A CHASSID WHO LIVED FOR OTHERS

R’ Hillel Zaltzman, known to our readers for his fascinating memoirs of life in Samarkand, shares another chapter, this time about his uncle. R’ Benzion Pil was so outstanding in his tz’daka and chesed that even R’ Itche der Masmid was amazed by him. R’ Mendel Futerfas admired him and said that from him he learned how to dispense tz’daka freely. * Chassidim of a previous generation.

By R’ Hillel Zaltzman
Prepared for publication by Avrohom Rainitz

I got to know my uncle, R’ Benzion Moshe Pil, the husband of my mother’s sister, only in the latter part of his life, when he lived in Samarkand. I was a young boy and I don’t have many memories of him. In a long conversation that I had with his daughter, Sarah Mishulovin, she was able to tell me her father’s story in great detail even though he had died sixty years earlier. Some of the stories I had heard from my mother too.

When he first met my aunt Aidele, R’ Benzion arrived wearing a new suit, a tie, and a hat. In those days, this way of dressing was reserved for successful businessmen and the family got the impression that they had acquired a rich son-in-law. After the wedding they found out that his financial situation was so bad that he could not show up wearing his own clothing, which is why he had borrowed his entire wardrobe from a friend.

Fortunately for him, shortly after he married he was successful in business and became wealthy, this time for real. He did not keep his wealth to himself, but was a tremendous baal tz’daka who generously gave away his money to those in need. I heard that R’ Mendel Futerfas would mention him with great admiration and say that he learned about tz’daka from R’ Benzion Pil.

THE ANGEL WHO SAVED MY AUNT’S LIFE

After they married, the couple lived in Charkov. About a year later their oldest son was born, my cousin Yaakov a”h. After he made aliya, he lived in Shikun Chabad in Lud and was the gabbai in the Chabad shul. About two years later, my aunt was expecting another baby and when it came time to give birth they called for an ambulance. The driver said that because of the gentile holiday there weren’t doctors available at the hospital and they should call him again the next day.

My aunt had to give birth at home. Tragically, the little girl died a few days later and my aunt came down with blood poisoning. She was taken to the hospital in critical condition and due to the poor sanitary conditions at the hospital in those days her condition continued to deteriorate. At a certain point they put her in the ward designated for patients they had given up on.

While there, she saw her mother in a dream coming with a nice coffin with a gold seal (as though sealed by the Heavenly Court) and she said tearfully: They sent me to take you, come with me.

My aunt was terrified and she said firmly: How could you call me there when I have a small child at home? I will not go with you and I ask you to leave me alone!

She argued with her mother for quite some time until her mother left. But soon after, she had the same frightening dream two more times. She again asked her mother how she could do this to her and her mother said tearfully: They forced me to come and take you and if I did not come myself, they would have sent someone else.

After the dream repeated itself three times, she fell asleep and had another dream. In this dream she saw an old man with a long, white beard walking in the market with two pails full of water. There were many shops in the market and the thirsty merchants left their stores and asked him for a bit of water to drink. The old man refused them all and said: I have no time. I am rushing to the hospital where there is a sick lady who needs to be healed. I am taking the water to heal her. He went to the hospital and gave my aunt a drink. In her dream she immediately felt her condition improve.

When she awoke from the strange dream, she began to feel much better. Her condition slowly began to improve until she was healed and left the hospital.

According to medical statistics, only one out of 250,000 people in her condition live. The doctors who treated her wanted to give themselves the credit for the rare success and asked whether she would come to an international medical convention that would be taking place outside of Russia. They wanted to present her before their peers. Her husband though, refused outright.

After she was completely cured, she asked her brother, R’ Avrohom Boruch Pevsner, who lived in Snovsk, to ask the Rebbe Rayatz for a bracha that they have another child. Upon receiving the Rebbe’s bracha, they had a daughter and they named her Fruma Sarah. She later became the wife of R’ Dovid Dov Mishulovin. For years to come, they regretted having asked the Rebbe for a child, rather than children.

I JUST PASS 
THE MONEY ALONG

When R’ Itche der Masmid would visit Charkov on fundraising trips for the yeshiva, my uncle would take money out of his pocket and give it to him. R’ Itche once asked him: Why don’t you count the money before you give it to me?

R’ Benzion answered: Is it my money? Hashem gave me the money and I just pass it along.

R’ Itche enjoyed this response and said: You have a wife and children that you have to support … but since you act this way, I bless you that you should have so much money that money won’t mean anything to you.

This bracha was fulfilled and R’ Benzion began making a lot of money. He did not keep it to himself, but did much chesed with it as the following stories will illustrate:

In the years 1920-1930, a large community of Lubavitchers developed in Charkov and Yeshivas Tomchei T’mimim moved there. People took jobs that enabled them to keep Shabbos and some of them worked in photography. My father also had a photography store and on his way from the store to the house he would pass by Uncle Benzion’s home. One day R’ Benzion asked my father: Nu Avremel, how was parnasa today?

My father sighed and said it wasn’t a great day for business since it was cloudy and not many customers came. R’ Benzion took out a nice sum of money and pushed it into my father’s pocket saying: When you get home, tell your wife it was a good day.

During the difficult periods, when one could only obtain a bit of food with coupons, many of Anash who did not have coupons, such as the yeshiva bachurim, starved. R’ Benzion was acquainted with those in charge of the “Turgasin,” the state controlled trading centers, and after bribing them, he got boxes of fruits. He went to the yeshiva, put the boxes of fruits on the table, and said: Eat, eat, you are learning Torah!

Then he went to the shul and gave fruits to R’ Mendel Futerfas, R’ Zalman Serebryanski and the other men there.

My uncle Benzion was once walking with my other uncle, R’ Dovid Pevsner, and they saw a man selling candies and chocolates on the street. R’ Benzion stopped and bought large boxes of sweets from him. R’ Dovid was surprised by how much Benzion bought and said: Who is all this for? You only have two children!

R’ Benzion said: When guests come, I will be able to offer this to them, but the main thing is this was an opportunity to support a fellow Jew. He has a family for whom he needs to provide.

As a little boy I remember that there was an old lady by the name of Esther who came with us to Charkov. We called her “Grandma Esther” even though she wasn’t actually our relative. How did she come to join us? Her young son wanted to marry someone whom his mother objected to. Despite her begging him not to marry her, he married her anyway and moved to Poltava. At a certain point, Esther went to Poltava and wanted to live with her son but her daughter-in-law threw her out of the house and said: You didn’t want me, and now I don’t want you! She gave her mother-in-law money for the trip and Esther returned to Charkov.

Upon arriving in Charkov she stood next to the shul with her small suitcase and with tears in her eyes she said she had no place to sleep and she was hungry. People passed by and each one tossed a donation towards her and continued on his way. When R’ Benzion passed by, he invited her to live in his house. It wasn’t a big house; it consisted of one bedroom and a kitchen with a dining room, but my uncle and aunt made her feel like a member of the family. When they moved to Samarkand they took her with them.

HOW MY UNCLE SAVED R’ BENZION SHEMTOV

During the “great purges” under the cursed Stalin, when he ordered that all his political rivals be eliminated, tens of thousands of people were shot to death in the cellars of the GPU or were sent to Siberia without a trial. Under this terror regime, thousands of citizens became collaborators with the authorities including, sad to say, Jews who gave information about those who opposed the government. The Chassidim were considered enemies of the people and many of them were arrested. My uncle, R’ Avrohom Boruch Pevsner, was one of them.

When R’ Benzion Shemtov, a Lubavitcher Chassid in Charkov, heard that the police were looking for him, he needed a hiding place but very few people were willing to take the risk. My uncle, R’ Benzion Pil, allowed Benzion Shemtov to stay with him during this terrifying time.

After a while, R’ Benzion Shemtov felt he could no longer continue to hide in Charkov and he decided to leave the city. Since he was afraid to walk alone in the street, he asked my uncle to find someone trustworthy to take him to the train station. My uncle spoke with some people but although he offered a nice amount of money, they all refused. They said they were afraid to endanger themselves and their families. They all knew what the consequences would be if they were caught walking along with a “traitor” and thought: What use will the money be if my wife will become a widow and my children will be orphaned?

A few days later R’ Benzion Shemtov asked my uncle whether he had managed to find someone to take him to the train station. My uncle had to tell him the truth, that everyone was afraid. My uncle then said: Don’t worry. I won’t abandon you. If there will be no one to take you, I’ll take you!

My uncle, knowing what danger R’ Benzion Shemtov was in, decided to take the chance and walk with him to the train station. It was winter-time. He gave R’ Shemtov a woman’s coat with a large collar, wrapped him with a woman’s wool scarf in order to hide his beard, and walked with him, hand in hand, as though he was strolling with his old mother.

When they arrived at the train station, my uncle bought a ticket for him and did not leave him even when he boarded the train. He stayed with him until the train started moving and only when the third whistle was sounded and the train began picking up speed, did he quickly jump off.

Seconds later two men in civilian clothes approached him and asked him whether he had seen a man by the name of Benzion Shemtov who was supposed to be there. They asked him this question in Yiddish and he realized that they were informers. He looked at them in astonishment and said that he did not know this man. After they left, he saw them continue searching the train station.

THE MAIN THING IS 
SAVING A JEW’S LIFE

In 5695/1935, ninety businessmen were arrested including my uncle R’ Benzion and my uncle R’ Dovid. In the group trial that was conducted, my uncles were sentenced to seven years incarceration. There was another Jew in the group who apparently was accused of more serious crimes for which he was sentenced to death.

When my uncle heard about this, he decided to employ a legal tactic to help this Jew. According to the law, when an entire group is sentenced as a group, one member of the group is allowed to appeal the punishment. Then another trial is held for the entire group. My uncle decided to appeal his sentence with the intent that maybe the other Jew’s luck would improve and he would get a less severe sentence.

The legal maneuvering worked but only partially. The man was sentenced to ten years instead of the death sentence, but the judges decided to make my uncle’s punishment more severe. Instead of seven years, they gave him ten years. The new sentence was very severe. Besides the additional three years, according to Soviet law back then, a person sentenced to less than ten years could have two thirds of his sentence absolved for good behavior, but someone sentenced to ten years was not entitled to this privilege. He had to complete the ten year sentence.

My aunt, Rosa Duchman, who was sharp-tongued, yelled at R’ Benzion and said: Why did you ask for another trial? Do you even know that man? If you hadn’t asked for a repeat trial, you could have been released from jail in two and a half years! Now, you will have to spend ten years in jail and your wife and children will be alone.

My uncle replied: This man also has a wife and children and after ten years, we both can return to our families. But if he would be sentenced to death, his wife would be a widow and his children, orphans.

My uncle R’ Dovid returned after two and a half years and when World War II began, he went with us to Samarkand. But my uncle R’ Benzion was in jail for ten years. At first he was held in Charkov, where his wife could visit him. During visiting hours families of inmates would go to the prison where the inmates stood on one side of the room and the families stood on the other side. They all spoke at the same time and you had to shout to make yourself heard.

Then they sent all the prisoners to Siberia where they were incommunicado. Nobody knew their fate for over eight years! His family, who did not know where he had been sent, tried to guess and sent letters to police stations in an attempt to locate him, but to no avail.

In the summer of 5701/1941, when the Germans broke the agreement with the Russians and began conquering parts of Russia and the Ukraine, the Russian government encouraged citizens to flee from cities on the front lines for Central Asia. Most of Anash traveled to Samarkand and Tashkent, including our family.

A few Jews remained in Charkov including my cousin, Sholom Dovber Pevsner, the son of R’ Avrohom Boruch, who was 18 at the time. He heard how the Germans treated the Jews nicely in World War I and he thought that the terrifying stories were a propaganda tactic of the communists. “Do what you want, I’m staying in yeshiva,” he said. We never saw him again. The gentile neighbors said that they saw the Nazis take him away.

LOST ON THE WAY TO SAMARKAND

My aunt Rosa Duchman was of the opinion that we must leave as fast as possible. It made no difference where we went, as long as we did not stay in Charkov. She first sent my mother, who was her younger sister, since she had little children. Then my aunt and her husband Boruch left with her sister Aidele Pil and her children, Yaakov and Sarah. R’ Benzion was in Siberia.

The train system was chaotic and the journey was in freight cars, without windows and bathrooms. The Germans occasionally bombed the trains and the train traveled slowly in fear of bombed out tracks.

The train stopped at every station to enable additional refugees to board. Passengers used these stops to get off, refresh themselves, and to buy hot water, a loaf of bread or fruits and vegetables. At one of the small towns young Yaakov got off in order to buy bread. But for some reason, he tarried. The train whistle blew three long blasts but Yaakov had still not returned.

The family was frantic. They hoped he would arrive at the last moment and join them, but the train continued moving and Yaakov remained in the little town.

The family had no choice but to continue, but throughout the trip they looked at trains that passed nearby for Yaakov. On the second day, the miracle occurred. As their train stopped at a station, another train began to set out and in the door of one of the compartments they saw Yaakov holding the door with two loaves of bread hanging by his belt. He looked at the train across the way, thinking perhaps he would find his family. They all began shouting at him and when he noticed them, he did not think twice but jumped from the moving train. He landed on the ground and was injured somewhat, but he quickly jumped on to the train where his family was.

After they had calmed down, Yaakov said that by the time he had managed to buy bread, he had missed the train. When he arrived at the station, he saw another train waiting there. He figured his family was on this train which he boarded. It was only later on that he realized his mistake but he continued traveling with that train in the hopes of finding his family at a later station.

YOUR FATHER IS ALIVE!

When they arrived in Samarkand, the material circumstances were awful. My uncle Boruch Duchman was a shochet and although there were other Lubavitcher shochtim, the “shpitz Chabad” (like R’ Nissan Nemanov, R’ Hillel Azimov, R’ Benzion Shemtov, R’ Mendel Futerfas, R’ Shmuel Dovid Belinov, and others) ate only from his sh’chita.

While my father was in jail (which I related in a previous chapter), I lived with R’ Boruch and I remember how the butchers would come after midnight and knock on the wall of the house to wake him up so he would come and shecht.

One time, when he returned from slaughtering, he sensed a gentile following him. He couldn’t run, so he continued at his usual pace. This was in the Uzbeki quarter and the street was pitch black. At night people used small lanterns to light their way, especially at the end of the month. When the gentile caught up with him, he hit him in the back and fled.

R’ Boruch went home in a fright. He told my aunt what happened. She examined his back and found that in his winter coat, which was made of thick cotton, there was a deep cut. His outer shirt was cut and there was even a cut in the two lower layers, until his tzitzis.

My uncle’s sh’chita became a family business. I remember that my aunt Aidele de-veined the meat and her daughter, who was a young girl, was sent to deliver the meat. The laws of the country prohibited private enterprise, especially with meat, and since children were less suspect than adults, it became her job. After my aunt Rosa packed the meat according to the customer’s order, she would place it in a bag and put dried fruits on top of it so it shouldn’t be obvious that she was transporting meat.

Sarah said that one time, when she brought meat to R’ Benzion Shemtov’s house, his wife gently said to her: Tell your aunt Rosa that the next time she should send fewer bones.

Her husband heard this and he came in and said to his wife: If Sarah brings you even no meat with bones, even rocks – say thank you. She doesn’t know where her father is and you tell her things like that?

When R’ Benzion mentioned her father, Sarah began to cry. R’ Bentzion calmed her and said: My child, your father is alive and he will return to you soon.

REUNION AFTER TEN YEARS

During the war, many people were drafted into the army. They drafted my cousin Yaakov Pil who had to serve throughout the years of the war.

(When they called my cousin R’ Boruch to be drafted, he claimed to be much older than it said on his passport. He explained that he did this so his wife would think he was younger and marry him. He looked older than he was because his beard was white and he walked slowly. The man in the draft office believed him and wrote on his papers: Believe him and accept his claim.

He received several more draft notices and each time he showed them the decision of the head of the draft office and they left him alone.)

In 1945, when they released my uncle, R’ Benzion, he did not know where his family was and did not know how to find them. His mind was full of frightening thoughts about his family’s fate. He knew that the Germans had been in Charkov, and he had heard what the Germans did to Jews in the places they conquered. He kept trying to push away these disturbing thoughts and to strengthen his bitachon in Hashem. He said later on that he constantly thought and hoped that the tz’daka and chesed he did with others surely stood by him and his family and that his family must be in a safe place.

At a certain point, he met a woman who knew his family and she said that many Jews had traveled south to Samarkand. There were hardly any phones at that time and even the post office wasn’t operating properly. He set out for Samarkand and hoped he would reunite with his family.

After a few weeks he arrived in Samarkand and finally found his family. He was weak and ill from everything he had been through in Siberia. He had four difficult years until he passed away on 25 Tishrei 5710.

RETURNING FROM THE FRONT FOR THE FINAL KADDISH

My cousin Yaakov was not in Samarkand when his father died. He was far away, in the Russian army camp in Japan. During his military service he was wounded several times, but he also experienced many miracles and was saved from certain death. In one of the battles against the Germans, he was in a bunker and one of the gentile soldiers needed to relieve himself. He was afraid to leave alone and looked for someone to go with him. Since he knew Yaakov to be kindhearted, he asked him to join him and Yaakov agreed.

Just as the two of them went out, the Germans began a massive aerial bombardment. When the reverberations died down, the two of them returned to the bunker and were shocked to discover that a German bomb had penetrated it and killed all the soldiers. They were the only ones to remain alive from their group.

At the end of the war, the army released all the older reservists but kept the young soldiers for another few years. They sent Yaakov to Japan.

He was released at the end of 5710 and by Divine Providence he arrived in Samarkand on the last day when Kaddish could be recited for his father. The family felt conflicted. On the one hand, they did not want to tell him the sad news. On the other hand, he was an only son and he should at least recite the final Kaddish. They also wanted him to eat a little before being told the news, for he had barely eaten on the long trip to Samarkand.

Yaakov, who noticed his father’s absence, asked where he was. The family told him he was very sick and was in the hospital in critical condition. They served him food and asked him to eat and then they would take him to the hospital. Under the plate they put a note with the news of his father’s death and that it was the final day for Kaddish so he should hurry to shul to say Kaddish for his father.

When he finished eating and took his plate from the table, he saw the note and read the message. He hurried to the Bucharian shul which was on the street where he lived and said the first and final Kaddish in the year of mourning.

Over the years Yaakov was granted special status by the communist government for his bravery in battle. He used this privileged status to help other Jews even when it endangered his position.

When he eventually moved to Eretz Yisroel, he stayed in a hotel in the absorption center in Kfar Chabad. When R’ Mendel Futerfas saw him, he immediately gave him a mortgage without guarantors. Mrs. Sarah Raskin, the one in charge, expressed her surprise about this to R’ Mendel. How could he give a mortgage without guarantors?

R’ Mendel said: The son of R’ Benzion Pil does not need guarantors. When he has the money, he’ll return it.

When R’ Dovid Mishulovin, the husband of Sarah Pil, came to the Rebbe for the first time after getting out of Russia, he was approached by Mrs. Shimonovitz who was in tears and wanted to help him in any way possible. She said that she would never forget how, when she was in Samarkand, she was sick and was hospitalized, and my uncle Benzion would bring her food. After he left the room, she found twenty-five rubles under the pillow, which was a large sum.