When The Rebbe Gave Out Quarters…

We all know that the Rebbe handed out dimes and dollars for Tzedaka, but did you know that one time the Rebbe pulled out three quarters from his pocket and gave them to a young girl?

By Mendy Dickstein  •

It has become popular among Chassidishe women and girls to frame a coin that the Rebbe personally gave out which is worn on a chain as a segula and for protection.

This is not a new invention and was done already back in the 80s. The following amazing story was witnessed by the Burkis family and is being shared here in the form of a personal story of Rabbi and Mrs. Gershon and Peninah Burkis.

R’ Gershon is the one who publishes the Machanayim stories that numerous children have grown up on. His wife runs a school named for their oldest daughter Shterna a’h. She also has a part in this moving story of the Rebbe’s ruach ha’kodesh and Ahavas Yisrael.

This story makes us yearn for the days when we saw and were seen by the Rebbe, with prayers and bitachon that soon,  our king will be revealed and we will merit wondrous giluyim.

MINI TEHILLIM – HUGE MIRACLE

It was at the end of the 70s, when R’ Gershon was first publishing books. He published a pocket-sized Tehillim and marketed and distributed this Tehillim in places where he thought people would want them like Judaica stores and producers of commemorative gifts, insurance agencies and travel agencies.

In 5740, the Burkis couple had yechidus with the Rebbe. In that yechidus, they mentioned the printing of the pocket-sized Tehillim. The Rebbe said, “I heard that it’s going well in the army.”

When the couple returned to Eretz Yisrael, they decided to disseminate the Tehillim among soldiers and it was soon a hit. Not one soldier refused to accept this Tehillim and many looked for additional copies. When the Peace in Galilee war broke out in 1982, the army authorities themselves bought numerous volumes of this Tehillim from him and gave it to every soldier who headed for the front lines.

The war in the north went on and on and the demand for the Tehillim grew. Every new wave of soldiers that went to Lebanon to replace the returning soldiers demanded the Tehillim which had become a legend among the soldiers. The number of volumes printed and sold to the army continued to grow at an unheard of pace.

The Rebbe’s indirect advice to market it to the army earned him a nice profit which he devoted to the goal of taking the entire family to the Rebbe.

In those days, mostly men traveled to the Rebbe and the trend was only growing. The cost of the tickets was not something everyone could afford, surely not for an entire family.

When R’ Burkis brought up the idea of a family trip to his wife, it sounded unrealistic to her. However, after Nissan 1985, the plan was underway. One day, all nine children dressed nicely and went together to have their pictures taken in a studio so they could use them for their passports and American visas.

R’ Burkis took all the money, the profit from the sale of the Tehillim, which amounted to the vast sum of 15,000 shekels, and paid a travel agent in cash for eleven tickets to New York.

BLESSING IN THE MONEY

Four days after he paid the large amount for the tickets, the Israeli economy hit a major and unexpected recession. The value of stocks sank sharply and frightened investors rushed to rid themselves of their stocks and buy dollars. This causes the acceleration of the inflation of the (old) shekel and the exchange rate fluctuated daily by many percentage points. Thus began the sharp economic downturn that eventually led to the government decision to withdraw the shekel from circulation and issue the “new shekel.”

For R’ Burkis, it was a huge miracle, since a month after he paid for the trip, the value of the money he paid was cut drastically and was worth a tenth of its value! The couple considered this a great miracle in that their money left their hands at the right time and went to the travel agent.

The Burkis couple planned their trip for the Chag Ha’Geula of 12 Tammuz 5745 for several reasons. First, the desire to be with the Rebbe on a special date. Since Mrs. Burkis works in education, leaving the country is possible only during vacation time. Another consideration was that in the summer, it is easy to find a place to live in Crown Heights which empties out. Some people go to the mountains where it is cooler. Another benefit is that 770 is relatively empty in the summer so that they could be really close to the Rebbe.

The flight wasn’t easy. It wasn’t direct and they had a stopover in London for several hours. The stewardesses and crew on the plane were not used to having a large family on board and they didn’t know how to regard nine children between the ages of one and a half and twelve on a long flight.

After a tough, exhausting trip, the family landed in New York.  The difficult conditions continued in New York. The Burkis family stayed in apartments that were used as dorm rooms by Beis Rifka girls at that time, in the building over the bank opposite 770. The rooms were very hot and there was no air conditioner and the humidity was extremely uncomfortable.

The family went to 770 every day. They davened with the Rebbe for mincha and maariv (in those days, the Rebbe did not daven shacharis with the public); they tried to be in the beis medrash as much as possible. The older children learned the Rebbe’s teachings and absorbed as much holiness and spirituality as possible.

Mrs. Burkis encouraged the children, saying what a privilege it was to be there. Their daily schedule revolved around 770 and meeting the Rebbe at every opportunity. Of course, the children received coins for tzedaka from the Rebbe and she prayed that the hiskashrus to the Rebbe of her children would be the reward for their difficulties.

WINNING ARGUMENT

Dina Oster was a childhood friend of Mrs. Burkis. They had both attended Rabbi Wolf’s seminary in Bnei Brak. The friend married an American and moved to Monsey. Because of the distance, their close connection weakened (this was before the era of cheap calls). When Mrs. Burkis arrived in New York with her entire family, she contacted her old friend, wanting to invite her and her only daughter Goldy to visit 770 for the first time in their lives.

When her good friend heard under what difficult conditions they were living, she worked to convince Mrs. Burkis to come with her older girls to visit her. She promised they wouldn’t regret it.

Early Thursday morning, Mrs. Burkis and her three oldest daughters took a bus to nearby Williamsburg and there, they took an air conditioned bus to Monsey.

The huge home in Monsey seemed like a palace to the Israeli girls. The pool in the yard seemed like dream. And they met Goldy, a girl more or less their age and became instant friends. The oldest daughter, Shterna Burkis worked to convince Goldy to come back with her to Crown Heights to see the Rebbe.

Despite the friendship between the girls, Goldy had never spent Shabbos outside of her home and she wasn’t happy to leave home with her new friends for a strange neighborhood. The Burkis girls persisted. They said it wasn’t possible that she lived an hour and a half away from the Rebbe and had never seen him, while they had flown across the world to be with the Rebbe.

Then Shterna pulled out a winning argument. She told her new friend that the Rebbe gives money for tzedaka to children before every tefilla and if Goldy came with them, the next morning she would get a coin from the Rebbe. Goldy would be able to wear the coin on a necklace as a segula and would have a permanent remembrance along with all the segulos associated with a coin from the Rebbe.

That was the clincher.

Goldy asked her mother for permission to go with the guests and spend Shabbos with them in Crown Heights. Her mother, who knew about the uncomfortable conditions her friend was living in, at first did not allow her to go. She also said, you will have company when you go, but how will you come back?”

During the discussion, Mrs. Burkis called her husband and told him about the girl possibly coming with them. He was happy to hear it and said that he was with a friend, R’ Shapiro, who sold STaM, who told him that on motzoei Shabbos he was planning on going to Monsey to buy merchandise. By wonderful divine providence, Goldy would have a ride back to Monsey, if her mother was willing.

Dina, hearing the proposed solution, decided to consult with her husband. She called him and told him about their daughter’s desire to get a coin from the Rebbe and her insisting on going to spend Shabbos in Crown Heights. He spoke with his daughter on the phone and when he realized how determined she was, he said okay.

At four o’clock Thursday afternoon, they headed back to Brooklyn with Goldy. All the way there, she spoke about how excited she was to meet the Lubavitcher Rebbe about whom she had heard so much.

FIRST RUSH

As soon as they arrived at the corner of Eastern Parkway and Kingston Avenue, wanting to get to their apartment across the avenue, they noticed a commotion around 770. Mrs. Burkis said maybe the Rebbe was expected and she urged them to head toward the entrance and see him and maybe get a coin for tzedaka. The excited girls ran to the crowd and a minute later, the Rebbe’s car could be seen coming. The secretary opened the car door and the Rebbe exited and looked at the children gathered round. Of all the children standing there, he motioned toward Goldy to go up and toward his office.

The secretary, Rabbi Groner, who saw the Rebbe’s arm motion, turned toward Mrs. Burkis and asked her, “Who is the girl?” She said she is the daughter of her friend from Monsey who came to see the Rebbe for the first time.

The Rebbe went to his office and a few minutes later came out and gave out dimes for the children to give to tzedaka. The Rebbe gave a coin to Goldy with a special smile, who was waiting as he asked, and she was thrilled.

The personal attention that she had received touched her deeply; the special hand signal that the Rebbe dedicated just to her, excited her. According to her calculation, the next day she would get another coin from the Rebbe for a total of two coins which pleased her to no end. She would be able to give a coin to her mother too. The idea that she could surprise her mother gave her great joy.

THE DREAM OF A CHILD

Goldy spent her first night away from home talking to the girls and they fell asleep very late. In the morning, Mrs. Burkis rushed to wake them up and dress them so they would be able to get money for tzedaka before shacharis. Goldy got up first and began to hurry the others.

Goldy received another dime from the Rebbe that morning. After shacharis and learning in 770, the family returned to their apartment to get ready for Shabbos. R’ Gershon told them that a few minutes before candle lighting, the Rebbe comes out of his room and goes to the library to wish his Rebbetzin a good Shabbos. Sometimes, he also gives money for tzedaka on his way to the library. On these occasions, when girls stood there, the Rebbe would ask whether they had lit Shabbos candles. If they said no, the Rebbe gave them a coin.

R’ Burkis suggested to his girls that they wait for the Rebbe and as soon as they got a coin, they should come back to the apartment and light Shabbos candles.

Goldy was very excited. If she got another coin, she planned on giving it to her father and thought of how he would attach it to his watch and the Rebbe’s blessing would accompany him too.

A few minutes later, the Rebbe came out of 770. As expected, he asked the girls whether they had already lit candles. When they said no, he took dimes out of his pocket and gave it to them for tzedaka. They ran back to the apartment to light Shabbos candles.

DISAPPOINTMENT ON MOTZOEI SHABBOS

Shabbos, 10 Tammuz, was very uplifting. Mrs. Burkis and her daughters found places close to the window of the woman’s section of 770. They were also able to stand facing the Rebbe during the farbrengen since 770 was relatively empty. They could hear the Rebbe speak and the singing during the farbrengen infused them with Chassidic passion.

On motzoei Shabbos, R’ Burkis went to the home of R’ Shapiro to arrange with him the ride for Goldy back to Monsey. Goldy gathered her things and waited for the ride.

A loud cry was suddenly heard from one of the rooms. A frightened Mrs. Burkis went to see what was going on and found Goldy crying. Her attempts at calming the sobbing girl were to no avail. She couldn’t even extract from her the reason for the crying and the situation was very unpleasant. A girl who was not a member of the family was crying for no apparent reason.

The cries woke up the children who had already fallen asleep. Shterna, who knew how dear the Rebbe’s coins were to Goldy, tried to console her and ask her whether she wanted another coin from the Rebbe. Just the mention of a coin from the Rebbe evoked another round of sobbing.

After a few minutes, they learned the reason for the tears: Goldy had put the dimes that she got from the Rebbe into a separate compartment of her purse but she hadn’t realized it had a hole and the coins from the Rebbe were now mixed in with other money she had. She didn’t know which coins were from the Rebbe!

In the meantime, R’ Burkis came back and he wanted to know what the hullabaloo was about. When he heard the answer and understood the problem, he smiled and said that he had spent a few hours trying to fix R’ Shapiro’s car and was unsuccessful. His friend would be returning to Monsey the next afternoon, after going to a mechanic. It was all divine providence because now, Goldy could wait for the Rebbe again and receive a new coin.

Goldy calmed down a bit. Mrs. Burkis called her friend with the change in plans. They concluded that Goldy would stay another night in Crown Heights and return the following afternoon.

It was late and everyone went to sleep.

OPEN PROPHECY

At seven in the morning, while everyone was still asleep, Goldy began to wake them up, fearing she would miss the distribution of coins to the children. Although Mrs. Burkis explained that there was no need to rush since the Rebbe would not be distributing coins before 10:00, it didn’t help. Goldy urged everyone to get up and get ready as early as possible. None of the girls could resist her entreaties. They all remembered the wails of the night before. Despite their tiredness and wanting to sleep some more, the girls got up and got ready to leave for 770.

Shortly before ten, the girls clustered around the door to the Rebbe’s office. The entrance lobby was completely empty and other than Mrs. Burkis, her daughters and Goldy, one other woman stood there holding two babies.

Then came the big moment. The door to 770 opened and the Rebbe came in. On his way to his office he gave out coins. The three Burkis girls received dimes. When it was Goldy’s turn, the Rebbe stopped, put his hand into his pocket again and took out three quarters! He gave them to the stunned Goldy. Then he went on to give dimes to Mrs. Burkis and the woman with two children.

There are no words that can describe Goldy’s joy. After the initial shock, she gave a shriek of joy, “The Rebbe gave me three quarters!”

When she calmed down, she said to Mrs. Burkis that she felt the Rebbe had “made up” to her for the great pain she felt over losing her coins. Not only had the Rebbe given her three coins, he had given her coins worth more than the coins she had lost.

Goldy went home feeling happy and fortunate with three coins from the Rebbe, and having witnessed open “divine sight” on the part of the Rebbe.

Mrs. Burkis ends the story:

“We got to see a clear model lesson of Ahavas Yisrael for a girl who came to see him for the first time, with a revelation of ruach ha’kodesh. If I had doubts and reservations about how much my daughters understood about what a Rebbe is and what is prophecy, that morning they got a ‘live lesson’ before their very eyes. It explained more than all the words in the world how the Rosh Bnei Yisrael feels the pain of a little girl from Monsey.”

THE REBBE LOOKED FOR THE BOY TWICE

In connection with giving out coins for tzedaka, Mrs. Burkis recalled another story:

We bought our tickets for a period of three weeks in Tammuz 5745 (If I had known about the difficult circumstances under which we would be living, we may have shortened our stay).

That summer, there were days that my children were the only children in 770. They were the only ones to get coins for tzedaka from the Rebbe every morning and at mincha. The boys and my husband would enter the hallway from the inside and we, the females, entered from the main door to the lobby.

One of the days of our last week there, the Rebbe came out to the hall on his way to the small zal. He gave out coins for tzedaka. First, he gave the girls and women standing in the lobby and then he turned to the other side where the boys were. The Rebbe wanted to move on but then suddenly stopped and turned to R’ Groner with a question. “There aren’t more children?” R’ Groner scanned the area and said no.

We girls (and ladies) always waited for the end of mincha because we wanted to see the Rebbe when he returned to his office. On his way back, the Rebbe asked R’ Groner again, “All the children already got [money for tzedaka]?” R’ Groner glanced around again and did not see anyone and once again he said that everyone had gotten.

About half a minute after the Rebbe went back into his room, my nine-year-old son Aharon came running to get tzedaka. R’ Groner, who had been asked twice by the Rebbe about a missing child, said sadly, “Where were you? The Rebbe looked for you two times!”

This is the attention that the Faithful Shepherd of Israel gives to every boy and girl. ■