Erev Shabbos / candle-lighting
Holiday
Assembled live from the corpus. Nothing on this page is stored or written
ahead of time, so it grows as more stories are analyzed.
Directly connected
direct
Stories the analysis tied to Erev Shabbos / candle-lighting at strength 3 or above.
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 160-161, no. 39
R. Yekusiel Golodetz also related that R. Yitzchak Yoel Rofolovitz, the rov of Kremenchug, was arguing late one Friday afternoon with R. Shmuel Gurary over whether one should drink tea first or daven Mincha first. The Rebbe passed by and they told him what they were debating. The Rebbe answered: if you want to drink tea in a relaxed manner, daven Mincha first; but if you want to daven Mincha in a relaxed way, you can drink the tea first.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
254 wordsRebbe Rashab
story_000178
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 227-229, no. 45
Purim in Leningrad — the narrator thinks 5686 (1926) — fell on a Friday. When it grew late, chassidim asked the Rebbe Rayatz to make Kiddush before Maariv so the farbrengen could continue, and he refused, saying, "It is not appropriate for you to want this." He recounted that his father, the Rebbe Rashab, had made Kiddush before Maariv on a Simchas Torah that fell on Friday, reasoning that although Kabbalah requires at least one person in the world not to do so, "I am not alone — there are great rabbis, there are 'gute Yidden'"; and that after doing the same on Simchas Torah 5680 (1919) he told his son it pained him greatly. After Maariv the Rashag emerged from the Rebbe's room with his words: just as all the supernal lights of Yom Kippur depart after Ne'ilah, so all the lights of Purim departed once Maariv was davened and Shabbos entered. The leftover Purim food became the Melaveh Malkah after Shabbos, at which the Rebbe sat silent despite repeated requests to say Chassidus, and R. Meir Simcha of Nevel protested that it was a "Poilisher tisch."
5 min to tellgood to tell
614 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000276
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 176, no. 63
R. Pinchas, son of R. Eliyahu Chaim Althoiz, related what he heard from the Rebbe Rayatz: late one erev Shabbos in Lubavitch his father had the large blue teakettle brought in and placed it himself between two cushions. R. Asher, the shochet of Nikolayev, was there that Shabbos, and after Chassidus his father called him to the table and told him to make Kiddush over liquor, wash, eat a kazayis of challah, and drink all the tea in the kettle. Afterwards his father explained that R. Asher had wanted to fast a hafsakah from Shabbos to Shabbos and had come to Lubavitch to ask; since he had already fasted through Wednesday, the Rebbe told him to complete the fast.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
325 wordsRebbe Rashab
story_000202
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 292, no. 17
On erev Shabbos, Reb Aizel would light the candles personally, in his own room. The account records this as his fixed practice, without further explanation.
0 min to telltells with work
24 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000376
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 337, no. 35
Der zeide passed away at four in the morning of erev Shabbos Kodesh, the fifth of MarCheshvan 5679 (1918). The family stood by throughout the night as he turned from side to side, holding his yarmulke on his head so that it should not fall. As his soul departed, the narrator's father cried out to them, "The crown of our head has fallen," and wailed in anguish for six hours without stopping.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
171 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000452
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 178-179, no. 66
While in Rostov on 2 Nissan 5695 (1935) as an emissary of Anash in Leningrad, the narrator was told by Shmuel Mendel, son of Yechiel the meshulach and a former attendant of the Rebbe Rashab, that he had witnessed something no one else had seen. On erev Shabbos, after immersing in the mikveh, the Rebbe would put on his shtreimel and review the weekly Torah portion with the Aramaic translation (maivir sedrah).
1 min to telltells with work
147 wordsRebbe Rashab
story_000205
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 346, no. 46
The narrator's zeide related that Rebbe Michel of Zlotchov gave his students their Shabbos expenses every Friday morning. When they asked him to give the money on Thursday instead, he said he would ask, and afterwards reported the answer he received from Above: "A petack is not money, but suffering is precious." A footnote explains that although he could have arranged the money a day earlier, their distress and humility over their circumstances was treasured in Heaven.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
139 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000463
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 330-331, no. 21
The narrator describes his zeide's (רמ"י) Shabbos practice of saying Chassidus twice — between Kabbalas Shabbos and Maariv, and again at Shalosh Seudos. His grandmother would bake small challos, a minyan washed for bread, and fish and compote were served. Bnei Heichalah was sung to its familiar nigun, another nigun preceded the Chassidus, and bentching followed the maamar.
1 min to tellgood to tell
136 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000438
On the subjects Erev Shabbos / candle-lighting is about
by subject
Reached through the occasion's own subjects — mikvah — rather than a tag.
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 449-450, no. 50
Though he lived in America for over twenty years, R. Zalman never learned English and continued to live exactly as he had in Lubavitch. He slept from 11 pm until before 3 am and kept a fixed daily study program — Zohar on the parsha, Torah Ohr or Likutei Torah on the parsha, and the daily portion of Tehillim — always completing the full weekly cycle of each, followed by mikvah, more study, and shacharis. In his corner of the original 770 shul he would wait for kaddish, chazoras hashatz and krias haTorah and then daven for hours, on Shabbos until two or three in the afternoon. He devoted much of his day to maamorim and the Rebbe's sichos, attended R. Mentlik's weekly sicha shiur, and in old age enjoyed the bochurim's company, unhesitatingly asking a bochur fifty years his junior to repeat a sicha or learn with him as a chavrusa.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
302 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
story_000606
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 465, no. 75
Even in his final years R. Zalman Duchman remained steadfastly dedicated to the ideals of Chassidus. His son-in-law R. Eliyahu Lipskier related that during R. Zalman's last days, when his situation was not good, he came in from Toronto and visited him in the hospital on a Friday morning; R. Zalman immediately asked him to bring a question to the Rebbe that day and to relay the answer, saying it was causing him much agony. The question was that he had been careful for so many years to go to the mikvah daily and remain in a state of purity, but in the hospital, where purity mattered so much to him, he was attended by non-Jewish nurses. Though the son-in-law was uncomfortable asking and did not think it was a big deal, he went at once to 770, relayed the question when the Rebbe came out of his room, and the Rebbe considered it seriously and responded — and when the answer was brought back, R. Zalman's face shone.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
238 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
story_000631
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 456-457, no. 62
R. Zalman was unwell and unable to immerse in a mikvah. He wrote to the Rebbe about the ailment, noting that he had gone to the mikvah before writing anyway, "since this is the way of chassidim." The Rebbe blessed him that the ailment should be healed as a result of this act, and that very day it left him.
0 min to tellvery good to tell
69 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
story_000618
Strong thematic connections
thematic
Stories carrying the themes this occasion is about, though not tagged to it directly.
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 76-77, no. 3
On the way to Lubavitch the narrator's grandfather resolved to do three things: see the Rebbe right away, arrange lodging near the Rebbe's courtyard, and spend Shabbos in the company of the Rebbe's sons. They arrived on Friday and he was told the Rebbe could not be seen, as he had already returned from the mikveh, but he ran to the Rebbe's home anyway, and the Tzemach Tzedek came out and said, "No meetings now" — so the first resolution was fulfilled, since he had already seen the Rebbe. He obtained lodging near the courtyard, and because the Rebbe's son R. Shneur Zalman, the Rebbe of Liadi, had a father-in-law in Homil who had sent greetings through him, he was invited for Shabbos — and remained his guest for Shabbos and Yom-Tov for years afterward.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
243 wordsTzemach Tzedek
story_000059
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 144-145, no. 16
The narrator heard from his brother Baruch about the passing of Rebbetzin Rivkah, which occurred erev Shabbos, the tenth of Shevat; at Maariv on motzaei Shabbos the weeping of her grandson, the Rebbe Rayatz, was overwhelming, and he left at once to travel abroad to the Rebbe Rashab. From R. Yaakov Mordechai, who was in Menton at the time, he heard how three telegrams arrived at once — 'Not well,' 'Extremely not well,' and a third. The Rebbe Rashab began preparing to travel upon being shown the first, and after the third he discussed with R. Yaakov Mordechai the halachah of reciting Shehecheyanu over an inheritance.
3 min to tellgood to tell
333 wordsRebbe Rashab
story_000155
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 204-206, no. 12
At Simchas Torah 5685 (1924) in Leningrad, the Rebbe Rayatz spoke passionately against the chossid who sleeps until nine, has davened and eaten by ten, and then strolls Nevsky Street looking where he should not, imagining that a kapotah and gartel or three rubles given to the Rebbe make him a chossid. He cited R. Hillel Paritcher's remark that he does not care for one who strayed and did teshuvah — who knows what sort of teshuvah it was — and explained the teaching that baalei teshuvah stand where perfect tzaddikim cannot: the baal teshuvah is not the same person, he is someone else. He then turned to a young man from Kherson living in Moscow, told him "It's not you," and instructed him to accept divrei chavrus and give a Kiddush on Shabbos Bereishis, adding that everyone must accept upon himself not to sleep past seven in the morning.
4 min to tellexcellent to tell
518 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000243
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.
3 min to tellexcellent to tell
445 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000326
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 302-303, no. 35
The zeide related Reb Aizel's own account of how he became a chossid of the Alter Rebbe: whenever the Alter Rebbe heard of a promising young scholar he would send a shliach to draw him close to Chassidus, and such a shliach came to Homil after Sukkos and brought Reb Aizel to Liozna. Returning home for Pesach, Reb Aizel established a minyan davening nusach Chabad, but his father R. Mordechai — who spent much time in Leipzig and kept his distance from chassidim — returned shortly before Pesach and forbade him, on the grounds of honoring one's father, from davening there. At the seder, hearing his son's brilliant expositions on the Haggadah, R. Mordechai understood that Chassidus had not harmed him, permitted him to return to the minyan the next morning, joined the minyan himself for the rest of Pesach, and by Shavuos traveled with Reb Aizel to Liozna.
3 min to tellexcellent to tell
423 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000394
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 91-92, no. 26
Herschel der Schvartzer, the Tzemach Tzedek's attendant, related that on the motzaei Shabbos of the first Selichos the Rebbe sent him to deliver an urgent letter to wealthy men in a particular shul in Vitebsk before Selichos. The Rebbe gave him a glass of mashkeh to drink, wrapped his own gartel around him, and gave him a bottle of mashkeh to finish at the inn along the way. Setting out from Lubavitch on foot in pitch darkness, unaware of where he was or how far he had gone, he passed the inn, drank the bottle, and soon found himself in Vitebsk, where he delivered the letter; asked where he had been for Shabbos, he answered only "Nu, nu" and turned back. He told the story only after the Tzemach Tzedek's passing; Lubavitch to Vitebsk is roughly 66 miles.
3 min to tellexcellent to tell
417 wordsTzemach Tzedek
story_000082
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 79-80, no. 6
The Alter Rebbe asked the Tzemach Tzedek where his dowry money was; told it had been given to a wealthy man in Vitebsk to invest, he asked whether the Tzemach Tzedek would take it back and place it in the chest of contributions for the Rabbi Meir Baal HaNess fund. The Tzemach Tzedek remained silent, and shortly afterward the wealthy man went bankrupt and the money was lost. When the Tzemach Tzedek's wife came in tears to her grandfather, the Alter Rebbe said, "Should my own children not listen to me?" — and told how the Maggid had once sent him and a companion on a mission, where a Jew living fifty verst from the nearest town, hearing them wonder aloud how a Jew could never hear Borchu or Kedushah, had his wagons loaded to move to town before they had even finished davenen, once he learned they were the Rebbe's students.
3 min to tellexcellent to tell
403 wordsTzemach Tzedek
story_000062
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 305-306, no. 40
The zeide told three stories about Reb Aizel; in the first, Reb Aizel kept the list of the Chalukas HaShas in the Lubavitcher shul in Homil, calling each participant by name to ask whether he had finished his mesechta before the Yud-Tes Kislev siyum. One man answered yes twice, but when asked a third time whether he had learned it that year, he admitted he had learned ten pages of it the previous year before Yud-Tes Kislev. Reb Aizel immediately instructed those present to take Gemaros and divide the ten missing pages among themselves.
3 min to tellexcellent to tell
372 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000399
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 488-489, no. 9
In Toronto the Rebbe encouraged R. Eliyahu to devote himself to education, and he took a position in a Talmud Torah. Friends repeatedly pressed him toward lucrative business ventures — some who entered them became millionaires — but the Rebbe answered him: being so qualified in education, is this why you had mesiras nefesh in Russia and endured everything to reach Canada, to become a businessman? He stayed in chinuch al pi taharas hakodesh for life, never arriving late once in thirty-six years, was honored at an Eitz Chaim Talmud Torah dinner attended by five hundred people, founded the first Chabad institution in Toronto with R. Yosef Assulski funding a shul and mikva, and served two decades as a spiritual guide in Gan Yisroel camp.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
325 wordsR. Eliyahu Akiva Lipskar
story_000668
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 225, no. 41
At a farbrengen in his mother's house the Rebbe told of a chossid who dreamt that his previous Rebbe said one of his children would pass away that year. His Rebbe told him "Tracht gut vet zein gut," but he remained badly shaken; on Simchas Torah he stood aside weeping until the thought struck him that it was nonetheless Simchas Torah, and he joined the dancing. In yechidus after Sukkos the Rebbe asked what he had done on Simchas Torah, and told him that with that he had nullified the decree. The Rebbe did not say the names of the Rebbeim involved.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
314 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000272
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 338-340, no. 37
R. Yitzchak HaCohen Kahaneman of Sosnitza, who transported tobacco from Sosnitza to Riga, passed through Homil on erev Yom Kippur on his way home and was greeted briefly by his son-in-law, the narrator's zeide, Mordechai Yoel. R. Yitzchak finished davening, completed the entire Tehillim with a minyan, and lay down to rest, waking hours later to find his son-in-law still standing and davening — he stood the whole night and day. After the fast ended at Maariv, the zeide told him, "Shver, don't be upset with me, but Reb Aizel said that after an entire day without Torah study one must sit and learn," and went off to study.
4 min to tellvery good to tell
521 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000454
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 396-398, no. 25
While the Rebbe was imprisoned in Shpalerka, chassidim received reports from contacts inside the G.P.U., so already on Friday they knew he was to be released, and Shabbos morning davening was delayed in anticipation. On Sunday, the third of Tammuz, the narrator and his brother-in-law R. Yitzchak Minkovitch had stepped out when Pinya (Pinchas ben R. Binyomin Althoiz) came running to tell them the Rebbe was already home; they ran back and found him sitting in the children's room. Asked whether they had learned Chassidus during that time, the brother-in-law answered that they had said Tehillim, and the Rebbe replied that he had written the maamarim of Shavuos until they saw him and took away the pencil; hours later he brought out the maamarim, one inscribed "written in prison, 19 Sivan 5687" (Anochi) and the second (Vaydaber) "20 Sivan 5687," the last word written being Or. Later, at the dacha in Malachovka, the narrator asked for the conclusion of the maamar and the Rebbe answered, "It does not write itself." At the departure the chassidim formed two rows; R. Binyomin Althoiz began to speak and the Rebbe stopped, answering a remark about the Alter Rebbe leading b'yad ramah after Petersburg with the vort said on Shavuos on yad hagedolah, yad hachazakah and yad ramah — ramah being keser, the letters of kares, may it be 'v'chol oyvecha yikoreisun.' At the station the Rebbe stood at the open window of a yellow second-class car; Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah approached and he said to her, "Mama, it says yehi Hashem Elokeinu imanu ka'asher hayah im avoseinu — surely there will also be al ya'azvenu v'al yitesheinu," and to those seeing him off, "An altogether unnecessary journey," adding, "You will presumably say Yevarechecha."
6 min to tellexcellent to tell
725 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000524
More loosely connected
direct
Tagged to Erev Shabbos / candle-lighting, but at a weaker strength.
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 270-272, no. 113
The Rebbe arrived in Leningrad on Friday, the 15th of Tammuz, and before Kabbalas Shabbos gave the handwritten text of HaGomel to his son-in-law R. Shmaryahu Gurary to be studied beforehand. When asked whether there would be Chassidus on Shabbos, the Rebbe replied that "they are giving me one Shabbos." A Kiddush was held; his davening ran late and was heard through the white door with the nigun of Avinu Malkeinu, and at the table he said several times during the farbrengen, "This is the Seudas Hodaah" — for it was in Leningrad that he said the bracha of HaGomel. This surprised everyone, since the conventional assumption was that he should have said it in Kostrama, especially as the sentence had unfolded "above to below": a death decree commuted to ten years in Solovki and then reduced to three years of exile in Kostrama.
4 min to tellvery good to tell
466 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000344
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 424-425, no. 12
Returning to Homil after Simchas Torah, R. Zalman Duchman was present when his zeide R. Mordechai Yoel passed away at age 83 at four in the morning on erev Shabbos Kodesh, 5 MarCheshvan 5679 (1918). In his own words, the family stood by all night as his zeide turned from side to side holding his yarmulke on his head so it would not fall, and as his soul departed R. Zalman's father cried out, "The crown of our head has fallen," wailing in anguish for six hours without interruption. Before his passing the zeide had asked one of his friends to place a Tanya in his burial place; they placed only the title page (shaar blettl). Soon after, typhus raged in Homil and struck the Duchman family; R. Ber Mendel nursed them back to health, but the effort cost him his life, and having just completed saying kaddish for his father he too passed away.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
192 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
story_000568
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 435-436, no. 32
Continuing his letter, R. Zalman Duchman describes the indescribable pleasure of the time spent with the Rebbe's father in Leningrad: they went to visit him nearly every night and he explained Midrashim according to Chassidus, with Pinya Althoiz asking R. Zalman whether he was overwhelmed yet. When R. Michoel Dvorkin mustered the courage to ask him how he knew all this, he answered that the Rebbe Rashab had given him the basic rules. He adds that since Shabbos in wintertime Leningrad begins at three in the afternoon, the group — R. Michoel Dvorkin, both Pinyas, Menashe and himself — would come to him after the Shabbos dinner; finding him once resting on a small sofa, he told them that the Rebbe Rashab had said to him that above all one must always be engaged in thought, even when resting for a while.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
173 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
story_000588
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 425-426, no. 14
R. Leima Minkowitz of Nevel, a respected chossid whose wife Chaya Mina ran their successful business so he could daven and study, agreed to the match between his daughter Chaya Grunya and R. Zalman, and the wedding was set for Homil. On the day of travel the Minkowitz family boarded the train in the crowded station without checking that everyone was aboard, and only after it pulled out did they realize the kallah had been left on the platform, running after the accelerating train; R. Leima demanded so authoritatively that the conductors stop the train that they did, and Chaya Grunya boarded. Though Homil was still ravaged by famine and typhus, the wedding was held on erev Shabbos with great joy and the festivities continued for days, and on Shavuos 5681 the couple was blessed with a daughter, Beila Rochel.
2 min to tellgood to tell
299 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
story_000570
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 360-361, no. 5
In Leningrad, R. Leivik stayed as a guest of DovBer Shilums, the son-in-law of Reb Boruch Shalom, the Tzemach Tzedek's eldest son. At the Shabbos Kiddush — the narrator believes it was Parshas Toldos, since he spoke about Yitzchak and Rivkah and how children's conduct deeply affects their parents — he began singing Asader LeSeudasa. When the "shpitz chassidim" raised their eyebrows at the singing of zemiros, he explained that it appears in Eitz Chaim.
1 min to tellgood to tell
172 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000479
Short enough to tell in passing
thematic
Related by subject and under 3 minutes to tell.
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 322, no. 7
The narrator's zeide recalled that when Reb Hillel Paritcher stayed at an inn in Lubavitch he offered a piece of kugel to a young man from Homil, who said he never eats kugel. Reb Hillel cited the Alter Rebbe that eating kugel on Shabbos sweetens Divine judgment as the shofar does on Rosh Hashanah, and answered the obvious objection by noting that when Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbos we do eat kugel and do not blow shofar. He conceded it was only a vertel — but the Alter Rebbe's vertel — and concluded that one should eat kugel.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
263 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000424
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 311-312, no. 50
Reb Aizel related that when they were yungeleit they would learn standing on their feet the entire night. In the morning they went out without fur coats — not for lack of them but by choice — took axes to chop through the ice, immersed, and only then davened. He added that this cannot be expected of yungeleit today, but learning and davening are still doable.
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
172 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000409
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 57-58, no. 39
Reb Aizel told his students that the Alter Rebbe once offered to show him a new path in Chassidus, and he replied that he was not yet finished with the old one. On another occasion the Alter Rebbe invited him, "Aizik, come into the mikveh" — an offer that would have brought him great spiritual benefit — and he answered that he wanted to do the work himself.
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
128 wordsAlter Rebbe
story_000039
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 163-164, no. 44
R. Yosef Yozik Gurevitch of Warsaw related that when he and his son-in-law R. Feivel Zalmanov came to the Rebbe outside of Russia, the Rebbe instructed them to be mekabel shalom. Invited to the Rebbe on Shabbos evening when no wine was available, the Rebbe said it does not feel right to hold a knife while reciting Kiddush and told them to make Kiddush over liquor, though he himself recited Kiddush over challah. When they returned Shabbos morning the Rebbetzin asked whether they had davened, and said of the Rebbe, "Ah! How he davened! I barely survived!"
2 min to tellvery good to tell
317 wordsRebbe Rashab
story_000183
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 263, no. 102
On the Shabbos when the Rebbe was already in Kostrama, a Kiddush was held for a few people at his home in Leningrad. The children said their mother was making Kiddush because their father was now free — though the Rebbe himself held otherwise, since he had not received Maftir and had not recited HaGomel. Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah, seated on the sofa near the dining room window, recounted that the Rebbe had told her, "Mama, mama, robbers! They wanted to take revenge," and that every day he was in prison he recited Aneinu, and that his interrogators had asked him, "Are you the Lubavitcher Rebbe, the Jewish leader?" Repeating the words "the Jewish leader," she asked why he must be under the regime of such robbers.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
306 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000333
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 458-459, no. 65
Select elder chassidim joined the Frierdiker Rebbe for the Yom-Tov meals in his home, with the Rebbe seated to his left; after the Frierdiker Rebbe's histalkus the meals continued and the Rebbe kept attending, still sitting at the side of the table in his revered silence. Over the years chassidim began asking him questions in Chassidus, minhagim and chassidic stories, and much of what was discussed was later published in the two volumes of Hamelech Bimesibo. R. Zalman was an active participant, drawing on his knowledge of chassidic history. At the Acharon Shel Pesach 5727 (1967) day meal, after a question in Tanya that R. Zalman had raised, the Rebbe said, "We have with us a 'master of stories'; tell a story!" and R. Zalman immediately related that the Rebbe Rashab insisted one wear a silk garment on Shabbos, even telling someone without the means to sell his gold and silver for it -- and that those who could not part with their valuables were in the end arrested on account of the gold and silver they owned.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
305 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
story_000621
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 323-324, no. 9
Reb Pesach Malastovker described to the narrator's zeide his yechidus with the Tzemach Tzedek. Asked what he does before davening, Reb Pesach answered that it is already written — in Likkutei Torah: mikveh, tzedakah and Zohar. The Tzemach Tzedek replied that tzedakah is a mitzvah extending through the entire day, that one is not required to have mesirus nefesh for mikveh, and that his zeide's (the Alter Rebbe's) intention in saying Zohar was Chassidus.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
218 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000426
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 484-485, no. 4
In Tashkent R. Eliyahu was a zealous activist: he established chadarim where children were taught Torah, did many deeds of kindness, and helped the public with communal needs. R. Aharon Chazan recounts in his book Neged Hazerem that it was R. Eliyahu who recommended he take a position in the secret cheder network — R. Aharon founded the chadarim and found teachers while R. Eliyahu raised the money to pay them. After his release from the Red Army R. Eliyahu went into business and, despite the danger, profited, using most of the money to support the Chabad underground that secretly maintained yeshivos and chadarim, and to help families whose breadwinner had no work or who were denied ration coupons for refusing to work on Shabbos. Living in Moscow while many religious Jews remained in Tashkent, and with money transfers nearly impossible, he served as a conduit for smuggled goods but dealt only with merchants willing to send some of the wares to the secret yeshivos — all the while in great personal danger.
2 min to tellvery good to tell
224 wordsR. Eliyahu Akiva Lipskar
story_000663
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 429-430, no. 20
Life in Leningrad was hard: housing was scarce and dilapidated, and most families had to share apartments and a common kitchen, which was especially difficult for Jewish families whose apartment-mates were not Jewish. R. Zalman was fortunate to rent an apartment in the home of a prominent doctor and did not have to share it. One small sewing machine gave him a minimal income -- the government supplied raw materials and he sewed them into garments -- which let frum Yidden set their own schedules and not worry about taking off for Shabbos and Yom-Tov. Those who saw him at work recall him in full Chassidic garb, one hand turning the machine and the other clutching a Tehillim, lovingly reciting its words.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
179 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
story_000576
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 132-133, no. 2
The Rebbe Rashab insisted that a Kohen and a Levi be present for the Torah reading; his attendant R. Nachman was the Kohen, while a Levi had to be sought out in the courtyard. The narrator, a Levi, was at first afraid to be called up in the Rebbe's presence and trembled the first time, but afterward sought out the opportunity during the few weeks before the Rebbe left for the country. He describes the Rebbe's radiant countenance, the way he gazed at the Torah at hagbah while voicing 'Yagdil Torah veya'adir,' and the overwhelming way he said the word 'Psach' in 'Psach libi b'sorasecha.'
3 min to tellgood to tell
375 wordsRebbe Rashab
story_000141
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 421-423, no. 5
Zalman describes how, while the Rebbe Rashab said a maamar, the Rebbe Rayatz would stand opposite him, and in the middle of the maamar the Rebbe would stop and the two would look into each other's eyes. On Shabbos Teshuvah 5673 (1912) the maamar was extraordinary: the Rebbe paused frequently and rapped on the table, and at each pause they looked into each other's eyes. He compares it to what he recorded in the name of his zeide about the Tzemach Tzedek and Reb Aizel of Homil — that he saw how two souls were talking with one another — adding that each pause lasted a while and that his memory retains it as though he saw it yesterday.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
157 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
story_000561
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 475-476, no. 19
R. Yisroel Duchman's care for others extended to those close at hand: he organized collections that enabled countless young brides and grooms to set up their homes, and recipients could feel that he was genuinely glad to be helping them. Giving was a natural, ongoing part of his life, in the spirit of the chassidic adage that "the piece of bread that I have is yours just as much as it is mine." All year round his Shabbos table was surrounded by guests from all over the world, an effort in which his wife Rochel was his tireless partner, and for which he showed her the utmost appreciation and respect.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
152 wordsR. Yisroel Duchman
story_000653
Related by subject
thematic
Stories about the subjects this occasion concerns.
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 97-98, no. 34
R. Yitzchak Raskin the shochet related that in the days when rabbonim wore a shtreimel on Shabbos, a rov who came to Lubavitch for Shabbos had forgotten to bring his; the Tzemach Tzedek's Rebbetzin lent him the Rebbe's weekday shtreimel, which he returned after Shabbos. When the Rebbe later went to put it on, it seemed to have shrunk, so the local hatter took it home, moistened it, stretched it over a wooden form and left it in the oven overnight to dry. The next morning the hatter ran to the Rebbe: while he was davening, his wife had lit the oven, not knowing what was inside, and the shtreimel burned. "Nu, nu," the Rebbe replied, "if that's what happened, it's likely a sign that I shouldn't wear it again."
3 min to tellvery good to tell
397 wordsTzemach Tzedek
story_000090
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 179-180, no. 68
R. Gershon Chein, the Rav of Alexandria, related in 5686 that when he was in Lubavitch, Mendel the attendant summoned him to the Rebbe, who told him that Koppel would be bringing the esrogim early the next morning and that he should be there to receive them, adding that he most likely would not sleep that night. He stayed awake in the zal all night, went to the mikveh at dawn, met Koppel's wagon and took the esrogim. When he brought the box inside, the Rebbe took it from him, set it on the table, clasped his hands, bent slightly and circled the table again and again like hakafos, with extraordinary deveikus, then carried the box into his room.
3 min to tellvery good to tell
405 wordsRebbe Rashab
story_000207
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 298-299, no. 30
The narrator's zeide, RMY, came to the Tzemach Tzedek in Lubavitch in the summer of 5610 (1850). In the winter of 5611 (1851) Reb Aizel, who was fluent in spoken and written Russian, was carrying out a mission for the Tzemach Tzedek in Petersburg and was expected back for Shabbos; he did not arrive, and the Tzemach Tzedek said no Chassidus that Shabbos. When Reb Aizel finally came after Shabbos he recognized the boy as Avraham Borshtzovker's younger son, blessed him abundantly with children and grandchildren, and at Rebbe Chaim Shneur Zalman's request took him along to Homil.
3 min to tellgood to tell
418 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000389
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 312-313, no. 52
The narrator's zeide related what he heard from Reb Aizel's wife, Rebbetzin Elka: Reb Aizel once fasted from Shabbos to Shabbos while keeping his routine entirely unchanged, so that no one knew of it. On the following Shabbos, as he was about to make Kiddush, he coughed loudly and his wife became anxious; he told her, “It's nothing, I'll be all right.”
1 min to tellvery good to tell
149 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000411
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 359, no. 3
Shabbos in wintertime Leningrad begins at three in the afternoon, and after the Shabbos meal the narrator would come with R. Michoel Dvorkin, both Pinyas and Menashe to visit R. Levi Yitzchak. Once they arrived and found him resting on a small sofa, and he told them that the Rebbe Rashab had said to him that above all one must always be engaged in thought, even when resting for a while.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
134 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000477
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 412, no. 47
On the morning of the narrator's bar mitzvah, his zeide took him to the mikveh very early. On the way back the zeide told him: mikveh is higher than fasting, because fasting unavoidably leaves a person with some element of yeshus (self-centeredness), whereas going to the mikveh has no relevance to yeshus at all — and is therefore higher.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
133 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000546
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 414, no. 51
At a Shabbos Kiddush on 11 Elul 5696 (1936) — a Kiddush made on mashke, since wine was available only for Pesach — the narrator spoke at great length in gratitude for G-d's kindness. The chossid R. Michoel Dvorkin told him, "Zalman, the Torah states that when Leah said, 'This time I will thank Hashem,' she stopped bearing." These were the instructions of a venerable chossid on how careful one must be in speech.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
134 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000550
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 450-451, no. 51
The open home R. Zalman Duchman had kept in Leningrad came with him to New York: every Shabbos he and his wife hosted guests for meals, for lodging or both, sharing their minimal provisions. Long before there was any organized hospitality, he made a special effort to look after the visitors in 770, supplying them with hot drinks to warm their frigid bones — even early on Simchas Torah morning at the end of the midnight farbrengen. Each month, when his government stipend arrived, he would deposit the money with a local grocer who had a large family and needed the cash, and collect from him only what he himself needed, when he needed it.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
134 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
story_000607
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 470-471, no. 5
In 5714 (1954) R. Yisroel and his family immigrated to America and settled near the Rebbe in Crown Heights. On his first Shabbos the Rebbe looked for him at the farbrengen and did not see him; when the chassidim heard the Rebbe was searching, they thrust R. Yisroel onto a table, and the Rebbe smiled and said, "He hasn't had time to rest from the trip and he already wants 'shishi'." From then on the relationship with the Rebbe became the focus of his life, and he would say that while some people live for business deals, the stock market or their professions, his own vitality came from spending time speaking with the Rebbe.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
126 wordsR. Yisroel Duchman
story_000639
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 182, no. 72
R. Yisroel Neveler, who served as a melamed for R. Shmuel Gurary in Kremenchug, was questioned by the Rebbe Rashab about a number of matters concerning R. Shmuel, among them whether he davened at length on Shabbos. When R. Yisroel answered that he did, the Rebbe responded, "Indeed. If otherwise, he would not be a chossid."
1 min to tellvery good to tell
113 wordsRebbe Rashab
story_000211
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 328, no. 17
When the Shabbos prayers were occasionally hurried, the narrator's zeide, the chossid R. Mordechai Yoel, would immediately object. They answered him that they had not learned Chassidus the whole week, so they had nothing to daven with. He replied that if that is the case, they should certainly daven at length — in a manner of teshuvah.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
114 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000434
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 396, no. 24
Throughout the winter of 5685 (1925) in Leningrad, the Rebbe made Havdalah himself every motzaei Shabbos. He would stand at the end of the table nearer the door, while his mother, Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah, stood by the other door together with Rebbetzin Nechama Dinah. The narrator says the words Evtach v'lo efchod — "I trust and shall not fear" — still ring in his ears to this day.
1 min to tellvery good to tell
118 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000523
← Back to search
|