MODEL OF A CHASSIDIC ACTIVIST

The Chassid who had connections with everyone. The Chassid who did not have to ask for appointments to meet with heads of state. The Chassid whom the Rebbe Rayatz promised “Imi b’mechitzasi,” and the Rebbe cried when he said that he was farbrenging now in Gan Eden. • For his passing on 9 Iyar 5723.

The Chassid R’ Pinchas Todros Altheus was born on 4 Kislev 5658/1897 in Nikolayev. His father was R’ Binyanim and his brother was Eliyahu Chaim. He went to learn in Yeshivas Tomchei T’mimim in Lubavitch even before he became bar mitzva.

After he married, he lived in Leningrad, served as gabbai in the minyan in the home of the Rebbe Rayatz, and carried out assignments for him, mainly through the Joint. In one of his letters, the Rebbe Rayatz instructed that a letter be sent on his behalf to the address of P. Altheus. “It is a pleasure to work with him,” said the Rebbe Rayatz. When his friend, R’ Eliezer Karasik, was incarcerated in Leningrad, he worked to have him released.

He made aliya on 16 Cheshvan 5697/1936 and settled in Tel Aviv. After a short while, he was appointed as director of the office that sent packages to Russia, which was run by R’ Eliezer Karasik, R’ Berel Chaskind, and the brothers R’ Moshe and R’ Shmerel Gurary. After the office downsized, he supported himself for a while from a small cigarette kiosk.

In 1944, he was appointed secretary of Aguch. He tirelessly helped establish and develop Chabad mosdos. He was mekarev senior public figures to Chabad, including many who came to daven and to attend farbrengens in the Nachalat Binyamin shul in Tel Aviv, mainly on holidays and special occasions.

He passed away on Friday, 9 Iyar, 1963.

A SMALL BOY LIKE ONE OF THE BIG MEKURAVIM

On 19 Kislev 5685 or 5686, the Rebbe Rayatz told how his father took pidyonos (written requests for prayers and blessings from Chassid to Rebbe). The Rebbe did not take pidyonos in the same way from everyone. From some Chassidim he took it with his hand; with others, between his fingers. The Rebbe said to Pinye Altheus:

From you, although you were still a little boy, he took the pidyon as he did from the mekuravim, between his fingers [here the Rebbe demonstrated how his father took the pa”n]. This is something for you to contemplate for your entire life, “and not just you, but the entire ‘otriad’ [Russian – military unit], because you are the ‘natchalnik otriada’ [Russian – unit leader].”

DURING THE INCARCERATION OF THE REBBE RAYATZ

Pinye Altheus’ love and devotion to the Rebbe were boundless. This was true any day of the year, under any circumstance; all the more so in a time of distress such as when the Rebbe Rayatz was arrested on 15 Sivan 5687/1927.

During the Rebbe Rayatz’ imprisonment, he sat all day in the Rebbe’s home. On 12 Tammuz 5687, when the Rebbe was released, Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka called and announced the good news. R’ Pinye and the other Chassidim in the house danced and continued dancing all night.

During the imprisonment, the Chassidim received information about the Rebbe’s condition. This news came through the father of the GPU agent, Nachmanson, who was a former Chassid himself. Before Gimmel Tammuz, he informed them that they would soon be sending the Rebbe to exile in Kostrama.

There were train stations in Leningrad, and the mekuravim of the Rebbe split up to wait at the various stations. Since they did not know precisely which day the Rebbe would arrive, they waited for several days, including Shabbos before the davening.

On one of these days, Pinye waited at a train station with his uncle, R’ Eliyahu Chaim Altheus. His uncle suddenly though he noticed the Rebbe through the window of one of the train cars and he exclaimed, “There’s the Rebbe!”

Pinye did not see the Rebbe, for the Rebbe wasn’t on the train which was traveling toward the border with Finland, the other side of Russia. However, when his uncle exclaimed, he didn’t think twice, but ran over to the train and jumped on board. It was only after the train began moving that he discovered that the Rebbe was not on it.

Upon his release, the Rebbe stayed in Malachovka, a suburb near Moscow. The Rebbe said, “Leningrad arrested me; Moscow released me.” It was only after it was decided that he would leave Russia that the Rebbe traveled to Leningrad. When he was there, the Rebbe told Pinye he wanted to immerse himself. Pinye ran outside to get a taxi to take them to the nearby river.

On their way, the Rebbe was serious and lost in thought. On the way back, the Rebbe was in uplifted spirits and he spoke about his imprisonment. Pinye asked the Rebbe, “What will be with us Chassidim with the Rebbe leaving Russia?”

The Rebbe said, “I thought about my leaving Russia in great detail and I didn’t reach a final decision until I was at the Ohel. Just as Hashem leads me in a supernatural manner, the same is true for my people, that He leads them in a supernatural manner. Hashem will help and we will yet meet.”

The bracha was fulfilled and Pinye spent two months with the Rebbe Rayatz at the beginning of 5710.

PUBLIC SERVICE

This is not the place to go into detail about all the roles and jobs in which Pinye was involved. We will only dwell on a number of them.

On the heavily burdened shoulders of the secretary of Aguch rested several additional responsibilities, such as being member of the financial committee of Yeshivas Achei T’mimim in Tel Aviv for which he had to fundraise. In a letter dated 10 Iyar 5704, the Rebbe Rayatz said new members should be appointed to Aguch, to the Vaad (committee) of Aguch, whose job it was to take an interest in the material and spiritual state of every Lubavitcher in Eretz Yisroel. Among the new appointees, the Rebbe said Pinye Altheus should be appointed as secretary of Aguch. “As in every mosad where the secretary is the main person and upon him rests the fate of the mosad,” wrote the Rebbe to Aguch on 19 Av, four months later. The Rebbe said he should be paid a salary of 20-25 liras, so that he would be able to devote himself to the work without parnasa worries. The Rebbe stressed that “the secretary must be devoted to his spiritual work as well as material work, to be involved in the material state of each of Anash.”

From that day, until his untimely passing, Pinye threw his lot in with building up Chabad in Eretz Yisroel, in the building of the mosdos and in aiding fellow Chassidim. He used his rare natural charm that lead to his many connections in order to expand the Rebbe’s mosdos, starting with the biggest project, building and expanding Kfar Chabad, a job to which the Rebbe Rayatz appointed him as menahel.

BUILDING KFAR CHABAD

In 5709, Rashag went to Eretz Yisroel. One of his tasks assigned to him by the Rebbe Rayatz was to help found Kfar Chabad. The members of Aguch were enlisted to help him, and R’ Karasik along with Pinye Altheus worked hard to find a suitable place until they decided on the ruins of the Arab village of Safraya.

As mentioned earlier, Pinye Altheus spent two months in 770 with the Rebbe Rayatz, during which he had several private audiences. He was given instructions regarding Kfar Chabad. The Rebbe appointed him as menahel of the Vaad HaKfar alongside the head of the Vaad, R’ Eliezer Karasik. The Rebbe told him to go to France in order to meet with Anash there, to farbreng with them and to tell them about the new village.

Everything having to do with the Kfar went through him. You need electricity? Pinye will run to meet with members of the electric company. You need new apartments? Pinye will arrange it. The Rebbe wants a seminary for girls? Pinye will get to work.

His connections with numerous people are known, and surely the residents of Kfar Chabad remember the many official visits, such as the visit of all the members of the Working Committee of the Jewish Agency. Many buildings and mosdos in Kfar Chabad were built thanks to him. He was an unusual personality, and more than that, he loved to do favors for anyone.

When the large waves of immigration began after the establishment of the State, Prime Minister Ben-Gurion gave Levi Eshkol (later prime minister himself) the important job of heading the Housing Department.

At first, tens of thousands of people who had been exiled to Cyprus arrived. Then the Jews from Yemen, Iraq, North Africa, Bulgaria, etc. came. Eshkol divided the country into sections, each of which was a new yishuv. Pinye was one of the first to ask for one of these sections. He wanted to found a Lubavitcher settlement.

Pinye had a nice appearance. As Eshkol put it after some meetings, “A sheiner Yid.” He didn’t give up until he got what he wanted. He wanted 100 farming lots with each house being 84 square meters. The usual houses approved at the time for construction were only 62 square meters, but he wanted larger houses. Eshkol responded to all his requests by saying there wasn’t enough in the budget, and he went and got money from other sources. He never gave up when he set out to get something done. Thanks to his work, the houses in Kfar Chabad were bigger than others.

The one who influenced Eshkol along with R’ Pinye was Shneur Zalman Shazar. Eshkol did not like this intrusion and said he would take care of things with Pinye alone, but Shazar did not leave him alone.

Another person who gave his support was the Agricultural Minister at the time, Kaddish Luz. The triumvirate – Shazar, Eshkol, and Luz – gave full support to his entire work. He used all means at his disposal to found Kfar Chabad.

FRIEND OF BEIS REBBI

Once a week, a quartet of Chassidim met in a basement restaurant in Tel Aviv. The two bearded ones, who talked in Yiddish with the other two, were old friends. After they ate (giving the animal soul its due), the four of them went to the Nachalat Binyamin shul where they sat and learn Chassidus.

The quartet included the mashpia, R’ Nachum Goldschmidt; Pinye Altheus; Avrohom Dov Shalonski, a childhood friend of the Rebbe; and the Rebbe’s brother, R’ Yisroel Aryeh Leib.

The relationship with R’ Yisroel Aryeh Leib lasted until his passing in London. When the Rebbe left his mother’s home the first night after hearing the news, he saw Pinye’s son Binyamin, who was a bachur learning in 770 at the time. The Rebbe called him over and told him to call home and say that the Rebbe’s mother did not know of the passing of her son and they should not say a word to her about it. R’ Pinye arranged for the funeral and burial of the Rebbe’s brother.

Over the years, Pinye went to the Rebbe a number of times in the month of Tishrei. One year, he arranged for Kiddush to be made before hakafos at Rebbetzin Chana’s house. This arrangement lasted for a few years. When the Rebbe heard about it, he thanked him and said, “If I knew about this earlier, I would have started my farbrengens later.”

That year, the Rebbe began the farbrengen at the designated time with a niggun. After they finished singing the first niggun, the Rebbe began another niggun, and another one, until a half hour went by and he saw Pinye coming back from his mother’s house. Then the Rebbe began saying the first sicha.

SHADCHANUS MONEY

Pinye flew to the Rebbe on 18 Kislev, 5714. The official reason was to attend his son’s wedding. The practical reason was to fundraise for the yeshiva, for which reason he also went to Chicago, Boston, and other towns. The real reason was to be with the Rebbe.

On the Shabbos of the oifruf, Parshas VaYeishev, Pinye knocked on the Rebbe’s door after the davening. When the Rebbe opened the door, Pinye said that he had come to demand shadchanus [matchmaking dues]. His father R’ Binyamin had been the Rebbe and Rebbetzin’s official shadchan.

“What would you like?” asked the Rebbe.

“That the Rebbe come out and farbreng,” said Pinye.

The Rebbe went out to farbreng at the oifruf for a few hours.

OUTSTANDING SINGER

R’ Pinye was known as an outstanding singer. When he sang, people would stop what they were doing in order to listen to him. His sweet voice and the deep emotion with which he sang niggunim melted people’s hearts. “Pinye sings with zei’er Chassidishe osiyos (lit. very Chassidic letters),” the Rebbe Rayatz once said to his daughter.

During Tishrei 5718/1957, the Rebbe asked him to sing a song of Eretz Yisroel, but he said he did not know niggunim from Eretz Yisroel, just from Lubavitch. “Sing something from Lubavitch,” said the Rebbe, and Pinye sang, “Tiku BaChodesh.”

On another occasion, Pinye sang the Hakafos Niggun on Simchas Torah. The Rebbe asked him for the source of the niggun and Pinye said that he heard from the Rebbe’s father that this niggun was sung by the Alter Rebbe on Simchas Torah. The Rebbe said he hadn’t heard that, but afterward Pinye consulted the Rebbe’s mother, who affirmed that this niggun was sung at hakafos by the Alter Rebbe.

On Shavuos 5720/1960, Pinye sang a new niggun for the Rebbe, “V’Harikosi LaChem Bracha.” On 12 Tammuz of that year, the Rebbe told his son Binyamin to sing this niggun “like your father sang it.”

PINYE, SAY L’CHAIM

Two weeks before he died, Pinye sat at a Seudas Moshiach in Nachalat Binyamin. The meal went on long after Yom Tov was over. It was getting late, but Pinye continued sitting with his good friend Nachum Goldschmidt, and they farbrenged without looking at the clock. Someone suggested that they end the farbrengen, but Pinye did not agree, as though he sensed it would be his last farbrengen.

Friday morning, 9 Iyar 5723: In the morning, he still managed to take care of a certain matter to assist one of Anash, and his plan was to meet with two public figures in the afternoon at a hotel in Tel Aviv. In the meantime, he went home in order to rest, and then his heart stopped.

Since he had expressed his wish to be buried in the holy city of Tzfat, they carried out his wishes despite the approach of Shabbos. He was buried right before Shabbos began. The mashpia R’ Shlomo Chaim Kesselman said they should announce at the funeral that the Rebbe Rayatz promised him, “Imi b’mechitzasi” (lit. with me in my domain).

DO YOU WANT ME TO CREATE A PERSON?

We see how the Rebbe appreciated Pinye’s tremendous accomplishments and what a chalal [the Rebbe used this term, meaning void] remained after he was gone, from the following story. After Shazar was elected President of Israel, the Rebbe said to Rashag, “I don’t know what will become of Inyanei Chabad. Until now, when they lacked chickens in Kfar Chabad, they called Shazar at the Jewish Agency and they got chickens. Now, I don’t know what will be …”

Rashag told the Rebbe that they just needed to find the right go-between. Pinye had died a few weeks earlier. The Rebbe said, “What do you want – that I should look into the Seifer Yetzira and create a person?!”

PINYE IS SINGING IN THE WORLD OF TRUTH

At the 12 Tammuz 5723 farbrengen, a few months after his passing, the Rebbe cried as he said, “One of the people who had a share in the Geula of 12-13 Tammuz, as far as the efforts and activities carried out, was Pinye. Due to the closeness he had with the Rebbe, the Baal HaSimcha V’HaGeula, no doubt he is also farbrenging now at the farbrengen of 12-13 Tammuz.

“Since we have his niggun, ‘V’Harikosi LaChem Bracha,’ which he was wont to sing, and since there are probably people here who know the niggun, sing ‘V’Harikosi LaChem Bracha,’ and he will probably join in.”

The Rebbe, who put his hand on the microphone, can be heard softly singing Pinye’s niggun on the recordings made of that farbrengen.

After Pinye’s passing, a new wing of the yeshiva in Kfar Chabad was built and called Beis Pinchas. The Rebbe was involved in the details of the construction, and asked that there be a committee to put up the wing that would be comprised not only of Anash but also of public figures who knew him.