Sefiras HaOmer

When the Rebbe’s brother, R. Yis­roel Aryeh Leib, passed away in Eng­land on 13 lyar, 5712 (1952), the Rebbe in­structed that the body be brought to Eretz Yis­roel and buried in Tz­fas. The Rebbe had spe­cific in­struc­tions re­gard­ing the burial, and he wanted R. Bentzion Shem Tov to su­per­vise the pro­ce­dure. At that time, R. Bentzion was in Dublin, vis­it­ing the shochtim, and was stay­ing at R. Yis­roel’s home. The Rebbe con­veyed sev­eral of the in­struc­tions through R. Yis­roel. This was R. Yis­roel’s first com­mu­ni­ca­tion with the Rebbe.

The sec­ond story:

When an agu­nah came to the Tzemach Tzedek in Lubav­itch to ask about her hus­band, the Rebbe sent her to Reb Aizel in Homil.

“How should I know where your hus­band is?” he asked.

She stayed in Homil for sev­eral weeks, came to Reb Aizel ev­ery day, and wept. Reb Aizel would send her away.

One day she came as usual, but stood her ground. Reb Aizel be­gan to drive her away — but she wouldn’t budge.

Now Reb Aizel had a me­shares, Mot­tel Gabeitzik (I still re­mem­ber him: he de­liv­ered meat to peo­ple’s homes; a Yid with long untrimmed peyos) — and Reb Aizel be­gan shov­ing Mot­tel, and Mot­tel started shov­ing the woman un­til he suc­ceeded in push­ing her through all the rooms and into the street (the Kiev-Pe­ters­burg high­way, which ran through Homil). And at that ex­act mo­ment a wagon car­ry­ing her hus­band passed by. She screamed, the wagon halted — and a set­tle­ment was con­cluded.