160. The Freezing Cold Sukkos

00:16 Shalom aleichem, kindalech. I'm going to tell you a story that happened in the time of the Alter Rebbe, an amazing story. In the year tof kuf mem zayin. That's a long time ago. That's about two hundred and forty years ago. There was a Hasid, Reb Pinchas Reises. Reb Pinchas Reises was a Hasid of the Alter Rebbe, one of the great Hasidim of the Alter Rebbe. He was a big talmid chacham, a gaon, and he came from Misnagdim. His father was a... From the Misnagdim. His father was a big, big rav. He was the rav of Shklov. Shklov was one of the most famous cities of great geonim, and he was the rav of all the geonim. That means he was really a great gaon. That was the father of Reb Pinchas. His name was Reb Chanoch Enoch Shick. Reb Chanoch, Reb Chanoch Enoch was a big gaon. He was a Misnaged. But his son, Reb Pinchas, was also a big gaon, became a Hasid and a Hasid of the Alter Rebbe, and he became one of the great Hasidim. Reb Pinchas tells the following story that he himself saw and witnessed himself in the year tof kuf mem zayin around Shemini Atzeres. That year, Sukkos, you know, Shemini Atzeres comes on the end of Sukkos. So usually on Sukkos it's not that cold yet, right? It only gets cold later after Sukkos. But that year in Liozna, where the Alter Rebbe lived, it got so frozen cold, freezing cold. There was even snow coming down,

02:11 heavy snow on Sukkos. Can you imagine the sukkah's covered with a thick layer of snow? Are you allowed to sit in such a sukkah when there is snow on top? Well, the Alter Rebbe said no. There are some rabbonim who say that maybe yes, because snow is-- melts. It melts when, when it gets warm, so it's not considered like there's something other than the schach. But the Alter Rebbe said that they should remove the snow from the s- sukkah, from the schach, so they can sit in the sukkah and do the mitzvah of eating in the sukkah. So they had to remove the schach. Then came the night of Shemini Atzeres. It was so cold, so windy, so freezing that the sukkah was covered maybe with two feet of snow. But because it was Shabbos, they couldn't remove the snow on their own, because you couldn't do this on Shabbos. So the Alter Rebbe said they should call Kuzma. Kuzma was a Russian goy. He took care of all the, uh, the thing in, in, in the house of the Alter Rebbe. He took care of things. He cleaned. He helped around. And whenever they had to do something which you're not allowed to do on Shabbos, they would call Kuzma. And of course, you can't tell a goy to do a melacha, to do something, work on Shabbos for you. You have to tell him indirectly, like with a hint. You have to hint it to him. So the Alter Rebbe said, "You should

03:45 tell Kuzma that we wanna eat in the sukkah tonight, but we can't because there's so much snow on the sukkah. And Kuzma will understand that we want him to go and take it off." And that's what happened. So that night, after Kuzma removed the snow from the sukkah, the Alter Rebbe was able to sit in the sukkah and make kiddush. But let's go back to a little bit before Shemini Atzeres. The day before Shemini Atzeres is, I'm sure you all know, Hoshana Rabbah. On the day of Hoshana Rabbah, many, many Hasidim came from all over Russia to be with the Alter Rebbe for Shemini Atzeres and Simchat Torah. But because it was so freezing cold outside, people were literally freezing. To go to eat in the sukkah, you had to wear a big fur coat and boots and f- five pairs of socks. It was so freezing cold. Many of the Hasidim got colds. Some of them even had fever, and some of them even got so sick from the fever that they were lying in bed. They couldn't move. They were so sick. So many of the Hasidim got very, very sick because of the cold weather. Reb Pinchas Reises tells the story that he went into the Alter Rebbe on Hoshana Rabbah and told him that so many of the Hasidim became very, very sick, and many of them have very high fever. And some... And there, there was a doctor. His name was Reb Avraham ha-Roifeh. They called him Avraham the Doctor.

05:22 Avraham ha-Roifeh was a very special man. He was a big talmid chacham, but also he was an incredible doctor. He was the doctor of the Alter Rebbe. And he went to visit all the sick. They asked him to go and visit them to see if he can bring them medication to get them feel-- make them feel better. Some of them he said he could help, but some of them he says, "I'm afraid that this is hopeless. This is the end. They're going to die. They're too sick, and they're too weak." Some of them were very old. So when you're very old, your body gets so sick, then you c- you can't survive. You, you die. So many of the Hasidim, he felt that this is-- they're in a big danger, and he told people to l-l-less... They should stay in bed, covered, warm with blankets, but he didn't know if they're gonna make it. He didn't know if they're gonna live past Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah. When Reb Pinchas went into the Alter Rebbe's... The Alter Rebbe in the sukkah. It was Shemini Atzeret. The Alter Rebbe was in the sukkah. Uh, and he went and told the Alter Rebbe... So he went in to tell the Alter Rebbe was-- the Alter Rebbe that all the Hasidim got very sick, and some of them are so-- have so much fever that the doctor is afraid that they may not live. The Alter Rebbe sat down and put his forehead on his hand. While he

06:58 leaned his hand on the table, he put his forehead leaning on his hand, and he was thinking. Took a long time. Finally, he opened up his heilige eyes, and he said... The Alter Rebbe used to speak with a nigun. That's the way he used to speak. He spoke with a special nigun, and he said, "About the Torah, what does it say in Chumash, in Parshas Vayeshev?" The Torah is called, "Eish dos lame." A Torah of fire. So he said, "Tonight is like the beginning of Simchat Torah, 'cause Shemini Atzeret is the beginning of Simchat Torah." Uh, Shemini Atzeret and the next night is Simchat Torah. Simchat Torah is the second day Yom Tov of Shemini Atzeret. So tonight is Simchat Torah. "So make sure that everyone, all the people, all the sick people, even those that can't walk, they should all come to shul for Hakafot on the night of Shemini Atzeret. And the fire-- We're gonna be dancing with the Torah, and the fire of Torah will burn up the fire of their sickness." Says they're very, very sick. They get very f- hot. We get a lot of temperature. Your head is hot, and your body is hot, and it's very dangerous. So the, the Alter Rebbe said, "When we do Simchat Torah together..." The Alter Rebbe will also be there in shul, and they'll dance with the Torah. "Then the fire of the Torah will take away the fire of the sickness, of the flu." Right? Of the sickness that people had.

08:31 Now, that's what Alter Rebbe said. Now, the word spread very quickly all over Liadz, in all the houses where all the guests were staying. There are hundreds of houses where guests were staying by different people so they can stay there for Yom Tov. So they come to the Alter Rebbe. But many of them were sick, lying in bed. They couldn't move. So by the rumor, everybody kept-- went around from house to house to tell what the Alter Rebbe said to Reb Pinchas is that everybody should prepare to come tonight for Hakafot in shul, and the Alter Rebbe gave a promise that the fire of Torah will take away the fire, the heat of the sicknesses. Now, in Liadz, there were two old Jews, big Talmidachachamim, gaonim adirim, but Misnagdim. They lived in Liadz before the Alter Rebbe even moved to Liadz. One, his name was Reb Itzik Mechadesh. What is Mechadesh? He came up with a new idea, a new chiddush. When every, every day he would say, "Ah, today I was Mechadesh. I came up with a new idea in the Gemara, a new idea in Rashi or in Tosafot, a new deeper idea in the Rambam." So they called him Reb Itzik Mechadesh because he was always saying that he's Mechadesh. Mechadesh means in Hebrew that he comes up with a new idea, like a big Talmidachacham, you know. They come up with new pshat. The other guy's name was Reb Naftali Zohair. Reb Naftali they called him Naftali Zohair because he always...

09:57 Zohair means careful. He would always say, "I'm very careful with what I look at. I'm very careful with what I listen to. I'm very careful with what I do. I'm very careful with kashrut. I'm very careful with this, I'm careful with that." A careful Talmidachachamim. "I'm very careful. I'm very careful with mitzvot." So they called him Reb Naftali Zohair. Reb Naftali, he was always careful with things. But the truth is, they were both big Yerei Shamayim. And although they were big Misnagdim and they were against Hasidism, they did respect the Alter Rebbe a lot. Why? Because they noticed Alter Rebbe is a big gaon. In fact, Reb Itzik learned in his younger years when he was a bachur to learn in a yeshiva where there was a very famous Rosh Yeshiva. They call him the Drutsinem Illui, the great genius of Drutzin. And his name was... His name was Reb, Reb, Reb, Reb, um, Shimon Elia. Reb Shimon Elia, the Drutziner Illui, was a big gaon. And, and whenever the Drutziner Illui would give a shiur, it was so gishmak, so beautiful. Everybody loved his shiurim. It was so deep. It was so amazing. And Reb Itzik used to say that since the day in yeshiva, and he remembers still, his Rosh Yeshiva, Reb Shimon Elia, used to give such amazing shiurim that was so ni- interesting to listen to. But the Alter Rebbe came, and Alter Rebbe gave a shiur, and then he heard again the same kind of beauty, the same kind of

11:28 interesting shiur. He says that Alter Rebbe-- Since the time of his yeshiva years, he never heard anybody give such beautiful shiur as the Alter Rebbe. So they loved Alter Rebbe, they respected him, but they didn't like his Hasidism. When the Alter Rebbe would say, "Am I a Hasidist?" They would not be there. They would go away. They would... They say that they, they don't, they don't believe we should learn Hasidism. But they did respect Alter Rebbe. So whenever, whenever there's a kashya in the Gemara and they couldn't answer it, they would come to the Alter Rebbe, and Alter Rebbe would give them the answer. This Reb Itzik Mechadesh had a nephew, his brother's son. His brother's son's name was Reb Moshe. Rab Moshe had two sons, Chaim and Baruch, and one son-in-law. Rab Moshe became a Hasid, a big Hasid of the Alter Rebbe, very strong Hasid. Was a simple Jew. He wasn't a big Talmud Chacham, but a very strong Hasid of the Alter Rebbe. His sons were young men. One of them was a tailor, the other one was a peddler, a businessman, but also very simple. They didn't know how to learn much, but they were fiery Hasidim. They loved the Alter Rebbe. They believed. They had Emunah Tsadikim. They trusted in the Alter Rebbe. So they came to visit for Yom Tov the Alter Rebbe. But where are they gonna stay? So they stay in their uncle's house, their uncle Rabbi Isaac the Mesnagged. Rab Moshe was one of the people

12:53 that unfortunately became very sick. From the cold, he caught the, the, the disease, the bug, and he became so sick with a fever that he became unconscious. He couldn't-- First of all, he couldn't move. He had to lie in bed. He couldn't even move a, a foot. He couldn't move anything. When the sons of Rab Moshe heard that the Alter Rebbe told Rabbi Pinchas Reizes that tonight by Shemini Atzeres, the night by Hakafos, by the Shemini Atzeres, they should bring everybody to shul, even the very sick people. So the sons were getting ready. They said, "Oi, we need help because our father can't walk. He's so sick that he can, he can, he can't even open his eyes. We're gonna have to carry him. Alter Rebbe said we should bring everybody." So they said, "Okay, we're gonna have to bring our father, and of course, we're gonna have to wrap him in, in fur coats and blankets because it's so freezing cold outside. It can be very dangerous for somebody who's so sick to go outside in such a cold." But Rabbi Isaac, the uncle of Rab Moshe, was yelling at his nephew's sons, Chaim and Baruch, said, "How can you do this? This is a ‹foreign language›. You're gonna kill your father. If he goes out in the cold, it'll be terrible." And you know what? That night on Shemini Atzeres, it got even especially very cold. Not only was it cold, there was s-snow and sleet and a little bit of rain and,

14:19 and there was this big wind, cold, frosty wind. And to go outside, it was, like, so bitter cold. To take Rab Moshe, who was so desperately sick, out in the cold, you know what this means? You could kill him. It's impossible. He wouldn't survive. But the son says, "If the Alter Rebbe says, we gotta do it." And Rabbi Isaac said, "You're not allowed to do this. This is an ‹foreign language›. You're gonna take your father out in the streets in this terribly cold weather. I don't know what Alter Rebbe said, but this is terrible. You're gonna kill him. He's for definite gonna die." And the truth is, uh, without a nes, he-- it would be-- it would, it would actually be true what Rabbi Isaac said. And, um, so they were arguing. Now, Rabbi Pinchas Reizes and another Talmud of the Alter Rebbe, they decided to go right before Hakafos, to go from house to house to tell everybody again what the Rebbe said, that everyone should come for Hakafos in the shul, even the sickest people. So when they came to Rabbi Isaac's house, the sons of Rab Moshe, the two young men, the, the poor simple tailor and the other guy was a simple businessman, were so happy, and they said, "Rabbi Pinchas, we need people to help to carry our father. He can't walk. He can't even move. We're gonna need like three, four people to carry him by his hand and feet all the way to the shul." And Rabbi Isaac

15:48 is screaming at them, "You can't do this. This is terrible. You're gonna kill him. This... You're gonna be ‹foreign language›. You're gonna commit retziacha. This is one of the Ten Commandments. You're gonna, you're gonna ‹foreign language›. You're gonna kill your fa-- your fathers. How can you do such a thing?" And Rabbi Pinchas said, "I wanna see Rab Moshe." He went into the room, and he couldn't believe his eyes. Rab Moshe was almost blue in the face. When somebody's very, very sick and they may die soon, like maybe they're so severely sick that they may die, you, you-- their face turn blue. And, and, and he got very scared. And for a moment, he was thinking, "You know, Rabbi Isaac is right. How can you take him out? You take him out in this freezing cold, he's gonna die a minute later." And here the two sons of Rab Moshe said, "No. The Rebbe said we're not afraid. This-- We're gonna take our father." And Rabbi Pinchas, although he also believed the Alter Rebbe, but because he was a big baal sechel, he had a lot of sechel, he was very smart, he was thinking what Rabbi Isaac was saying. Rabbi Isaac was bringing Gemaras and Halachas and from Rambam that you're not allowed to do such a thing. You're not allowed to take a person who's so sick and put him in danger, even for Hakafos. You're not allowed to do this. It's a big avera to do it. And Rabbi Pinchas is listening, and

17:10 he's saying, "Hmm." But then he's watching the sons of Rab Moshe. They have such a simple Emunah in the Alter Rebbe's words, and they said, "No. We know the Alter Rebbe said, and we're gonna take him." And Rabbi Pinchas says, "I felt ashamed. I am Pinchas, the son of the big Rav, Rav Chanoch Henech Shick, the big Rav, famous Rav from Shklov, and I learned the whole Shas, Bavli, Yerushalmi and Chasidus. I'm learning already eight years by the Alter Rebbe Chasidus. I'm one of the close Talmidim of the Alter Rebbe, and I am still questioning whether we should listen to the Alter Rebbe because I see how sick he is, so I can't. And these two young sons, young men, they have such Emunah in the Alter Rebbe, and they're such simple people. They're not even Talmidid Chachamim. They're simple people, simple Jews, but they have such a burning Emunah in the Alter Rebbe." He's-- He felt so ashamed. He, he felt jealous of them that they have such an Emunah in the Alter Rebbe. And of course, we're gonna have to take the-- So one of the sons goes into the room where the father was lying with his eyes closed unconscious, and he says, "Tati, Tati, wake up. The Alter Rebbe said we should take you to shul." And Reb Pinchas went into the room afterwards to see what's happening. He sees Reb Moshe is lying there with his eyes open, and he's smiling. And he says-- He's hinting, he can't speak because

18:33 he's so weak. He says that they should take him. So they had to bring blankets and a very heavy coat, and they wrapped him in a lot of, lot of blankets and socks and boots. And then another three yungerleit came in, and they were strong guys, and they picked him up, and they took him outside into the freezing windy s- really strong, windy night, and they walked with him. And Reb Moish-- Reb Isaac, the, the uncle of Reb Moshe, is screaming, "What are you doing? Oy vey, you're gonna kill him. You're gonna kill him. He's gonna die. Terrible thing. How can you do this?" And they are not listening. They're saying, "The Rebbe said we're going." They took, uh, Reb Moshe by his hands and his feet, carried him into the shul. When they came to the shul, it was already packed with people, and shul was full with guests, a lot of very sick people. Some people could still stand up on their feet, but they would have to lean on the wall because it was, it was so weak they couldn't stand straight. Others were lying in beds. They couldn't-- They had to take them with their beds to the shul. And one of them was really sick. And, and, and Avraham, the doctor, said, "Oy, I don't know if he's gonna live through the night." Now, the Alter Rebbe, before he came into the shul, made Hakafas, only him and a few, and a few of his talmidim. The Alter Rebbe used

20:01 to every Shemini Atzeres have first a small Hakafas with a few people only. It was a very special Hakafas. The talmidim said those who had the zechus to be at this Hakafas said it was like you felt like you were in the Beis Hamikdash. The Alter Rebbe at that time revealed mamash the kedushah of the Beis Hamikdash. People felt like they became different people. Reb Pinchas was zoche to be at this Hakafas. It's called the Yechidas Hakafas, which only a few people were allowed to go there. Maybe a minyan, two minyanim were allowed to go to this Hakafas. And then Alter Rebbe would go into the Sukkah and make kiddush, and then he would go to the shul, to the big shul, where, where he would have Hakafas again with everybody else. When the Alter Rebbe went into the Sukkah, the Alter Rebbe called three of his great talmidim. One was a Kohen, other was a Levi, and there was a Yisroel. He called them over before kiddush, and he said, "I'm gonna make kiddush, and you're gonna be habezdin because you're three, and I want a bezdin of a Kohen, Levi, Yisroel. And you're gonna be my bezdin. And you're gonna listen to my kiddush, and you're gonna say amen for my beracha. And I'm gonna tell you what to think when you say amen, a special kavana you have to have, and I'm gonna teach you the kavana. And then I'm gonna give you some of the leftover wine from my cup after

21:16 I drink. I'm giving you from the leftover wine. You're gonna mix that wine with other bottles, and you're gonna go to the shul and give to all the sick people some of that wine. And then you should go to the women's section and ask which of the women were not blessed with children, which women have been waiting and waiting for years and years to have children, but they didn't have children. And they should give them wine too, and that will help them that they should have children." That's what Alter Rebbe said. Wow. The three talmidim of the Alter Rebbe went to, um, the shul, and they made everybody quiet. And they had bottles of wine which they mixed with Alter Rebbe's wine. And one of them repeated everything Alter Rebbe said in the Sukkah, and they started giving everybody wine, all the sick people. Then they went to the women's section. All the-- Any woman who didn't have children yet or couldn't have children should come, and we'll give them wine of the Alter Rebbe, and Alter Rebbe says that this will help them, and they'll have children. Then later on, Alter Rebbe came to the shul for Hakafas, and they danced very, very long time with the Sefer Torah. And after Hakafas, everybody was dragged home back, and the next morning, everybody just got out of bed normal. There was no more sick people. Even Reb Moshe was so sick, just woke up like normal. He woke up, got out of bed, washed netilat

22:48 yadayim, said Modeh Ani, washed netilat yadayim, got dressed as if he was never sick. Everybody saw the amazing miracle. Nobody could believe it. And Reb Isaac, the uncle of, of Reb Moshe, when he saw what happened, he couldn't believe his eyes. He saw mamash a nes in front of his eyes. His nephew Moshe was dying. He was, like, almost dead. They took him out in the freezing cold, windy night, and not only did he survive, he actually became totally well the next morning as if nothing happened. The whole fever was gone. Of course, he was very impressed with the nes, but he was even more impressed with the emunah of his nephew's two sons, Chaim and Boruch, who were very simple young men. They didn't know much to learn, but they had such a fiery love for the Alter Rebbe and trust and emunah in the Alter Rebbe, and that impressed him so much. And he became a Hasid. Reb Isaac, the big Gaon Reb Isaac, who for so many years was a Misnagid, now when he saw how his, the n- his nephew's sons, their emunah and how their emunah really worked, that their father became completely well overnight, he decided to start learning Chassidus. And when he learned Chassidus, he learned Chassidus the way he learned Gemara. He learned Gemara, he learned very deep because he had a-- he was a Gaon. And same way he learned Chassidus now. And that's the story.