Tekia Child

On Rosh Hashono of the year of 5734, while most of the tekios went as usual, when it came to the final tekiah, it appeared ‘not to go’. The Rebbe was repeatedly ‘trying’ to blow this final tekiah through various efforts – turning over the shofar and blowing from the opposite side, wiping it off, shaking it out etc. But all of this appeared to be to no avail. The shofar did not produce any sound.

During the emotional wait for the last tekiah that year, there was one chosid in the crowd who was experiencing turmoil in his own life. Having been married already for a few years, he had not yet been blessed with a child. Moved by the troublesome tekiah and by the unseen adversaries that the Rebbe was clearly facing, this chosid burst into tears, and began to cry about his own personal troubles as well. Then and there, he resolved that if he would be blessed with a child, he would take pains to ensure that the child was never exposed to any secular publications (apparently in the home of this particular chosid, the presence of secular reading material was commonplace). He further resolved to cancel any subscriptions he had to magazines etc. that fall under that category.

Immediately following the hachloto of this chosid was when the final tekiah was finally successfully blown! The yungerman took this as such a clear indication that his emotional teffilah was indeed answered, that immediately after Rosh Hashonoh he went about carrying out his side of the deal; - cancelling his subscriptions and removing “foreign presences” from his home. Sure enough, within the year he was the ecstatic father of a newborn son!

The chosid never informed the Rebbe of his hachloto during those tense moments on Rosh Hashono. The first time he brought his son the Rebbe for kos shel brocho, the baby was about a year old. Presumably it was a shock to him when, after pouring the wine, the Rebbe suddenly turned to him and asked: “Ah, dos iz di tekiah yingeleh?” [this is the tekiah child]!

Tone of voice

R’ Meir Schapiro, founder of the illustrious Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin, travelled far and wide to raise the vast funds that were needed to maintain his Yeshiva. During the course of his travels, he had many interesting encounters, amongst which was the following: Once, when R’ Meir Schapiro approached a wealthy man for a donation, he was met with a challenge: “It says in the mishna ‘this is the way to study Torah, you should eat bread with salt, drink water, and sleep on the ground and toil in Torah.’ How, then, can you expect people to give you money to provide your students with luxurious sleeping accommodations and abundant food?!”

With a twinkle in his eye, R’ Meir responded with a story (though not historically accurate):

Once, the Alter Rebbe, in an effort to try to extinguish the flames of controversy between Chassidim and misnagdim, decided to personally visit the Gra (the Vilna Gaon) in an attempt to placate him. It was not long after Pesach, when the Alter Rebbe arrived at the doorstep of the Gra, seeking conciliation. The Gra, however, was incensed.

“Just today”, he thundered while banging his fist on the table for emphasis, “I was informed that the local Chassidim had the audacity to recite the Halel in their minyan on the first night of Pesach. How dare they?! Don’t they know that Rema states unequivocally that this is NOT our custom?! Such insolence is unforgiveable!!”

The Alter Rebbe responded with a gentle voice and a smile, “And were you present when the Rema made this statement? Why do you assume that the Rema proclaimed it in a thunderous voice, while banging his fist on the table?! Perhaps, rather, he said it in a respectful, apologetic and admiring way: ‘Regretfully, we, Ashkenazim, unfortunately never had that beautiful practice of reciting the Halel in shul on the night of Pesach”.

“I say the same to you”, R’ Meir concluded to his challenger, “why do you read the mishna as a demand and directive? Perhaps, rather, it is said in a regretful tone ofvoice: ‘How sad and unfortunate it is that this is the way of Torah, that the Torah students are neglected and deprived to such a degree, that they end up eating bread and sleeping on the floor etc., and yet they continue to diligently toil in Torah!”

R’ Eizik Homler

R’ Eizik Homler was one of the prominent Chassidim of the early generations of chassidus. Although a yungerman in the times of the Alter Rebbe, he was already a chosid of note then and recognized by the Alter Rebbe (who once invited him in to a maamar that was being said exclusively before the elder Chassidim, remarking “a yungerman ken veren an alter man”). He was later a distinguished chosid of the Mitteler Rebbe and the Tzemach Tzedek.

Once the Tzemach Tzedek sent R’ Eizik on a mission to R’ Yisrael of Ryzhin (there was a very close relationship of great love and affecrion between the Tzemach Tzedek and the Ryzhiner, and the Tzemach Tzedek would refer to R’ Yisrael as the ‘heilige Ruzhiner”). On Friday, R’ Eizek was conversing with the Ryzhuner, who was smoking a pipe.

The holy Ryzhiner had the custom that from chatzos on Friday he would accept the holiness on Shabbos upon himself, and refrain from any work. Thus, as the hour of midday arrived, the Ryzhiner removed the pipe and pushed it aside. At the same time, his face changed it’s appearance to such a degree that, as R’ Eizik later testified, had he not known who it was he would not have recognized him.

R’ Eizik later related: “As I witnessed this, I felt intense shame, such a shame as I had not felt in my entire lifetime. For I clearly saw how this Tzaddik is ascending to higher realms, while I am remaining down below”.

The "Tzoro" of Moshiach

A Rov was once travelling, and stayed overnight in an inn. The innkeeper was a simple fellow, but he recognized that his guest was a distinguished Rabbi, and tried to accord him every consideration.

In the middle of the night (as was the custom), the Rov awakened to recite Tikkun Chatzos. He sat on the floor, and read chapters from tehillim, expressing his mourning over the churban. In the next room, the innkeeper was somehow awakened, and was distressed to hear sounds of weeping from the room of his illustrious guest. Worriedly, the innkeeper hastened to the room of the Rov to ask about the cause of his sorrow.

“What is troubling you, Rabbi”, he asked, “is your bed not comfortable, is your room too hot or cold, did you perhaps find fault with the meals we served you?”

The Rov set his mind at ease that the service was, in fact, beyond reproach, and was not the cause of his crying. Rather, what the innkeeper overheard was his davening and beseeching Hashem to bring us Moshiach.

“Moshiach”, asked the simple innkeeper, “who is that?”

“Did you never hear about Moshiach?”, asked the Rov. He explained his simple host how all Yidden were eagerly awaiting the coming of Moshiach, who would take us all to Eretz Yisroel. The innkeeper digested this novel idea, and ran to share it with his wife. “What!” exclaimed the good woman, “to go to Eretz Yisroel? Please tell the Rabbi that this is impossible at this time. Why, we have our inn here, and our house and our barn with all of our animals, how can we just pick up and go to EY?!”

The innkeeper ran back to his guest and conveyed his wife’s reservations. The Rov tried to speak to the simpleton in his own language. “True”, he conceded to him, “you are settled here with all of your possessions. But you have no peace here. Every few years, the goyim make a pogrom, and steal and destroy everything, and you need to begin anew. Once we all go to Eretz Yisroel, we’ll be free of the goyim!”

The idea made sense to the innkeeper, but, not one to make decisions on his own, he asked leave of the Rov to consult with his wife. Moments later he returned. “Rebbe”, he asked humbly, “my wife asks to kindly make a request of Moshiach; - let us stay here where we’re settled, and let Moshiach take the goyim to Eretz Yisroel!”

In the early years of the Rebbe’s nesius there was a prominent member of Agudas Chabad of Eretz Yisroel who was in yechidus. This person struggled with many of the Rebbe’s directives (especially in the area of hafotza), that seemed to him to be so different from the style that he was accustomed to with the Frierdige Rebbe etc.

During the course of the yechidus, the Rebbe said to him: “Ir farshteit nisht? Ich farshtei oich nisht, ober azoi azoi iz der inyan!” (You don’t understand? I don’t either understand, but this is the way it has to be!)

A yid and teva

The mayor of Bnei Brak, a Gerer chosid, was once by the Rebbe for dollars. During the course of the conversation, he remarked to the Rebbe “men pruft ton vifil es iz meglech” [‘we try to do as much as we’re able’]. The Rebbe looked at him in amazement, and exclaimed (approx.): “meglech?! dos iz al pi teva,vos far a shaychus hot a Yid mit teva?!” [‘as much is possible, naturally, what kind of a connection does a Jew have with nature?!’]

Eizik Homiler

The Alter Rebbe once remarked to R’ Eizik that he shouldn’t become a Rebbe. Years later, the Chassidim once chose R’ Eizik to become their Rebbe. They sent the wagon to bring him, and R’ Eizik acquiesced, and began climbing into the wagon. As he stood, with one foot on the step, he recalled the Alter Rebbe’s words to him, and he immediately turned back. This was an act of tremendous self-sacrifice on his behalf, because, the moment that he lifted his foot onto the step of the wagon, he experienced all the wellsprings of knowledge opening before him and filling his mind, and when he turned back they ceased, yet he unconditionally obeyed the directives of his Rebbe.