Rabbi Meir Harlig A"H: Part 3

00:01 This is Behemshech, in continuation to the earlier installments, where we have discussed Rabbi Meir Harlich, alav ha-shalom, and some of his life events. We now continue with installment number three. To anyone visiting seven seventy, for close to forty years, Rab Meir was a constant part of the scene. Every farbrengen, every davening, every Krias Hatorah, Rab Meir was hesitant to miss an opportunity to be in the Rebbe's presence. When his children were still young, he would bring them along as well to take part in the Rebbe's minyan and farbrengen. "My father," Rab Meir recalls, "once asked the Rebbe for a bracha that he should have nachas from his einikel, my son, Shalom Ber, who was then two and a half years old. The Rebbe told him, 'Ich, ich ken em doch. I know him. We daven Mincha and Ma'ariv together every day.' I indeed used to bring my son to Mincha and Ma'ariv every day, and he would play around. I would even punish him for being too wild. From then on, after what the Rebbe said, I stopped bothering him and let him do whatever he wants." When Rab Meir got married, his father planned to host a, a large kiddush and sheva brachos at his shul on Shabbos. Rabbi Mordechai Harlich had a shul in Crown Heights and, uh, big elian, and to cover the simcha, he was planning to make a kiddush and a sheva brachos. Rab Meir was one and only child. But Rab Meir soon broke the news to his father

01:55 that he would not be able to attend. That week was Shabbos Mevorchim, and the Rebbe would be holding a farbrengen. "My father went into yechidus. He told the Rebbe that he understands that my ufruf will obviously take place in seven seventy, but his balabatim are expecting that the Shabbos sheva brachos celebration take place in his shul with their participation. The Rebbe told my father he shouldn't try to change my mind. Instead, the Rebbe suggested that my father should make a large sheva brachos on Mitzoei Shabbos with all the balabatim, and that way they would be satisfied." On a later occasion, after the birth of a child to his son, Shalom Ber, by then a shliach in California, the Rebbe took a different stance. "I wrote into the Rebbe that my son, Shalom Ber, had a son, and that my wife would be traveling to the Bris. I wasn't planning on going because it was Shabbos Mevorchim that week, and there would be a farbrengen." The Rebbe told Rabbi Groner, "How did he come up with such an idea? A shliach is making a bris, and it is possible to go and speak with people and be mechabed them. To miss it because of a farbrengen? He will come back and be able to read the hanochah, the reshimah, the, uh, published edition of everything that was said." On the topic of distant shluchim, Rab Meir relates another story which took place many years later. Rab Edelbaum Gatun, shliach in Buenos Aires, Argentina, wrote to the

03:40 Rebbe that he had never missed hearing a tekiahs from the Rebbe, and he wants permission to come in for Rosh Hashanah. He promised to leave back to Argentina immediately after receiving kedusha bracha on Mitzoei Rosh Hashanah. The Rebbe answered him, "Gleib mir. Believe me, when I blow tekiahs, I think more about the shluchim than of those pushing right in front of the bimah." In fact, being that many of his close friends had moved out to sh- on shlichos to distant lands and were no longer able to participate in the goings on in seven seventy, Rab Meir would keep them informed via mail and, when possible, phone calls. In Tavshin Yud Ches, 1958, Rab Meir acquired a tape recorder and he would send full recordings of the Rebbe's weekday farbrengens to Rab Leibel Raskin in Morocco, to Rab Nachman Sudak in England, and to Rab Chaim YeCh Glitzenstein in Yerushalayim, and others. Rab Mei- Meir never wrote to the Rebbe about his projects, but somehow the Rebbe did learn of it. Once at a Yom Tov soda in the Friediker Rebbe's apartment, the Rebbe said something and then immediately followed up by saying, "Keiner zol dos nit ibber hazirn." No one should repeat it, and it should stay here. When the Rebbe was leaving the meal, he turned to me, to Rab Meir, and he said, "Ich mein nisht kein joke." I'm not joking around. I know that you do good things. You send things from here to the shluchim, but what I said here should

05:29 not be sent around. I'm not sure how the Rebbe found out. It could be that one of the shluchim wrote to the Rebbe about it. Valuing anything that had a connection to the Rebbe, Rab Meir was known to collect every sicha and maamer and any item connected to the Rebbe and to keep them all in an organized form. He also wrote a diary listing various hanhagos of the Rebbe over the years. "One year," Rab Meir relates, "the Rebbe asked Rabbi Groner to bring him the Michdav Klali," a message that the Rebbe wrote for a certain Yom Tov. Either it was Rosh Hashanah or Pesach that he had written in a year with a similar kvias, a year that had the same calendar setting, the month and the week and the day. Not having the letter immediately on hand, the Maskir called on Rab Meir asking him to rush over to 770 and bring it. On a different occasion, the Rebbe asked Maskirus, Secretariat, if he had gone to the Eyal on this day in a previous year. Again, it was Rab Meir who was called on to provide information being that he had all this information transcribed in his diary. Rab Meir would send recordings of the Rebbe's Fabrengens and keep his friends who were on Schlichers in faraway places informed about what's going on in 770. There are various letters that he wrote to his friends. In later years, he would send recordings of the Fabrengens which took place by the Rebbe. Going on

07:19 to another project which Rab Meir was involved in, the Rebbe appointed him that he should be taking care of this project. For many Chassidim, one of the most well-known images of Rab Meir is that of him holding the Rebbe's Lulav and Esrick, passing it from person to person, allowing each a moment for a bracha and a light shake. This position was given to Rab Meir by the Rebbe himself. From the earliest years of the Rebbe's nasius, Chassidim merited to bench on the Rebbe's Lulav and Esrick. After the Rebbe would bench and conduct the lanuyim each Sukkot morning, he would open the door to his Sukka and Chassidim would file in one by one and quickly recite a bracha in the Rebbe's presence. During that hour or two, while reciting Korbonot or studying the Maimorim of the Rebbe Marash, the Rebbe would watch each person bench. Often, the Rebbe would say that it was a matana amenos la'hachzir. This would be throughout Sukkot, not specifically only on the first day of Yom Tov, but throughout the days of Chalamit also. In the year Tav Shenchav Beis, late 1961, a large group of guests arrived in New York to spend Tishrei with the Rebbe. And on the first day of Sukkot, the line for benching continued until 10.45, much later than the planned time for Shacharis to begin. That night after Ma'arev, Rab Meir, who was still a bachar at the time, was informed that Rabbi Chadikov wanted to speak with him. Initially, Rab Meir hesitated. He

09:20 thought Rab Chadikov wished to reprimand him for speaking his mind during his Simchas Beis HaSheiva fabrenga the night before. He therefore didn't rush to see him. However, receiving one message or after another, he realized he had no choice and made his way upstairs to look for Rabbi Chadikov, only to find out that he was standing inside Gan Eden HaTachtan, the hallway in front of the Rebbe's room. Arriving there, he saw that the Rebbe's door was open. Noticing him, Rabbi Chadikov pointed toward the Rebbe's room. The Rebbe wanted to speak with him. The Rebbe told Rab Meir that he would be arriving late the next morning and he asked that Rab Meir take his Lulav and Esrick, keep them in a safe place and the next morning take them out and allow the public to bench on them. When the Rebbe will arrive, he will take them for a few minutes and then the public benching will continue. Startled by the staggering responsibility, Rab Meir was dumbstruck for a few moments, but he quickly regained his composure and left the room with the Lulav and Esrick. The next morning at 8 o'clock, Rab Meir stood in the Rebbe's sukkah and gave each person the opportunity to bench. For the next two years, the seder reverted back to normal and the Rebbe himself remained in the sukkah while everyone benched. Then, when Sukkot's Tov Shin Chaf Hei came around, that is late 1964, the Rebbe was then a oval for his mother, Rab Meir was once again

11:06 given the responsibility for the public benching. From that year on, rain or shine, Rab Meir would stand in the public sukkah and later in the special sukkah built for this purpose and hand each person the Rebbe's Lulav to recite the bracha. Once an elderly chasid shook the Rebbe's Lulav with much emotion and dropped the Rebbe's Esrick. To our shock and dismay, the pitim fell off. With no other option, I went to the Rebbe and told him that the pitim had broken off. Hearing that, he said not to tell him who had dropped it because it won't be good for me or for him. On another occasion, when the pitim fell off, the Rebbe instructed me to go to his house and bring the Rebbe's Esrick for him to use during challah. But this Esrick was not sent out for people to bench on. The Rebbe said it does not belong to him, so he cannot give it out. Someone once wrote to the Rebbe protesting the fact that Rab Meir would be the one holding the Rebbe's Lulav and Esrick. It should have been given to someone more befitting. He maintained perhaps an elderly chasid or the like. He received a sharp answer from the Rebbe. Itzt kumsto, now you show up after he saved me hundreds of hours, now you come. It is ba'az gocha protis that on the day of Rab Meir's levaya, on the first day of Rishchei Deshtamos, thousands of Yidden throughout the world studied on that day the three chapters

12:44 of the Rambam which correspond to that day, amongst them the halochas of Lulav. We will, im Yirtzeh Hashem, continue in the next installment.