FROM BEIT SHE'AN TO CONEY ISLAND

In recent years, we have seen an enormous number of miracles from the Rebbe to the point that sometimes we don’t even appreciate them. Like the Mitteler Rebbe’s daughter said, “By my father, miracles rolled about and nobody wanted to pick them up.” But occasionally we come across a miracle story that is so incredible that even we, who are used to miracles, go crazy over it.

By Shneur Zalman Shmuelevitz

It was Lag B’Omer of this year when I went with some friends to the Chabad House in the area of Coney Island which is run by R’ Roi Shemesh. We went to help him arrange his big Lag B’Omer event. There were dozens of mekuravim, and in addition to the bonfire and dancing “Bar Yochai,” we set up a stand where you could write to the Rebbe, similar to what’s done very successfully in Miron.

Nearly every Jew who comes and asks for a bracha received a clear answer from the Rebbe, but as mentioned above, we’re used to this and we are not as amazed as the mekuravim by the precise answers they open to in the Igros Kodesh. Then came Yaakov, a young, dynamic businessman, who brought along a friend, a business partner. They wanted to ask the Rebbe for advice and a bracha in a number of areas and since he did not think it was realistic to expect one letter to have the answer to all his queries, he wanted to write each question separately.

I told him that just like the Rebbe can answer his first question, he can also answer the other questions, but he preferred asking for a bracha for the first, and most important, issue, in a separate letter.

He said that he was in business in the United States for ten years but now he wanted to open a new business in New York, a big project that would change their lives. He would have to move to live nearby. Since this was a major decision, he wanted the Rebbe’s bracha.

BRACHOS FOR THE SECRET PROJECT IN MONTREAL

After making the appropriate preparations, he wrote to the Rebbe and opened volume fifteen to pages 184-5. I started reading the letter on the first page which was addressed to the hanhala of Tzach, the branch in Montreal. “About establishing and running a day camp,” the letter begins, and continues with instructions and brachos for the opening of the camp. I explained to them this was a letter of blessings upon the founding of a new mosad in Montreal.

The two businessmen looked at one another in amazement and they said to me: The project we told you about is top secret and we were so nervous about word getting out before we were ready that we did not want to tell you where we are really planning on making it. We said New York, but we are really planning on opening in Montreal. We are amazed that not only does the Rebbe bless our new project but he also states the city where it will be!

They said they had been working on this project for a long time and had just had a meeting with potential partners. The contract was ready and all that was needed was their signature but they did not want to move ahead until receiving the Rebbe’s bracha.

Now, after receiving the Rebbe’s bracha, they immediately called their colleagues and told them they would meet that day and sign the contract.

After they calmed down a bit, I read to them the continuation of the letter where the Rebbe writes to the directors of the new camp in Montreal: “Surely you are in touch with those involved in the Lag B’Omer parade here in order to verify future activities and learn from one another based on past experiences.”

Their amazement reached new levels for we were sitting at a Lag B’Omer celebration and the Rebbe connected this to the success of the mosad in Montreal!

THE PSYCHOLOGIST POINTS OUT THE PROBLEM AND THE REBBE OFFERS A SOLUTION

After I finished reading the letter, I said that at the top of the page was the end of another letter that began with one line on the previous page. I began reading it: “In response to your letter with the enclosed, the opinion of the doctor about your son… Continue the recommended treatment and perhaps it is worthwhile pointing out to the doctor that seemingly, based on what is explained, the reason for his state of mind, it would be highly effective if they came up with opportunities for him to help those weaker than him, to be their leader or counselor like at Mesibos Shabbos etc. which would increase his belief in himself etc.

As I read this to them, I suddenly saw that the businessman was crying. When I finished reading the letter he said to me emotionally: That is a clear answer about the second thing I wanted a bracha for.

With increasing intensity he told me that in the morning his wife called and said that due to social problems their son was experiencing in school, he was sent for a psychological evaluation. The diagnosis was very troubling.

He wanted a bracha from the Rebbe and here, the Rebbe was writing to him about the doctor’s opinion about his son and giving him practical advice about how to improve his condition through social activities in which he would be a leader.

THE THIRD LETTER – ANSWER TO THE THIRD ISSUE

I thought we had reached the limit of amazing answers for the day but when I began reading the third letter which appears on that double spread of pages, the businessman could not get over it. This is what the Rebbe writes: “In response to your informing me about your son Yisroel Yitzchok becoming bar mitzva, may it be Hashem’s will that from thirteen-the age of mitzvos, he goes to fifteen, etc. as the Mishna (Avos 5) states, and increase his diligence in his learning of Nigleh and Chassidus and be punctilious in mitzva observance. And may Hashem grant him success in being a Chassid, yerei Shamayim, and lamdan, and that you and your wife have much Chassidishe nachas from him and all your children.

“With blessings for good news also about the expansion, to the extent necessary, in quantity and quality in Chassidus classes which divine providence has given you the merit to teach publicly, and there is nothing that stands in the way of one’s will. Kabbalas ha’Torah with simcha and p’nimius.”

As I read the letter, a seemingly standard letter of blessing for a bar mitzva, the businessman’s jaw dropped. He said, “It’s unbelievable! What’s going on here is extraordinary; with this letter, the Rebbe is responding to the third question I wanted to ask!”

After he calmed down, he told me that his older son, fifteen years old, was learning in a yeshiva high school and was taking an interest in Chabad Chassidus. He was spending time learning Chassidus and had even said he wanted to switch to a Chabad yeshiva. He and his wife did not know how to respond and did not understand why they needed to look for a new path in life.

Since the topic was on his mind, he wanted to ask the Rebbe about it. Although the Rebbe’s letter was addressed to a bar mitzva boy, there was explicit reference to a fifteen-year-old too. The Rebbe goes on to say that he should learn diligently, both Nigleh and Chassidus. The man took this to mean that the Rebbe looked favorably at his son’s interest in Chassidus and not only that but at the end of the letter, the Rebbe promises that he and his wife should have much Chassidishe nachas from him and all their children. What more could one need than that?

CLOSURE

I finished reading the last letter and asked – do you have any more questions?

Yaakov said emotionally: Boruch Hashem, I got answers to all my questions.

I thought that was all for the evening and was about to say goodbye when he asked, “What’s your name?”

“Shneur,” I said.

“And your last name?”

“Shmuelevitz,” I said, and then could not understand why he was hugging me and starting to cry.

He finally recovered and asked, “You’re the son of R’ Yaakov a”h?” [a longtime columnist in Beis Moshiach until his tragic demise at the age of 50].

“Yes,” I said. “What’s your connection to him?”

“You should know that our meeting here is an incredible closure,” he exclaimed.

We sat down at the table and he told me that he is from Beit Shaan and his family history is intertwined with the shlichus work of my father a”h.

“Since your father came to Beit Shaan, he lived opposite my parents. Our families became friends, and as a child I attended all your father’s Chabad activities – Mesibos Shabbos, camp, Tahalucha, everything. Until today, I know the p’sukim by heart.

“Your father instilled this idea that whenever we need a bracha or advice, we need to ask the Rebbe. Today, when I came to sign the contract, I remembered your father and his stories about the Rebbe’s brachos. I decided to delay signing the contract and look for a Chabad House in the area so I could write to the Rebbe and ask for his bracha.

“Since I arrived here, I don’t know why, but I see your father in my mind’s eye. I am speaking to you and it’s like I’m hearing R’ Yaakov. I didn’t know what this is about, but now it’s all clear.”

What began in Beit Shaan was concluded at Chabad at Coney Island.