The Rebbe: His Focus on the Individual - Part 3

00:00 Behemesekh to the earlier installments regarding Gimel Tammuz and the Rebbe's focus on every individual, as every individual is a world for themselves. We continue now with installment number three, discussing additional stories which demonstrate this fact. It was in Tuş Lamed He, late nineteen seventy-four, and Tes Kislev, the ninth of Kislev, was on Shabbos. The ninth of Kislev marks the birth date and the day of the hilulah, of the passing of the Mittel Rebbe, the second Rebbe of Chabad. And it was natural and definite by all Hasidim that this Shabbos, the Rebbe is gonna farbrengen, the Rebbe is gonna speak, as we saw it in the earlier years when it was such a calendar setting. And on such a Shabbos and an auspicious day, the Rebbe would use the occasion to be mashpia, give light to Hasidim. And it came after Musaf, the Rebbe waited, they should call out Mincha, "The Rebbe is not going to farbreng." This was a shock. And as much as there was the hope of Hasidim that the Rebbe would farbreng, likewise, it was the astonishment that davka in a Shabbos like this, there's no farbrengen. It was a time later that Hasidim found out the background of what actually was taking place. There was a young student who was learning in one of the yeshivas in the shunah, and he was unusual in his loo- external looks and his personality, and this brought about an harassment from his friends. They would bully him, they would, uh, harass him. And the

02:07 mother of this disappointed child, seeing all this happening, she wrote to the Rebbe, and the Rebbe asked from his chief secretary, Rabbi Chadikoff, to deal with this matter on a personal level and to make sure to bring an end to this harassment against the child. Rabbi Chadikoff's intervention helped for a short time, and when the Rebbe heard that it is still going on, it continued, the Rebbe wrote a sharp letter to the yeshiva where this child learnt, "Are they waiting that I myself should come to deal with this problem?" As years moved on, on this very Shabbos, Tes Kislev Tov Shin Lamed He, was the bar mitzvah date of this child in one of the shuls in the neighborhood. People in shul sat down at the end of davening for the kiddush in honor of the chassan bar mitzvah. But they were planning to do it very quickly because they figured there will be, there will be a farbrengen by, uh, by the Rebbe one thirty in the afternoon. So b'meheilah they want to make it quick in order they should be able to make it to the farbrengen. A few moments before they, they finished the farbrengen, one of the Hasidim came and announced that today the Rebbe is not farbrengen. And as a result of that, those present at the kiddush continued sitting by the kiddush and celebrating in a very convenient way many hours, which brought a einet, a tainut, a pleasure for the bar mitzvah bocher. The next day, Sunday, in

04:04 the evening, there was a dinner bar mitzvah, the formal bar mitzvah with... in a hall prepared for the bar mitzvah bocher. Now, Sunday is Yud Kislev, the day of the geulah, of the redemption of the Mittel Rebbe. The Rebbe again did not farbreng. It was later verified that the Rebbe explained to his secretary, Rabbi Chadikoff, the true reason why there was no farbrengen on Shabbos and also not on Sunday. In order that this child should not feel disappointed that the kiddush and the formal bar mitzvah was made with such a rush and with the lack of participants, therefore, the Rebbe did not farbreng in order that people should be able to celebrate and commemorate with this child his bar mitzvah. A second story which was told by Harav Mordechai Burg, he is a dean in the Yeshivas Mevaseret, uh, Mevaseret Zion. And he tells the following: Rab Solomon Berg Gordon was sent by the previous Rebbe to New Jersey to spread Yiddishkeit, and over the years of his shlichas, being in New Jersey, he accomplished great things in many different aspects, and he brought many hidden closer to the fulfillment of taryag mitzvahs. Now, our story took place in the year Tov Shin Lamed Gimel nineteen seventy-three. It was in honor of one of the Shabbosim coming up. Rab Solomon Berg Gordon was planning to come to the Rebbe for Shabbos, and he took with him a group of young students, boys and girls, in order- That they should have the opportunity to experience the

06:07 first time in their life an experience of Shabbos Yehudis, a Yiddish Shabbos Gilchosa. And amongst the girls in the kvutza, there were two girls. One was called Paula and one is called Saral. They're both 14 years old. Understandably, that everybody tried to get dressed in a very modest way, tznius, as it is appropriate for visiting such a place. But the cholzeis over the Shabbos, not all of them felt comfortable because they were dressed in pants, not like the girls in the kvutza, in the group that came, or the girls from the shchuna, from Crown Heights. Shabbos, while the girls were standing outside of 770, they realized suddenly that the Rebbe is coming out. He's going home. And he is surrounded by hundreds of Hasidim. The feeling that came to them then was that it's not appropriate to stand near the Rebbe wearing pants. And spontaneously, they walked away and walked behind a wall, which was a wall of stone, in order that the Rebbe should not see them. When the Rebbe went down the steps, he saw them and he saw their situation, their dilemma. The Rebbe turned away from his regular path and with a special love, a fatherly love, the Rebbe turned to the two girls and said to them, Shabbat Shalom, which means good Shabbos. And then he continued in his way. The pressure they had disappeared immediately. Such a wonderful experience touched them very much. And right there and then, they are standing there and they were so impressed of the

08:27 fact that a Rebbe, such a great Rebbe, who is surrounded by hundreds of Hasidim, realized their dilemma and gave them such a special kiruv. And they decided from then on to connect to Derech Chaim of fulfilling mitzvahs. When they came back home after Shabbos, they started to make a change in their spiritual life. And slowly but surely, they became closer to the life of Torah mitzvahs in the fullest measure. HaRav Mordechai Burke concludes the story and he says, the girl named Paula was my mother. Baruch Hashem, I was zecher to raise a beautiful family. I am now a menail, a dean in a yeshiva for 120 students. And I'm sure that all this is in the merit of the good Shabbos, the hartzike good Shabbos that the Rebbe told the two girls. Mitzvah shall continue in the next installment.