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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 38-39, no. 14
While the narrator's zeide, R' Mordechai Yoel, was a yoshev in the Tzemach Tzedek's study hall, the conscription agents were hunting for the young men, so the Rebbe sent them out of Lubavitch — some to Kalisk, some to Liozna — and the zeide spent Yud-Tes Kislev in Liozna. There they brought large bottles of mashkeh and sacks of liver, and Reb Yossele, an elder who had been alive when the Alter Rebbe was arrested, sat at the head of the table and told the whole account from beginning to end, weeping when he reached the soldiers striking the Alter Rebbe's wife and knocking out two of her teeth. He then described the second Yud-Tes Kislev, the first celebrated in Liozna, when a huge crowd gathered, the weather was warm, tents were set up in the courtyard, and the Alter Rebbe himself went around urging everyone to eat, drink and rejoice, saying his Yom-Tov was especially great because the arrest concerned both spiritual and physical matters and Hashem had helped.
3 min to tellexcellent to tell
396 wordsAlter Rebbe
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score 1.38 ·
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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 225, no. 41
At a farbrengen in his mother's house the Rebbe told of a chossid who dreamt that his previous Rebbe said one of his children would pass away that year. His Rebbe told him "Tracht gut vet zein gut," but he remained badly shaken; on Simchas Torah he stood aside weeping until the thought struck him that it was nonetheless Simchas Torah, and he joined the dancing. In yechidus after Sukkos the Rebbe asked what he had done on Simchas Torah, and told him that with that he had nullified the decree. The Rebbe did not say the names of the Rebbeim involved.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
314 wordsRebbe Rayatz
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score 1.30 ·
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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 ·
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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 344-345, no. 44
At Reb Hillel Paritcher's farbrengens the custom was to list every participant with a note beside each name — 'giver' for one who contributed toward the mashkeh, 'drinker' for one who did not. Once, after the list was compiled, someone at the end of the table objected that so much money for mashkeh would be better given to tzedakah. Reb Hillel agreed that he was right and that the money should go to tzedakah, then added that now that the mitzvah of tzedakah had been fulfilled, he wanted everyone to contribute for simcha shel mitzvah — and everyone gave even more than before.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
268 wordsRebbe Rayatz
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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, p. 33, no. 7
On Yud-Tes Kislev in the Lubavitcher shul in Homil, Reb Aizel demanded excitedly to know why everyone had gathered, omitted tachnun and was drinking mashkeh. He answered that the joy cannot be for the Rebbe's sake — to the Rebbe it was all the same whether he sat in the Taini Soviet prison or lay at home in bed — but rather "LaHashem hayeshuah": without the liberation we would not have known there is a G-d in the world. "Now go dance!" Der zeide added that in his youth he said Chassidus on this idea, and that he could say Chassidus on any subject and would single out each Yom-Tov or chassidic festival as higher than all the rest.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
264 wordsAlter Rebbe
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score 1.25 ·
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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 322, no. 7
The narrator's zeide recalled that when Reb Hillel Paritcher stayed at an inn in Lubavitch he offered a piece of kugel to a young man from Homil, who said he never eats kugel. Reb Hillel cited the Alter Rebbe that eating kugel on Shabbos sweetens Divine judgment as the shofar does on Rosh Hashanah, and answered the obvious objection by noting that when Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbos we do eat kugel and do not blow shofar. He conceded it was only a vertel — but the Alter Rebbe's vertel — and concluded that one should eat kugel.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
263 wordsRebbe Rayatz
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score 1.25 ·
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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 485-486, no. 6
The Lipskars arrived in Canada in 5712 (1952), and that year the Rebbe sent R. Eliyahu a ticket so he could travel to him for Purim. When he told the Rebbe's secretary Rabbi Hadakov that he lacked the documents to reenter Canada, the Rebbe answered with a smile that his mother had told him how well R. Eliyahu handled the Russian border guards — and now he couldn't sort something out? At the Purim farbrengens of those years the Rebbe would tell him to say l'chaim, and on one occasion sent him back for a second cup, then a third, then indicated the cup should be full and told him to drink yet another, until after four large cups he was rolling under the table. Before he returned home the Rebbe told him in yechidus to repeat in Toronto what he had heard in New York; R. Eliyahu answered that he could repeat what was said before chatzos but had not heard the teachings from chatzos onward, and the Rebbe replied that after chatzos they were much better than before.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
246 wordsR. Eliyahu Akiva Lipskar
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score 1.24 ·
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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 343, no. 42
The zeide told of a young man who came out of yechidus with the Tzemach Tzedek bursting with joy and turning somersaults in the courtyard, because the Rebbe had said Chassidus to him in the meeting. Asked how it happened, the young man related that he had requested, 'Rebbe, say Chassidus for me,' and when the Rebbe asked what he needed Chassidus for, he answered, 'I need something to daven with.' The Rebbe told him to meditate on how Hashem fills all worlds, encompasses all worlds, and how everything is utterly nothing before Him. The young man was Bera, the Patzitzer Rav.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
224 wordsRebbe Rayatz
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score 1.21 ·
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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 173-174, no. 59
In Lubavitch it was the custom at the conclusion of Rosh Hashanah, after the Rebbe's second maamar, to sing the nigun of R. Shlomo der Geller of Nevel and break into a lively dance. One year the dancing grew so intense that it spilled out of the large zal into the courtyard. The Rebbe sent his attendant R. Nachman to deliver a message in his name: "Vegilu bir'ada" — Rejoice, in awe — and the crowd was quieted by sheer fright.
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
180 wordsRebbe Rashab
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score 1.18 ·
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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 452-453, no. 55
Following the farbrengen on motzaei Rosh Hashana 5725 (1964), R. Zalman announced in his usual tune the order of the evening -- maariv, then havdala by the Rebbe, then kos shel bracha -- adding that no one should push, by instruction of the new Vaad Hamesader, and that everyone should follow it. The Rebbe then closed his eyes and announced in the same tune his own seder: first we will enter the new year, then we will learn much Torah, nigleh and Chassidus, and as a result fulfill many mitzvos with hidur, and even before all of this Hashem will give a kesiva vachasima tova, a good and sweet year in every respect, with children and grandchildren, money, blessings, success, salvation and comfort, good both materially and spiritually. He concluded, "This is the instruction of the new Vaad Hamesader, and everyone should follow it!" -- and smiles overtook the room.
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
186 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
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score 1.18 ·
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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
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score 1.16 ·
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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 433-435, no. 26
In Malachovka the Frierdiker Rebbe remained under constant surveillance and concluded he had no choice but to leave Russia entirely, scheduled for Isru Chag of Sukkos 5688 (1927). That Tishrei was highly emotional for chassidim, since for many it would be their last time seeing him, and for Simchas Torah they traveled from all across the Soviet Union to be with him before he left. R. Zalman, who was with the Frierdiker Rebbe for that Tishrei, recalls that the last dance engraved in his memory took place on the last Simchas Torah during the day, when the Rebbe held his holy hands up high and sang Nye Zhuritze Chloptzi.
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
142 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
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score 1.14 ·
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=0.28
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 486-488, no. 7
Immediately after R. Eliyahu Akiva Lipskar arrived in Toronto from Germany, his small daughter, who had been born in the German D.P. camp, fell sick and worsened until the doctors lost hope. He wrote to the Rebbe asking for a bracha, and the Rebbe instructed him to prepare a communal kiddush in shul that Shabbos. He did so, drawing the astonished protest of the community rov that he was celebrating while his daughter lay critically ill; shortly afterward her health began to improve until she recovered completely.
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
145 wordsR. Eliyahu Akiva Lipskar
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score 1.14 ·
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=0.28
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
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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. 106, no. 49
The Tzemach Tzedek once spoke about teshuvah, and when he lifted his holy head and looked at the chassidim, the entire crowd burst into weeping. He then said that teshuvah is a mitzvah like all other mitzvos, and a mitzvah without simcha is nothing.
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
83 wordsTzemach Tzedek
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score 1.07 ·
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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 288, no. 8
When Reb Aizel was ill, his students came to visit him. He told them that they know he cannot tolerate gloomy expressions, and instructed them to go pour themselves a little mashkeh and only then come back in to him.
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
77 wordsRebbe Rayatz
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score 1.07 ·
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=0.15
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 472-473, no. 13
R. Yisroel Duchman told the Rebbe that guests unfamiliar with the chassidic lifestyle were visiting for Simchas Torah, and that his wife, worried about the impression they would form of him, had advised him to restrain himself. The Rebbe responded, "Du zolst nispael veren fun zei?! Zei zol nispael veren fun dir! — You be impacted by them?! Let them be impacted by you!"
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
72 wordsR. Yisroel Duchman
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score 1.07 ·
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=0.15
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 242, no. 69
On Purim the Rebbe said that today they farbreng and talk, and tomorrow it is likely that what was said will need to be scoured and scrubbed with iron brushes — but today, this is what is needed.
0 min to tellexcellent to tell
69 wordsRebbe Rayatz
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score 1.06 ·
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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 94-95, no. 30
The narrator's zeide related that at a tisch the Tzemach Tzedek told his son R. Yosef Yitzchak: "Your father-in-law teaches his children not to eat — while I teach my children to eat." He described the father-in-law sitting three hours in deep thought with his head thrown back, saying that had he instead studied Tur with Beis Yosef standing for six hours he would not have been uninterested in eating. The zeide said it was the same with Reb Aizel of Homil: when the Mitteler Rebbe's son R. Nochum passed through Homil he would stop to visit him, and at the table he barely touched his food, drawing Reb Aizel's rebuke, "You eat nothing, you Polisher rebbe — it's intolerable!"
2 min to tellvery good to tell
255 wordsTzemach Tzedek
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score 1.05 ·
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=0.50
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 62-63, no. 2
The narrator's zeide related what Shlomo der Itcher told him about the "Great Shavuos" when the Mitteler Rebbe was in Homil. Shlomo said that although he was neither wealthy nor well known, ten minyanim of people sat at his table — so one could imagine how many thousands filled the town, given the wealthy and prominent residents there. There would not have been enough food, but the Homil river was running with saz fish, and people went down to the river with pails and caught them.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
245 wordsMitteler Rebbe
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score 1.04 ·
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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 354-358, no. 57
The narrator's zeide (רמ"י) asked how to understand the Gemara's teaching that when Adar arrives we increase in joy. He cited the Gemara's resolution of two verses — "In secret my soul will weep" versus "Might and joy are in His place" — that one speaks of the inner chambers and the other of the outer chambers. His point: even in the inner chambers, where the soul weeps in secret, when Adar comes one increases in joy.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
246 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000474
score 1.04 ·
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=0.47
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 291, no. 15
Late one night Reb Aizel was farbrenging with his students. He told them that when they were yungeleit the special treat at farbrengens was sauerkraut and pickles, but that this was no comparison to potatoes. He then stood up and called to his wife, Elka, to come and cook potatoes for the chassidim.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
195 wordsRebbe Rayatz
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score 0.99 ·
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=0.38
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 191, no. 83
On Simchas Torah 5679 (1918) a farbrengen was held in the home of the Rebbe Rashab's son, the Rebbe Rayatz. The table had already been broken and the Rebbe Rashab sat in the middle of the house on a round stool, calling out, "Quiet! We are talking of the loftiest matters." In the middle of it his daughter-in-law, Rebbetzin Nechama Dina, approached and asked, "Shver, is anything bothering you?" He answered, "I am doing very well; I want that for my son it should be good."
1 min to tellvery good to tell
171 wordsRebbe Rashab
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score 0.96 ·
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=0.32
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 345-346, no. 45
The zeide, R. Mordechai Yoel, once sighed while sitting at a farbrengen with Reb Hillel Paritcher. Reb Hillel asked what he was sighing about, and he answered that he did not know. Reb Hillel pressed further — how can it be that a Yid sighs? — until the zeide replied that perhaps it was subconscious, since his older sister was still unmarried.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
163 wordsRebbe Rayatz
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score 0.96 ·
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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 242-243, no. 71
The narrator recalls the last dance engraved in his memory, on the last Simchas Torah during the day: the Rebbe held his holy hands up high and sang Nye Zhuritze Chloptzi. In the middle he stopped and said that a gift is given, but had the recipient not pleased the benefactor it would not have been given to him — and he spoke lofty words that the narrator could not understand.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
158 wordsRebbe Rayatz
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score 0.95 ·
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=0.30
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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score 0.95 ·
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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 234, no. 54
The chossid R. Hendel Elkin of Smorgon related that the Rebbe stayed with him in the summer of 5682 or 5683 at a dacha near Moscow — he thinks Martishkene — and that they crossed a small river together, where the Rebbe made a remark about a Jew who builds a factory and burns a Lubavitcher Jew. The same chossid told the Rebbe that he had dreamt of the Rebbe Rashab, and the Rebbe replied that chassidim have a time-honored tradition in every generation to make a yoma tava l'rabbanan — a festive farbrengen — when they dream of their Rebbe.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
137 wordsRebbe Rayatz
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score 0.94 ·
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=0.28
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 389-390, no. 15
On the same occasion the Rebbe told of a wedding band that included a youngster whose job was to pound the drum and call out "Freilicher, freilicher!" When the boy once forgot to keep the tempo, the bandleader slapped him - and though he was crying, he still had to go on singing, "Freilicher, freilicher!"
1 min to tellvery good to tell
136 wordsRebbe Rayatz
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score 0.93 ·
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=0.25
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 470-471, no. 5
In 5714 (1954) R. Yisroel and his family immigrated to America and settled near the Rebbe in Crown Heights. On his first Shabbos the Rebbe looked for him at the farbrengen and did not see him; when the chassidim heard the Rebbe was searching, they thrust R. Yisroel onto a table, and the Rebbe smiled and said, "He hasn't had time to rest from the trip and he already wants 'shishi'." From then on the relationship with the Rebbe became the focus of his life, and he would say that while some people live for business deals, the stock market or their professions, his own vitality came from spending time speaking with the Rebbe.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
126 wordsR. Yisroel Duchman
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score 0.93 ·
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=0.25
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 414-415, no. 52
While the narrator was working at the machine by hand, the well-known chossid R. Michoel Dvorkin walked in and, apparently reading the gloom on his face, said, "Serve G-d with joy!" This echoed the Rebbe Rayatz's teaching that "Six days you shall work" is itself a mitzvah.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
112 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000551
score 0.91 ·
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=0.22
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 430-432, no. 25
On Tuesday, Yud-Beis Tammuz, chassidim in Leningrad held a celebration farbrengen; because the Rebbe had asked that his release be kept secret, it was held privately by special invitation (bli pirsum), and before dancing they removed their shoes so as not to make noise. After a few days in Leningrad the Frierdiker Rebbe received threats of being arrested again and decided to relocate to Malachovka, a quiet suburb of Moscow. Though chassidim were cautioned not to visit him, R. Zalman and his family spent the summer there to assist him, and many of the known stories of the arrest and release come from R. Zalman.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
116 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
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score 0.91 ·
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=0.22
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 156-157, no. 33
The same young man came to the Rebbe for yechidus one summer day in the large zal in Rostov, and the Rebbe's face was radiant. He asked whether, being accustomed to sing while davening, it would be better to hold himself back. The Rebbe answered, 'No, no — these are the G-dly soul's powers revealing themselves.'
1 min to tellvery good to tell
108 wordsRebbe Rashab
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score 0.90 ·
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=0.20
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 435-436, no. 34
R. Zalman Duchman tells of R. Leivik's departure from Leningrad: they accompanied him — people were not as fearful then — to the platform for Moscow-bound trains. A young student was also there, and R. Leivik told him, 'Remember: v'chazakta v'hayisa l'ish — Strengthen yourself, become a man!' Though the young man later went through a spiritual decline, today he is doing well in a distant country. As the train was about to depart, R. Michoel Dvorkin burst into a joyous dance with them.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
96 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
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score 0.89 ·
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=0.18
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 452-453, no. 54
At the end of the Simchas Torah farbrengen of 5726 (1965), when it was time to begin hakafos, the Rebbe instructed R. Zalman to announce "Sha, shtiller!" to quiet the crowd. After several attempts the Rebbe asked him to announce three times, "Kol mevaser, mevaser v'omer!" -- from the Hoshanos liturgy -- and as he did, the Rebbe smiled. At another Simchas Torah farbrengen, when the Rebbe asked the children to sing "Hamal'ach Hagoel," R. Zalman led the singing, to the Rebbe's great delight.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
90 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
story_000610
score 0.89 ·
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=0.18
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 472-473, no. 11
Simchas Torah was a special time between R. Yisroel Duchman and the Rebbe. On Simchas Torah morning R. Yisroel led Shacharis and then, before hakafos, joyously made kiddush over mashkeh and brought in two large trays of cake his wife had prepared, urging everyone to take a bite, thus beginning the day's celebration in 770. The Rebbe enjoyed R. Yisroel's natural chassidic happiness, and when R. Yisroel was more subdued the Rebbe would motion to him, seeking an explanation for the change.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
90 wordsR. Yisroel Duchman
story_000645
score 0.89 ·
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=0.18
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 473-474, no. 16
R. Yisroel Duchman's intimate attachment to the Rebbe moved him to spontaneously throw a huge Kiddush in 770 on the night following Rosh Chodesh Kislev 5738, when the Rebbe first went home after his heart attack. He was overwhelmingly happy and wanted others to share in his happiness. The same connection showed in his love for 770: whenever he was in town he visited every day, and after a long day of work he would go to 770 before going home.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
93 wordsR. Yisroel Duchman
story_000650
score 0.89 ·
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=0.18
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 184-186, no. 77
In 5670 or 5671 (1910 or 1911) R. Shmuel Michel Treinin of Petersburg came to Warsaw to organize a conference of Polish chassidic rebbes headed by the Rebbe, who was then abroad. R. Shmuel Michel reserved a hotel while R. Yosef Yozik Gurevitch prepared rooms in his home; when Yoel Wagmeister remarked that in Warsaw everyone stays in private homes, the Rebbe announced, "We are going to Nalevky," to R. Yozik's boundless joy. The narrator describes meeting the Rebbe at the railway station, seeing him for the first time in a shliapa, the Rebbe going out to greet his son the Rebbe Rayatz with a kiss, and handing the Rebbe the copper kvort for washing. Thirty admorim took part in the conference, and at the table the Rebbe recounted the specialist's comment that he had gone a little overboard in limiting his eating.
6 min to tellgood to tell
737 wordsRebbe Rashab
story_000216
score 0.89 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.60 length_suitability=0.57
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 425-426, no. 14
R. Leima Minkowitz of Nevel, a respected chossid whose wife Chaya Mina ran their successful business so he could daven and study, agreed to the match between his daughter Chaya Grunya and R. Zalman, and the wedding was set for Homil. On the day of travel the Minkowitz family boarded the train in the crowded station without checking that everyone was aboard, and only after it pulled out did they realize the kallah had been left on the platform, running after the accelerating train; R. Leima demanded so authoritatively that the conductors stop the train that they did, and Chaya Grunya boarded. Though Homil was still ravaged by famine and typhus, the wedding was held on erev Shabbos with great joy and the festivities continued for days, and on Shavuos 5681 the couple was blessed with a daughter, Beila Rochel.
2 min to tellgood to tell
299 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
story_000570
score 0.89 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.60 length_suitability=0.57
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 297, no. 28
Hearing that R. Mordechai Yoel and R. Eliezer Shimon had begun learning a new Gemara, Reb Aizel rebuked them for not having made a siyum on the tractate they finished. He told them that the omission is a sign that Torah is not precious in their eyes.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
73 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000387
score 0.88 ·
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=0.15
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 206-207, no. 13
When the chassidim were about to sing the Alter Rebbe's well-known nigun, the Rebbe said, "We will sing Chaim Ber's nigun, and then Shmuel's, and then the Rebbe's." The narrator explains the older names: what is now called Shmuel Gurary's nigun the Rebbe called Chaim Ber's, and what is today called the Rebbe's (the Rebbe Rashab's) he called Shmuel's — the nigun the Rebbe Rashab could sing endlessly, as the narrator recalls from Simchas Torah 5676 (1915), when the chassidim would stop and the Rebbe Rashab would begin it again. It was a true Simchas Torah, an awakening to teshuvah.
2 min to tellgood to tell
275 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000244
score 0.86 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.60 length_suitability=0.53
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 236, no. 58
Afterwards the Rebbe said that one must be led to hakafos in the same way that a groom is led.
0 min to tellvery good to tell
34 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000289
score 0.86 ·
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=0.12
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 433-435, no. 30
R. Zalman Duchman records that when he and his fellow chassidim felt dejected by their difficult situation, a vort from the Rebbe lifted them. R. Michoel Dvorkin once came in while R. Zalman was working at the machine and, noticing his gloomy expression, told him, "Serve G-d with joy!" - echoing the Rebbe Rayatz's words that "Six days you shall work" is itself a mitzvah.
0 min to tellvery good to tell
62 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
story_000586
score 0.86 ·
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=0.12
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 387-388, no. 13
Chassidim would explain that the main Yud-Tes Kislev farbrengen falls on the second night because the Rebbe Rashab declared Yud-Tes Kislev to be Rosh Hashanah, which accordingly has two days - a point the narrator heard the Rebbe Rayatz make in Leningrad. On the three occasions the Rebbe Rayatz was in Leningrad for Yud-Tes Kislev he farbrenged both nights, and on the first night in 5685 he asked, before leaving, that everyone come to the seudah he had arranged. The passage also recalls the great Yud-Tes Kislev of 5672, at which the narrator's father, R. Dovber Menachem Mendel, was present and returned burning with excitement.
2 min to tellgood to tell
254 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000512
score 0.85 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.60 length_suitability=0.50
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 309-310, no. 45
Reb Aizel once explained all of Shir HaShirim posuk by posuk according to Chassidus. The elder chassidim told the zeide that when he reached the posuk 'Shuvi shuvi haShulamis' his face burned like a torch. When he finished the entire Shir HaShirim according to Chassidus, he made a festive seudah.
1 min to tellgood to tell
142 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000404
score 0.74 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.60 length_suitability=0.28
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 465-466, no. 76
R. Zalman Duchman passed away on the 8th of Adar I 5730 (1970) and was buried in the Old Montefiore Cemetery near the Ohel; because of a gravediggers' strike, chassidim dug the grave themselves. About a month later, at the Purim farbrengen, the Rebbe gave mashkeh to R. Yisroel Duchman and others who were in the year of mourning for a parent, to distribute to the crowd so that they could take part in the joyous occasion. At the Beis Nissan farbrengen that year the Rebbe mentioned R. Zalman by name, quoting his expression that fifty years since the Rebbe Rashab's passing is a 'Jubilee.'
1 min to tellgood to tell
132 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
story_000632
score 0.72 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.60 length_suitability=0.25
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 447-449, no. 48
On Shabbos Parshas Ki Teitzei, a week after arriving in New York, Reb Zalman Duchman led Shacharis and Mincha with great joy in anticipation of his son Yisroel's wedding, which was to take place the next day in faraway Paris. A chossid's diary records the atmosphere in 770 that Shabbos: after the farbrengen, R. Yochanan Gordon, the gabbai of 770, told the Rebbe that since Reb Zalman had made kiddush and was in high spirits he davened Mincha so joyously. The Rebbe replied, "Shacharis was also very joyous!"
1 min to tellgood to tell
113 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
story_000604
score 0.71 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.60 length_suitability=0.22
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 363-366, no. 10
As a train was about to depart, R. Michoel Dvorkin broke into a joyous dance together with those seeing him off. The passage is a brief fragment preserved among various stories, with no further narrative context given.
1 min to tellgood to tell
88 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000484
score 0.69 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.60 length_suitability=0.18
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 273, no. 115
At the Shabbos table Nechemia Ginsburg announced that he wanted to take a cup of mashkeh and would give the reason — in the original Yiddish a rhyme, "Ich vell nemmen a kuss, un zogen farvuss." The Rebbe answered, "You already made a rhyme," and did not let him continue.
1 min to tellgood to tell
74 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000346
score 0.68 ·
person_role=0.00 topic_theme_strength=0.00 occasion_strength=0.00 keyword_fts=0.00 semantic=0.00 farbrengen_value=0.60 length_suitability=0.15
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