EMUNA, SIMCHA, ACTION - HALLMARKS OF A TRUE CHASSID

Nearly 67 years of outreach activity and activism. That was the life of the mashgiach-mashpia in 770, R’ Yekusiel (Kuti) Menachem Rapp a”h, who was killed in a car accident. * His entire life was devoted to carrying out the Rebbe’s wishes. * He carried out many missions of the Rebbe at the El-Al terminal in New York as well as with other organizations that he started, like the Vaad HaMechanchim, Matteh Shira V’Zimra and the Matteh HaOlami L’Hatzolas HaAm V’HaAretz.

By Menachem Ziegelboim

The Chabad world was shocked by the news of the sudden tragic passing of R’ Kuti Rapp a”h in a car accident.  R’ Rapp was well known among Anash and bachurim around the world, especially in Crown Heights.

R’ Rapp served as mashgiach-mashpia in Tomchei T’mimim – 770, while also being involved in many mivtzaim related projects.  He radiated warmth and simplicity to everyone and was known by all as R’ Kuti.

A YEAR WITH THE REBBE

R’ Kuti Rapp was born in Yishuv Yesodot on Tisha B’Av 1948 to his parents, R’ Shraga and Tzipora Rapp.  He learned in the Litvishe yeshiva Kol Torah in Yerushalayim where he became interested in Chassidus through the Tanya classes given by R’ Yosef Tzvi Segal, Rosh Kollel Tzemach Tzedek. 

He switched to Yeshivas Tomchei T’mimim in Kfar Chabad and became one of the mushpaim of R’ Shlomo Chaim Kesselman.  When he came to learn in Kfar Chabad he was already devoted to mivtzaim and for a while he was in charge of mivtza t’fillin in the Gush Dan area.

He went on K’vutza to 770 and arrived Erev Pesach 5728/1968 (back then, K’vutza started on Erev Pesach, unlike today).  Those days were etched in his memory, as he once told Beis Moshiach:

“The Rebbe greeted us when we arrived.  The Rebbe stood in the entrance of 770, looked at us, smiled and said, “A freilichin Pesach un freiliche hachanos.”  The second night of Pesach I attended my first farbrengen with the Rebbe.  I can testify that only then, when I came to the Rebbe, did I begin to understand what it means to ‘live with the Rebbe,’ to live with the Rebbe’s sichos.

“Before we went to the Rebbe we also learned the sichos, but it was something we did by rote.  We lacked the koch and chayus.  Once we came to the Rebbe, we began to realize how we were supposed to learn the sichos, with chayus, enthusiasm.  Then we started learning the sichos as something about which we say ‘for they are our life.’

“I remember that when we came to the Rebbe on K’vutza, we felt that this year is a ‘Shabbos Shabbason,” a year entirely devoted to the Rebbe.  We felt we were taking a loyalty oath for an entire year, a year that we would study Nigleh and Chassidus diligently, a year that we would devote ourselves to the Rebbe with all our might, a year that would be ‘consecrated to the Rebbe.’”

STARTING TO FLY

R’ Rapp remained in the US and did mivtzaim with Israelis throughout the New York metropolitan area.  Sometimes, he would do mivtzaim at Kennedy Airport and he slowly began to get to know the place and the people who worked there.

When the Yom Kippur War began in 5734/1973, he thought it was proper to go to the airport every day for mitzva t’fillin in order to fulfill the promise of Chazal, “so that they fear you.”  He was given permission by the hanhala of the yeshiva and arranged shifts of bachurim who went every day to the airport.  He even wrote a report to the Rebbe and noted, “This is my report to the Rebbe of mivtza t’fillin at the El-Al terminal at Kennedy Airport in the last week of the last war in Eretz Yisroel.  The willingness to put on t’fillin grew tremendously since the start of the war and continues till today.  Many of the guards and those in charge of them also put on t’fillin when in the past they refused.”

He also sent a report of the outreach done on Chol HaMoed Sukkos at the airport:

“About 150 people said the bracha on the dalet minim including the guards, and they were given the booklet which explains the mitzva which was published by Machne Yisroel.  Then we danced and included some passengers and their escorts.  Then Avrohom Slavin put me up on his shoulders and I spoke about the mitzva of dalet minim and what the Rebbe says about the war, about simcha and mivtza t’fillin.  As part of the campaign, people are told what the Rebbe said about the war, miracles, simcha, and the mitzva of t’fillin, and material is given out about t’fillin and the parsha.”

R’ Kuti was surprised to receive a special response from the Rebbe: “Received and many thanks, I will mention it at the tziyun for continued success in this.”  This was something special because the Rebbe did not generally respond to bachurim about mivtzaim except through the offices of Tzach. 

“This answer gave me a strong push to continue with added strength,” R’ Kuti said.  On another occasion he received this response from the Rebbe, “Yehi ratzon that it be fulfilled – he who has 100 wants 200, etc.”

The Rebbe later spoke to him about this outreach and in yechidus told him to work in the yeshiva.

“The way the Rebbe related to me in regards to the outreach at the airport was always special.  Whenever I passed by for kos shel bracha, the Rebbe gave me a bottle of mashke without my asking for it.  He would say, ‘For the airport.’  The first times it was when I had already passed by and the Rebbe called me back.  Later on, the Rebbe changed the wording and would say it in Hebrew instead of Yiddish.”

R’ Kuti felt there was an advantage to mivtzaim done at the airport.  “Since many Jews travel to Eretz Yisroel and they are feeling inspired, it is easier to get them to do a mitzva.”

He became friendly with the El-Al staff and other Jews who work at the airport.  His relationship with the El-Al administration, security people, and El-Al passengers deepened and they trusted him.  They opened their offices to him as well as areas where non-employees are not allowed entry.  R’ Kuti was a person they could turn to about anything Jewish and he did everything graciously and happily.

Over the years, he brought many El-Al people, including top executives, for dollars on Sunday, and the Rebbe always blessed them, “May it be ‘el-al’ (heavenward) materially and spiritually,” as he pointed upward.

He once brought a group of El-Al administrators for yechidus.  They asked the Rebbe whether it was true that he said to fly with El-Al.  The Rebbe said, “I don’t give orders; I only say what it says in the Torah.” 

One of them asked, “The poor of your city and the poor of another city – the poor of your city take precedence.”

The Rebbe said, “That’s not what I meant.  It’s not about poverty or support or tz’daka.  I meant what it says, ‘or purchased from your fellow.’ That if it is possible to give the business to a Jew, this is preferable.”

A particularly unusual interaction took place when R’ Kuti brought the CEO of El-Al in America, David Shain, with his assistants and other staff members for dollars.  The CEO said to the Rebbe about R’ Rapp, while pointing at him, that he was Chabad’s representative at El-Al.  The Rebbe said he did not accept this designation, because a representative or ambassador refers only to two separate, foreign entities or two distant nations, where one sends a representative or ambassador to the other entity or distant country.  “But we are one entity whose goal is to help Jews.  The center of this body is in Eretz Yisroel and there are branches in New York, London, Melbourne, and all over.”

SPECIAL DELIVERY OF THE REBBE’S MATZOS

R’ Kuti had a special z’chus to deliver shmura matza from the Rebbe to Chassidim who lived in Eretz Yisroel.  At first it was one small box which was designated for certain people on a list that the Rebbe provided.  After the delivery was arranged with El-Al by R’ Kuti, the amount grew to five huge boxes that were designated for Anash and mekuravim and Israeli soldiers in Eretz Yisroel.  After the Rebbe separated the “challa” from the matza, helpers closed, sealed and wrapped the boxes for the flight to protect them from moisture on the trip.

In the early years, the Rebbe asked that the boxes of matza not be placed with the rest of the luggage in the cargo section of the plane but placed with the passengers.  Every year, this had to be arranged with the El-Al company.  Later on, R’ Rapp arranged for a special container in the cargo hold for the matzos.

He later told Beis Moshiach about the special z’chus he had to arrange the Rebbe’s delivery of matzos to Eretz Yisroel:

“Since 5734, I have had the z’chus to help send the Rebbe’s matzos every year for Anash in Eretz Yisroel.  The matzos were sent in a special container on an El-Al flight.  Thanks to my warm relationships with people in the company through my work as a shliach of the Rebbe at the airport and doing mivtzaim with them, I was able to get their consent to set aside a special container for the matzos.

“I also merited to be directly involved in the actual transport.  We would clean the container of dirt and chametz and cover the floor of the container with paper. We put in the boxes of matza which were well packed, and the shliach’s luggage separately, so he would not be delayed waiting for his luggage after he landed.  On the lock of the container I would stick the symbol of the Chabad House at the airport and on the outside there was a big sign which said, ‘The matzos of the Lubavitcher Rebbe sent to residents of the Holy Land and IDF soldiers.’

“I remember an interesting episode.  The first year that a big delivery was arranged with El-Al, R’ Binyamin Klein, the Rebbe’s secretary, went with me in order to see that everything was being executed in the way the Rebbe wanted (all the years prior to that he was in charge of sending the matzos that were the size of a hatbox).  The year after that, the Rebbe asked me, ‘Who is going with you?’ I did not know what to say since it was no longer necessary for someone else to come when I already had the connections at El-Al.  The Rebbe sensed this and responded, ‘You are the entire balabus (one in charge) there!’

“The Rebbe wanted the matzos to be sent by El-Al since it is a Jewish company and he also wanted someone on that flight who would be the shliach to deliver them.  Usually, the Rebbe gave all those who helped with the packing and the sending of the matzos, including the shliach who flew with the matzos and me, a copy of the letter that he wrote for Rosh Chodesh Nissan of that year and a dollar for tz’daka.  The Rebbe also always asked me, “Is everything sealed?”

ASTONISHING CHANGES

In the matzos delivered for Pesach one of the years, there were a number of changes in the Rebbe’s way of doing things, as R’ Kuti Rapp told Beis Moshiach:

That year, the Rebbe gave me two letters addressed to the general community and two dollars, instead of one letter and one dollar as he always did.  Instead of asking me, “Is everything closed and sealed?” the Rebbe asked me, “Did you arrange everything with the plane?” I did not know what to answer because I did not know what the Rebbe meant.  The Rebbe immediately went on to say, “It should work out in the best possible way!”

There was also a change with the shliach, Rabbi Kanelsky, who was supposed to fly with the matzos.  The Rebbe did not give him a dollar during the matzo distribution, like every year, but gave him only the letter and said, “The money for tz’daka for you is in an envelope that you received and will receive from rabbanim in Eretz Yisroel.”  In addition, the Rebbe looked particularly serious.

All these changes were astonishing to me but I couldn’t give them too much thought since I was busy arranging the shipment.  I went to the airport and they let me clean the container.  We placed the matzos inside and as I was getting to ready to lock the container the pilot walked by.  His name was Tzuk and he saw what was going on and noticed that the boxes did not have the tag indicating that they had been checked by security (because El-Al trusted us and they did not need a security check).

He said, “I am not willing to take boxes that have not undergone a security check with me on the plane.”  Of course, I told him that I would arrange permission, but he insisted and said, “No! It’s either me or the matzos.  I am not taking them with me.”

It was fifteen minutes before the flight and I stood there wondering what to do.  On the one hand, I could have challenged him and forced him, through the CEO of El-Al in America with whom I had a good relationship, to take the matzos.  On the other hand, employees of the company who were present felt very uncomfortable with the situation.  They said that this flight would have a stopover in London and two hours later there would be a direct flight and we could put the matzos on that one.

The direct flight seemed the better choice, but the main problem with that was the matzos would be flying without a shliach, something the Rebbe was particular about.

As I stood there deliberating, the shliach had already boarded the plane with only the envelope with dollars from the Rebbe in his pocket.  He had no idea that the matzos had not been put on the plane he was sitting on and might not make it on.

I tried to call the Rebbe’s office in order to ask the Rebbe what to do, but as expected the line was busy.  I didn’t know what to do.  Meanwhile, time was passing and I had to make a decision.  I finally came up with an idea.  Since I worked at the yeshiva, I had the office number of R’ Dovid Raskin.  I called him and told him the situation.  He immediately ran to R’ Binyamin Klein and told him to leave a line free so I could call and talk to him.  Then I called the Rebbe’s office again and told R’ Binyamin what was going on and asked him to ask the Rebbe what I should do.

This was about 7:15, a quarter hour after Maariv.  R’ Leibel was in the room at the time and R’ Binyamin immediately went to the Rebbe’s room and asked him what I should do.  The Rebbe said not to fight with the pilot, because even if we forced him through the CEO, he would be more likely to undermine other religious matters or other religious people.  This time, the Rebbe said it was okay to send it with the other plane even though it meant going without a shliach accompanying it.

I told El-Al that I would accept their suggestion and send the matzos with the next flight.  They immediately brought another container that was meant for the next flight.  We started cleaning once again, took the matzos out of the container for the first flight and put them in the other container.  As we did this, I understood why the Rebbe had given me two letters and two dollars.  This time, everything was in twos!

The direct flight with the matzos arrived safely while the first flight that stopped in London that had the shliach with the envelope with dollars had not yet arrived.

What happened? At the airport in London, one of the security men noticed an Arab giving an envelope to his “wife” who was supposed to board that flight.  This immediately aroused his suspicion and it turned out to contain explosives.  If she would have boarded the plane, it would have exploded mid-flight.  Therefore, they held up the flight and conducted a search of all the belongings of the passengers and the luggage, which took a day.

Perhaps this was the reason that the Rebbe told the shliach that his tz’daka was in the envelope he received, which apparently was protection for the passengers on the plane.  Now we could also understand what the Rebbe meant when he said to me, “Did you arrange everything with the plane?  It should work out in the best possible way.”

If the matzos would have gone on the first flight, they would certainly have opened them in London and would have seen that they did not have a security tag.  Even if they had ended up arriving in Eretz Yisroel, it would have been after they were opened and searched through and would no longer be “shmuros.”

So it was all in the “the best possible way.”  The matzos arrived safely and on time, and the flight with the shliach was saved from a terrorist attack thanks to the envelope of bills which the Rebbe gave for shlichus mitzva money.

NO REST IN LUBAVITCH

One of the mivtzaim that R’ Rapp did at the airport was arranging siyumim during the Nine Days.  People were waiting for their flight and in the meantime, they got to hear a siyum.  One of the years, the well-known rav R’ Pinchas Teitz a”h was traveling on an urgent matter on Tisha B’Av. When R’ Rapp saw him in the airport, he asked him to make a siyum and he did.

R’ Rapp related:

“After R’ Teitz concluded the siyum on Moed Katan which ends with, ‘Torah scholars have no rest, not in this world nor in the world to come,’ he exclaimed, ‘That’s Lubavitch! Even on Tisha B’Av and even in the airport, they find a way to learn Gemara in a permissible way.’

“When I returned to 770, I told Leibel Groner and he must have told the Rebbe who told it to R’ Chadakov.  The next day, R’ Chadakov called me in and said, “I hear that you’ve been doing miracles in the airport,” and he told me to call R’ Aharon Dov Halperin of Kfar Chabad magazine, tell him to locate R’ Teitz, and write up an article about Lubavitch, because now he was all enthusiastic and it would be to his advantage that he give an interview before others cooled him off.

“I asked R’ Chadakov, ‘Now, when it’s in the middle of the night in Eretz Yisroel?’ He said, ‘Yes,’ and said that right after I speak to him, he should call the secretariat.  It was clear that this was an instruction coming from the Rebbe himself, as well as the phrase, ‘miracles at the airport.’”

THE REBBE RECEIVED THE “INTERNATIONAL” TANYAS

In 5740 when they started printing Tanyas everywhere, R’ Rapp arranged for the Tanya to be printed at Kennedy Airport.  At that time, approval was not given to print Tanyas everywhere; only in cities and yishuvim.  However, R’ Chadakov gave him permission to print it at the airport and said it was an “international” place.

The binding of the sefarim was finished shortly before the matzos were being shipped, and R’ Kuti brought two Tanyas with him in order to give them to the Rebbe during the waiting period until they finished packing up the boxes of matzos.  When he gave them to the Rebbe, the Rebbe asked him, “Did you get the participation?” (Everyone who printed a Tanya received $20 from the Rebbe through the secretaries as his participation).  R’ Kuti said not yet and the Rebbe said he should ask the secretaries for it later.  “Since you gave me two sefarim, get two ($20) bills.”

He called the office to report to R’ Leibel Groner about the matza delivery and to give him the number of the container so it would be easy to locate in Eretz Yisroel.  The Rebbe had said to him each time to report to the secretaries about how the delivery went and what the number was.  R’ Groner asked him, “Where will you be tomorrow at the Torah reading?”

R’ Kuti said, “Near the Rebbe, in the beis medrash.” 

R’ Leibel said, “The Rebbe wants to personally give you the money for the printing of the Tanya and to hear for himself how the matza delivery went.  Tomorrow morning, after the reading, stand near the doorway of the Rebbe’s room.”

The next day, he waited at Gan Eden HaTachton.  The Rebbe came after the Torah reading, took out two bills and gave them to him, asked how the delivery went and then spoke to him about a few other matters.

THE REBBE’S CONTACT MAN

Through his communal work and thanks to his many connections, R’ Rapp got to know rabbanim and public figures and he connected them to the Rebbe.  He brought Israeli public figures who had landed at the airport to visit the Rebbe, whether by arranging a yechidus for them, or in later years for the distribution of dollars for tz’daka as can be seen in numerous pictures and video clips.  He also kept in touch with many of the rabbanim, askanim, public figures, and politicians whom he brought to the Rebbe.

In 5750, he became close with the chairman of the Likud movement in the US, Yehoram Ben-Sholom, who made sure to bring all the leaders of the Likud movement who came to the US to the dollars distribution.  R’ Rapp became the contact man between the Likud leadership and the Rebbe.  He would speak with the secretaries and make sure the ministers and Knesset members would not have to wait on a long line, but would enter via the side door that was reserved for VIP’s.

When they came to the Rebbe, he introduced them.  Since many of them were emotionally overwhelmed by talking to the Rebbe, to the point that afterward they found it hard to remember details of the conversation, he listened closely and tried to remember the details.  Then he would sit with them after the meeting and repeat what the Rebbe said.

MASHGIACH AND COMPASSIONATE FATHER TO THE BACHURIM

Even before he married, when he was still a bachur, he was appointed by the mashpia R’ Dovid Raskin and R’ Mordechai Mentlick, the rosh yeshiva, as the mashgiach to take attendance of the bachurim at the s’darim.

In 5744, he was asked by R’ Chadakov to form a Vaad HaMechanchim whose role would be to convene the mechanchim and mashpiim when they came to 770 for Tishrei.  He was told that at every such gathering there should be good resolutions made regarding the chinuch of the bachurim, which would be submitted to the Rebbe.

At the vaad’s initiative, every year in Tishrei a kinus is held for bachurim in 770, at which they are addressed by rabbanim and mashpiim.  The bachurim are told how to behave as T’mimim who are learning in the Rebbe’s yeshiva.  This kinus is called Kinus HaT’mimim HaOlami. When he was still personally involved, R’ Rapp would give out mashke at the conclusion to the participants, as the Rebbe said to do.

R’ Rapp was a familiar person to residents of Crown Heights and to those who visited 770.  He was the mashgiach who kept track of those bachurim who were late for the s’darim.  But unlike others in that role, he loved the bachurim and looked out for them.  Over the years, he devoted himself fully to their welfare, making sure they had a pleasant stay when they were in 770 on K’vutza, and he listened to every complaint and problem.  He knew how to relate to each one and to speak well of them to the hanhala.

R’ Rapp also ran the Matteh Shira V’Zimra L’Kabbalas P’nei Moshiach, which organized dancing on every special date and during the month of Adar, accompanied by live music.  This was in light of the Rebbe’s sichos and answers about pure joy to welcome Moshiach.

He had a special chayus in everything having to do with Moshiach and Geula, whether learning Inyanei Geula or disseminating the Besuras Ha’Geula.  He put an emphasis on publicizing the identity of the Rebbe as Moshiach and spoke to bachurim and Anash about the importance of proclaiming “Yechi.”

R’ Rapp was one of the regular participants at the Siyumei HaRambam in 770 that are arranged by R’ Menachem Gerlitzky, and he received much encouragement from the Rebbe for this.  R’ Rapp adopted the practice of, at every siyum, connecting the halachos in the Rambam to the weekly portions of Chitas and the time of the year as well as to inyanei Moshiach and Geula.  He asked the Rebbe, who told him to print these things he said at the siyumim.  So every week, he published a pamphlet before Shabbos called Tikvas Menachem.  Much of the content of these pamphlets were printed in his sefarim Tikvas Menachem.

When the Jews were expelled from Gush Katif, he and R’ Sholom Dovber Wolpo started the Matteh HaOlami L’Hatzolas Ha’Am V’HaAretz to wage war against giving away parts of Eretz Yisroel.  R’ Rapp worked to raise large sums of money for this.

R’ Kuti had a special warmth and sincerity that were expressed primarily in his pure faith and hiskashrus to the Rebbe and in his joy and energy in doing mivtzaim.  He worked to instill these traits in his talmidim and mushpaim in a pleasant way and in his unique style.

He was constantly involved in the Rebbe’s mivtzaim, not only at the airport and at El-Al, but also by initiating and taking an active part in other projects with the desire to do what the Rebbe wants.

TERRIBLE ACCIDENT

On Monday, 12 Tammuz, on Empire Boulevard, a car ran him over near his home.  Attempts were made to revive him but, tragically, he passed away.  Thousands of Chabad Chassidim, alumnae of 770, feel a deep, personal sense of loss for this wonderful Chassid, mashgiach-mashpia, who looked out for them like a father when they learned in the yeshiva.

He is survived by his father, his wife Fayge, his daughter Chaya Mushka Moskowitz, Chana, Yosef Yitzchok, and Shneur Zalman.