Gimel Tamuz : The Rebbe's Focus on the Individual

00:01 The hemshech to Gimmel Tammuz marking twenty-eight years since the hisdalkus of the Rebbe, we now begin, im yirtze Hashem, a series of sipurim and stories about the Rebbe. There is a famous expression of our sages in the tractate of Megillah, "B'mokom g'duloso atom etze anvas anuso." Where you find his greatness, you also find a reference to his humility or modesty. Likewise, our sages tell us, as it's mentioned in Medrash Rus Rabba and Breshis Rabba, "Tzadikim deim libetom." Tzadikim resemble their Creator. The Medrash in Tehillim elaborates and reflects it regarding leaders of Am Yisrael, as Moshe Rabbeinu and Dovid HaMelech, that already prior to their leadership, they proved to be the appropriate leaders for the entire nation, to each and every one individually, according to their standards and needs. In this series, we will relay stories how the Rebbe, while conversing with individuals, it would be with an exceptional, undivided attention, exclusively to each yochid, individual person, as a complete world for himself. The Rebbe had either advised or enlightened or uplifted the person for the future. For many, it signified a new beginning in life. We'll mention several stories that exemplify this point. The stories that we will mention are from a compilation of stories which were told by Rabbi Binyomin Klein, the Rebbe's maskir, who was nifter seven years ago on the eighteenth of Sivan. These are stories with whom Rabbi Klein was involved as the secretary of the Rebbe. There was a stor- a person that came to the Rebbe and told the

02:16 Rebbe that he's gonna be studying in the following three months, uh, to become an accountant. The Rebbe told him that he heard that now there's a new invention in the world, the computer, and that could help this person very much in his work. And the Rebbe advised him how he can learn to use it. But the person felt there's no need for it, and he did not really follow the Rebbe's advice. He finished his studies after two and a half months, and then he decided to go and visit the computer world to see what's happening there. When he went in there, he realized a whole new world opened up in front of him, and he then said, "If I would have listened to what the Rebbe told me earlier, I would have spared myself much time that I gave for studying accounting, which was in vain." A second story in the newspaper, the Toggenburg Journal, which was, uh, which is a weekly Yiddish newspaper, there was a letter that was written to the editorial board from a Yiddishe family which needed to make a wedding, and they didn't have money. And they turned to the readers if people can contribute donations for this cause. The Rebbe read this article, and the Rebbe told Rabbi Klein that he should contact Mr. Mekler, who was the one that translated the Friediker Rebbe's memoirs in the 1940s, and he also worked in the editorial board, and to request from him the name and the address of the family.

04:11 And after that, the Rebbe sent money to them, and this went through Rav Sholom Ber Gordon, who was the Rav in New Jersey, and the Rebbe advised him many different details in regards to the family. There was a Yid who went into yechidus, and he told the Rebbe beneger to his brother, who was living in a far distant city. He had a business which went down, and at this point, he needs twenty thousand dollars in order to be able to begin from anew. And he asked the Rebbe for assistance. The Rebbe, on the spot, did not respond. After yechidus, the private audience was over , Rabbi Chadikoff called up Rabbi Klein and asked him that he should contact a certain person that he needs to talk with. And this was at the end of all the yechidusen, which was well after midnight. The Rebbe remained in seven seventy to make sure that it is processed, the call is processed. After the conversation, Rabbi Chadikoff told Rabbi Klein, tomorrow, eight o'clock in the morning, they should call here to give over if everything was taken care of. And Rabbi Klein continues, "In the morning, I received a call of one of Anash, one of Babitcher Chassidim, who I knew very well. He called for a meeting amongst many business people, and the matter was taken care of." This is basically something that the Rebbe worked behind the scene to make sure that that person could have his money. It was days after the Rebbe went through

06:04 the heart attack in Tafshin Lamatres, 1977. The Rebbe asked Rabbi Klein to find out about a condition of a lady who was in the process of being divorced, getting a divorce from her husband. She suffered a lot from that, and the Rebbe was already involved in this earlier. And now, Rabbi Klein points out, days after the Rebbe went through a massive heart attack, nevertheless, the Rebbe was concerned about this individual person. Rabbi Klein relates that the Seder was before Mincha. The Rebbe would give over to me the responses which he managed to answer up till Mincha. Once after Mincha, Rabbi Klein was asked by the Rebbe to bring in the responses again. The Rebbe felt he wants to add or change something from one of the answers, one of the responses that he wrote to one of the people. Rabbi Klein explains that this means in middle of Mincha, the Rebbe was also thinking about the needs of a Yid who wrote to him about a certain situation. Another story of Rabbi Klein, there was a lady that once came from Manhattan. She wanted to have a yechidas with the Rebbe, and Rabbi Chadikov set it up for her. B'derech klal, everybody wants to go in as early as they could, but she waited till the end of the line, which was about two, three AM. When she went in, she began speaking, and she did not know how to finish. The Rebbe saw what was happening. The Rebbe did not say anything. It was

07:56 three in the morning, and the Rebbe said he returned the next morning. So the Rebbe got up, put on his coat, and she continued speaking. The Rebbe went out of the room, and she was continuing speaking. The Rebbe gave her a bracha, and he went home. A few minutes later, the phone rings in the maskiros. Rabbi Klein relates that he picked up the phone, and he heard the Rebbe's voice on the line. The Rebbe advised him that he should give money to two bacharim, money from the merkaz office, and they should escort her home, that she should not have to go home on her own. And from here we see the Rebbe's patience, that by the Rebbe every minute was very precious. Nevertheless, the patience was without limitations. There was once a Rosh Yeshiva from a Lithuanian yeshiva in Eretz Yisrael who came to do fundraising for his yeshiva, and the meshech of three months being in the United States, he was not matzliach. He had a choshever rov who was a Chosid Chabad who advised him to go into yechidas to the Rebbe before going back to Eretz Yisrael, and he agreed. In yechidas, the Rebbe asked him, "When are you going back?" He said, "Tomorrow." The Rebbe says, "Why don't you go back from New York to Eretz Yisrael through Toronto?" When he went out, he told his chaver what the Rebbe told him, but he said he felt he doesn't want to bother himself to travel an unusual way, and also he

09:39 doesn't have money to pay for that. So the chaver told him, "Since the Rebbe advised you to do it, you're obligated to do it." And the chaver offered, "I will pay for this flight." While he's sitting in the plane, he's sitting there a young Yid, and he tells the Yid his whole dilemma. The young person says, "I cannot help you with money, but I- I'm working in a security company, and I can set up a meeting with a Yiddishe balabos." And he continued, "I cannot promise that this person will give money. I never heard that he should give money, but maybe he will give." When they landed in Toronto, he met this balabos, and he told him about the yeshiva situation. The balabos asked him, "How much do you need?" He said, "I need twenty-two thousand dollars." Immediately, the yunge man, this balabos, took out a check and wrote a sum of twenty-two thousand dollars. And the Yid explained why is he giving to the Rosh Yeshiva all this money. He says, "In the, the last three nights, I dreamed that my father told me to do a mitzvah for his neshamah, for the sake of his neshamah. I should give tzedakah. Originally, I thought it was only a dream. I didn't pay attention to it. But when you came today and you asked for tzedakah, and befrat in the number twenty-two, which today marks the twenty-second yortzer of my father, I saw there is something salvar here, and therefore I decided to give you

11:29 the whole total." The hemshech to an earlier installment in the series of Gimel Tammuz, the negiah to the Rebbe's focus on each individual as each one is a world for themselves. We continue now with additional short stories which were related by Rabbi Klein, the Rebbe's maskir, in regarding to the undivided and exclusive attention and focus on each individual separately. There was a woman that came by dollars as the Rebbe would distribute dollars on Sundays from Yud Aleph Nisan Tov Shim Mem Vav, that is nineteen eighty-six, through the twenty-sixth of the first Adar Tov Shim Nun Beis, nineteen ninety-two. This lady came by dollars and she asked a bracha for children. The Rebbe answered her bekariv, soon. She insisted and asked, "When is bekariv?" The Rebbe immediately answered her, "It needs to take nine months." And after nine months, she gave birth to a boy. Rabbi Klein continues with an additional story. He had a friend who learned with him together in their childhood in the Yeshiva Eitz Chaim in Yerushalayim, and his daughter didn't give birth already for eleven months from the chasana. And he requested from Rabbi Klein that Rabbi Klein should set up for him a yechidas, a private audience with the Rebbe. Rabbi Klein relates that I gave over to this friend that the Rebbe does not accept people anymore for yechidas. This was already in the nineteen eighties, but he can come for dollars and request a bracha. Having no other choice, he accepted his suggestion and he came on Sunday

13:40 and he asked a bracha for his daughter that she should have children. And the Rebbe asked, "Why only one child?" The Rebbe gave him three dollars. Nine months later, his daughter gave birth to a triplet, and after that gave birth to a twin. By dollar, by dollars, there were people that figured before they approached the Rebbe, what should they ask? Because if everyone would stop and think what they should ask from the Rebbe while they are in line, the line would never end. And there were many cases that the Rebbe would call the person back after the Rebbe gave him a dollar to give him an additional dollar and said, "This is for your father," or, "This is for your mother." There were people which the Rebbe did not know them. They never met the Rebbe. They were amazed how the Rebbe knew what this person had in his mind to ask, to ask also for his father or for his mother. There was a woman who came to the Rebbe asking for a shidduch for her daughter. The Rebbe asked, "What is this woman doing? What is the mother doing?" And she told the Rebbe that she has a grocery store and she works all week, including Shabbos. The Rebbe told her, "If you will close the store on Shabbos, I promise you your daughter will find a shidduch bekariv." But she was not able to agree. She did not consent to that. And she told the Rebbe that first the Rebbe should accomplish

15:42 that her daughter should find a shidduch, and then she'll close the store. And she started to argue with the Rebbe that her father went to many Rebbes from Poland, and not once did they make conditions in giving their blessings. She went on a yechidas, and she did not consent to fulfill this condition. B'peil, in that time period, this was in Newark, there were many proys, much unrest, and one of the stores which was put on fire was the store of this woman. And the melech, she wasn't able to work the whole week, including Shabbos. Within th- three weeks after that, her daughter became a kala with a talmid of the Yeshivas Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan. We conclude this installment with a powerful story which took place seemingly in the nineteen eighties. It was a Sunday, Yutes Oder Sheini, and a Yid from Boro Park was waiting right near the Rebbe's house that when the Rebbe comes out from his house going to seven-seventy, he will be able to speak with the Rebbe and discuss a certain serious matter that he had on his mind. When the Rebbe came out of the house, the Rebbe spoke with him ten minutes. The Rebbe gave him guidance and advice in detail. This person later came to seven-seventy, and seemingly a bocher realized that he was speaking with the Rebbe. This person was speaking with the Rebbe ten minutes. He felt he was taking the Rebbe's time, and he threatened that person. He to- he threatened him for taking the

17:48 Rebbe's time. That person, in a very earnest way, wrote to the Rebbe about the threat of this bocher, and he received the following response. The contents of the response goes as follows. Number one, what is this bocher doing at th- that time at the house when according to Seder HaYeshiva he's supposed to be with the minyan in seven-seventy? Number two, it is known the word of the Bashemte that a neshama comes down in this physical world for seventy, eighty years, and it is to do a favor a Yid. So how could this bocher get involved in this matter? How does he know that this is not a favor for what my neshama came down in this physical world implying to help this Yid? We will, im yirtze Hashem, continue in the next installment. Behemshech to the earlier installments regarding Gimmel Tammuz and the Rebbe's focus on every individual as every individual is a world to themselves. We continue now with installment number three, discussing additional stories which demonstrate this fact. It was in Taf Shin Lamed Heh, 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 Mitteler Rebbe, the second Rebbe of Chabad, and it was natural and definite by Och Sidim 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

19:54 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 farbrengen. This was a shock. And as much as there was the hope of Hasidim that the Rebbe would farbrengen, 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 Shone, 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 mother of this disappointed child, seeing all this happening, she wrote to the Rebbe, and the Rebbe asked from his chief secretary, Rabbi Chadakoff, to deal with this matter on a personal level and to make sure to bring an end to this harassment against the child. Rabbi Chadakoff'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 learned, "Are they waiting that I myself should come to deal with this problem?" As years moved on, on this very Shabbos, Tes Kislev Taf Shin Lamed Heh was the bar mitzvah date of this child in one of the shuls

22:05 in the neighborhood. People in shul sat down at the end of davening for the kiddush in honor of the chasan bar mitzvah, but they were planning to do it very quickly because they figured they will be-- there will be a farbrengen by, uh, by the Rebbe one thirty in the afternoon. So bemeheila they want to make it quick in order they should be able to make it for 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 einag, a tayneg, a pleasure for the bar mitzvah bocher. The next day, Sunday, in 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 Yood Kislev, the day of the geulah of the redemption of the Mitteler Rebbe. The Rebbe again did not farbrengen. It was later verified that the Rebbe explained to his secretary, Rabbi Chadakoff, 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 farbrengen in order that people should be able to celebrate and commemorate with this

24:00 child his bar mitzvah. A second story which was told by Harav Mordechai Burg, he is a dean in the Yeshivas Mevaseret, uh, Mevaseret Sion. And he tells the following: Rav Shalom Ber 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 mitzvot. Now, our story took place in the year Taf Shin Lamed Gimel, nineteen seventy-three. It was in honor of one of the Shabbosim coming up. Rav Shalom Ber 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 first time in their life an experience of Shabbos Yahudis, a Yiddishe Shabbos kiuchasa. And amongst the girls in the kvutza, there were two girls. One was called Po- Paula and one is called Sarah. 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 whole zais 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 shtreimel from Crown Heights. Shabbos, while the girls were standing outside of seven seventy, they realized suddenly that the Rebbe is coming out.

26:03 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, uh, 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 fact that a Rebbe, such a great Rebbe, who's surrounded by hundreds of Hasidim, realized their dilemma and gave them such a s-special kidof. 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 Teydel Mitzvahs in the fullest measure. HaRav Mordechai Burg 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 menayel, a dean in a yeshiva from a hundred and twenty students. And I'm sure

28:16 that all this is in the merit of the good Shabbos, the chazake good Shabbos that the Rebbe told the two girls. Mitztvoshem continue in the next installment. The hemsekht to the early installments in a year two gimal tammuz, and the Rebbe's focus on every individual as a world for themselves. We continue now with installment number four, discussing a yechidas of a bocher who studied here in seven seventy in the year taf shin lamed vav, nineteen seventy-six. He arrived here as a student of a group referred to as the kvutza, which they would come for a year and study here by the Rebbe. Today, this yid is referred to Rab Shoel Zubani. And he relates the following. One day, we received notice that we were permitted to enter to the Rebbe's room for yechidas, private audience. We can't describe the emotions, the excitement, how this impacted us to spend time with the Rebbe alone in his holy room, the chedre haKodesh. My yechidas with the Rebbe took about fifteen minutes. It seems to me that no one had such a long yechidas amongst my friends. The maskir, the secretary, Rab Leibel Groner, entered a few times to check what's happening, and on every occasion, the Rebbe motioned with the hand that he shouldn't disturb, and he left the room. It all began in the first moment. When I went into the yechidas, I began making the bracha Shehecheyanu loud and slowly and with my Yemenite ac-accent. I said Baruch Atah and concluded the full bracha, and

30:30 on the Rebbe's face, a broad smile appeared, and the Rebbe answered Amen loudly. This was the kabbalas panim. This was the greeting which melted my heart and gave me the feeling that I have reached a loving father. The Rebbe began the conversation, "Are you from the Tmilim HaTemanim, from those from Teman, from Yemen, from Lud, Kvarchabat?" While the smile was still on his face. And I responded, "Yes, Rebbe." At that point, I felt- Comfortable and like someone who is liberated, has nothing of any limitations or restrictions. I felt like a son standing for his father. The Rebbe took my note to, uh, and to be more accurate, notes, plural. There were eight pages written very tightly. And in these pages, I wrote out the story of my life from the time I became an orphan, which was around the time of my birth till this very day. I added and pointed out to many points, issues that bothered me. The Rebbe browsed through the pages, read it quickly, and immediately began to respond on on every question separately. I have no way of explaining how it was possible in a natural way to read so much material in such a short time. The Rebbe smiled very much during the chidus and the Rebbe mentioned to this , "Speak whatever you want." Amongst the that I mentioned in the letter was that I did not feel comfortable in a farbrengen amongst Hasidim because I don't like mashke. Mashke is liquor. And Hasidim by farbrengen, my friends

32:56 pressure me I should drink l'chaim. The Rebbe also related to this matter, and the Rebbe asked what you wrote about drinking, what is your favorite drink? I responded Coca-Cola, the taste of life. Uh, I don't know from where I had the strength to respond that, but this is how it happened. I had a very special feeling of a son who reached his father and it was also a feature of joy and feeling very comfortable. The Rebbe laughed and the Rebbe said, "No, you say l'chaim on Coca-Cola. And don't be angry, and don't pay attention to what others tell you. And whoever will tell you to say l'chaim on mashke, you will tell them in my name that I told you to say l'chaim on Coca-Cola." I felt a special concern and special love from the Rebbe to me, and I felt in the seventh heaven. And at that point, the Rebbe opened up his drawer and he took out dollars. I didn't see how many. And the Rebbe added, "You are a bachur yeshiva. You are a bachur who's studying in yeshiva, and you don't have money to buy Coca-Cola. Here is money that you will be able to buy Coca-Cola." I can't believe the the Rebbe expressed here. to my pain, to my agony, I didn't take it. I didn't wanna take money from the Rebbe. The Rebbe responded with a smile and motioned with his hand, in a, in a, in a expression of displeased, and he took the dollars and placed them

35:16 back in the drawer. When I ran out of the chidus, my chaverim surrounded me and they asked me, "What did you do so long in chidus?" I told them about the new hero that the Rebbe told me that I can say l'chaim on Coca-Cola. And I told them that the Rebbe even wanted a fund to buy, that I should be able to buy the Coca-Cola, but I turned it down. At that point, the bachurim got together, they did a fundraising, and they bought for me Coca-Cola. And not necessary even to point out that from that day and on, nobody ever bothered me to say l'chaim on something sharp, but it was Coca-Cola on which I said l'chaim.