33. A Rebbe Rashab Miracle While Eating Fish

00:17 Hello. Shalom Aleichem, kinderlach. Tonight is Chof Ches Van, the birthday of the Rebbe Rashab. So I'm gonna share with you an amazing story with the Rebbe Rashab. As you know, the Rebbe Rashab was the fifth Chabad Rebbe. He was the father of the previous Rebbe. Before I tell you the story of the Rebbe Rashab, I have to tell you a story that happened many, many years before, maybe thousands of years before, with the famous navi, the prophet Elisha. The story we read last Shabbos in the Haftarah. The story is about Elisha, how he traveled from one city to the other in Eretz Yisrael. This was at a time when Jews had their own king, they had their own, their own, uh, nation, their own army, their own country. Eretz Yisrael was run and ruled by the Jewish people. And Elisha was a navi. He went around inspiring Jews, teaching Jews. He was, of course, a great tzadik. So Elisha was at one point traveling through a place, through a city, and there was a man and a woman, husband and wife, who would always offer him a place to stay. And they were so nice f- they were so nice to him that they built him a special room on a second floor with his own bed and his own table and his own chair. They wouldn't allow, they wouldn't allow anyone to use that room. It was a sp- a room set aside only for Elisha. When he comes and travels through this town,

02:02 they would have a special room just for him. They were extremely nice to him, and Elisha felt he wanted to do them something back, like a favor. They were so nice to him, so he wanted to do something back. Like what favor can he do back to them? So he asked, uh, "What do they need? Do you need anything? Maybe, uh, I see you don't need money because you got plenty of money. I see you're healthy, but maybe you have some problems with the king." In those days, the king of Eretz Yisrael was a Jewish king, and maybe sometimes, uh, the king had something against you and you did something wrong. "Maybe you need me to talk to the king so the king will be nice to you." And they said, "No. No, we have no problems with the king. We have no problems with money. We have, thank God, Baruch Hashem, we have a lot of money. We also have good health." Well, but with Elisha came a helper. His name was Gehazi, and Gehazi heard this conversation, and he said to Elisha, his master, and he says, uh, uh, "My master Elisha, but this woman doesn't have any children. She does need something. She needs children." They've been married for so long, and Hashem did not bless them with a child. And so Elisha said, "Oh, in that case," he said, "In a year from now, I promise you, you will have a baby boy." And when he said that, the woman was

03:39 standing right by the door, the entrance of where Elisha was sitting, entrance to that room. She was standing there, and he was telling her, "You should know that I am giving you a berakhah and a promise." It's not just a berakhah. Berakhah means you say a berakhah, Hashem, you hope that Hashem will make it happen. Well, it could happen, it could not happen. Not always does a berakhah come true. But a promise, that means no matter what, it's gonna happen. You're going to have a baby boy, and indeed it happened. A year later, she had a baby boy. Now we go to our story. A story just like that, like the story with Elisha, happened with the Rebbe Rashab. First let me tell you what happened before that story. When the Rebbe Rashab lived in Russia, he had a certain illness. He was sick in a certain-- He had a certain sickness, and he went to the greatest doctors in Russia, and most of the great doctors in Russia were in Moscow, the capital of Russia. Not the capital, but one of the biggest cities of Russia. And in Moscow were the biggest doctors. The most important, the most famous doctors in Russia lived in Moscow. He went to Moscow, and all the doctors that he saw, they told him, "Listen, for your sickness, um, we can't help you. This-- We don't have anything here we can help you with. But there's a country called Germany, and in Germany there's a city called Würzburg. Würzburg,

05:16 or in German you say Würzburg. Würzburg. Würzburg is a city in Germany where there is a big, big, gigantic hospital, and in that hospital there are some doctors that know how to cure this particular sickness that you have. They have a special, special hospital just for this illness, just for this kind of sickness, and they are the doc- they are the specialized doctors. They, they have a special knowledge. They know how to cure people from this type of sickness." So they said to him, "You must travel to Würzburg, and you should know it takes a long time because the doctors can't do this by giving you a medication, and that's it, you go home." This is something you have to come every day into the hospital and they give you special treatment like medicine and all kinds of things they make you do until after several months. You have to be there for months and months and months until the doctor sees that you are completely cured and you have a refuah shlema. So you need to go to Würzburg, Germany. Now, the Rebbe Rashab has never been to Würzburg, Germany. So he told his son, the Rebbe, the previous Rebbe, and some of his gaboim and helpers, he says, "Listen, we're going to have to travel to Würzburg, Germany, and we need a place to stay because we're going to be there for several months. Where are we going to stay?" Well, in Würzburg, Germany, there was a Jewish community. There were some Jews

06:52 that lived there, nice Jewish community. Not very big, but there was a nice Jewish community. And there, there was a man by the name Bistritzki. And this man, Bistritzki, he was like, he knew everybody in the city. So he spread the word in the city that the Rebbe Rashab is coming to Würzburg for several months. He needs a place to stay together with his son, the previous Rebbe, and all his helpers. There was a man there in the city of Würzburg. His name was Shlomo Wolf. Wolf was his last name. I believe his first name was Shlomo. This Mr. Wolf had a big, beautiful house. He had some money. He was a little bit rich, and he had a beautiful, big, beautiful house. He also had a tiny house attached to his house, next to his house. It's called a maid house. So sometimes if he had a maid, she would stay in that little house next to his house. So this Mr. Wolf said to Mr. Bistritzki, who was looking for a place for the Rebbe Rashab to stay, and he said, "Listen, I'll give the Rebbe Rashab and for the Friedrich Rebbe and all the people that he's coming with, I will give them my house, my big, beautiful house. They can use that house. They can stay there and make themselves comfortable. This can be their house for now, for as long as they need it. And I and my family will move in into tiny little maid house." What a special

08:31 way of doing yachnasas orchim. Can you imagine? He's this rich man. He has a big, beautiful house, and he's moving out of his big, beautiful house. He's giving it away to the Rebbe Rashab, and he's going to move into a tiny little maid house. You know, his maid, you know, the maid was a goyishe maid who would sometimes come and work for him, and she would stay like for a week, a few weeks, and he would give her that house. So he says, "Now I'll stay in that house." Well, he was a very special man to do this, to give the Rebbe Rashab his big, beautiful house, so that's what he did. And the Rebbe Rashab was very grateful, and he accepted his offer, and he moved in to Mr. Wolf's house. And he stayed there from the month of Cheshvan. This was the month of Cheshvan. Cheshvan is the month right after Tishrei. Tishrei is when all the Yamim Tovim, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret, Simchat Torah, yeah, that's Tishrei. The month right after that, that's the month we're in now, the month of Cheshvan. He went there in the month of Cheshvan, the year Tov Reish Samech Zayin. Tov Reish Samech Zayin. And he stayed in Würzburg, Germany, in that house for Mr. Wolf for 10 months, until the month of Elul. It was almost Tishrei again. It's almost 10 months. And Elul, the Rebbe Rashab said, "That's it. That's enough. I've done enough here. I need to go back to

10:09 Lubavitch because Rosh Hashanah is coming. I'm not going to stay here for Rosh Hashanah. I'm going to go back to Lubavitch. So in a few weeks will be Rosh Hashanah. We're going to go back." So they packed their bags and everything. And a few days before he left, he said, he sent a messenger to Mr. Wolf. He said, "I'd like to speak to you." Mr. Wolf came, and the Rebbe Rashab said to him, "Listen, I wanted to do you a favor. You were so nice to me." Just like with Elisha. Remember Elisha? The husband and wife, they took care of him. They got him a special place where to live. And then he wanted to do a favor back to them. And they didn't have children, and he told them they'll have a child. Well, very similar thing happened here. The Rebbe Rashab said to Mr. Wolf, "What can I do for you? I want to do you a favor because you were so nice to me." Mr. Wolf says, "Well, I don't need really anything. Baruch Hashem, I have some money, and I have a good amount of money and a beautiful house, as you can see. And I'm healthy. My wife is healthy. And we're good. We have all the blessings. Hashem gave us a lot of good brachos. So we don't really need much." So then the Rebbe Rashab said, "You really have everything? How about children?" So he said, "Well, yeah, we don't have children. That's true. We've been married for

11:41 a few years, and we don't have any children." So the Rebbe Rashab said, "Listen to me. Listen to me. Tomorrow night, you know, every night you bring me supper." This Mr. Wolf would prepare dinner and supper every night and bring to the Rebbe Rashab. He says, "Tomorrow night, I'd like to request for supper, you're going to give me some fish." He told him what type of fish he wants for supper. And then listen this, listen, listen to this. This is so unusual. The Rebbe Rashab says to him, "I wanna eat fish." Not because he loves fish. You'll see in a moment, because when he eats his fish, he's able to give him a beracha for children. You know that fish is a sign of lots of children, because fish have a lot of kids. Fish have... You know, ever seen fish having babies? They give birth to lots of fish at once. Like six, seven, eight, 10. I don't know how many, but a lot. Fish is the only animal that gives the most amount of children in one shot. In one time, like boom, like a whole bunch of children get born. So, um, to the Rebbe Rashab-- So Jacob Avinu. Remember Jacob Avinu when he called over Yosef before he passed away? Jacob, before he passed away, said to Yosef, "I wanna give you a blessing for your children that they should be like fish. They should have many children, just like the fish." So the Rebbe Rashab said to the- Mr. Wolf,

13:24 "I want you to serve me fish tomorrow night. While I eat the fish, you and your wife will be standing by the door, the door of the room where I'm eating." Remember, see- just like with Elisha, the woman was standing by the door when Elisha told her she was gonna have a child. You have to stand by the door. See, everything has meaning. We don't always understand why, but something to do with standing by the door. They had to stand by the door. And Mr. Wolf said, "Okay, we'll do that." The next night, Mr. Wolf served a big beautiful plate of fish for the Rebbe Rashab, and the Rebbe Rashab sat down to eat. And then Mr. Wolf and his wife were standing by the door, exactly as the Rebbe Rashab told them to do. And then he turned to them and said, "It seems that as long as you guys stay in Vilsbiburg, I cannot help you. There's nothing I can do for you. If you want to have children and you want me to give you that beracha, then you're gonna have to move to another city." 'Cause, you know, uh, it says in the Gemara that sometimes when a person has bad luck, something is not working out for them, then you move to another place. Mishane makom mishane mazal. You change places. You live in another place, sometimes your mazal is changed. Something-- Sometimes it's-- Sometimes the reason you have this problem is because you live in a certain place, and

14:55 the place is making you have that problem. So you go to a new place, and then the problem goes away. So he told them, "You know, you have-- I- if you move, then we can talk. Then I can do something for you." And so Mr. Wolf and his wife said, "Rebbe, we're ready to move." He says, "If that's the case," says the Rebbe Rashab, "Okay, then let me tell you. Next year..." Not this year Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah was only two weeks away. He says, "The following year Rosh Hashanah, in a year from now, I will be in Lubavitch, and I will blow the shofar on Rosh Hashanah. When I blow the shofar on Rosh Hashanah in Lubavitch, you will have a baby boy. You will give birth on that very t- moment, at that very day and very minute. When I blow the shofar, you will have a baby boy." And that's exactly what happened. The Rebbe Rashab went back to Lubavitch s- and stayed in Lubavitch over Rosh Hashanah and the whole year. And the following year on Rosh Hashanah when the Rebbe Rashab went up to the bimah to s- blow the shofar in the shul in Lubavitch, at that very moment in-- Mr. Wolf and his wife m- had moved to another place, and they had a baby boy on that day. Now, I want you to listen, kinders, to this amazing story. You know, we all eat food. Why do we eat food? Because we're hungry. Sometimes we eat food

16:26 not just because we're hungry, but because we like the taste of it, because we're just simple people. The great tzaddiqim, when they eat food, they also serve Hashem. See, when we daven, we serve Hashem. When we eat food, we just fill our bellies because we're hungry. And when we eat the food, then we feel better. We feel good. We feel excited. We're happy. But tzaddiqim, there's no such a thing. Everything they do is for Hashem. Even when they eat food, they are thinking about the meaning of the food and why we have to eat the food. And so for them, they're also serving Hashem when they eat food. Not only when they're in shul davening, also when they eat food, when they sleep. They're always serving Hashem. Here you see from this story how the Rebbe Rashab was eating fish, and through his eating fish, he was able to bring down a beracha all the way from Shamayim, so that another neshamah would come down into the world and be the baby boy of this couple, Mr. and Mrs. Wolf. What an incredible story. It gives us a little bit of a sense of how great a Rebbe is, a tzaddik is, right? You saw great tzaddiqim, when they ate, they were thinking about the meaning of the food. Why the food? Why, why do we eat food, and what's the meaning of it? How do we serve Hashem by eating food? All of us would like one day to be like that, where you

17:58 don't just eat because you want it. I like it. That's not-- Hasidim didn't do that. Hasidim were embarrassed to say that. You eat like an animal? An animal eats because it wants it. It likes it. It's fun. A Hasid eats because you have to eat. It's a way of serving Hashem, 'cause you take all the energy that you get from the food, and you do mitzvahs. You daven and learn, and then the food becomes part of your mitzvahs, and that's what Hashem wanted us. That's why Hashem made us hungry. Why did Hashem make us hungry? So we can have fun and fill our bellies and say, "Ah, that's so good. That's so geshmak. I love it." That's why we eat food? No. But what can we do? We're not on-- We're not like tzaddiqim yet. But you can see when the Rebbe Rashab eating fish. Eating fish wasn't just eating fish. He was bringing children down to the world by-- when he ate fish. Can you imagine? It's like davening for Hashem. He should bring a child to this couple. At any rate, this is the story, and have a good night.