THE AMAZING PRINTING PLATES

A businessman who asked for the printing of a Tanya received instructions from the Rebbe to use the meticulously accurate printing plates prepared by Rabbi Sholom Jacobson. They had been made with great toil and effort by a printer in New Jersey, and they were placed in the cockpit of an airliner and sent to the airport in Frankfurt, Germany. From there, they were transferred to the Lufthansa offices in South Africa and taken for safekeeping at a local Chabad House. A dramatic 3 a.m. phone call brought the printing plates back to the center of attention, and ten years after the story began, Rabbi Jacobson met the child who had been restored to life in the merit of the Tanya printing.

Translated by Michoel Leib Dobry

The following amazing miracle story, which concluded with its own unique and moving brand of the “closing of a circle,” was told by Rabbi Sholom Jacobson, member of Va’ad L’Hafatzas Sichos, who was placed in charge of Tanya printings across the globe:

The chassid, R’ Fishel Katz, is a well-known personality in the diamond industry. As part of his business activities, he would travel to numerous countries all over the world. As a Chassid, he used these journeys to spread Yiddishkait, including the fulfillment of the Rebbe’s instructions to print Tanyas in various locations worldwide. He had printed copies of the Tanya in Beijing, China, in the southern African nation of Zimbabwe, and other nations where no Chabad Chassid had previously been.

One day, the telephone rang in the offices of Va’ad L’Hafatzas Sichos, and R’ Fishel was on the line. He told me that he was planning to travel to Africa and he wanted to print a Tanya there. He added that he had written to the Rebbe about this, and the reply he received was: “He can print where he travels, but on the condition that he takes everything from here…”

“So how can I help you?” I asked him.

“Please give me the plates, the slides, and everything else required for an orderly printing,” he said. I knew exactly what he meant.

He was referring to the equipment used for Tanya printings. I had invested considerably in the equipment’s high quality to produce as clear and precise a printing job as possible. The equipment actually belonged to a printer living in New Jersey with whom we worked on a regular basis.

“As much as I would like to help, I simply can’t give you these valuable articles,” I told him. I added that the equipment was not only an extremely expensive and one-of-a-kind set, it also did not belong to me – it was the property of the printer.

R’ Fishel would not relent. “But the Rebbe instructed me to take everything from here,” he said. Against such a claim I could make no argument. I went into the mazkirus and clarified with Rabbi Leibel Groner that the Rebbe indeed had said – “he takes everything from here.”

I immediately called R’ Fishel and informed him that the matter would be handled in accordance with the Rebbe’s instructions. I called a resident of Crown Heights who worked in New Jersey, where the printing press was located, and I asked him to bring the equipment home with him.

In the meantime, I received a phone call from R’ Fishel with an update. He said that he had changed his plans and he wouldn’t be going via Kennedy Airport.

“So how exactly are you planning to have the equipment reach you?” I asked him apprehensively. In his customarily calm demeanor, he replied, “I’ll be traveling with Lufthansa Airlines, and my flight is due to make a stopover in Germany. Go to Kennedy Airport and speak with one of the stewardesses or a pilot flying to Frankfurt. Ask one of them to take the equipment with them and I’ll be able to pick it up from there.”

“R’ Fishel, what are you saying? This is a large and bulky package. It’s simply impossible to place it inside a small carry-on!”

“Don’t worry, they have plenty of room in the cockpit,” he replied with inexplicable self-confidence.

“Have you lost your mind?” I cried.

But he remained completely unruffled. “Don’t worry; that’s what I always do with the diamonds…”

It all worked out in the end, and just as he had suggested, the equipment found its way into the cockpit of a flight heading for Frankfurt.

Then, just as it appeared that everything was fine, I got a phone call from R’ Fishel for the umpteenth time. Once again, his plans had taken a surprising turn: “Don’t ask what happened; in the end, my plane landed in Munich instead of Frankfurt!”

I gasped. “What about the Tanya? The Gentiles will throw it out when they come to clean the airplane,” I said in a panic. R’ Fishel quickly reassured me. “Don’t worry. The printing equipment is at one of the counters at the Frankfurt airport…”

I felt that I was about to lose the valuable Tanya printing set in which I had invested so much time and energy. “R’ Fishel, what have you done to me? I beg of you: This is the best copy of the Tanya available and there are no additional sets. Have mercy on me. The Rebbe said that you should take everything from here, but he didn’t say to leave it on an airport counter…”

“All right, don’t worry, don’t worry, I’ll take care of it,” R’ Fishel said in his usual soothing voice.

He called the Lufthansa offices where they already knew him from his business affairs. He arranged to place the printing equipment on a flight for South Africa, where his brother-in-law, one of the Rebbe’s shluchim in that country, would pick it up.

Finally, after a nerve-wracking delay of two days, the long-awaited telephone call came. I received word that everything had reached the appointed destination and the equipment was being safely kept at the Chabad House in Johannesburg, South Africa. The Tanya printing would now take place – as soon as R’ Fishel arrived.    

However, as expected, considering what had transpired up until then, R’ Fishel suddenly cancelled his trip to the African nation where he had prepared to print a Tanya. It would be postponed until an undetermined and much later date. At the very least, I arranged for the plates and slides to be placed in a safe location.

Several years passed. Nothing was done, no progress was made, and the equipment continued to collect dust in the Johannesburg Chabad House…

When it became clear that this valuable equipment was not coming back to me so fast, I began preparing a new set of equipment for additional Tanya printings.

A TELEPHONE CALL AT THREE O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING

One night, at three o’clock in the morning, I received a telephone call from a Jew speaking from the South African capital of Pretoria. The man on the line identified himself as a Chabad businessman speaking for a woman in his community who was expecting a baby. The doctors had said that the fetus was no longer alive and it was poisoning the mother’s blood. As a result, they were recommending an immediate operation. Naturally, the family asked the Rebbe what to do, and the Rebbe replied: “They should immediately begin preparations for the printing of a Tanya in their city.” Since I was very involved with printing editions of the Tanya, he was turning to me. He wanted to know what to do, how does one start printing a Tanya?

The Rebbe’s answer – “immediately begin preparations” was not typical. After thinking for a few minutes, it suddenly hit me: The slides were still in Johannesburg, South Africa! I immediately gave him the address where the slides and plates were located, and I told him, “Make certain that the material reaches the printer, and you’ll have already have done more than half the job…”

The conversation ended, yet due to the importance and urgency of the matter, I didn’t even have the chance to ask with whom I had been speaking…

A CLOSING OF THE CIRCLE AFTER TEN YEARS

In 5756, one of my students from Machon Chana got married. Her parents were people of considerable financial means living in South Africa. She had become closely connected with Chassidus, the classes on Moshiach and the Redemption, etc. She invited me to her wedding, scheduled to take place in South Africa during the week of Purim. While I was very pleased to receive her invitation, I informed her that it would be difficult for me to leave my home in the days right before the holiday.

She was a young woman of tremendous initiative. “You must come,” she said as she added a little surprise for me. “I have arranged a series of lectures on Moshiach and the Redemption for you. The community in South Africa is thirsting to hear about this subject, and there’s no one there who can speak about it. As far as the expenses are concerned, I’m paying for everything.” There was no way that I could turn down such an offer, and I happily agreed to attend.

The trip was a great success – beyond all expectations! Three lectures took place each day. As soon as I landed at the airport, they took me to the local yeshiva where I gave over a class. From there we proceeded to the home of a local Anash family for a gathering of Chabad supporters. Every day was filled with activity. Even on the day of my return trip, I was invited to speak at a large party held for the community. At the conclusion of my speech, I headed straight for the airport.

Naturally, I also participated in my former student’s wedding, a joyous event conducted in a most Chassidic atmosphere. She made certain that men and women were completely separated during the wedding celebration and you could clearly see the long journey this girl had made in her Jewish life.

The Shabbos ‘Sheva Brachos’ took place in Pretoria, where I spoke in a synagogue before a Friday night congregation of three hundred people. After the lecture, people approached me to shake hands, thanked me for coming, or asked questions about the subject matter covered in my talk. Among those congregants who came up was a woman who introduced her teenaged son, a strapping young man. “Rabbi Jacobson, this is the boy who was born because of the printing of the Tanya,” she said.

I was overcome with emotion. She told me that they did according to the Rebbe’s instructions, printed the Tanya, and everything worked out in a totally miraculous fashion. The doctors thought that they were going crazy. The fetus, which they had declared as dead and poisoning the mother’s blood, was born in the proper time – completely whole and healthy. Here he was now standing before me at the conclusion of a lecture at a synagogue in South Africa!