66. The Massive Earthquake In Nicaragua And The Rebbe

00:15 Hello, kindele. Since we came from Gimmel Tammuz, I will share with you another story with a Rebbe, our Rebbe. A story that I heard from my uncle, alav ha-shalom. It happened to him. It's an amazing story, as you will find out in a moment. My uncle, his name was Yitzchak. He had a business. He would travel to South America. South America has a number of countries. Some of them-- One is called Nicaragua, and, uh, there's, um, Brazil, there's Argentina. So he would travel to South America to buy stamps. Some people do business with stamps. People collect them, like stamps which are unusual, right? Not the regular stamps you find in the post office that everybody can buy for a few cents. We're talking about special stamps would have art on them, and they come from special countries, and they're not, there are not that many around in the world, so they cost a lot of money. 'Cause a lot of people wanna have them just for fun, you know, to collect them. So he would buy a lot of stamps and then sell it, and that's how he would make a living. He would make money. So he would always ask the Rebbe before he traveled to any country, whether it's South America, or sometimes he would travel also to Europe, right? Switzerland, Belgium, France. He would travel to different countries, wherever he could find special, expensive stamps that he could buy for a low price, and then he would sell it for a higher

02:00 price here in America. And every time before he went on a trip, he said, "Rebbe, should I go on the trip? I want your bracha." The Rebbe would say, "Yes, go, and here's my bracha. You should be successful." One time he had an invitation from a very, very important person in this, in the country of Nicaragua. I think their city is Nicaragua also, Nicaragua City, and it's, uh, in the South America, far away from New York, far away from the United States. He-- The person that invited him to come to Nicaragua to buy stamps was the head of the post office of the whole Nicaragua. So he had a lot of stamps, and very special stamps, and he wanted to sell to my uncle, Yitzchak. He said, "Come over, I'll give you a good deal. You'll be able to buy it for a good price, a low price, and then you'll be able to sell it for a profit and make money." He says, "Well, well, I gotta ask my Rebbe first." So he wrote in a little note to the Rebbe secretary, Rabbi Binyomin Klein. He gave him a note. He said, "Please show it to the Rebbe. Say I need to go on a trip. He wants me to be there next week, Thursday. He wants to meet me next week, Thursday, in the headquarters, the main office of the whole postal, uh, post office of the whole Nicaragua." And Rabbi Binyomin Klein brought the note to the Rebbe and left it there

03:38 on the Rebbe's table. You know, the Rebbe used to get hundreds and hundreds of letters every day. Questions, people from everything, right? People needed pardon, people needed health, people needed advice, people needed-- uh, have a question in the Gemara, a questioning in, in, in the Zohar, in Kabbalah, in Hasidas, everything. People came to the Rebbe for everything. So there were hundreds of letters sitting there on the Rebbe's table, but he put it down, and a day goes by, the Rebbe doesn't answer, which was very unusual, because normally the Rebbe would answer right away. So my uncle thought, "Oh, the Rebbe's not answering. Maybe the Rebbe had too many letters piled up on his table, so he didn't have time to look at my note." Uh, he went over to the secretary and said, "Listen, can you make sure that the Rebbe sees it? Puts it on top of the pile. Put it on top of the pile so the first letter he'll see, he'll see my letter." He said, "Okay, I'll do that." So when the secretary went into the office, before the Rebbe came into the office in the morning, he went into the office and put my uncle's letter on the top of the pile, so that the Rebbe would see it right away. And when the Rebbe came in, the Rebbe looked at the letter on top of the pile and took it off, put it down, put it to the side, and went to the other letters. So now the secretary

04:56 realized that the Rebbe doesn't n- doesn't wanna answer it. He doesn't know why. So he told my uncle this, and my uncle said to him, "Listen, maybe you ask the Rebbe. Ask him. Tell him, 'Yitzchak, he wants to go to Nicaragua, and they're inviting him to be there next Thursday, and he needs to buy a ticket, but he's not gonna go unless the Rebbe gives him a bracha.' Can the Rebbe please answer this as soon as possible?" And the Rebbe said, "I'll answer him now." And the Rebbe's answer was very, very surprising. Unbelievable. The Rebbe said, "I don't think you should go. Do not go now. This is not the time to go. Don't rush there now. A little later, maybe in a month from now, you'll be able to go, but now you shouldn't go." That's it. That's all the answer. That's the entire answer. The Rebbe secretary brought the letter out of the Rebbe's office, gave it to my uncle, and my uncle is, like, shocked. His eyes are popping open big. What? Why is the Rebbe saying this? I, I, I don't know. Why shouldn't I go? And they're waiting for me, and, and there's such important people in the country that are inviting me, and, and they promised to give me such a good deal. Why is the Rebbe saying not to go? This is the first time in many years that my uncle got such an answer before going on a trip. So, but the Rebbe says no, that's no,

06:36 so he called up his contact in Nicaragua. This very important person from the government. He was part of the government, but he was in charge of all the post service, you know, mailing stuff and stamps, and he called him. He says, "Listen, my rabbi, rabino..." Right? They speak Spanish there. "My rabino said I shouldn't go. I don't know why, but that's what he said." He said, "Really? Why? Why would he say this?" "I don't know. I have no idea, but I follow whatever he says." He said, "Okay, maybe another time." Then a week goes by, and there is a Thursday morning. That Thursday, when he, my uncle, was supposed to be in Nicaragua, but the Rebbe said no. My uncle sees in the newspapers, in all the newspapers, big headlines, "Massive earthquake in Nicaragua City. 80% of the city is destroyed, and there's more than 80,000 people dead." Whoa. Now he understood. The Rebbe saw Ɣruḥ ha-Kodesh that there's some terrible thing is gonna happen, and he told me not to go. He saved my life. And then the Rebbe told him-- He told the Rebbe, he wrote to the Rebbe what has happened, and of course, he thanked Hashem and he thanked the Rebbe for his advice of saving his life. And the Rebbe said, "You should go a little later." About a month after the earthquake, the city of Nicaragua was still in ruins, destroyed, buildings collapsed, everything is on... 'Cause it was a massive earthquake. The whole earth started shaking so loud

08:32 and so strong that all the buildings fell down. But this government person, who was his contact, who invited him before, calls him up and says, "Can you come now?" So my uncle says, "Well, yeah, but can you get into the city? I thought there was all rubble, and the buildings are all broken down, and you can't get in." He said, "I will make sure you can get in. I'll send a car for you, 'cause I wanna, wanna sell you a lot of stamps." My uncle asked the Rebbe this time. The Rebbe said, "Yes, go." When he arrived in Nicaragua, he couldn't believe his eyes. It was terrible. The whole city, almost every building was destroyed. You know the one building that was not destroyed? Was the post office, the building where he was supposed to meet this government person. It's the only building that was still there, and all the stamps that he was gonna sell him were still in that building. You imagine if that building were collapsing also, like all the other buildings, all the stamps would be ruined. But those stamps remained in that building, and when he came there, the government official was so excited to see my uncle because he was a very warm person, nice person, my uncle. So he loved him. He said, "Oh, here, take as many stamps as you want. You'll pay me later as much as you want. You decide how much you wanna pay me. You know, we're so broken here. Look what happens

09:59 to our city. So many people died," and so on. "You take whatever you want, and you tell me." And my uncle took a lot of stamps, and it's the best business deal he has ever made. But unfortunately, he was also very sad because so many people had to die. But that's what Hashem, uh, did for whatever reason we don't understand. But that's the story.