On Tuesday, the 13th of Iyar 5750, on his way back from the Ohel, the Rebbe told Rabbi Y. Krinsky that he wants to distribute a special coin on Lag B’Omer this following Sunday, less than a week away…
In 1969, a terrible decree hovered over the Jews of Tunisia. It threatened the existence of all Chabad institutions in the country, as well as possible expulsion of the shluchim.
Rabbi Chaim Sholom Ber (Berel) Lipsker of the chevra kadisha of Agudas Chassidei Chabad in New York, tells about the passing of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka a”h on 22 Shevat 5748/1988. * About the emergency meeting in his home, about the Rebbe’s instructions throughout the night, about the object wrapped in paper that he got from the Rebbe and the ring that was placed near the coffin
To whom did the Rebbetzin say at six in the morning: At this very moment, the Rebbe just went to rest. * Why did the Rebbe say that, “I still owe Mrs. Schneersohn for the kugel and the cholent that I did not eat on Shabbos?”
Many Chassidim lived through the hellish years in Communist Russia, among them outstanding models of truly devoted Chassidim, “maskilim,” “ovdim,” as well as everyday simple folks. There was one however who stood out as totally different than all the rest in his personal conduct, the Chassid R’ Yosef Schiff.
Yeshivas Kol Torah is a well-known Litvishe yeshiva in Eretz Yisroel. At one time, it was led by the prestigious posek and rosh yeshiva, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, z”l. It is a yeshiva of high-level learning and has produced many distinguished students who hold important positions in the Torah world
A family with small children sat in their living room in Bolshava, a small town on the outskirts of Moscow. They all crowded around the small radio receiver that was on at very low volume. The father’s face looked tense and the children were transfixed. A deep voice spoke from the radio and at a certain point, they began hearing singing. The furrowed brow of the father, Rabbi Aharon Chazan, relaxed. His son, Chaim Meir, was focused on the niggun and he hummed it quietly to himself until he got it right.
Thirty years ago, for the first time, a video was produced that showed the events of Tishrei in Lubavitch, of a quality that had not been seen before then. * Rabbi Sholom Ber Goldstein, who filmed and produced the video during Tishrei 5748, told us about the breakthrough in technology that enabled such a high quality production, about the kiruvim he got from the Rebbe, and about the tremendous impact the video made on Chabad Chassidim around the world.
Chabad custom is to use an esrog from Calabria (Genoa). Chassidim faced many a challenge over the years in obtaining these esrogim, that went beyond high prices. * Even when Europe was on fire, these esrogim continued to break down iron walls and to reach Chassidim who pined for them with love. * Stories from our Rebbeim and Chabad Chassidim who made supreme efforts to obtain an esrog from Calabria.
Shmini Atzeres and Simchas Torah 5738 were the most tense holidays ever experienced by the Chassidim in 770, after the Rebbe experienced a severe heart attack the night of Shmini Atzeres in the middle of the hakafos.* Doctors were called to the Rebbe’s room but the Rebbe refused to go to the hospital. * The Rebbe continued to encourage the Chassidim and demanded that they increase the joy
How did the Rebbe respond when he passed the mitzva tank blasting the song about how we will march with the Rebbe at our head? * Why did the Rebbe not enter the cemetery at the funeral of Reb Shmuel Levitin, and who did he instruct to enter? * When did the Rebbe start the practice of distributing dollars through the “Tankistin” at the end of weekday farbrengens? * Letters home, written by R’ Tuvia Zilberstrom during his k’vutza year, describing some of the events of Elul 5734 in 770, with the Rebbe. * Plus some choice pearls from the recollections of R’ Dovid Offen from that same period.
For years, he was in the Rebbe’s home every evening and became like a part of the family. When he married, his family had the privilege of being treated like family by Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka. This connection between the Rebbetzin and the children of Reb Yaakov Tzvi Holtzman continued through the years.
He was born and raised in an atmosphere of perpetual fear and yet his life was suffused with mesirus nefesh to observe mitzvos. * The Rebbe prophetically revealed his rescue from Soviet Russia even before he himself knew! * In Eretz Yisroel he was a model and symbol of chesed and giving, along with being a shliach of the Rebbe at his place of work and with the mivtzaim that he did for years. * A biographical sketch of the life of the recently departed R’ Yonah Lebenhartz a”h.
May 17, 2019