CONTENTS

23
FEATURED ARTICLES

WEEKLY COLUMNS

3 Dvar Malchus
14 Interview
19 Parsha Thought
50 Tzivos Hashem

CORONATING HASHEM
IN OUR PERSONAL LIFE
Menachem Ziegelboim

14 THREE-TIME
RAFFLE WINNER
Yisroel Lapidot

TRAVELS AND
23 THE
TRAVAILS OF THE TWO
HOLY SHOFARS

Menachem Ziegelboim

MEMORIES
28 CHILDHOOD
FROM A LOST WORLD
Menachem Ziegelboim

THE BATTLE
37 LEADING
AGAINST PHONY
CONVERSIONS
Yisroel Lapidot

LADDER IN BEIT EL
42 THE
REACHES THE HEAVENS
Nosson Avrohom

14

THE CHILDREN
48 WHEN
BECOME THE TEACHERS

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9/8/2015 11:27:49 AM

DVAR MALCHUS

THE REBBE IS THE

MOSHIACH OF
THE GENERATION
Rebbe MHM instructed us to publish and publicize that the
guiding principle to know Moshiachs identity is this: The
leader of the generation is the Moshiach of the generation. * Chapter Three of Rabbi Shloma
Majeskis Likkutei Mekoros Vol. 2. (Underlined text is the compilers emphasis.)
The leader of the generation
provides all people of the generation
with the ability to complete their
mission to publicize G-dliness in the
world.
This empowerment especially
applies to those shluchim
(emissaries) who the leader of our
generation himself appointed (or
appointed through his emissary,
etc.) as his shluchim for the
dissemination of Judaism in general,
and in particular for spreading the
wellsprings [of Chassidus] outward.
It is through these shluchim that
Judaism and the teachings of
Chassidus are extended to all
the people of the generation (as
discussed above).
However, it is not enough to be
granted this special empowerment
from the leader of our generation;
personal toil is also required. This
principle is, as discussed above,
reflected in the approach of Chabad
that there should not only be a
tzaddik lives with his faith dont
read lives but enlivens, but that
the enlivens quality of the tzaddik
and leader of the generation requires
the effort of each individual, lives
with his (own) faith, through and
in his ten soul-powers.
And when we fulfill this mission

by utilizing the ten soul-powers in

the fullest measure, it openly reveals
how shliach together with ten
equals Moshiach, leading up
to the advent of Moshiach, when
G-dliness will be openly apparent,
and the glory of G-d will be
revealed, etc.
Moreover, when we fulfill
the shlichus of the leader of our
generation, it brings about, the
emissary of a person is like the
person himself literally. The
shliach thus embodies the likeness
of the meshaleiach (the director,
the one who sends agents), who
is (the leader of the generation,
the Rebbe, my father in-law) the
Moshiach of the generation,
with all the interpretations of the
matter, including the interpretation
that Moshiach means mashuach
(anointed), and chosen and
nasi (leader or ruler), as well as
Moshiach in the simple sense
[i.e., the redeemer]. The logic here
[behind identifying the Rebbe as
Moshiach] is that the leader of
each generation is the Moshe of
each generation, of whom it is said:
Moshe is the first redemption; he is
the final redeemer (Moshiach). Also,
Moshiach is the general Yechida
of the generation, for the aspect of
Yechida corresponds to the level of

Moshiach Tzidkeinu, as explained in

the writings of the Arizal.
4. In order to more clearly
understand how one is like the
meshaleiach, Moshiach himself,
when he fulfills the shlichus of the
Rebbe, we must preface it with what
the Gemara (mentioned above)
says with regard to the concept of
the emissary of a person is like the
person himself: just as you are
members of the covenant [Jews],
so are your emissaries members
of the covenant. That is, shlichus
hinges on whether or not the shliach
resembles the meshaleiach; only
then can the shliach be like the
person [who sent him] himself.
The above sheds light on the
role of shlichus, as discussed
above, whose purpose is to bring
about the advent of Moshiach
and reveal Moshiach in the world.
This dynamic is engendered by the
fact that in essence, every shliach
has within him a semblance of
and a manifestation of the aspect
of Moshiach that exists in the
meshaleiach.
Just as in each generation there
is a Moshe Rabbeinu, the leader
of the generation, so is this notion
expressed in particular within each
individual: each person has the

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Dvar Malchus
Moshe that exists within him. As
the Alter Rebbe explains in Seifer
HaTanya, every single Jew has the
aspect of Moshe within; it exists in
his or her core. In fact, this aspect
of Moshe causes fear of G-d to be
a small matter for the Jew [just as
it is with regard to Moshe Rabbeinu
himself].
And this concept, which is
said of Moshe Rabbeinu, the first
redeemer, also applies to Moshiach
(the final redeemer), as follows.
The nasi, the leader, is the
Yechida HaKlalis the Moshiach
of the generation. In our generation
it is the nasi hador, the Rebbe, my
father in-law. Similarly, every Jew
has in his soul the aspect of Yechida.
Our Sages mention the Yechida
in their discussion of the soul: It is
called by five names: Nefesh, Ruach,
Neshama, Chaya, Yechida. That is,
every Jew possesses within his soul
the aspect of Yechida [the highest
dimension of the soul]. This is true
not only of the soul as it exists On
High, but also as it exists within

the body. The idea that the Yechida

extends to even the soul within the
body is simply understood from
the fact that every morning G-d
returns to the Jew his soul, the soul
you have given within me in all
five levels, including the aspect of
Yechida.
According to what was said
above that the Yechida is the
aspect of Moshiach every Jew has
Moshiach (Yechida) within him.
Indeed, it is explicitly mentioned
in the work Mor Einayim (of Reb
Nachum Chernobyler, the disciple of
the Baal Shem and the Maggid) that
every Jew has in his soul a spark of
Moshiach.
As discussed on various
occasions, this concept is
also understood from the two
interpretations of our Sages on the
same verse, A star will shoot forth
from Yaakov: One interpretation is
that this refers to Moshiach, and the
second is that it refers to a regular
Jew. According to the well-known
principle that two interpretations on

In Crown Heights area: 1640/1700AM

the same verse have a connection

between them, it is understand
that every Jew is connected with
Moshiach, in virtue of the fact that
he possesses within him a spark of
Moshiach.
In Kabbalistic lexicon, the
Yechida that exists within every
soul (as above), the tiny spark, the
mortal spark which is one with
Yechida lyachadach the spark
of the Creator.
From the above it is understood
how the concept of the emissary
of a person is like the person
himself, referring to the leader of
the generation and the Moshiach
of the generation, applies to every
Jew. Namely, it is in virtue of his
resembling the meshaleiach in this
respect [that he too possesses the
aspect of Yechida within him].
And he must reveal this aspect by
fulfilling the shlichus with his ten
soul-powers.
(Address given on the night of
Simchas Torah 5746; Likkutei Sichos
Vol. 29, pg. 360-361)

worldwide, online: www.RadioMoshiach.org

USA NEW phone: 347 990 1136

Continued from page 41

thing that establishes the integration
of a righteous convert into the Jewish
people through the acceptance of
Torah and mitzvos.
The goal of those who founded
the new conversion system is to
undermine the standing of untainted
Halacha. It has been years already
that they have tried passing a law
which will permit Reform and
Conservative rabbis to perform
conversions. However, the most

dangerous of all are the religious

Zionist rabbis who try to establish
new parameters in Halacha. This
is more dangerous than Reform
conversions,
because
everyone
knows that Reform conversions are
a sham and that these converts
continue to live as gentiles in
every respect. But those so-called
battei din that operate under false
pretenses as though the conversion
is based on the foundations of
halacha, mislead the public as
though these so-called converts are

allowed to enter the Jewish people as

Jews in every respect. This presents
numerous stumbling blocks for the
Jewish people not to mention do not
place a stumbling block before the
blind, collectively and individually.
R Sherman recommends that
all rabbanim and shluchim around
the world thoroughly check every
conversion to see who oversaw it,
who were the rabbanim, and whether
there was a commitment to Torah
and mitzvos as halacha requires.

4 27 Elul 5775
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ubhcr ,pue

Kupas Rabbeinu

jhanv lkn r"unst e"f ,uthab ,j,

Lubavitch
(718) 467-2500

P.O.B. 288 Brooklyn, New York 11225

(718) 756-3337

URG
REQ ENT
UES
T!
HUNDREDS OF FAMILIES ANXIOUSLY LOOKING
FORWARD FOR YOUR GENEROUS ASSISTANCE!
Boruch Hashem, Elul 5770
5775

To every member of the Lubavitcher community:

During this month of preparation for Rosh Hashonoh, the head of the New Year, we fondly recall our
Rebbes words that this is an especially auspicious time for strengthening our deep bond of
Hiskashrus with the Rosh Bnei Yisroel, the head of the Jewish people and leader of the generation.
Our Rebbeim explain that an important way to strengthen Hiskashrus is by participating in

the Rebbes activities and concerns, consequently, by supporting an organization that

brings together a number of these activities, the Hiskashrus is greater and stronger. Such

an organization is Kupas Rabbeinu, which seeks to continue many of the Rebbes activities and concerns without change from the way he would conduct them himself.

Every year at this time, the Rebbe would call upon us to contribute generously to help needy families
with their extra expenses for the coming months many Yomim Tovim. This also coincides with the special emphasis during this month of giving extra Tzedokah, (indicated in the Hebrew letters of the word
Elul, as explained in many Sichos etc.), as a vital way of preparing ourselves for the new year and
arousing Divine mercy upon us. See sicho in the Hebrew text of this letter.
We therefore appeal to every individual man and woman to contribute generously to Kupas
Rabbeinu, enabling us to fulfill the Rebbes desire to help all those who anxiously await our
help. The greater your contribution, the more we can accomplish.
Please do not forsake them!
Your generous contribution to Kupas Rabbeinu will be the appropriate vessel for receiving the abundant blessings of the Rebbe, who is its Nasi, that you may be blessed with a Ksiva Vachasima Tova
for a good and sweet year, materially and spiritually. May it help to bring the full revelation of Moshiach
- our Rebbe - immediately now!
Wishing you a Ksiva Vachasima Tova for a good and sweet year,

In the name of Vaad Kupas Rabbeinu

Rabbi Sholom Mendel Simpson

Rabbi Yehuda Leib Groner

P.S. Of course, you may send to Kupas Rabbeinu all contributions that you would send to the Rebbe; all
will be devoted to the activities to which the Rebbe would devote them.
You may also send Maimad, Keren-Hashono (this coming year 5771
- 385 days), Vov Tishrei, Yud Gimmel
5776
Tishrei Magbis etc. to Kupas Rabbeinu.
P.S. Please send all correspondence only to the following address.
KUPAS RABBEINU / P.O.B. 288 / BROOKLYN, NEW YORK 11225
Eretz Yisroel address: KEREN KUPAS ADMU"R / P.O.B. 1247 / KIRYAT MALACHI / ISRAEL

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9/8/2015 11:27:52 AM

INTERVIEW

6 27 Elul 5775
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CORONATING
HASHEM IN OUR
PERSONAL LIFE
For Rosh HaShana, the days of judgment and coronation, as well
as days of making resolutions for the new year, it seemed only
appropriate to speak with Rabbi Yitzchok Arad, rosh yeshiva of
Daat, and one of the popular speakers in Chabad. We discussed
timely matters, and mainly dealt with questions and uncertainties
as far as aligning the content of the Rosh HaShana prayers and
everyday life in an ever changing world.
Interview by Menachem Ziegelboim
Photos by Meir Alfasi

s the year winds down, our

attention is focused on a spiritual
accounting. There was no better
time to speak with R Yitzchok
Arad in his modest office at Yeshivat Daat
in Rechovot.
R Arad also runs a network of
schools for personal training according
to Chassidus.
He knows how to
combine deep ideas from hemshechim
like 5672 and 5666 and daily life,
which is constantly banging up against
the rocks of gray reality with all its
difficulties, challenges, pitfalls and
disappointments that we experience.
With his quiet voice and even

temperament, R Arad is able to resolve

the quandaries, quiet the storms and
skillfully navigate, bringing the soul to
inner awareness and understanding,
that we are indeed marching in the right
direction on the way to Geula, both the
personal and the collective Geula. Even
if there are difficulties and problems,
they are part of the process.
The tfillos of Tishrei consist of our
personal, material needs, crowning
Hashem over the universe, and asking
for the Geula. What should be the
focus of our concentration?
Theres the fantastic sicha of the
Rebbe about Chanas prayer. On the
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Interview

There exists the phenomenon in which people

declare Hashems kingship over the entire world,
over this one or that, but forget to declare Hashems
sovereignty over themselves.
one hand, the tfillos of Rosh
HaShana have to do with the
coronation of Hashem; on the
other hand, we address material
matters of enormous import such
as who will live and who will die,
who by fire and who by water,
etc. In that sicha, the Rebbe notes
that we see that a Jew is more
inspired by the paragraph of
who will live and who will die.
He cares more about his material
matters than spiritual matters like
coronating Hashem.
The Rebbe reconciles this by
saying that an inseparable part
of the complete revelation of
Hashems coronation over the
universe includes a Jews material
needs. For a Jews interest in
material things is not because of
the personal pleasure he has in
them, but because he wants to
establish Hashems kingship over
these material things too.
The Rebbe quotes the
explanation of the Baal Shem
Tov on the verse in Thillim,
Hungry as well as thirsty, their
soul enwraps itself in them,
that when a Jew is hungry or
thirsty and seeks material items
to satisfy these feelings, his desire
actually originates from the inner
root of the soul, in order to sift
out the spirituality that lies within
the physical, thus establishing
Hashem as king over these things
as well.
So our bittul to and
coronation of Hashem does not
contradict our involvement in
material matters; on the contrary,
they complement one another.
What is the central motif of

the tfillos of Rosh HaShana?

The tfilla which is the clearest
and most pointed is the request
for the Geula and coronation
of Hashem, crying out with our
inner voice, the essence of the
soul, that Hashem be revealed
in the world. This inner point
is supposed to impact us in a
profound way; to cry out with
the inner cry of the shofar from
the depths of our heart and ask,
Rule over the entire world with
Your glory, referring to the
Geula shleima.
At the same time, we
shouldnt be left with the rule
over the entire world in Your
glory while not being busy
coronating Hashem in our own
small world, each person being
a miniature world. There exists
the phenomenon in which people
declare Hashems kingship over
the entire world, over this one
or that, but somehow not over
themselves.
The Alter Rebbe in chapter
43 of Tanya, after speaking about
yira ilaa (supernal awe) and
how all of existence is nullified
to G-dliness, says, And no man
should except himself from this
principle that also his body and
nefesh, ruach and neshama are
utterly nullified.
Meaning,
this idea that a person nullifies
everything before G-d requires
that he remember that along with
the principle as a whole there is
also his own individual existence,
his own space, which has to
be nullified. So along with the
deep cry for the collective Geula,
we need to be busy with our
own avoda, to crown Hashem

as King in our personal avoda.

This is also Geula, a personal
Geula which will bring about the
collective Geula of the Jewish
people.
When you talk about
bringing it into my personal
avoda, how is that done?
In the tfilla of Rosh HaShana
we ask, May everything that has
been made know that You have
made it; may everything that has
been created understand that
You have created it; and may
everyone who has the breath [of
life] in his nostrils declare that
Hashem the G-d of Israel is King
and His kingship has dominion
over all. This is the knowledge
that Hashem is the King of the
universe and He is to be found in
every place and rules over it.
This knowledge ought to
come down into our daily
lives. In our personal lives, in
our private world, where we are
responsible for our family, our
immediate surroundings, our
community, etc. we need to make
sure that this part of the world is
run in such a way that Hashem
is to be found and rules there.
This means, that everything
is run according to Torah,
mitzvos, Chassidus, in the most
complete way, with real Ahavas
Yisroel, and with the unity which
characterizes the Geula. Each of
us needs to contemplate his own
crowning of Hashem, to what
extent he allows Hashem to rule
in his personal life and the life
of his family, environment and
community, and living it so that
Hashem is there openly.

WHEN GOOD
RESOLUTIONS DONT PAN
OUT
During the davening and
the shofar blowing, people
are inspired to make good

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resolutions. The problem is

that after the davening, or the
next day, or the next week, our
good intentions wane and we
dont follow through on these
good resolutions. What can we
do about this?
Rosh HaShana, according
to Chassidus, is not just the
beginning of the year, but the
head of the year. Just as the
head contains and governs the
life force of the entire body,
so too, the head of the year
contains the entire year within
it. As the Alter Rebbe brings in
Igeres Hakodesh, every year on
Rosh HaShana a new life force
is drawn down to the world and
only afterward is it distributed
over all the days of the year.
True, every year we make new
resolutions and we arent always
successful in carrying them out,
but we need to remember that
Rosh HaShana is a new channel
for a new life force in the world.
If so, new possibilities are open to
us, a new world, new revelations,
as well as new strengths.
The Alter Rebbe innovates
that there does not exist one long
chain of time and what was, is
what will be; rather, every year
a new chapter in time is opened
in the world. A new channel
of abundance is opened which
brings something new with it,
new abilities, a new plan and new
opportunities. All this ought to
inspire us so that even if until
now, things did not go as we
would have wanted, now there
are new possibilities and a new
revelation. On Rosh HaShana,
we are given all the powers and
revelations for the entire year.
When we bless and wish we
should be the head and not the
tail, it means that we have the
choice how to implement the
good resolutions that we made.

according to the sfiros and

he says that Rosh HaShana
corresponds to chochma and
Yom Kippur to bina. Pesach,
Shavuos and Sukkos correspond
to the first three middos of
chesed, gvura, and tiferes.
Chanuka and Purim correspond
to Netzach and Hod. According
to this order, Rosh HaShana is
chochma which is the source of
the power of bittul.
Our obvious avoda on Rosh
HaShana is kabbalas ol malchus
Shamayim (accepting the yoke
of heaven), i.e. giving ourselves
over to Hashem in a manner that
is not bound by the rational. We
give the essence of our soul over
to Hashem. That is the concept
of kabbalas ol in the work of the
simple slave, giving oneself over
completely.
At the same time, we need

Every year a new chapter in time is opened in the

world. A new channel of abundance is opened
which brings something new with it, new abilities, a new
plan and new opportunities. All this ought to inspire us
so that even if until now, things did not go as we would
have wanted, now there are new possibilities and a new
revelation. On Rosh HaShana, we are given all the powers
and revelations for the entire year.
WHAT DOES BEING THE
HEAD MEAN?

What does we should be

the head and not the tail mean
in our avoda? Is it symbolic or
does it have a deeper meaning?
As mentioned, Rosh HaShana
refers to a head, not only to the
beginning of the year. A head
represents chochma which is
bittul koach ma the power of
self-nullification.
The Alter Rebbe arranges
the order of the Jewish holidays

to remember that there is a very

important point in our avoda of
Rosh HaShana which is may we
be the head and not the tail, i.e.
revealing the head within us.
Which means?
Not only revealing the
head which is Hashem, but
also revealing the service of the
head within us, that point which
directs, affects, and leads us every
day, every hour. That we live in
a way of head and stop living
like a tail that has nothing in

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Interview
and of itself and merely reacts
to and is led by others and is
dragged along. This is part of
the resolution we need to make.
This is the job of a Jew, to be a
head and this is by revealing the
head within us.
How do we attain that?
By every person investing
time to learn Torah, to learn
Chassidus, to engage in deep
self-contemplation, so that every
resolution a person makes will
descend internally and become
settled within the person.
The Alter Rebbe brings in
Tanya that Hashems kingdom,
the Shchina, rests and is revealed
in a place of chochma (the power
of bittul). When speaking about
the head, what we are really
speaking about is the chochma
of the head, a persons power
of bittul. The vessel we have
with which to contain Hashems
malchus in the world is our
being the head.
That kabbalas ol which a Jew
accepts on Rosh HaShana, and
the going out of his self-hood
through the blowing of the shofar
with mesirus nefesh to Hashem,
needs a vessel to contain it so
that it can descend into daily
life throughout the year. This
vessel does not come from
above the person, but begins with
and is invested into chochma.
The bittul within the chochma.
When we make a resolution
to be the head and not the tail,
that means to put our heads
into learning and meditation,
in choosing what is right and
how the world ought to be run,
and not operating from a place
of tail which represents the
feelings of I deserve it or I
dont deserve it.
This will
enable the act of coronation of
Hashem to affect our daily lives.
If we toil mightily on Rosh
HaShana with a cry for the

Geula and with kabbalas ol, but

dont create vessels through
consistent
effort,
learning
and contemplating maamarei
Chassidus that pertain to our
avoda, then the good resolutions
wont make it down to the real
world of everyday life.
The way to bring Geula to our
personal lives, so that our lives
are lived the way they should be,
is by learning Torah in general,
and Chassidus in particular.
You see this idea in the Rebbe
telling us to live the Geula now by
learning inyanei Geula. Learning
is the most direct and easiest
way to live and to integrate any
concept. This is how we live
the Geula, and the same applies
to Rosh HaShana, by learning
Chassidus in general and how
the world ought to be run on the
level of the details of our personal
lives.
Does being the head
contradict bittul and kabbalas
ol?
Being the head is to have
kabbalas ol. Its to be dedicated
to something beyond ourselves.
In other words, there is a way of
being the head and a way of being
the heart, i.e. being busy with
myself and my feelings; as Chazal
say, there is one who loves,
one who fears. Feelings are
an expression of our ego, while
intellect in general looks outward
and sees things objectively and in
a truer way.
We can also say that intellect
in general is directed upward,
while emotions are directed
downward, towards ourselves
and the world around us.
A Chabadnik is a person
with chochma, bina, daas, as
the Alter Rebbe innovated, a
person whose mind rules his
heart and emotions. That, more
than anything, serves as a basis
for kabbalas ol. When a person

turns over his ego and needs to

Hashem, this is a deep, inner
bittul. Such a person knows
that his entire existence is not
predicated on himself, but on
Hashem.
This is mochin
recognizing that its all G-d, and
if everything is Him, then He
rules over me for He rules over
all of existence.
The head is that which
chooses, that which initiates and
takes responsibility for choosing.
Taking
responsibility
means
choosing where we take ourselves
and how we select our emotions,
as opposed to the approach of
when my feelings come, they
come; I cant do anything about
them.
When we seek to be a head
and not a tail, we understand
that the mind also rules our
emotional world, for the mind
rules the heart by its very nature.
This is where we need to take
responsibility for ourselves and
see to it that our everyday reality
is one of coronating Hashem and
making our lives Geuladik in
every respect.
Surely you know that the
mind is cold by nature, it
doesnt get shaken, while the
heart is tumultuous and roils
with emotion. How can the
mind control it?
In Chassidus it explains
that there are two parts to the
brain. There is the chochma and
bina, and another part which is
daas, the place of connection.
Chochma and bina are cold
mochin and they give a person
the proper perspective, an
analytic view about how things
are supposed to be. They provide
the correct information about
reality so decisions can be made
about how to do things correctly.
Chochma and bina help us
examine and learn what is and
isnt right, what ought to be in

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our lives, for they are far more

objective than emotions.
Emotions
are
subjective.
We can provide subjective
interpretations
about
the
reality around us which are not
necessarily factual. If so-andso insulted you and you feel so
offended that you dont want to
see him anymore, even though
he has the same right to exist as
you do, that comes from a place
of bad feelings and not a settled
mind.
That is the difference between
an intellectual perspective and an
emotional stance where the ego is
involved.
Then comes the next stage.
In Chassidus it explains that
chochma and bina are not enough
and the main thing is daas. Daas
is what connects us to emotions,
which ultimately establishes the
parameters of our emotional
world. Daas is the part in which
we take the objective realm of the
mind and work to internalize it
to the point of feeling how the
ideas of the mind pertain to us.
Then the change in the realm of
emotion slowly begins to occur.
When we take the intellectual
ideas that the mind helps
us understand, and work to
internalize them with daas,
we help the intellect achieve
internalization to the point of
implementation
in
everyday
life which slowly changes the
emotions.
The conflict between emotions
and intellect exists because that is
how Hashem created the world.
But our lives must be directed
by the command center, which
is the head and the brain that
are followed by the main task of
integration which is associated
with daas, internalizing the
intellectual idea until we sense
the reality of it, by davening with
the concept that you learned and

then acting accordingly.

This is the reason why, in the
future, when Hashems malchus
is revealed in the world, everyone
will be wise and know Hashem,
for then the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of G-d like
waters cover the sea, which
demonstrates the level of bittul
there will be in the time of Geula,
because of the mind expansion of
that time when everyone will be
very wise.

BRINGING THE GEULA TO

OUR HOMES
We spoke earlier about giving
over our desires to Hashem
in absolute kabbalas ol, an
avoda which is highlighted on
Rosh HaShana. Doesnt that
sound far-fetched, to give our
egos away entirely? Isnt it
impossible?
True, its not easy, but this
is why the Rebbe invested
enormous energy into educating
us toward attaining it. There is

no contradiction between our

personal abilities and talents
and the need for them to be
subservient to Hashem.
We
can see this with the Rebbes
shluchim. In the Rebbes last
address to the shluchim at the
Kinus HaShluchim 5752, he
said that every shliach has to
have both together he must be
completely battul to the one who
sent him, while being a leader
in his environment by using his
mind, talents and everything
hes got, to carry out the Rebbes
wishes.
Although this seems
contradictory, its not; its
complementary.
As true as this is for the
shluchim, it is true for every
Chassid, as the Rebbe wants
everyone to be a shliach. Every
person needs to be a shliach to
bring Geula to the world, and
if we are shluchim of the Rebbe
and Hashem in the world, we
definitely can combine both of
these traits without contradiction.
If we think about this concept

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Interview
and foremost being a part of it,
by crowning Hashem over our
personal and family lives.
The approach of shlichus
is ufaratzta and spreading
your wellsprings outward with
a double sense of bittul, both
for the one who sent us and for
the one we are sent to. But we
have to remember that shlichus is
primarily within ourselves, within
our homes, ensuring that we
coronate Hashem over our family
members, that our relationship
be what it should be, that the
chinuch be proper, that the home
be a Chassidishe home, that our
personal world be run as it ought.
A Chassid needs to know that
this is also shlichus.

THE POWER OF POSITIVE

INFLUENCE

that I am a shliach in the world

to reveal the Geula, to reveal
Chassidus in the world and to
reveal the kingdom of Hashem
in the world, along with being
devoted to this mission I will also
conduct my own life with all the
tools Hashem gave me.
It may not be common or
simple but it is not something
meant exclusively for special
people either.
If we learn
Chassidus and try to live
according to the model that the
Rebbe wants for us, as we learn

in the sichos and letters of the

Rebbe, we can definitely combine
the bittul and kabbalas ol while
being leaders. That is what the
Rebbe demands and wants of
every single one of us without
exception. This is something we
can commit to on Rosh HaShana.
Can you bring this down into
terms of our everyday lives?
We said back at the beginning
that our approach ought to be
not only asking Hashem to rule
over the entire universe, but first

You
give
lectures
on
marriage and chinuch all over
the country. You know what
problems people are dealing
with. When you speak about
this lofty sense of shlichus
with devotion and bittul in
everyday life, does that not
sound unrealistic considering
the realities people have to deal
with?
I dont think you need to
present it so negatively. When
you take a look at things,
you definitely see how things
are progressing, how we are
marching toward the Geula.
We see a level of hiskashrus
to the Rebbe that was never seen
before. In our schools, on every
level, boys and girls are learning
and
devoting
themselves,
more than ever, to the Rebbes
teachings and instructions with
utter bittul. I do not think it is
correct to describe the situation
so negatively.
Maybe, as we move toward
the end of the year and the life

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force of Hashem in the world

is winding down, as it were, its
a time to think about what is
missing and to do tshuva so as
to be able to move forward, but
definitely not in a panic or with a
feeling of hopelessness.
In
education
too,
the
approach cant be one of fear of
the negative but rather, how can
I fortify the good even more.
Along the lines of what the Rebbe
says in the Dvar Malchus of
Parshas Massei 5751, that we are
facing the Geula and we need to
speak about Ahavas Yisroel not
only to remove the cause of the
galus which was sinas chinam
(baseless hatred), but to get a
taste of the Ahavas Yisroel of
Geula when we will have the
perfect unification of Jews.
This is the positive approach
we need to take. We can always
increase awareness of respect
between husband and wife, true
love for children, behaving more
in ways of chesed and giving and
less criticism (of course, with the
proper boundaries in place). The
goal is to strengthen the good as
we get ever closer to the Geula.
If someone is weak in some
area, this needs to be addressed,
not ignored. We want our homes
to be run with love and peace and
harmony. There is no question
that how parents conduct
themselves has a deep effect on
their children. When husband
and wife merit it, the Shchina
dwells with them and this is what
the Geula is about, the Shchina
openly dwelling in the world.
So too for chinuch by
intensifying our love for our
children and working to find
their strong points, we are
creating family harmony which
is essential. When we live the
right way, we have achieved our
personal Geula.
Its not that there arent

If we live according to the model that the Rebbe

wants for us, we can definitely combine the
bittul and kabbalas ol while being leaders. That is what
the Rebbe demands and wants of every single one of us
without exception. This is something we must commit to
on Rosh HaShana.

weaknesses and ups and downs;

its that we are moving in the
right direction. The more we put
in, the better place well be in.

THE WORLD OF PERSONAL

COACHING AND THE
TEACHINGS OF CHASSIDUS
You have a series of
workshops and classes on
personal development according
to the teachings of Chassidus.
Does Chassidus agree with the
approach of strengthening the
good points and developing
a persons potential which
is what the field of personal
development is all about?
Chassidus explains the verse
veer from evil and do good,
that the veer from evil is
accomplished through doing
good. When you increase the
light, the darkness automatically
goes away.
This idea that a little light
dispels a lot of darkness is
certainly correct and this is the
Rebbes method. Although we
find in maamarei Chassidus
sources
and
discourses
that address bitterness and
brokenness,
the
Rebbes
approach in our generation is to
accentuate the positive and joy as
well as speaking about the good
and highlighting it.
The Rebbe keeps on saying
that in our era we need to
operate with joy, in a way of
positive thinking. Its as though

nowadays there is no place for

bitterness; on the contrary,
everything must be done happily
for we achieve much more this
way. Even the repentance of the
month of Elul, says the Rebbe,
needs to be done with joy.
We need to focus our attention
on anything that will help us
progress in a positive direction.
In personal development, the
emphasis is on developing a
persons inner strengths for the
purpose of moving forward. Its
less about dealing with mistakes
and failures and more about
thinking how to advance.
As to your question, the
approach
of
the
self-help
world is definitely in line with
what is explained previously
in Chassidus, especially what
the Rebbe teaches us. Every
approach which is based on
positivity
and
advancement
fits better with Chassidus than
those which focus on failure and
hardships.
We know that the more we
invest in good, the more likely
the progress. It needs to be a
path that leads to solutions for
the full range of problems in all
areas of life. By intensifying the
good, it will resolve the points of
difficulty.
We
certainly
need
to
strengthen our belief that we have
been given the ability to carry
out the shlichus of bringing the
true and complete Geula to our
personal world too.

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INTERVIEW
He is one of the
old-timers in Kfar
Chabad and regularly
gives shiurim in Beis
Menachem. What not
everyone knows is that
over the years, he won
the raffle to go to the
Rebbe three times!
* One of the Tishreis
that R Elozor spent
with the Rebbe, was
Tishrei 5725, the month
that Rebbetzin Chana
passed away. * The
Chassid, R Elozor Lifsh,
in an interview with Beis
Moshiach, recounts his
meeting with Rebbetzin
Chana, the kiruvim
in the Rebbes room,
and the moment at a
farbrengen when he
began to cry and the
Rebbe turned to him.
By Yisroel Lapidot

THREE-TIME
RAFFLE WINNER
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he Chassid, R Elozor
Lifsh, has lived in Kfar
Chabad for over fifty
years (54 to be precise)
and in his Chassidic way of life,
he is a role model to the younger
generation.
Over the years, R Elozor
visited the Rebbe many times,
like many Chassidim, but unlike
most, he won a raffle three times
to do so!
One of the Tishreis that he
spent with the Rebbe was Tishrei
5725, the month that Rebbetzin
Chana passed away. R Elozor
was there, attended the funeral,
and saw some of the Rebbes
practices. He even personally
met with Rebbetzin Chana but
for that we need to go back five
years.
It was in 5720. That was my
first Tishrei with the Rebbe. R
Sholom Dovber Butman, who
knew me, took me and another
guest to Rebbetzin Chanas
house in order to ask for lekach.
When we went inside, R Butman
introduced me to the Rebbetzin
and said to her, He was in
Poking.
Poking was a DP camp in
Germany that was set up after
the war and which housed many
refugees from Russia. Among
the refugees was Rebbetzin
Chana who had managed to
escape Russia and Poland, and
our family had also stayed in this
camp.
The Rebbetzin looked at
me and said, I dont remember
you. Of course she wouldnt
remember me since I had been
a young boy back then and I had
grown up.
I sat at the table and the
Rebbetzin continued to gaze
at me and then she said to R
Butman, He is just like his
father.
She remembered my

Before I traveled to 770, my wife urged me

to buy a camera while in America... Before
returning to Eretz Yisroel, during the yechidus, the Rebbe
gave me ten dollars and told me to buy my wife a gift. I
immediately went to an electronics store and bought a
camera for my wife.

father, R Yosef Yehuda, very

well and I resembled him. She
repeated emotionally, He is just
like his father.
Mrs. Lifsh, who was listening
to our conversation, interjected,
We sent an invitation to our
wedding to the Rebbetzin and she
sent us her handwritten hearty
blessings.

ANOTHER TIME HE WON

TISHREI 5725
Five years passed and R
Elozor Lifsh won the raffle again
to go to the Rebbe, but this
time it was only half a ticket. R
Nachum Trebnik won the full
ticket. He was the rosh yeshiva
in Kfar Chabad and later became
the mara dasra of Kfar Chabad.
We went to the Rebbe
together,
said
R
Lifsh,
describing the long, exhausting
trip of those days. From Eretz
Yisroel we sailed to Italy and
from Italy we took a train to
France. From France we went to
London, and in London we took
a charter flight to New York. It
took four days. I remember R
Trebnik saying he did not have
the strength to go back the same
way. Upon returning to London
with the charter, we bought
tickets for a direct flight to Eretz
Yisroel.
As someone who had won the
raffle, R Elozor was allowed to
stand next to the bima during the
shofar blowing and see the Rebbe
in his holy avoda from up close.

I stood next to the bima and

when I turned my head I saw the
Rebbe. The Rebbe would cover
himself with his tallis before the
tkios. Sometimes he would lift
the tallis in order to be covered
by it together with the panim,
and the entire tallis would be
extended forward.
He still remembers the
Rebbetzins passing even though
fifty years have passed since
then. Rebbetzin Chana passed
away on Shabbos at Mincha
time in the hospital. On Motzaei
Shabbos they took her home and
throughout the night there were
shifts of people saying Thillim.
My shift was from twelve until
one at night. R Leibel Groner
and R Berel Junik were also there
at that time.
I remember that on Sunday
morning, before the funeral,
the Rebbe attended the minyan
in the morning at 770 and said
Kaddish.
I can still remember the
funeral.
Thousands stood
outside the building where the
Rebbetzin lived, on President
Street, corner of Kingston. Due
to the chaos, when they had
to leave the building with the
coffin, both men and women
were standing there and the
Rebbe remained inside and did
not come out. R Dovid Raskin
began shouting that men should
go to one side and women to
the other and he said the Rebbe
wasnt coming out because of

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Interview
formal request from
the mixed crowd. It was
an American citizen. I
only after they managed,
wrote to R Chadakov
with great effort, to
and asked him to send
separate
men
and
me this request with
women, that the Rebbe
which I would be able
came out to the funeral.
to receive a visa but did
There
was
an
not receive a response.
item of clothing that
had blood from the
R Lifsh does not
Rebbetzin and according
remember how much
to Halacha this is placed
time elapsed, but he
in the grave. At the
finally
received
an
burial, the Rebbe did not
invitation
from
R
see that they had put it
Chadakov.
in and he began looking
A letter from the Rebbe upon his return to Eretz Yisroel
for it until someone said
There
was
an
it was under the body.
American fellow here,
clean shaven (I think he
I
remember
representative
of
all
the
someone from Anash who thousands of Chassidim in Eretz worked for Chabad mosdos in
was
standing
there
and Yisroel. Consequently, it was the US). He went with me to the
photographing the entire time. not just a Chassid traveling to his consulate and spoke to them in
When the Rebbe passed him, the Rebbe, but the shliach of many English on my behalf. I did not
Rebbe took the camera from him. people, being their mouth, eyes understand a word he said, but I
The next day they davened in and ears, and afterward reporting got a visa on the spot.
After a long, indirect journey,
the Rebbetzins apartment. They to them what he saw and heard.
did not let everyone in but they
The first time R Lifsh won the R Lifsh arrived at 770 for Tishrei
let me in because I had won the raffle was in 5720. That year he 5720. During that month he
raffle. I remember that R Zelig lived in Bnei Brak. When there had yechidus twice, the first time
Katzman was there (I knew him was a raffle in the summer, R was before Rosh HaShana and
from Poking. He was very smart Leibel Zalmanov won a trip to the after the Yomim Tovim there was
and could learn very well.) He Rebbe for Shavuos. However, he another one.
was a Kohen and got an aliya had problems leaving because of
Before his marriage in 5716,
as such. His wife had just given the army and it was decided that the young couple had bought
birth to a girl and he gave her the before Tishrei they would have an apartment in Bnei Brak. R
name Chana. I think he was the another raffle.
Elozor wrote to the Rebbe at the
first to name for the Rebbetzin.
The raffle took place in time about buying the apartment
When the Rebbe was called up the Chabad shul in Tel Aviv. and asked for a bracha. The
for the third aliya, on his way to My father-in-law, R Yehuda answer was unexpected.
the bima he said mazal tov to Shmotkin, lived in Tel Aviv and
The Rebbe wrote me, It
him.
was present at the raffle. He would be proper for it to be
I remember the farbrengen checked and saw that my name in Kfar Chabad, and if in Kfar
when the Rebbe said he was wasnt on the list which meant Chabad it is not possible, then
farbrenging because if he didnt, I wasnt in the raffle. On the in Rishon LTziyon, near where
it would be in the category spur of the moment, he bought a you work. At the time I taught
of public mourning which is ticket for me and paid for it and a in Yeshivas Achei Tmimim in
forbidden on Yom Tov.
few minutes later I won.
Rishon LTziyon and this was
I remember till today how after I had already bought the
after the raffle, in the middle of apartment in Bnei Brak.
WINNING TICKET
the night, he woke us up to tell us
We considered postponing
PURCHASED MINUTES
I had won. In those days it was the wedding so we could get an
BEFORE THE RAFFLE
like I had won the lottery.
apartment in Kfar Chabad, but
By
winning
the
raffle,
To get a visa from the US back then you could not buy
the
winner
becomes
the government, there had to be a apartments in Kfar Chabad.

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This entire neighborhood wasnt

built yet [he says pointing at a
long row of houses between Beis
Menachem and the train station].
I asked the Rebbe about this
and received this answer, You
dont postpone a wedding. In
the meantime, you can live in
the apartment you bought, and
eventually, when there will be an
apartment in Kfar Chabad, move
to Kfar Chabad.
Now, when I had yechidus
the first time, before the Rebbe
opened the pidyon nefesh, he
asked me, Whats with the plan
to move to Kfar Chabad? You
are still waiting for the right
time? I said, I am registered
for an apartment which is under
construction and when the
apartment is ready, I will move.
That is the apartment we are
living in for 53 years, since 5721.
When I had the first
yechidus before Rosh HaShana,
I held the note in my hand and
trembled the entire time. The
Rebbe got up and took the note
from my hand.
At the next yechidus, at the
end of Tishrei:
Before I traveled to 770, my
wife urged me to buy a camera
while in America. Back then it
was a very expensive item so I
wanted to postpone buying it.
Before returning to Eretz Yisroel,
during the yechidus, the Rebbe
gave me ten dollars and told me
to buy my wife a gift. Of course
I went to an electronics store and
bought a camera for my wife.

KIRUVIM FROM THE REBBE

As a raffle winner, R Elozor
Lifsh got a prime spot for the
davening and farbrengens so he
could hear the Rebbe well. One
of the unforgettable moments
was at one of the farbrengens:
I remember that at a

The letter that Rebbetzin Chana

sent on the occasion of his wedding

farbrengen that took place on

Shabbos, I began to cry. I sat
facing the Rebbe and it was very
uncomfortable for me.
Suddenly, the Rebbe turned
toward me and motioned to me
to say lchaim. They immediately
brought me a cup and wine but
then the Rebbe motioned for a
bigger cup. They quickly brought
me a bigger cup and I said
lchaim a few times. Although I
wasnt tipsy afterward, my head
was spinning. I stayed in the beis
midrash until after Maariv and
Shabbos was over. Then one
of my friends from yeshiva days
when I learned in Poking took
me to the place I was staying.
Once again, the raffle winner
merited special regard from the
Rebbe, being the emissary of
thousands of Chassidim. One
of these honors R Elozor cannot
forget:
On the morning of Erev
Sukkos, they told me that at
one oclock I was to go to the
Rebbes room in order to receive
the four minim as the raffle
winner. Of course, I was there
promptly at one and I went in
together with some other VIPs
who merited to receive the minim
from the Rebbe. On the floor
near the window in the Rebbes
room was a pail with hadasim
(myrtles).
The Rebbe stood

there and picked hadasim. On

the right, also near the window,
stood R Binyamin Gorodetzky
and his father-in-law R Shmuel
Levitin. Both stood and picked
hadasim. Someone told me to go
over to the Rebbes desk to take
a lulav and esrog. From great
emotion and awe I did not look
nor was I overly picky. I took
the smallest lulav on the desk and
the smallest esrog. Then I had to
pick hadasim but it wasnt easy
to stand next to the Rebbe and
select hadasim. I grabbed four
random hadasim and removed
them from the pail. The Rebbe
suddenly turned to me and asked,
You have more than three? I
said yes, and the Rebbe began to
bless me. I understood that I was
supposed to leave.
From this I learned that
according to Halacha, you always
need to take three hadasim, but
there is a hiddur to take more.
Since then, every year, I take
more than three hadasim.

STANDING DURING THE

TFILLOS
During the tfillos, I always
stood not far from where the
Rebbe stood. I remember that
one time, I think it was on Rosh
HaShana, I wanted to see and
hear the Rebbe daven. They
usually did not allow people to
go up on the bima platform and
when I did so anyway, one of the
gabbaim came over to take me
down. I told him, I promise you
that I will not be on the platform
for krias haTorah, and he left
me alone.
Thus I stood on the platform
the entire tfilla from where I
could see the Rebbe clearly.
When they went with the Torah
scroll before the reading of the
Torah toward the bima, I went
down and stood off to the side.
Then
something
surprising
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Interview
happened. When the Rebbe went
up for Maftir, he asked why an
aliya had not been given to the
one who won the raffle. Since
I was standing on the side of
the bima from the outside, they
immediately raised me up and
threw me onto the platform. It
wasnt easy because behind me
stood a very old Chassid and it
was very crowded and in front
of me stood the Rebbe. It was
hard to stand there but in the
end I managed to get a hand in
between the Rebbe and the one
who had an aliya and I grasped
part of the bima.
For Maftir they brought
the small Torah and R Zalman
Gurary bought the zchus for
hagba. Now that the Rebbe had
asked about the raffle winner

Continued from page 49

said, Better to be involved with
Moshiach, which is a good thing,
than with anything else.
That
convinced me and with time, the
more I learned, the more my emuna
was strengthened and my fears
dissipated.
I think that someone who is
uncomfortable with the Besuras
HaGeula is uncomfortable because
the Geula obligates you to change
your habits. But the truth is that
the moment you understand that
everything will change and there
wont be a yetzer hara altogether,
you realize that there is no reason
to be afraid; on the contrary. The
Besuras HaGeula certainly doesnt
scare people off from getting
interested in Chabad.
What would you like to tell
young people who are standing at
a crossroads and thinking about
what path to choose?
Id like to say one thing. I am

who did not get an aliya, they

allowed me to do hagba and R
Zalman Gurary said he would do
gelila. Of course, thanks to this,
I was right next to the Rebbe.
For the shofar blowing, R
Zalman said to me, You hold the
Torah and I will hold it together
with you. That was a kind of
guarantee that they wouldnt
push us from there. Indeed, I
was able to stand right next to the
Rebbe during the blowing of the
shofar and I will never forget it.
The raffle winner only got a
one-way ticket. After the Yomim
Tovim, the Rebbe told R Dovid
Raskin to take care of my ticket
back because I needed to travel
as quickly as possible since I was
a teacher in Rishon LTziyon.
***

not sorry about anything in my life,

but I would have been happy if I had
been able to learn in Chabad from
the beginning. When youre born to
it, it all comes to you naturally and
you sometimes overlook the fact that
the Rebbe chose you himself. Thats
exciting!
I see my daughters coming home
from school with the truth; its all
real: the Ahavas Yisroel, the love
for Torah and mitzvos. They do it
all with joy and pleasure. It is very
different than other places. Here,
when you do something positive,
you give nachas to Hashem and the
Rebbe, you are a soldier in Tzivos
Hashem. There are no threats and
punishments. Its a pity they dont
all operate this way
Aside from that, the children
have true Jewish pride. The feeling
that they are different. That they
arent all carbon copies. This is not
something we have ever verbalized to
them and I dont think we will. But
we see the difference between them

I think the greatest kiruv I

got was being allowed to sit at
farbrengens and I did not have
to look for a place. Those who
remember what a chore it was to
find a good spot at farbrengens,
knows that this was the greatest
kiruv.
The third time I won the
raffle was for Shavuos 5751,
when I went with my wife. The
Rebbe had given out a silver
medallion for Lag bOmer.
On one side it said tiferes
shbtiferes, and on the other
side Tahaluchos Lag BOmer.
They told me that the secretary
R Leibel Groner was giving all
the guests who came for Shavuos
one of these medallions. I went
and asked for one and he gave
one for me and one for my wife.

and children outside of Chabad.

In conclusion:
What was mekarev us was the
chinuch of the children. I dont
know any children from Beis Yaakov
or any other group that knows how
to say chapters of Thillim by heart
at age three, not to mention an
entire chapter of Tanya. They say
a person becomes educated when
he teaches his children, and that is
precisely what happened with us. I
feel that its a tremendous privilege
to be educated by my children. It is
thanks to them that we are Chabad
Chassidim.
To be a Chassid means to live in
the world without being fazed by its
demands. The only demand is to be
happy and to want the Geula. Two
very fun things. We are not asked to
fast or afflict ourselves. My feeling
throughout has been that it is simple
to be a Chassid, materially and
of course, spiritually. Everything
automatically becomes illuminated
internally. Its pure pleasure.

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PARSHA THOUGHT

THE YEAR OF
SALVATION
By Rabbi Heschel Greenberg

THE UNIQUE YEAR

This weeks parsha begins
with the words You are standing
firmly today, all of you together,
before G-d your G-d
This parsha is always read the
Shabbos before Rosh Hashanah.
According to the Baal Shem Tov,
this is hinted in the word today,
which our Sages state alludes to
the day of Rosh Hashanah, the
Day of Judgment. These words
are intended to instill within us
the confidence that we will stand
firm and victorious on this day.
This is true every year, but we
may suggest that it is particularly
true this year. With but a cursory
glance at this new years date,
5776, we can discover a special
connection to the theme of how
we are confident that we will win
our case and bring salvation to
ourselves and to the entire world.
In Hebrew every number is
also a letter and every letter a
number, This New Year will be
the year 5776. It is designated by
the following letters: Hei (5,000)
tav (400), shin (300), ayin (70)
vav (6) = 5776. The Hebrew
letters that make up this number
form the word Teshuva, the literal
meaning of which is salvation.

TIPPING THE SCALES

FOR TESHUA
When Maimonides (Hilchos
Tshuva 3:4) speaks of judgment
on Rosh Hashanah, he cites the
Talmudic statement (Kiddushin
40b) that we should look at our
tally sheet of our virtues and
vices and view them as evenly
balanced. Similarly, we should
look at the entire world as evenly
balanced between virtue and
vice. A single Mitzvah can tip
the scales for our merits and
the merits of the entire world.
Maimonides, however, adds the
following words: and causes
teshua (salvation) and hatzala
(deliverance) for oneself and the
entire world.
The word Teshuva is closely
related to the word and theme
of Nitzavim; standing firmly and
confidently. With the realization
that all it takes is one additional
Mitzvah to bring Teshuvasalvation to oneself and the
world, the highlight of this year,
we can indeed stand firm and
be confident that we will merit
salvation.

FOUR ROOTS
What precisely is the meaning
of Teshuva?
The Tzemach Tzedek (the

third Lubavitcher Rebbe, whose

226th birthday we will be
observing the day before Rosh
Hashanah, one of the most
prolific writers in all of history
and who is known by the name of
his classic work on Talmud and
Jewish law), states that this word
has four roots:
The first is salvation.
The second is crying out for
salvation.
The third is turning, as
in the phrase turning your
attention to someone. This
usage can be found in the verse,
G-d turned [vayisha] to Abel
and to his offering. In other
words, G-d turned His attention
to Abel and accepted his offering.
The fourth is delight or
joy, as when the book of
Proverbs (8:30) describes the
Torah, allegorically, as G-ds
delight and plaything.
As we are poised to enter the
New Year of Teshuva and stand
on the threshold of the ultimate
Teshuva, let us reflect on these
four dimensions.

FIRST DIMENSION: WE
ARE IN G-DS HANDS
EXCLUSIVELY
The first dimension is
salvation. The Psalmists (146:3)
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Parsha Thought
states: Do not rely on nobles,
nor on a human being who holds
no Teshuva-salvation.
The lesson of this dimension
is
abundantly
clear
and
particularly relevant to this day
and age. As the national election
season heats up, we have to
remember that our salvation
does not come from an elected
official, no matter how human,
noble and charismatic he may
be. One medieval commentator,
the Radak, writes that this verse
teaches us that we should not rely
on a king or others in power who
themselves are merely pawns in
the hands of G-d.

out to Him and ask, and even

demand, that He redeem us from
exile and bring about the Age
of Peace and G-dly revelation
that He has promised. It is not
blasphemous or sacrilegious
for us to demand this of G-d
because that is precisely what
G-d demands of us.
Moreover, indifference to
and acceptance of exile, with its
attendant concealment of G-d
and rampant evil, is the very
opposite of showing respect
for G-d. If ones father is being
disrespected and enduring pain
and misery, which child will not
do something to remove that

When G-d sees our commitment to living in a

redemptive manner, He will remove the veil that
covers up the reality that this world is a place of utter
G-dly delight. Lets not wait for G-d to remove the veil.
Lets remove it by treating ourselves to the greatest
of delights: Torah study, particularly with emphasis on
the mystical teachings which are characterized as the
ultimate delights of Torah.
This prompts us to ask an
important question. Mortal men
can be influenced to treat us well
and to give us some measure of
earthly salvation. But if G-d is
in total control of their actions
as leaders how do we change
things? What influence do we
have over our future? What
can we do to have G-d bring
Teshuva-salvation?

SECOND DIMENSION:
PLEAD AND DEMAND!
The answer is provided in
the next dimension of Teshuva,
which means crying out. G-d
waits for us to be pro-active in
the process of Redemption. First
and foremost, He wants us to cry

source of pain and anguish? The

Prophet Yechezkel describes exile
as a desecration of G-ds name.
Our Sages emphasize that G-d
suffers with us in exile and He
too asks to be redeemed.
The least we can do is express
our displeasure for this state
of affairs and cry out to G-d to
change it.
Moreover, by crying out to
G-d to bring an end to exile we
demonstrate two things. The
first is that we have profound
faith in G-d. Otherwise, why
would we turn to Him? Turning
to G-d is the most dramatic way
of demonstrating our belief in
Him and in His ability to totally
transform the world.

Second, when we cry out to

G-d we demonstrate that we are
sensitive children. We express
our sensitivity to G-ds pain as
well as the pain of all those in the
world who suffer because G-ds
presence has not penetrated the
psyche of all people. When G-d
is concealed people are prone to
commit un-G-dly actions. Crying
out to G-d demonstrates that we
are not callous. This, the idea of
crying out, is the second root of
the word Teshuva.

THIRD DIMENSION:
MAKE A RIGHT TURN!
Once we have cried out to
G-d, He rightly asks us what we
have done to change the balance
of the world. What, He asks,
have you done to turn away from
the status-quo and preoccupation
with your own interests? When
will you do something to remove
the obstructive nature of the
world that doesnt allow My
light to penetrate every corner?
And, when will you turn in My
direction and pay attention to My
interests? These firm responses
reflect the third nuance of the
word Teshuva, which connotes
turning our attention from one
area to another. Here too we
turn our attention from our own
selfish interests to think about
G-ds interests.

FOURTH DIMENSION: LIVE

WITH THE DELIGHT OF
REDEMPTION NOW!
The final step in this process
is not to wait for G-d to answer
us with His Teshuva, but start
living a life of G-dly delight and
joy; this is the fourth dimension
of the word Teshuva. When G-d
sees our commitment to living
in a redemptive manner, He will
remove the veil that covers up the
reality that this world is a place of

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utter G-dly delight. Lets not wait

for G-d to remove the veil. Lets
remove it by treating ourselves
to the greatest of delights: Torah
study, particularly with emphasis
on the mystical teachings which
are characterized as the ultimate
delights of Torah.

FOUR STAGES OF THE

MESSIANIC PROCESS
These four roots of the word
Teshuva also reflect the four
stages of the Messianic process.
Maimonides
(Hilchos
Melachim, Chapter 11) describes
Moshiachs efforts at fighting
and defeating the enemies that
surround us. This parallels the
idea of a salvation when we are
saved from those who attempt
to destroy us or undermine

call upon the name of the L-rd

to serve Him with one consent.
From Moshiachs efforts to
redeem the Jewish people, he
(with G-ds direction exclusively)
will turn to the rest of humanity
and bring them to serve G-d.
The final step in the Messianic
drama will be the introduction
of the greatest spiritual delights,
relative to which all material
pleasure will be as naught. This
parallels the fourth root of the
word Teshuva, which is delight
and joy.
May all of you, among all of
Israel, be inscribed and sealed for
a good year; a good and sweet
year. A year of Teshuva in all
respects and in all dimensions,
with the imminent arrival of
Moshiach, who will usher in the
true and complete Redemption.

our ability to live a fully Torah

oriented life.
The next step, Maimonides
continues, will be for Moshiach
to build the Bais HaMikdash, the
place where all of our prayers are
directed. It is the ultimate place
for and experience of prayer.
Only we will no longer cry out
because we are suffering, but
we will call to G-d in prayer and
express our deepest and most
heartfelt feelings of yearning to
get closer to G-d. This is alluded
to in the translation of Teshuva as
a form of prayer.
This stage will be followed
by Moshiach turning (the third
meaning of Teshuva) to the
nations of the world, as the
prophet Tzfania declares: For
then will I turn to the peoples a
pure language, that they may all




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FEATURE
PART I
The gaon and mekubal, Rabbi
Levi Yitzchok Schneersohn, had
two shofars. They were precious
because he had received them
as an inheritance from his holy
ancestors.
Every Rosh HaShana he
would stand on the platform
in the center of the large shul
in Yekaterinoslav.
He would
take a black shofar out of his
bag and would blow it with
trepidation.
This shofar was
known as the black shofar and

it was inherited from the Rebbe

Maharash.
After R Levi Yitzchok
was arrested and exiled to a
distant city in Kazakhstan, the
shofar remained with his wife,
Rebbetzin Chana ah. It was
incredible that the evil ones who
conducted a thorough search of
the ravs house did not touch the
shofar. The Rebbetzin gave the
precious shofar to the chassid, R
Yehuda Gurary, who also lived in
Yekaterinoslav, in the hopes of
retrieving it in better times.

At some point, the Rebbetzin

traveled to where her husband
was in exile in order to be with
him. She knew that her husband
would be spending a number of
years there as the cursed ones
had decreed, and that he would
need a shofar for Rosh HaShana.
So she took back the shofar from
R Gurary and made the long trip
to the exile in Chili.

PART II
Years passed until R Yaakov
Yosef Raskin was able to leave

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THE TRAVELS AND

TRAVAILS OF THE
TWO HOLY SHOFARS
Beis Moshiach presents the story of the travels of two rare, precious shofars that
had been owned by Rabbi Levi Yitzchok Schneersohn ah for many years.
By Menachem Ziegelboim

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Feature

When R Raskin received

He gave the shofar to the Rebbes shliach,
his sons heartfelt letter, he
though he dared to ask the Rebbe for something immediately agreed to accept the
in exchange, something belonging to the Rebbe Rayatz. Rebbes gift. With all my heart

Russia. Before he left, he asked

the Rebbetzin, to whom he was
related, to give him the shofar
so he could bring it to a safe
location so that it would not fall
into the wrong hands.
The Rebbetzin, appreciating
the importance of the black
shofar, gave it to him after the
passing of her husband. For six
years, R Raskin had the shofar
and he blew it every year until
Elul 5710.
In Av 5710, Ramash, the
Rebbe Rayatzs son-in-law and
later, our Rebbe, sent a letter
to R Raskin. It has become
known to me for some time that
you were able to bring my fathers
shofar from that country. The
Rebbe went on to say that R
Dovber Chaskind would soon
be visiting Eretz Yisroel and, I
would have a debt of gratitude if
you would give over the shofar
through the above-mentioned.
And it is understood that all of
the expenses associated with
this are incumbent upon me to
cover as per his instructions, in
addition to my great thanks for
all this.
Shortly
afterward,
R
Chaskind went to R Raskin and
said he was there on behalf of the
Rebbe to retrieve the black shofar
of his father.
It wasnt easy for R Raskin
to part with the precious shofar.
Although it rightfully belonged to
the son of R Levi Yitzchok, still,
it pained him to part with the
holy shofar that he had used for
the past six years.
Nevertheless, he gave the
shofar to the Rebbes shliach,
though he dared to ask the Rebbe

for something in exchange,

something belonging to the
Rebbe Rayatz.
At that time, which was the
year of mourning for the Rebbe
Rayatz, the Rebbe would daven
every day as the shliach tzibbur
in the minyan of the yeshiva
bachurim. After the davening
he would act like any other of
the worshipers. After one of the
tfillos, he went over to the bachur
Dovid Raskin and said, Your
father asked for a gift in exchange
for the shofar. I suggest the
Rebbes handkerchief.
R Dovid quickly wrote to his
father and asked him whether he
agreed to the Rebbes offer. His
father was rather disappointed
for he had hoped for something
more enduring like a spoon or
cup, and he wrote this to his son.
He ended the letter by requesting
that he get a better gift.
A few days later, the Rebbe
went over to the son again and
expressed his surprise why
does your father refuse the
handkerchief? I wanted to
send it but in the meantime it is
shrinking.
So the son wrote back to his
father, expressing his surprise
that his father was refusing
the gift the Rebbe offered. He
wrote that among the talmidim
and Chassidim in Brooklyn
they already knew of Ramashs
greatness and holiness (which
was not yet known by the
Chassidim in Eretz Yisroel).
He wrote, If the Rebbe is
offering this gift, thats no small
thing and he knows the value of
the gift. Why haggle?

and soul I agree, and I abolish

my opinion and desire before that
of the Rebbe.
The Rebbe, with his great
sensitivity, asked the son whether
his father wanted him to send the
handkerchief to him directly or
whether it could be sent through
his son. R Raskin wrote that he
did not want to bother the Rebbe
in sending it and he did not mind
if the Rebbe gave it to his son
who would send it to him.
One
morning,
after
Shacharis, the Rebbe told Dovid
Raskin to go to his office. The
Rebbe then took out a key from
his desk, went over to a closet in
the room and opened it. In the
closet were a number of drawers
and the handkerchief was in one
of them. He took it out and gave
it to Dovid so he could send it to
his father.
Dovid quickly sent it off along
with a letter that described how
he had received the handkerchief,
noting that considering where it
had been hidden away, it seemed
it was quite valuable.
The handkerchief was made
of thin material, was white,
and ironed. In one corner the
initials JS, the Rebbe Rayatzs
initials, were embroidered. One
corner was missing and looked as
though someone had cut off a bit
as a segula. Now I understand
what the Rebbe meant when he
told my son that the handkerchief
got smaller, for apparently a
piece of it was given to someone
for a refua or the like, said R
Raskin.
***
Fifteen years passed.
R
Yaakov Yosef Raskin went to the
Rebbe for Shavuos 5725. On
that visit he had yechidus where

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he worked up the nerve to ask the

Rebbe what he should do with
the precious handkerchief, which
was being stored away and not
being used.
You will figure it out, said
the Rebbe.
But the Chassid persisted, I
dont understand and want the
Rebbe to tell me.
Are you a baal tokeia? the
Rebbe asked.
Yes.
So during tkias shofar on
Rosh HaShana you can cover the
shofars with the handkerchief and
if a handkerchief is not enough
with which to cover them, then
take another cloth and cover the
shofars.
The Rebbe then explained that
the Rebbe Rayatzs handkerchief
was meant to cover the shofars
during tkias shofar and it was
therefore a suitable replacement
for the shofar of his father.

PART III
After the Rebbe received
the precious shofar, he wrote
to thank R Raskin. A year
later, R Raskin wrote a letter to
Rebbetzin Chana from whom
he had gotten the shofar. In his
letter he expressed his feelings
about how the shofar was now
being used:
I was so happy and delighted
that my son Dovid wrote me
that on Rosh HaShana this year,
they blew the black shofar of the
Rebbe Maharash, which I took
from her honor in Alma Ata
eight years ago and I blew it for
six years on Rosh HaShana and
enabled people to fulfill their
obligation.
Last year, when I received
a letter from her son the Rebbe
shlita who asked me for it, the
truth is, I will admit and not deny
it, it was very hard for me to

Letters from the Rebbe to R Yaakov Yosef Raskin in connection with the shofar

He was still standing there when suddenly a hand

placed a shofar down before his eyes.

part with it and I could not part

with the shofar which was more
precious to me than pearls, but I
could not, G-d forbid, contravene
the Rebbes request and demand.
Now, when I heard that
on Rosh HaShana they blew it
by the Rebbe, I was very happy
that I had the merit that it was
through me, for I brought it from
Russia and closely guarded it and
it finally reached her honors holy
son shlita.
The small white shofar
belonging to the Tzemach
Tzedek surely remains with R
Tzvi Rabinowitz, may Hashem
have mercy on him and all of
Anash in Russia.

PART IV
What is the story of the
second shofar, the white one,
which was an inheritance from
the Tzemach Tzedek? And what
happened to it?
When R Levi Yitzchok was
in exile in Alma Ata, there was
a simple Jew there by the name
of Chaim Ber. After R Levi
Yitzchok passed away, this man
went to Chernovitz where he
lived till his final day.
In the final Elul of his life,
Chaim Ber called for the Chassid,
R Yosef Nimotin and told him
that he had never used the
shofar, but this year he wanted
to hear the tkios from this holy
shofar of the Tzemach Tzedek.

Issue 989

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Feature

YOU HAVE PRECIOUS GUESTS

In the story, the strong relationship between R
Yaakov Yosef Raskin and the royal family is referred to.
R Raskin helped R Levi Yitzchok Schneersohn in his
final years, and afterward the relationship continued
with Rebbetzin Chana.
As a sequel to the story, here is an excerpt from R
Raskins diary about a special visit that took place in
the home of Rebbetzin Chana, when he visited Crown
Heights at the end of 5715. During the visit, the
Rebbe appeared.
Here is the excerpt:
I arrived in Brooklyn on
28 Elul 5715 before noon.
My son Dovid immediately
called Rebbetzin Chana and
told her I had come from
Eretz Yisroel.
He asked
when I could come by to say
hello. She said at five.
When we entered her
home, the table was set with
fruit and drinks, all arranged
nicely. She welcomed me
happily and was very friendly.
After we sat for about a
quarter of an hour and
spoke about our memories
of Alma Ata etc., we heard
someone turn a key in the
lock of the front door. The
Rebbetzin said to us, Its my
son opening the door. (The
Rebbe always had the key to
her door in his pocket so as
not to bother her to get up
and open the door for him).
In the meantime, the door opened and the Rebbe
walked in. From the entrance to the living room there
was a long hallway and from there you walked right
into the living room. Of course we all rose. Previously,
I had been sitting at the table to the right of the
Rebbetzin and she motioned to us to move to the left
side. The Rebbe went over to her and greeted her and
asked how she was. The three of us (me, Dovid and
Leib) stood on the right side of the table. The Rebbe
stood under the pictures of the rabbanim hanging on
the wall. I immediately mustered the courage and said
the SheHechiyanu blessing out loud and the Rebbe
answered, Amen.
He asked me how the trip was and other things.

After about ten minutes he said to his mother, You

have precious guests, farbrengt gut and I will go.
After he left, the Rebbetzin said that the Rebbe
always came at six which is why she invited us for
five, but this time he came early, maybe because the
next day was Erev Rosh HaShana and time was more
limited.

REGARDS FROM HIS FATHER

When the time came, they called me for yechidus.
The Rebbe welcomed me with a glowing face. The
first topic we discussed was the Rebbes father. The
Rebbe asked me about his
fathers passing, since I was
among the main people who
had been involved with his
father in Alma Ata, and the
Rebbe had always wanted to
determine exactly when his
father passed away because
it was hard for him to talk
to his mother about this for
obvious reasons. He wanted
to know whether it was on
the 20th of Av before sunset.
Since I had been at the
tzaddiks bedside at the
time, I was able to say with
certainty that it was before
sunset and to reassure him
I gave him signs: there was
no electricity, and they only
used a kerosene lamp, and
the lamp was lit about half an
hour after his passing, and
as long as there was daylight
they did not light the lamp.
Aside from that, I remembered that it was daylight
outside.
The Rebbe asked whether I remembered the
teachings that his father expounded upon. I said I did
not remember precisely. I just said that in the final
weeks that he was in this world, I had come from a
bris mila that I did on a four year old child. Upon
returning from the bris, I went to visit him and he
was in bed for he was very weak. He sat in bed and
shook my hand lovingly and joyously, and expounded
on many things whose numerical equivalent is four like
the name of G-d, four worlds, etc. and he told me I
had done a great thing in performing a bris on a four
year old. And then he blessed me.

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R Yosef refused for he was afraid

to use this shofar.
The
morning
of
Rosh
HaShana, R Yosef went to the
house of Chaim Ber to visit
him. On the table was the holy
shofar. Chaim Ber asked him
again to blow the shofar and to
enable him to do the mitzva, but
R Yosef said he wanted to blow
a shofar he was used to blowing.
Were you at the mikva
today? asked Chaim Ber,
seemingly off topic.
R Yosef said yes.
Then please blow this shofar
for me, he kept begging him,
until he finally blew the Tzemach
Tzedeks shofar and the tkios
came out smoothly.
R Yosef was about to leave
the house when Chaim Ber said,
Please take the shofar to your
house.
R Yosef was surprised by this
request for he knew how much
Chaim Ber guarded this shofar
like a treasure. Nevertheless, he
did as he was asked and took the
shofar to his house.
It was like Chaim Ber had
been prophetic, as though he
knew his days were numbered
and the shofar had to be under
someone elses care.
R Yosef Nimotin was arrested
and after a brief trial he was
exiled to a labor camp for six
years. His wife gave the shofar
to the Chassid, R Hillel Liberow
who kept it as long as R Yosef
was in exile.
The
shofar
underwent
more travails. After R Yosef
was released and returned to
Chernovitz, he started davening
in the shul of the Iranian Jews.
It was the first Rosh HaShana,
and R Yosef was standing in
his place, ready to pour out his
heart in prayer on this Day of
Judgment. He was still standing

there when suddenly a hand

placed a shofar down before his
eyes. R Yosef just managed to
see the back of Hillel Liberow,
his friend, disappearing out the
door of the shul. R Yosef took
the shofar and recognized it as
the holy shofar.
His hands shook with
emotion. He had not expected
to see this special shofar again,
and at such a lofty time, shortly
before the shofar is blown!
It was only later that he
wondered why his friend had
rushed to return the shofar to
him and in such a mysterious
way as this. The two of them met
at a later point and R Hillel told
him an amazing story:
The morning of that Rosh
HaShana, R Hillel took the
shofar with him as he went to
shul. He planned on blowing it
with the intention of arousing
great mercy on himself and
his household.
Who knew
better than he how much mercy
the Jewish people needed at
this fateful time, when the
communists persecuted Jews
simply for being Jewish.
When he arrived at shul he
suddenly noticed that the shofar
was gone. At first he thought
his eyes were deceiving him and
he began searching his bag but
he soon saw that the shofar was
really gone. His heart skipped a
beat. The shofar the shofar.
He realized it must have slipped
out somehow on the way from
his house to the shul. It was
unlikely he would find it, and it
may have fallen into the hands of
wicked people.
Still, he rushed to retrace his
steps. Maybe the merit of the
holy shofar would enable it to be
rescued.
Brokenheartedly, he walked
quickly as he carefully looked
everywhere. Maybe it was in the

street, maybe it had been pushed

to the side by passersby.
Suddenly, his eyes lit up.
He found the shofar lying right
near the tram tracks. A tram
was coming and his heart froze
in terror. Millimeters separated
between the shofar and the iron
wheels of the tram that rolled
with such a racket. It was a
miracle that the tram did not run
over the shofar and smash it to
pieces.
At that moment, I realized
that the shofar did not have to
be by me, explained R Hillel.
That is why I hurried to return it
to you, so you could watch over it
and bring it to safe shores.
***
Some time passed and R
Yosef Nimotin was living in
Tashkent. It was the early 1970s
when a number of families began
to receive permission to leave
Russia. R Simcha Gorodetzky
approached R Yosef Nimotin and
asked him for the shofar so he
could give it to the Rebbe. That
was no simple mission, for the
shofar could have fallen into the
hands of wicked border guards,
but the miracles continued.
R Simcha was able to
smuggle it across the border
and he later gave the shofar to
the Rebbe who would take it
with him to the bima on Rosh
HaShana.

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MEMOIR

CHILDHOOD
MEMORIES FROM

A LOST WORLD
By Menachem Ziegelboim

ast winter, Mrs. Tzivya

Bravman ah, one of
the old-timers in Kfar
Chabad, passed away.
Mrs. Bravman was a special
woman, a real Chassidishe
personality who absorbed in her
soul the life of mesirus nefesh of
Chassidim in Russia in the harshest
of times.
A few years ago, I had the
privilege of hearing stories from
her about her childhood in the
shadow of the great Chassidim,
at a time when mesirus nefesh
was not meant figuratively but
was a daily reality.
***
I will begin with some
background about my parents
and their families. My mother
Draiza was the daughter of the
renowned Chassid, R Menachem
Mendel Kaplan. They said about
him that when he heard the news
about the passing of the Rebbe
Rashab, he decided to travel by
train from Bobruisk to Rostov

to convince the Rebbe Rayatz to

be the Nasi. He was attacked by
bandits on the way, despicable
Cossacks, who threw him off the
moving train.
My grandfather was badly
injured. Farmers who lived in
the village that he stumbled into
took him in and cared for him for
several weeks. My grandfather
said to them, I want a Jewish
burial. Please make sure of that.
However, he recovered and
continued on to Rostov. When
the Rebbe Rayatz came out to
farbreng the first Shabbos, he
said, How could a Jew think to
ask for a Jewish burial? A Jew
must live!
Three weeks later, my
grandfather contracted a severe
case of pneumonia and died
when he was only 52.
My mother told me that
during the war between the
Reds (the communists) and the
Whites (those loyal to the czar),
the Whites caught a Jew and

wanted to kill him for being a

Red. The Jew said he wasnt a
Red. They said that if he could
find a distinguished person to
testify that he wasnt a Red, they
would release him. They spoke
to my grandfather who said he
knew the man wasnt a Red and
they released him.
Later, they asked my grandfather
how he could say with certainty
that the man wasnt a Red. He
said, I am a Jew and therefore, I
could not possibly say, even for a
second, that I am not a Jew. The
fact that he said he is not a Red
indicated to me that indeed, this
is true.

A CHASSIDISHE SHIDDUCH
Years before he died, my
grandfather traveled to the
Rebbe Rashab. As he waited
on line for yechidus, he met
another Chassid, someone he did
not know, R Chaim Bentzion
Raskin. They shook hands and

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said shalom aleichem and got

to talking. On the side stood a
Chassid, R Yaakov Moskolik.
He went over to them and said,
You have a son and you have
a daughter, I think its a good
idea!
My father was only 18 and
still, since the suggestion was
made, my grandfather asked
the Rebbe about it. The Rebbe
said, May it be in a good and
successful time.
My Raskin grandfather came
out of yechidus, held out his
hand to my other grandfather,
and said, Mazal tov, I got the
Rebbes bracha. Now you go in
and ask for a bracha too.
My Kaplan grandfather said,
G-d forbid. Its enough that
you asked already. I wont ask
too.
When they told my mother
about the shidduch, my Raskin
grandfather came with lots of
jewelry. He put it in front of her
and asked her to choose what

she liked, but my mother did not

want the shidduch or the jewelry.
My grandfather left the room
and my mother noticed that the
gentile cleaning lady was eyeing
the jewelry. She quickly took it
all off the table and hid it. In the
meantime, my grandfather came
back into the room and thought
she had taken all the jewelry and
said, Nu, let it be, the main
thing is, in a good and successful
time.

NO PRIVILEGES AS THE
ONLY DAUGHTER
My parents had four sons and
one daughter, boruch Hashem,
all Chassidim and involved in the
Rebbes matters. My brother,
R Mendel ah lived in Kfar
Chabad; R Sholom Ber ah in
London; R Dovid ah in Crown
Heights, and R Leibel ah in
Morocco for over four decades.
We have all merited children and
grandchildren, shluchim of the
Rebbe, and this is a great merit

for my father.
I was the only daughter but
instead of being the princess,
the burden fell upon me. My
brothers as bachurim had beards
and in Soviet Russia this was
dangerous. So I was sent on
dangerous missions instead.
From a very young age my
father did not want to send
his boys to public school in
Leningrad. My father said: One
of my children must go to school
so the government wont come
with accusations. Since I did not
wear a yarmulke and did not have
peios, I had to represent the
children of the family and attend
school on weekdays. On Shabbos
and Yom Tov I always looked for
an excuse: my stomach hurt,
my hand, sometimes my throat
looked swollen I made up the
lessons by a good friend who
went and tattled on me, saying
that because of my religious
father I did not go to school.
The
situation
continued

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Memoir

The train station in Chili

until I got to fifth grade. In

the summer after fifth grade,
my father sent me to his sister,
Mumme Sarah Katzenelenbogen,
who lived south of Moscow.
The authorities wanted to know
where I was and my parents said
I had gone on vacation and still
hadnt returned.
In 1938 it was a terrible time
for Anash. Many were arrested
and killed. My uncle, Michel
Katzenelenbogen, was murdered
al
kiddush
Hashem
after
interrogations and torture. My
father was also arrested but when
they learned that he had a job
as a photographer (independent
work which enabled him to
observe
Shabbos
relatively
easily) they released him after an
interrogation and a warning.
In the middle of the school
year I returned to Leningrad and
began attending a night school
for adults where I was able to be
absent on Shabbos and Yom Tov.

A PATHETIC ROOM IN A
FORSAKEN VILLAGE
Sunday, 27 Sivan 5701/1941
is a date engraved in my memory.
At four in the morning they

announced that war had begun.

The Germans invaded from
Poland into Russia and with giant
steps passed Minsk and Bobruisk.
They conquered and destroyed
and at the beginning of 5702
they began bombing Leningrad.
This city is surrounded by water
and rivers and in order to leave
it you had to cross one of eleven
bridges. When the German army
came, they bombed the bridges
and at a certain point, only one
bridge remained which was near
the power station.
Thank G-d, we left Leningrad
on the last train, as far as I
can recollect, and then they
immediately began bombing the
last bridge. Many of the people
who remained in Leningrad,
including many of Anash, died
of starvation that winter. Many
Lubavitchers were on the last
train which was a freight train.
We traveled for three weeks, my
parents, four brothers and me,
and two daughters of my uncle
Yitzchok, may Hashem avenge
his death, Rochel (Pinson,
shlucha in Tunisia) and Sarah
(my brother Mendels wife). At
the stations they gave us kipituk
hot water to revive us and in

Rabbi Levi Yitzchok Schneersohn,

the Rebbes father

exchange for clothing and some

money we could also get a bit of
black bread.
Where were we going? At
first my parents still hadnt
decided what to do, but when
we got to Omsk in Siberia a few
days before Rosh HaShana and
we thought we would settle there,
we saw that tens of thousands of
refugees were already there and
there was no place to live. So we
continued to Kazakhstan, to the
city of Alma Ata.
The train station was about
eight kilometers from the city of
Alma Ata. When we arrived, the
authorities did not allow refugees
to enter the city so we spent
weeks living outdoors in the heat
of summer. After a while, we
managed to sneak into a forsaken
village near Alma Ata where we
rented a room from an Uzbek
lady.
The conditions were awful
but even there, in the pathetic
room, my parents managed to
host guests. The suitcase became
our Shabbos table and the food
was divided into smaller portions.
I remember some of our guests,
Dubrawski and Slavin. I also
remember that one time a person

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My father,
Yaakov Yosef Raskin

came who was sick with typhus

which is contagious. He begged
my mother not to send him to the
hospital where many sick people
died. My mother agreed to have
him with us and Hashem repaid
her and none of us caught it.
After a while and much effort,
we procured an apartment in
Alma Ata. Somehow my father
got some thread and opened
a workshop for piecework.
Thanks to this work there were
also food coupons and we were
able to observe Shabbos. In the
meantime, my brother Mendel
and his wife Sarah joined us.

FREEING THE RAV

Rumors had it that R Levi
Yitzchok, the Rebbes father, was
in Chili in Kazakhstan, where he
had already completed five years
of exile. His wife, Rebbetzin
Chana, was there with him too,
although she wasnt a prisoner
and was allowed to come and
go, but because of her devotion
to her husband she joined him in
his place of exile. I cannot fully
convey to you how they lived
in that forsaken village. The
houses were made of clay and the

My grandfather,
R Bentzion Raskin

roads were covered with mud.

If you put a foot into the mud
you couldnt take it out to take
another step.
The people in the city
described R Levi Yitzchoks
living conditions. He lived in
a neglected dwelling among
impure animals belonging to
gentiles. Those who knew of
the ravs greatness and position
in his city and compared the
past with the present could not
help but cry out bitterly about it.
Hashem arranged things so that
we could help a little. My mother
and I became sick with dysentery
so we had to be hospitalized. At
the hospital I met a judge from
Dnepropetrovsk-Yekaterinoslav,
where R Levi Yitzchok had
lived.
Her name was Tanya
and she told us that she also
belonged to the local courthouse.
Yes, she remembered the rabbi
and was willing to try and help
us. We heard from her that
the government in Moscow
had announced not to release
any prisoner, but in that era,
sending a letter from Moscow
to Kazakhstan took a long time,
even months. So the judge said
we had to hurry and try to have

My grandfather,
R Menachem Mendel Kaplan

him released before worse orders

came from Moscow.
When we returned home from
the hospital, local Chassidim
made contact with judges who
dealt with prisoners. They started
with bribes, giving the judges
goods that were unobtainable
in regular stores due to the war:
vodka, oil, sugar, etc. Along
with that, they began working to
convince them to transfer the rav
to Alma Ata. Contacts were made
and boruch Hashem, we also got
the necessary paperwork. Then
the question arose sending
the papers to R Levi Yitzchok
by mail was out of the question.
Sending bearded men with these
important papers? Absolutely
not.
Mrs. Bas-Sheva Altheus said
she was willing to hide the papers
for the rav under her clothing and
bring them to their destination.
She was smart and spoke a good
Russian and therefore it was
less likely they would arrest her.
She had only one request, If
something happens to me, dont
forget about the chinuch of my
young son.
Bas-Sheva arrived in Chili.
It was dangerous to ask where
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Memoir
Rabbi Schneersohn lived, so she
walked around hoping to find
someone who could help her
without endangering herself. By
divine providence, she met the
rav himself near the post office
and after a few hours, toward
morning, under the protection of
darkness, they set out for Alma
Ata.

NOBILITY AND DIGNITY

R Herschel Rabinowitz made
a nice apartment ready for the
rav. They brought a top doctor
from the university in Petersburg
to treat him. After the doctor left,
they did not ask many questions.
People looked at one another and
understood what the results of
the exam were.
The rav lived another few
months after that. I remember
the ravs high hat. When he
walked in the street with his
walking stick, with his royal
visage, people would cross the
street to the opposite pavement in
awe of him.
I
remember
Rebbetzin
Chanas
noble
appearance.
Even there in exile she was very
organized and always smiling.
She usually wore a wig with a
small hat or a kerchief on it.
Their apartment was illuminated,
at first, by a kerosene lamp, and
sometimes R Levi Yitzchok
would ask me to light the lamp
for him. What a zchus it was
for a young girl! The small
community which lived in the city
constantly sought ways to make
life easier for the rav and after a
while they exchanged the lamp
for something more up-to-date.
By the way, throughout all
these months since the rav and
rebbetzin arrived in Alma Ata,
the government had people
monitoring the house.
They
reported who came to the house
and who took an interest in him.

They conveyed this information

to their handlers and it was all
filed away. After they reported
about my father, who was seen
at the ravs funeral, they began
persecuting him. They dragged
him to interrogations and made
him enticing offers if he informed
on Anash. When the torment
became unbearable, my father
and I ran away to Moscow. My
father described this trip in his
diary:
After we returned home
from the terrifying night at the
big house of the KGB, it was
around Rosh Chodesh Elul 5704,
about two weeks after the passing
of Rabbi Levi Yitzchok ztl. I
was afraid to sleep in the house
at night and even by day. I did
not go out of the house at all.
Then we decided that we had to
run away from there, but it was
very hard to obtain tickets. We
decided to travel to Moscow,
because we didnt know of any
place where there were people
we knew and even in Moscow it
was unclear. I had heard of one
of the bachurim whose name is
Dovid Bravman of Malachovka
and got his address. When we
arrived at the train station in
Moscow, I found out that we had
to travel there by a trolley which
went to the city of Rezaian. We
bought two tickets to travel on 15
Elul because my daughter Tzivya
went with me till Moscow (it was
scary to travel alone, especially
for such a long trip of thousands
of kilometers).
Of course we prepared
secretly so nobody should realize
we were getting ready to go and
we left the house under cover
of the night for the train station
of Alma Ata which was eight
kilometers away.
When we
were ready to set out, I secretly
went to Rebbetzin Chana to say
goodbye. I told her that since
we were going far away in the

middle of Elul and I did not even

know where we would be for
Rosh HaShana, I asked her for a
shofar since I knew that she had
two shofars, one short and white
that belonged to the Tzemach
Tzedek and one black and long
that belonged to the Rebbe
Maharash. The Rebbetzin gave
me the Rebbe Maharashs shofar
and I received her blessing for a
successful journey.

A REFINED FACE
As my father mentioned,
when we arrived in Moscow, we
had the address of the Bravman
family. Dovid, their son, was
from a religious, though not
Chassidic, home. He went to the
gymnasium and studied secular
subjects and continued on to
higher education.
There was
once a farbrengen in Rostov and
Dovid walked in. He was not
yet bar mitzvah. He enjoyed the
farbrengen and went under the
table to be able to hear better.
Someone stepped on his foot
without realizing it. He let out a
yell and they took him out.
The Rebbe saw him and
said, This child has a very
refined face. The Chassidim
understood what the Rebbe
meant and since they had to
move to Nevel because of the
persecution, they said to the
child, Its vacation now. Come
with us to Nevel for a while, at
least until the first of September
when school starts.
Dovid agreed and joined
the Chassidim. Before school
started, urgent telegrams began
arriving from home: Mother is
sick, come home immediately.
The
mashpia
showed
the
telegrams to the Rebbe but the
Rebbe dismissed them. It was
only at the end of September,
when school was already in
session, that the Rebbe allowed

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Rashag with the Tmimim in Poking.

In the center is Rashag and to his left is Rabbi Gorodetzky

the child to go home but then he

no longer wanted to go home.
Although he grew up in a wealthy
home and in a warm family,
he preferred staying with the
Chabad Chassidim.
We arrived in Moscow a few
years after Dovid was already
well integrated among the
Chassidim. We opened a homebased piecework operation again
and immediately settled down
to work. We rented a room in
a suburb of Moscow, Kraskova,
and later the rest of the family
joined us.
A year later, at the beginning
of 5706, they began discussing
a marriage proposal for me with
this bachur. I loved his parents
house. Even though they were
not Chassidim, many Chassidim
frequented their home and
the house was elegant by the
standards of those days. There
was an impressive linoleum floor
(its funny but I still remember
a stain that did not come off the
linoleum, a memento from one
of the farbrengens) but the main
thing was that the family was
warm and loving.

We agreed to the shidduch

and decided on a date for the
wedding.
Someone from the
Chassidic brotherhood pleaded
not to make a big wedding
because they already knew
Dovids name. He did many
favors for the Chassidim and the
friend did not want to see him
arrested the night of the wedding.

WEDDING ON
A SNOWY NIGHT
We did not see one another
for the week before the wedding,
as is customary, even though
we lived in the same house with
a shared wall (in the house
opposite lived the sisters, Mina
Rivkin and Tova Altheus, nieces
of my mother). Under these
conditions Hashem gave us the
strength and we were both G-d
fearing and modest. The chassan
spoke to me through the wall and
said, The situation is not good.
We have to decide right away
whether to have the wedding or
not since it is likely to wake the
wolves up ...
I replied, What is decreed
from heaven is what will occur.

A letter from the Rebbe about making

We wont cancel the wedding

and we will pray and hope for the
best!
In the end, the dancing took
place at his parents house and
lasted all night. It was a snowy
night, 8 Teves. The snow also
fell on the chuppa. Everything
around us was white and we felt
a special purity.
All of Anash, survivors from
here and there, gathered to
celebrate with us. I particularly
remember the dancing of R
Nachum
Zalman
Gurewitz
(who lived in Australia later
on). He danced as the crowd
sang, Tantz a bissele, leb a sach,
lern Chumash mit Tanach, un
Gemara gor a sach (Dance a
little, live a lot, learn Chumash
and Tanach and lots of Gemara).
The dishes on the tables broke
from all the dancing and
spinning, and the courtyard of
my in-laws house was raised by
at least a handbreadth.
Life became a routine, a
routine of fear. We constantly
sensed them following us. We
moved to the other side of
Moscow (we became neighbors
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Memoir
of the Chassid, R Berel Rikman).
My husband would return from
work and report that he felt
constantly under surveillance.
My aunt, Mumme Sarah, was
busy forging documents that
helped Chassidim leave Russia
in the guise of Polish citizens.
We received travel papers from
her and left the city; my brother
Leibel, my husband, and me.

TERROR IN
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
We
left
Moscow
on
Wednesday, 18 Tammuz, 1946
and arrived in Cracow on
Thursday. We had traveled in
a regular train until Cracow
and
from
Cracow
until
Czechoslovakia we had to travel
in freight trains. We crossed
the Czech border at night, on
foot, each of us carrying our
belongings. Activists from Eretz
Yisroel came to arrange our
escape. They paid a lot of money
to bribe the border guards and
tried to make some order within
the chaos that prevailed. In the
row behind us was a Chassid with
his wife and two young children.
The woman was asked questions
including her identity: Whats
your name?
She forgot the name written
in her passport and remained
silent.
The soldiers saw
something wasnt right and they
took the couple off the train and
left the two children with the
fathers brother.
Among the passengers on the
train with us were many people
who were not Polish and who did
not know even a word of Polish.
We arrived on Friday and the
people in charge wanted us to
continue traveling. We insisted
on remaining for Shabbos for
this was a free country
My father described our trip
in his diary:

On Shabbos Mevarchim Elul,

Parshas Rei 5706, we farbrenged
for a few hours after davening,
led by R Avrohom Eliyahu
Plotkin, R Peretz Mochkin and
others. On Motzaei Shabbos
they transferred us all through a
hidden twisted path from Poland
to Czechoslovakia. When we
arrived at the Czech border in
the middle of the journey, we
had to go from the Polish train to
the Czech train. We had to carry
all our belongings for several
hundred meters until the border
between the countries.
The road passed through
mountains, hills, and valleys and
we had to be quiet so that the
border guards would not notice
us. They warned us not to speak
Russian at all. If we were asked
what country we were from, we
were told to say we came from
Persia.
Obviously, we were
terrified until, thank G-d, we
all boarded the other train in
Czechoslovakia.
At that time, we received a
letter from the Rebbe Rayatz
telling us to stay put since R
Yisroel Jacobson from the US
was about to come to us.
Before Shabbos was over, two
soldiers came and began yelling
outside the barracks we were in,
Get out, get out! You have to
leave these barracks!
My husband went out to them
and began asking them not to
chase us out. Then some soldiers
came and began shooting so
the refugees would get out and
vacate the barracks. Dovid tried
to prevent this and one of the
soldiers aimed a gun right at him.
Instinctively,
without
thinking, even though I was in
my ninth month, I jumped at the
soldier and twisted the gun so
that a bullet flew out aimed right
at the bottom of my spine. I was
wearing several layers of clothing

and still, I began bleeding heavily.

One of the women screamed,
They killed Tzivke, and the
soldier mercilessly killed her on
the spot.
Mrs. Mussia Nimotin quickly
took sheets out of her luggage
and bandaged my back and that
is how I went to the hospital,
even though Jews were not
allowed to walk in the streets
(although the war was over, antiSemitism and Nazis were all over
the place and the situation was
very dangerous).
We got to the hospital on
Sunday, a day when the doctors
were off. I sat down to wait and
I was called by the name that
appeared in my passport. At
first I didnt react since I didnt
remember that this was my
name. I looked fearfully around
me.
Nuns walked back and
forth, there were big crosses on
the walls and I couldnt drink
even a cup of water there. I was
also afraid to speak in Russian
because I was listed as a Pole
and yet I knew no Czech or
Polish. I told the nurses that
I could only speak in English.
Some time later, someone from
the government came and asked
me to sign that the bullet had
accidentally fired after I had
pushed the soldiers hand. I
hesitated but one of the activists
who came from Eretz Yisroel and
knew there were still other groups
who needed to come, asked me to
sign in order to prevent problems
for other Jews.
Anesthesia was not available
and so they numbed the area
with ice and removed the bullet.
About three weeks later I gave
birth to my oldest, Rochel.
When my parents arrived in
Czechoslovakia, some time after
us, my husband went to meet
them. My father said that when
he saw my husband he became

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very frightened. Dovid looked

afraid and worried and the hair
on his temples had turned white
overnight.

CHASSIDIC
COMMUNITY IN POKING
From Czechoslovakia we
went to Austria and from there to
Poking in Germany. The camp
we were assigned to live in had
been a military camp during the
war and had long barracks. Each
family was given a place to live
and the Americans from the Joint
Distribution Committee gave us
food. After some time, Rebbetzin
Chana joined us. Mrs. Mussia
Nimotin cared for her devotedly.
I remember only a few of the
names of the many Lubavitchers
who came there. There were R
Nissan Nemanov under whose
influence a yeshiva was founded,
the Plotkins, Drizins, Mochkins,
Brods,
Katzenelenbogens,
Chanins,
Minkowitzs,
and
others. I remember the orphaned
children from the Margolin
family, Tova (Altheus) and
Mina (Rivkin) and their cousins
Shmarya and Dovid.
In the refugee camp in Poking
the community began to take
shape. The children learned in
barracks designated for that and
the men also established regular
times to learn Torah. There was
even a course in shchita that was
given by my father.
At this time, the Rebbe (who
had been appointed by his fatherin-law, the Rebbe Rayatz, as
director of Kehos) asked that
sfarim be printed in Germany.
My husband, a communal
activist, played a major role in
this. It was necessary to obtain
major funding, which is why we
remained in Poking a long time
after everyone else left, in order
to finish up the printing of the
sfarim. I still have a letter that

the Rebbe wrote to my husband

in Av 5707/1947 in which he
guides him about printing the
sfarim that they should be as
nice as possible and about money
matters. The Rebbe concluded
the letter with quotes from the
Rebbeim which emphasize the
importance of sfarim that are
printed for generations to come.

A GIFT FROM
REBBETZIN CHANA
Each of the refugees in Poking
had to decide where to move on
from there. We got a visa for the
US but my husband, who saw
how much my parents helped me,
encouraged me to change our
plans and we went to Nurenberg
to get a visa to Eretz Yisroel.

from the one well that was in the

center of the Kfar and carry the
bucket of water home so that
a third of the water spilled out
on the way) and he had even
prepared a luxury (i.e. a modern
lamp that used kerosene) for us.
We arrived in Eretz Yisroel with
our three daughters, delightful
dolls, to face the harsh conditions
in the new Kfar Chabad. We
lived among turkeys in the Arab
houses until the new houses were
built in 5717.
After my husband passed
away (he was only 49 and died of
a terrible illness in Sivan 5719), I
was offered a job as an assistant
to the preschool teacher, Freida
Segal. I worked with her for a
few years until I made a career
change and began working as a

Instinctively, without thinking, even though I

was in my ninth month, I jumped at the soldier
and twisted the gun so that a bullet flew out aimed right
at the bottom of my spine. I was wearing several layers
of clothing and still, I began bleeding heavily.

This decision was fortified by

a letter from the Rebbe Rayatz
in Cheshvan 5708 in which the
Rebbe wrote that it was good to
go to Eretz Yisroel but he should
remain until he finished the
printing.
As
I
said,
after
the
Lubavitchers left and the camp
was closed, we remained a while
longer to carry out the Rebbes
wishes and finish the printing of
the sfarim.
Our third daughter was born
in Munich and then we received
a letter from my father that there
was a nice apartment for us (he
did not mention that it was full
of mice and that we had to draw

housemother in the Beis Rivka

dormitory.
From Rebbetzin Chana I
received as a gift two books that I
still have, as well as letters.
I thank G-d for enabling me
to raise my daughters and to
marry them off to Chassidishe
bachurim, rabbanim, who all hold
key positions in our communities.
I thank G-d that I see
my grandchildren and greatgrandchildren
serving
as
shluchim of the Rebbe in Eretz
Yisroel and the world. The Rebbe
Rashab blessed my grandfather
to merit Yiddishe children and
indeed, boruch Hashem, I see the
fulfillment of that holy bracha.

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FEATURE

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LEADING
THE BATTLE
AGAINST PHONY
CONVERSIONS
The announcement of the founding of an
alternative conversion system has, once again,
pushed the Rebbes battle for Mihu Yehudi to
the forefront of public awareness. * Litvishe
Dayan, Rabbi Avrohom Sherman, member of
the Beis Din HaGadol in Yerushalayim, scion of
a Lubavitcher family, leads the battle against
alternative conversions.
By Yisroel Lapidot

he announcement last
month about the founding
of
an
alternative
conversion
Beis
Din
system generated a huge firestorm
and reawakened for the umpteenth
time the war for the Law of Return
Mihu Yehudi, which began back
in 1970. That is when the Rebbe
demanded that the law be amended
with the word khalacha added,
so that it would be clear that the
only criterion that establishes who
is a Jew is Halacha.

One of the people who

leads the battle and who
stands fearlessly and firmly
against initiatives such as the
establishment of these conversion
battei din is Rabbi Avrohom
Sherman. He is a member of the
Beis Din HaRabbani HaGadol in
Yerushalayim and a senior Dayan
in Eretz Yisroel.
R Shermans name has been
in the headlines numerous times
on the topic of conversions. The
last time he managed to arouse
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Feature
the ire of many was with his
unprecedented psak din which
cast doubt on the thousands
of conversions done by Rabbi
Chaim Drukman, one the leading
religious
Zionist
rabbanim
and the one who heads the
government conversion system.
R Shermans work is familiar
to many, especially to the oldtime denizens of Bnei Brak,
where he was born and still
lives. He learned from the great
Litvishe roshei yeshiva in the new
yishuv and in Yeshivas Chevron
and is considered a mekurav
of the posek, R Yosef Sholom
Elyashiv zl.
Not many know that R
Sherman is of Lubavitch descent.
His grandfather was the Chassid,
R Moshe Axelrod about whom
the Rebbe Rayatz said, If I had
another ten Moshes I could turn
over all of Russia! His uncle is
R Gedalya Axelrod, Av Beis Din
and rav of the Chabad community
in Haifa, and his cousin is R
Dovid Nachshon, director of the
Chabad Mobile Mitzva Tanks and
Tzivos Hashem in Eretz Yisroel.
For more than four decades,
he has been leading a stubborn
battle against those who want
to remove the barrier between
Jews and gentiles through lower
standards in conversions. He
has become one of the familiar
figures on the battlefront to
preserve the purity of the Jewish
people.
We spoke to some people
who are close to R Sherman and
to family members who told us
fascinating details about his work
on behalf of Shleimus HaAm as
well as his connections to Chabad
and the Rebbe.

BREACH IN THE FENCE

Although he retired as
a member of the Beis Din
HaRabbani
HaGadol,
R

Sherman continues even today

to be heavily involved in the
field of conversions. At the
conference on The Eternal
Jewish Family, which took
place at the Inbal Hotel in
Yerushalayim,
R
Sherman
spoke to hundreds of rabbanim
of cities and communities in the
country and the world, dayanim,
roshei yeshivos, and heads of
organizations that deal with
conversions in the Diaspora. He
spoke about what is happening
with the conversion system
in Eretz Yisroel over the past
decades:
In halachic principle there
is no such concept as a beis din
for conversions. In Shulchan
Aruch it says that a beis din
has the authority to oversee
conversions. That is, a beis din
which also deals in Torah, legal
disputes, etc. There is no such
thing as a special beis din just for
conversions.
However, religious Zionists
came and opened special
conversion systems with the
corrupt reasoning that these
battei din will serve to preserve
the Shleimus HaAm by their

converting tens of thousands of

Soviet immigrants through some
kind of acceptance committee.
The one who created the
breach was Chief Rabbi Shlomo
Goren who approved the opening
of conversion institutes around
the country. He gave certification
to a number of rabbanim to
handle conversions even though
they were not dayanim and never
sat on a beis din. Among the
rabbanim are R Moshe Hadaya,
rav of Eilat; R Chaim Drukman,
rosh yeshiva of Ohr Etziyon; and
R Tzfania Drori, rav of Kiryat
Shmoneh.
As time went by, various
conversion cases began to appear
before dayanim, conversions that
were done by those rabbis in
which, it turned out, there was no
acceptance of mitzvos. Dayanim
checked and determined that
it must be established that not
everyone with a conversion
certificate automatically becomes
Jewish. As long as mitzvos were
not accepted, the document is
worthless.
Therefore,
concluded
R
Sherman, We must examine
every convert who wants to
marry and his conversion
certificate cannot automatically
be accepted without checking
who did the conversion. There
is no assumption of kashrus to
any conversion certificate and
to any conversion body, even if
the beis din is absolutely kosher.
Each convert must be examined,
for many converts go through the
conversion process for financial,
social, etc. reasons, which is why
they often hide essential details.
Even if the conversion was
done by G-d fearing people, the
convert must be examined.
R Sherman made this clear
to those in charge of issuing
marriage certificates around the
country.

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THE CONVERSION CIRCUS

R
Shermans
great
involvement
in
conversion
according to Halacha began
as a direct result of a directive
from the Rebbe.
In private
conversations conducted with his
family, we learned how he got
involved for the first time in the
conversion battle.
It was 5744/1984 when R
Gedalya Axelrod returned from
the Rebbe with a directive: You
are a Dayan and you are among
the dayanim of Eretz Yisroel.
You must do all that you can so
that all the conversions that are
done are according to Halacha.
In addition, you need to raise
awareness of this topic among
dayanim so that they accept the
definition of giyur khalacha.
That means there has to be
mitzva observance and that the
conversion is done by a suitable
beis din.
R Axelrod got the dayan, R
Shilo Refael ah, involved and
together they went to R Sherman
who joined them in coordinating
the fight for halachic conversion.
At a later point, all three, each
in his location, became Avos
Beis Din: R Axelrod in Haifa, R
Rafael in Yerushalayim, and R
Sherman in Tel Aviv (and from
there, to the Beis Din HaGadol).
The topic of conversion
came up at the convention of
dayanim that year. More and
more dayanim spoke critically
about the number of files on
their desks, conversions with
no mitzva observance, and no
acceptance of mitzvos at the time
of conversion. A serious problem
arose about how to treat these
conversion documents.
As a direct result of the
Rebbes guidance, the three
dayanim each spoke with their
rabbis.
R Axelrod spoke to
the Rebbe, R Sherman to R

Chabad Chassidim fighting to amend the law, Mihu Yehudi

Most of the converts had never accepted the

yoke of Torah and mitzvos so their conversion
never had validity according to Torah law. The person
remains a gentile and the attempt to bring him into the
Jewish people only causes problems and assimilation.
Its a terrible tragedy.

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Feature
Elyashiv, and R Rafael to R
Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, to get
their halachic opinion.
On 15 Sivan 5744, a public
ruling was issued to dayanim
and rabbanim who registered
marriages which was worded
by R Elyashiv and reviewed by
R Shlomo Zalman Auerbach,
and which was signed by the
Steipler Gaon, R Yaakov Yisroel
Kanievsky, which said:
To Rabbanei and Dayanei
Yisroel:
Since, to our great sorrow,
there are increased instances
of accepting converts and
a large percentage of them
never considered accepting the
observance of Torah and mitzvos
when they converted, we hereby
issue this warning that it is a
very serious prohibition to accept
converts without being convinced
that they truly accept the yoke of
Torah and mitzvos. It is obvious
that a conversion without
accepting Torah and mitzvos is
not a conversion at all, not even
after the fact.
We also warn all those who
register marriages that the
Halacha obligates them to check
whoever presents a conversion
document, whether from Eretz
Yisroel or abroad, to ascertain
whether it is truly a halachic
conversion. Only then, can they
be registered for marriage.
Pursuant to this ruling, most
Israeli dayanim (about 180
rabbanim and dayanim) signed
on a public call to all those who
registered marriages not to make
a chuppa and kiddushin for
converts who did not accept the
yoke of Torah and mitzvos.
A few years later, in 5748,
the rabbanim of Bnei Brak also
publicized their halachic view on
this matter. They made it clear
that according to our holy Torah
it is forbidden to bring someone

into Klal Yisroel unless it was

clarified absolutely and after real
investigation, that he accepted to
observe all the mitzvos, truly and
sincerely, and G-d forbid to say
that times changed. And whoever
did not commit to fulfill mitzvos
wholeheartedly, the conversion
is nothing and he remains a
gentile.
Upon the Rebbes instruction,
the three dayanim mentioned
earlier continued to raise a hue
and cry that even led to the
formation of an investigative
committee following a study
conducted on what percentage
of converts were not observing
Torah and mitzvos. R Axelrod
told Beis Moshiach about this:
We saw that most of the
converts had never accepted
the yoke of Torah and mitzvos
so that their conversion never
had validity according to Torah
law.
The person remains a
gentile and the attempt to bring
him into the Jewish people only
causes problems and terrible
assimilation.
Furthermore,
today, rabbanim are being forced
to marry couples in cases where
it is clear that one of them is a
gentile in every respect. Its a
terrible tragedy.
In the laws of divorce there
is a Halacha that when a person
converts according to Halacha
and then stops observing mitzvos,
his name is written in the get but
without ben Avrohom. If he
continues to observe Torah and
mitzvos, when he divorces, the
get will say, ben Avrohom Avinu.
From a computer check that was
done they saw that in the past
fifteen years, in 97.2% of cases,
it says hager without the words,
ben Avrohom Avinu, which
shows that its all a joke and
baloney.
After the great commotion
that ensued, they formed an

investigative committee in light of

the fact that most Israeli dayanim
checked to see whether the
converts were actually observing
Torah and mitzvos after their
conversion. The facts were not
surprising. 80% did not keep
even one mitzva! The conversion
situation in the army is even
worse!

CHASSIDISHE LONGING
Before his wedding, R
Sherman received a letter from
the Rebbe. In addition to the
usual blessing, the Rebbe added
in his own handwriting about
the importance of learning
Chassidus.
During the years that he
served as a dayan in battei din, R
Sherman was very busy at work
and did not meet the Rebbe. In
5753 he went to Crown Heights
and was very taken by the
Rebbes encouragement of the
Chassidim singing Yechi.
In family settings R Sherman
tells about his great closeness
and deep connection to his
grandfather, R Moshe Axelrod.
As a small boy and until he was
18, he would daven and spend
time every Shabbos with his
uncle R Gedalya Axelrod, at the
first Chabad shul in the center of
Ramat Gan. It was called Sukkas
Sholom for the Rebbe Rashab,
and his grandfather was the rav.
Till this day, he still recalls
what he absorbed from the
Chassidim who came from
Russia, talmidim of Tomchei
Tmimim in Lubavitch, who
davened and farbrenged in the
Chabad shtibel including: R
Meir Blizinsky, R Chaim Moshe
Alperowitz, R Refael Nachman
Kahn and his son R Yoel, and
many others.
On certain occasions he
shares his memories of R Yoels

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last Shabbos, when he was a

young man, before he went to
the United States to the Rebbe.
Before the third Shabbos meal,
his grandfather asked R Yoel to
review a maamer at that meal
since it says, A person should
not part from his fellow
except with a dvar Halacha, for
that is how he will remember
him. When he said the maamer,
R Sherman sat alongside his
grandfather and uncle and
listened closely.
His
grandfather
learned
privately with him and they had
a warm, loving relationship.
Until today, R Sherman davens
in a Thillas Hashem siddur
and puts on tfillin according to
Chabad custom. He sees himself
connected to the teachings of
the Alter Rebbe, whether his
halachic psakim or his Chassidic
teachings: Tanya, Likkutei Torah,
Torah Ohr, and his letters.
Shliach and rav of Moscow,
R Berel Lazar, invited R
Sherman to attend a conference
for all the Rebbes shluchim
throughout the former Soviet
Union. The conference took
place in Moscow. He was asked
to give halachic shiurim to the
shluchim on an array of topics
pertinent to running khillos and
rabbanus, including the halachic
criteria for conversion and about
how to deal with the plague of
assimilation.
One
evening
of
the
conference, R Lazar asked him
to join a Chassidishe farbrengen
and tell the shluchim, as a scion
of Chassidim, what he knows and
remembers about the shlichus
of his grandfather, R Moshe
Axelrod, who was one of the
shluchim of the Rebbe Rashab
and the Rebbe Rayatz in Russia
under the communists.
The shluchim who attended
that farbrengen say that R

R Moshe Axelrod

Sherman was fascinating and they

were up to the wee hours of the
morning. He told them episodes
and Chassidic stories that he
remembered from his childhood.
During the farbrengen he sang
for them a special niggun that he
remembered from his grandfather
which was his anthem. It was the
niggun of the Rebbe Maharash,
Lchatchilla Aribber.
He
began to sing it with incredible
accuracy as he heard it from his
grandfather and he said:
That was my grandfathers
anthem, its what he would sing
at every opportunity, and that
is how he conducted himself
he was never fazed by what he
faced, he had no fears, he did
everything with mesirus nefesh,
as in the saying of the Rebbe
Maharash, lchatchilla aribber.
Apparently, R Sherman also
learned mesirus nefesh from his
grandfather.

DANGER LIES IN WAIT

EVERYWHERE
The recent commotion about
the alternative conversion system
does not allow R Sherman to rest
on his laurels. He is especially
encouraged by the Rebbes

instruction to his uncle about his

question regarding interviews
with the media about conversion
from Lag bOmer 5744, You
are a rav and started this mitzva
and so where does a question
come from now?
The spirit of shlichus is strong
within him and he proclaims
loudly, I am not worried about
the religious sector.
They
will continue to be led by the
approach of the gdolei hador.
I care about the well-meaning
ordinary people because they do
not know what this is about.
Marrying or being in an
intimate relationship with a
gentile is worse than living
without being circumcised or
without the sanctity of marriage.
It is worse than all sins. It is
literally the impurity of the
nations and its a tragedy. We
feel we must be concerned for the
integrity of our people and this is
the main point.
R Sherman is worried about
wholesale conversions which
are being done for nationalistic
considerations and not according
to Halacha:
Everyone knows that these
gentiles have no intentions of
accepting any principles of our
faith, not Shabbos, not kashrus,
and not family purity.
And
everyone knows and can almost
assert as such while holding a
Torah scroll that these gentiles
have no intentions of accepting
Judaism.
The present debate is not
a halachic debate. We need to
present the Halacha in its pristine
form; the principles of Halacha
are not subject to any ideology or
sector, but obligate us all. The
ideology of religious Zionism
makes them ignore all halachic
principles which are the only
Continued on page 4
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SHLICHUS

THE LADDER IN
BEIT EL REACHES
THE HEAVENS
In Beit El they dream not only of ladders but
also about growing and expanding, but in the
meantime, the Israeli government is choking
the yishuv with the construction freeze. * The
Rebbes shliach in the yishuv, R Dovid Bakush,
along with his wife and family, reach out to the
local residents as well as to IDF soldiers working
in the area.
By Nosson Avrohom

udges of the Israeli Supreme

Court told the State to
immediately destroy two
buildings in the yishuv
known as Battei Dreinoff. They
maintained that the buildings were
illegal because they did not have
the necessary construction permits.
The police broke into the buildings
late at night and brutally removed
the boys who were holed up there
to make the destruction work more
difficult.
About thirty young people
were arrested and many others
were injured as a result of the
violence used by the police,
who also used a water cannon
that caused damage to nearby

buildings. The police spared no

means and used pepper spray in
the room the youth were in. After
a day in which the buildings were
designated as a closed military
area, tractors and bulldozers
destroyed the buildings down
to their foundations.
The
destruction was perpetrated by
a government which claimed it
would promote construction in
the settlements.
During that nerve-wracking
day of waiting and hoping the
destruction would not take place
in Beit El, as hundreds of youth
stood facing off against hundreds
of policemen and soldiers, the
Rebbes shliach in Beit El, R

Dovid Bakush, put tfillin on with

the expelling forces.
It was bizarre. The soldiers put
on tfillin and their eyes filled
with tears. Many of them told
me that they were doing this
shameful work with a broken
heart, he said.
R Bakush has been working
on the yishuv together with
his wife and family for close to
twenty years. He is quite familiar
with the battle for Eretz Yisroel,
some would say too familiar.
A few years after he married,
and following the murder of one
of his friends, he led a group of
settlers in a retaliation attack for

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Soldiers put on tfillin and cried.

R Bakush with soldiers.

which he was jailed for half a

year. During his incarceration,
he began wondering about
religious Zionism and its belief in
the State. At the same time, he
was exposed to Tanya.
His
wife
and
children
contributed toward his move to
Chabad. At each stage of his
personal growth towards Chabad
there was an uptick in the work
of Chabad at the yishuv. At first
the outreach work was on a small
scale, one-on-one, encounters,
conversations, while today, there
is a Chabad House, a Chabad
shul, shiurim and farbrengens
with mashpiim and rabbanim,
and tremendous work with Israeli
soldiers and other security forces.
R Bakush is both a scholar and a
dynamic individual, with a smile
which is winning and contagious.
Perhaps this is the secret of his
success at the yishuv which is
entirely religious.

NINE MONTHS IN JAIL

R Bakush was born and
raised in a traditional family in
France. He made aliya at age 18
and settled in Beer Sheva where
he and his fellow immigrants
were sent to a prep school and

ulpan, which after a year of study,

was supposed to be followed by
studies at Ben Gurion University.
We had two excellent
counselors,
really
special
people, Dan Marzbach (may
Hashem avenge his blood) and
Tziyon Sissik. The two of them
promoted the approach of Torah
and derech eretz, and after a year
and a half I changed my plans
and went to learn in yeshiva in
Beit El.
I learned by R Zalman
Melamed and my religious
personality was formed. I filled
in gaps and became a religious
Zionist.
I spent three years
learning and when I was ready
to get married I flew to France
where a friend of my wife made
our shidduch. At that time, my
wife was not Chabad but was
very close to Chabad due to the
influence of the shliach, R Daniel
Amram. After our wedding in
Yerushalayim in 5745, we made
aliya and settled in Beit El.
For ten years we were part
of the knitted yarmulke sector.
I was very close to the rav of
the yishuv and the rosh yeshiva,
R Melamed, and worked in
the yeshiva.
Life was good

until the Oslo agreement which

was followed by horrifying
attacks. Good friends of mine
were murdered on the altar of
peace. The worst was when my
best friend, Chaim Mizrachi,
was murdered.
This aroused
tremendous anger on the part
of the yishuvim because of the
powerlessness of the army and
the police. This is what drove us
to undertake retaliatory actions.
R Bakush was arrested
because of this. The arrest was
on 9 Kislev 5754 and he was
supposed to be released on 19
Kislev, but in an unprecedented
move, the judge decided to keep
him in prison until the end of the
trial.
One of my wifes friends,
Mrs. Malka Sultan (may Hashem
avenge her blood), was a
Lubavitcher and she immediately
called and asked for a bracha
from the Rebbe. My wife herself
had been to the Rebbe and
received much encouragement
and kiruvim. All this came to the
fore for her when I was in dire
straits in jail.
At that time, after 27 Adar,
the Rebbes answers were mainly
with a movement of his head and

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Shlichus
the answer we received
through the secretariat
was to check tfillin and
mezuzos.
It wasnt easy
getting my tfillin out
of the jail, but after a
lot of bureaucracy, we
managed. The tfillin
were checked once
and declared to be
fine; the second time
the same thing. My
wife knew though, that
if the Rebbe said to
check them, there was
a problem.
After I got new
tfillin, a date for the trial was
set. In the meantime, I had come
across the series Lessons in Tanya
and I began learning. I was
amazed by the straight thinking,
the likes of which I hadnt come
across before.
When it was time for the
sentencing, after three months
behind bars and my wife
managing alone with six children,
I stood before the judge. The
prosecutors wanted me to get
two years.
The judge, who
was usually tough with settlers,
miraculously said nine months
and after deducting a third from
the sentence, I was released on
22 Iyar of that year.
The
night
before
the
sentencing, when we were very
nervous, my wife got a phone call
from R Leibel Groner. He told
her that the Rebbe had nodded as
a sign of blessing when my name
was mentioned. We were very
excited. It was 12 Adar when I
was supposed to move from the
prison in the Russian compound
to the prison in Ramle, and Dr.
Goldstein had just attacked Arabs
at the Meoras HaMachpeila.
Public sentiment was extremely
negative about settlers. If the
trial had been pushed off by two

R Bakush leading a Lag BOmer parade

days, it is likely that the judge

would not have been lenient, and
most probably would have been
extra strict.
After I was released I was left
with questions about religious
Zionism. I felt that I had too
many
ideological
questions
for which I wasnt receiving
satisfying answers. There was a
family who had gotten involved
with Chabad and through them
we got to know the mashpia in
Yerushalayim, R Zalman Notik.
He was invited to our house
to farbreng for the people of the
yishuv and we became close.
We referred every question to
him and I soon realized that
Chassidus is eternal truth, the
kind that does not cut corners.
Everything is clear, pnimi, and
deep. We became Chassidim.
When R Notik became
our mashpia it all happened
quickly. Our son who attended
a Chassidishe summer camp for
children of Yesha came home
all fired up and decided he was
going to Toras Emes and not
the religious government school
at the yishuv. He came back a
Chassid with a Yechi yarmulke
and proclaimed unequivocally
that the Rebbe is chai vkayam.
I was a little frightened by this

but soon realized that he was

right. All my children followed
him as well as me and my wife.
I eventually dressed the part and
within a year we had become
Chabad Chassidim.
When and how did you
become shluchim of the Rebbe
in Beit El?
As I mentioned, my son
decided he was going to Toras
Emes in Yerushalayim.
That
is when the second intifada
began and attacks on the roads
increased. We thought about
leaving Beit El and moving to
Yerushalayim. We wrote to the
Rebbe and the answer we opened
to said to spread the wellsprings
where you are. We asked R
Notik and he said we should stay
at the yishuv. Its no chochma
to leave the yishuv now, he
maintained, and he suggested
that we become the shluchim
here.
The beginning of our
outreach activities consisted of a
lot of farbrengens and shiurim.
We would bring in guest speakers
to farbreng and give shiurim
in Chassidus. My wife was in
charge of the gashmius. On
special dates in the calendar, we
bring in lecturers and mashpiim
for
farbrengens
with
the

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R Bakush bringing joy to soldiers

residents.
This work not only impacted
the residents of the yishuv
but on the family as well. My
daughters decided to leave the
religious Zionist schools they
were in. I wont forget how, for
a long time, they would wake up
every morning at five oclock to
get to their Chabad schools in
Yerushalayim.
How did your friends
on the yishuv react to your
transformation?
At first there were many
raised eyebrows.
There were
friends who enjoyed trying to
trip me up with questions. We
had to fill in a lot of gaps in
our knowledge and so with
every question about darkei
hachassidus I would ask R
Notik. If there were questions
about how to regard the State
and Zionism, I would ask R
Dovid Meir Drukman who also
came several times to farbreng at
our yishuv.
What helped me a lot to deal
with my friends questions was
my broad knowledge of Nigleh.
In general, our way wasnt to
debate or to win arguments.
Whoever really wanted to know
I would sit down with him and
explain things. I saw that this is

R Bakush with mekuravim on Purim

how all the mashpiim did it, when

we brought them to farbreng, R
Notik, R Ginsberg, R Sasson,
and we recently hosted R Leibel
Groner. If you have the truth
you dont need to raise your
voice or argue. R Melamed
greatly admires Chabad. When
R Groner came to the yishuv, I
invited him and he attended the
farbrengen.
Today, twenty years later, the
people here respond wonderfully
to my Chabad affiliation. Many
started
learning
Chassidus.
There
are
certain
Torah
personalities who are afraid to
attend farbrengens because they
dont want their students to get
interested, but they themselves
learn and teach Tanya and even
the Rebbes sichos, so there is no
opposition.

A SURPRISE IN CAMP
The local Chabad House
operates under the district
Chabad
House,
Matteh
Binyamin, which is run by R Rafi
Solomon from the yishuv Eli.
The Chabad outreach at
Beit El greatly expanded when a
Nusach Chabad minyan began.
One of the wealthier members of
the yishuv, R Meir Dreinoff, yes,

the same contractor who built the

buildings which were destroyed,
was kind enough to give R
Bakush a room in the local
school. Every Shabbos and Yom
Tov, tfillos are held there with
the nusach and spirit of Chabad.
As is customary in Lubavitch
communities, I repeat a sicha
in the middle of the davening.
Before Shacharis we learn
a maamer Chassidus.
The
davening is Nusach Ari and we
sing Chabad niggunim. Baruch
Hashem the minyan is growing.
R Bakush tells of some
encounters he had with graduates
of the yeshiva in Beit El or with
those who were born and grew
up in the yishuv and got involved
with Chabad Chassidus.
There was a bachur who
learned in the Yeshivat Bnei
Akiva on the yishuv who was very
interested in Chabad and came
to our house a number of times
to write to the Rebbe through the
Igros Kodesh. Then some time
passed when I did not meet him
and I wondered what he was up
to.
Two weeks ago, I went to a
day of hiskashrus in all things at
Moshav Zafaria and a young man
came over to me wearing a Yechi
yarmulke and with a Moshiach
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Shlichus

THE REBBES CHILD

R Bakush tells of one of the miracles
which happened in his family shortly
after he decided to remain at the yishuv:
We wrote to the Rebbe, asking for a
bracha and guidance for our shlichus,
but opened to an answer which said
mazal tov on the birth of a son. The
answer was surprising since the last birth
my wife had was a C-section and the
doctors, supported by a psak of Chief
Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, insisted that
my wife could not give birth again.
Nevertheless, whenever we wrote to
the Rebbe, no matter the subject, the
Rebbe said mazal tov on the birth of a
son. When we felt the Rebbe was trying
to tell us something, we spoke to our
mashpia, R Notik, who said we should
consult with R Eliyahu.
We arranged an appointment and told
him our situation, what he had paskened,
and what the Rebbe wrote time after
time. R Eliyahu asked whether these
answers were from before or after
Gimmel Tammuz. I was nervous about
his reaction but was pleasantly surprised
when we said they were in the Igros
Kodesh. He took this seriously and then
told us to consult with two top doctors.
As soon as we left the room, we rushed to
meet with those doctors who examined
the medical file and ended up giving their
consent.
Some time passed, months with no
good news on the horizon, but R Notik
encouraged us that the Rebbes brachos
are eternal. One night I dreamed of the
Rebbe. It was the first time I dreamed
of the Rebbe. I was standing in a crowd
and the Rebbe was passing by. I turned
to the Rebbe and asked for a bracha for a
child. The Rebbe smiled broadly, put his
hand on my shoulder and brought me up
to the stage and had me sit near the elder
Chassidim.
I woke up excited and in the grip
of a storm of emotions I woke my wife
and said, We will have a son! Indeed
it happened. Nine months later our son
was born, Yisroel Zushe Levi.

flag in his lapel. He asked

whether I recognized him. At
first I didnt, but when I figured
it out I was thrilled. He now
lives in Beitar Ilit.
Ill tell you another story
that happened in the not
too distant past. I brought
R Nechemia Schmerling to
the yishuv to farbreng. He
farbrenged in the Yeshivat Bnei
Akiva. One of the bachurim
attacked him with questions and
complaints but he responded
gently. Afterward, he said to me,
You will see that this bachur will
become a Chabadnik. I didnt
believe him because the guy
was so antagonistic. But two
weeks ago, when I visited my
son at the Oro shel Moshiach
camp, a bachur who looked
like a Tamim came over to me
and reminded me that he was
that bachur at the farbrengen.
I was in shock to see that he
was learning in Tzfas and was
a counselor in this camp! This
bachur was not only the fruit of
my labor; he was also exposed
to the work of R Solomon. I
remember how much he wanted
to go to a Chabad yeshiva and
his parents were opposed, and
then, there he was, a Tamim.

WRITING TO THE REBBE

One of the important
activities during the year is
the cavalcade of light which
takes place every Chanuka in
collaboration with R Solomon
and Anash of Rechovot led
by R Levin and R Shachar,
which concludes with a major
farbrengen in our home.
A major goal for the Chabad
House is to connect local
residents to the Rebbe through
the Igros Kodesh. According to
R Bakush, a significant number
of people have already written
to the Rebbe and there have

been many miracles.

If we would collect the
miracles that occurred in Beit
El through the Rebbes Igros
Kodesh, we could write a thick
book. In the early days, in order
to promote the idea of writing
to the Rebbe, I told them my
personal story and the reaction
of R Eliyahu (see sidebar), but
today people come on their own
to write to the Rebbe. Many of
them want to retain their privacy.
One story that I have permission
to repeat is one where the person
himself told his story to the
members of our minyan at a YudTes Kislev farbrengen.
He had two sons who were
eligible for marriage. He came
to us to ask a bracha for his
older son. I didnt know what he
wrote. At his request, I began to
read the Rebbes answer. At the
end, the Rebbe wrote, I double
my blessings for the shidduch.
Hearing this, the man was excited
and he said he had asked for a
bracha for one of his children but
the Rebbe gave a bracha for both
sons. And thats precisely what
happened. A few months later
both boys became engaged.

TFILLIN IN THE EYE OF THE

STORM
Another significant part of
R Bakushs work is with Israeli
soldiers and security forces.
I got a lot of flak from
the youth of the yishuv for the
outreach I did with the soldiers
recently when they came to
destroy the Battei Dreinoff.
People asked me how I could
help wicked people do mitzvos. I
remember that for several years,
people from the yeshiva joined
me on Mivtza Shofar with the
soldiers, but after the expulsion
from Gush Katif, they stopped
coming along. They said they

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were punishing the soldiers.

Obviously, this is not the Rebbes
approach and I went on Mivtza
Shofar alone and worked harder.
The answer I give is that
the soldiers arent wicked. They
do wicked things but they are
innocents who are given orders,
and the only way to bring them
back is to be mekarev them to
Torah. At Beit Dreinoff, soldiers
put on tfillin and cried. They
were
eighteen-year-olds
in
uniform who dont dare refuse
orders. Most of them would not
want to do this assignment but
their commanders force them
to.
R Bakushs daughters have
done Mivtza Neshek at a nearby
base for a number of years.
All the female soldiers know
my daughter Achva and its a
great honor to be her father.
When I went on Mivtza Shofar
this past year, they asked me who
I am. At the checkpoint there
was a commander who wanted
to check me out and when he
heard that I am the father of the
girl who comes every Friday to
give out Shabbos candles to the
soldiers, the gate was opened
wide. The code words for me to
get into the base are the father of
Achva of the Shabbos candles.
One Friday, a new officer
came to the base and he was
responsible for entry to the base.
When my daughter showed up
he did not recognize her and
did not let her in. She is gifted
with Chassidishe stubbornness
and she said, I have all the time
in the world. I will wait here at
the entrance until you let me in.
In the meantime, he took her ID
to have it checked. He glanced
at it and saw the pictures of her
nieces and nephews, the children
of my daughter who lives in R
Gluckowskys neighborhood in
Rechovot. One minute, he said.

I know this kid. She smiled and

said that it wasnt likely. It was
her nephew and how would he
know her nephew? Im telling
you that I know this face, he
insisted. He comes a lot to my
parents house.
Where does
he live? She said, Rechovot.
Which street? She told him.
Which building? She told him.
The officer was taken aback.
Your nephew is my neighbor!
Thanks to your cute nephew you
have permission to go in.

DREAMS OF EXPANSION
The work with women is also
highly regarded and is constantly
growing. The one in charge is
Mrs. Naomi Bakush.
My wife can farbreng and
pull people in. She has connected
many families to the Rebbe
thanks to her speaking abilities
and her tremendous enthusiasm
for everything associated with
Chassidus. Lately, she has been
running a project, in addition to
the shiurim and farbrengens, in
which she hosts a family or two
from the yishuv each week for
Shabbos.

Needless to say, the Bakush

family is focused on the Rebbe
as Moshiach. This is apparent in
everything they do.
We work gradually. Since
Beit El is a religious yishuv, you
cannot just drop things on people
without explaining the Torah
sources. It is all in the sources.
Then we show people how all the
Rebbes prophecies came true.
When we ask R Bakush about
plans for expansion, he went back
to the subject we started with.
He said that even if he dreams
of building and expansion, the
reality today does not allow it.
The
freeze
that
the
government
imposed
is
oppressive and there is a strong
feeling of being choked. Not
only are new houses not being
built in Beit El but they are
destroying buildings. A year ago
they destroyed buildings at Givat
Ulpana and now they destroyed
the buildings at Battei Dreinoff.
The prime minister promised to
build three hundred houses in
the yishuv and still hasnt done
it. Now he is reneging on that
promise.
In order to show what the
freeze means, R Bakush, who
works in the local school, said
that this year the number of first
grade classes are fewer. The
reason is that young couples
are having a harder time buying
houses in the yishuv and
consequently, there are fewer
children on the yishuv.
When I allow R Bakush to
dream, he smiles and shares his
dream of a neighborhood being
built which will contain only
Chabad Chassidim, But that will
happen, I guess, with the geula
shleima. Until then, the Bakush
family continues to light up the
area with the light of Chassidus
and the light of Geula.

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PROFILE

WHEN THE
CHILDREN BECOME
THE TEACHERS
An interview with Mrs. Shoshi Klein, mother of one son and two daughters,
who were instrumental in the family becoming a full-fledged Chassidic family.
By Rocheli Dickstein

How did it all begin?

I was born in Switzerland
and made aliya at the age of
seven. My parents were not
Lubavitch, but Chabad was
always close to our hearts. My
grandfather was a mekurav and
mekushar of the Rebbe. I have
Lubavitcher cousins. We lived
near the Chabad neighborhood
in Yerushalayim which is why my
best friends were Lubavitch. But
despite the closeness, we were
not Lubavitch.
I attended Beis Yaakov. The
chinuch in the Israeli frum
world is black and white. You
did something good? You will
go to Gan Eden. You did the
opposite? Oy, what will happen
to you There is lots of fearmongering and a lot of talk about
the negatives.
On Lag bOmer of the year I
became engaged to my husband, I
went to Miron. I came across the
Chabad stand and they suggested
that I write to the Rebbe through

the Igros Kodesh. I wrote to the

Rebbe that I want a bracha for
a shidduch and the answer was
about shidduchim in a good and
successful time. It was a moving
moment. I think that that is
where my deep connection with
the Rebbe began. The bracha
was fulfilled and we got married.
We would often be asked, Are
you Lubavitch? Apparently it
was because of our way of dress.
My husband wore a kapote which
is like a sirtuk and he wore a hat
with a pinch. I wore a wig and
it confused people. But no, we
werent Lubavitch yet.
We ended up in Beit
Shemesh. The area is not at all
ultra-Orthodox but there was a
Chabad shul near our house. My
husband went to one tfilla to try
it out and he loved it. There were
great people and a steady minyan
on Shabbos. A few days later
there was a Hachnasas Seifer
Torah to the shul. We went and
I met very nice women. I met

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the shlucha who invited us for

Shabbos. We were happy to
accept the invitation.
We went to them the very
next Shabbos. The children sat
at the table and behaved like little
shluchim in every respect. We
were amazed. The atmosphere,
the simcha It was special. As
parents to a little girl we thought,
this is how we want our children
to look. How do they do it?
The first thing to do was
register her for the Chabad
preschool.
She went there
happily and came home with
niggunim and chassidic concepts.
We heard chapters of Tanya by
heart and were thrilled. It wasnt
only because whatever the oldest
child does is exciting, but also
because the teacher taught her
to recite Tanya which is full of
complicated, difficult words,
and not just some story empty
of content. I asked the teacher,
How do you do it? and she
led me to the main wall on
which were hung pictures of the
Rebbeim and she said, Its them;
not me.
A process began. At first it
was my daughter in the Chabad
preschool and my husband
davening in the Chabad shul, but
when we saw the chinuch she
was getting, how she came home
with real love for Torah and
mitzvos, we decided we wanted
to belong to this. We didnt want
to remain just as mekuravim, as
nice as that was, but to be part of
the Chassidic family. It is easy to
be a mekurav; it doesnt obligate
you. But if you want the truth of
the matter, you need to go all the
way.
One day, my daughter came
home from school with a note
about a Chai Elul farbrengen.
In Beit Shemesh, the women
of the community meet at
farbrengens and but not much

on Shabbos. This is because

the city is constructed of many
small communities in various
areas. I decided to go. A shlucha
from Bnei Brak, named Yael,
attended too. She hypnotized
me.
Whatever she said, I
wanted to do. At the end of the
farbrengen she asked everyone
to make a good resolution so we
would arrive at Yud-Tes Kislev
with something. My resolution
was to attend the Yud-Tes Kislev
farbrengen.
What
about
external
appearances?
It was just a matter of time.
My husband was first. During
Sfira he decided he would not
shave until after Tisha BAv and
we would take it from there. The
beard grew and grew. It wasnt
the growth of a seventeen year
old and it was hard for me. But I
didnt say anything. I understood
that a full beard is a heavenly
flow and I tried to get used to it.
After Tisha BAv it was too late
to tell him to shave because the
beard had become part of him.
On Rosh Hashana he decided
to switch to a sirtuk. Before he
did, he asked his parents and my
parents for permission. Its not
a big difference between a kapote
and a sirtuk and they said okay.
For me it was just about
wearing a full wig because thats
what the Rebbe wants. Aside
from that, there were no other
changes needed.
The entire process took
a year.
Our parents were
supportive and happy.
They
saw that it was good for us. The
interesting thing is when we get
comments from those on the
sidelines like, You did it smart.
If only I had the courage to do
that. How great for you. No
one said, What fools you are,
Why did you do that?
The most meaningful day was

the day we bought a big picture

of the Rebbe for the living room.
When I say big picture I mean
one that is three meters across
(over 9 ft). It is from the Didan
Natzach farbrengen. That day
I felt that our home is finally
a Lubavitcher home. There is
nobody who is going to walk into
our home and miss the fact that
we are Chassidim.
What attracted you to
Chabad?
(Without hesitation): Ahavas
Yisroel.
And the beautiful
simplicity that people have when
it comes to material things. You
go to a farbrengen and on the
table are rice and bamba. You
go to a wedding and everyone
is dressed nicely but there isnt
the pretentiousness that you see
elsewhere. My friends from Beis
Yaakov have to be and have to
do endlessly. Its stressful. In
contrast, with my children I know
that it makes no difference what
they do or dont have monetarily.
They will always be on a par with
everyone else.
Chassidus
provides
tremendous simcha and a sense
of mission in everything that I do.
For example, the Rebbe compares
a woman to the high priest in the
Beis HaMikdash. Whenever I go
to cover the children at night, I
feel like a shlucha shel mitzva.
Its an instinctive motherly act
but the Rebbes perspective
changes the picture.
Every
window that gets closed is done
with such pleasure. Ashreinu.
As someone who is coming
from the outside, how did you
handle the Besuras HaGeula?
I was nervous at first about
identifying Moshiach.
It was
a real concern of mine when I
put my daughter in the Chabad
preschool, but my husband
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TZIVOS HASHEM

A MEAL WITH

TZADDIKIM
Presented for 29 Elul, the birthday of the Tzemach Tzedek.
By Nechama Bar

What is the name of the

wagon driver who brought you
here? asked the Rebbe.
R Asher, a Chassid, who
came for a parting blessing from the Tzemach Tzedek,
was taken aback by the question. The wagon driver was a
simple man. But of course he
answered the question.
The next time you come,
said the Rebbe, I want you to
come with Yerachmiel the wagon driver.
The Chassid was even more
surprised, but as a Chassid, he
knew that everything the Rebbe
said had a reason.
R Asher was very rich and
he often visited the Rebbe. A
few weeks later, R Asher decided to visit the Rebbe once
again. Perhaps the Rebbes surprising request is what spurred
him on to travel again so soon.
R Asher remembered what
the Rebbe told him and spoke
to Yerachmiel.
Yerachmiel, I would like you
to take me to Lubavitch and
stay there with me for a few
weeks. Of course, I will pay you
handsomely.

Yerachmiel was very happy

with this offer and they set out.
When R Asher entered the
Rebbes room, he informed
the Rebbe that he had carried
out his request and had traveled with Yerachmiel the wagon
driver.
The Rebbe was happy to
hear this and said, Ask him to
come in here. I want to talk to
him.
The Chassid told the wagon driver to enter the Rebbes
chamber, but he refused!
I dont know the Rebbe and
I have nothing to say to him!
The Chassid kept urging him.
The reason he had traveled with
Yerachmiel was for the Rebbe!
He frowned and said, Then
you can go home now and I will
pay you accordingly.
No, no! Yerachmiel was
quick to say. Okay, I will go in
to the Rebbe. Just dont reduce
my wages.
Yerachmiel went in to the
Rebbes room. The Rebbe spoke
to him about various things and
then made him an offer. I invite you to join me for a festive

meal tomorrow.
Yerachmiel was, as we said,
a simple man, and he did not
appreciate the magnitude of
the offer. He said, No thanks,
Im not interested.
R Asher heard about this
and he repeated his previous
threat, which helped, of course.

The Chassidim, who heard

about the Rebbes invitation,
were greatly perplexed. Why
did the Rebbe invite this foolish
wagon driver? They decided to
check whether Yerachmiel was
a hidden tzaddik, but soon realized that he was just a very
simple man who did not know
how to learn at all.
They finally went directly to
Yerachmiel and pressured him
to tell them whether he had
Yerdone anything special.
achmiel tried to remember
and then, yes! He remembered
something. This is what he said:
I am a simple wagon driver, as you can see, and I often
travel to distant villages where
Somethere are few Jews.
or
two
only
times, there are
Jews
These
three families.
have no minyan and no shul,

50 27 Elul 5775
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9/8/2015 11:28:29 AM

but the hardest thing is when

a baby boy is
There is
born.
no mohel to circumcise him. It
sometimes happens that several
weeks pass until
a mohel passes
through and does
the bris.
It pained me
to see the sorrow
of these families
and so I decided to learn mila.
This way, every
:
time I go, if there
, it.

do
rickety table. . ,
. t
couldn
is a baby boy who
"

the
?" nt

should
and
": .Why

' outside
go
father
d to
decide
. I

needs a bris, I can do it myself
. asked
.
the
?
simcha
the
in
."
Jew, even though the join
That is what I did and I have look for a
"

," one
" s, of
." chance
man.
in!the
finding
,
circumcised many babies.

"
,"...slim.
,were
forest
al look.
a quizzic
him
I
gave
.
A few months ago, I was. ,
father

...the
that
see
.
, he
did
Didnt
but
I
I scoured the area
driving through a forest when

ion?

." ?"

But

condit
l
critica
in
was
were
hours
The
. see
suddenly heard someone crying
. ,

anyone
. the
? not
father,
to
over
went
he
startwas
sun

.
, the
and
I stopped my horses and
passing
en
bed,
. and
of

him
, ,took
it was
out
, , ing
set.
to
was
tered a house to see what
.
up
stood
father

the

... nowhe
g
amazin
I
happening.

Suddenly, out of
. , like
re,

a healthy

and sat with us

man
thin
tall,
a ,very
! It saw
with
,
The sight was terrible.

been
," I told him man, as!though
hadnt

, he
A . a
long white beard.
was a small, poor home.
.
earlier
nts
mome
just
all
at

sick

,
liswoman was sitting there, hold- what I needed but he didnt

the
.ask
to
d
, wante
man

, ued
I
contin
and
to me
a . ten
walking a baby and sobbing. ,On

sudden
. he
.
he
. who

ly
d
lay
but
was

him and pulled

ing. I grabbe
bed on the side of the room
. . earth
: .
, ."
the
like
was
It
?
sick.
him
ed.
be ! vanish
and
her husband who was very"...
. he
strong
was
but

ed him up, concluded
swallow
had
I
back.
me
g
pushin
gan
What happened to you, I
miel.
How could Yerach
6 wxn iuhkhdin my eyes.
115 | ~ | 75
tears
gently asked.
was the only man
***
He
refuse?
he
She said, I gave birth to
30/08/2010 13:36:10
help! I pleaded with
could
who
255 .indd 3
The next day, the wagon
a boy eight days ago. Today
him until he finally agreed to driver joined the Tzemach Tzeshould be his bris but there is
come.
dek for a festive meal. At its
no one to circumcise him.
manwe
,
conclusion, one of the members
Boruch Hashem
I nearly jumped for joy as
final
the
in
of the household mustered the
aged to do the bris
I told her that I am a mohel.
courage and asked the Rebmoments of the day.
The womans face lit up and she
Now, said the strang- be why he had given so much
handed me the baby.
The
er, we need to have a seudas honor to the wagon driver.
But there was one problem.
the
had
man
This
Rebbe said,
mitzva.
Who would be the sandak who
m
Avroho
with
of eating
I figured the man was poor merit
would hold the baby during the
eat
to
d
wante
also
I
g, so I went to my Avinu so
bris? The father, who was lying and starvin
That is why I invited
him.
with
and
bring some bread
in bed with his eyes closed and wagon to
I placed them on the him here.
was barely breathing certainly cheese and

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