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Stories from As I Heard Them (Lesheima Ozen) by Reb Zalman Duchman · © The Duchman Family; please share this sheet as printed
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Stories for the week

Parshas Terumah

Your Grandfather and Your Father Blessed Me

As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 183, no. 74

One erev Yom Kip­pur in Lubav­itch, af­ter Min­cha, I saw the ven­er­a­ble chos­sid R. Pe­sach Ku­per of Tagan­rog come out of the Rebbe’s room wear­ing a tallis and kit­tel, and saw that he had been cry­ing. He had gone in­side, he told me, to ask the Rebbe for his erev Yom Kip­pur bless­ing, and the Rebbe wanted to bentch him.

“I was priv­i­leged, ” he told the Rebbe, “that your grand­fa­ther and your fa­ther each placed their hand on my head when bentch­ing me, and I ask you also to place your hand on my head when you bentch m e.”

R. Pe­sach con­cluded, “He put his hand on my head and burst into tears; both of us wept. ”

HiskashrusCompassionSanctity of a tzaddik

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The Last Dance Before Leaving Russia

As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 433-435, no. 26

Continued from the biography of R. Zalman Duchman:

In Mala­chovka the Rebbe con­tin­ued to suf­fer from con­stant sur­veil­lance. The Rebbe de­cided that he had no choice but to leave Rus­sia en­tirely, and was sched­uled to leave on Isru Chag of Sukkos 5688 (1927).

That Tishrei was a very emo­tional time for the chas­sidim. The Rebbe was sched­uled to leave Rus­sia right af­ter yom-tov, and for many this would be the last time they would see the Frierdiker Rebbe. For Sim­chas Torah, chas­sidim trav­eled from all across the So­viet Union to be with the Frierdiker Rebbe be­fore he left.

R. Zal­man was with the Frierdiker Rebbe for Tishrei and he re­counts his mem­ory of that his­toric day:

“The last dance [with the Frierdiker Rebbe], en­graved in my mem­ory, took place on the last Sim­chas Torah dur­ing the day. The Rebbe held his holy hands up high and sang Nye Zhu­ritze Chloptzi.”

HiskashrusPower of a niggunSimcha

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A Cheaper Train Class to Lubavitch

As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 423-424, no. 8

Continued from the biography of R. Zalman Duchman:

Af­ter sev­eral years of learn­ing in Tom­chei Temimim in Lubav­itch, Zal­man re­turned to Homil. The lit­tle in­for­ma­tion we have from this time pe­riod is gleaned from al­lu­sions in his sto­ries.

Zal­man al­ways thirsted to be in Lubav­itch. He would travel at least once a year – for Rosh Hashanah – and when­ever else he could. In the sum­mer of 5674 (1914 ), the rail­road added a cheaper class of travel, so he grabbed the op­por­tu­nity and hur­ried off to Lubav­itch for Shavuos. Afraid of be­ing stopped from mak­ing the trip, he left se­cretly and in­structed his brother to in­form ev­ery­one only af­ter he was gone.

HiskashrusZrizusPerseverance

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