The Rebbe: Exclusive Stories

00:00 The of Nisan, the of the Rebbe. We will relate a few stories that took place with the Rebbe and individuals over the years. The first story took place in France in 1947, a of the Rebbe which was three years before the , the passing of the previous Rebbe. The Rebbe traveled to Paris to greet his mother who just came out from Russia, and the Rebbe stayed in Paris for a few months from Purim till after Shavuot. Mr. Kirshenbaum, who is the hero of a story which-- with whom it happened, and he is the one that testified about this story, he originated from Budapest, Hungary, and he was drafted during World War II in the Hungarian army. He was torn away from his wife and five young children, while tears, many tears were coming from their eyes. Miracles escorted him, and he survived the war, and then he began searching for his family members. He traveled from one city to another, from one country to another, and he knocked on every possible door or window which may be of help, but to no avail. In 1947, he came very broken-hearted, ready to give up, tired and completely and, uh, someone gave him the Rebbe's address, where the Rebbe was staying in France in those months. The Rebbe greeted him with an illuminated face very graciously. He heard him, and he asked him to write on a , on a note, his request, and he's gonna give it over to the previous Rebbe. When the person heard

02:23 it, he began crying terribly, and he said, "I can't anymore. I have gone through the worst in this year and a half, twenty-four hours a day. Rebbe, don't send me to another round. I can't anymore." The Rebbe listened very carefully, and his face became serious that it wasn't recognizable. And the Rebbe said to him, "Write the name of your wife and the five children on a note." The Rebbe took the note, got up from his chair, and he went in the direction of the window. And that's where the Rebbe was standing. After a minute which seemed to be eternal, the Rebbe pointed at one line of this and he says, "You need to find this daughter from amongst the five children." "Where will I find her?" The person asked, crying. The Rebbe said, "In Hungary." The Rebbe said it in a very quiet manner, but with a very determined tone, very secure. The Yid immediately went to Budapest, and the next day he saw in the newspaper a notice of a certain orphanage where there are a number of children and nobody established any con-contact with them. And while he's walking through the street, the screaming of, "Father, Tati," tore the air, and his daughter Rochelah ran over to him with all her might. And before he even was successful to understand the miracle that happened to him, she was already embraced in his arms. Now, another story that happened in the 1940s, the Rebbe was living with the Rebbetzin in the building on New

04:45 York Avenue, 346 New York Avenue. He met a Yid, met him in the elevator, and the Rebbe spoke with him a while, and he told the Rebbe where he lives. He was just here for a while, and he's going back to his, uh, location, to his, uh, residence city. And the Rebbe asked him if there is a mikvah there in the Far East where he is doing business, whatever the case was. And that was it. Forty years later, in 1986, '87 approximately, this Yid comes for dollars. The Rebbe would distribute dollars every Sunday. This was the Rebbe's custom from Nisan, 1986. And the Rebbe asks him, "What's happening with the mikvah?" This person was really dramatized, amazed. He didn't see the Rebbe forty years, and the Rebbe spoke with him about the mikvah, to see-- to set up a mikvah in his location in the Far East. And after 40 years, the Rebbe singles him out and asks him, "What's happening with the mikveh?" It seemed like he had a connection with Ger, with Hasidus Ger, and he gave it over this episode to Rabbi Pinchas Menachem, who was one of the Ger Rebbes. And Rabbi Pinchas Menachem told him, "I'm not amazed by the phenomenal memory of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. That is not something new to me. I'm impressed that after 40 years, the Rebbe is still investigating and i- in- interested in what is happening at that corner of the world." Now we go on to several stories which point to the fact

07:03 how when the Rebbe was speaking to a person, the Rebbe was completely focused with undivided attention to that specific person. There was no one else ex- existing than in the Rebbe's world. There's a story told , who was a Hasid from Manchester, England, and he would visit the Rebbe every year, Shavuot time. Later, he started to come also other Yomim Tovim. He once went into Yechidus, private audience to the Rebbe, and he gave the Rebbe a pidyon. And in the middle of reading the pidyon, the Rebbe opened up his drawer, and he took out his glasses. After the Rebbe read the pidyon, he asked the Rebbe, "Why do you always need to open up the drawer to take out the glasses? Uh, maybe it is easier that it should be on the table on a constant basis, so you won't have to bother to open up the drawer." The Rebbe answered, "I don't want to remove the indi- individuality of every person that comes in. Because if the glasses will be there from the earlier Yechidus, the person would think he is a , he's a continuation to the earlier Yechidus. And therefore, every Yechidus is undivided attention to this specific person, and the Rebbe opens up the drawer again if need and takes out the glasses." Rabbi Chodikov, the Rebbe's chief secretary, once said that on occasions, he would bring in to the Rebbe a letter which actually not just one letter, it was many copies of the same letter. The same identical letter,

08:57 a mazel tov letter for the birth of a child or a hasanah letter, and it would be exactly the same version, the same . The Rebbe would sign it. When he brought in the letters to the Rebbe, the Rebbe observed himself to read each letter separately. And the Rebbe told him, "When I sign on something, I cannot say that I figured that surely this letter is like the other letters, but each letter received its individual attention and focus." A story , he once wrote to the Rebbe that he wants to bring about pride to the Rebbe, that the Rebbe should have pride from him as a Hasid. The Rebbe wrote in a , it seems like with in the higher heavens, they want that. They want what you're asking for. And surely, I also want it. it should be the will of Hashem that also you should do your part in it. In regards to exertion, an interesting story that happened, and it was told by the in England that he participated in this meeting. Rabbi Dov Sofferin, from England, was a member of the faculty of the institutions of Chabad in England. And he served as a general dean for of education, Chabad, England. In 5732, 1972, he traveled to the Rebbe for . In regards to his 42nd . In Yechidus, he told the Rebbe he's 42 years old, and he's very tired from the pressure and responsibility of his work in . As he phrased it, he's burnt out, and he's requesting

11:14 from the Rebbe that the Rebbe should make it easier for him in this difficult work that he's doing and should allow him to remove some tense responsibilities that he has. The Rebbe leaned back on his chair and smiled and said, "I just became 70 years old. I took u- upon myself to establish 71 institutions. I am expecting from you that you should take upon yourself at least 43 projects." Rabbi Sofferin returned to England, and he began a plan how he can fulfill the Rebbe's directive. And he wrote to the Rebbe, "Does it have to be institutions, or it can just be activities with individuals?" Individuals that he's bringing them closer to Tatum Mitzvahs, the Rebbe said that is also considered a project. Over the course of the year, he wrote to the Rebbe reports and he completed all the forty-three projects of Meses and Yechidim that he accomplished that year. An interesting story that happened while the Rebbe was walking in the street and two Baba Vachsidim saw the Rebbe. This was the beginning of the Nisias of the Rebbe. One said to another, "Let's come over. This is the young Lubavitcher Rebbe, and we'll give him Shalom as it is customary by Peleh Vachsidim." His friend said to him, "In Chabad, it's not customary to give Shalom." But the first one was very insistent. He went over to the Rebbe and gave the Rebbe Shalom, and the Rebbe asked him, "Where are you from?" And then the Rebbe asked him, "What's happening with the

13:12 mikveh there? It needs fixing, if it needs to be enhanced." And the Rebbe advised him that he should get involved in it. When the conversation was over and he returned back to his friend, his friend said, "Aha, I told you not to go over." Which basically the point of it here was that the Rebbe has a mission for every person. And when the Rebbe meets a person from a certain city, the Rebbe is already interested what is happening in that city and what could you do for that, the potential that every Yid has. And a final story benegea to the consideration of for another Yid. It was once in a Yechidus evening, a Rosh Yeshiva from Lakewood had a certain question that he wanted to hear from the Rebbe, an answer, and he was standing online to come into Yechidus. The Yechidus of the earlier person took a long time. The secretary was curious to know why is it taking so long. He opened up the door and he saw that the person in Yechidus fell asleep and the Rebbe was standing by an amud, a shtender, and he was learning. The Rebbe signaled with his finger on his mouth to remain silent in order not to wake up this Yid.