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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
Farbreng.app – Created by Menachem Spielman, l'zechus those who keep the Yiddishkeit of yesteryear alive
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Chof-Beis ShevatChassidic date · 22 Shevat Yahrzeit of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka (1988) Assembled live from the corpus. Nothing on this page is stored or written ahead of time, so it grows as more stories are analyzed. Also falling on Chof-Beis Shevat the date itselfTied to the date, but about someone other than Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka. L'chaim for the Father Who Was Called Schneur ZalmanAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 465-466, no. 78 Twenty years later, at the farbrengen marking the first yahrtzeit of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka in 5749 (1989), the Rebbe motioned several times to R. Yisroel Duchman to say "l'chaim," and told him to say it for his father, "who was called Schneur Zalman like the Alter Rebbe." A short while afterwards R. Yisroel himself passed away. "Give Him a K'li to Work With"As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 479-480, no. 25 R. Yisroel Duchman passed away on Thursday, 6 Iyar 5749 (1989) at the age of 59 and was buried in New York near the Ohel; a few months earlier, at the 22 Shvat farbrengen marking the Rebbetzin's first yahrtzeit, the Rebbe had unexpectedly told him, "Say L'chaim for your father." When his son Baruch afterward wrote that his bond with the Rebbe had run through his father and he now felt broken, the Rebbe answered that his father was certainly in Gan Eden highlighting his positive virtues, and that if Baruch gave him a k'li to work with, he would be very successful. The account closes with the Rebbe's teaching that arichus yomim is measured by the experience a person fills his life with, and with R. Yisroel's family — his wife Rochel still keeping an open house, his children and grandchildren active in the Rebbe's work. Strong thematic connections thematicStories carrying the themes this occasion is about, though not tagged to it directly. The Man Who Wept for Reb AizelAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 307-308, no. 42 The zeide related that when Reb Aizel passed away, one man who was not among his students wept uncontrollably. Asked why, he explained that in his youth he had set out to commit a transgression, and Reb Aizel, walking behind him after davening in the Lubavitcher shul, shouted twice, 'Where are you going!? Go to shul and recite some Tehillim!' He said Reb Aizel had saved his life, and asked how he could not cry over such a tzaddik. Reb Aizel used to tell him, 'You have mazel,' and the zeide revealed the man's identity only after he passed away. "You Won't Make Me Any Frumer"As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 315-316, no. 56 R. Betzalel Azaritzer, a shadar for the Tzemach Tzedek, was a guest of Reb Aizel and challenged him over his lack of concern about a sirchah. Reb Aizel answered that as rov of the city he does not consider himself higher than the one who asked the shailah, and so will eat what he himself rules kosher; when R. Betzalel persisted, he said, "Tzaleh, listen to me, I'm already an alter Yid, over the hill — you won't succeed in making me any frumer!" When word of the exchange reached the Tzemach Tzedek, he asked R. Betzalel, "Why are you starting up with the zeide's soldier?!" The Trunk of Manuscripts and "Sha!"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. Rashag Opened Jewish HeartsAs 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. The Guest Who Needed His Own RoomAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 429-430, no. 21 R. Zalman's poverty was dreadful -- when Chaya Grunya pointed out that their chairs were so battered it was an embarrassment to have them around, he could only suggest moving them to a room where they would not be seen -- yet he never hesitated to bring guests home, and his tiny apartment had a partition set up to make a sleeping area for them. Every Shabbos after davening he brought home the most unfortunate individuals; when his wife wondered whether there were any normal guests needing a meal, he explained that by the time he finished davening the shul was empty and only these people remained. One day a Yid came needing a place to stay, and R. Zalman gave him his own "private quarters" while the family crowded into the other cordoned area; in the middle of the night loud moaning was heard from behind the curtain and R. Zalman watched over him the whole night. The family later realized the man suffered from epilepsy and that R. Zalman had placed him apart so as to spare embarrassment, and his children took on the same extraordinary kindness -- sharing their food with guests and giving away their own beds while they slept on the floor in a corner. Sealed Lips at the YevsektziaAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 437-438, no. 36 The Yevsektzia eventually targeted R. Zalman, assigning a Jewish communist named Sorkin to bring him in for interrogation. Unlike most who were taken in, he was released each evening only to be forced back the next morning for long and painful interrogations day after day. His fingers were placed in a doorway's hinges and the door slammed on his hand repeatedly - for the rest of his life his fingernails did not grow - yet he would not give the interrogators the names and addresses of his fellow teachers of Torah. His daughter Rochel, about seventeen, accompanied him and waited outside, but he told even her nothing, refusing to add to his family's pain; only years later did he mention some of what he had endured. Partners in the TefillinAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 474-475, no. 18 R. Yisroel Duchman tried to connect everyone he helped to the Rebbe, and so brought a guest of honor from a Shamir fundraising dinner to the Rebbe, after putting on tefillin with him for the first time beforehand. When R. Yisroel proudly reported the first-time tefillin as they passed by, the Rebbe gently remarked that this was not something to be proud of, and then asked the philanthropist with a warm smile whether he would put on tefillin every day if the Rebbe gave him a pair; the man said he would. The Rebbe told R. Yisroel — who asked to be his partner in it — that they would be partners in other projects, and asked him to buy the tefillin at once and bring back a paid receipt. When R. Yisroel returned with the receipt, the Rebbe began handing him bills; R. Yisroel stopped after a few, saying he wanted to be the Rebbe's partner, but the Rebbe insisted he take the full amount for the tefillin, "We will be partners in other things." Seven Ways I Am Lesser Than HimAs 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. Adoneinu Moreinu VeRabbeinuAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 54-55, no. 34 Reb Groinem, the mashpia in Lubavitch, told how one Simchas Torah the Alter Rebbe was called to recite the pesukim of Atah Horeisah with the title 'Adoneinu Moreinu VeRabbeinu.' Seeing his face glow, they repeated the phrase again later. The next day he was overheard pacing his room, bitterly repeating the words with a nigun and saying that had he had a pit he would have buried himself alive; when asked how this fit with the glow they had all seen, he answered that when afflictions are sent one must accept them with love. Eitz Chaim by Heart, Like AshreiAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 359-360, no. 4 When R. Leivik (R. Levi Yitzchak) finished speaking, R. Michoel Dvorkin asked him where all of it came from, and he named the sefer and the page — it was Eitz Chaim. Pinya, R. Binyomin's son, who was quite sharp, told the narrator to open to another page; R. Leivik, a gentle man, proceeded to recite a number of pages the way a Yid recites Ashrei. The narrator adds his own observation that before one becomes fluent in Eitz Chaim, one first becomes fluent in other works. The Washing Machine and the Leather CoatAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 475-476, no. 20 In 5723 (1962), when R. Yisroel Duchman was earning very little, he served as a chazan in a nearby shul for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, earning around $300, which he set aside to buy the family a washing machine. That year an uncle came from Eretz Yisroel for a bracha to marry off his three older daughters; in yechidus the Rebbe told him that if he grew a beard he would find good shidduchim for them, but the uncle, clean shaven and ten years older than his wife, was certain she would not agree. Knowing that their aunt badly wanted a leather coat the couple could not afford, the Duchmans gave away all the money saved for their much-needed washing machine so the uncle could buy it for her. He began to grow his beard, and within a few months all three daughters found good shidduchim. Reb Aizel and the Page in the WindAs I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 56, no. 37 In his old age Reb Aizel would speak self-deprecatingly, saying he had nothing to bring to the next world except one thing: shimush talmidei chachomim, service on behalf of Torah sages. The story behind it was that walking down a street in Liozna one summer he saw the Alter Rebbe by his window when a gust of wind carried off a page of the Alter Rebbe's writing, and Reb Aizel picked it up and brought it to him. When a listener smirked, Reb Aizel insisted, "Why are you laughing? According to halacha this is true shimush talmidei chachomim!" |