R’ Yitzchok Yadgar, who is looked to as a spiritual guide and is revered by thousands of his talmidim and mekuravim in Eretz Yisroel, visits 770 every Tishrei, usually accompanied by mekuravim. * He speaks with us about the importance of traveling to the Rebbe and about the spiritual infusions that one receives during Tishrei in 770. * Also, the early days in Chevel Taanach, his first yechidus with the Rebbe and being appointed the balabus over Iraq.
By Zalman Tzorfati
R’ Yadgar talking with his friend, R’ Zev Wolf Kesselman, at the entrance to 770Whoever goes to the Rebbe for Tishrei knows all the “personalities” of Tishrei, those rabbanim, shluchim, mashpiim and roshei yeshivos who go every year. They go for the entire month or part of it, alone or leading a group of their mekuravim or talmidim.
One of these personalities is R’ Yitzchok Yadgar. For many years now, he makes a point of going every Tishrei. From beginning to end, he stays in 770, davening, learning, and farbrenging. With his noble appearance, impressive long beard and piercing eyes, he stands out among the thousands of T’mimim in 770, but he rubs shoulders with them as though going back to the time he learned in the yeshiva in Lud or when he was a young teacher in the religious-government Chabad school in Avital.
R’ Yadgar often comes with mekuravim from the yishuvim of Chevel Taanach. He is the father and spiritual authority for thousands of talmidim of the past and the present, alumni and residents of the area. He says that when he wants to raise them up a level, to strengthen them in Torah and mitzvos and in their hiskashrus to the Rebbe, the best way to accomplish this is to bring them to the source, to the Rebbe in 770.
GOING TO THE REBBE – GOING TO THE BEIS HAMIKDASH
In his words:
Traveling to the Rebbe is a very important matter. There is a saying among Chassidim, a play on the Talmudic statement, ‘Rebbi lo shana – Chiya minayin,’ that without going to the Rebbe for Rosh HaShana where would we get chayus from?
We need to know that when going to the Rebbe we are going to the Beis HaMikdash. There is a mitzva in the Torah that says men need to go to the Beis HaMikdash three times a year – the mitzva of aliya l’regel. They used to literally walk. Likewise, there were Chassidim who walked to Lubavitch. They left weeks before. Sometimes they went in a big group and then they hired a wagon on which they put their bags and they walked. Today, we cannot get there on foot and I don’t know whether there is such an inyan in the “seventh generation,” but going to the Rebbe is aliya l’regel, like to the Beis HaMikdash.
770 is the third Beis HaMikdash. The Rebbe’s house is a channel through which all the abundance in the world descends. We all know what it says in the beginning of Tanya that all abundance that descends to the world passes through the tzaddikim, the “heads of thousands” in every generation.
The Rebbe says that 770 is “Beis Moshiach,” the place where the Beis HaMikdash will be revealed first, and from there it will go to Yerushalayim. That means that the Geula will begin in 770 and will spread to the world from there. So too with the personal Geula of every person. If you want to feel your personal Geula, it starts by going to the Rebbe.
SPIRITUAL GUIDE TO THOUSANDS
You cannot remain cool as R’ Yadgar speaks excitedly. He draws you in, and it’s not surprising that hundreds and even thousands of his students consider him their mentor. His influence in the school, on the students and their parents, greatly supersedes the usual. His impressive appearance and articulateness immediately captivate whoever he meets. Many continue to consult with him even many years after graduating school.
His home is a place that all residents of the area turn to. They feel love and admiration for him. People show up at all hours of the day to consult with him about all aspects of life and to ask for his guidance. He writes to the Rebbe with them.
Aside from his work with the people in the entire Taanach region, R’ Yadgar leads a Chabad community and a Chabad shul in the center of the yishuv, which operates mainly on Shabbos and Yom Tov.
He gives a shiur every week in which he combines Chassidus with the parsha, Midrash, and inspirational words. The shiur attracts hundreds of people from all over the Jezreel Valley.
You have traveled numerous times with groups of mekuravim.
Boruch Hashem, I have come to the Rebbe many times with our mekuravim. With groups and also with individuals. They all received supernatural blessings. On a number of occasions, we merited special kiruvim from the Rebbe, and on more than one occasion we passed by the Rebbe and received dollars in abundance and special blessings.
How does that affect them?
Every one of these trips to the Rebbe resulted in a tremendous chizuk by whoever went. Mekuravim became Anash; people who came back from 770 bought sirtuks. They strengthened “its ways and customs.” Some started learning Chassidus regularly. Each on his level, but they all left having had a very powerful experience, having connected to the Rebbe, and significantly strengthening their Torah and mitzvos. Some put their children into Chabad schools.
FROM THEIR FORMER COMMUNITY
R’ Yadgar is from a Yerushalmi family that originated from Iraq. When he reached yeshiva age he went to Yeshivas Tomchei T’mimim in Lud. There he became a Chassid, mekushar, and ardent follower of the Rebbe.
After he married he moved to Moshav Avital. He and his wife joined the staff of a school in Chevel Taanach. When, two years after they married, they wanted to move to Kfar Chabad so they could join a Chabad community and provide their children with a Chassidishe chinuch, the Rebbe’s answer was, “Regarding registering for residency in Kfar Chabad, you and your friends are carrying out activities in the place etc., and should not move anywhere else especially as he is a member of their former community, and our holy Torah rules that “the poor of your town take precedence.”
The Yadgar family remained in Chevel Taanach where there is a large concentration of Kurdish Jews and R’ Yadgar continued teaching in the Reshet Oholei Yosef Yitzchok school. A few years later, he took over the running of the school from R’ Avrohom Dunin and he ran it successfully for twenty-seven years until he retired more than a decade ago.
THE FIRST YECHIDUS
I first went to the Rebbe in 5730. That was when I had my first yechidus. I went in and said the SheHechiyanu blessing. I was so emotional that I forgot to give the Rebbe the note. The Rebbe rose a little and held out his hand. Then I remembered I was supposed to give him the note. I did so and the Rebbe asked, ‘Do you speak Yiddish?’ I said, ‘Yes, but better in Hebrew,’ and from then on, the Rebbe spoke to me only in Hebrew.
There were two paragraphs in my note. The first paragraph was a question. Since some Lubavitchers were moving to the area in order to join the school’s staff, and the only shul there used the nusach of Edot HaMizrach, should we start a Chabad shul?
In the second paragraph I wrote, ‘The eyes of all Israel look to you to be revealed as Moshiach and we ask to be able to see your revelation immediately, before the eyes of all Israel.’
To the first question, the Rebbe said yes, to open a Chabad shul and daven nusach Chabad. The shul exists till today, nearly fifty years and it is a central place to which young and old come from all over. It is a wonderful place for shiurim and being strengthened in the ways of Chassidus and spreading the wellsprings.
As for the second thing I wrote, the Rebbe was holding a pencil and he circled what I wrote and said, ‘Regarding the central point in your request for a bracha, may it happen soon, mamash.’
That is what the Rebbe answered me. In general, the wording I always used when writing to the Rebbe and what was always written in Taanachim was “The Rebbe Malkeinu Meshicheinu.”
THE REBBE’S CHASSIDISHE UNITED NATIONS
One of the otherworldly stories that demonstrate the special relationship of R’ Yadgar and the Rebbe had to do with the creation of the special Chassidishe United Nations. That was when the Rebbe appointed “balabatim” over the countries of the world. At that time, R’ Yadgar was appointed balabus over Iraq:
I went to the Rebbe for Sukkos 5731/1970. At the time, a weeklong conference was being held by UN representatives. The conference began on Sukkos, starting on the first day of Yom Tov and going until Simchas Torah.
The third night of Sukkos, the Rebbe said a maamer, ‘Hallelu es Hashem kol goyim,’ and said that the chayus (life force) of gentiles originates from holiness and emphasized the connection to Sukkos when seventy cows are sacrificed to correspond to the seventy nations of the world. In a sicha after the maamer, the Rebbe said he did not only mean on spiritual levels but also to the gathering of world leaders in the General Assembly of the UN which was taking place on Sukkos when the Haftora for the first days is, ‘And I will gather all the nations etc.’ The Rebbe said that corresponding to this gathering, we Jews need to make a gathering of all the nations, especially in New York where the UN is located, thus subduing the ministering angels of the nations.
In 770 there was great excitement and it was decided that at the annual gathering of Tzach, representatives of all nations of the world, from the guests who came for Tishrei, would participate. These representatives would be balabatim over their respective nations and would establish what should happen in his country and how.
The pinnacle was the night of Shmini Atzeres when at the fourth hakafa the Rebbe said to announce that since it says, ‘He set up the boundaries of peoples according to the number of the children of Israel’ – balabatim of countries would be honored. And since everything needed to be according to Torah, therefore, these should be people who had smicha or were roshei yeshivos. The Rebbe said to announce that ploni son of ploni is the balabus of country x.
I stood facing the Rebbe and R’ Groner pointed at me and said to the Rebbe, Yitzchok Yadgar is from Iraq. The Rebbe then told me to be the balabus of Iraq. R’ Zecharia Guri was standing next to me and R’ Groner pointed at him and said he is from Yemen. Then the Rebbe told him to be the balabus of Yemen.
Then they began singing “Utzu Eitza V’sufar,” noisily and with great joy. The Rebbe said to give a hakafa with a Torah to those who were previously announced as balabatim over countries. It was all most unusual.
The next day there was a farbrengen. I didn’t know the farbrengen would start so soon and I went to my host to make kiddush. When I returned, the room was already full. I tried to push in but American bachurim and residents of Crown Heights were everywhere and they blocked passage and did not allow me to get in.
I stood there, near the door, near the big garbage can. In my heart I said, Rebbe, tzaddikim are likened to their Creator and it says, “He raised the pauper from the garbage,” so Rebbe, I ask that you raise me from this place and bring me to you. I had just finished this thought and the Rebbe announced that all balabatim who had been given ownership with the power of Torah should come up and say l’chaim. When I heard this, they lifted me quickly over people’s heads and I found myself facing the Rebbe.
THE REBBE ASKED: NU, WHAT DO YOU SAY?
R’ Dovid Raskin stood there and poured a big cup of l’chaim for each of the balabatim. After saying l’chaim on the big cup the Rebbe asked, me, “Nu, did you say l’chaim?” They immediately poured another one for me. I said l’chaim again and the Rebbe asked me again, “Did you say l’chaim?” So I said l’chaim a third time. The fourth time, the Rebbe put his hand on the table. I stood facing the Rebbe and the Rebbe asked me, “Nu, what do you say?”
I said, since I am a balabus with the power of Torah, I ask that the Jews of Iraq leave from “constraints” to “expansiveness,” together with all Jews who need to leave from “constraints” to “expansiveness.”
The Rebbe made his hand into a fist, waved it strongly and said, “With kindness and mercy,” and then motioned to me again to say l’chaim.
At that farbrengen the Rebbe said, “The way it is at the UN is that after a meeting and passing resolutions they go to the theater. Since that is what they do, there is probably some root in holiness, and since this here is the “l’umas zeh” of their gathering, that should be done here too, but since all of that is not appropriate here and nor is there time, I suggest that someone make a somersault and with that we will fulfill the obligation of the theater. The balabus of England, R’ Bentzion Shemtov made a somersault and the Rebbe told him with satisfaction, “That will fulfill the obligation of the entire world!”
A few days after Simchas Torah, I got on a plane back to Eretz Yisroel. At the airport I saw an Israeli newspaper and the headline was about twenty-seven families from Iraq that illegally escaped via Iran for Eretz Yisroel.
BOUNTIFUL BLESSINGS
As a loyal Chassid, R’ Yadgar made sure to connect the people in his area to the Rebbe by encouraging them to travel to him or by writing a pidyon nefesh and letter. Since communications in those days took a long time, people complained to R’ Yadgar that it took such a long time until they got a positive or negative response, and it took inordinately long to get a bracha from the Rebbe.
R’ Yadgar reported these complaints to the Rebbe and received this amazing response: “You should answer in my name to all those who turn to you in addition to sending me their names, and tell them that they should commit to mitzvos etc., which will become a channel and an abundance of blessing for all that they need.”
Since then, R’ Yadgar demands that his mekuravim strengthen their fulfillment of Torah and mitzvos and in exchange, he blesses them with the power of the Rebbe.