Rabbi Meir Yehuda Yisroel Harlig A"H: Part 1

00:01 On this day, Sivan, the 29th of Sivan, the news reached us that our Hasid, Rav Meir Yehuda Yisroel Halich was Nifti. Rav Meir, as he was known by his first name, referred to his first name by many, was a fixture in Beis Hayenu since the earliest years. He would hold the Rebbe's lulav and esrog for Hasidim to shake. This went on for hours. He can be seen helping during when the Rebbe distributed wine from the kos on which he benched and made havdalah, standing near the Rebbe at Kiddush Levana, and assisting during the weekly Sunday dollars and more. He almost never missed a davening or farbrengen in the Rebbe's presence. We begin here a series of installments about the life of Rav Meir as it was published in an interview which he gave for the weekly Kfar Chabad some twenty-two years ago, and it was later published, translated, and edited by the which is published on a monthly basis. We're gonna quote from the selected paragraphs which reflect Rav Meir's life. Rav Meir Halich was born on the 6th of Elul 1936 in Zurich, Switzerland. His father, Rabbi Mordechai Halich, served as a rav in Wien, in Vienna, in the years prior to World War II. The older Rabbi Halich's uncle was the famous Rabbi Meir Shapiro of Lublin, whom Rav Meir was named after. There, Rav Mordechai became acquainted with the previous Rebbe who would periodically visit the city. During those trips, he had the merit to assist the previous Rebbe in various ways.

02:39 Rav Mordechai Halich arrived in the United States with his family in the year 1940 and took up a position as a rav of a shul in Crown Heights. The close proximity to Seven Seventy led to further encounters with the previous Rebbe. The previous Rebbe once called a meeting of rabbonim, and Rabbi Halich-- Rabbi Mordechai Halich was one of the attendees. "I came along," Rav Meir recalls, "with my father to Seven Seventy, and we waited in the hallway while the meeting took place in the previous Rebbe's room. At the conclusion of the meeting, my father requested permission to remain in yechidus for a moment. He used the opportunity to ask for a brocha for my mother, who was not feeling well at the time. My father then mentioned my name to the previous Rebbe, and Rabbi Simpson, the maskir, or maybe the previous Rebbe himself, said, "He is here? Is the child here?" And the previous Rebbe told him to come in. He picked up the right side of the kapote and gave me his tzit zitikes. I was about seven or eight years old." Another time Rav Meir saw the previous Rebbe was at a farbrengen in the small zal. It was 1946 or 1947. There was a bimah set up with three seats. On the sides sat the Rebbe, the son-in-law of the previous Rebbe, and the Rashag, and in the center sat the previous Rebbe. I remember the previous Rebbe saying, "is the Yom Tov." My father was inside, but for

04:38 most of the time, I was playing outdoors. When the Halichs arrived in America, there were two religious schools, Tatev Adas and Lubavitch Yeshiva. Being that he was a Hasid, Rabbi Halich sent his son, Meir, to Lubavitch. Years passed, and on 1950, the previous Rebbe was Nistalik. Rav Meir remembers attending the levaya. The hisktalikus took place on Shabbos morning, and bochurim went around to the various shuls to inform everyone about what had happened. I remember that my classmate, Rav Zusha Posner, came to my father's shul during Shacharis and delivered the sad news. The following day was the levaya. People sobbed with such intensity. The grief was unbelievable. Meir was then learning in Tomchei Temimim Yeshiva on Bedford Avenue and Dean Street. But each Shabbos Mevarchim, he came to Seven Seventy to participate in the Rebbe's farbrengen. Rav Meir notes that another farbrengen that the Rebbe held by ex-explicit request of the previous Rebbe was the farbrengen before Hakafos on Simchat Torah. This already began in the 1940s. After the hisktalikus, Hasidim began flocking to the Rebbe- Until then, referred to as the Lamash, the abbreviation of the Rebbe's name, and as the year passed, it was clear that the Rebbe would assume leadership of Chabad. I remember Rabbi Meir recalls the Fabringen of Yud Shvat of Shin Yud Aleph, the first year, the first hilulah since the passing of the previous Rebbe, Shvat 1951. When the Rebbe said the Maimer Bos Eligani and accepted the messius, the room was packed and the hallway was also full

06:40 of people. Rabbi Yoles from Philadelphia arrived just before the Rebbe's entry, and he did not know how he was going to get inside. The Rebbe told him, hold on to my garkel and follow me. As a bocher in the early 50s, Tofshin Yuds, Rabbi Meir was a beneficiary at the particularly close attention that the Rebbe accorded the bocherim during those years. The Rebbe would be regularly apprised of each bocher situation in frequent duchas reports submitted by the Anhole, and every bocher would enter Yechidas twice each year. Once, the Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Mendlik submitted a list of bocherim and inquired as to which subjects the different bocherim should be learning. For some, it was Yeda Dea. For others, Hilchoshita or something else. The Rebbe reacted with surprise about Rabbi Meir learning Shita. And the Rebbe commented, the son of a Rav learning Shita. Together with this close attention came personal heroas, directives, sometimes on the topic of keeping Sidre HaYeshiva. Rabbi Meir recalls, once I came down with hay fever, the doctor first prescribed me some pills, then a different pill, and then he said that I need an injection. I received the injection in his office, and while I was waiting for the bus to take me home, the nurse came running after me, saying that the doctor had given me the wrong injection, so he called me back. My hand had already gotten a bit swollen, so he gave me an antidote and sent me home in a taxi. A few weeks later, I

08:53 went into Yechidas before my birthday, and I wrote the whole story in my chatel to the Rebbe. The Rebbe looked up at me and told me as follows, There is a new invention for all of this. If you will be careful not to miss the morning Seder Sidas and the night Seder Sidas, all of the issues will leave, will go away. Over the next two or three years, I didn't miss a single Seder. We will, im Yirtzachim, continue in the next installment.