A CHAIN OF MIRACLES

Translated by Michoel Leib Dobry

Afula resident R’ Yitzchak Meir recalls his personal 
experiences in a series of miraculous events.

“The Rebbe appeared to me like a huge projector radiating with a powerful beam of light. His face shone. I was so captivated that I started coming every few days to Beis Chayeinu to see the king. As a result of my connection to the Rebbe, I began participating in Torah classes, bought s’farim, and became stronger in my Torah observance.”

This is how R’ Yitzchak Meir, an ultra-Orthodox Jew living in Afula, describes his relationship with the Rebbe at the end of the seventies, when he immigrated to New York for his business affairs.

A native of Bulgaria, R’ Yitzchak tells about how far he was from a life of Torah and mitzvah observance. “Unlike in other countries, the Bulgarians were not known to be great preservers of tradition,” he said. However, it seems that the miraculous chain of events that he experienced during a very important part of his life was powerful enough to awaken even the soul of a Bulgarian Jew such as himself.

A MEETING BY DIVINE PROVIDENCE

In 5708, less than a year after his birth, he and his parents left their home in Sofia, Bulgaria, and emigrated to Eretz Yisroel. “Since Bulgarians love to live in their own communities, we initially established our residence in Rechovos, where there was a large influx of Bulgarian émigrés, followed later by a move to Yafo. During the Six Day War, I served in the Golani Brigade, fighting on the northern front against the Syrian armies. After my military service, I began looking for a way to make a good living, and I came to Nigeria, where I worked for three years in the hotel business.

“When the country was engulfed by revolution, all the industrialists fled, including the Jewish businessmen with whom I had worked. Lacking any viable alternatives, I went to live in New York, where I had a good friend in Brooklyn named Yitzchak Mordechai, who was good friends with Rabbi Shlomo Segal, the Rebbe’s shliach in Afula. He had started a successful business and had asked me to be his partner. Although I lived in the very Torah observant neighborhood of Borough Park, I couldn’t relate to all the restrictions of a religious way of life. During my free time, I would go to Manhattan to enjoy myself. This continued for a few years until I started to feel a sense of inner emptiness.

“I struggled long and hard over whether the time had come to return to Eretz Yisroel. I was in my early thirties and I thought that perhaps the time had come to establish a home near my parents. I was plagued by doubts: Who could give me a guarantee that I would earn a good salary if I came back home? Then one day, three ultra-Orthodox young men approached me in the street. Today I know that these were Chabad Chassidim. One of them got right to the heart of the matter: ‘We can see that something is bothering you. Go to the Rebbe and he’ll solve everything for you.’

“This young man spoke with such incredible conviction. Nevertheless, the world of spirituality was still quite foreign to me. I had not received a Torah-based education, and I was repelled by the whole concept. I told this bachur that I appreciated his desire to help, but the Lubavitcher Rebbe was not for me. Yet, I felt somehow that there might be something to all this, so I decided to give myself a sign. If I met these three young men again, then this was apparently no coincidence but a clear sign from Heaven.

“Two weeks later, I met these same bachurim again, and when they suggested once more that I go to see the Rebbe, I agreed.

“At the time, the Rebbe was still receiving people for private audiences, and I told the bachurim, ‘I’ll come with you to 770.’ They arranged a yechidus for me, and on the appointed day, I arrived at 770, where they were already waiting for me at the entrance. Following their instructions, I put my requests in writing, and when the moment came, I entered the Rebbe’s room. I was so stunned that I couldn’t open my mouth. I felt as if the entire room was illuminated with a brilliant light, the likes of which I had never seen before. The Rebbe gave me a bracha while speaking in Hebrew with a heavy Yiddish accent. When I left the Rebbe’s room, the bachurim calmed me down and gave their assurances that after receiving these brachos, everything would be all right.”

A BRACHA FOR A SHIDDUCH

“I became a regular guest at 770. No more than a day or two passed without my coming to Beis Chayeinu, and I was always thrilled when I saw the Rebbe. Naturally, I became stronger each day in my fulfillment of Torah and mitzvos. I became acquainted with some fine Jewish families, who hosted me for Shabbos and Yom Tov, and I learned a great deal from them. I began wearing a yarmulke. This was soon followed by a pair of tzitzis and a beard. I attended many of the Rebbe’s farbrengens, and while I didn’t understand what he was saying, I was mesmerized by the whole experience.

“In the meantime, I had turned thirty-five. I had tried my luck in finding a suitable match, but none of the proposed shidduchim materialized, and I was still single. Then suddenly, it hit me. People from all over the world, Jews and non-Jews alike, come to the Rebbe to receive his blessing. Why shouldn’t I do the same? This is exactly what I did. On the following Sunday, I stood in line together with thousands of other people, and when my turn came, I was again rendered speechless.

“The Rebbe blessed me with ‘Bracha v’hatzlacha,’ and then he added a blessing for a shidduch. The Rebbe obviously knew quite well the purpose of my visit, even though I hadn’t uttered a word or written anything regarding this request.

“A few days later, my friend Yitzchak Mordechai’s mother came to me with a suggestion: There’s a rav in Brooklyn who is actively involved in making shidduchim. I went to see him and told him my whole story. Suddenly, he heard someone knocking at the door, and he asked me to wait a few minutes. A young woman entered the adjacent room to speak with the rav, and shortly thereafter, he introduced me to her.

“The rav suggested that we meet and I agreed. Within two weeks, we were engaged, and within four months, we celebrated our wedding in a glorious and magnificent ceremony – all thanks to the Rebbe’s bracha. It had taken only two weeks since I had been privileged to receive the Rebbe’s bracha, and I had found my life’s partner.

“From that moment forward, I began to feel a special connection to the Rebbe. I love him to this day with every fiber of my being. I have a particularly fond memory from the Shavuos holiday during the year I got married. Two lines of chassidim were waiting for the Rebbe to pass through the entrance to Beis Chayeinu, and I stood together with them. Suddenly, a hush fell over the crowd as the Rebbe arrived. Then, just as the Rebbe was about to enter 770, he turned to the side and came over to me. My legs were shaking and I almost collapsed from all the emotion and excitement. The Rebbe told me a few words in Yiddish, smiled and continued on his way. When the Rebbe entered his room, the chassidim immediately surrounded me and asked: ‘Who are you? What did the Rebbe say?’ I was so excited that I didn’t hear or understand a single word the Rebbe said.”

KEEPING THE LAWS OF FAMILY PURITY

“I lived for about fifteen years near the Rebbe and I saw numerous wonders, but there was one amazing and miraculous wonder in connection with my only daughter – Rivka, who today is a student in Yerushalayim, preparing for her upcoming wedding.

“Months and then years passed after our own wedding, and we had still not been blessed with any children. Our mood was extremely downcast and discouraged. We weren’t getting any younger and we desperately wanted to have a child of our own. We began visiting various experts in the field. We were beside ourselves when we were told that it would be impossible for us to have children.

“Then one Sunday, I passed by the Rebbe for dollars to request a bracha for children, but I could hardly get the words out of my mouth. The Rebbe gave me a fatherly look. He blessed me with ‘Bracha v’hatzlacha,’ and then asked us to learn the Laws of Family Purity with great precision.

“I was acquainted with the Gurary family in Crown Heights, who had always given us a great deal of help and had treated us with much respect. One of R’ Zalman Gurary’s grandsons, HaRav Mendel, got married that same year and he offered to learn the halachos together with me. I naturally jumped at the offer, as if I had found a buried treasure.

“Just a month later, we learned that my wife was expecting a baby. We were overjoyed. I felt as if a huge burden had been lifted from my shoulders. When our daughter was born, we named her Rivka, after my mother.

“It was clear to everyone, especially to my wife and me, that she never would have been born without the Rebbe’s bracha. This was a miracle beyond nature, as the doctors had all said that there was virtually no chance for my wife to conceive. It’s hard to describe the great happiness we felt.”