THE REBBE: OUR LEADER AND GUIDE

There is indeed an appointed season for everything, and a time for every matter under the heavens – even a haircut for a three year-old boy. This is what happened as an entire family surprisingly became connected to the Rebbe MH”M through a totally unexpected answer in Igros Kodesh. Beis Moshiach presents two recent “Igros Kodesh” stories.

Translated by Michoel Leib Dobry

Anyone with an open mind is elated to see that even in these dark days, the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, continues to provide guidance and direction to his Chassidim. It seems that hiding and concealment is intensifying and darkness is covering the world, yet as “one corresponds to the other,” our fellow Jews all over the world are privileged to experience a growing emergence of spiritual revelations. Thousands of people from all walks of life, Jews and non-Jews alike, write to the Rebbe every day via Igros Kodesh, and they see miracles and wonders with their own eyes as they receive detailed instructions and amazingly clear brachos.

As someone who has heard numerous miracle stories, it’s hard to remain apathetic in the face of this Divine truth, and it doesn’t require much effort to see it. There are many Jews who prior to Gimmel Tammuz fought against anything that had even a whiff of Lubavitch. Today, however, they don’t make a move without first asking the Rebbe for his advice and receiving his bracha.

What follows are two stories among dozens that the magazine has heard about in recent months.

TIME FOR A HAIRCUT 
– RIGHT NOW!

R’ Yitzchak Yehoshua Vaknin is one of the more active participants at the Kiryat Yovel Chabad House in Yerushalayim, under the directorship of the shliach Rabbi Yossi Elgazi. “Our Chabad House is a very special place; everyone who comes to us becomes a Chassid of the Rebbe. There’s no ‘sitting on the fence’ with us; the messages are quite clear. There’s special Chassidic warmth here with a marvelous staff, and although I am affiliated with the local Sephardic community where I study Torah and daven, I consider myself a Chabad Chassid with a strong connection to the Rebbe.

“One evening before the Pesach holiday, I was making my way to the Chabad House as always. As Rabbi Elgazi met me there, he told me that there was a family, the Pesos, that had just bought an apartment nearby, and they had asked him to come to their Chanukas HaBayis. Since the shliach was extremely busy with all the pre-holiday preparations, he asked me if I would go there in his place. I happily agreed. I set a time with the family, arrived with relevant s’farim, and we discussed various Torah subjects. During the evening, I told them the story I had read that week in the Beis Moshiach Magazine about the Jew in Costa Rica (see Issue 834, pgs. 18-20). Everyone was utterly astounded by the story.

“As is customary among Sephardic Jews, the Pesos had also invited the extended family along with numerous friends, neighbors, and acquaintances. This resulted in many people being exposed to the holy teachings of Chabad Chassidus and the miracles of the Rebbe. The event lasted for about an hour and a half. As I was preparing to leave, I was approached by an elderly couple who wanted to ask me a question. It turned out that they had a grandson who would be celebrating his third birthday on Erev Pesach, and they wanted to know what they should do about the upshernish. I suggested that it would be better to postpone it until Lag B’Omer.

“My thinking was that since these were not religious Jews, preoccupation with such an event on an Erev Pesach might result in chametz being left around in their home after the time when it must be burned. This was something that I was determined to avoid.

“The following day, a Monday, when I arrived at my job as a classroom teacher in special education, one of my co-workers, a Chabad Chassid, brought a Pesach Hagada with the Rebbe’s commentaries. As I was looking through the seifer with great interest, I noticed that the Rebbe discussed the subject of a woman’s obligation to say Hallel during Pesach.

“The subject intrigued me and I wanted to show the material to the head of the Sephardic kollel where I learn. The references noted Vol. 22 of Igros Kodesh as a source. Before I had a chance to peruse the material at greater depth, I became very busy with other matters and forgot about the whole subject as I returned to my regular routine.

“On Tuesday evening, I came to the Chabad House to daven Maariv. As I was stepping back to say ‘Oseh Shalom B’M’romav’ at the end of Shmoneh Esrei, I noticed that there was a copy of Igros Kodesh Vol. 22 on the bima. I took the seifer with me to check it when I got home. I opened to pg. 132, and was totally astounded as I started to read.

“The letter was addressed to a Chassid named Yitzchak, the same name as mine, and it concluded with the following words in postscript: ‘On his question about the time for the haircut of his son shlita, whose birthday is on Erev Pesach, it would be inappropriate to delay it to a later time, rather they should make the upshernish on the night of the fourteenth or on the day of Erev Pesach.’ I read the answer again and again to make certain that I was reading it correctly. I felt my hair standing on end. I had just suggested to this family that they delay the ceremony, but the Rebbe thought otherwise and wanted to update me on the matter. Amazing Divine Providence…

“The very next morning, Wednesday, I went to the shliach, Rabbi Elgazi, showed him the letter, and asked him what I should do. His response was unequivocal: ‘If that’s what the Rebbe wrote, get in touch with the family, and make sure that the upshernish takes place at the proper time.’

“I managed to contact the grandparents, and they gave the telephone number of the boy’s parents living in Pisgat Zeev. I spoke with them and explained that their son had been privileged to receive a remarkable answer from the Rebbe, who requested that they hold the haircut ceremony at its appointed time. The parents were delighted, and they promised that they would come to the Chabad House the following day between Mincha and Maariv.

“The next day, I prepared a decorative certificate with the Rebbe’s answer. We bought a set of s’farim for the boy, ‘Rabboseinu N’si’einu’, along with a tz’daka pushka. At around six o’clock that evening, dozens of family members were already waiting at the Chabad House. After we davened Mincha together, everyone participated in cutting the boy’s long curls. An aura of tremendous joy reigned on the premises with much singing and dancing. But most important of all, all the guests got in line at the Chabad House and took advantage of the welcome opportunity to buy hand-made shmura matzos and sell the chametz left in their homes. One mitzvah leads to another.

The family hung the Rebbe’s answer in the living room, and they eventually also bought new mezuzos.

CHILDREN RETURNING THROUGH THEIR FATHERS

R’ Alon Levion and his wife are members of the Chabad community in the Holy City of Tzfas. Alon works as an arithmetic teacher at the Ohr Menachem Talmud Torah, while his wife teaches science at the Beis Chana High School for girls. During the past few years, they began a kiruv process that brought them closer to Chassidus and the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, together with their work for the city’s Chabad educational institutions.

“Last Chanukah, the Lubavitch Women’s Organization in Tzfas was organizing a trip to Beis Chayeinu. My wife immediately registered, and she wanted me to accompany her. However, for a variety of reasons, I didn’t want to go. First of all, I had never left the boundaries of Eretz Yisroel in my life. Furthermore, it seemed a bit hasty to spend such a large sum of money without preparing for the trip well in advance. All her efforts to convince me fell on deaf ears. I was happy for her to participate in this group, but I refused to come along.

“On the Friday before the trip, she tried one last time to convince me. When she saw that I remained steadfast in my refusal, she packed her own suitcases, and we decided that she would be the family representative.

“That Friday night, my father came to our house for the Shabbos evening meal. During the seuda, he made a surprising request. While he was not Torah observant in any way, he had heard about writing to the Rebbe in Igros Kodesh, and he suggested that we do so. My wife and I were very surprised by this, but we were naturally quite happy to comply. My father returned on Motzaei Shabbos, and I explained to him about the preparations you have to make before asking the Rebbe a question. He made a good resolution, and then he pulled Vol. 21 off the shelf. He had several questions, and I started to read from the page to where he had opened (pg. 324). Every line that I read gave my father another clear-cut answer to one of his questions.

“Then I came to a certain line, and as I read it, my father didn’t understand why I was turning so pale. The Rebbe wrote as follows:

“It’s possible that his son, sh’yichyeh, will be traveling here for the fifth night [of Chanukah]. And if they will give him a list of all the students learning Chassidus, he can receive Chanukah gelt for them as well, as is customary.”

“My father knew nothing about the discussion I had with my wife over the trip. When I told him about it, even he was stunned. ‘If the Rebbe wrote this to you so clearly, you have to go,” he said with a sudden and surprising level of hiskashrus. My wife was positively overjoyed. We felt that it couldn’t be clearer. The Rebbe had simply invited me to come to him…

“On Tuesday, we packed another suitcase – for me – and we soon found ourselves together on a flight heading for 770. Incredibly, we had received a special budget allocation from work, and this covered a sizable portion of our travel expenses. Since the Rebbe had also written that we should bring a list of our students, I naturally collected the names of all the boys in class to daven for them when we came to the Rebbe.

“Our spiritual experience of spending Chanukah with the Rebbe was beyond all expectations – lighting the big menorah, the niggunim, the overall atmosphere. I came back from the Rebbe an entirely different person.

“There’s another aspect to this story in connection with my brother. He’s been living for the past eight years on the West Coast, and I obviously hadn’t seen him all this time. He had been quite happy to hear that we were coming, and he even tried to arrange a couple of airline tickets for us to come and visit him. However, since it was late December, the non-Jewish holiday season, there were simply no tickets available. Nevertheless, he decided to surprise us, and he left his business affairs to come to Crown Heights. After many long years, he even had the privilege of putting on t’fillin.

“When my brother asked me why I had come so suddenly without letting him know in advance, I showed him the answer the Rebbe gave me when even I had no idea that I would be coming. My brother thought for a moment and then said, ‘Look, it doesn’t have to refer to you alone. I’m also our father’s son, so the Rebbe invited me to come visit him as well…’”