252. Reb Levik’s Mesiras Nefesh In Prison To Keep Kashrus

00:16 Shalom Aleichem, kinderlach. It's been a while with Yom Tov. We've been very busy. I wanna share with you a gevaldiges story. The story is about Reb Levi Yitzchok, the Rebbe's father, Reb Levik. The story was told by his wife, the Rebbetzin Chana. She wrote it in her memoirs. She wrote many interesting stories, but this is an amazing story that shows the mesirus nefesh of Reb Levik for even the slightest, um, concern of Yiddishkeit, of Halacha. As we f- leave Chodesh Tishrei with the Yomim Tovim that lifted us up so high, now we're going into everyday life. We're going-- we have to take all the great and great things that, that we experienced on Tishrei and use the inspiration so that we can learn and daven in, uh, the rest of the year properly. So it's good to hear a story about a tzadik and how he had mesirus nefesh even for the tiniest important Halacha in Yiddishkeit. Reb-- the Rebbetzin Chana describes how the, her husband was arrested by the KGB one day. They came to the house and knocked on the door, and there were guards in every door making sure that nobody leaves the house. And they came into the Reb Levik's study, and they told him he's under arrest. And they were going to search his house for all kinds of documents and, and papers that he wrote to see, make sure that they can find something wrong with what he did that is against the government. And so they went right

02:04 away to searching, and they took all his, all his papers, the chidushim that he wrote in Torah and, and, and his smicha that he got from Rabbanim like Reb Chaim Brisker and Reb Eliyahu Meisels and the Rav of, um, the Rav of Lodz. And, um, she-- they, they took all his papers and everything, and then they took him, and they arrested him. And Reb Levik wasn't seen for months and months. The Rebbetzin Chana says she went from office to office begging the KGB officers to tell her where her husband was, and they kept telling her, "No, he's not here. He's not here." Nobody-- They, they, they, they didn't tell, didn't tell her anything about him. She was afraid that he was actually killed because the KGB would do this very often. They would arrest Hasidim or the Rabbanim, uh, and then they would-- a few weeks later, they would kill them in the prison. So she had very, very big fear that Reb Levik is no longer alive. But she kept searching and searching and searching till after seven month of searching, going from offices to offices and begging people and begging them to tell them if they know anything where her husband is. Still fine one day she got a message from an office saying, "Yes, your husband is in this prison and is in this cell," and that she can bring him food. Because she wanted to bring him kosher food. She knew that her husband would not eat the food from the

03:34 prison except for black bread, which is dark bread, and a cup of water. Other than that, he wouldn't trust the kashrus. And he was, he was always hungry and very suffering all the time. So she wanted to br-- send him a package of food. The authorities, the KGB, only allowed you to send a certain amount of food, like it's called four kilogram. It's like a very small amount. That's the most you could send. Not only that, when it-- when you put it into the office and the officer took the, the, the package, the officers in the office would then open the package and take some pieces for themselves. So the prisoner got only a small amount of what, um the, the person who sent it, uh, originally sent. So when the Rebbetzin Chana, she knew that they will take off some of that for themselves, so she sent the most she could send, and she would give it to the officer. In order to send a package to a pris-- uh, a prisoner who was, uh, your relative, your husband, they gave you a certain day that you could come and deliver your package and it went in order, alphabetical order. So if your last name was Abramson, you started with an A. Um, then it would be the first. And if you were Schneerson, which starts with an S, then you would be-- then you have to wait for your day when your letter arrives, when your-- the letter S would arrive. I mean,

05:10 the Russian alphabet may be different than that, but it went in a similar order. So the Rebbetzin was told that on a certain day she can bring the food. She brought the food, and she got a signed note from the Reb Levik saying that he received it. That's how they did it, that, uh, the prisoner, when he received his food, they made him sign a little note so they can bring it back to the person that sent the package that-- to show that they delivered the food to the, to the prisoner. So she got the notice signed by Reb Levik that he received the food. The next time she wanted to send the package, so they went again in order, uh, of the alphabet, of the names, and her name, name came out on Shabbos. Now they can't carry on Shabbos, and the prison was far away to walk a long time. And to carry in the street to Canton Shabbos. So she-- the Rebbetzin Chana took a goyish girl, and she asked her, uh, I don't know, she hired her and told her to carry the package for her, and, and she should walk with her to the prison. And the Rebbetzin Chana said, "Listen, it's Pikuach Nefesh." So the Rebbetzin Chana could have done it herself even because it's Pikuach Nefesh. Reb Leivick was in imminent danger all the time. He didn't eat or hardly ate anything. So it was a very, very serious situation. He was in, in imminent danger. It's Pikuach

06:38 Nefesh. You're allowed to do any Melacha on Shabbos to save a life. But she was more strict, and she took a goy to carry the package for her. And when they got to the prison, they delivered the package, and they waited for to hear that he received it. Well, when she got there Shabbos morning, she got there seven AM in the morning. Seven in the morning. Now, in order to deliver your package, you have to wait in a waiting room. She had to wait for se- twelve hours, from seven in the morning to seven at night in one place waiting to be able to deliver the package to the officer. By the time she was able to deliver the package, it was already after Shabbos because seven at night was already Shabbos was over. So she gave her package, and they delivered it. And then a note came back to say, Reb Leivick writes to the Rebbetzin, "I could not receive this package because it's Shabbos." It was carried on Shabbos. So the Rebbetzin realized how strict the Reb Leivick was. He was Mesirus Nefesh, even though he knew that in order to get another package in, the next package, she would have to wait another ten days. It takes about ten days till your name comes up, and you can send the package again. So for another ten days, he wouldn't have what to eat, but he was willing not to eat another ten days in order not to receive a package that was

08:12 carried on Shabbos. Even though according to Halakha, it was okay, but he was so strict, he didn't want to benefit from a Melacha that even a goy did on Shabbos for a Jew. As you know, you're not gonna tell a goy to do a Melacha for a Jew on Shabbos. Here it was Pikuach Nefesh, you're allowed to, but he didn't wanna benefit from something that was done on Shabbos. So the Rebbetzin Chana convinced one of the KGB officers to allow her to bring food instead three days later, instead of waiting ten days, because she knew how serious the situation was. And so three days later, she brought another package of food to Reb Leivick. And she said her husband, Reb Leivick, was such a Yirashamayim, such a Hasid. He enjoyed more m- rejecting and not receiving the package because it's Shabbos than the package that he did receive and he did eat. Because to him, he got greater pleasure from being able to observe Shabbos and not receiving the package. That gave him greater joy than eating food. So she said he enjoyed more the package that he did not receive, that he did not take because of Shabbos, than the food she brought three days later that he was able to eat and nourish his body. That shows how-- what a great Mesirus Nefesh these Jews were. We can... Of course, we c- we, we can't be on their level, but we can understand that the importance of a Jew standing firm and strong

10:05 and not to be afraid of challenges and difficulties, that Hashem is always with us and gives us the strength, that we should always be able to serve Him and do the mitzvahs with love for Hashem and with simcha, even if sometimes it's a little bit difficult