Searching in the right place

In the wise city of Chelm, Chaim was once searching desperately under a street lamp. His friend Moshe passed by, and asked him what he was seeking. “I lost my expensive gold watch”, Chaim explained, “and I must find it”.

Well, Moshe was good-natured, and immediately joined his friend in his quest. But, an hour passed, with no progress being made. Finally, Moshe questioned Chaim: “Are you sure that this is where you lost it?”

“Not at all”, Chaim clarified, “as a matter of fact, I know with certainty that it was lost 2 blocks away. Not being familiar with the logic of Chelm, Moshe was incredulous. “If you didn’t lose it here, then why are you searching here?”

“Simple”, said Chaim, surprised at his friend’s denseness, “the street where I lost it is dark, while here there’s a light!”

A dollar from the Rebbe

A man, who was not yet a religious Jew, once went by the Rebbe during the distribution of dollars. This individual had never yet been circumcised, and while he was there, the Rebbe promised him that if he would have a bris done to himself, the Rebbe would give him an additional dollar.

This man – we’ll call him Jacob – was impressed by his encounter with the Rebbe, but was, nevertheless, not inclined to accede to this particular request of the Rebbe. Thus, the years went by, and Jacob remained, very unfortunately, an oreil.

However, with the passage of time, Jacob had a son who became enamored with Yiddishkeit, and the son took the plunge to become a full fledged baal Teshuva. Recently, this son got married, and Jacob, the proud father was ecstatic, and not a little bit emotional, during the chasunah. During one of thesheva brochos, Jacob got up, and, in a very moving address, he recounted the experience he had with the Rebbe years before. He concluded by announcing that – as a gift to his dear son, the chosson – he would finally take the step of having himself circumcised. Needless to say, all the listeners were duly impressed, and encouraged him warmly.

A day or 2 later, a stranger walked over to Jacob. ‘I want you to know’, he began, ‘that I was one of the waiters at your son’s wedding, and it was a very uplifting experience for me. I was specifically touched by the way the wedding clearly affected you. As a token, I want to give you, as a gift from me to you, this dollar that I once received from the Lubavitcher Rebbe’. Saying so, the man presented Jacob with a dollar! [This waiter had not been at the sheva brochos, and was completely unaware of the remainder of the story].

מלאים מצוות כרימון

A Satmar chosid didn’t have children for a number of years, and had received many brochos from his Rebbe, to no avail. Finally, during one yechidus, he gathered courage, and declared that he will not leave the room until the (Satmar) Rebbe promises him a child. The Rebbe was incredulous. “Ahavtocho?! That is not in my power, you know well that this is one of the three keys that Hashem did not give to any human. All I could do is to continue to give you my heartfelt brocho”.

But the chosid would not relent, insisting that he would settle for nothing less than a guarantee. Finally, the Satmar Rov said to him in exasperation: “Di vist a havtucho? Gei tzi yenem!”

The chosid left the room confused, and asked the gabay who “yenem” refers to. The gabay immediately explained that when the Rov says “yenem”, then he is referring to the new, young, Lubavitcher Rebbe, who resides in Crown Heights.

Thus it happened that our determined friend found himself, late one night, in the unlikely position of entering the room of the Rebbe for a yechidus. He complained to the Rebbe about his childlessness, and the Rebbe gave him a warm brocho. The chosid, however, rejected it, and reiterated his demand for a promise (with a money-back guarantee). When the Rebbe looked at him in amazement (over his unusual demand), the chosid quickly explained that he was sent here by the Satmar Rov. The Rebbe became very serious, and acceded to his request.

The Rebbe then turned to the chosid, and said: “I understand that your Rebbe recently had a yohrtzeit, and he surely made a tisch for the occasion, perhaps you can repeat some of the words of Torah that he said there?”

The chosid thought back, and recalled a vignette: ‘The gemoroh states that even “poshei Yisroel”, - sinners – are מלאים מצוות כרימון, and the Rov questioned this, saying, if they are “poshei Yisroel”, as the gemoroh itself attests, how, then, can we say that they are filled with mitzvos?’

The Rebbe’s countenance became somber again, and he remarked: ‘I, too, have difficulty with this gemoroh: If they are, after all, מלאים מצוות כרימון, a fact that Toras Emes attests to, how, then, can they be referred to as “poshei Yisroel”?!”

Extreme Hiddurim

R’ Hillel Paritcher was a fanatical mehader bemitzvos, to an extreme (for example, he didn’t sit on a chair because of a concern for shaatnez etc.). He once remarked, that the driving force between all of his extreme hiddurim is his desire to understand a vort chassidus.

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!

It wasn’t a dream, it was reality

This story took place with a woman in Australia, it is written in first person, in the words of the woman with whom it happened:

“I hadn’t been feeling well for some time, and when I finally underwent comprehensive tests, I was presented with the worst possible news: The doctor informed me that I was suffering from a rare, but very serious, blood disease, one that is in fact much worse even than leukemia r”l. His prognosis was that I had at best a few days left to live. I lay in the hospital, miserable and depressed, and prepared for the end. My only brother, with whom I was very close, hadn’t visited me, feeling himself unable to face either me or my situation.

One night, I had a dream. In my dream, I saw myself standing at the beginning of a long dark tunnel (this is in fact a very common form of near-death experience). At the other end of the tunnel, I saw my grandmother (who had already departed from this world), and she was beckoning to me. I felt as if there was a powerful force drawing me towards her. Although I understood the significance of joining her, I was myself also agreeable to do so, eager to leave my misery and suffering behind.

Suddenly, I saw a man with a grey-white beard, standing behind me on my side of the tunnel (I subsequently identified him as the Rebbe). “Don’t go”, he called to me with great urgency, “hold on tight!”

I began to hold on tight (although it is not clear to what I was holding on), and then I awoke. I was visibly excited about what I had seen, to such a degree that, a nurse who came in to my room just then, questioned me about the cause of my excitement. I was, however, too uncomfortable to share my experience with her, and remained silent. Yet, shortly afterwards, when my mother entered the room to visit me, I shared the whole story with her.

My mother listened, without interruption, then said to me: “Wait, I’m going to call in your brother”. My brother was in the waiting room, having forced himself to come to take advantage of, what he believed to be, his last opportunity to see me alive. As soon as my mother returned to the room with my brother, she instructed my brother: “Tell her what you dreamt last night”.

My brother immediately began to relate: “Last night, I dreamt that I saw you at the beginning of a long dark tunnel. Suddenly, I saw grandmother at the opposite end, beckoning to you. I was filled with fear, when suddenly I saw the Lubavitcher Rebbe standing behind you, telling you to stay put and hold on tight. Then I awoke”.

We marveled at the fact that we had the identical dream, and I was filled with new hope and optimism.

Needless to say, I recovered. A few month later, when the worst was already behind me, I decided that I should pay a visit to the Rebbe, and express my appreciation. Accompanied by Rebbetzin Groner (wife of Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Groner), we took the trip from Australia to New York, and came to the Rebbe (while he was distributing dollars?).

When I was in front of the Rebbe, someone said ‘This is the lady who had the dream”. The Rebbe immediately responded “It wasn’t a dream, it was reality!”

Ver zainen zei

There was a Lubavitcher yungerman, we’ll call him Yossel, who had a neighbor and acquaintance who was of Hungarian descent, who – since the war – had become lax in his practice of Yiddishkeit. This neighbor was planning a simcha in his family – his daughter was soon to be wed – and he approached Yossel to ask if he could arrange for him a yechidus by the Rebbe. Yossel was surprised, not knowing his neighbor to be of the Rebbe-frequenting type; nonetheless, he was, of course, happy to oblige, and scheduled a yechidus for a few weeks hence.

A few weeks later, Yossel suddenly received a very curious phone call from the mazkirus of the Rebbe: “The gentleman for whom you arranged a yechidus did not complete his yechidus, he left, abruptly, in the middle. We are also calling to inform you that there is a check for this individual that he can pick up from our office”.

Yossel was, understandably, intrigued, and immediately set out to locate his acquaintance, in an effort to get to this bottom of this bizarre story. When he found him, and went into the room to speak to him, the fellow took one look at Yossel and burst into tears. “Your Rebbe”, he exclaimed passionately, “is like no other!”, and he proceeded to share the following remarkable experience.

“A you know, I am the proud father of 3, the oldest of whom is destined to get married in the near future. What you are, surely, unaware of, is the fact that recently my business suffered several significant setbacks, leaving me in debt, and overwhelmed by the financial burden of the upcoming wedding.

“Knowing from my pre-war experiences about the Chassidic way of dealing with difficulty, I decided that I would have no recourse but to approach all of the Rebbes, and beg for their assistance. I wrote a kvittel, describing the difficulty in which I find myself, and, armed with it, I proceeded to the doors of all of the prominent Jewish leaders in the country. However, in order to increase the impact of my story, I altered the facts slightly. Believing that being the father of a larger family would elicit more sympathy, I described myself as a father of 10 rather than three, and, in my kvittel, I added 7 bogus names to the 3 genuine ones of my existing children.

“Armed with this kvittel I made the rounds of all of the Rebbes (and here he proceeded to list for Yossel the names of all of the Rebbes then in America), and all of them expressed their sympathy and made some contribution.

“When I came to your Rebbe, however, I was in for the shock of my life. As I was sitting in the room, and he was reading my kvittel, as soon as he finished reading the first 3 names, he pointed to the remaining seven, and, turning to me, asked ‘ver zennen zei’ [and who are they]?!!’

I was so overcome with an intense feeling of shame at having been exposed, that I could not contain myself, and ran from the room!”