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Stories from As I Heard Them (Lesheima Ozen) by Reb Zalman Duchman. © The Duchman Family; used with permission — share this sheet as produced, do not republish the stories in other formats.
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Stories for

Tes Kislev

9 Kislev

Birthday and yahrzeit of the Mitteler Rebbe

The Great Purim in Rogochov and Reb Yossele's Megillah Gelt

As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 63-64, no. 3

דער "גרויסער פורים" איז געווען אין ראָגאַטשאָוו. פלעגט דער זיידע דערציילן אַזאַ מעשה: אין קאָרמע איז געווען דעם אַלטן רבי'נס זי"ע אַ חסיד, ר' יאָסעלע דער חזן. האָט אים איין מאָל געבעטשט אדמו"ר הזקן זי"ע, ער זאָל זיין אַ נגיד, ד.ה. אַ גביר. אויף יענעם גרויסן פורים איז ר' יאָסעלע געקומען אין ראָגאַטשאָוו. קאָרמע איז לעבן ראָגאַטשאָוו. לייענען די מגילה האָט דער מיטעלער רבי מכבד געווען ר' יאָסעלען. אין מיטן מגילה לייענענדיק "למי יחפוץ המלך לעשות יותר יקר ממני", האָט ער אַ שפּיי געטאָן "פע קליפה". אויף מאָרגן, האָט דער עולם גערעכנט אַז מ'ווייס דאָך ווי דער מיטעלער רבי האָט פיינט התפעלות, וועט שוין ליינען די מגילה אַן אַנדערער. ערשט אויף מאָרגן אינדערפרי רופט דער מיטעלער רבי ווייטער אים. אַז ער איז צוגעגאַנגען צום טיש, זאָגט דער מיטעלער רבי, דו ווייסט גאָרניט דעם סדר אַז מ'דאַרף פריער לייגן מגילה געלט, און האָט אַוועקגעלייגט אַ גאָלדענעם רענדל. און עס איז געווען איבער טויזנט גבירים, און יעדערער האָט אַוועקגעלייגט אַ רענדל. אָט איז מקוים געוואָרן דעם אַלטן רבי'נס ברכה, און ער איז געוואָרן אַ גביר.

5 Author's note: Shlomo der Itcher, from whom the Otievsky family descended: Ben- Zion Otievsky in Bransk, DovBer Otievsky in Homil, and others.

The “Great Purim” took place in Rogochov, and my zeide told this story:

Reb Yossele der chazzan , a chossid whom the Alter Rebbe once blessed to become wealthy, lived in Korma, and on that “Great Purim” he came to Rogochov. (Korma is close to Rogochov.) The Mitteler Rebbe honored Reb Yossele with reading the Megillah, and, right in the middle — when he read [Haman’s proud statement] Whom would the king wish to honor more than me?6 — he spat, “Feh, kelipah!”

The next morning everyone assumed that, knowing how the Mitteler Rebbe detested any outward show, someone else would read the Megillah. However, the Mitteler Rebbe called him again, and when he came to the table the Mitteler Rebbe told him, “You do not know that one must first put Megillah gelt on the table” 7 — and the Rebbe laid down a golden rendel coin, and each of the more than a thousand gvirim there followed suit, laying down a golden rendel.

The Alter Rebbe’s blessing was fulfilled and he became a gvir.

The Mitteler Rebbe

Also this occasion

The Same Father, With Greater Strength

As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 427-428, no. 6

Having been so bound to the Rebbe Rashab, R. Zalman at first could not accept another Rebbe in his place — 'If my father is not here, can I take another father?' — but after consideration and effort he became a dedicated chossid of the Frierdiker Rebbe as well, understanding that 'it is the same father, but with greater strength.' In the winter of 5683, on business in Nevel, he heard the Rebbe Rayatz was in Leningrad and traveled there; sitting in the dining room at the home of the gvir R. Shmuel Michel Treinin, he heard him tell R. Meir Simcha of Nevel that the Rebbe Rashab had given his son everything, and that there are matters in which the son's strength is greater than the father's. The young R. Zalman, leaning on his zeide R. Mordechai Yoel, answered with a story that something once occurred by the Mitteler Rebbe of which they said the son's strength is greater than the father's, and the Mitteler Rebbe cried out, 'But it all comes from the father's strength.' His first trip to the Frierdiker Rebbe after the histalkus was for Rosh Hashanah 5683, when the Rebbe told him in the first yechidus, 'We provide parnassah for our children.'

The Mitteler Rebbe HiskashrusEmesLeadership

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"At Least I Can Do Another a Favor"

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.

The Mitteler Rebbe Ahavas YisraelHumilityInfluence of one Jew

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