116. A Miracle Of Reb Levik

00:15 A gut morgen, kinderlach. Today is Chof Av, yahrtzeit of Reb Levik, the Rebbe's father. He was exiled, put in prison, and then exiled because of his work to spread Torah and mitzvahs in Russia, and he ended up in a small town, exiled amongst very, very simple people where there were no Jews, all alone, until his rebbetzin, his wife, came and joined him. And then he ended up moving to another city called Alma-Ata, where he was nistalek on Chof Av, taf shin daled. After he was nistalek, they buried him in a cemetery that was really not a Jewish cemetery, but the, the, the goyim allowed the Jews to take a separate section of that cemetery and make it Jewish, and that's where he was buried, and they put up a matzeva. There was one Jew who was very, very, um, involved in taking care of the Rebbe's father's kever. Alma-Ata is very far away. It's in Kazakhstan. There are hardly any Jews living there. And he knew that the Rebbe's father was buried there amongst a few Jews that were also buried in that place. But it needed to be taken care of because nobody looked after it, and the, and the goyim could destroy it also. Sometimes the government wanted to destroy Jewish cemeteries so they can build a highway or build a park. So he wanted to make sure that everything is good and everything is taken care of, and then, chas v'shalom, nobody destroys anything in that cemetery, and especially the Rebbe's father's

02:20 kever. He would go every day and clean and take away the little stones, and it was-- if there was grass growing, he would take away the grass and pull it out, make sure that it's nice and clean. He would go daven there very often. And he did, and he did this for a long time until it got to a point when the Rebbe's mother, the wife of Reb Levik, managed to leave Russia. She came to France and then to New York. She joined her son, the Rebbe. And, uh, this Jew, his name was Reb Yosef Nimuiten. He wanted-- He stayed in Russia, although he also would love-- liked to leave because it's very, very hard to be Jewish in Russia in those days. But he knew that somebody has to take care of the kever. But then Jews started leaving. More and more Jews and Hasidim left Russia, and he felt it became impossible for him to stay Jewish in Russia, so he also wanted to leave. So in those days, if you wanted to leave Russia, you had to ask the government, send a letter, and ask for permission to leave. They have to give you a special visa which allows you to leave the country. But they didn't let everybody leave. Some people they let leave, some people they don't. They didn't. Reb Yosef decided to ask for a visa, for a permit to leave Russia, but he was answered, "No, you cannot leave Russia. You're gonna have to stay here." And so

04:08 he stayed in Alma-Ata, and he started-- and he continued to take care of the kever and the place of the, of the Rebbe's father, Reb Levik. And there was a little shul in the city. He would go and daven there. But as time went by, every year he would ask the government for permission to leave, and they would say, "No, no, no." This went on for more than twenty years. Finally, um, he asked so many times for the government of Russia, of the communist government to let him leave, and they said, "No, no, no." One day, it was Taf Shin Lamed Tes, 1979, Reb Yosef had enough. He felt this is it. He can't stay there anymore. There's no kosher food. There's nothing. And, and he wants to leave. And just then he got a letter in the mail from the Russian government saying again, "No. We're not letting you go." He was so upset. After so many times of asking, twenty, thirty times, they always say, "No, no, no." And now that means he's gonna stay here forever? It's impossible to be Jewish here. There are no Jews here. Everybody's leaving, and it is so hard to be Jewish. They put you in prison if you keep mitzvahs. Uh, I can't-- He can't take it anymore. He wants, he wants to leave. So he was so upset that he went to the kever of the Rebbe's father, and he started crying and crying and sobbing and crying. Says, "Rebbe, Rebbe, help me. They don't

05:57 wanna let me go. I can't stay here anymore. It's too hard for me to stay here." And then he said something very strange. He himself doesn't even realize why he said it, but he said it to the Reb Leivick, the Rebbe's father, right there by the kever, and he said to him, "If Hashem helps me, and with your brochos and with your tefillahs, Hashem will let me out of Russia, I promise you I will go to your son, the Rebbe, in New York City, and I'll tell him that he must come here and visit you. I'll ask him, 'Why doesn't he visit you in Almata?'" And then he felt bad. Why would I say such a thing? Who am I to tell the Rebbe what he needs to do? That's a chutzpah. He felt very embarrassed that he said that. But that's it. He said it. And then he was so broken. He was crying and crying because he so badly wanted to leave Russia. He didn't want to be trapped in this prison, and he's walking out of the cemetery. He walks out of the cemetery, and he hears somebody calling him, "Reb Yosef, Reb Yosef." He turns around, and he sees somebody, a young man in his, uh, late 20s, and he asks, "Who are you?" He says, "Don't you remember me? Y- you remember me? My father was this blind man, this blind Jew who lived next door to you, and for many years you took him to shul every day because

07:39 he couldn't see. You used to take him to shul and back home after davening. You did this for many years, and I, I'm his son. I'm his son. Don't you remember? I was a little boy then, but now I'm an important guy. I work for the government, of the communist government. I'm an important officer there." So Reb Yosef