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As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 204-206, no. 12
At Simchas Torah 5685 (1924) in Leningrad, the Rebbe Rayatz spoke passionately against the chossid who sleeps until nine, has davened and eaten by ten, and then strolls Nevsky Street looking where he should not, imagining that a kapotah and gartel or three rubles given to the Rebbe make him a chossid. He cited R. Hillel Paritcher's remark that he does not care for one who strayed and did teshuvah — who knows what sort of teshuvah it was — and explained the teaching that baalei teshuvah stand where perfect tzaddikim cannot: the baal teshuvah is not the same person, he is someone else. He then turned to a young man from Kherson living in Moscow, told him "It's not you," and instructed him to accept divrei chavrus and give a Kiddush on Shabbos Bereishis, adding that everyone must accept upon himself not to sleep past seven in the morning.
4 min to tellexcellent to tell
518 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000243
score 1.50 ·
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=1.00
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 256-257, no. 95
At a terrifying Purim farbrengen in 5687 (1927), the Rebbe screamed against the Yevsektzia — 'a rabbi's son, a butcher's son, a villager's son' — declaring he was not frightened of them, and unbuttoned his kapota until his tallis katan showed, calling out that he accepted upon himself the four forms of execution and that when they saw his body aflame they should have no compassion. When the chossid R. Meir Simcha shouted that the Rebbe was needed here, the Rebbe kept repeating that one must be ready to give one's life but must not send the children to their schools. Because informers were known to be present, those there called his mother the Rebbetzin to restrain him; he rose when she came but sent her back to her room to say Tehillim with tears where no one would see, saying that would help, and told her he was not acting on his own initiative but had asked his father. She kept standing and speaking until he fainted and barely revived; everyone was in dread, and the arrest came after Shavuos.
3 min to tellexcellent to tell
445 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000326
score 1.43 ·
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=0.85
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
story_000014
score 1.38 ·
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=0.75
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 273-274, no. 116
In the middle of the seudah the Rebbe said that Chassidus should really be spoken but it was not an appropriate time — and then, saying so anyway, began. He related that the first Chassidus the Alter Rebbe said upon leaving the Tainy Soviet was on the verse "Sh'u yedeichem kodesh," because the Alter Rebbe and the Mitteler Rebbe held seemingly different perspectives: the Alter Rebbe considered lev (heart) most important, the Mitteler Rebbe mochin (mind). When the Alter Rebbe came from Petersburg he told the Mitteler Rebbe, "You are correct, only that we must ensure that mochin illuminate the midos" — explaining the verse as mochin being kodesh and midos being "your hands," which must be lifted so that mochin illuminate them. The narrator adds that this is what he remembers, that a few words may be missing, but that he has not added a single letter.
3 min to tellexcellent to tell
391 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000347
score 1.38 ·
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=0.75
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 352-353, no. 53
The narrator's zeide, Mordechai Yoel, related that the Rebbe Maharash held Reb Aizel of Homil's Chassidus in high regard — though he called him "der Hieger" or "der Homiler" and reserved the title "Rebbe" for the Tzemach Tzedek — since he had been Reb Aizel's outstanding disciple. Early one summer morning, walking through the Rebbe's courtyard after a late farbrengen and a generous measure of mashkeh, the zeide was called over by the Rebbe Maharash at the window. When the conversation turned to Reb Aizel's Chassidus, the zeide said with a nigun that the Rebbe and his children do not need it, but the Rebbe's grandchildren and ordinary chassidim should learn it. Glancing up as he finished, he saw the Tzemach Tzedek in the second window — and, as he recounted, he sobered instantly and fled.
3 min to tellexcellent to tell
376 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000470
score 1.36 ·
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=0.72
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 224, no. 40
On Purim a young man submitted a pidyon nefesh through the gabbai R. Elchanan for a relative in Homil who suffered from heart disease, and at the Purim seudah that stretched into a farbrengen he asked the Rebbe aloud for a bracha for Zalman. The Rebbe spoke into his ear that he had already read the pidyon carefully, and that if the sick man would take upon himself the support of a cheder, the Rebbe would take his illness upon himself, striking his own heart and saying that a person can live with a heart defect. He added that ordinarily in yechidus he sits with a cigarette and says nothing even while his insides churn — but this time he was telling him.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
318 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000271
score 1.30 ·
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=0.60
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
story_000272
score 1.30 ·
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=0.60
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 392, no. 18
The narrator's zeide, R. Mordechai Yoel, used to say that the Rebbeim disliked hearing about people's wrongdoings and preferred to speak Chassidus; yet at the Simchas Torah farbrengen of 5685 (1924) the Rebbe spoke at length about viduy devarim, and people became baalei teshuvah. A yungerman from Nevel, whose infant had suffocated in its sleep, chased the Rebbe from Leningrad to Moscow and finally to Rostov, apparently in the winter of 5683 (1923). At that yechidus the Rebbe told him that if people knew how good it is to tell everything — literally everything — once in six months or once a year, it would be truly good.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
315 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000517
score 1.30 ·
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=0.60
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 141-142, no. 13
The narrator's brother Baruch studied in the Shedrin branch of Tomchei Temimim and, though he answered all his examination questions in nigleh and Chassidus when he came to Lubavitch for Rosh Hashanah 5673, he was told to remain another year in Shedrin; the Rebbe told him to follow the mashpi'im's instructions. When the narrator's father came to Lubavitch for Yud-Tes Kislev of that year and mentioned at the end of yechidus that his heart was weak, the Rebbe answered that his children were frail as well, and that he had sent the younger one back to Shedrin because it was better there in gashmius. Returning home, the father came straight from the train station burning with hispa'alus and described the Rebbe's motzaei Shabbos farbrengen that ran from 11 p.m. until seven in the morning, at which the Rebbe said lechaim on 57% mashkeh, said that Above and Below must be made equal, and drank whole glasses; the giluyim, he testified, were extraordinary.
4 min to tellvery good to tell
508 wordsRebbe Rashab
story_000152
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. 231-232, no. 50
The narrator recalls an erev Rosh Hashanah in Lubavitch, in a year he does not remember, when the Rebbe Rashab came out repeatedly through the red door to receive pidyonos while his son, the Rebbe Rayatz, stood watching for a long time. On Yud-Tes Kislev of 5685 or 5686, the Rebbe Rayatz described how his father took pidyonos differently from different people — from some in his hand, from others between his fingers — and told Pinchas ben R. Binyomin Althoiz that as a small child his pidyon had been taken between the fingers, as from those closest, and that this should be a meditation for his whole life and for his entire "otriad," of which he is the leader. The Rebbe added that he had wanted to go in with everyone, and after the "soaring" and "descent" wanted to be with him alone.
4 min to tellvery good to tell
532 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000281
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=0.98
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. 430-432, no. 22
R. Zalman first met the Rebbe -- then known as the Frierdiker Rebbe's future son-in-law -- in Tishrei 5683 (1922) in Rostov, and afterward met him often in Leningrad, where the Rebbe would visit the Frierdiker Rebbe alone or with his brother R. Yisroel Aryeh Leib. On the 15th of Sivan 5687 (1927) the N.K.V.D. came to arrest the Frierdiker Rebbe and searched the house for incriminating evidence; the Rebbe, who was not home, went at once with R. Elyeh Chaim Althoiz to hide whatever documents could be used against him, and that evening deposited a trunk of manuscripts with R. Zalman for safekeeping. A later exchange of letters is quoted: the Rebbe recalled entrusting him with the sacred documents, and R. Zalman replied that he had returned the large box of manuscripts on the 12th of Tammuz while the Rebbe sat on the west side of the study hall, and that the Rebbe then told him that in return for his efforts he would give him good news -- that the Rebbe would return from exile in time for Shabbos. Once at a Yud-Beis Tammuz farbrengen in 770, R. Zalman rose and said that if the chassidim knew of the Rebbe's part in the Frierdiker Rebbe's release their celebration would be far greater; the Rebbe turned to him and said "Sha!", and R. Zalman never disclosed anything further.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
302 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
story_000578
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=1.00 length_suitability=0.57
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 219-221, no. 36
At a Yud-Tes Kislev farbrengen in 5685 or 5686, the Rebbe related that his father had received a letter from the Rav of Chevron reporting that missionaries were trying to buy the shul held by tradition to be Avraham Avinu's, and that 25,000 rubles were needed for a counteroffer. Father and son traveled to Moscow, where a meeting of Moscow gvirim went badly until R. Shmuel Gurary offered to give the entire sum on condition that the shul be purchased in the Rebbe's name, sending in the morning a note and a check for 5,000 rubles though he was then deeply in debt. When the Rebbe brought the note and check to his father, his father said: Rasag accomplished the opening of Jewish minds, and Rashag accomplished the opening of Jewish hearts.
4 min to tellvery good to tell
493 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000267
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=0.80 length_suitability=0.95
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 362-363, no. 8
The narrator notes that chassidic farbrengens open with an introduction, and recounts that at a Kiddush commemorating R. Leivik's hilulah he related that his zeide heard first-hand from the Tzemach Tzedek that the Alter Rebbe had said, "On whom are you relying? My door in Gan Eden will be concealed from you," and that the Rebbe Rashab said, "I'm going to Heaven; I leave you the writings." In Rostov the narrator heard a different version: "The writings and my son I leave with you." He adds that Yosef Nemotin, grandson of R. Yehoshua Nemotin, told him that R. Leivik said before his passing, "It will take a little time; it's necessary to journey to another world, a higher world."
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
283 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000482
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. 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
story_000488
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. 221-222, no. 37
At the Lag B'Omer farbrengen of 5685, held in the dining hall after the maamar KaShemen HaTov, the Rebbe related that a relative of theirs, a rov in Velliz, was persecuted by two gvirim and a wealthy woman and wrote to the Mitteler Rebbe, who was then in Staraya Russa. The Mitteler Rebbe wrote back to each: to the first, have immediate remorse and G-d will forgive; to the second, take great care lest I go out to you with the sword; to the woman, a woman's wisdom is only in her spindle. The first gvir relented, the second mocked the letter and was beheaded that day by a passing Cossack, and the woman lost everything in a court ruling over unpaid taxes on her spirits factory. When this was later related to the Mitteler Rebbe, he was deeply pained that their punishment had come through him.
4 min to tellvery good to tell
553 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000268
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=0.80 length_suitability=0.93
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
story_000461
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 ·
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. 85-86, no. 16
Introducing a story he had written, the Rebbe said at a farbrengen in New York that whoever repeats a statement in the name of its author brings redemption to the world, and that everyone is obligated in this. The Tzemach Tzedek had said, "I'm like someone who sews hats. Later on, when someone buys the hat, it's a sign that I had sewn it for him." The narrator also heard in Lubavitch from R. Groinem the mashpia that the Tzemach Tzedek said, "I have no one specifically in mind when I discuss a spiritual predicament. But if someone thinks I am talking about him — then indeed I mean him."
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
262 wordsTzemach Tzedek
story_000072
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. 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
story_000176
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. 270-272, no. 113
The Rebbe arrived in Leningrad on Friday, the 15th of Tammuz, and before Kabbalas Shabbos gave the handwritten text of HaGomel to his son-in-law R. Shmaryahu Gurary to be studied beforehand. When asked whether there would be Chassidus on Shabbos, the Rebbe replied that "they are giving me one Shabbos." A Kiddush was held; his davening ran late and was heard through the white door with the nigun of Avinu Malkeinu, and at the table he said several times during the farbrengen, "This is the Seudas Hodaah" — for it was in Leningrad that he said the bracha of HaGomel. This surprised everyone, since the conventional assumption was that he should have said it in Kostrama, especially as the sentence had unfolded "above to below": a death decree commuted to ten years in Solovki and then reduced to three years of exile in Kostrama.
4 min to tellvery good to tell
466 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000344
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=0.80 length_suitability=0.90
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 478-479, no. 24
After a weekday farbrengen of the Rebbe, bochurim gathered with R. Yoel Kahan, the Rebbe's chozer, whose office was then in R. Yisroel's basement, to review the farbrengen, and afterward began an informal farbrengen of their own. R. Yisroel brought down mashkeh along with frankfurters and cold cuts from his butcher store, and the hungry bochurim ate heartily while R. Yoel explained how the Rebbe was giving them a foretaste of Toraso shel Moshiach. R. Yisroel looked at them and remarked, "M'est frankfurters un m'redt zich veggen Moshiach" — "You're eating frankfurters and you're speaking about Moshiach." The story explains the double meaning: a critique from a generation that held spirituality and material desire could not be mixed, and at the same time an awareness that a new light was dawning in which the material and the spiritual would no longer contradict, their fusion complete with Moshiach's coming.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
252 wordsR. Yisroel Duchman
story_000658
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. 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
story_000665
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, p. 40, no. 16
The Alter Rebbe came out to the chassidim and distributed mashkeh, and his brother Fetter Leibele asked what the celebration was for. The Alter Rebbe answered that he had that day fulfilled what he had written in Tanya — that one must humble oneself even before the lowliest of men, to which he had added the word 'mamash' — because when a man who had transgressed the entire Torah came to him, he put his head down and found seven areas in which he was inferior to that man. When Reb Aizel would retell the story he would pound the table and say that only the Rebbe could do such a thing.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
235 wordsAlter Rebbe
story_000016
score 1.23 ·
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=0.45
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 233, no. 51
On the first night of Yud-Tes Kislev, 5685 or 5686, the Rebbe sat in the zal looking very serious and then related an earlier Yud-Tes Kislev: people had gathered but his father did not come out, and when he went in to ask him to come out and farbreng, his father's expression was frightening. His father told him, "Things must be taken literally — this is Rosh Hashanah, the time for teshuvah." When the son said that people were waiting, his father came out, but only briefly. Having finished the story, the Rebbe returned to his room.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
237 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000282
score 1.23 ·
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=0.45
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
story_000103
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. 297-298, no. 29
Reb Aizel approached the narrator's zeide and Eliezer Shimon and asked whether they feared "the one with many eyes" — the Angel of Death. They answered that they were not thinking of him at all, only of a little mashkeh, and when he pressed them again they said that if they fear anyone it is G-d. Reb Aizel told them this delighted him, because the Alter Rebbe had once asked him and his fellows the identical question and they had given the identical answer.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
212 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000388
score 1.20 ·
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=0.40
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 304, no. 38
When Reb Hillel Paritcher passed through Homil he would stay with Reb Aizel, and at a festive meal he asked Reb Aizel to say Chassidus. Reb Aizel deflected the request back to him, and Reb Hillel protested that he was neither the gaon nor the tzaddik nor the one who had been by the Alter Rebbe. Reb Aizel answered that being a gaon means nothing since the Torah is the Eibershter's, and that he was no tzaddik — but at the mention of time with the Alter Rebbe he rose to his full height and cried out his thanks to the Ribono Shel Olam for letting him serve the Rebbe for nineteen years.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
204 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000397
score 1.20 ·
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=0.40
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
story_000611
score 1.18 ·
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=0.35
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 453, no. 56
After the passing of Rebbetzin Chana, the Rebbe began saying sichos at farbrengens on a Rashi of the parsha, notifying R. Zalman of the chosen Rashi so he could announce it before davening and give people time to review it. A young bochur played a trick on him, telling him on an ordinary Shabbos with no farbrengen planned that there would be one and naming a Rashi; R. Zalman trusted him and made the announcement, the Rebbe looked at him in wonderment, and no farbrengen took place. R. Zalman wrote a long letter of apology, and the Rebbe assured him it was not his fault and was meant to be b'hashgacha pratis — and at the next Shabbos farbrengen the Rebbe discussed the incident and even offered an explanation on the Rashi that R. Zalman had announced.
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
181 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
story_000612
score 1.18 ·
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=0.35
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 214-215, no. 26
On what the narrator believes was Purim 5686 (1926), after the Alter Rebbe's nigun and the dancing, the Rebbe sat down by the western wall. The narrator approached and told him a teaching he had heard from his zeide in the name of the Tzemach Tzedek: one who repeats a teaching is no more than as though its author stands before him, but with a nigun it is the composer of the nigun himself. The Rebbe answered, "Emes, emes."
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
175 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000257
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. 329-330, no. 19
The zeide used to relate the story of a farbrengen with Reb Hillel Paritcher in Retzitza. Reb Hillel told the baalei batim that he had a request of them: their children must study with proper teachers, since they have no idea of the strength such teachers impart to the children. He then added that if one learns Tanya with small children, the result will be that they never become apikorsim.
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
166 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000436
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. 388-389, no. 14
At a Purim farbrengen in Leningrad, which the narrator thinks was 5667, the Rebbe sat at the head of the long table while chassidim stood around it. People standing on a chair behind them and leaning on them to hear better caused the chair to break, and Beryl (Minaer) Yudevitch muttered quietly, "Even better." The Rebbe heard him and afterwards repeated many times, "To be broken is even better."
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
169 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000513
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. 157-158, no. 35
At a farbrengen in the large zal in Lubavitch, R. Yitzchak Masmid lay under the table in order to hear the Rebbe's words better. A rabbi sitting near the Rebbe objected, asking who was crawling around down there. The Rebbe answered, "Let him be — he has to go to a settlement in Kherson province and stammer these words there."
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
162 wordsRebbe Rashab
story_000174
score 1.15 ·
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=0.30
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 178, no. 65
On Simchas Torah 5679 (1918) the narrator heard the following from the Rebbe Rashab. People were discussing the large sums being given to tzedakah, and the Rebbe's son, the Rebbe Rayatz, remarked that they give because the money means nothing to them. The Rebbe Rashab would not tolerate this and said, "Who do you think will bring Moshiach — the penniless? No, the wealthy — they will bring Moshiach."
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
126 wordsRebbe Rashab
story_000204
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. 243-244, no. 73
At a Yud-Tes Kislev farbrengen in Leningrad, the Rebbe said that he wants the Yidden upon whom his grandfather's and great-grandfather's gaze had fallen to sit around him. He explained: "I receive from them."
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
130 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000304
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. 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, pp. 240-241, no. 67
A young man told the narrator that he had concluded that transforming oneself as Chassidus demands is too difficult, so a person simply remains as he is. Then at a farbrengen the Rebbe said that a person is not his own master: if his father studied, he must study; if his zeide was a chossid, he must be a chossid.
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
122 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000298
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. 204, no. 10
At a farbrengen in Rostov in the first period after the Rebbe Rashab's passing, the Rebbe Rayatz said that a young man was standing and thinking, "The Rebbe, ay the Rebbe — but the Rebbe's son?!" The Rebbe added that this young man would see that he would have a baby boy born that year. And so it happened.
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
102 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000241
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
story_000473
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. 77-78, no. 4
The narrator's grandfather told of a Shavuos when Chaim Ber, the Rebbe's attendant, brought out large jugs of mashkeh and trays of food after davening. After the Kiddush the zeide ran off to the Rebbe's son, R. Chaim Shneur Zalman, who was sitting at a table with chassidim and asked what was going on at his father's; told it was the same as here, he replied that his actions had matched those of a great man. When blintzes were served the zeide did not take any, and R. Chaim Shneur Zalman told him the food was from there — shirayim of a tzaddik, a segulah for sons and daughters, and for one who does not need that, for love and awe of G-d. The zeide was struck that although the food had simply been sent from the Rebbe's home to all the children, R. Chaim Shneur Zalman nonetheless called it shirayim of a tzaddik.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
298 wordsTzemach Tzedek
story_000060
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. 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
story_000105
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. 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
story_000367
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. 32, no. 5
Reb Aizel said at a farbrengen that if the Rebbe ordered them to walk into fire, they would go. He then rejected the assumption that he meant they would be miraculously saved: no — to be burned.
0 min to tellexcellent to tell
64 wordsAlter Rebbe
story_000005
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. 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.
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69 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000300
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. 311, no. 49
Reb Aizel told his students that when they were yungeleit by the Alter Rebbe they also used to farbreng. The difference, he said, was that before each farbrengen they first decided what the farbrengen's objective would be.
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71 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000408
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. 386-387, no. 11
At tekias shofar on the second day of Rosh Hashanah, the narrator recalls seeing in Lubavitch how the Rebbe Rashab, after all the lengthy preparations and weeping during the Haftorah and the pesukim, simply arranged his tallis and said the brachos. He connects this to a conclusion reached at a chassidic farbrengen: after all the kavanos, the mitzvah must be done with kabbalas ol. Visualizing this in the same setting, he adds, brings to mind his zeide's teaching that the crowns descend one from another, i.e. that the Rebbeim are extensions of one another.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
276 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000510
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=0.80 length_suitability=0.53
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