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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 119-120, no. 4
In the summer of 5675 (1915), lodging in Pinsk with R. Yisroel Yitzchak Lubinsky, the narrator heard this from him. The Rebbe Maharash would always say that a matter should be heard as it seems and answered as it seems — in a general manner. When the authorities in Semyanovka, Chernigov province, discovered untaxed alcohol being taken from the factory, a major trial was set for thirteen defendants with R. Yisroel Yitzchak as a witness, and the well-known investigator Stalietov was coming from Petersburg; R. Yisroel Yitzchak went to the Rebbe Maharash in Lubavitch and, because many Yidden faced prison, asked the Rebbe to hear out his prepared answers, ending with one question he did not know how to answer. The Rebbe told him that he is a Yid with a good head who is not sunk in physical desires, while Stalietov is a goy without such a mind and caught up in desires, so it would never occur to him to ask such questions — and so it was: the trial ended favorably.
4 min to tellexcellent to tell
488 wordsRebbe Maharash
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score 1.48 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.95
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 492-494, no. 14
A member of Anash phoned R. Eliyahu's house asking Mrs. Lipskar to host a family arriving in Toronto with nowhere to stay; things were difficult for her then and she did not answer at once, but when the husband himself called the next day from the road, travelling with his wife and small baby, she gave him her address and prepared her home. After they had rested she asked about their origins, and the guest, whose family name meant nothing to her, said his grandfather was Yisroel Konson of Leningrad and Tashkent — the R. Yisroel Konson who had risked his health to help her and her husband when they hovered between life and death. She was left speechless, and all who heard of the meeting were astounded by the Divine providence; the Lipskars then attended to the family's every need and offered them loans to buy a home in Toronto, so she was finally able to repay a debt that had weighed on her for years.
3 min to tellexcellent to tell
427 wordsR. Eliyahu Akiva Lipskar
story_000673
score 1.41 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.82
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 307-308, no. 42
The zeide related that when Reb Aizel passed away, one man who was not among his students wept uncontrollably. Asked why, he explained that in his youth he had set out to commit a transgression, and Reb Aizel, walking behind him after davening in the Lubavitcher shul, shouted twice, 'Where are you going!? Go to shul and recite some Tehillim!' He said Reb Aizel had saved his life, and asked how he could not cry over such a tzaddik. Reb Aizel used to tell him, 'You have mazel,' and the zeide revealed the man's identity only after he passed away.
3 min to tellexcellent to tell
337 wordsRebbe Rayatz
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score 1.32 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.65
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 255-256, no. 94
A note written by the Rebbe was found on the high table in his room after his arrest on Wednesday, 15 Sivan 5687 (1927) in Leningrad, and was later printed in Kuntres Yud-Beis Tammuz 5708. R. Pinchas, son of R. Eliyahu Chaim [Althoiz], kept the note hidden in Leningrad and would take it out, together with two letters the Rebbe wrote on Yud-Beis Tammuz, at the farbrengen held in his home every Yud-Beis Tammuz, and they would be read aloud. In the note the Rebbe instructs that in every chassidishe shul the daily portion of Tehillim be said with a minyan after Shacharis, including Shabbos, followed by Kaddish, and that shopkeepers and businessmen come to daven and to the Ein Yaakov class, promising Hashem's help with abundant livelihood. He tells chassidim to say that he instructs them, and other Yidden that out of Ahavas Yisroel and their well-being he begs them, closing with a blessing for a good year in ruchnius and gashmius and the complete Redemption through Moshiach.
4 min to tellvery good to tell
502 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000325
score 1.29 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.80 length_suitability=0.97
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 368-369, no. 4
R. Yitzchak Masmid related that in a small town lived an eminent chossid, R. Itchele. A wealthy man whose daughter had fallen ill gave him money for a pidyon nefesh — and instead the chossid gathered his chassidim for a festive seudah and farbrengen. Challenged by the gvir, he explained that Itchele fasting and weeping is nothing new before G-d, but when Itchele gathers his chassidim and farbrengs, Heaven asks what the occasion is and discovers that the gvir's daughter is ill — which he applied to the verse "And He looked upon their distress when He heard their rejoicing."
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
287 wordsRebbe Rayatz
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score 1.27 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.55
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 429-430, no. 21
R. Zalman's poverty was dreadful -- when Chaya Grunya pointed out that their chairs were so battered it was an embarrassment to have them around, he could only suggest moving them to a room where they would not be seen -- yet he never hesitated to bring guests home, and his tiny apartment had a partition set up to make a sleeping area for them. Every Shabbos after davening he brought home the most unfortunate individuals; when his wife wondered whether there were any normal guests needing a meal, he explained that by the time he finished davening the shul was empty and only these people remained. One day a Yid came needing a place to stay, and R. Zalman gave him his own "private quarters" while the family crowded into the other cordoned area; in the middle of the night loud moaning was heard from behind the curtain and R. Zalman watched over him the whole night. The family later realized the man suffered from epilepsy and that R. Zalman had placed him apart so as to spare embarrassment, and his children took on the same extraordinary kindness -- sharing their food with guests and giving away their own beds while they slept on the floor in a corner.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
280 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
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score 1.27 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.55
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 195-196, no. 91
R. Yisroel Neveler related in the name of the gvir R. Nosson Gurary that R. Nosson traveled with the Rebbe Rashab to the Alter Rebbe's ohel in Haditch, where both gvirim and melamdim were to enter yechidus. The Rebbe instructed that the melamdim be admitted first and the gvirim afterwards, but R. Nosson reversed the order and told the gvirim to leave their contributions on the table. At the train station the Rebbe asked R. Nosson whether he had money for the tickets; when R. Nosson, who knew the gvirim had left money, was astonished, the Rebbe explained that since the melamdim came in afterwards there was money on hand, and he gave them whatever was in his pocket.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
277 wordsRebbe Rashab
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score 1.26 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.53
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 486-488, no. 8
Some time later the rov's two-year-old daughter was badly burned by scalding water, and though the Rebbe gave a bracha for a complete recovery, her father was disappointed not to be told to make a kiddush as R. Eliyahu had been. Days afterward Rabbi Hadakov conveyed in the Rebbe's name that he should arrange a kiddush in the girl's merit, which he did for that Shabbos. On Motzaei Shabbos her condition collapsed and the doctors gave her hours to live; the Rebbe told them to go to the hospital and make a shturem about the incorrect medicine, and since the rov was reserved by nature, R. Eliyahu went in his place. The doctors discovered that medicine prescribed to be sprinkled on her burns was instead being given to her to drink; once administered correctly, she recovered completely.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
271 wordsR. Eliyahu Akiva Lipskar
story_000667
score 1.26 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.53
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 158-159, no. 37
R. Moshe Aizel Rabkin, a gvir from Homil, reported hearing the Rebbe speak at a farbrengen — the narrator thinks it was Purim in Menton — about the special qualities of Tomchei Temimim. The Rebbe recounted that a young man had come to Lubavitch seeking acceptance into the yeshivah, was rejected by the administration, and when sent in to the Rebbe was found to be filled with false ideas — yet the Rebbe instructed that he be accepted. Much later, after a levayah in Lubavitch, the Rebbe entered the small zal to recite Yoshev Be'seiser seven times and found that same young man standing there deeply engrossed in davening, oblivious to the commotion.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
262 wordsRebbe Rashab
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score 1.25 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.50
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 437-438, no. 36
The Yevsektzia eventually targeted R. Zalman, assigning a Jewish communist named Sorkin to bring him in for interrogation. Unlike most who were taken in, he was released each evening only to be forced back the next morning for long and painful interrogations day after day. His fingers were placed in a doorway's hinges and the door slammed on his hand repeatedly - for the rest of his life his fingernails did not grow - yet he would not give the interrogators the names and addresses of his fellow teachers of Torah. His daughter Rochel, about seventeen, accompanied him and waited outside, but he told even her nothing, refusing to add to his family's pain; only years later did he mention some of what he had endured.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
262 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
story_000592
score 1.25 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.50
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 474-475, no. 18
R. Yisroel Duchman tried to connect everyone he helped to the Rebbe, and so brought a guest of honor from a Shamir fundraising dinner to the Rebbe, after putting on tefillin with him for the first time beforehand. When R. Yisroel proudly reported the first-time tefillin as they passed by, the Rebbe gently remarked that this was not something to be proud of, and then asked the philanthropist with a warm smile whether he would put on tefillin every day if the Rebbe gave him a pair; the man said he would. The Rebbe told R. Yisroel — who asked to be his partner in it — that they would be partners in other projects, and asked him to buy the tefillin at once and bring back a paid receipt. When R. Yisroel returned with the receipt, the Rebbe began handing him bills; R. Yisroel stopped after a few, saying he wanted to be the Rebbe's partner, but the Rebbe insisted he take the full amount for the tefillin, "We will be partners in other things."
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
247 wordsR. Yisroel Duchman
story_000652
score 1.24 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.47
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 105-106, no. 47
A shadar of the Tzemach Tzedek, described as not overly wise, came to resign, protesting that the chassidim were not discussing Chassidus but drinking mashkeh — two and three quarts. The Tzemach Tzedek answered that it came out of his own funds, and when the shadar still refused, he said he could not believe that his chassidim gather without mentioning his zeide's — the Alter Rebbe's — name, and where that name is mentioned there is ruchnius. He concluded, "Fool, fool; go travel!"
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
224 wordsTzemach Tzedek
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score 1.21 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.43
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 475-476, no. 20
In 5723 (1962), when R. Yisroel Duchman was earning very little, he served as a chazan in a nearby shul for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, earning around $300, which he set aside to buy the family a washing machine. That year an uncle came from Eretz Yisroel for a bracha to marry off his three older daughters; in yechidus the Rebbe told him that if he grew a beard he would find good shidduchim for them, but the uncle, clean shaven and ten years older than his wife, was certain she would not agree. Knowing that their aunt badly wanted a leather coat the couple could not afford, the Duchmans gave away all the money saved for their much-needed washing machine so the uncle could buy it for her. He began to grow his beard, and within a few months all three daughters found good shidduchim.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
216 wordsR. Yisroel Duchman
story_000654
score 1.21 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.43
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 64-65, no. 4
Der Zeide (רמ"י) used to tell in the name of Reb Aizel that the Mitteler Rebbe once called him in and asked why he was not involved with the chassidim. Reb Aizel answered that he did not have a single peaceful moment for himself, so how could he ponder over others. The Mitteler Rebbe sighed, "Aizik … Aizik, why don't you learn from me? When I see that I'm already a lost case, the least I can do is help out someone else." The account adds that this seems to have taken place during the Alter Rebbe's lifetime.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
198 wordsMitteler Rebbe
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score 1.19 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.38
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 313, no. 53
One Pesach, after davening had finished and everyone was ready to leave, the narrator's zeide asked them to wait. They went to Reb Aizel's room, where he was sitting on a sofa, and upon seeing them he said, "You have no concept of how one must love a Yid. What is a Yid? Neshamah, emunah, and Torah and mitzvos. How could one not love that?" He repeated the words, and all who had stayed were very glad they had.
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
174 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000412
score 1.16 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.32
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 380-381, no. 2
On the fifth night of Chanukah the narrator's zeide would hold a large farbrengen at which they began the study of Shas (the tractates apportioned on Yud-Tes Kislev). The zeide would also repeat, in the name of the older chassidim — the Alter Rebbe's own chassidim — that the Alter Rebbe was released from prison on the third night, but the chassidim arrested with him were released only on the fifth. That, he explained, is why the celebration was fixed on the fifth night.
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
165 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000501
score 1.16 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.32
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 275-276, no. 120
The tomim DovBer Yudevitch wrote from Riga that on Yud-Beis Tammuz 5688 (1928), while the Rebbe was convalescing near Riga, the chassidim at the farbrengen began singing Padeh BeShalom. The Rebbe stopped them, saying, "As long as Russian Jews are suffering, I'm together with them 'in the same barrel.'"
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
126 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000351
score 1.12 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.25
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 81-82, no. 8
At a farbrengen that was hot and badly crowded, a rav who wanted to get up from the table could not manage to, and said, "They won't let me out." Overhearing him, the Tzemach Tzedek said twice, "Who would dare not let a Yid out? Who would dare not let a Yid out?"
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
111 wordsTzemach Tzedek
story_000064
score 1.11 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.22
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 213, no. 23
On Yud-Tes Kislev 5688 (1927) the Rebbe sent R. Shmuel Michel Treinin to dance with the younger men. Earlier the older men had danced among themselves and the Rebbe joined them. Afterwards he said, "Now let us mix with everyone. What is a dance? When one mixes together with everyone" — and he began to dance.
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
111 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000254
score 1.11 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.22
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 235, no. 56
On a Yud-Tes Kislev in Leningrad the Rebbe said that today there are no longer chassidim and misnagdim. He compared the earlier era to an injection that inflames the spot and then quiets down, and said that now the division is between those who love G-d and keep Torah and mitzvos and those who do not.
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
120 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000287
score 1.11 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.22
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 39, no. 15
The Alter Rebbe heard an infant crying in the Mitteler Rebbe's room and came in to find the Mitteler Rebbe sitting immersed in his learning, not hearing the child. He asked him, "Why don't you learn from me? In the deepest meditation, I can still hear a fly's wings beating against the wall."
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
106 wordsAlter Rebbe
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score 1.10 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.20
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 236, no. 57
While the chassidim sat in the Rebbetzin's room before going out to hakafos, one of them remarked that there were zeitike menschen — outsiders — in the zal. The Rebbe responded by taking the phrase apart: if they are outsiders they are not people, and if they are people they are not outsiders.
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
101 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000288
score 1.10 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.20
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 354, no. 56
The narrator's zeide, Mordechai Yoel, used to repeat a teaching in the name of Reb Aizel of Homil on the verse "Remember what Amalek did to you." Amalek can only attack one who is "lecha" — to himself, separated from others. But one who mingles with chassidim is beyond Amalek's reach.
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
107 wordsRebbe Rayatz
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score 1.10 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.20
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 474-475, no. 17
In 5724 (1963), after R. Mendel Futerfas left Russia, he went straight to 770 to meet the Rebbe and appealed to the chassidic community that chassidim in Russia lacked basic necessities — some had nothing to eat, others had exit permission but no money for tickets — asking, "Why are you all sleeping?" His words moved R. Yisroel Duchman, together with several other chassidim of Russian background, to found Lishkas Ezras Achim to help Russian Jews, and R. Yisroel raised many thousands of dollars for it, saying humbly that he did not understand spiritual matters but understood material things: he wanted another Jew to have food, a bed, and to receive it with a warm, inviting smile. When the Soviet gates opened he made fundraising trips to help emigrants settle in Eretz Yisroel, and he partnered with Dr. Yirmiyahu Branover — whose own exit he had helped arrange — in Branover's organization Shamir for Russian immigrants there.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
311 wordsR. Yisroel Duchman
story_000651
score 1.10 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.80 length_suitability=0.60
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 461-462, no. 71
The Rebbe appointed R. Zalman Duchman as a shadar, and twice a year he traveled across the country collecting funds, spending a month each winter in Chattanooga, TN with an elder chossid and relative, Rabbi Chasdan, the local shochet, and a month between Pesach and Shavuos in Toronto, where his daughter and son-in-law lived. The trips were hard on him — he could not speak English, had few contacts, and did not bring in large sums — and he wanted to stop, but the Rebbe insisted he continue, saying he was sending him to Chattanooga "az men zol zen aza hadras ponim — that they should see his remarkable countenance." The purpose of such trips had always been to sow spirituality and reap material fortune, and with his warmth and genuine care R. Zalman connected with many Yidden, opened their eyes to the concept of a Rebbe, guided them to the Rebbe's door, and carried their requests to the Rebbe himself.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
304 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
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score 1.09 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.80 length_suitability=0.57
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 277, no. 123
In Reshimos Hama'asar the Rebbe writes that by Divine Providence the investigators spent far more time in his home than they had planned, and their attempts to hurry were ineffective. Beryl Menier (may G-d avenge his blood) related that in the middle of that night the Ramash came running to take him to Chaim Lieberman, they told him what was happening with the Rebbe, and they arranged everything so that nothing incriminating would be found — and the police indeed came afterward to arrest R. Chaim. Later, once the Rebbe was already in Riga, great efforts were made and R. Chaim too was permitted to leave Russia.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
292 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000354
score 1.08 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.80 length_suitability=0.55
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 483-484, no. 3
Drafted into the Red Army in the Second World War and wounded at the front, R. Eliyahu Akiva Lipskar was permitted to leave besieged Leningrad for medical treatment and to take one person with him; the lot fell on Rochel, daughter of Schneur Zalman Duchman, who was knowledgeable in medical matters. After great difficulties they reached Tashkent, where they married. Conditions there were desperate — people starving in the streets and sickness raging — and Rochel contracted typhus; R. Eliyahu, caring for her when she was alone without family, caught it as well, and both became critical. A chossid in Tashkent, R. Yisroel Konson, cooked porridge for them and brought it to the hospital, leaving it on the windowsill when he was refused entry because of the contagion, and so sustained them and saved them from certain death.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
288 wordsR. Eliyahu Akiva Lipskar
story_000662
score 1.08 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.80 length_suitability=0.55
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 491-492, no. 13
A family of twelve, chassidim of the Skulener Rebbe, arrived in Toronto; the father fell gravely ill and died, leaving a widow with ten young children. R. Eliyahu collected a large sum for them and established an official fund to support each member of the family, and as each child reached marriageable age he found a spouse, arranged everything the couple needed, and married off all ten as if they were of illustrious status, worrying for them as though they were his own children. After R. Eliyahu's passing, the Skulener Rebbe came to the shiva — arriving in Toronto at 3 A.M. after an airplane delay and asking the family to receive him at that hour — to thank them for the kindness shown to his chassidim.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
282 wordsR. Eliyahu Akiva Lipskar
story_000672
score 1.08 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.80 length_suitability=0.55
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 240, no. 66
The Rebbe once asked how it can be that our holy and beautiful Torah opens with the mitzvah of "be fruitful and multiply." His answer: you are a Jew, so you must make another Jew.
0 min to tellexcellent to tell
63 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000297
score 1.06 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.12
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 472-473, no. 12
At the Simchas Torah farbrengen R. Yisroel Duchman would give out l'chaim. Once the Rebbe asked whether he had given Dr. Resnick, and R. Yisroel, in his jolly mood, answered, "Him? He's a yukel!" The Rebbe pressed him: how did he know? "I'm his patient." Did he pay him? "Of course." "Nu..." the Rebbe concluded.
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68 wordsR. Yisroel Duchman
story_000646
score 1.06 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=1.00 length_suitability=0.12
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 468, no. 1
Yisroel HaLevi Duchman was born to Zalman and Chaya Grunya on Shabbos, 8 Tishrei 5689 (1928), and the Frierdiker Rebbe, then in Riga, sent a letter with a bracha for the newborn. He grew up in Leningrad under communist oppression, taught at home by his father together with his brother Dovber Menachem Mendel while the oldest brother Mordechai Yoel was sent to the underground Tomchei Temimim in Kutaisi. When the Nazis besieged Leningrad in Elul 5701 (1941), both brothers were lost — one fell in battle with the Soviet army, the other left the house and never returned — and their father, broken and famished, was hospitalized. The burden of feeding the family fell on eleven-year-old Yisroel, who used charm and ingenuity to obtain scraps of food from a nearby Russian army camp, sustaining his family and others who turned to the Duchmans for help.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
261 wordsR. Yisroel Duchman
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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 471-472, no. 8
On Erev Pesach afternoon the Rebbe personally distributed a piece of matzah to each member of the community, and R. Yisroel would take a piece not only for himself but also for the Yiddish writer Chaim Grade, traveling the several hours to Grade's home so he would have the Rebbe's matzah for the Seder. Grade would send back greetings to the Rebbe together with a poem or short story as a gift, which R. Yisroel would deliver on the second night of Pesach, and the Rebbe would press him for details of the interaction. One year R. Yisroel was unsure whether to collect matzah and decided not to; regretting it, he came on the second night and explained that he should not lose out now that Grade had passed away, and the Rebbe replied that he had wondered the previous day why he had not come. From then on R. Yisroel received matzah every year, and after his passing his son R. Sholom inherited the merit, receiving a whole matzah "far der gantzer colel" — for Colel Chabad.
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249 wordsR. Yisroel Duchman
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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 341-342, no. 40
The narrator's zeide told how R. Chazkel Droyer once came to Homil and Reb Aizel spoke with him: "All in all, I shouldn't even look at you — you were opposed to my Rebbe," meaning the Mitteler Rebbe, "yet I see that the Rebbe's radiance is still with you. Stay here, you have a room." He stayed a few weeks and people came to hear Chassidus from him. His downfall was mashkeh — he drank heavily and words flowed freely — yet from him they learned how to listen to Chassidus.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
233 wordsRebbe Rayatz
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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 470-471, no. 6
R. Yisroel first took a job in a butcher store and later opened his own poultry business; in yechidus, when the Rebbe asked him for good news, he reported opening his own butcher shop and asked the Rebbe to be his partner, and the Rebbe gave him a $50 bill. In his characteristic way he told the Rebbe, "If you're giving the money to be a partner, $50 is nothing, and if you're giving it as a segulah, then one dollar is also enough." He rose at four a.m. daily for his delivery route, but used his warmth and humor with his Williamsburg customers to move them to give to charitable causes and to change their view of the Rebbe and Lubavitch; his wife Rochel worked in a factory so that he could give his time to the Rebbe and to helping others, and their children nonetheless felt their parents were devoted to them.
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237 wordsR. Yisroel Duchman
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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 489-490, no. 10
R. Eliyahu farbrenged with every layer of the community — schoolboys, yeshiva students, middle-aged men and the elderly — always knowing which story or saying suited his listeners, and his Shabbos afternoon farbrengens in shul often lasted until sunset. He was a pillar of the community: he assisted the Chabad institutions in Toronto, those who had escaped Soviet oppression, Colel Chabad in Eretz Yisroel and Lishkas Ezras Achim, and he was among the Rashag's foremost local aides when the Rashag came on behalf of the central Yeshivas Tomchei Temimim in New York. Past retirement age he trained educators in a teacher's seminary, guided youngsters at camp as though he were one of them, and was among the first to open a Kollel Tiferes Zekainim - Levi Yitzchok when the Rebbe proposed it. Well-versed in nigleh and Chassidus, he gave Tanya shiurim to professors and doctors and, for twenty consecutive years, to the community's leading businessmen, and he publicly repeated the Rebbe's maamarim and sichos, all alongside an intense personal learning regimen acquired despite years of hardship and suffering.
3 min to tellgood to tell
440 wordsR. Eliyahu Akiva Lipskar
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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 440-441, no. 40
Eliyahu Akiva Lipskar, a young tomim born in Poltava in 5678 (1918) to the local rav R. Chaim Tzvi — who, though not a Chabad chossid, sent his children to Tomchei Temimim as their only hope of remaining upstanding Jews — lost his father at age twelve, when he was arrested for teaching Torah and died from the suffering. Eli went into business successfully as a bochur and donated large sums to the underground operations of R. Nissan Nemenov, R. Bentzion Shemtov and R. Avraham Mayor. Drafted into the Russian army at the outbreak of World War II, he was injured and released for treatment; as an injured soldier he was permitted a helper, and R. Zalman's oldest child and only daughter, who had nursing experience, accompanied him away from the front at Leningrad. The two reached Tashkent, joined the Lubavitch community there and married; when both contracted typhus and were quarantined, a caring chossid, R. Yisroel Konson, sustained them with nourishing food and saved them from death.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
227 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 484-485, no. 4
In Tashkent R. Eliyahu was a zealous activist: he established chadarim where children were taught Torah, did many deeds of kindness, and helped the public with communal needs. R. Aharon Chazan recounts in his book Neged Hazerem that it was R. Eliyahu who recommended he take a position in the secret cheder network — R. Aharon founded the chadarim and found teachers while R. Eliyahu raised the money to pay them. After his release from the Red Army R. Eliyahu went into business and, despite the danger, profited, using most of the money to support the Chabad underground that secretly maintained yeshivos and chadarim, and to help families whose breadwinner had no work or who were denied ration coupons for refusing to work on Shabbos. Living in Moscow while many religious Jews remained in Tashkent, and with money transfers nearly impossible, he served as a conduit for smuggled goods but dealt only with merchants willing to send some of the wares to the secret yeshivos — all the while in great personal danger.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
224 wordsR. Eliyahu Akiva Lipskar
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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 241, no. 68
On Yud-Tes Kislev 5685 (1924) the Rebbe looked at R. Leivik, the shamash of the Znamenskaya shul, and quoted "He called forth the shamash and he radiated light." He then spelled out what a shamash's work is: in the morning, when people come and it is still too dark and early to daven, he brings them a Tehillim; it is also his work to see that the children of the baalei-batim learn; and a shamash must know where a housewife buys her meat and similar matters.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
206 wordsRebbe Rayatz
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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 463-464, no. 74
In a letter of 5 Av 5722 (1962) the Rebbe set out the importance of Colel Chabad and the benefits of supporting it, and the letter became the basis of R. Zalman Duchman's fundraising: he would simply learn and discuss its points and the listener would be inspired to give. Not long after receiving it, R. Zalman read the letter at a bris and, reporting everything to the Rebbe as a devout chossid, mentioned the talk; the Rebbe commented on that point, "With the sources?" Chof-Daled Teves of the following year, 5723 (1963), marked 150 years since the Alter Rebbe's histalkus, which the Rebbe emphasized greatly in many letters and sichos, and in one pointed letter that year he asked whether the Colel Chabad letter was being used to its utmost for the organization, since it was "the Alter Rebbe's organization."
2 min to tellvery good to tell
207 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 288, no. 9
Reb Aizel told his students about the decree conscripting Jews into the Russian military, and about an individual who wept and fasted over it until his teachers came to him from Above. He demanded of them how they could remain silent in the face of such a decree. They answered that they had indeed protested, but once they were shown the pleasure Above that comes from the spiritual refinement produced by it, they were too embarrassed to say that below it counts as an evil decree.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
195 wordsRebbe Rayatz
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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 387, no. 12
R. Mordechai Perlov related that he was in Lubavitch when the Rebbe was sitting shiva for his brother, Rebbe Zalman Aharon, and the mashpi'im Reb Michoel and Reb Groinem came to be menachem avel. The Rebbe asked them what the significance of comforting a mourner is, since nothing profound is said to him, and answered that the very act of coming in itself lightens the mourner's load.
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197 wordsRebbe Rayatz
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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 491-492, no. 12
R. Eliyahu kept an open house for anyone who needed a place to stay. In 5715 (1955), some years after he arrived in Toronto, his own family still lived in a small dwelling where all five of his children slept in one small room. When a large Moroccan family arrived in Toronto on the eve of Pesach and the shul's rov urged the community to take them in, nobody responded; R. Eliyahu alone took the family of seven into his home for the entire festival and made sure they lacked nothing.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
201 wordsR. Eliyahu Akiva Lipskar
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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 468-469, no. 3
The Rubashkin family of Nevel were known for exceptional hachnosas orchim; Shalom Rubashkin would buy a whole cow before Pesach and distribute the meat to yeshivah students, and his son R. Getzel and his wife Rosa continued that tradition. R. Getzel, deeply bonded to the Rebbe, stood through entire farbrengens even at an advanced age; when the sofer who wrote his new megillah remarked that it was nicer than the Rebbe's, R. Getzel brought it to the Rebbe as a gift, and the Rebbe insisted on paying a token eighteen dollars and used that megillah every year afterward. Separately, R. Yisroel, whose parents had moved to New York, joined a group of Lubavitcher shochtim in Ireland preparing meat for sale in Europe and Eretz Yisroel, and his first child, Sholom, was born there.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
169 wordsR. Yisroel Duchman
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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 492-494, no. 15
An unfamiliar Jew came into the shul where R. Eliyahu was; he said he was a university student who had come to see the shul, and when he said he had no place to stay R. Eliyahu invited him home, where they spoke at length about Yiddishkeit, and he ultimately became a full baal teshuva. He is A. Teitelbaum, who became a professor of mathematics in Montreal. When R. Eliyahu once brought him to the Rebbe for yechidus, the Rebbe discussed mathematics, his field, rather than the Yiddishkeit he had expected; in time he realized how important those words were, since the Rebbe had shown him that mathematics can be used to express the unity of the Creator, and he said sorrowfully that he could not recall every detail of the yechidus.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
175 wordsR. Eliyahu Akiva Lipskar
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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 450-451, no. 52
As recounted by R. Zalman's daughter, on the day after Simchas Torah her father lay down to rest, exhausted after two days on his feet with little sleep. A local rabbi knocked with an urgent request: a Jew was being expelled from the country for lack of papers, and testimony from a respected man like R. Zalman might allow him to remain. Though his wife argued that he needed the rest, R. Zalman overheard, got dressed at once and went along; after many hours of travel and waiting in a Manhattan court they succeeded in sparing the Jew from suffering.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
161 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 475-476, no. 19
R. Yisroel Duchman's care for others extended to those close at hand: he organized collections that enabled countless young brides and grooms to set up their homes, and recipients could feel that he was genuinely glad to be helping them. Giving was a natural, ongoing part of his life, in the spirit of the chassidic adage that "the piece of bread that I have is yours just as much as it is mine." All year round his Shabbos table was surrounded by guests from all over the world, an effort in which his wife Rochel was his tireless partner, and for which he showed her the utmost appreciation and respect.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
152 wordsR. Yisroel Duchman
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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 158, no. 36
Bereh Bobrov, a melamed among the chassidim of Homil, traveled to Lubavitch every Rosh Hashanah. On one such visit he heard that the Rebbe's health was weak and that he would be going to a health spa that winter. At the end of his yechidus he said, "May the Eibershter send you a complete recovery!" The Rebbe's countenance changed and he answered loudly, "Amen!"
1 min to tellvery good to tell
124 wordsRebbe Rashab
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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 250, no. 86
After delivering a strong public reprimand at a farbrengen, the Rebbe said, "Heaven protect the seed of Father" (his father's chassidim). He then turned toward his room and said that he would tell his generals not to give him any more missions like that. The account adds that the farbrengen was held in the large zal, which served as the study hall and had a door leading to his room.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
129 wordsRebbe Rayatz
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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 450-451, no. 51
The open home R. Zalman Duchman had kept in Leningrad came with him to New York: every Shabbos he and his wife hosted guests for meals, for lodging or both, sharing their minimal provisions. Long before there was any organized hospitality, he made a special effort to look after the visitors in 770, supplying them with hot drinks to warm their frigid bones — even early on Simchas Torah morning at the end of the midnight farbrengen. Each month, when his government stipend arrived, he would deposit the money with a local grocer who had a large family and needed the cash, and collect from him only what he himself needed, when he needed it.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
134 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 383-384, no. 7
An important rov — or possibly a relative — from Eretz Yisroel came to the Tzemach Tzedek and said, "Rebbe, you are angry with me." The Tzemach Tzedek answered that he recites Krias Shema al HaMittah, in which one declares, "I hereby forgive anyone who has angered or vexed me."
1 min to tellvery good to tell
112 wordsRebbe Rayatz
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score 0.91 ·
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