R’ Shraga Elimelech (Meilich) Kaplan went to Tomchei T’mimim as a thin, sickly child. He overcame many obstacles and became one of the diligent talmidim there. Despite the wandering he had to endure with his fellow talmidim, he continued to learn diligently. In his memory he had stored away images of the great Chassidim that he saw and he later wrote about these Chassidim. * Part 1 of 2
R’ Meilich KaplanLAST MINUTE REPRIEVE
R’ Shraga Elimelech Kaplan, known as R’ Meilich der Shvartzer (the dark one), was born on 18 Adar II 5673/1913 in the town of Milicz in Poland. His parents were R’ Aryeh Leib (Kosovitsky) Kaplan, who served as rav in a number of Russian towns and Rebbetzin Dobra, the daughter of R’ Boruch Grossbard.
His grandfather, R’ Boruch Kaplan, was not a Chassid, but he had an affinity for Chassidim and kept a few of their customs.
World War I began when R’ Meilich was a young boy. Many refugees fled from one country to the next to get away from the hostilities. His family was among these refugees. He was only three when his family began wandering from place to place and ended up in the town of Petrovsk. Their financial situation was dismal and the family had to live on the aid provided by the Joint Distribution Committee.
Bands of hooligans traveled among the towns and killed and pillaged anyone they encountered. Most of the victims were Jews, of course. The family fled to a small town called Gradishitz which is near Kremenchug. There too, they were unable to relax due to fear of the wild bands. The family, including young Meilich, suffered from hunger and contagious diseases. After a few years of suffering, the family moved to Krilov which was very near Kremenchug with only the Dnieper River separating them.
His father began running a yeshiva for teenage boys who had learned in Yeshivas Slabodka in Lithuania. However, the Communist Revolution began and the new communist regime closed all the yeshivos, including this one. A short time later, he was appointed the rav of the town.
After things quieted down, R’ Kaplan and his family were asked to return to Poland along with the many other Polish refugees, but it did not work out. R’ Kaplan wanted to move to Eretz Yisroel but the way there was blocked by the communists who forbade leaving Russia. R’ Kaplan still hoped to carry out his dream. He heard about the possibility of traveling to Eretz Yisroel via Baku in distant Azerbaijan. He decided to go to Baku with his family and to smuggle across the border.
Their bags were packed and the family set out on the long journey. They passed through Yekaterinoslav and then, after a long trip, they arrived in Rostov. They spent a few weeks there since he did not have any money with which to continue.
R’ Kaplan, who knew of Chabad, decided to have yechidus with the Rebbe Rayatz and ask him whether to continue the journey to Eretz Yisroel. The Rebbe said no, explaining that people like him, rabbanim and maggidei shiurim, were needed in Russia to strengthen Judaism.
R’ Kaplan still strongly desired to go to Eretz Yisroel despite what the Rebbe said. He went to the train station in Rostov and waited there an entire day. As he stood on line to buy a ticket and was already close to the cashier, a train from Baku entered the station. A Jew from Baku, who had come on this train, saw him standing on line. He went over to him and pulled his sleeve and whispered, “What are you doing? You are endangering your entire family!” He said that any Jew who arrived in Baku was immediately arrested since the authorities had learned about citizens fleeing the country via Baku.
The Kaplan family thus remained in Russia.
TOMCHEI TMIMIM
After a few days, the family returned to Krilov where they discovered that the people had already appointed another rav. In order not to generate dispute, the Kaplan family left immediately.
R’ Kaplan still hoped he could smuggle across the border, this time through Poland, but on the way to the border he heard that that smuggling route was very dangerous. At the same time, he was offered a rabbinic position in Skorodna. Since the escape plan had come to naught, the family settled in Skorodna. For various reasons, a short while later R’ Kaplan became the rav in Norinsk and then in Severov. A year later he returned to his position in Krilov.
Meilich was ready for yeshiva and his father considered where to send him. He knew that the Litvishe yeshivos were unable to counter the communist spirit which prevailed. He considered two yeshivos: the Chafetz Chaim’s yeshiva and Yeshivas Tomchei T’mimim. He finally decided on Lubavitch because, “You can learn Torah even at home, but in order to get a measure of yiras Shamayim you need to go to Lubavitch.”
Meilich went to Tomchei T’mimim despite the doctors’ warnings that the young boy was too weak and fragile to leave home. His son, R’ Nachum, mashpia in Shikun Chabad in Lud, tells of his father’s physical condition after years of suffering and wandering:
“In his youth, my father was thin and very weak. He once said that his fellow T’mimim found it hard to get an exemption from the army, but he did not have to play sick. When he got on the scale at the draft office, the doctors were shocked to see an 18 year old boy weighing only 51 kilograms (=112 pounds). They immediately released him. If that was his weight at 18, he was much weaker at 13.
“That’s why the doctors told his parents they would be doing the wrong thing by sending him away from home. Despite this, since his father raised him to love Torah, he was sent to Tomchei T’mimim in Kremenchug. R’ Kaplan himself went with his son to yeshiva where he was tested by the rosh yeshiva, R’ Yechezkel Himmelstein. Only after his son was accepted into the yeshiva, did his father leave for home.”
HE INSISTED
ON RETURNING
The material circumstances in the yeshiva at that time were particularly poor. For most of the talmidim there was no place to sleep and they had to sleep on benches in the women’s section of the shul where they learned during the day. Food was inadequate. These harsh conditions negatively affected his health from the very beginning. He became sick with malaria and his fever skyrocketed.
His father was a softhearted person and knowing how weak his son was, he returned a few days after putting his son in yeshiva to see how he was. To his dismay, he found his son lying on a bench burning up with fever. He decided to take his son home. On their way, they visited a doctor who said the boy had to rest throughout the summer. When the doctor heard that Meilich was supposed to be learning away from home, he was taken aback. He firmly stated that the boy had to spend a few months resting.
Meilich’s parents were disconsolate over their son not being able to learn in yeshiva. Their heartfelt desire was for their son to grow into a ben Torah. They decided that he would stay home and his father would teach him Torah. Every day, father and son went to a nearby forest where the father taught his son while following the doctor’s orders for him to rest and breathe fresh air.
Learning in the forest did not satisfy Meilich, even though his father was an outstanding scholar. He wanted to return to yeshiva. He said, “I’ve already gotten a taste of yeshiva life and have already experienced what learning with friends is like. At home I have no friends to learn with.” At first, his parents ignored this because they feared for his health, but then they received a letter from R’ Himmelstein, the rosh yeshiva in Kremenchug.
R’ Himmelstein apologized to the parents for not writing to them all summer since he himself wasn’t in the yeshiva due to his weakness and illness. Now, before the winter z’man, he asked that Meilich come to yeshiva and he promised to arrange a place for him to sleep as well as teg (a place for him to eat each day).
After much begging on Meilich’s part, he was sent back to yeshiva. He was in R’ Himmelstein’s shiur. R’ Himmelstein arranged teg for him in the homes of wealthy people and had him sleep in the home of a widow whose sons learned in the yeshiva.
Meilich found these conditions hard at first, even though they were considered quite comfortable, since he was shy and wasn’t used to eating with strangers. But after a while, it became routine. In the meantime, he began learning perek ha’sholei’ach assiduously.
A GOOD INFLUENCE
He learned Nigleh diligently; the hanhala and the talmidim recognized his talents and scholarliness. But he refused to learn Chassidus. He said that he had never heard about Chassidus and his father did not practice Chassidic customs. He did not attend the Tanya shiur along with the other boys. He also refused to change his nusach ha’t’filla and other customs that his father followed. As a result, the boys called him “the Misnaged.”
One day, the hanhala decided to remove him from the widow’s house where he slept since her older son was veering off the derech and had undesirable books in the house. The hanhala was afraid for Meilich and so they informed him that he would no longer be sleeping there. His pleading did not help, nor the reminder of the promise that he would sleep in a comfortable place. He had to get used to sleeping on a bench in the women’s section of the shul again.
A few days later, the hanhala arranged other lodgings for the boy in the home of an old man who lived alone. They had a boy named Heschel Churkin join Meilich since Heschel was older and could supervise him (Heschel was later killed in World War II).
Heschel had a great influence on him and eventually was mekarev him to Chassidus. The very first night, as Meilich prepared to go to bed, Heschel saw him reading the bedtime Shma not according to Chabad nusach. He immediately demanded that he read the Shma in nusach Chabad. Meilich, who had gone to sleep without tzitzis, was given a lecture by his older friend about the spiritual reason to sleep with tzitzis (despite it not being halachically mandatory). Every night, before going to sleep, Heschel would tell him Chassidic tales and slowly draw Meilich into the world of Chassidim.
R’ MEILICH DESCRIBES CHASSIDIC PERSONALITIES
When he learned in Tomchei T’mimim, Meilich met some of the Chassidic greats of that time. Their Chassidic ways made a deep impression on him and this too was mekarev him to the ways of Chassidus. He described some of these stories in his notes:
“When I was in the yeshiva in Kremenchug, I met the Chassid, R’ Itche Masmid for the first time. He made a tremendous impression on me. I remember that he once had yahrtzait and he asked permission from the mashgiach, R’ Dov Koznitzov, to daven for the amud in the minyan of the talmidim. The mashgiach knew what R’ Itche’s t’filla was like and said he agreed on condition that he speed things up so the bachurim would not lose time from learning. R’ Itche promised to daven quickly.
“I remember his davening which, even though it was relatively quick, made a huge impression on me. When he got up to the blessings of the Shma, we suddenly saw that the chazan had disappeared from the amud. R’ Itche was standing next to the southern wall of the beis midrash, his hands raised high, and you could see that he was completely removed from all matters of this world and had no idea where he was. When I saw him, a great dread fell upon me. We did not know what to do until the mashgiach went over to him and grabbed him by his hands. He was slowly drawn back to the amud where he continued davening.
“I also remember the Yud-Tes Kislev farbrengen with R’ Himmelstein. We heard a maamer from him and although I did not understand any of it, I saw the tremendous d’veikus on his face. I heard his pleasant voice which inspired our hearts and saw the hiskashrus of the people who stood around him to hear the divrei Elokim chaim. All these made a powerful impression which will never be erased from my memory.
“No less than that are engraved in my heart the heartfelt t’fillos of the Chassid, R’ Shmuel Leib Levin (Shmuel Leib Paritcher, one of the Rebbe Rashab’s chozrim). He was a great oved Hashem and spent a long time on his davening in a sweet voice and an outpouring of his heart. We had tremendous love from the innermost depths of the soul toward the menahel of the yeshiva, R’ Yisroel Noach Blinitzky who, with his elevated character and with his complete self-negation, made a tremendous impression on us all.
“I spent the winter of 5687 receiving a Chassidishe chinuch and being influenced by noble Chassidic figures.”
“IF ONLY I WAS IN YESHIVA”
As Nissan approached, many of the talmidim prepared to go home. R’ Meilich also decided to visit home after being in yeshiva for six months.
He was home for Pesach and after Pesach fell sick. The doctor who came to see him warned his father to watch over his son’s health and forbade him to send Meilich away from home to study. He said the boy must relax.
Having no choice, it was decided that Meilich would spend summer at home again and learn with his father in the nearby forest. This decision remained a bitter memory for his entire life as he later wrote:
“I stayed home. Since then, my heart aches when I recall that summer the Rebbe was arrested and I had no idea, being at home. If I had been in yeshiva, I would surely have visited the Rebbe in Leningrad because nearly all my friends went there for Rosh HaShana.”
In Sivan of that year, the Rebbe was arrested and on 12 Tammuz he was released and went to live in Malchovka temporarily. The Rebbe left the Soviet Union right after Simchas Torah. When R’ Meilich returned to yeshiva after the Yomim Tovim, he heard all about the arrest and release and about the Rebbe’s departing the country and he was heartbroken.
After the summer, R’ Meilich continued his studies in Tomchei T’mimim in Polotzk, which is where the talmidim from Kremenchug had moved. The communists stepped up their persecution of religious Jews, especially the “Schneersohns.” The various branches of Tomchei T’mimim were their targets which is why the talmidim moved from city to city.
R’ Shlomo Chaim Kesselman was the mashgiach in the branch in Polotzk. He later taught with R’ Meilich in Tomchei T’mimim in Lud. There were about forty talmidim in the yeshiva. R’ Meilich wrote in his memoirs that the yeshiva was very organized and most of the talmidim were outstanding in their learning.
At night he slept in the home of the shochet, R’ Shmerel Flagrin. R’ Shmerel was a unique type of Chassid who made a tremendous impression on R’ Meilich:
“He was a consummate yerei Shamayim. Every conversation was in measured words so he would not, G-d forbid, say anything forbidden. I never heard him say a negative word about anyone. Actually, Shmerel never spoke about others.
“He would say: We need to praise others and disparage ourselves. He was an incomparable baal middos tovos (person of excellent character). When he was sick, one of the talmidim of the yeshiva took care of him like his son. They said that one time his wife had new galoshes made for him. He was walking down the street in the winter and saw a poor man with torn shoes and he immediately took off his new rubbers and gave them to the poor man.
“He spent a long time davening, especially on Shabbos. He washed for bread late in the day and it was interesting to see how he washed his hands for the meal. First, he would take a large cup that could hold a lot of water. He needed a lot of water and since they drew water from the well that was at a distance, he did not want to bother someone else for this. So he brought water from the well himself.
“Then he would stand and examine his hands to make sure they were clean. This took a long time. He would check again and again. Then, when he got up to the actual washing and the bracha, I have no words to describe this… Whoever saw him doing this realized how punctilious in mitzvos he was. The same with Birkas HaMazon and with the bedtime Shma. All this made a strong impression on me.”
WANDERING
In Polotzk, Meilich began learning Tanya properly for the first time in his life. This was thanks to the wonderful explanations given by R’ Kesselman.
“From him I learned what avoda p’nimis is. Only then did I start to understand a little of what Chassidus is about.”
The material circumstances were pitiable. The bachurim who came from homes with money rented lodgings for themselves. Those who did not have money ate teg. While in Polotzk, R’ Meilich was no longer hosted by wealthy people as before, and he sometimes had to walk a great distance in the freezing cold in order to satisfy his hunger with a meager supper; sometimes he forwent even that.
From Polotzk he went to Tomchei T’mimim in Nevel where he heard shiurim from the rosh yeshiva, R’ Yehuda Eber. For a while he was under the guidance of the mashpia R’ Mendel Futerfas, who was just a few years older than him.
In the winter of 5689 the yeshiva in Nevel was closed and the bachurim scattered to various cities throughout the Soviet Union. R’ Meilich together with his friends went to Yekaterinoslav where R’ Levi Yitzchok Schneersohn was the rav.
IN THE SHADOW OF GREATNESS
While in Yekaterinoslav, he was very close with R’ Levi Yitzchok and he often heard Chassidus from him. R’ Meilich said that once, at a farbrengen, R’ Levi Yitzchok told a story about the Alter Rebbe. He began by explaining the simple meaning of the story and then explained it according to Chassidus, delving deeply until he gave deep explanations according to Kabbala.
The Rebbe’s father would often interpret the names of participants according to Kabbala. He once explained R’ Meilich’s nickname “der Shvartzer” (which he was called because of his dark skin), “Your name is Meilich der Shvartzer and the verse says, ‘I am black and beautiful.’” And he went on to explain the status of Knesses Yisroel in exile according to Kabbala and Chassidus.
The persecution by the communist government forced the rabbanim to act warily. R’ Meilich said that the 15 Shevat drasha that was given on Shabbos by R’ Levi Yitzchok in 5792 was said with exceeding cleverness.
It was announced in advance that on Shabbos the rav would deliver a sermon in the shul. The congregants all waited expectantly to hear what he would say since he usually did not give drashos.
The rav delivered the entire drasha in allusions and those who “got it,” “got it.”
“Outside in the street it is very cold now and you can’t go out without a coat. All the trees are bare and have no fruit and yet, we still celebrate the Rosh HaShana of trees because in Eretz Yisroel the trees have started to blossom.”
The message was clear. In the street there is a coldness for everything Jewish but despite it all, in Eretz Yisroel the trees are blossoming. So they should be encouraged and continue to strengthen their observance of mitzvos.
Once R’ Levik took him along to immerse in the river. He said that he saw R’ Levik take off his clothes and remain with just a long shirt and a large yarmulke. The rav stood near the river and thought for a long time. Then, with great enthusiasm, he removed the shirt and yarmulke and quickly immersed three times. He put on the shirt and yarmulke and stood there lost in thought for a long time. The scene repeated itself with his immersing three times with great enthusiasm. The scene took place a third time and only then did he return home with R’ Meilich.
The persecution and suffering were the constant lot of the bachurim and the rabbanim. In 5692 his father was arrested for a brief period of time.
While R’ Meilich learned in Yekaterinoslav his father went to visit him and was also happy to meet with R’ Levi Yitzchok. They already knew one another from the meeting of rabbanim in Korostin.
TRAP
From Yekaterinoslav, R’ Meilich went to distant Georgia where he and some other bachurim settled in Sachkhere. The bachurim continued learning in the relative quiet there.
Some time later, they heard about the possibility of smuggling across the border from Georgia to Turkey and from there it wasn’t far to Eretz Yisroel. He and his friends negotiated with professional smugglers. After agreeing on a deal the bachurim planned for the fateful night.
A few days before Pesach 1933, twenty-three Jews gathered in Batum, Georgia. They came from all over Georgia and Uzbekistan. Some of them were T’mimim. This city was just ten kilometers away from Turkey.
The group and the smugglers had agreed upon a password. Upon hearing it, they were supposed to start crossing the border. They heard the password and the group began walking quickly toward the border, but within minutes they were shocked to see secret police agents closing in on them from all sides. They realized they had fallen into a police trap.
To be continued