Beis Moshiach (USPS 012-542) ISSN 1082-0272 is published weekly, except Jewish holidays (only once in April and October) for $160.00 in Crown Heights. USA $180.00. All other places for $195.00 per year (45 issues), by Beis Moshiach, 744 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11213-3409. Periodicals postage paid at Brooklyn, NY and additional offices. Postmaster: send address changes to Beis Moshiach 744 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11213-3409. Copyright 2015 by Beis Moshiach, Inc.

Beis Moshiach is not responsible for the content and Kashruth of the advertisements.

CONTENTS

744 Eastern ParkwayBrooklyn, NY 11213-3409

Tel: (718) 778-8000Fax: (718) 778-0800admin@beismoshiach.org

www.beismoshiach.org

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:M.M. Hendel

HEBREW EDITOR:Rabbi S.Y. ChazaneditorH@beismoshiach.org

ENGLISH EDITOR:Boruch Merkureditor@beismoshiach.org

14

7

23

FEATURED ARTICLES

7 CORONATING HASHEM IN OUR PERSONAL LIFEMenachem Ziegelboim

14 THREE-TIME RAFFLE WINNERYisroel Lapidot

23 THE TRAVELS AND TRAVAILS OF THE TWO HOLY SHOFARSMenachem Ziegelboim

28 CHILDHOOD MEMORIES FROM A LOST WORLDMenachem Ziegelboim

37 LEADING THE BATTLE AGAINST PHONY CONVERSIONSYisroel Lapidot

42 THE LADDER IN BEIT EL REACHES THE HEAVENSNosson Avrohom

48 WHEN THE CHILDREN BECOME THE TEACHERSRocheli Dickstein

WEEKLY COLUMNS 3 D’var Malchus14 Interview19 Parsha Thought50 Tzivos Hashem

989_bm_eng.indd 4 9/8/2015 11:27:49 AM

THE REBBE IS THE “MOSHIACH OF THE GENERATION”Rebbe MH”M instructed us to publish and publicize that the guiding principle to know Moshiach’s identity is this: The leader of the generation is the Moshiach of the generation. * Chapter Three of Rabbi Shloma Majeski’s Likkutei Mekoros Vol. 2. (Underlined text is the compiler’s 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’ – don’t 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

Issue 989 • � 3

D’VAR MALCHUS

989_bm_eng.indd 3 9/8/2015 11:27:51 AM

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.

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 ha’dor, 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 M’or 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

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 l’yachadach” – 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)

Continued from page 41

In Crown Heights area: 1640/1700AM worldwide, online: www.RadioMoshiach.org

USA NEW phone: 347 990 1136

4 � • 27 Elul 5775

D’VAR MALCHUS

989_bm_eng.indd 4 9/8/2015 11:27:52 AM

Boruch Hashem, Elul 5770

HUNDREDS OF FAMILIES ANXIOUSLY LOOKINGFORWARD FOR YOUR GENEROUS ASSISTANCE!To every member of the Lubavitcher community:

During this month of preparation for Rosh Hashonoh, the ”head” of the New Year, we fondly recall ourRebbe’s words that this is an especially auspicious time for strengthening our deep bond ofHiskashrus 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 inthe Rebbe’s activities and concerns, consequently, by supporting an organization thatbrings together a number of these activities, the Hiskashrus is greater and stronger. Suchan organization is Kupas Rabbeinu, which seeks to continue many of the Rebbe’s activities and con-cerns 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 familieswith their extra expenses for the coming month’s many Yomim Tovim. This also coincides with the spe-cial 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 andarousing 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 KupasRabbeinu, enabling us to fulfill the Rebbe’s desire to help all those who anxiously await ourhelp. 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 abun-dant blessings of the Rebbe, who is its Nasi, that you may be blessed with a Ksiva Vachasima Tovafor 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 RabbeinuRabbi 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; allwill 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 GimmelTishrei 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 11225Eretz Yisroel address: KEREN KUPAS ADMU"R / P.O.B. 1247 / KIRYAT MALACHI / ISRAEL

eup, rchbu,j, bahtu, f"e tsnu"r nkl vnahj

7333-657 )817(

Kupas RabbeinuLubavitch

(718) 467-2500 P.O.B. 288 Brooklyn, New York 11225

URGENTREQUEST!

5775

5776 – 385

989_bm_eng.indd 5 9/8/2015 11:27:52 AM

6 � • 27 Elul 5775

INTERVIEW

989_bm_eng.indd 6 9/8/2015 11:27:55 AM

As 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 t’fillos 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?

There’s the fantastic sicha of the Rebbe about Chana’s prayer. On the

CORONATING HASHEM IN OUR PERSONAL LIFEFor 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

Issue 989 • � 7

989_bm_eng.indd 7 9/8/2015 11:27:57 AM

one hand, the t’fillos 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 Hashem’s coronation over the universe includes a Jew’s material needs. For a Jew’s interest in material things is not because of the personal pleasure he has in them, but because he wants to establish Hashem’s kingship over these material things too.

The Rebbe quotes the explanation of the Baal Shem Tov on the verse in T’hillim, “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 t’fillos of Rosh HaShana?The t’filla 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 shouldn’t 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 Hashem’s 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 t’filla 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 DON’T PAN

OUTDuring the davening and

the shofar blowing, people are inspired to make good

There exists the phenomenon in which people

declare Hashem’s kingship over the entire world,

over this one or that, but forget to declare Hashem’s

sovereignty over themselves.

8 � • 27 Elul 5775

INTERVIEW

989_bm_eng.indd 8 9/8/2015 11:27:57 AM

resolutions. The problem is that after the davening, or the next day, or the next week, our good intentions wane and we don’t 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 Ha’kodesh, 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 aren’t 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.

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 – ko’ach ma – the power of self-nullification.

The Alter Rebbe arranges the order of the Jewish holidays

according to the s’firos 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, g’vura, 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

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

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.

Issue 989 • � 9

989_bm_eng.indd 9 9/8/2015 11:27:59 AM

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 Hashem’s kingdom, the Sh’china, 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 person’s power of bittul. The vessel we have with which to contain Hashem’s 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 don’t 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 don’t create vessels through consistent effort, learning and contemplating maamarei Chassidus that pertain to our avoda, then the good resolutions won’t 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. It’s 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 it’s 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 can’t 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 Geula’dik in every respect.

Surely you know that the mind is cold by nature, it doesn’t 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 isn’t right, what ought to be in

10 � • 27 Elul 5775

INTERVIEW

989_bm_eng.indd 10 9/8/2015 11:27:59 AM

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-and-so insulted you and you feel so offended that you don’t 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 Hashem’s 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. Doesn’t that sound far-fetched, to give our egos away entirely? Isn’t it impossible?

True, it’s 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 Rebbe’s shluchim. In the Rebbe’s 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 he’s got, to carry out the Rebbe’s wishes. Although this seems contradictory, it’s not; it’s 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

Issue 989 • � 11

989_bm_eng.indd 11 9/8/2015 11:28:01 AM

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

and foremost being a part of it, by crowning Hashem over our personal and family lives.

The approach of shlichus is “u’faratzta” 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

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 don’t 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 Rebbe’s 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

12 � • 27 Elul 5775

INTERVIEW

989_bm_eng.indd 12 9/8/2015 11:28:03 AM

force of Hashem in the world is winding down, as it were, it’s a time to think about what is missing and to do t’shuva 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 can’t 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 D’var 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 Sh’china dwells with them and this is what the Geula is about, the Sh’china 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.

It’s not that there aren’t

weaknesses and ups and downs; it’s that we are moving in the right direction. The more we put in, the better place we’ll be in.

THE WORLD OF PERSONAL COACHING AND THE

TEACHINGS OF CHASSIDUSYou 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 person’s 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 Rebbe’s method. Although we find in maamarei Chassidus sources and discourses that address bitterness and brokenness, the Rebbe’s 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. It’s 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 person’s inner strengths for the purpose of moving forward. It’s 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.

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.

Issue 989 • � 13

989_bm_eng.indd 13 9/8/2015 11:28:03 AM

THREE-TIME RAFFLE WINNER

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 Rebbe’s room,

and the moment at a

farbrengen when he

began to cry and the

Rebbe turned to him.

By Yisroel Lapidot

14 � • 27 Elul 5775

INTERVIEW

989_bm_eng.indd 14 9/8/2015 11:28:05 AM

The 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 Rebbe’s 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 Chana’s 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 don’t remember you.’ Of course she wouldn’t 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

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 d’asra 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 t’kios. 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 Rebbetzin’s 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 T’hillim. 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 wasn’t coming out because of

Issue 989 • � 15

“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.”

989_bm_eng.indd 15 9/8/2015 11:28:05 AM

the mixed crowd. It was only after they managed, with great effort, to separate men and women, that the Rebbe came out to the funeral.

“There was an item of clothing that had blood from the Rebbetzin and according to Halacha this is placed in the grave. At the burial, the Rebbe did not see that they had put it in and he began looking for it until someone said it was under the body.

“I remember someone from Anash who was standing there and photographing the entire time. When the Rebbe passed him, the Rebbe took the camera from him.

“The next day they davened in the Rebbetzin’s apartment. They did not let everyone in but they let me in because I had won the raffle. I remember that R’ Zelig Katzman was there (I knew him from Poking. He was very smart and could learn very well.) He was a Kohen and got an aliya as such. His wife had just given birth to a girl and he gave her the name Chana. I think he was the first to name for the Rebbetzin. When the Rebbe was called up for the third aliya, on his way to the bima he said ‘mazal tov’ to him.

“I remember the farbrengen when the Rebbe said he was farbrenging because if he didn’t, it would be in the category of public mourning which is forbidden on Yom Tov.”

WINNING TICKET PURCHASED MINUTES BEFORE THE RAFFLE

By winning the raffle, the winner becomes the

representative of all the thousands of Chassidim in Eretz Yisroel. Consequently, it was not just a Chassid traveling to his Rebbe, but the shliach of many people, being their mouth, eyes and ears, and afterward reporting to them what he saw and heard.

The first time R’ Lifsh won the raffle was in 5720. That year he lived in B’nei Brak. When there was a raffle in the summer, R’ Leibel Zalmanov won a trip to the Rebbe for Shavuos. However, he had problems leaving because of the army and it was decided that before Tishrei they would have another raffle.

“The raffle took place in the Chabad shul in Tel Aviv. My father-in-law, R’ Yehuda Shmotkin, lived in Tel Aviv and was present at the raffle. He checked and saw that my name wasn’t on the list which meant I wasn’t in the raffle. On the spur of the moment, he bought a ticket for me and paid for it and a few minutes later I won.

“I remember till today how after the raffle, in the middle of the night, he woke us up to tell us I had won. In those days it was like I had won the lottery.

“To get a visa from the US government, there had to be a

formal request from an American citizen. I wrote to R’ Chadakov and asked him to send me this request with which I would be able to receive a visa but did not receive a response.”

R’ Lifsh does not remember how much time elapsed, but he finally received an invitation from R’ Chadakov.

“There was an American fellow here, clean shaven (I think he

worked for Chabad mosdos in the US). He went with me to the consulate and spoke to them in English on my behalf. I did not understand a word he said, but I got a visa on the spot.”

After a long, indirect journey, R’ Lifsh arrived at 770 for Tishrei 5720. During that month he had yechidus twice, the first time was before Rosh HaShana and after the Yomim Tovim there was another one.

Before his marriage in 5716, the young couple had bought an apartment in B’nei Brak. R’ Elozor wrote to the Rebbe at the time about buying the apartment and asked for a bracha. The answer was unexpected.

“The Rebbe wrote me, ‘It would be proper for it to be in Kfar Chabad, and if in Kfar Chabad it is not possible, then in Rishon L’Tziyon, near where you work.’ At the time I taught in Yeshivas Achei T’mimim in Rishon L’Tziyon and this was after I had already bought the apartment in B’nei Brak.

“We considered postponing the wedding so we could get an apartment in Kfar Chabad, but back then you could not buy apartments in Kfar Chabad.

A letter from the Rebbe upon his return to Eretz Yisroel

16 � • 27 Elul 5775

INTERVIEW

989_bm_eng.indd 16 9/8/2015 11:28:05 AM

This entire neighborhood wasn’t 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 don’t 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, ‘What’s 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 REBBEAs 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

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 l’chaim. 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 l’chaim a few times. Although I wasn’t 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 o’clock I was to go to the Rebbe’s 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 Rebbe’s 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 Rebbe’s 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 wasn’t 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 T’FILLOS

“During the t’fillos, 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 ha’Torah,’ and he left me alone.

“Thus I stood on the platform the entire t’filla 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

The letter that Rebbetzin Chana sent on the occasion of his wedding

Issue 989 • � 17

989_bm_eng.indd 17 9/8/2015 11:28:05 AM

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 wasn’t 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 z’chus for hagba. Now that the Rebbe had asked about the raffle winner

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 wouldn’t 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 L’Tziyon.”

***

“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 b’Omer. On one side it said ‘tiferes sh’b’tiferes,’ and on the other side ‘Tahaluchos Lag B’Omer.’ 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.”

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 won’t be a yetzer ha’ra altogether, you realize that there is no reason to be afraid; on the contrary. The Besuras HaGeula certainly doesn’t 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?

I’d like to say one thing. I am

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 you’re born to it, it all comes to you naturally and you sometimes overlook the fact that the Rebbe chose you himself. That’s exciting!

I see my daughters coming home from school with the truth; it’s 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. It’s a pity they don’t all operate this way…

Aside from that, the children have true Jewish pride. The feeling that they are different. That they aren’t all carbon copies. This is not something we have ever verbalized to them and I don’t think we will. But we see the difference between them

and children outside of Chabad.In conclusion:What was mekarev us was the

chinuch of the children. I don’t know any children from Beis Yaakov or any other group that knows how to say chapters of T’hillim 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 it’s 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. It’s pure pleasure.

Continued from page 49

18 � • 27 Elul 5775

INTERVIEW

989_bm_eng.indd 18 9/8/2015 11:28:06 AM

THE YEAR OF SALVATIONBy Rabbi Heschel Greenberg

THE UNIQUE YEARThis week’s 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 year’s 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 T’shuva 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 Teshuva-salvation to oneself and the world, the highlight of this year, we can indeed stand firm and be confident that we will merit salvation.

FOUR ROOTSWhat 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-d’s 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-D’S HANDS

EXCLUSIVELY The first dimension is

salvation. The Psalmists (146:3)

Issue 984 • � 19

PARSHA THOUGHT

989_bm_eng.indd 19 9/8/2015 11:28:06 AM

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.

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

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 one’s father is being disrespected and enduring pain and misery, which child will not do something to remove that

source of pain and anguish? The Prophet Yechezkel describes exile as a desecration of G-d’s 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-d’s pain as well as the pain of all those in the world who suffer because G-d’s 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 doesn’t 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-d’s 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

20 � • 27 Elul 5775

PARSHA THOUGHT

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. Let’s not wait for G-d to remove the veil.

Let’s 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.

989_bm_eng.indd 20 9/8/2015 11:28:06 AM

utter G-dly delight. Let’s not wait for G-d to remove the veil. Let’s 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 Moshiach’s 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

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 Tz’fania declares: “For then will I turn to the peoples a pure language, that they may all

call upon the name of the L-rd to serve Him with one consent.” From Moshiach’s efforts to redeem the Jewish people, he (with G-d’s 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.

� Express service� Fully Computerized

(718) 493-1111Fax: (718) 493-4444

Get your tickets within minutes!

331 Kingston Ave.(2nd Flr) Brooklyn NY 11213

SAVE MONEY TODAY!!Get a FREE analysis on your credit Card Processing!

Call Today 888-468-3256 x 2770Better rates guaranteed – If we can’t save you money we will pay you $100For a limited time – get your CC Terminal or software set up absolutely FREE

It’s a matter of ONE minute and ONE fax. Contact Mendy Chanin at 888-468-3256 ext: 2770, mendy@dalmao.comDalmao, LLC 5th Floor 245 W 17th St, New York, NY 10011 New Businesses Welcome | Exclusive Referral Program | Organization Charities Partnership

"The quickest way to reveal Moshiach is by learning the Torahsources about Moshiach & redemption" t"ab,wv grumnu ghrz, p"a

Radio Moshiach & Redemption1620-1640 AM around Crown Heights & Boro Park

& 1710 AM in parts of Brooklyn 24/6worldwide live broadcast: www.RadioMoshiach.org

Please give your generous supportto a special fund of $100,000For donations or dedications make checks payable to:

"Radio Moshiach & Redemption"383 Kingston Ave. #94, Brooklyn, NY 11213

718 756-4530 Tel/Fax 363-1652 Email: RadioMoshiach@erols.comsgu okugk jhanv lkn ubhcru ubrun ubbust hjh

Rabbi Jacob SchweiMember of the RabbinicalCourt of Crown Heights

Issue 989 • � 21

989_bm_eng.indd 21 9/8/2015 11:28:07 AM

PART IThe 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 a”h. It was incredible that the evil ones who conducted a thorough search of the rav’s 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 IIYears passed until R’ Yaakov

Yosef Raskin was able to leave

22 � • 27 Elul 5775

FEATURE

989_bm_eng.indd 22 9/8/2015 11:28:09 AM

THE TRAVELS AND TRAVAILS OF THE TWO HOLY SHOFARSBeis Moshiach presents the story of the travels of two rare, precious shofars that

had been owned by Rabbi Levi Yitzchok Schneersohn a”h for many years.

By Menachem Ziegelboim

Issue 989 • � 23

989_bm_eng.indd 23 9/8/2015 11:28:11 AM

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 Rayatz’s 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 father’s 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 wasn’t 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 Rebbe’s 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 t’fillos, he went over to the bachur Dovid Raskin and said, “Your father asked for a gift in exchange for the shofar. I suggest the Rebbe’s handkerchief.”

R’ Dovid quickly wrote to his father and asked him whether he agreed to the Rebbe’s 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 Ramash’s greatness and holiness (which was not yet known by the Chassidim in Eretz Yisroel).

He wrote, “If the Rebbe is offering this gift, that’s no small thing and he knows the value of the gift. Why haggle?”

When R’ Raskin received his son’s heartfelt letter, he immediately agreed to accept the Rebbe’s gift. “With all my heart 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 Rayatz’s 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

24 � • 27 Elul 5775

FEATURE

He gave the shofar to the Rebbe’s shliach,

though he dared to ask the Rebbe for something

in exchange, something belonging to the Rebbe Rayatz.

989_bm_eng.indd 24 9/8/2015 11:28:11 AM

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 don’t understand and want the Rebbe to tell me.”

“Are you a baal tokeia?” the Rebbe asked.

“Yes.”“So during t’kias 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 Rayatz’s handkerchief was meant to cover the shofars during t’kias shofar and it was therefore a suitable replacement for the shofar of his father.

PART IIIAfter 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

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 Rebbe’s 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 honor’s 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 IVWhat 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 t’kios from this holy shofar of the Tzemach Tzedek.

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

Issue 989 • � 25

He was still standing there when suddenly a hand

placed a shofar down before his eyes.

989_bm_eng.indd 25 9/8/2015 11:28:12 AM

“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’ Raskin’s 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, “It’s 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 FATHERWhen the time came, they called me for yechidus.

The Rebbe welcomed me with a glowing face. The first topic we discussed was the Rebbe’s father. The

Rebbe asked me about his father’s 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 tzaddik’s 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.

26 � • 27 Elul 5775

FEATURE

989_bm_eng.indd 26 9/8/2015 11:28:12 AM

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 Tzedek’s shofar and the t’kios 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 else’s 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 1970’s 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.

Issue 989 • � 27

989_bm_eng.indd 27 9/8/2015 11:28:12 AM

CHILDHOOD MEMORIES FROM A LOST WORLDBy Menachem Ziegelboim

Last winter, Mrs. Tzivya Bravman a”h, 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 wasn’t a Red. They said that if he could find a distinguished person to testify that he wasn’t a Red, they would release him. They spoke to my grandfather who said he knew the man wasn’t a Red and they released him.

Later, they asked my grandfather how he could say with certainty that the man wasn’t 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 SHIDDUCHYears 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

28 � • 27 Elul 5775

MEMOIR

989_bm_eng.indd 28 9/8/2015 11:28:13 AM

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 it’s 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 Rebbe’s bracha. Now you go in and ask for a bracha too.”

My Kaplan grandfather said, “G-d forbid. It’s enough that you asked already. I won’t 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 Rebbe’s matters. My brother, R’ Mendel a”h lived in Kfar Chabad; R’ Sholom Ber a”h in London; R’ Dovid a”h in Crown Heights, and R’ Leibel a”h 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 won’t 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

Issue 989 • � 29

989_bm_eng.indd 29 9/8/2015 11:28:13 AM

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 hadn’t 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 Mendel’s wife). At the stations they gave us kipituk – hot water to revive us and in

exchange for clothing and some money we could also get a bit of black bread.

Where were we going? At first my parents still hadn’t 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

Rabbi Levi Yitzchok Schneersohn, the Rebbe’s father

The train station in Chili

30 � • 27 Elul 5775

MEMOIR

989_bm_eng.indd 30 9/8/2015 11:28:15 AM

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 RAVRumors had it that R’ Levi

Yitzchok, the Rebbe’s 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 wasn’t 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

roads were covered with mud. If you put a foot into the mud you couldn’t take it out to take another step.

The people in the city described R’ Levi Yitzchok’s living conditions. He lived in a neglected dwelling among impure animals belonging to gentiles. Those who knew of the rav’s 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

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, don’t forget about the chinuch of my young son.”

Bas-Sheva arrived in Chili. It was dangerous to ask where

My grandfather, R’ Menachem Mendel Kaplan

My grandfather, R’ Bentzion Raskin

My father, Yaakov Yosef Raskin

Issue 989 • � 31

989_bm_eng.indd 31 9/8/2015 11:28:17 AM

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 DIGNITYR’ 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 rav’s 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 Chana’s 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 z’chus 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 rav’s 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 zt”l. 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 didn’t 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 Maharash’s shofar and I received her blessing for a successful journey.”

A REFINED FACEAs 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, “It’s 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

32 � • 27 Elul 5775

MEMOIR

989_bm_eng.indd 32 9/8/2015 11:28:17 AM

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 home-based 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 (it’s 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 Dovid’s 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.

We won’t 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

A letter from the Rebbe about makingRashag with the T’mimim in Poking. In the center is Rashag and to his left is Rabbi Gorodetzky

Issue 989 • � 33

989_bm_eng.indd 33 9/8/2015 11:28:19 AM

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: What’s your name?

She forgot the name written in her passport and remained silent. The soldiers saw something wasn’t right and they took the couple off the train and left the two children with the father’s 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 R’ei 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, anti-Semitism 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 didn’t react since I didn’t 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 couldn’t 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 soldier’s 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

34 � • 27 Elul 5775

MEMOIR

989_bm_eng.indd 34 9/8/2015 11:28:19 AM

very frightened. Dovid looked afraid and worried and the hair on his temples had turned white overnight.

CHASSIDIC COMMUNITY IN POKINGFrom 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 sh’chita that was given by my father.

At this time, the Rebbe (who had been appointed by his father-in-law, the Rebbe Rayatz, as director of Kehos) asked that s’farim 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 s’farim. I still have a letter that

the Rebbe wrote to my husband in Av 5707/1947 in which he guides him about printing the s’farim 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 s’farim 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.

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 Rebbe’s wishes and finish the printing of the s’farim.

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

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

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 great-grandchildren 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.

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.

Issue 989 • � 35

989_bm_eng.indd 35 9/8/2015 11:28:19 AM

36 � • 27 Elul 5775

FEATURE

989_bm_eng.indd 36 9/8/2015 11:28:20 AM

LEADING THE BATTLE AGAINST PHONY CONVERSIONSThe announcement of the founding of an

“alternative conversion system” has, once again,

pushed the Rebbe’s 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

The 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 “k’halacha” 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’ Sherman’s name has been in the headlines numerous times on the topic of conversions. The last time he managed to arouse

Issue 989 • � 37

989_bm_eng.indd 37 9/8/2015 11:28:22 AM

the ire of many was with his unprecedented p’sak 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’ Sherman’s work is familiar to many, especially to the old-time denizens of B’nei 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 z”l.

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 Ha’Am 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 Ha’Am 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’ Tz’fania 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.

38 � • 27 Elul 5775

FEATURE

989_bm_eng.indd 38 9/8/2015 11:28:22 AM

THE CONVERSION CIRCUSR’ Sherman’s 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 k’halacha.” 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 a”h, 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 Rebbe’s 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

Issue 989 • � 39

“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.

It’s a terrible tragedy.”

989_bm_eng.indd 39 9/8/2015 11:28:23 AM

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 B’nei 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 Rebbe’s 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. It’s 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 ha’ger without the words, ‘ben Avrohom Avinu,’ which shows that it’s 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 LONGINGBefore 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 Rebbe’s 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 T’mimim 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’ Yoel’s

40 � • 27 Elul 5775

FEATURE

989_bm_eng.indd 40 9/8/2015 11:28:23 AM

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 d’var 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 T’hillas Hashem siddur and puts on t’fillin 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 Rebbe’s 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 k’hillos 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’

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, “L’chat’chilla Aribber.” He began to sing it with incredible accuracy as he heard it from his grandfather and he said:

“That was my grandfather’s anthem, it’s 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, ‘l’chat’chilla 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 Rebbe’s

instruction to his uncle about his question regarding interviews with the media about conversion from Lag b’Omer 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 g’dolei ha’dor. 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 it’s 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

R’ Moshe Axelrod

Continued on page 4

Issue 989 • � 41

989_bm_eng.indd 41 9/8/2015 11:28:23 AM

THE LADDER IN BEIT EL REACHES THE HEAVENSIn 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

Rebbe’s 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

Judges 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 Rebbe’s shliach in Beit El, R’

Dovid Bakush, put t’fillin on with the expelling forces.

“It was bizarre. The soldiers put on t’fillin 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

42 � • 27 Elul 5775

SHLICHUS

989_bm_eng.indd 42 9/8/2015 11:28:24 AM

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 JAILR’ 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 wife’s 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 Rebbe’s answers were mainly with a movement of his head and

Soldiers put on t’fillin and cried. R’ Bakush with soldiers.

Issue 989 • � 43

989_bm_eng.indd 43 9/8/2015 11:28:26 AM

the answer we received through the secretariat was to check t’fillin and mezuzos.

“It wasn’t easy getting my t’fillin out of the jail, but after a lot of bureaucracy, we managed. The t’fillin 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 t’fillin, 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 hadn’t 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

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 wasn’t 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, p’nimi, 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 v’kayam. 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. ‘It’s 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

44 � • 27 Elul 5775

SHLICHUS

R’ Bakush leading a Lag B’Omer parade

989_bm_eng.indd 44 9/8/2015 11:28:26 AM

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 won’t forget how, for a long time, they would wake up every morning at five o’clock 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 ha’chassidus 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 wasn’t 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

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 don’t 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 don’t want their students to get interested, but they themselves learn and teach Tanya and even the Rebbe’s sichos, so there is no opposition.”

A SURPRISE IN CAMPThe 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, t’fillos 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 B’nei 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

Issue 989 • � 45

R’ Bakush bringing joy to soldiers R’ Bakush with mekuravim on Purim

989_bm_eng.indd 45 9/8/2015 11:28:27 AM

flag in his lapel. He asked whether I recognized him. At first I didn’t, but when I figured it out I was thrilled. He now lives in Beitar Ilit.

“I’ll 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 B’nei 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 didn’t 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 Rebbe’s 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 Yud-Tes Kislev farbrengen.

“He had two sons who were eligible for marriage. He came to us to ask a bracha for his older son. I didn’t know what he wrote. At his request, I began to read the Rebbe’s 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 that’s precisely what happened. A few months later both boys became engaged.”

T’FILLIN IN THE EYE OF THE STORM

Another significant part of R’ Bakush’s 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

THE REBBE’S CHILDR’ 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 p’sak 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 Rebbe’s 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.

46 � • 27 Elul 5775

SHLICHUS

989_bm_eng.indd 46 9/8/2015 11:28:27 AM

were punishing the soldiers. Obviously, this is not the Rebbe’s approach and I went on Mivtza Shofar alone and worked harder.

“The answer I give is that the soldiers aren’t 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 t’fillin and cried. They were eighteen-year-olds in uniform who don’t dare refuse orders. Most of them would not want to do this assignment but their commanders force them to.”

R’ Bakush’s daughters have done Mivtza Neshek at a nearby base for a number of years.

“All the female soldiers know my daughter Achva and it’s 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’ Gluckowsky’s neighborhood in Rechovot. ‘One minute,’ he said.

‘I know this kid.’ She smiled and said that it wasn’t likely. It was her nephew and how would he know her nephew? ‘I’m 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 EXPANSIONThe 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 Rebbe’s 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 hasn’t 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.

Issue 989 • � 47

989_bm_eng.indd 47 9/8/2015 11:28:28 AM

WHEN THE CHILDREN BECOME THE TEACHERSAn 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 fear-mongering and a lot of talk about the negatives.

On Lag b’Omer 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 weren’t 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 t’filla 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

48 � • 27 Elul 5775

PROFILE

989_bm_eng.indd 48 9/8/2015 11:28:28 AM

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 wasn’t 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, “It’s 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 didn’t 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 doesn’t 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 B’nei 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 S’fira he decided he would not shave until after Tisha B’Av and we would take it from there. The beard grew and grew. It wasn’t the growth of a seventeen year old and it was hard for me. But I didn’t say anything. I understood that a full beard is a heavenly flow and I tried to get used to it. After Tisha B’Av 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. It’s 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 that’s 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 isn’t the pretentiousness that you see elsewhere. My friends from Beis Yaakov have to be and have to do endlessly. It’s stressful. In contrast, with my children I know that it makes no difference what they do or don’t 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. It’s an instinctive motherly act but the Rebbe’s 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

Continued on page 18

Issue 989 • � 49

989_bm_eng.indd 49 9/8/2015 11:28:28 AM

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 bless-ing from the Tzemach Tzedek, was taken aback by the ques-tion. 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 wag-on 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 de-cided to visit the Rebbe once again. Perhaps the Rebbe’s sur-prising 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 Rebbe’s room, he informed the Rebbe that he had carried out his request and had trav-eled 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 wag-on driver to enter the Rebbe’s chamber, but he refused!

“I don’t 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 don’t reduce my wages.”

Yerachmiel went in to the Rebbe’s room. The Rebbe spoke to him about various things and then made him an offer. “I in-vite 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, I’m not interested.”

R’ Asher heard about this and he repeated his previous threat, which helped, of course.

The Chassidim, who heard about the Rebbe’s 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 re-alized 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 done anything special. Yer-achmiel tried to remember and then, yes! He remembered something. This is what he said:

“I am a simple wagon driv-er, as you can see, and I often travel to distant villages where there are few Jews. Some-times, there are only two or three families. These Jews have no minyan and no shul,

50 � • 27 Elul 5775

TZIVOS HASHEM

989_bm_eng.indd 50 9/8/2015 11:28:29 AM

Continued on page 05

but the hard-est thing is when a baby boy is born. There is no mohel to cir-cumcise him. It sometimes hap-pens 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 decid-ed to learn mila. This way, every time I go, if there is a baby boy who needs a bris, I can do it myself. That is what I did and I have circumcised many babies.

“A few months ago, I was driving through a forest when I suddenly heard someone crying. I stopped my horses and en-tered a house to see what was happening.

“The sight was terrible. It was a small, poor home. A woman was sitting there, hold-ing a baby and sobbing. On a bed on the side of the room lay her husband who was very sick.

“‘What happened to you,’ I gently asked.

“She said, ‘I gave birth to a boy eight days ago. Today should be his bris but there is no one to circumcise him.’

“I nearly jumped for joy as I told her that I am a mohel. The woman’s face lit up and she handed me the baby.

“But there was one problem. Who would be the sandak who would hold the baby during the bris? The father, who was lying in bed with his eyes closed and was barely breathing certainly

couldn’t do it.“I decided to go outside and

look for a Jew, even though the chances of finding one in the forest were slim.

“I scoured the area but did not see anyone. The hours were passing and the sun was start-ing to set.

“Suddenly, out of nowhere, I saw a very tall, thin man with a long white beard. I told him what I needed but he didn’t lis-ten to me and continued walk-ing. I grabbed him and pulled him but he was strong and be-gan pushing me back. I had tears in my eyes. How could he refuse? He was the only man who could help! I pleaded with him until he finally agreed to come.

“Boruch Hashem, we man-aged to do the bris in the final moments of the day.

“‘Now,’ said the strang-er, ‘we need to have a seudas mitzva.’

“I figured the man was poor and starving, so I went to my wagon to bring some bread and cheese and I placed them on the

rickety table.“‘Why shouldn’t the father

join in the simcha?’ asked the man.

“I gave him a quizzical look. Didn’t he see that the father was in critical condition? But he went over to the father, took him out of bed, and it was amazing – the father stood up and sat with us like a healthy man, as though he hadn’t been sick at all just moments earlier.

“I wanted to ask the man who he was but he suddenly vanished. It was like the earth swallowed him up,” concluded Yerachmiel.

***The next day, the wagon

driver joined the Tzemach Tze-dek for a festive meal. At its conclusion, one of the members of the household mustered the courage and asked the Reb-be why he had given so much honor to the wagon driver. The Rebbe said, “This man had the merit of eating with Avrohom Avinu so I also wanted to eat with him. That is why I invited him here.”

האב, חולה אנוש.

"לפני יבה: הש והיא ה. האש את רך ב י אלת ש לך?" רה ק "מה

מי ואין מילה רית ב לו לערך צריך היום ן. ב י ילדת ימים מונה שמול אותו". י ש

למול! יודע עצמי ב אני ש לה י רת ש ב ש כ ר, מאש י קפצת מעט כינוק. יש לי את הת ה ארו והיא מהרה להג ני האש פ

ינוק הת את חזיק י ש ק, נד הס יהיה מי היתה. אחת עיה ב אך...

ם, י נש ה עם עינים עצומות ובקש ט מ כב ב ש רית? האב, ש זמן הב באי לא יכל לעשות זאת. וד ב

יהודי, ש ולחפ ער, הי אל החוצה לצאת י החלטת י. רת ות לא כוי למצא יהודי היה קלוש מאוד. הס למרות ש

נקפו עות הש אחד. אף ראיתי לא אך סחור, סחור י הסתובבת

את לערך נו ל ש צרך ב לל כ בת מתחש לא קע, לש ה החל מש והשקע! ש ת ילה היום, לפני ש רית המ ב

ובעל רזה מאוד, בוה ג יהודי ראיתי מקום, ום מש מו כ תאום, פ

יב כלל לא הקש ד את רצוני, אך הוא ב י לו מי רת זקן לבן וארך. ספ

אותו. י כת ומש חזקה ב בו י פסת ת לו. י רת ות לא ללכת. יך והמש

עיני. מעות עמדו ב בור והחל דוחף אותי חזרה. ד ם הוא היה ג אך ג

ש ממ לעזר! כל י ש חיד הי האדם הוא הן יסרב? הוא ש כן ית יצד כ

ים לבוא. הסכ י, עד ש י אליו מעמק לב נת התחנ

ל רגעים האחרונים ש ילה ב רית המ קנו לערך את ב רוך ה' הספ בהיום.

ו", אמר אותו איש מוזר, "צריך לעשות סעודת מצוה". "עכש

י לעגלתי להביא קצת י, והלכת בת ראה הוא עני ורעב...", חש נ "כ

לחן הרעוע. רסנו על הש היו לי, אותם פ לחם וגבינה ש

י טת אל האיש. הב מחה?" ש ש נו ב ף את ת ת א לא יש האב "מדוע ש

ל האב? אך בו האנוש ש ט מוזר, וכי הוא לא רואה את מצ מב בו ב

לא ה וראה זה פ ט ך אותו מהמ ש אל האב, מש על. נג הוא לא התפ

אלו לא ריא, כ ן רגע לאדם ב ב והיה ב - האב קם מלא קומתו, התישלל... היה חולה כ

אל את האיש מי הוא, אך לפתע הוא נעלם! האדמה רציתי לש

ק. רת ם ירחמיאל את ספורו המ לעה אותו", סי אלו ב כ

עודה, תם הס י. ב ב העגלון לסעודה חגיגית עם הרב למחרת, יש

ך את ל כ ד כ ב י מדוע כ אל את הרב ית וש ני הב ק אחד מב לא התאפ

ה זכה לאכל עם אברהם אבינו. לכן, הודי הז י: "הי יב הרב העגלון. הש

י אותו לכאן..." הזמנת ה ש ב ם אני לזכות ולאכל אתו. זו הס רציתי ג

115 dhkhui nxw 657 | ~ |

ים לבוא.האב, חולה אנוש. הסכ י, עד ש י אליו מעמק לב נת התחנ

איור: לאה

3

indd 3.הצ הנחמב 255 ‏‏

30/08/2010 13:36:10

Issue 989 • � 35

989_bm_eng.indd 5 9/8/2015 11:27:51 AM