בס״ד
Farbreng.ing
Stories for
Tetzaveh
The Maamar Vekibel HaYehudim in the Dark Beis Midrash
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 393, no. 19
דעם מאמר וקבל היהודים, קונטרס ע"ט, האט כ"ק אדמו"ר זי"ע גיזאגט פ' תצוה און האט אנגעהויבן מיט'ן פסוק ואתה תצוה. ער האט אים געזאגט די צייט פון סעודה שלישית. אין זאל, ד.ה. אין בהמ"ד, איז קיין ליכט נאך ניט געווען, עס איז געווען מורא'דיק, און גלייך מוצאי ש"ק איז ער אוועק גיפארין אין מאסקווע. אז עס איז אונז אנגיקומען תשי"א אין דייטשלאנד דער קונטרס מיט דעם בריף פון דעם רבי פון תרפ"ט, האט מען איבער גילעבט יענע צייט.
The Rebbe said the maamar Vekibel HaYehudim 36 at Shalosh-Seudos in the study hall. The lights were not yet lit and the experience was overwhelming. On motzaei Shabbos he left immediately for Moscow. When the kuntres — together with the Rebbe’s letter of 5689 (1929) — reached us in Germany in 5711 (1951), we relived those days.
Parsha: tetzaveh (5/5): The maamar was said on Parshas Tetzaveh and opened with the parsha's first verse, V'atah Tetzaveh.
Also this week
"History Will Record This Disgrace"
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 263-265, no. 103
The Rashag, the Rebbe's son-in-law, came from Kostrama for Shabbos and after Minchah, near the balcony in the large zal, told a few people in the Rebbe's name what he had undergone and the questions the interrogators had asked. The interrogation room had thin plywood walls, an investigator with a stubby nose and a stutter, and senior officials seated further back. When Lulav and Nachmanson came in, the Rebbe said that history would record the disgrace of who was appointed to interrogate the Lubavitcher Rebbe; when they accused him of espionage he demanded they retract it at once and asked whether they wanted another Beilis Affair; and when they raised his spreading of Torah he said, "I am not a teacher; I salute learning Torah." He refused to answer any questions until his tefillin were returned, and when he put on his hat to say Shehakol over a glass of water and was told he could be made shorter by a head, he answered, "The whole earth is filled with His glory."
thematic
Mesiras NefeshBittulEmes
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"I Want to Be the Rebbe's Partner"
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 474-475, no. 7
After R. Mendel Futerfas left Russia in 5724 (1963) and came to 770, he rebuked the chassidic community for ignoring the material plight of chassidim still in Russia. R. Yisroel Duchman responded by co-founding Lishkas Ezras Achim, raising large sums for Russian Jews and later partnering with Dr. Yirmiyahu Branover's Shamir to settle Russian immigrants in Eretz Yisroel. At a Shamir dinner he brought a philanthropist to the Rebbe after putting tefillin on him for the first time; the Rebbe gently noted this was nothing to be proud of, then offered the man tefillin of his own and instructed R. Yisroel to buy them and bring a paid receipt. When R. Yisroel tried to refuse full reimbursement so as to be the Rebbe's partner, the Rebbe insisted he take the money, saying, "We will be partners in other things."
thematic
Ahavas YisraelCompassionHiskashrus
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Purim 5687: "I Accept Upon Myself the Four Executions"
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.
thematic
LeadershipMesiras NefeshBittul
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