Beshalach
Parsha
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 Beshalach at strength 3 or above.
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 411, no. 45
The narrator's zeide related — without recalling in whose name — that at Krias Yam Suf there were awesome G-dly revelations. Moshe Rabbeinu feared that the Egyptians too would be able to receive them, so he said the verse in Tehillim 66, "The rebellious ones will not exalt themselves." "The rebellious ones" refers to the Egyptians, and the intent was that they be hindered from reaching those exalted heights.
1 min to tellgood to tell
114 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000544
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, p. 354, no. 56
The narrator's zeide, Mordechai Yoel, used to repeat a teaching in the name of Reb Aizel of Homil on the verse "Remember what Amalek did to you." Amalek can only attack one who is "lecha" — to himself, separated from others. But one who mingles with chassidim is beyond Amalek's reach.
1 min to tellexcellent to tell
107 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000473
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. 140-141, no. 12
In the summer of 5674 (1914) the narrator's brother fell ill with tuberculosis of the bone and was taken from Homil to Kiev for surgery, then a second and a third operation, after which he was very weak. The narrator wrote a pidyon and sent it to the Rebbe's summer dacha in Zalsha; an opening formed at the site, the phlegm drained, and the doctor, Kostritzky, said he had never seen such a thing. The narrator brought his brother to Lubavitch for Rosh Hashanah 5675, but with the war having begun on Tisha B'Av and the crowds immense they could not obtain yechidus, and lacking money to stay through Sukkos they had to leave on motzaei Yom Kippur; the Rebbetzin let him wait in the small room outside the yechidus room, and when the Rebbe finally emerged very late and the narrator said "This is my brother," the Rebbe asked, "This is the one whose leg hurt?"
4 min to tellexcellent to tell
534 wordsRebbe Rashab
story_000151
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 119-120, no. 4
In the summer of 5675 (1915), lodging in Pinsk with R. Yisroel Yitzchak Lubinsky, the narrator heard this from him. The Rebbe Maharash would always say that a matter should be heard as it seems and answered as it seems — in a general manner. When the authorities in Semyanovka, Chernigov province, discovered untaxed alcohol being taken from the factory, a major trial was set for thirteen defendants with R. Yisroel Yitzchak as a witness, and the well-known investigator Stalietov was coming from Petersburg; R. Yisroel Yitzchak went to the Rebbe Maharash in Lubavitch and, because many Yidden faced prison, asked the Rebbe to hear out his prepared answers, ending with one question he did not know how to answer. The Rebbe told him that he is a Yid with a good head who is not sunk in physical desires, while Stalietov is a goy without such a mind and caught up in desires, so it would never occur to him to ask such questions — and so it was: the trial ended favorably.
4 min to tellexcellent to tell
488 wordsRebbe Maharash
story_000122
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. 462-463, no. 72
In 5712 (1952), when chassidim were still unfamiliar with the significance of the Rebbe's answer "I will mention it at the Ohel," R. Zalman Duchman met a couple in Toronto who had been married seven years without children and promised to request a bracha for them. Back in New York he approached the Rebbe, who replied that he would mention them at the Ohel of the Frierdiker Rebbe; feeling this was short of a bracha, R. Zalman pressed, "But Rebbe, why can't the Rebbe give them a proper bracha?" and the Rebbe did not respond. The following year he found the couple in Toronto holding a baby girl, and they attributed her birth to the Rebbe's bracha and gave a substantial donation despite their means. Returning to Crown Heights he reported the news to the Rebbe by the elevator, in the same spot as the year before, and the Rebbe turned at his door and said with a smile, "Nu, Reb Zalman, 'I will mention it at the Ohel' is a proper bracha!"
3 min to tellexcellent to tell
386 wordsR. Zalman Duchman
story_000628
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 63-64, no. 3
The narrator's zeide told that at the "Great Purim" in Rogochov, Reb Yossele der chazzan of nearby Korma — a chossid whom the Alter Rebbe had once blessed to become wealthy — was honored by the Mitteler Rebbe with reading the Megillah. In the middle of the reading, at Haman's words "Whom would the king wish to honor more than me?", he spat out, "Feh, kelipah!" Everyone assumed that the Mitteler Rebbe, who detested outward displays of hispaalus, would give the reading to someone else the next morning, but he called Reb Yossele again and told him he did not know that one must first lay Megillah gelt on the table — then laid down a golden rendel, and each of the more than a thousand gvirim present did the same. So the Alter Rebbe's blessing was fulfilled and Reb Yossele became wealthy.
3 min to tellexcellent to tell
372 wordsMitteler Rebbe
story_000045
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 169-170, no. 53
The narrator cites the popular saying that the ministering angel of fire flees before the ministering angel of Torah, and says he saw it himself. When a fire broke out at the home of Yehoshua the shamash opposite the Rebbe's court in Lubavitch, wagon-drivers filled the courtyard to be paid to carry out its contents; the blaze grew huge, Lubavitch had no water system and the wind was strong. The Rebbe Rashab came out, walked through the courtyard, stood opposite the burning house and looked intently at the fire — and only that one house burned, though ordinarily whole streets would go up. The narrator adds that in Homil, when a neighbor's house belonging to a gentile named Krasnitzky burned in the middle of the night, his zeide went out, looked at the fire, and it subsided.
3 min to tellexcellent to tell
367 wordsRebbe Rashab
story_000192
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 268-269, no. 110
On Yud-Beis Tammuz, after being unofficially informed of his freedom, the Rebbe related that on Yud-Beis Tammuz 5654 (1894), his fourteenth birthday, they were on vacation and his father the Rebbe Rashab poured LeChaims. The Rashbatz asked where he had seen such a practice — by his father or his grandfather — and the Rashab answered, "Trust me"; the Rebbe concluded, "And I am grateful to him." Years later, in a yechidus about birthdays, the narrator told the story and the Rebbe Shlita corrected his understanding: the gratitude was directed to the Rashbatz, whose question drew from the Rebbe Rashab the words "Trust me" — and that, said the Rebbe, was the miracle of Yud-Beis Tammuz.
3 min to tellexcellent to tell
362 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000341
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 476-478, no. 21
R. Yisroel Duchman sought to teach his children hiskashrus, and some of his most important interactions with the Rebbe concerned them. When his second son Yossi was a young child he swallowed an open safety pin that lodged in his esophagus beyond the reach of instruments; doctors planned surgery, warning of possible negative consequences while saying that leaving the pin could be life-threatening, and R. Yisroel said he would consent to nothing before consulting the Rebbe. The Rebbe objected to the surgery and asked that the scheduled surgeon speak with him; the surgeon refused, so the Rebbe spoke by phone with the head of the emergency room and gave precise instructions for removing the pin by lowering a strong magnet down the boy's throat, which worked without difficulty. Afterward the original surgeon insisted on telling the Duchmans that had his own father, himself a doctor, claimed to remove such a pin without surgery he would not have believed him — it was possible only because of their holy Rebbe; and years later, when the grown Yossi asked his father to request a blessing, the Rebbe gave a generous bracha and added, "You can tell Yossi, I think about him more than he thinks about me."
3 min to tellexcellent to tell
361 wordsR. Yisroel Duchman
story_000655
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. 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
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 111-112, no. 57
The narrator's zeide told how the Tzemach Tzedek, in Petersburg for the government ministry conference, fought intensely against the authorities' plans. Asked where his determination came from, he said it lay in his suitcase; when they opened it they found his burial shrouds. The minister replied, "You are looking to sacrifice your life, but we only give lashings." The zeide also related that when the children objected that their mother would be terrified by the shrouds, the Tzemach Tzedek answered that this was exactly what he wanted — that she should beg the Eibershter for help, since she is truly the daughter of a Torah sage.
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
292 wordsTzemach Tzedek
story_000113
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 368-369, no. 4
R. Yitzchak Masmid related that in a small town lived an eminent chossid, R. Itchele. A wealthy man whose daughter had fallen ill gave him money for a pidyon nefesh — and instead the chossid gathered his chassidim for a festive seudah and farbrengen. Challenged by the gvir, he explained that Itchele fasting and weeping is nothing new before G-d, but when Itchele gathers his chassidim and farbrengs, Heaven asks what the occasion is and discovers that the gvir's daughter is ill — which he applied to the verse "And He looked upon their distress when He heard their rejoicing."
2 min to tellexcellent to tell
287 wordsRebbe Rayatz
story_000488
Short enough to tell in passing
thematic
Related by subject and under 3 minutes to tell.
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. 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. 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. 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. 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
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
Related by subject
thematic
Stories about the subjects this occasion concerns.
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. 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. 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, 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, 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, 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. 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
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