we were still was always very quiet and very... But at the, w- soon this war ended, it's already right away started to be felt, the antisemitism, so to say. I remember when we were in cheder, and there was a yard, a big yard, and there was a room where we would sit and learn. And some strangers came in, in the yard, so we all jumped out through the window to the other side and ran away.

07:22 Speaker 2 Hmm.

07:22 Speaker 1 And this happened twice, something like this.

07:27 Speaker 2 Hmm.

07:30 Speaker 1 For examp-- That's just to, to, to describe the difference between in the time of the war and right after the war.

07:39 Speaker 2 Right. During the war, they didn't bother you like that.

07:41 Speaker 1 They didn't, they, there was no... They didn't bother me. I'm a zakid, but, but in g-general, there is two things. We were outside of Russia. In other words, in Uzbekistan. It was more... And then again, the, because of the war. And the same was in, in Samarkand. Soon after the war, they started to search for Anash, for Hasidim.

08:11 Speaker 2 The, were the Hasidim in the time of that... In, during the war, were they... Was there, uh, farbrengens there? Was it a varme tsayt, or people were, were much more, uh, nervous?

08:21 Speaker 1 Yes. There were both things are true. I mean, there wasn't a big farbrengens or demonstrations, but we learned and davened, and there was farbrengen and singe farbrengen. I remember Yitzkis live farbrengen and so on.

08:43 Speaker 2 What do you remember from Yitzkis live?

08:46 Speaker 1 I was a kid. I re- I remember I went back home five o'clock in the morning.

08:50 Speaker 2 Five o'clock in the morning.

08:51 Speaker 1 With, with another bochur that took me. I was a kid.

08:54 Speaker 2 And your fathers were sitting in farbrengen?

08:56 Speaker 1 My father? I got all big Hasidim. All-

08:58 Speaker 2 No, I'm saying your father and the other fathers were sitting in farbrengen.

09:01 Speaker 1 Yeah.

09:05 Speaker 2 Right. Do you remember something like Selichot Tehilim in, in, in, in... Do you re-

09:11 Speaker 1 I suppose, yeah.

09:13 Speaker 2 What do you remember from Selichot Tehilim?

09:14 Speaker 1 Nothing special, but I do remember. I...

09:20 Speaker 2 No, I'm not trying to, uh, test you this way.

09:22 Speaker 1 I understand you. I'm just-

09:23 Speaker 2 I'm trying, I'm trying to see, I'm trying to ask if, if in this time there was a freylichkayt, even though it was a very difficult time, or people... Or it was more subdued?

09:35 Speaker 1 I would say it in the other way around. Even in the worst time, Anash were, were freylekhid. But this is something else. It's more, uh-

09:47 Speaker 2 Why do you think that is? Why do you think Anash are freylekhid in, even in the worst times?

09:54 Speaker 1 Farbracht.

10:02 Speaker 2 Anash are freylekhid and you're saying?

10:05 Speaker 1 I suppose so.

10:08 Speaker 2 Right. Do, do you remem-- Even, even, even though some people were, were, were taken away and there was-

10:16 Speaker 1 Yeah. That was... The fear was there anyways. We were-

10:20 Speaker 2 And there was still a freylichkayt

10:21 Speaker 1 ... used to be in hiding. I, I, I... It's not that I remember dancing, but I mean, I don't know how to describe it, so to say.

10:32 Speaker 2 They would make a joke about it? They would, like, laugh about-

10:34 Speaker 1 Nobody made a joke in that time about it.

10:37 Speaker 2 Right.

10:38 Speaker 1 About the situation.

10:39 Speaker 2 Uh-huh.

10:40 Speaker 1 I be- don't believe so. But again, but I remember m-my time basically was the time of the war.

10:48 Speaker 2 Right.

10:49 Speaker 1 Where after the war, uh, uh, about a year after the war, so to say, before we left.

10:57 Speaker 2 Right. And what was it like to leave?

11:00 Speaker 1 Huh?

11:01 Speaker 2 Do you remember what it was like to leave and to be in a new country?

11:05 Speaker 1 A new country?

11:06 Speaker 2 You went to France, right? You went to Poland first.

11:08 Speaker 1 We went, we went first, we were basically were in Pucking a year.

11:12 Speaker 2 Pucking in Germany, right.

11:14 Speaker 1 Germany for a year. But traveled from Poland and Germ- and Austria and, and, uh, German 'til we came to Pucking.

11:23 Speaker 2 Right.

11:25 Speaker 1 And what else? What, what, uh-

11:29 Speaker 2 But do you remember the feeling of this new chapter in-

11:32 Speaker 1 You'd have to, you have to understand. I was a young ing-ingo.

11:36 Speaker 2 Right. I, I'm not testing you.

11:39 Speaker 1 No. It's not a question of testing. I'm trying to explain you the situation.

11:44 Speaker 2 Right.

11:47 Speaker 1 But between we all, we, we were kids, we were going around in, to the cheder, from the cheder. I mean-

11:55 Speaker 2 No, but you are-

11:56 Speaker 1 But nevertheless, when by n- at night I would I just... When I le-left cheder to go home, we, we came, uh, we, we had... There was a certain time that I had to travel with a, it's called a tramway. It's, uh, like the buses So when I went, stepped out from the bus to go, I, I used to try to go next to an individual that it shouldn't look that I'm going by myself, uh, that nobody should come over to me, so to say. Because if they see me next to a big person, so they see that I belong to-

12:38 Speaker 2 Right

12:38 Speaker 1 ... I have a, a father, a brother going with me.

12:41 Speaker 2 This is in Germany?

12:42 Speaker 1 No.

12:43 Speaker 2 This is-

12:43 Speaker 1 In, in Russia.

12:44 Speaker 2 Oh, still in Samark-- Uh, in Tashkent.

12:46 Speaker 1 In Tashkent. Yeah, I'm just describing you. The... We were go- we were going to cheder and coming from cheder and everything, but nevertheless-

12:56 Speaker 2 There's a pre-- There's a fear. There's a-

12:58 Speaker 1 Very obvious.

12:59 Speaker 2 Right, even as a child. So that's what-

13:01 Speaker 1 Yes

13:01 Speaker 2 ... so that's what I mean.

13:02 Speaker 1 But a- again, it's very kind, very hard to differentiate. As a child, I, I maybe I would be afraid even in, in the best situation-

13:13 Speaker 2 Right

13:14 Speaker 1 ... to go alone at, at night.

13:16 Speaker 2 Right.

13:17 Speaker 1 It's not exactly describing the situation, but the fact is the fact.

13:24 Speaker 2 But when you went to Germany, were you less scared? Germany and France.

13:29 Speaker 1 Of course. In Germany, we didn't travel. I mean, we came with the... I, I don't know if you have the description how we lived in Germany, in Pocking. So there was a group, a group of bungalows, so to say, bund bungalows, bund bungalows. It was supposedly the, the army was there before, the Deutsche Army. And, uh, yeshiva was, um, uh, between. So we were walking there with... The whole area was not a big one. In that area where we were, it was like it was, it has to throw, like it was alive. It's, it wasn't... There wasn't anything to, uh, affect the spirit.

14:19 Speaker 2 Sitting here in front of the backdrop where we first recorded the intro to the podcast, it's hard to believe we are fast approaching the milestone of a hundred episodes recorded and published for the Homesick for Lubavitch podcast. Looking back at the past three years, the journey has been far more than I imagined when I started. I've met so many interesting people. I've spent so many hours discussing their ideas and their perspectives. Their ideas have changed me, have changed how I think, have changed how I live, have changed how I feel, have changed how I interact with others. And I know that many of you that listen regularly who have reached out to me and shared how it's, what it means to you feel the same. This podcast was started here in this studio as a small idea, has turned into something that thousands of people look forward to each week. It brings ideas to the table. It brings perspectives to the table that are then shared and multiplied in conversations between thousands of people around the world, whether it's at shul, at a Shabbos table, on a WhatsApp chat, has opened and encouraged conversations that have been closed and shut off for too long, and has shown that those conversations can be had in a respectful and patient and productive way. As I look to what comes after the hundred episodes, my feeling is that what comes next has to be more intentional, has to be bigger, has to be bolder. There are a number

15:48 Speaker 2 of projects that we have in the works that will take the podcast to a new level. We'll open up new kinds of content that are aligned with the vision of the original podcast. In the next few weeks, we'll be launching the Hundred for Hundred campaign, which will raise a hundred thousand dollars to make those initiatives possible. Thanks to a few generous friends of the podcast, we're already twenty percent of the way there. I look forward to sharing with you updates about the campaign, as well as the initiatives that will follow. The impact and reach of Homesick for Lubavitch is just beginning. Mazel tov. And what was, what was France like?

16:23 Speaker 1 Again, what do I have to... I was either at home, either in yeshiva.

16:29 Speaker 2 Uh-huh. So, so it wasn't-

16:30 Speaker 1 I didn't have nothing to do with Paris, with France.

16:32 Speaker 2 France. Right. When did you start... W- So Brenoire was the first yeshiva, or you went straight to seven-seven, uh, Terasa Road, seven-seven-

16:39 Speaker 1 No

16:39 Speaker 2 ... T? What-

16:40 Speaker 1 No, no. From, from, from, from Brenoire, we came here.

16:47 Speaker 2 Right.

16:48 Speaker 1 And here I was already...

16:53 Speaker 2 Oh, you came with your father or parents to Montreal?

16:56 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah. So it was already about fifteen years old.

17:03 Speaker 2 You were a bachur already?

17:07 Speaker 1 And in those days, it wasn't called a bachur, a fifteen years old boy.

17:11 Speaker 2 What was it called?

17:12 Speaker 1 Now, it's a bachur. A ayingol, it's a ayingol.

17:17 Speaker 2 Ayingol. Ayingol. Yeah.

17:21 Speaker 1 And then from France, we came here.

17:25 Speaker 2 Right. You wanna describe a little bit your father or parents for those who d-didn't meet him?

17:36 Speaker 1 What should I describe? There is a sefer that I printed.

17:40 Speaker 2 Yeah, but, uh, any, any ...

17:44 Speaker 1 More or less, whatever it was possible to express, to write, it was written there better than my observations, 'cause it was written by Hershkek Dubrawsky, which he was-

17:56 Speaker 2 Yeah, but r- but, but, but tell me, tell me a memory of your father that stands out to you. Do you have one?

18:06 Speaker 1 What should I tell you? I don't, I don't especially know what to pick, so to say.

18:13 Speaker 2 Uh, so something he did at home after Kirsh Mashal Amita or, or a story that he told you

18:21 Speaker 1 Krich Mishulamita is, there, there is a, a case of Krich Mishulamita that is described in the safer.

18:27 Speaker 2 But tell me, you could, you could-

18:28 Speaker 1 I don't remember-

18:29 Speaker 2 You don't

18:29 Speaker 1 ... sp-specific details.

18:32 Speaker 2 Uh-huh. Uh-huh. H-how was Montreal for you back in those days?

18:38 Speaker 1 We shouldn't be back. I came here in the yeshiva. The rebbe made sure that all bochurim that came from France here, we shouldn't go to New York. We should stay here, and the rebbe kept the yeshiva here.

18:54 Speaker 2 Why did, why?

18:55 Speaker 1 Because the rebbe wanted to have a yeshiva here.

18:58 Speaker 2 So you wanted to go to New York, uh-

19:00 Speaker 1 Huh?

19:00 Speaker 2 You wanted to go to New York?

19:01 Speaker 1 Everybody wanted to go to the rebbe to New York to be around the rebbe.

19:05 Speaker 2 Right.

19:06 Speaker 1 But the rebbe didn't let. The rebbe made establish, so to say, that we should stay here.

19:12 Speaker 2 Right. That was a

19:18 Speaker 1 Again, but it's, there was Chassidim before, talmidim from Otwock-

19:23 Speaker 2 Right

19:23 Speaker 1 ... came here-

19:24 Speaker 2 Right

19:25 Speaker 1 ... with, in Tu B'Shevat.

19:27 Speaker 2 Right.

19:28 Speaker 1 10 years be-ba-before we came.

19:30 Speaker 2 Right, from Shanghai.

19:31 Speaker 1 Uh-

19:31 Speaker 2 Not from Shanghai, from Japan.

19:33 Speaker 1 From J- from Japan, from, from Otwock.

19:35 Speaker 2 Right.

19:37 Speaker 1 Then now, there was two groups actually than those that came from Otwock, and they passed Shanghai, like you say, but just for a couple of months. And some, they were there for a couple of years, and then they Tu B'Shevat, after the war they came here. This is, um-

19:55 Speaker 2 Your father had never met these people before, right?

19:57 Speaker 1 Before? No.

19:58 Speaker 2 'Cause he was in, he was in, in Russia. They were in Poland.

20:01 Speaker 1 Yeah.

20:02 Speaker 2 How did, how did they get along when they met?

20:06 Speaker 1 What does it mean to get along?

20:09 Speaker 2 No, is it coming from different backgrounds?

20:12 Speaker 1 First of all, my father was older than all the, this group.

20:19 Speaker 2 Right.

20:20 Speaker 1 He's from Lubavitch, and they were from Otwock, it's years later. Father was a respected Chassid, so to say. Anyway, anyway

20:32 Speaker 2 Right.

20:35 Speaker 1 Uh, he became, soon became

20:37 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm

20:37 Speaker 1 ... he became the mashpia here. Mashpia for Manash, not from yeshiva. For Manash.

20:43 Speaker 2 Yeshiva, who is the mashpia?

20:45 Speaker 1 Gring- Rav Gringras.

20:46 Speaker 2 Rav Gringras.

20:48 Speaker 1 He was there, he was there before.

20:50 Speaker 2 Right.

20:51 Speaker 1 And when we came, the yeshiva was already in, so he was the, already the mashpia.

20:57 Speaker 2 Right. So did, was there, w-was it, was it different f-to see your father get a, uh, interact with these, with, with, with the Chassidim from Po- from, the, from Poland? Was it, uh-

21:14 Speaker 1 I don't know what, uh, which way to describe it. I mean just from Poland, uh... I mean, you have to understand that when we came here, I mean, uh, they were 10 years so here already in America, so that wasn't like bochurim from yeshiva. So it's not in the atmosphere of yeshiva, not the P- not the Polish atmosphere, and not American atmosphere. It was, uh-

21:46 Speaker 2 Did your father have a hard time adjusting to Canada?

21:50 Speaker 1 To Canada or to, to Manash?

21:53 Speaker 2 To, to both.

21:54 Speaker 1 To Canada, he did not need to adjust. What did he have to adjust?

22:00 Speaker 2 You're saying he wasn't, he wasn't mes- he wasn't mesarachas to it?

22:04 Speaker 1 What is the pshat?

22:06 Speaker 2 It's a, it's a, it's a new country.

22:08 Speaker 1 He didn't, he didn't go to, he didn't make business.

22:11 Speaker 2 Right.

22:11 Speaker 1 Uh-

22:12 Speaker 2 He was doing the same thing like he was doing before?

22:16 Speaker 1 Well, maybe you can say it that way. I don't know.

22:18 Speaker 2 And Manash? How did he adjust to Manash in Canada?

22:22 Speaker 1 Different, uh, different, uh, people have been... Some were, were working, some were

22:27 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm

22:27 Speaker 1 ... cliquish, some, some were, uh ... Oh, uh, the mentality may be, but the Polish different from the other, from the Russian. But, uh, it became a kehillah, and we grew and grew and grew. Kehillah, now is a couple of hundred

22:52 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm

22:52 Speaker 1 ... mishpachas.

22:53 Speaker 2 Right.

22:54 Speaker 1 It started... When they came in Tu B'Shevat, they were now in bochurim.

22:59 Speaker 2 Right.

22:59 Speaker 1 And it grew. The re- the rebbe hold them here again. They didn't, uh, let them to go to New York. Rebbe made a yeshiva. Soon they came, the same day, Friday, they came, and they announced that they're opening a yeshiva.

23:14 Speaker 2 This is already the f- this is still the Frierdiker Rebbe?

23:16 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

23:17 Speaker 2 Yeah. Yeah, I was, uh, I was talking to Reb Itzchak Geneish.

23:22 Speaker 1 Yeah.

23:22 Speaker 2 And he says-

23:23 Speaker 1 Yes, okay

23:23 Speaker 2 ... he, he, he came the f- he said the first night that he came to Montreal, he stayed in your house.

23:28 Speaker 1 Possible.

23:29 Speaker 2 He came with, uh, Velavick, I think.

23:33 Speaker 1 Yeah, possible. He didn't c- he came with Velavick or he was staying with Velavick?

23:37 Speaker 2 No, he came with Velavick on the train.

23:39 Speaker 1 Could be.

23:40 Speaker 2 And he said-

23:41 Speaker 1 I don't remember

23:41 Speaker 2 ... Uh, Velavick gave him his bed, and he said next to him-

23:45 Speaker 1 That was Itzchak Chader's always. I don't know.

23:48 Speaker 2 That's what he told me.

23:49 Speaker 1 Uh, yeah, yeah. I don't know. I didn't-

23:50 Speaker 2 He said you were in the room next door. You had a, he said you had a very big room.

23:54 Speaker 1 Yeah.

23:55 Speaker 2 No, I'm jo- he said you had a very small room. Um, so it was a, it was a small kehillah back then.

24:02 Speaker 1 Uh?

24:02 Speaker 2 It was a small kehillah back then.

24:03 Speaker 1 Obviously, yeah.

24:06 Speaker 2 Well, h-when did you go to 770?

24:11 Speaker 1 When we came here, um, uh, United States of America didn't trust people to come in. They were afraid they will stay there.

24:21 Speaker 2 Right.

24:22 Speaker 1 So we had to need, needed a visa, and it was very hard. The first one that went when we came was my brother, Leibu Motzkin. I repeat it again always. Be-how did he ma-get s-to come? We came, uh, in, uh, end of Elul, Tu B'Shevat, and he went for Simchat Torah or for Sukkot, I don't remember, to New York. How? Because his wife was pregnant.

24:56 Speaker 2 He was married already?

24:57 Speaker 1 Yeah, he... He w- he married in, in Paris. So he went with her to the consul. The consul realized that he will not go there and stay there because she is staying here, so he gave him a visa. But, uh, other people didn't get so easy a visa. My father got a visa only for Yut Gvat.

25:24 Speaker 2 Of the next year, Yut Gimmel.

25:26 Speaker 1 Tishrei Yut G-Gimmel. You see, I'm talking about-

25:32 Speaker 2 Right

25:33 Speaker 1 ... my brother went-

25:34 Speaker 2 Tishrei Yut Gimmel.

25:36 Speaker 1 Tishrei Tishrei Yut Gimmel. My father went Tishrei, uh, Yut Gvat, and I went for Purim.

25:43 Speaker 2 Oh, Yut Gimmel?

25:44 Speaker 1 Yeah. And then they opened up the, the border. They didn't have re-- no problems to try to go from Canada to U.S.

25:58 Speaker 2 What was the, what was the... What do you remember from Purim Yut Gimmel?

26:07 Speaker 1 Hurrah.

26:08 Speaker 2 Right, right. You remember that?

26:11 Speaker 1 Yeah.

26:13 Speaker 2 So just for the people listening, there was a... Can you tell the story for the people listening with the

26:17 Speaker 1 A story. The Rebbe, at the end of the farbrengen, I mean, it was a regular farbrengen, supposedly.

26:26 Speaker 2 Of Purim?

26:27 Speaker 1 Purim. As a matter of fact, I remember that there was chavale on the table. The-- it was, uh, it was interesting.

26:38 Speaker 2 This was in '77 or in the-

26:39 Speaker 1 In 1770, the first time the farbreng in it's called in the shalash.

26:43 Speaker 2 The shalash. The courtyard.

26:46 Speaker 1 Uh.

26:46 Speaker 2 The courtyard.

26:46 Speaker 1 The yard.

26:47 Speaker 2 The yard, yeah.

26:49 Speaker 1 The parking lot.

26:49 Speaker 2 They put a tarp on the top, right?

26:51 Speaker 1 And they put a tarp on the top.

26:53 Speaker 2 Yeah.

26:54 Speaker 1 And, uh, I remember, I, I hope that my mind, uh, my, my memory doesn't fool me. I remember that was chavale on the table.

27:05 Speaker 2 Chavale?

27:06 Speaker 1 Small chavale on the tables.

27:08 Speaker 2 Right.

27:08 Speaker 1 Supposedly that's to wash Purim.

27:11 Speaker 2 Right.

27:12 Speaker 1 I, I don't remember any more, any time, something like that-

27:17 Speaker 2 Uh-huh

27:17 Speaker 1 ... with the Rebbe, but this is one thing. Then, that's the first time he's made a shalash, you know, like I say. I didn't have what to do. I, I didn't have nobody, nobody there, no family, no nothing. So I was, uh, somehow I was standing in the shalash, um, and suddenly the Rebbe came down, looked around, and there was a younger man, and then a bocher. So he tells the Rebbe that the switches for the light is only one switch. If it will be closed, so the whole thing will get dark. I looked on him like, "I'm sure you never understood. Like my coat." Switch, switch. The Rebbe told me it was finish foundation. I don't remember. But just something that left in my mind. Crazy. He understood that. He was like already from a, a while ago in, in 1770, so he was feeling close with the Rebbe, so to say.

28:28 Speaker 2 Yeah.

28:30 Speaker 1 And not important who was he. So by the farbrengen, at the end of the farbrengen, uh, suddenly, the Rebbe said the maimer, second maimer, and then the Rebbe said the sicha and started... I don't remember exactly the ariches because I was then, uh, sixteens years old. In those days, sixteen years old. Now, they're big people, sixteen-year boys.

29:01 Speaker 2 Right.

29:01 Speaker 1 But in those days when he got up there, felt like a kleiner yingu, I mean, I was-

29:06 Speaker 2 Saying the, the dais were smaller.

29:08 Speaker 1 Uh.

29:09 Speaker 2 That you, you had a... Today, you have big dais at sixteen years old.

29:12 Speaker 1 Today, sixteen is a big man, big people.

29:15 Speaker 2 Right.

29:15 Speaker 1 But then in that period, that's the way it is now, practically. So but anyways, I was there, and I saw something, and the Rebbe started to speak a sicha and said, "Show that story." Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah.

29:33 Speaker 2 The story of the Alter Rebbe, right?

29:34 Speaker 1 No, no, no. Story that in Russia when, when they had to, had to make boots, elect somebody in a, in a village, in a shtetl.

29:46 Speaker 2 Right.

29:46 Speaker 1 So they had to go, everybody had to go.

29:50 Speaker 2 Right.

29:50 Speaker 1 So there was a that he also went. So he said, "Hooray," when they... You-

29:57 Speaker 2 Hooray, yeah.

29:58 Speaker 1 You. So he said, "Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah."

30:02 Speaker 2 Right.

30:02 Speaker 1 That's the way the Rebbe told the story. Hurrah. So, uh, we underst-- it's we, not me, I mean the elderly people understood that something is going on. And the Rebbe should tell this such a story, such a-

30:18 Speaker 2 Right

30:18 Speaker 1 ... sicha. And then afterwards, we found out about Stalin.

30:23 Speaker 2 Right. The Rebbe said an extra maimer that farbrengen, right?

30:26 Speaker 1 He said, yeah.

30:26 Speaker 2 So he had already said the main maimer and then-

30:28 Speaker 1 There was a maimer, and then it was sichas.

30:31 Speaker 2 And then another maimer.

30:32 Speaker 1 And the shop and the farbrengen, there was another maimer. He understood that he do, but, but then the story-

30:39 Speaker 2 Hurrah. And, and later he found out that, that Stalin passed away.

30:44 Speaker 1 Yeah. The Rebbe put him down, and there was nothing passed away. There was in the middle of a meeting-

30:51 Speaker 2 Right

30:52 Speaker 1 ... there in Russia.

30:54 Speaker 2 He had a heart attack or something, right?

30:55 Speaker 1 How did, how did... He proposed something. It was to take the Yidden, send them all away in Birebijan.

31:02 Speaker 2 Yeah, the doctors, the doctors plot, the whole-

31:04 Speaker 1 The doctors and the... They, they, he, he then wanted to all the Yidden-

31:09 Speaker 2 Yeah, he was about to take the Yidden out, yeah.

31:10 Speaker 1 And the Ber-- I think Berrie was his brother-in-law, and, uh, anyway, they opposed him.

31:18 Speaker 2 And Beria was a Yid, no? No, Mendel was. Mendel-

31:21 Speaker 1 Eh, epes azoy iz op men. Uh, Beria is a Yid or she, no, could be she was the sister of Stalin, and Beria is could be, I don't know

31:29 Speaker 2 He was the head of the KGB.

31:31 Speaker 1 Yeah. So they are, as far as I remember, I could be wrong too, but so he opposed him at that time, so he got, uh, suddenly he had a heart attack.

31:43 Speaker 2 Mamash. H-how did, how did the news of Stalin-

31:48 Speaker 1 For a couple of days it was closed. They didn't know, but they didn't-

31:52 Speaker 2 Darrien

31:52 Speaker 1 ... Russia didn't let, didn't announce it.

31:55 Speaker 2 Right. Well, what-

31:56 Speaker 1 It took time

31:56 Speaker 2 ... what was, what was the reaction of the Chassidim from Russia when you heard that Stalin died?

32:00 Speaker 1 Of course, uh, the reaction was a very happy

32:02 Speaker 2 Happy.

32:03 Speaker 1 Uh, chai rooy.

32:05 Speaker 2 Right. Homesick for Lubavitch is brought to you by Yuvala Media, a boutique video production company that I have run for close to 10 years. Today, Yuvala Media works with organizations all around the country, bringing their stories to life in a way that is both meaningful and memorable. Whether it's a video for a milestone dinner, an online fundraiser, or a building campaign, we begin each project with the same question: What does your audience need to know about you to feel more connected to your cause? Once we answer that question, we tailor-make a video that best addresses this need. Over the years, we have built a reputation for top-of-the-line visuals while also being responsive and reliable. As one of our clients put it, "A combination of technical excellence and real heart." If you are looking to make a video for an upcoming dinner, fundraiser, or building campaign, please reach out to us to schedule a 15-minute phone call to see if we can make something beautiful together. Email us at hello@yuvalamedia.com. Again, that is hello@yuvalamedia.com. A link can be found in the show notes. And now, back to the show.

33:10 Speaker 1 Then I was by the Rebbe on Yechidas, like the right day, the week after Purim. And, uh, supposedly I wanted to stay there for, for, for till Pesach. I don't remember exactly what happened. But anyways, the Rebbe said that I should go. They told me I, I s- how long is my visa? I had for a week or whatever, they said after Shabbos I shall go back here. Shabbos by the farbrengen, uh, with Bochurim standing on the chair, on the bench, I mean. Said the Rebbe said, "Ephraim Motzkin should say l'chaim."

34:03 Speaker 2 On Shabbos, Rebbe told you to say l'chaim?

34:05 Speaker 1 Yeah. That was so to say, uh, my first.

34:11 Speaker 2 This was after Yechidas or before the Yechidas?

34:13 Speaker 1 After the Yechidas. But by the Yechidas I didn't feel anything, uh, special, so to say.

34:20 Speaker 2 You didn't?

34:21 Speaker 1 No. I mean, I, I wrote my letter and the Rebbe answered whatever he answered. But by the farbrengen the Rebbe said, "Tell Motzkin to say l'chaim."

34:34 Speaker 2 You're saying you felt a kiddush there?

34:36 Speaker 1 Huh?

34:36 Speaker 2 You felt, you felt a special kiddush in that moment.

34:39 Speaker 1 To me, it was a big thing. The Rebbe was thinking in the middle of farbrengen about me.

34:44 Speaker 2 Right. Right. And, uh, you said, but you went back home after that. You didn't stay in the yeshiva.

34:56 Speaker 1 Of course. Not home, but here in yeshiva.

35:00 Speaker 2 Right, Montreal.

35:00 Speaker 1 Yeshiva in Montreal, yeah.

35:02 Speaker 2 And your mashpia was Rabbi Greenglass?

35:04 Speaker 1 Yeah.

35:05 Speaker 2 What kind of Yid was Rabbi Greenglass? I know there's a book written about him.

35:08 Speaker 1 Huh?

35:09 Speaker 2 How, how do you remember Rabbi Greenglass?

35:12 Speaker 1 How should I describe him? He was a happy, good fellow.

35:16 Speaker 2 He was a happy, good fellow.

35:18 Speaker 1 He used to make joke. There's a, a whole, a letter from the previous Diker Rebbe to him. He wrote to the Rebbe that he is making jokes and, and the Re- I don't remember exactly what the Rebbe wrote him, but there is something that-

35:35 Speaker 2 That he should continue?

35:38 Speaker 1 No, it was, I think there was the Rebbe made it kind of to control. I don't remember. Don't quote me on that, I don't remember.

35:48 Speaker 2 But he was a, he was a, he was a-

35:49 Speaker 1 But he's a Chassidishe Yid. A Yid with kitel and shtreimel, going to all Chassidis. And he knew Chassidis.

35:55 Speaker 2 He's a Freilecher Yid.

35:57 Speaker 1 More than, not only a Freilecher Yid, but a Chassidishe Yid.

36:00 Speaker 2 Right.

36:00 Speaker 1 More than, a frumer Chassidishe Yid. Not a Chassidishe Yid, but a frumer, he was-

36:07 Speaker 2 Right

36:07 Speaker 1 ... with long gepays.

36:09 Speaker 2 So it, it-

36:10 Speaker 1 Polish pays.

36:11 Speaker 2 You, so there was no, for you, there was no issue having a mashpia who came from a different, uh-

36:17 Speaker 1 A mashpia, mashpia, we were kids. I mean, what the Rebbe put a mashpia, a mashpia.

36:21 Speaker 2 No, I know, because people always talk about the, the Russians and the Po- the, the Polish had their problems, and you had a, you didn't, it didn't bother you.

36:29 Speaker 1 It's, it had the problems is in Yiddish. Is could be there are some, some Yiddish that we used to take l'chaim. And so I used to, so to say, but it's not, uh, chas v'Shalom, it wasn't a kind of machlikis here.

36:52 Speaker 2 Right. And-

36:53 Speaker 1 Yes, it's good

36:54 Speaker 2 ... and you, and you, you, you took a liking to him.

36:56 Speaker 1 To us, to him, l'chaim, but I didn't have, but me, I didn't have to do with it.

37:01 Speaker 2 Right, I see. So wh-when, when, when did you come to 770?

37:06 Speaker 1 I never came.

37:08 Speaker 2 Also Bochur also not?

37:09 Speaker 1 Huh?

37:09 Speaker 2 You, you stayed here throughout in Montreal?

37:11 Speaker 1 Till, till after the chasuna.

37:13 Speaker 2 Mamash? The Rebbe never lost? The Rebbe never-

37:15 Speaker 1 Yeah, the Rebbe wanted the, uh, the, all, all the whole yeshiva-

37:19 Speaker 2 All the way through?

37:20 Speaker 1 All the yeshiva Bochurim, we were here.

37:22 Speaker 2 Uh-huh.

37:23 Speaker 1 Only yeshiva from, from here.

37:26 Speaker 2 So you were never allowed to come learn in seven seventy?

37:28 Speaker 1 Well, we used to come to the-

37:30 Speaker 2 For briefings

37:31 Speaker 1 ... the progress, stay a couple of days, but with a control. The rebbe used to be that the yeshiva had to write a letter to the rebbe that this and this, tell me you working permission, and, uh, the maskirot answered that, uh, uh, th-this were, uh, accepted, whatever it is with the statement. It was a control, a army control.

37:59 Speaker 2 Army control. Even when you became a chason, you-

38:03 Speaker 1 When I became a chason, it's a different world.

38:07 Speaker 2 You were allowed to go to seven seventy for, for a little bit more or no?

38:10 Speaker 1 No, I stayed there. Uh, yeah, when I became a chason. I, as bocher, the rebbe told Gringraz that he should give me a class to learn chasidus with.

38:22 Speaker 2 To be a teacher?

38:23 Speaker 1 I was much be, uh, much be a teacher. Okay. That's number one. Then with the time, it's all , but I became involved in the Tzach work.

38:36 Speaker 2 As a bocher?

38:38 Speaker 1 As a bocher. Yeah. We established act-- Uh, Tzach was established in the moment the rebbe spoke in New York about Tzach. So the same week was a meeting here in Montreal, and they made a vad, they made Tzach, so to say.

39:00 Speaker 2 When was this? This was when you were here already?

39:03 Speaker 1 Yeah. This was two chovey.

39:05 Speaker 2 Chovey.

39:07 Speaker 1 Yeah. Tes vav.

39:08 Speaker 2 Tes vav.

39:12 Speaker 1 So this is, uh-

39:14 Speaker 2 So you're sachakol eighteen years old.

39:17 Speaker 1 Yeah, but I was in yeshiva then. But soon after, somehow somebody schlepped me in in the kosher work, so to say, and me and Rabbi Shwei, Isaac Shwei, were-- became like the, the backbone of Tzach, of Tzach, I would say. And then was, uh, one chof ov, I went to the rebbe. I went a day before, and I stopped off in Gan Yisroel in Swan Lake. The first Gan Yisroel in Swan Lake.

40:04 Speaker 2 Right. Swan.

40:05 Speaker 1 I stopped to, and I saw how it, uh, works. The whole idea of Gan Yisroel in Russian, I didn't see it. I can't be Russian.

40:16 Speaker 2 Swan Lake, this was still when, when Rabbi Weiss was involved? Or-

40:20 Speaker 1 Weiss was there, yeah.

40:21 Speaker 2 Gershon Weiss.

40:21 Speaker 1 Gershon Weiss.

40:23 Speaker 2 Yeah. He was a, was, like, a learning director, I think.

40:25 Speaker 1 Yeah. Yeah. This year. Yeah.

40:27 Speaker 2 Yeah.

40:28 Speaker 1 And, um, I came back to Montreal, and I suggested to Tzach that we have to make a camp here.

40:40 Speaker 2 Similar to the one in Parksv-- in Swan Lake.

40:43 Speaker 1 Yeah. And the rebbe accepted the idea very much, strongly, so to say, pushed it very hard. So I got involved in the... Before that, we made a, a, in that year, we made a, a day camp. Tzach made a day camp.

41:04 Speaker 2 Right.

41:04 Speaker 1 But in, but a year after the day camp, we'd be opened camp, so to say. That, uh, that got involved on Sabocher still.

41:13 Speaker 2 So, so Montreal camp opened up one year after New York?

41:16 Speaker 1 I think it's two years because they had in Ellenville, I think, a year. Don't remember.

41:21 Speaker 2 Right.

41:22 Speaker 1 But they had before, uh, but it was-

41:25 Speaker 2 Two years.

41:26 Speaker 1 Uh, two year... A year after when you say there was the learning teacher in, in Swan Lake.

41:33 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

41:33 Speaker 1 And then Swan Lake moved.

41:35 Speaker 2 I don't know which one came first. Swan Lake, Ellenville, and then Parksville. I don't know which ones the... I don't know which Swan Lake, Swan Lake or Ellenville.

41:42 Speaker 1 After Ellenville.

41:44 Speaker 2 Swan Lake was after Ellenville? And then after that was Parksville.

41:47 Speaker 1 Yeah.

41:48 Speaker 2 Yeah. But my sister was the director also in the earlier one, in Swan Lake also.

41:52 Speaker 1 In Swan Lake, he was the, the, the, the-

41:55 Speaker 2 The first year, he was the learning director, and then-

41:56 Speaker 1 Learning director

41:57 Speaker 2 ... and then a year or two after that, he took over.

41:59 Speaker 1 The year after, he became... Then, of course, Weiss wasn't there anymore.

42:03 Speaker 2 Right. He took it over. Yeah.

42:04 Speaker 1 Yeah.

42:05 Speaker 2 So there were two bocher running Parksville and, and Montreal. He was running Parksville, and you were running Montreal.

42:12 Speaker 1 Kind of. Competing each other.

42:14 Speaker 2 Yeah. What bigger chais. Yeah. So you said that sixteen-year-olds weren't taken so seriously, but eighteen-year-olds were taken very seriously.

42:25 Speaker 1 I don't know it was taken seriously, but that's the way it happened.

42:29 Speaker 2 No, you were given a chai- a very big chais, no?

42:33 Speaker 1 Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

42:37 Speaker 2 Wow. Did you ever think of inviting the rebbe to come to Montreal for ca- to visit camp? Was that ever, uh, in the cards?

42:45 Speaker 1 Who were thinking to give, to give the rebbe advice-

42:49 Speaker 2 No, but he came

42:50 Speaker 1 ... what to do?

42:50 Speaker 2 He came to New York, no? Or that was his own idea.

42:53 Speaker 1 He came to New York. It's not that... Even in New York, of course, it was no ma'ala o lamata that he, the rebbe went, but then-

43:03 Speaker 2 It was, it was the rebbe's idea to go to camp in, in New York?

43:06 Speaker 1 I, I think so.

43:06 Speaker 2 Uh-huh.

43:07 Speaker 1 I think so. But then there was another time that the rebbe answered. They were ask the rebbe to come. The rebbe answered, he didn't pay back yet-

43:17 Speaker 2 Uh.

43:17 Speaker 1 .. the, the days, the hours of the first time.

43:20 Speaker 2 I heard.

43:21 Speaker 1 God understand what the rebbe say.

43:23 Speaker 2 Yeah.

43:24 Speaker 1 So but, but to officially invite the rebbe, who are we?

43:30 Speaker 2 Right. Right. But d-d-did, did you, uh, did you, um, involve the rebbe in the details of the camp, like in part-

43:38 Speaker 1 No, I was a child. Everything was through the rebbe. There was a, a lot of work.

43:45 Speaker 2 A lot of work.

43:48 Speaker 1 Like I say, a day, a year before we started the day camp.

43:52 Speaker 2 Right.

43:53 Speaker 1 Before that, we made the Meshiber Shabbos, Hanukah and Purim rallies. It was going, uh, gradual, the-

44:03 Speaker 2 Right. There, there were a few cities where, where Tzach was the mo- was the way that the Chabad operated in the city, you know?

44:10 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah.

44:11 Speaker 2 Argentina also had a similar thing later on.

44:13 Speaker 1 Could be. It could be.

44:14 Speaker 2 Buenos Aires.

44:16 Speaker 1 It could be.

44:18 Speaker 2 It's a different, it's a different kind of setup. You have a bunch of Lubavitchers working together on different, um, 狠... Before the Chabad houses. This was before the everybody had their own Chabad house.

44:30 Speaker 1 Before, yeah, the Chabad, the first Chabad house was Shloime Kunin.

44:34 Speaker 2 Yeah.

44:34 Speaker 1 The second one was ours.

44:36 Speaker 2 Oh, you opened up a Chabad house here also? In Montreal?

44:40 Speaker 1 Yeah.

44:41 Speaker 2 Well, and that's for the headquarters of Tzach.

44:43 Speaker 1 At that time, we opened it. Before that, it was in my basement also.

44:48 Speaker 2 Tzach. What, what... When did you know that you were going to spend your life doing these things?

44:54 Speaker 1 I didn't figure out. When I went into the rebbe with my wife to, what do you call, when Chosson Kal, before the Chosson, I, the rebbe, I wrote to the rebbe, "We are ready to go for shluchas."

45:09 Speaker 2 Uh-huh.

45:09 Speaker 1 So the rebbe answered to, "Mamshil zein shluchas in Montreal."

45:16 Speaker 2 Mamshil zein shluchas. Oh, 'cause you were already a bachur. You were shli- you were, you were-

45:19 Speaker 1 The rebbe considered me a shliach before-

45:22 Speaker 2 As a bachur. Uh-huh.

45:24 Speaker 1 I had letters, 狠... With Alf Bachur.

45:29 Speaker 2 The rebbe wrote to you.

45:31 Speaker 1 Yeah. And, uh, yeah.

45:35 Speaker 2 So the rebbe never... In the beginning, the rebbe didn't appoint you. It just kind of happened, and then-

45:39 Speaker 1 It's ki- uh, the, the appointment was that I had a call from Chadakov, that we, we from Tzach, we wrote to the rebbe that we need a person to head the work.

45:52 Speaker 2 Uh-huh. You wanted another shliach to come.

45:54 Speaker 1 I didn't think that I, I was still a bachur in yeshiva.

45:57 Speaker 2 Uh-huh.

45:58 Speaker 1 So we needed somebody to... So then Chadakov called me up one day and said to me, "You asked the rebbe for a shaliach, so ir ken ir." He told me ir. He, Chadakov was talking like to a yingel, like an elderly person. So, "Mizaman tzi gezir zol zein. I think she needs to move on."

46:20 Speaker 2 Right. What kind of man was Rabbi Chadakov?

46:27 Speaker 1 I can't describe Rabbi Chadakov. Did you ask some people in New York that-

46:32 Speaker 2 No, I, I heard, I heard a lot about Rabbi Chadakov from my zayde. I wanna know how you-

46:36 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's a Hemo person. I mean-

46:39 Speaker 2 A Hemo person.

46:40 Speaker 1 I mean, he, he wasn't a person for himself. He was bottle, bottled to the rebbe, whatever the-

46:51 Speaker 2 Did any of you feel like you understood him?

46:56 Speaker 1 Everybody knew that you can't understand him.

46:59 Speaker 2 You can't understand him.

47:00 Speaker 1 Not what you can't understand him, that we knew that he's a, he's a different person and a, a different kind of a person.

47:10 Speaker 2 Oh, because you have a lot of Alter Chassidim, right? But he was-

47:14 Speaker 1 Nah, it's not the way... He wasn't, he didn't represent a Alter Chassid. He was the rebbe's mouth, so to say, the rebbe's right hand or whatever you call it. But he, he didn't represent Alter, Alter Chassid.

47:30 Speaker 2 Right. So when he called you up, you were, it was considered to... What-

47:36 Speaker 1 He called me up. He called me up.

47:37 Speaker 2 No, but you felt, uh, you, you-

47:39 Speaker 1 Of course, I very-

47:40 Speaker 2 It's it a bisel?

47:41 Speaker 1 Huh?

47:42 Speaker 2 How did you feel? You was, you, you were a little bit, uh, nervous when he called you up?

47:46 Speaker 1 No. I mean, I heard what, uh, I heard what he said, and, uh, I understood what he said, so.

47:54 Speaker 2 But he was a, he was also, he could be a stern man, no? He could be, sometimes he could, he could be pretty sharp.

48:00 Speaker 1 Yeah. If you did something wrong.

48:06 Speaker 2 Right. But the standards were very high, right? The standards were very, very high.

48:11 Speaker 1 Huh?

48:11 Speaker 2 The standards were very high.

48:13 Speaker 1 His?

48:14 Speaker 2 Yeah.

48:15 Speaker 1 He was a-

48:16 Speaker 2 I, I think every shliach I've spoken to who had a yachas to him, they, they got a rebuke at some point, or a-

48:24 Speaker 1 I spoke with him, but I didn't have no yachas with him.

48:29 Speaker 2 Right. No, but sometimes... E-everyone I speak to said that he would, he would say, he would give a-

48:36 Speaker 1 Just, just to, to, to... When we were in camp, there was one year Rabbi Yankel Shway was the learning director.

48:48 Speaker 2 He was also in Tzach, or that's a different Shway?

48:50 Speaker 1 No, that's... Tzach was Isaac.

48:53 Speaker 2 Yeah.

48:53 Speaker 1 Rabbi Shway, the older brother of Yankel.

48:56 Speaker 2 Uh-huh. So Isaac, Isaac was the older brother.

48:58 Speaker 1 Older brother.

48:59 Speaker 2 Yankel was a, was in camp.

49:00 Speaker 1 The youngest.

49:01 Speaker 2 And he was in camp.

49:02 Speaker 1 He was still a bachur then, so.

49:08 Speaker 2 Uh-huh.

49:08 Speaker 1 Yeah. And he had a hosh in Mallory, in-

49:13 Speaker 2 Drawing

49:13 Speaker 1 ... painting.

49:14 Speaker 2 Uh-huh.

49:14 Speaker 1 Like in... So we made, for each bunk, we would together eight bunks, I think, if I, if I remember correctly, maybe even less. For each bunk, a certain picture, uh, you call it, uh, one... And the bunks were called with special names, uh, some kind of, uh, ancient ovaries and all sorts of... And one was molochim, one... So he one, uh, one picture was made, 狠... He made twelve, thirteen round, rounds like this. Probably you saw the picture, you know. And the, uh, th- the twelfth one is ani maamin be-emunas bevezat hamashiach. He made like the Rebbe, the Rebbe's face sitting on a horse. There, there was, uh, the before then the Rebbe was talking about .

50:32 Speaker 3 Uh-huh.

50:33 Speaker 1 So he... Th- then it wasn't yet before Ani... This was in the first years. So he made a picture with the Rebbe, sits on a, uh, so to say. And the pic- underneath is ani maamin be-emunas bevezat hamashiach. This was, uh, something like a risk.

51:02 Speaker 3 Yeah.

51:03 Speaker 1 I was afraid that the Rebbe will... Anyways, I once ca- came when for Chof Ovad, I think, again, or maybe it be someone. I think it's for Chof Ovad. I brought pictures, all pictures from all these paintings, and I gave Chabad to bring it into the Rebbe. I was afraid it will like, you know, in those days wasn't yet the whole idea of Mashiach and everything, and here we came with, uh, ani maamin bevezat hamashiach on the Rebbe's picture. Imagine the-

51:40 Speaker 3 Right

51:40 Speaker 1 ... it was com- completely out of-

51:42 Speaker 3 Was this Tosfen Chof? A- around Tosfen Chof?

51:45 Speaker 1 Uh, it was before Tosfen Chof.

51:48 Speaker 3 Before Tosfen Chof.

51:49 Speaker 1 Uh, now I mean... Uh, no, it was after Tosfen Chof. Yes, after Tosfen Chof.

51:55 Speaker 3 Mm-hmm.

51:56 Speaker 1 But Tosfen, this most probably that was... this. Oder Chof, Oder Chof Ovad.

52:06 Speaker 3 Okay. In the early years.

52:08 Speaker 1 Yeah. So I was afraid, but I gave it to Chabad to bring it into the Rebbe. We were standing in the out- outside, and there was... The Rebbe's window was a little bit open. The Rebbe... So the Rebbe was standing, Chabad was standing and looking down on the table, like to look on it. And I, I saw a certain smile on, you know, the Rebbe's face. When the Chabad came out, he came out with a smile. He said, and he said, "." That's all.

52:49 Speaker 3 Where did, where did the idea come from? This was something that, uh, Chassidim always used to think of the Rebbe. The, the previous Chassidim also spoke this way?

52:59 Speaker 1 Supposedly, by other Chassidim. the Rebbe's Mashiach.

53:04 Speaker 3 But like in older generations of Lubavitch?

53:08 Speaker 1 I think, I think Chassidim, when it was this discussion of it, in, let's say in the time of Tzemach Tzedek. Tzemach Tzedek.

53:23 Speaker 3 Right.

53:24 Speaker 1 who should be-

53:25 Speaker 3 Right.

53:26 Speaker 1 But it wasn't in that forum that we have here now. It's exploding, uh-

53:31 Speaker 3 Right

53:31 Speaker 1 ... but, uh, so, so like I say that I was afraid that it will for, for such a statement, so to say.

53:40 Speaker 3 Right.

53:41 Speaker 1 it went through with a smile.

53:44 Speaker 3 Uh-huh. Hmm. Do you remember when, uh, do you remember when the, the psukim started, the psukim? You were-

53:56 Speaker 1 I remember, yeah

53:56 Speaker 3 ... a member, yeah

53:57 Speaker 1 ... but I wasn't there. I was here in, we lived Beimer here.

54:00 Speaker 3 But what did you... I understand, but what did you, um, what did it mean to you at the... Did you hear what was going on? Did it... Was it like a ? What... How did you understand it?

54:14 Speaker 1 I didn't think about to rationalize it, so to say. But I do say my opinion, which I, which I once said to bochurim, to, to kids, to bochurim. Mordechai Mordechai said, found kids, and they ca- they said three psukim, and became a whole thing of it. And even since then, three psukim,

54:52 Speaker 3 Right.

54:53 Speaker 1 So the Rebbe himself came down with 12 psukim. How do we have to cherish that?

55:02 Speaker 3 Right.

55:03 Speaker 1 Mordechai took it over from the kids. That's what the Rebbe himself, Mordechai himself said it. So I-- we don't understand what it means, like what is the behind it, but I'll be positive the Rebbe wanted the kids to have psukim on their head, on their head. I mean-

55:23 Speaker 3 Right

55:23 Speaker 1 ... but-

55:25 Speaker 3 Do you remember the first time you, you said it at a rally? Do you remember what... Do you remember-

55:30 Speaker 1 At a bigger

55:31 Speaker 3 Uh, in, in, in Montreal.

55:34 Speaker 1 Uh, when we said it here?

55:36 Speaker 3 Yeah.

55:36 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, I remember a bigger at the rally, yeah.

55:38 Speaker 3 You said the 12 psukim.

55:41 Speaker 1 I reme- I don't remember the first time. The first time the Rebbe said it, we didn't have it here.

55:45 Speaker 3 In New York, right

55:46 Speaker 1 ... but the second time-

55:47 Speaker 3 Yeah

55:48 Speaker 1 ... it was already-

55:50 Speaker 3 When was the second time? The next Lag BaOmer?

55:53 Speaker 1 I think so. I don't remember now exactly the-

55:55 Speaker 3 Uh-huh

55:56 Speaker 1 ... the details.

55:59 Speaker 3 And do you-

56:00 Speaker 1 And, and Mashiach we are waiting for.

56:03 Speaker 3 But what was... D- you, you said at the

56:07 Speaker 1 The Rebbe gave it to you. What's, what's the question?

56:10 Speaker 3 No, I know, but for example, uh, tefillin, mitzvah tefillin. There's a mitzvah tefillin you have to put on with another Yid. There's a... You can make sense of it. The pesukim, uh, today, today everybody my age, it, it's part of, part of life, but for you it's a new thing. What was it like then?

56:29 Speaker 1 So the Rebbe said to say the pesukim, it's a great thing, and I was, uh-

56:33 Speaker 3 You said the pesukim.

56:34 Speaker 1 So like I say, but my... I looked at that a bit so different anyways was-

56:40 Speaker 3 A hem and a gezacht.

56:42 Speaker 1 That's for sure.

56:43 Speaker 3 Right. That's what you mean different. You looked at it as a hem and a gezacht.

56:46 Speaker 1 No, obviously it's a hem and a gezacht.

56:52 Speaker 3 The other m- the other mevtaim you also looked l- at like hem and a gezachten?

56:56 Speaker 1 Uh-huh.

56:56 Speaker 3 The other mevtaim, tefillin, mezuzah.

56:59 Speaker 1 Everything what the Rebbe does is a hem and a gezacht.

57:02 Speaker 3 Right. No, come on.

57:02 Speaker 1 But that is activity. That was a part of the Rebbe's work. It's not that, uh, both of your

57:25 Speaker 3 And, and that was the work of... That's how you understood the work of Tzach?

57:29 Speaker 1 Uh?

57:29 Speaker 3 And you understood that was a work of Tzach?

57:32 Speaker 1 The Rebbe didn't give it especially for Tzach. He gave it for everybody.

57:36 Speaker 3 So what was the work of Tzach? What was the definition of Tzach?

57:40 Speaker 1 The, the, the fact is that anything what the Rebbe said and did gave out was the practical thing. It was, was went through Tzach. Tzach was the, the people that did it.

57:54 Speaker 3 Uh-huh.

57:55 Speaker 1 Those that are not, uh, were busy in, in their business, they didn't do it. I mean, do it in a way of, uh, make a

58:07 Speaker 3 Right.

58:08 Speaker 1 It's, it's Tzach brought the Rebbe's boards, the Rebbe's yonim to the street.

58:17 Speaker 3 Right. Did you have any special herois from, uh, from the Rebbe or Rabbi Holikov about the mevtaim here in Montreal?

58:31 Speaker 1 I don't remember. Maybe the Rebbe was pushing mevtaim, but not had special herois. In any case, I don't remember.

58:42 Speaker 3 This year marks seventy-five years since Yud Shevat and the first Basse LeGani. If you're looking for an event that is memorable, meaningful, and affordable, let me recommend This World is a Garden, a film and live concert production created by us here at Uvlah Media, inspired by Basse LeGani, the first Mimer the Rebbe said. If you're a regular here at HFL, you know that Basse LeGani is something that we think about and talk about a lot, and in this production, we use the power of cinematic filmmaking and a live concert by String Quartet to bring the beauty of Basse LeGani to your community and your audience in a way that they've never seen, heard, or experienced it before. The production has already been hosted by Chabad Houses around the country and has drawn wonderful reviews. Our package comes with everything that you need to put on the production, the film's original arrangements for String Quartet, publicity materials, everything besides the String Quartet, which we recommend that you hire locally to save on travel costs. To find out more about this production, please visit thisworldisagarden.com. Again, thisworldisagarden.com. And now, back to the show. If I can ask this question, what surprised you the most? You're here in Mon-- You're, you... Tzach in Montreal, as you said, it's almost, it's, it's already more than seventy years old.

59:59 Speaker 1 We had the celebration.

1:00:01 Speaker 3 Last year. Two years ago.

1:00:03 Speaker 1 Last year. Last year.

1:00:04 Speaker 3 Last year. Seventy years.

1:00:05 Speaker 1 Seventy years.

1:00:10 Speaker 3 What surprises you looking back? Was there so- is there anything that surprises you about the growth of, uh, Tzach here in Montreal, Chabad in Montreal?

1:00:19 Speaker 1 Wha- what do you mean by surprised me?

1:00:23 Speaker 3 Well, that maybe something happened and something was, uh, something was accomplished that you could never have expected.

1:00:35 Speaker 1 I don't know how to describe it, but whatever the Rebbe wanted to be done, we did. I mean, the, the fact itself that it happened, the Chabad House, and for example, like I mentioned, the second Chabad House after Shliach Meronim, to make it a Chabad House was a, a dream, in other words, but we pushed it through.

1:01:03 Speaker 3 Right.

1:01:04 Speaker 1 Th- thanks to Yitchok Nevisch, he got a couple of palabatim that gave the money, the initial money, and we bought the Chabad House.

1:01:17 Speaker 3 Right. Was... H- what was your... Do you remember your father's, uh, yachas to the Chabad House? How did he, how did he understand it?

1:01:29 Speaker 1 Chabad House was the clout to the Rebbe's-

1:01:32 Speaker 3 Yeah, bechal, bechal

1:01:34 Speaker 1 ... activities, was it. I'll tell, I'll tell you a little fact, then you, you will understand from that for anything. The tata was completely devoted to the Rebbe. First of all, there is in the Sefer Ibhin Ypin, there is a ma- maismita story with, uh, the Cholem, the Rebbe Rashab with Rebbe came to my father.

1:02:03 Speaker 3 I don't know the story. What's the story?

1:02:06 Speaker 1 That was yet before Tov Shin Yud Alef

1:02:13 Speaker 3 So no- not- nach Yitzchok?

1:02:14 Speaker 1 After Yitzchok. But I don't re-exactly remember when it was, if it was in the summertime or a-either after Rosh Hashanah. But to me, about the story you will hear, so the, the rabbi-

1:02:32 Speaker 3 And you're in Benoit at this time, right?

1:02:34 Speaker 1 Uh-huh.

1:02:34 Speaker 3 You're in Benoit at this time, Paris.

1:02:36 Speaker 1 My seventh is in Benoit, in Paris, but-

1:02:38 Speaker 3 Paris

1:02:39 Speaker 1 ... we- one of the, of the stations of Chabad of Nanach was-

1:02:45 Speaker 3 In Paris

1:02:45 Speaker 1 ... in Sever.

1:02:46 Speaker 3 Right.

1:02:47 Speaker 1 It's called. So you-- The crowd, the founder, my father used to farbrengen every Shabbos. Not davke Shabbos

1:02:58 Speaker 3 Every Shabbos.

1:02:59 Speaker 1 Was the Shabbos, the Nanach was lived there. After davening, they used to sit down for farbrengen. But after a couple of hours or whatever it is, they used to go up home in the same building. Used to go up to, well, for the Shabbos. But after... Usually, they used to farbrengen after davening. My father was the, the one, the farbrenger. Some of... Yes, a lot of student used to come back from other places.

1:03:31 Speaker 3 The Lubavitchers or different-

1:03:33 Speaker 1 Lubavitchers-

1:03:34 Speaker 3 Lubavitchers

1:03:34 Speaker 1 ... from our to come to here and father's farbrengen. This little here, not important here. So-

1:03:42 Speaker 3 He was a talmid from Lubavitch, right? Or from Rostov?

1:03:45 Speaker 1 Lubavitch.

1:03:46 Speaker 3 Lubavitch. Lubavitch to Lubavitch. Who was his mashpia?

1:03:51 Speaker 1 Granum.

1:03:52 Speaker 3 Granum.

1:03:56 Speaker 1 Anyways, what's important is now is that, uh, he farbrenged about to give himself over to the Rebbe. It was yet before Yud Shvat of

1:04:11 Speaker 3 So it's after the before, before, before Yud Shvat of Yud Aleph.

1:04:16 Speaker 1 Yeah. So he farbrenged as usual. He used to take ma- My father used to take mashke a lot, and he was a, a good head. Uh, he wasn't-- He didn't lose himself with much taking mashke. Anyways, but after he finished, he farbrenged. Uh, I don't know if it's he fell asleep, uh, when, when he farbrenged or he went home and lay down. Anyways, he saw that it came the prayer in the Rebbe Rashab when the prayer Dike Rebbe came to him and told him, "Perez, "

1:04:57 Speaker 3 Really?

1:04:58 Speaker 1 He saw the Rebbe Rashab said it. Rebbe Rashab was dressed in Shabbos Dike cloister.

1:05:04 Speaker 3 Huh?

1:05:05 Speaker 1 Shabbos Dike capote. You know the words? And he told-

1:05:09 Speaker 3 And he re- and he remembered the Rebbe Rashab from Lubavitch.

1:05:11 Speaker 1 Of course.

1:05:11 Speaker 3 Yeah.

1:05:13 Speaker 1 So and just to show you the, this, the stand of my father.

1:05:19 Speaker 3 Right.

1:05:20 Speaker 1 So this was then. Um, obviously, that wasn't, uh, not open way forums. But I remember another incident that sukkahs were sitting in the sukkah. Also, again, it was a public sukkah. The- everybody that lived, all the families that lived in that building, they ate sukkahs in one general sukkah. So he gave him a farbrengen, and somebody said unto farbrengen. So my father said, as I remember, "Nu mit gehasmed aktsav is kashrus, the Rebbe zal zayn gezunt" The way Habad they didn't use that expression. Usual by farbrengen is with the farbrengen with the Rebbe zal zayn gezunt before Tu B'Shvat.

1:06:24 Speaker 3 Right. Be-before the physical Rebbe passed away, right?

1:06:26 Speaker 1 Before Tu B'Shvat, yeah.

1:06:27 Speaker 3 Right.

1:06:29 Speaker 1 And then after Tu B'Shvat, it, it couldn't start with... Now can, can finally start the Rebbe zal zayn gezunt, but then it wasn't, uh-

1:06:39 Speaker 3 Right.

1:06:41 Speaker 1 But after the, after Rosh Hashanah, after in sukkahs, he said, "Nu mit gehasmed aktsav is kashrus, the Rebbe zal zayn gezunt" I remember someone who was kind of, uh, didn't accept it. Not important. But, uh, they take a bench who, who made the whole aktsav is kashrus before, before Tu B'Shvat, the Aleph. bench, my father.

1:07:12 Speaker 3 Yeah. My, my, my, my Zeda told me many times, I, I forgetting the lotion, but he showed me, I think, once a letter. He, he got a letter from your father in hi- in the years that he was in seventy-seve. My fa-- He had a very g-

1:07:23 Speaker 1 He got a letter from my father.

1:07:25 Speaker 3 Yeah. He was very close to your father. When your father would come to seventy-seventy, he would spend a lot of-

1:07:29 Speaker 1 Yeah.

1:07:30 Speaker 3 And your father once sent him a, sent him a letter. I think my grandfather showed it to me.

1:07:34 Speaker 1 It's in the book, in the book.

1:07:34 Speaker 3 Oh, the, the letter's in the book.

1:07:36 Speaker 1 In the book, there is printed the letter-

1:07:38 Speaker 3 The letter that he sent to my Zeda.

1:07:39 Speaker 1 Yeah, but in the book, there is not no name.

1:07:42 Speaker 3 Uh-huh.

1:07:42 Speaker 1 Your Zeda asked me not to leave the-

1:07:46 Speaker 3 Ah, he shared the letter with you.

1:07:47 Speaker 1 He sent me the letter and-

1:07:49 Speaker 3 I think he showed it to me once. It's a beautiful letter and, that your father wrote telling him, the young generation, that they had-

1:07:56 Speaker 1 Yeah

1:07:56 Speaker 3 ... that they, they should believe in themselves.

1:07:58 Speaker 1 Yeah. No, they were-

1:08:00 Speaker 3 No, deny their-

1:08:01 Speaker 1 Believe in themselves, no.

1:08:02 Speaker 3 Not themselves.

1:08:03 Speaker 1 The Rebbe, uh, the-- my father writes him like that this generation is, has more than the previous.

1:08:10 Speaker 3 Right.

1:08:11 Speaker 1 In such a forum k-kind of. But it's a printed one.

1:08:14 Speaker 3 Yeah.

1:08:14 Speaker 1 It's not-

1:08:15 Speaker 3 Yeah. No, but It's interesting because-- I bring it up only because your father, and also my elder zeide, and there were others, they had been through this before also. The, the Reb Rashab passed away and the Frierdiker Rebbe, and, and they-- it didn't make a difference to them, right? They, they, uh, they believed that it had to continue.

1:08:34 Speaker 1 That's no question.

1:08:36 Speaker 3 But some people had a harder time with it, I think.

1:08:40 Speaker 1 The, that to continue, first of all, by the Frierdiker Rebbe is no wonder because the Frierdiker Rebbe was involved in li- in running the yeshiva-

1:08:51 Speaker 3 And now the-

1:08:51 Speaker 1 ... the bochurim-

1:08:52 Speaker 3 Right

1:08:52 Speaker 1 ... everything.

1:08:53 Speaker 3 And it was also the Rebbe's son.

1:08:54 Speaker 1 Yeah, but the Rebbe, the Rebbe was kind, kindest. He didn't expose himself.

1:08:59 Speaker 3 Quiet, yeah. And the son-in-law.

1:09:01 Speaker 1 Uh.

1:09:02 Speaker 3 And also Neidim, Nista Zon.

1:09:03 Speaker 1 And, and then there was the Rashag and the-

1:09:05 Speaker 3 Right

1:09:05 Speaker 1 ... Rebbe son. Uh, there was a lot of problems. And there, the Rebbe was, uh, was Abba Yochi.

1:09:10 Speaker 3 Right.

1:09:11 Speaker 1 There's no question. But those that were smart understood, I mean, that there's no, no one else besides the Rebbe to continue.

1:09:20 Speaker 3 Right. So your father, so your father, your father really believed in the younger generation, that they would continue and be stronger and-

1:09:28 Speaker 1 Yeah, Baruch Hashem.

1:09:29 Speaker 3 And so he, he, uh, when he saw the peulos and the Beis Chabad and these things-

1:09:34 Speaker 1 Oh, yeah

1:09:34 Speaker 3 ... he, he, he had nachas.

1:09:35 Speaker 1 Oh, what you can see the, in the, in the, the book, you can have a feeling the way he looked on the younger generation.

1:09:44 Speaker 3 He had nachas from the peulos.

1:09:47 Speaker 1 Yeah. No question.

1:09:48 Speaker 3 Did he ever tell you you're going too far, too fast?

1:09:54 Speaker 1 What does it mean going too fast?

1:09:56 Speaker 3 No, my zeide told me that a few times his father was a little bit nervous that he w- when he bought the new property for Gan Yisroel, he told me his, his father was nervous that he's taking too much on. He's going to, he's, uh, taking, he's-

1:10:09 Speaker 1 He will not be able to make it.

1:10:10 Speaker 3 Yeah.

1:10:11 Speaker 1 Mm, my, my father, uh, he did, uh, he never stopped if of anything, what we did. Like, he wasn't afraid for, uh... I b- I don't believe that Benji, so to say, your grandfather, uh, shall hold back a peula.

1:10:36 Speaker 3 No, no, no. No, he didn't hold back. But he was a, as a father, he was concerned that, that, uh, you're, you're, you're buying-

1:10:43 Speaker 1 I-

1:10:44 Speaker 3 ... a property that's, that you won't be able to pay for or that-

1:10:47 Speaker 1 Maybe that's, uh, that's, uh, two and two is, is four. I mean, he was afraid could be, but this is not...

1:11:02 Speaker 3 Right.

1:11:04 Speaker 1 Well, your father, your zeide, Benji, in other words, opened, uh, in one... Oh, he also was behi- more than his capacity.

1:11:13 Speaker 3 Yeah, yeah. He, yeah, he, he had a lot of chevis too, no question. Yeah. So what d- what, what, what do you f- what, what's, what's your message to... You said you don't wanna fakef anything, but what's your, what's your take? What's your message? Your father had a message for the next generation. What's your message for the next generation?

1:11:49 Speaker 1 I don't give no message.

1:11:50 Speaker 3 You don't give messages. You just do. You just do.

1:11:55 Speaker 1 Message.

1:11:56 Speaker 3 You just do.

1:11:56 Speaker 1 Moshiach now, that's it.

1:11:58 Speaker 3 Moshiach now. Moshiach now.

1:12:02 Speaker 1 There's no, there is, there's no two ways here.

1:12:05 Speaker 3 Right. So, so can I ask-

1:12:12 Speaker 1 It's not-

1:12:12 Speaker 3 Ca- ca- can I, can I ask you a question then? What-- How did you understand your, your shlichus and sach in Montreal after Yom Ha'ta'amuz? Was it, was it, was it, was it difficult to figure out what, uh... 'Cause in the beginning, it was, uh, people seemed to understand that we're on shlichus, and we're going to bring Moshiach, and everything's going to, everything's gonna be figured out. After Yom Ha'ta'amuz, was it difficult for you to-

1:12:40 Speaker 1 We are continuing the Rebbe's work. That's it.

1:12:43 Speaker 3 Simple.

1:12:44 Speaker 1 As simple as possible. There was no any hardly, I mean, of something else.

1:12:55 Speaker 3 Right.

1:12:57 Speaker 1 Don't forget, Montreal is one city. We have o- over 40 Chabad houses.

1:13:04 Speaker 3 I know.

1:13:04 Speaker 1 Uh, uh, around over 80 shluchim. Some have more, some have individually, but there is about 80 people. Some are direct shluchim, some are, uh, involved. And Baruch Hashem, there is one thing, Baruch Hashem, that, uh, we have no problems with machlikess, with, with competition with us.

1:13:28 Speaker 3 What's the secret for that? It didn't just happen on its own.

1:13:45 Speaker 1 I, I don't know what to tell you.

1:13:52 Speaker 3 Why do you think, why do you think you managed to, to, to, to, to build a, a team of people who, uh, who get along?

1:14:05 Speaker 1 First of all, maybe, I tried to take chatilah shluchim that are devoted to the Rebbe's union more than the looking, the shluchim that's looking for a job. A person, you see, devoted to the Rebbe's union, so number one. And the way the system was not, not to, not to put one on top of the other.

1:14:40 Speaker 3 Uh-huh.

1:14:43 Speaker 1 So if somebody wanted to come to, in a certain way, we did check if it will not harm the other shliach, it will not be... More or less, it's with our, it was with our control.

1:14:59 Speaker 3 Mm-hmm.

1:15:05 Speaker 1 And more or less, the, the, the shluchim didn't work like a, a personal thing. Shluchim, I, I don't say that no- that everybody is, uh, they have no own opinions. But more or less, it was understood from the person that shlichus is devotion to the Rebbe.

1:15:36 Speaker 4 Well, I think from talking to you, we can say that, uh, that, uh, I can see where they get it from. I can see where they get it from.

1:15:44 Speaker 1 I know.

1:15:44 Speaker 4 You're not taking any credit either, so... But, uh, whatever the case is, uh, um, it's beautiful to see what, uh... It's beautiful to hear your story and to, uh, to see what you've accomplished or Lubavitch has accomplished.

1:16:01 Speaker 1 Not that I, oh.

1:16:02 Speaker 4 But Lubavitch, that's what I meant. Lubavitch Montreal has accomplished. It sounds like you had something to do with it.

1:16:09 Speaker 1 You, you-- I don't know if you have an idea more or less from other Chabad houses in Montreal, which some are small, some are, um-

1:16:19 Speaker 4 Some I do, yes. I've seen, I've seen-

1:16:21 Speaker 1 Some are big, the big so to say.

1:16:23 Speaker 4 I, I know, I know some of them, yeah. I've seen some of them. It's beautiful. I even had-- A few years ago, I had on this, on this podcast, I had Rabbi Nouk from the MTC, which is nearby, and I know some other shluchim here also. It's beautiful. It's beautiful to see, and it's beautiful to hear the story of how it started. It's a beautiful story. It started as a bachur in yeshiva doing, uh, pulas.

1:16:46 Speaker 1 And that we are mechutanim, you, you know?

1:16:49 Speaker 4 Me and... Oh, uh, uh, we, uh, we-

1:16:51 Speaker 1 Huh?

1:16:52 Speaker 4 You're saying with, uh, Nathan's daughter.

1:16:54 Speaker 1 Yeah.

1:16:54 Speaker 4 Mayor Shem Tov, yeah. I agre- Yeah, we can send regards on the podcast to Mayor if he's listening. Uh, thank you very much for your time.

1:17:01 Speaker 1 You're very welcome.

1:17:02 Speaker 4 Thank you for sharing your story, and it's beautiful to see, uh, how this story developed. Thank you very much.

1:17:08 Speaker 1 You're very welcome. in the work.

1:17:14 Speaker 4 The music for this podcast comes from the album Repentance Doors by Oren Dror and Nadav Bachar, and is used with their permission.