Receiving Responses

In the early years of the nesius of the Rebbe, one of the elder Chassidim of Eretz Yisroel once asked the Rashag what he thinks about the Rebbe. He responded with the following:

‘Often, my brother in law is asked a question, and he says he needs to ask the shver. When he returns from the ohel, he then communicates an answer, saying that it’s from the shver.

Now, whatever you may say about my brother in law, one thing is clear to me, and that is that he is not a liar. If he says that he received a response from the shver, then without a doubt that is exactly what took place. I know for myself that I am incapable of receiving responses from the shver these days. If he is able to do so, then that is enough for me to be his chosid’

A Misnagdisher Hergesh

During the nesius of the Frierdige Rebbe, there was a chosid who had an illness in his kidneys, and the doctors recommended surgery to have his kidney removed. They asked the Frierdige Rebbe, who responded that they should not go ahead with the operation.

There was a non-Lubavitcher Rov who was involved at the time, and he strongly objected to their following the advice of the Rebbe. “He is not present” that Rov protested, “he did not see the ill person, and cannot have a proper understanding of the severity of the disease. This is a very serious situation, and it is plain wrong to follow the opinion of someone who is offering it from afar”.

Needless to say, the chosid heeded the advice of the Frierdige Rebbe, to the consternation of the Rov.

22 years later, the above-mentioned Rov met the chosid who had been unwell. “So”, asked the Rov, “did you ever remove your kidney in the end?”

The chosid responded that 2 years ago he finally had the operation.

“You see”, retorted the Rov, “I was right”!

The Rebbe listened to the story, and remarked: “That is a misnagdisher hergesh”!

Gifting the Rebbe

R’ Avremel Zaltzman was a yungerman about 5 years after his chasunah, and, sadly, there were no children. They had been to physicians, but to no avail. One top doctor examined them and stated unequivocally “When hair grows on my palm, then you may have children”.

It was Ellul (before Tishrei of 5686 or 5687), and Avremel was filled with a great Chassidic longing to travel to Leningrad, and to spend Tishrei with the Rebbe. He approached his young wife and shared his thoughts with her, and she was fully supportive, encouraging him to indeed follow his heart, and spend the Yomim Tovim with the Rebbe.

But Avremel still looked downcast. ‘How can I go to the Rebbe empty-handed’ he asked her, ‘I must bring something to the Rebbe’,

But, while she emphasized with him, she did not see any practical solution, living as they did in abject poverty. “You can take anything from our house and pawn it to have something to bring the Rebbe. I don’t mind. But you know as well as I that our house is completely bare”.

But as she was talking to him, she noticed that he was eyeing her gold wedding band. She easily divined his thoughts, and happily removed her ring and handed it to him, telling him to get what he could for it, and bring it to the Rebbe.

Avremel was, needless to say, very embarrassed and uncomfortable about taking back his wife’s wedding ring (and becoming an “Indian giver”), but, seeing no other alternative, he accepted it. The ring was worth about 30-40 rubles, but R’ Avrohom, not being a man of business and therefore not knowing exactly how to go about getting the best price for it, decided to take it with him to Leningrad and sell it to one of the Chassidim there who deal in jewelry.

Sure enough, he made the trip, and when he arrived, he approached a fellow chosid and offered to sell him the ring. The chosid inquired as to where he had acquired it, and Avremel, put him off with meaningless platitudes.

But Chassidim, after all, are wise, and the chosid immediately ‘put two and two together’ and realized that this yungerman must be selling his wife’s wedding band in order to have something to bring to the Rebbe. The chosid, therefore, called together a few of his colleagues that evening and shared the story with them. He then places the ring on the table, and told them:

‘We will now auction off this ring. However, this will not be a standard auction; - instead, although the ring will go to the highest bidder, no-one else will get back their money. Everyone will place the amount of their bid – in cash – onto the table, and the entire accumulated sum will be handed over to the yungerman to give to the Rebbe’ (Chinese auction?)

They all complied, and when they were done, they had one thousand ruble to present to Avremel Zaltzman. The chosid who had organized the auction approached Avrohom the next day, and handed him the envelope, saying ‘the ring was sold, here is the money’. Avremel looked into the envelope, and almost fainted! A thousand ruble! ‘This is much too much’, he protested, ‘the ring was not worth more than 30 or 40 ruble’.

‘What concern is that of yours’, the chosid reprimanded him, ‘the ring was sold, now take your money’. But Avrohom was adamant; he refused to accept the money. Finally the chosid looked him in the eye, and said: “Listen, I know exactly what you did. Either you take the envelope and bring the money yourself to the Rebbe, or I will inform the entire city that you sold your wife’s wedding ring to have money to bring the Rebbe!’

The threat was effective, and Avremel took the envelope. When he entered the Rebbe’s room for yechidus, he handed over the money to the Rebbe, and then he burst into tears, and asked for a brocho for children. The Rebbe looked at him, and said “you will have children”. The Rebbe then repeated the statement, verbatim, a second time. And then a third time.

The Zaltzman’s ultimately bore 3 children, from whom are descended numerous Chassidim and shluchim today.

[After the third child, Mrs. Zaltzman wanted more children, and visited the same original physician to try to get help. The doctor looked at her and exclaimed ‘What are you doing here, I already told you that it’s impossible for you to have children?’ So she explained to him that since then she had indeed borne children, and she was visiting him because she wanted more.

The doctor was stunned to hear that, and he re-examined her. When he completed the examination he exclaimed: ‘Go to whoever gave you the last children and ask for more children, as far as I’m concerned it’s impossible for you to have children’].

Chain Reaction - the importance of learning

The Frierdige Rebbe once repeated a story that was told to him by R’ Chaim Brisker, about his father, the Beis Halevi: The Beis Halevi had a shiur every day with 2 great talmidei chachomim (one of them was known as R’ Eizik klotz, because he spent so many continuous hours each day sitting on a klotz – a block of wood – and studying relentlessly, that he left an image on the klotz).

One day a group of askonim came to meet with the Beis Halevi about a very urgent matter, affecting the entire community. The Bais Halevi, however, who was in the middle of his shiur at the time, first completed the shiur, which took some time, and only then attended to the communal matters.

One of the askonim was upset at this practice, and questioned the Beis Halevi, saying that the shiur could wait, while the matter about which they had come was of utmost importance. The Bais Halevi, however, disagreed, and attached more importance to the learning of these two great scholars, explaining that if Eizik would shorten the time of his learning by even one hour, that would set in motion a chain reaction, that would ultimately result in the Jew in Paris committing shmad r”l.

Balebos

In Rostov, the Rebbe Rashab lived upstairs and the Friedige Rebbe lived on the ground floor. From time to time, the Rebbe Rashab would make kiddush and farbreng by the Frierdige Rebbe. At one of these farbernegens, the Rebbe Rashab wished a l’chayim to the baal habayis.

The Frierdige Rebbe turned to his father, and tearfully implored him: ‘Father, please remove this title from me. A balebos is a dovor mezuham, - a disgusting creature, and I wouldn’t want to be adorned with this label’!

Seeing the Rebbe

The Frierdige Rebbe often suffered from ailing health, and did not spend time visibly with the Chassidim. Thus, many months could pass, with the average chosid not having any opportunity to see the Rebbe. The exceptions were prominent Chassidim or illustrious guests, who would be invited to join the Rebbe for meals on occasions.

Once, R’ Bentzion Shemtov and R’ Avrohom Paris were returning from a meal that they had spent with the Rebbe. They were going downstairs to join the rest of the Chassidim, who were sitting in shul, saying Tehillim for the health of their beloved Rebbe. Presently, R’ Avrohom Paris turned to R’ Bentzy Shemtov, saying: “Ay, Bentche, if only we could see the Rebbe the way all of the other Chassidim see the Rebbe!”

“Avrohom, what are you saying”, Rabbi Shemtov asked him puzzled, “we are the ones who just had the great zechus to see the Rebbe and spend time with him, it is the other Chassidim who are missing out?!”

“No, R’ Bentzion, you don’t understand”, he explained, “we sat at the Rebbe’s table, witnessed him eating and drinking, in what appeared to be a physical manner – the same as us - and we can easily be led to viewing the Rebbe with the limitations of our human perspective. In contrast, the Chassidim sitting downstairs are viewing the Rebbe with the untainted view of their mind’s eye, and they are seeing him as a Rebbe; - a holier loftier more spiritual person. I was wishing that despite the fact that we watched the Rebbe in a physical sense, we should nonetheless view him in the pure sense, as we should see our Rebbe!

Looking out the window

The Rebbe once related, in the name of the Frierdige Rebbe, that the Frierdige Rebbe said about himself that when he was very young he had a ‘weakness’; during cheder he felt drawn to the window to look at what was going on outside. [When the Rebbe repeated the story he added: ‘And what was there already to see outside of the window of the cheder in Lubavitch . . .]

Until, once the Rashbatz (his melamed) remarked to him: “It is better to be standing outside and looking inside, than to be standing inside and looking outside! The FR concluded that thereafter he was ‘cured’ of this ‘weakness’.

A shul is a shul

Once, a Lubavitcher chasid, Rabbi Michoel Vishetzky, went to visit a Rabbi Rabinowitz in the rabbi's synagogue in the Bronx, New York. Rabbi Vishetzky was surprised when he noticed that Rabbi Rabinowitz sat at a corner of the table rather than the head of the table. "No one sits in that place," the elderly rabbi told Reb Michoel. When the rabbi noticed Reb Michoel's surprise, he began to tell him the following story.

"When I came to America, I was privileged to meet with the Previous Rebbe. I told him everything that had happened to me in Europe and asked him what I should do with my life. The Previous Rebbe said, 'Since you are a Torah scholar, you should look for a position as a community rabbi.'

"Soon after that, I was recommended for a position in this shul, here in the Bronx. I asked the Previous Rebbe if I should take the job. The Previous Rebbe said, 'A shul is a shul, and so it's very suitable. But I don't like the shammas.'

"Why did the Rebbe mention the shammas? I wondered. The Previous Rebbe saw that I was confused and repeated, 'A shul is a shul, but I don't like the shammas.'

"Time passed. Everything seemed to be going smoothly until I found out that the shammas was not pleased with me. After the passing of the  shul's previous rabbi the shammas had assumed many responsibilities and had become the unofficial rabbi. He felt that I had pushed him aside and he began to cause trouble for me. Eventually the situation became  unbearable.

"When it became too much for me, I went to see the Rebbe, who had assumed the leadership after the passing of the Previous Rebbe on the tenth of Shevat, 1950. Before I even had a chance to open my mouth, the Rebbe said, 'My father-in-law said that a shul is a shul and he did not like the shammas. Continue to serve as rabbi in the Bronx. As for the antics of this shammas, he will soon need to worry about how long he will keep his job.'

"I was amazed by the Rebbe's words. When I had spoken with the Previous Rebbe, no one else had been in the room, and I had never discussed the matter with the present Rebbe.

"A few nights later I couldn't sleep. At daybreak I decided to go to shul a little earlier than usual. On my way, I was surprised to meet the president and manager also walking toward the shul. The manager pointed to a light in the windows of the shul. It looked suspicious. We quietly  opened the door and walked in. The shammas was holding the tzedaka boxes and emptying the money into his pockets. Needless to say, we fired him.

"The next few years passed peacefully. Then something even more incredible happened. The shul shared an adjoining wall with a butcher's shop. Business went very well for the butcher, and the shop soon became too small. He found a much larger shop, and sold the old shop to the shul as the congregation needed more space. After some friendly negotiations, a deal was struck. The whole transaction was conducted without a written contract.

"A few years later the butcher began to look for a storeroom. When he couldn't find one, he remembered that there was no official contract with the shul. Without any scruples, the butcher went to the shul management and asked them to give him his shop back. He hired a lawyer and was positive that the court would decide in his favor as there had been no written contract of sale.

"After a short court case, the shul board received a court order telling them to vacate the premises by a certain date. If they disobeyed, the police would be called in. The date was drawing near. I went to the Rebbe for a blessing.

"When I described the situation, the Rebbe said, 'My father-in-law told you clearly that a shul is a shul. Everything will turn out the way it should.'

"The night before the critical date, I had a dream which I will never forget. In the dream I went to the shul and I saw the Previous Rebbe sitting in the chair at the head of the table - the very same chair which I never let anyone sit in. Standing next to him was the Rebbe. He said, 'Don't worry. G-d will let everything turn out for the best.' He then looked toward the Previous Rebbe. 'The Rebbe told you that a shul is a shul. What do you have to worry about?'

"I stood there in astonishment. The Previous Rebbe was right there, even though he had passed away ten years ago. I was still marveling at this extraordinary sight when I woke up. I ran to shul as fast as I could. A crowd had gathered outside the shul and people were arguing with the policemen who had blocked the entrance. They had started to remove he furniture. Then something very dramatic happened.

"On a nearby street, in the butcher's large shop, a light fixture fell suddenly from the ceiling. The butcher was knocked unconscious. When he regained consciousness, his first words were, 'Please, stop emptying he shul.' When the police arrived, the butcher admitted that he had made false accusations against the shul. He had, indeed, received payment for the old shop.

"Now you understand why I don't let anyone sit in that chair. The image of the Previous Rebbe sitting there will be in front of my eyes forever," Rabbi Rabinowitz said as he finished telling his story.

770 Passes college inspection

Immediately upon his arrival on the shores of America, the Frierdige Rebbe publicized his intention to establish a Yeshiva here. Subsequently, a few days after his arrival, he contacted a Jew, who we’ll call Mr. B. Mr. B was a modern Orthodox lawyer, and the Frierdige Rebbe said to him that he wants him to arrange to have a college incorporated.

 “What college do you have to incorporate?”, asked Mr. B in surprise.

“I’m planning to establish a Yeshiva in the next few days, and I want you to incorporate it legally as a Jewish college”.

Mr. B pictured the Yeshiva that he imagined the Lubavitcher Rebbe would establish, and found the request unrealistic. But the Rebbe was undaunted. “Yeshiva University was incorporated, and my Yeshiva will be incorporated as well”, he said.

The lawyer was incredulous: “There is quite a difference between YU and the future Lubavitcher Yeshiva”, he protested. But the Rebbe was adamant: “I didn’t call you to get your opinion, I am asking you to carry out my request”. “”But, what will you do when they make an inspection?” asked the lawyer. “Even if I am successful in filing the papers, they are bound to inspect us, and then everything will be for naught in any case?

The Rebbe repeated his position: “You don’t have to advise me, just do what I’m asking you to do, and let me worry about the rest.

Mr. B obeyed the Frierdige Rebbe, and filed the papers. Sure enough, not long thereafter, he received a communication from the government informing him that there would be an inspection in thirty days. Distraught, he ran to the Rebbe, complaining: “Didn’t I warn you that this is not something that we can play around with, that they were bound to check us out? We can’t possibly survive an inspection! What will they say?!?”

But the Rebbe remained unconcerned. “Didn’t I tell you not to worry?”, he admonished, “just be sure, when the inspector comes, you should bring him to meet me”,

On the designated day, the representative of the government arrived. Mr. B, who was a tall man himself, found him looking up into the stern uncompromising face of a WASP, who was gazing down at him disdainfully, arrogantly, contemptuously. Mr. B, who had been pessimistic to begin with, felt his spirits plummeting.

“So”, asked the inspector pointedly, “where’s this college?”

The lawyer took him into the zal of 770, and showed him the “Lubavitcher Yeshiva college”. The inspector glanced at the group of disheveled-looking bochurim, sitting in front of worn-out seforim, and was noticeably unimpressed.

“Mmhmm”, was his only remark.

“Where’s the lab?” he then asked. “The lab”, said Mr. B, “the lab, why we’re in the process of constructing a beautiful lab”.

“Mmhmm”.

The inspector began walking towards his car. “Where . . where are you going?” asked Mr B. “You just arrived, you need to finish the inspection!”

“I’ve seen enough”, he replied, “there’s no need for me to remain here any longer”.

Mr. B realized that this was his last chance to at least carry out the personal request of the Rebbe. “Wait”, he called after him, “before you go, I would like you to meet the Rabbi”. But the inspector saw no purpose in that.

Mr. B began to explain to him about the Frierdige Rebbe, what a great leader he was, and how much he had suffered in Russia as a result of his mesirus nefesh, until he finally came to America.

“If what you’re saying is true, then that’s all the more reason for me not to meet him and cause him even more anguish, because there’s just no way in the world that I can tell him what he wants to hear!”

But Mr. B persisted, emphasizing how the Rebbe had specifically requested this meeting. Finally, the inspector relented. Mr. B took him, upstairs in 770, to the Rebbe’s apartment, and knocked on the door. Presently, the gabay opened the door, and, while obstructing the opening with his body so that they could not enter, asked them what they wanted.

Mr. B began explaining – in English – who they were, and that the Rebbe had requested the meeting. Just then, they noticed the Frierdige Rebbe. He was sitting on a chair in the middle of the room. The Frierdige Rebbe began to bless the inspector with beautiful brochos, for long life etc., and concluded with an instruction to sign for the Yeshiva.

The lawyer translated the words of the Rebbe to the inspector. As soon as he had completed, the gabay (who continued preventing their entry, so that the 2 had remained standing outside the entire time) slammed the door shut. As the 2 started walking away, the inspector asked Mr. B where there was an office where they could sit down. They went to an office, and the inspector began removing forms from his briefcase, and completing them.

Mr. B watched in astonishment, not believing his eyes, not knowing if he was awake or dreaming. In short order, the inspector completed the necessary forms indicating that the Yeshiva had passed the inspection, handed them over to Mr. B, and began walking nonchalantly to his car.

Mr. B escorted him, but when they got to the car he could no longer contain his amazement, and asked the inspector: “Didn’t you express some reservations before (about us passing the inspection)?”

“Are you kidding?!” the inspector retorted.

Mr. B looked at him uncomprehending. “What do you mean ‘am I kidding’”?

“Are you kidding?” the inspector repeated, “the holy Rabbi told me to sign, and I won’t sign?!”

[One day, a Jew with a white beard came into the Yeshiva in Toronto, and sat down to learn gemoro. It was during the summer, when the Yeshiva wasn’t present, and Rabbi Chone Perman approached him. It turned out that he was a Rosh Yeshiva in a Mizrachi Yeshiva. In the course of their conversation, he revealed that his father had been the above Mr. B, who had served as the lawyer for Lubavitch for numerous years, and he shared the above story about the beginning of his relationship with the Frierdige Rebbe.

“My father repeated the story to me often”, the Rosh Yeshiva related to Rabbi Perman. “He always said: ‘If I would have heard the story from anyone else, I would have been convinced that it is fabricated, but what can I do, I witnessed it all personally!’”]

Mail from Atzilus

R’ Elchonon Dov (Choneh) Morozov served as loyal secretary to the Frierdige Rebbe. Amongst his many duties, was the very mundane responsibility (as that of – lehavdil – any secretary) to bring the Rebbe the mail every day. Now, the love and concern that the Frierdige Rebbe felt towards each and every Jew was boundless, and every bit of news that reached him affected him in a very personal and tangible way.

[A few days before the arrest of the FR in 5687, a chossid gave in a pan, in which he wrote that his wife gave birth to twins, and that, because it was a difficult delivery, both his wife and the newborns are very weak, and he’s therefore requesting a brocho for them.

When the FR was released from prison on gimmel tamuz, and was allowed a few hours to spend with his family before being exiled to Kastrama, he inquired after the welfare of the family of this chossid. Notwithstanding the unimaginable tortures that the Rebbe had just endured, and the decree that he was still facing, the welfare of each individual was always on his heart].

As a secretary, R’ Choni Morozov’s was responsible to give the Rebbe the mail, but as a chossid his uppermost concern was the Rebbe’s health and wellbeing. The FR’s physical health was precarious at that time to begin with, and the situation for Russian Jewry at the time was such that most of the news was unfortunately not positive. The FR took every bit of news so much to heart, that every bad tiding had an adverse effect on his health in a very tangible way (as his doctors pointed out on numerous occasions). Thus on a particular day, when the mail could not be presumed to contain much good tidings, and the FR asked R’ Choni for the mail he was in a quandary. He didn’t want to disobey to FR ch”v, yet neither did he want to be the cause of a deterioration ch”v of the Rebbe’s physical health.

Not knowing how to proceed, he tried to buy time. When the FR asked for the mail, he answered that it had not yet arrived. This repeated itself a few times, until such a time that it was obvious that the mail had already arrived. When the FR asked again for “the post”, R’ Choni pretended not to understand, and asked “veleche post, fun atzilus?” [Which mail (are you inquiring about, the one) from Atzilus?]

The FR looked at him and responded: “Oif dem darf men dir nisht hoben!” [- for the mail from Atzilus I don’t require your services!].

Abstaing from using a Samovar

In the summer of 5677 there was a gathering of Rabbonim in Moscow with regards to deciding on a response to the political situation in Russia at the time. The Rebbe Rashab was there, and met with other Gedolei Yisroel. R’ Refoel Nachman (“Folyeh”) Kahan (the father of R’ Yoel Kahan), together with another bochur, were in charge of seeing to the Rebbe’s needs. He recalled numerous incidents from that experience, following is an excerpt from his memoirs:

“On the first day of their arrival, a few people came to the house where the Rebbe Rashab was staying to greet him, and they were conversing together. I went into the room to see if the Rebbe needs anything, and he requested that I prepare a glass of tea. I heated up the samovar, and brought the Rebbe a glass of tea, but, to my surprise, the Rebbe continued his conversation with his guests, and the tea remained untouched.

When some time passed, I approached the Rebbe and said: “Perhaps I should prepare a new cup, because this one has cooled off”. The Rebbe, however, didn’t respond to my query, so, on my own, I poured out the first glass and prepared a second one and brought it to the Rebbe. Yet, inexplicably, the Rebbe again left the tea untouched.

The Rebbe’s son (the Frierdige Rebbe) was in a different room in the same house, and, presently, I encountered him, and he inquired whether his father (the Rashab) had eaten yet. I related the whole story, how the Rebbe had requested tea, but when I made it for him he twice didn’t drink from it.

“What did you use to prepare it?” the Frierdige Rebbe questioned me.

“The samovar”, I informed him.

“Please, be so kind”, the Frierdige Rebbe said to me, “and take from our suitcase the electric kettle, and use it to make the tea, and then certainly my father will partake of it.”

I took the electric kettle according to his instructions [I must admit that I was unfamiliar with it – it was uncommon at that time – and the Frierdige Rebbe had to show me how to use it. I prepared the (third) glass of tea, and as soon as I presented it the Rebbe Rashab, he immediately drank it. Amazingly, neither with the first 2 cups nor with the third one did the Rebbe Rashab inquire of me what I had used to prepare it, and yet the first two cups he ignored, and only the third one (which, in fact, I had used the electric kettle to prepare) did he drink from!

Subsequently, when I repeated the incident to the Frierdige Rebbe, he said to me as follows:

“You surely heard my father (the Rebbe Rashab) saying during simchas Torah:

‘It says in the possuk Bayom Hashmini Atzeres Tiyeh Lochem. Atzeres means hold back, or withhold yourself.

Many ask, after all of the inspiration etc. on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, when we take a look at ourselves during the rest of the year, we tend to find that we have remained the same. How can this be so? How can it be that the avoda of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur didn’t change us? The answer is “atzeres Tiyeh Lochem”, - one must withhold oneself, and (thus) one can cause the holiness of these days to penetrate and alter himself.

Specifically, this means that after every Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur one must accept upon himself an additional good practice, both in positive acts and in abstaining from bad (and then these days will indeed change him)’.

“My father”, concluded the Frierdige Rebbe, (does the same himself, and this is an example). In the past he would yes drink tea, even coming from a samovar, but now, of late, he has begun to refrain from it”.

[R’ Refoel Kahan then quotes the ensuing discussion of the present Chassidim, who attempted to then determine what actual halachik problem or chshash (even very minor) the Rebbe had found with a samovar].

Er hot mir mechaye geven

There was a chosid of the Frierdige Rebbe, by the name of (IIRC) Yisroel Gottesman (but, because his last name included the name of Hashem in Yiddish, which may not be pronounced, he was known in beis haRav as Yisroel Baal Shem). He was originally a Poylishe chosid, who became acquainted with the FR, and subsequently became extremely attached to him.

Once, the FR had a large crowd awaiting yechidus, and the FR wasn’t feeling well, to such an extent that they had to discontinue the Yechidus in the middle and send home the rest of the crowd. This R’ Yisroel, who was amongst those in line, approached the gabay, and began insisting that it’s extremely urgent and crucial that he must go into the Rebbe. The gabay, sensing the urgency in his tone of voice, and knowing the great kiruv that the FR would show him, relented, and allowed him in for a brief yechidus. R’ Yisroel entered, and spent his entire brief yechidus bentching the Rebbe, and wishing him all good things.

When he left, the FR commented “er hot mir mechayeh geven” (he revived me). In fact, the FR felt so much better that he was able to resume the yechidus!

Korach

One of the gedolei Yisroel who took part in the gatherings was the famed Chofetz Chayim, Rabbi Yisroel Meir HaKohen of Radin. The Chofetz Chayim enjoyed a very warm relationship with the Rebbe Rashab, that was openly displayed by both of them. When the Chofetz Chayim visited the Rebbe, The Rebbe grasped the hands of the Chofetz Chayim in both of his own with tremendous warmth. When the visit ended, the Rebbe Rashab escorted him until the stairs (something that he was not seen doing with other distinguished guests). The following incident emphasizes the depth of the reverence that the Chofetz Chayim had for the Rebbe Rashab:

During one of the meetings of the rabbonim, the Rebbe Rashab expressed his position on a certain matter. Some of the other Rabbonim present were not in agreement, and they expressed their opposition. When the Chofetz Chayim saw this, he exclaimed passionately: “All of the words of the Lubavitcher Rebbe are holy, and to argue with him is like arguing against Moshe Rabbenu!”

One of the Rabbonim present took offense, and retorted: “Is that so? Are you perhaps, then, likening me to Korach?”

The Chofetz Chayim, who had labored his whole life on shmiras halashon, was devastated at the thought that he had offended someone else by something that he had said. He immediately began apologizing to the other Rov, and doing all that he could to placate him.

When the Rebbe Rashab was returning from that meeting, he remarked to the Frierdige Rebbe (referring to the Chofetz Chayim) “Nu, er vet shoin hoben vos tzu ton haint bai nacht bai krias shma she’al hamita” [he has his work cut out for him for (the chashbon hanefesh of) krias shma tonight]. Both the Rebbe Rashab and the Frierdige Rebbe laughed heartily.

Davening with the shtender

The Alter Rebbe once approached the Mitteler Rebbe after davening and asked him: “With what did you daven today?” The Mitteler Rebbe responded “With the idea of “Vechol Komah lefonecho tishtachave” thatkoma refers to ‘komah of AK’ – machshava hakedumah de’AK”.

[Once when the Rebbe told over the story, he was telling about how the Frierdige Rebbe related this story to a mekurav. The Rebbe paused and explained: the mekurav would not have been able to comprehend the terms ‘komah of AK’ – machshava hakedumah de’AK”, and the FR therefore used simpler terms when relating it to him].

The Mitteler Rebbe then asked the Alter Rebbe: “And with what did you daven today?” To which the Alter Rebbe responded “With the shtender!”, meaning that he davened by contemplating on the fact that even the shtender is being constantly renewed and recreated by the dvar Hashem.