14 cents

R’ Mendel Vechter was a very prominent Satmar chosid, and was the son of R’ Lipe Vechter, who was a respected Satmar Rov and one of the leading Rabbonim in Toronto. It came about that R’ Yoel Kahan began learning chassidus with him, and R’ Mendel was very influenced by what he learned. Initially the agreement was that R’ Yoel would only quote from the Alter Rebbe (and not from the Rebbe), and R’ Yoel would have to “smuggle” in explanations from the Rebbe “in disguise”. Gradually, R’ Yoel revealed to him the source of these interpretations, and R’ Mendel Vechter started developing a connection with the Rebbe.

At one point, he started attending the Rebbes farbrengens. At that time he was still living in Williamsburg, and was a very influential educator in Satmar, and for him to get “caught” in Lubavitch would be very dangerous, to put it mildly (almost like a bochur being caught in . . .). There was a room upstairs in 770, that was the operations center for WLCC, from where the farbrengens were broadcast around the world. There was a small hole in the wall of that room, from where one could look down at the farbrengen.

It was arranged that Rabbi Vechter would sit in that room and observe the farbrengen from up there as a roieh ve’eino nireh (sounds like the tricks bochurim come up with to avoid being observed when they go to . . .)

One day, when there was a farbrengen scheduled for that evening, R’ Mendel Vechter was visiting with a Dayan in Satmar. Before he left, the Dayan asked him to wait, saying that he, the Dayan, owed R’ Mendel 14 cents (as change for something), and he wanted to repay it. R’ Mendel looked surprised, indicating that 14 cents was insignificant, and didn’t warrant any attention.

But the Dayan disagreed, saying: “Vos meinst du, mi fertzen cent ken men mekadesh zain fertzen nooshim” [What do you mean, with these 14 cents one can be mekadesh 14 women].

That night, at the farbrengen, in the middle of one of the sichos, the Rebbe remarked: “A person may find 14 cents, and think that they are of no importance. But he is wrong. With those 14 cents one can give 14 times tzedakah, and that is 14 connections with Atzmus Ein Sof Boruch Hu”!!