Farbrengen 20 Av part Two , Rabbi Yossi Paltiel - 5786

Just a perfect example. This is the Reb's father's [ __ ] This is his father saying was a very very big. You know he was a very big he was a gle. He was a goneator, but he was a he was I I think that told us by but I I think that told that there was a they went to the government to report how is no good at and they said the father said also and they took off their coats. I don't know the details but they they reported to the government that the was shleing people's coats off their coats. He was a fab and father was >> huh dance with the >> he was dancing with the shoe maker. Oh no no no >> without a in other words he was behaving in a way that was not appropriate for of of status and his a man with a mind like that you would sing with one of those depressing that we love to sing [laughter] to make ourselves feel busy I saw from fromb's father's father [clears throat] was like he married a girl whose father's name so he added the name his original but his was if I'm mistaken so they he added the name and the zman was sort of forgotten over time so it was father's father so you could understand it was cop incredible mind but when people would meet him he was a How should a happy man an easy This is the Reb's father's niggan. So the Reb found every excuse to sing this niggan whenever he could. Um I'm just these just little pieces of history that to me are important. If you remember every shabas at some point in the fabangan the reb used to give mashk at some point the used to give mashk way back when anybody you wanted could go over to the deb with a battle of mashk but when the years that I remember you had to have a special excuse you know if you're making a a dinner or some kind of special event so you would put that mashk before shabas and the reb would put wine from his cup into the bottle and he would give you and he would always say to You give some of the mashk out at the in 770 because otherwise it was a question of praying for a weekday and save the rest for the good occasion and every person had to come up and make an announcement what they were doing and then would give you mashk. uh and when it was finished the would always start the same every single chap same until one week the decided to start his father's and that became the new normal it must have been the summer of me I think and that was it from then on after the gave mash he didn't sing his father's why because he if it would have been up to him he would have done from the first minute but he was behaving he was taking his time and the same was true Anybody who remembers the Reb's office had a standard remember at one point the Reb himself went to his own and he started singing and that was it. the Reb's father's office became his niggan and like I I I I think it's not such a radical thing to say that if the Reb would have had it his way would have been that way from much much earlier but the I I don't think the right word is honored his father it's much more he he did for his father what his father was deserving or father was entitled to But what he deserved. I don't know if you know the the history. The history is that the Reb's father was a great grandson of the oldest sonash. He was the oldest son of the he was actually close to the when passed away was 22 years old. Just think about this. Okay. passed away was 22. He had four or five children already. His oldest was either seven or eight and I think maybe not eight, maybe seven. But he already at that point had a deep relationship with his elers's aid. There was alterb the fba writes about his that his whole life his whole life there was a sadness about him because he never recovered from the loss of his great-grandfather of the alter that a very special cash was not an ordinary child obviously and alter taught him things that he didn't teach other people that had a very special connection this was the oldest child passed Hey, he was entitled to be the successor. A person has many children. The oldest especially if he's worthy is entitled to the position. That's so the story is told in the family of him he shouldn't be and he listened to his father. He didn't become. He stayed in Labavich. He passed away in Labavich and he's buried in Labage. They have a they have a they have his place where he was buried. They have they put they put up now a new mat and said to him that you have a right to succession but I'm telling you not to do it and he told him that if you're not going to do it you're going to have pishn you're going to get double firstborn gets double of the inheritance so you'll get you'll get what you're entitled to as a firstborn and then he said it'll it'll come back to you in the fourth generation in four generations. So the Reb's family knew this. The Reb's father knew this and the cousins knew it. the whole knew and they were looking forward to the day of the um I don't think anybody's going to question the legit he kept his word in a in a way of with very more than more than a minimum. But if you talk about we could talk about we could talk about the savoid the the people who knew him there's people who knew him in real time got married in tamak in 1900 and he moved to Nikol because his wife the rabbit's father was the nikol was the nikol and The Reb's parents lived in Nikolai for about nine years. All the boys were born in Nikol was born in Nikol. Reb had a lot of memories from his childhood from Nikol. He was seven when they left. He was the oldest. Reb was the oldest of the children. And um and when he lived in Nikolav did nothing. He was unemployed. He was lived under doleaf test. His supported him. His father he lived in a house. You know how it was. They got married. Didn't get an apartment. They got a bedroom. A couple got married. Imagine this. A couple got married and they got a bedroom in the house of the that's how it was and they worked out worked out you understand the Khan's parents took them into the house and the children were born in that house and the mother-in-law the mother's mother-in-law helped the with the children when they were little and the's father sat and learned of and there's people describing his anog you He he was a very big very big god. He was also a big makublavic and he did a lot of things in mystical. A lot of things that did was different than by regular because he had hanogas that were from Kabala but you couldn't exactly talk to him because you didn't speak the same language in but you could watch him the was on a whole another level. You could watch him you could watch him go to the mikvah. You could watch him davin. You could watch him learn. You could watch him serve. And it was for him it was a this was he was sitting by his of he was living in city was a very place and didn't worry in the world and then his reb got him a job you understand so's father has a journal and it's printed you can read it that means paternal grandfather's father's father kept a journal the whole journal journal was his visit to Labavage. He doesn't talk about his breakfast and his vacations. The whole journal about his visits to Labav. There are a number of references to the Reb as a child when the Reb was born and mitzvah in this journal. And one of the interesting entries in the journal is that writes that the Reb never got me a job. The Reb never got me a job, but he got my son's jobs. He never got me a job. that never held a position as he was in the category of bimal that the people who were extraordinarily special there was a ka there was that supported them they didn't really work they learned they served hem their whole in the in the you have this there was a special fund that they raised money for and people who were not able to support themselves who were in a madre where their whole life was learning and dominating had nothing to do with the world and the's grandfather was in that category in his journal he writes and gave him money he should be able to have what he needed to live on he didn't need much but the he that's he writes my sons that gave jobs me never got a job let me tell you something he he was the lucky one he did his children a favor he gave bonus [clears throat] it when you read it in the journal it sounds like you say you know it would have been nice if I had a job let me tell you something this [laughter] the only thing worse than than not having a job is being at as a especially when they became you understand and he had a brother Mendel I think was over in a different city as a parenthesis I don't want to talk about this because I don't have enough information. There's a boy in Kan, a man who dabs the shaven's son's son. >> What did I say? >> Men, >> he was here for Shabbo. So he's he's a direct descendant and you you was it was two brothers married two sisters. her younger sister married of Leik's younger brother and there's a kid in I mean he's I guess he's close to my age I don't know how old he is but um we d we're in at the same time which is not exactly the time you're supposed to be in um and um he's a grandson of of brother you imagine and his father somebody told me that they remember him when the rebba wasn't well he came to see the reb that's what the rumor is and somebody told me that if you had met his father, you could still see that I don't know what the right word is that dignity that uh that that class that he had from his grandfather who was the Reb's brother, Reb's father's brother. So the rabbi got him jobs as Raon and um the raonus the raonus was a big raonus was given one of the most powerful positions in Russia was a very difficult raonus and he was given the raonus at a very very very difficult time an extremely difficult time I mean the story be kit is that the city of yakatinislav was outside the pale of settlements Jews were not allowed to live there Jews not allowed to live in in pets was called but there was a rich man who who was an exception because the government needed him as much as he needed the government and he created all these puppet businesses and he hired all these Jews. He made a Jewish community with smoke and mirrors as if they were all working in his businesses which did not exist. And he established a very large one of the largest kilos of in Russia was invit from the time that this community was established they would always go to always before was a famous there's a lot of stories about him and when [clears throat] he passed away it was not easy there was a lot of politics there was a lot of teams And the rabbi was Mason. She worked very hard to get to they tried in every way to see to it that the should not become but became and was a the people fell in love with him and came to the people who even the people who didn't like what he stood for but they liked him. The Reb's parents had incredible and the community even the people who they were their was so opposed to the whole approach of the Reb but on a personal level that and the respect and the appreciation for the Reb's parents had no bounds and the Reb's father was given this bonus and the Reb's parents moved and the boys moved and they you know they became from private citizens very very prominent public people. The Reb's parents and the Rebbits and Khan the Reb's parents wanted very much that the boys should be sheltered from public life. They should not be uh affected by the fact that they were public people and they worked very hard to make the lives of the children separate from their abundance. Um there were three three boys had three bedrooms. Each had their own room that in the beginning they had a big apartment. Then later the Soviets took it away from them. But a big beautiful apartment and each one of the boys had their own room and they sat in that room. The Reb's mother used to say she fought with the boys to eat. The mother their diligence was so strong that she fought with them to put the food in their mouth. And this is how the Reba grew up. This is the world in which he lived. Um there were points at which that private life was interrupted. The the Reb himself tell spoke by Fabian that there were several occasions when he went out of his private world and became a public person. >> One of them was there was a there was an epidemic of typhus. There was an epidemic of of typhus which killed many people >> and the Reb and his brothers went around from bed to bed helping pay people. The story is again these are all stories that people tell the himself got sick and for a while was delirious and then the the immigrants this spoke publicly and that the immigrants came at the end of World War I thousands of immigrants ran away from the front and they all ended up in Yagat and the deb said I never saw my mother like that before or after the's mother ran the entire operation to provide for tens of thousands of Jews tens of thousands of people you Not talking about six people, housing and food and education and jobs where possible for all the yidden who came in in you know they fell on the city like grasshoppers. Um and she oversaw a whole bunch of committees of people who were responsible for the various different parts of of of of of what's the word of taking in so many immigrants and that EB at that point this this there this records not from the Babacha sources that describe how that and his brothers they closed the gum and they became deeply deeply involved in these efforts but becloud and his brothers were in their own world they were living in Ding and then the revolution came revolution happened less than 10 years after got the job. It came to Yakatinosav a little bit later because the revolution started in the top of Russia. Yakatav was the bottom of Russia. But by 1920 Yakatinav was a Soviet city. It was not a was no longer a Zarist city. It was a Soviet. It was a communist city. And the Reb's father the Reb's father the Reb's father did what a Reb is supposed to do. He stood and he uh he acted as the rock around which anybody who wanted to hold on to Yiddishite. But he needed to feel that he has a a mission. He has a a post on which to lean and that Eb's father and that Eb's mother became that for thousands of people. The Soviets destroyed Yiddishite in an incredible way and to an incredible extent. But there were many Yidden on different levels who wanted to keep Yiddish. Some wanted to be completely they wanted to keep Shab and Kash and everything. And then there were different levels that Eb's parents were were a rock. They were a asa. They were a rock. any Yiddish kite all around them leaned on them and the they created the the the this the shity the zite the the the I don't know what the right word is the security the continuity for for people by putting themselves out >> and it was an incredible act of nefish it was extremely extremely uh serious and it was the Debb's parents were risking their lives. It was very simple. They're risking their lives that Yidden should be Yidden. I just saw this week's gem. I'm sure you all saw it. They show it every week in show that they found letters where writes that he wanted he had he had opportunities to leave Russia in the early 20s. The Reb's father had opportunities. The father was a gag. He was a God will be. There were plenty of communities who've been happy to have him as he had offers. And the Reb said, the Reb's father said, "How can I leave? There's people relying on me." And the Reb's father and the Reb's mother were a were a son. They were a rock on which so many yeden leaned. You know, if you wanted to be, you know, you wanted to know that there's one person that justifies your recklessness. You understand if you're going to raise your children and teach them alabes and you're going to try and keep shabas and you're going to try and eat kosher which was difficult in any case and then on top of that the fact that there was a risk that you could lose your job and you could lose your apartment then you go to Siberia and they could take your children away from you needed to lean on somebody you needed somebody to be there that gave you the strength to be that strong and the Reb's parents did that for thousands of people for thousands of people for for for 20 years that the Reb's father lasted as long as he lasted was a a I'm coming up here right and I'm sitting in a cab. So I I took out a book of the stories of the Reb's uh father quotes different quotes. So one of the quotes they came across was that somebody asked the Reb's father if he has does the Reb's father have so the Reb's father no I have noid but I have female what did he mean he meant the wives of communists who would come in the middle of the night to the house they should make a or the daughters of communists came in the middle of the night they make a this is what the reb's parents And the mid neph the sacrifice and the risk was was it was it's it's you know you can't understand it until you're in that world. It's we don't understand what it means. Chronic fear you know chronic fear. You're just always afraid. Always afraid because you don't know when the t when the when the gauntlet's going to drop you. You're living your life. If you're doing your thing and you literally don't know who's your friend and who's your enemy and when they're going to arrest you and when they're going to call you in for an examination and that they live this way for all those years and they were at mamisha the nephesh was was incredible. The ms was incredible. The reb's parents and they finally arrested him. They they arrested the Reb's father and we all know I mean the Reb speaks about this a lot that the Reb said by Fabian once that my father was Mason for matzah was nephesh for matzah and he was arrested right before pes it was not by mistake that they arrested right before pes there were other ink they arrested a whole bunch in abund before pes but the reb's fathers arrested tess right for Pesa. >> And one of the ways it's explained is because every year he fought with Russia for matzah. The the Ukraine was the bread basket of the world, especially after Stalin, who of course made the country so much more fertile and so much more rich and so much more abundant. So there was plenty of wheat um [clears throat] and they needed to ker wheat. The wheat was all bleach. Wheat was all and Ablavic went and asked for wheat and they didn't give wheat. He met Khalen. Khalin was the president of Russia. He was a bit of an eccentric but he was not a bad person and he Khalen had a lot of veto a lot of power. He was a political position. In other words, it was a honorary position. He was not involved in the government, but he was a he was a puppet. He was a figurehead. I don't know exactly who he was and what his rights were, but he was a he helped a lot of people. A lot of yen got out of Russia. of this father went to see him and said I need so he wrote a letter that the the Soviet Union has to help the Jewish people get m and everybody has to help saying and his one of the stories that told was that they sent a car load a wagon load of wheat and the wagon had a hole and it rained in and the wheat became and asked for another wagon load you imagine in the Soviet Union what do you want who gave YOU WHEAT EXPLAIN TO them gives and they were so angry and he gave they gave more wheat year after year after year and then they they finally arrested him. So the Reb said why was my father made for matzah the said because to expect in Russia to keep all mitzvah was was a very high expectation but at least that mitzvah which is connected to they should have matzah is called the bread of faith and the reb's father matzah and they arrested him and they tortured him I mean we don't know the stories we don't told the stories. Do you know that Khana came from Russia with a photo of the Reb? The Rebbit Khan came from Russia with a picture of the Reb's father that was taken in the last months of his life. And he said to his mother, "Who is this?" And she told him, "This is your father." The Rebbit turned over the picture and wrote on the back question mark. This is my father. You imagine you could see the reb's own hand. The reb took the photo that his mother brought and he wrote it back with a question mark. In 1991 they got a picture from the rebb when he first went. You can see the difference. You can understand why the reb didn't recognize his father. Theim that this man suffered are are incredible. For yiddesh I I have to make a half sake. I just want to tell you one story and then we'll make but and this is this story gives you a sense of how those people lived and thought in the early 70s there was an opportunity for Anash to leave Russia. If you know the history of Labavich in 4647 and right after the second world war about 1,200 Labidim men, women and children left Russia including my father and his father and about 1,200 members of Anash left Russia. Most of them ended up living in they built they established the considerable number came to and the Reb also sent to the all over the world to Australia to South America to places in Europe. The Reb told people to go and live where they would where they were needed, not where they would benefit, where they were needed. But the Reb took into consideration of children and panosa and other things. But the Reb they came to the to the from Israel and said he should send all the thebad was one of the most outspoken anti-ionists in the world. And then Zionism is becoming a state is happening. They came to the for a that they should win the vote in the United Nations and the told them don't worry you'll win the vote you'll have enough votes but when you win the vote come back I need to ask you something when they came back the asked for so they told theb that he should move all the so the said that's not how these decisions are made every person asked individually and each one got an answer based on their personal circumstances with mishb with panos and with children and within and other considerations and there was also a big consideration but not all of Anach got out. Many got stuck. In other words, the the borders opened. The po the Russians let Polish people leave because there was a quota. Stalin and all of his Mishkas needed to get every Russian back. No Russia is allowed to live outside of Russia. If you were Russian and any place in the world, they had to take you back and send you to Siberia because you stepped on enemy territory and you breathe western air, you're a a threat to the whole civilization. I mean, the man was absolutely mad. But the way he did was he told the Polish, "You give me back my Russians, I'll give you back your Poles." But he killed half of the Poles or they died from starvation. So he any if he he just needed to reach a certain number of polls. So any Russian who got himself a Polish passport until that quarter was met, he let him through the border. He knew they were Russians. The minute he he sent back to Poland, the same number of Poles that came into Russia, he closed the border. So for a while leaving, the whole thing was was a bunch of bribes. But it he at my event, they knew exactly what was happening. Then he closed the border, arrested a bunch of people. Nash got stuck and they didn't leave for many many years in the late 60s early 70s from what I understand anybody who wanted to leave from manash was able to leave Russia all the didn't get out in 46 47 between 1967 and 68 and 72 73 they all come out maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit but the nash left and when they came to here the reb celebrated them the celebrated them And um so there's many stories. The Reba sent each one of them money to come to him. Every one of the Russians that came out of Russia, the Reb sent them the first visit to the Reb, the Reba paid for to come to the Reb for for Pes and they were the Reb's guest and there was extreme expressions of affection from the Reb to the Nash that had come from Russia. So one of the most interesting stories is we don't call him by his last name was a was a was a lit he was a snag he was a liter but came from somebody once told the sent to the with a sh so he told theb I want to have a plaque from and theb said really was ankenazi he was But he was a bigot. He was unbelievable. He was an extremely humble man. And the rebba had him in the highest regard. And was a Russian Jew. Raisha knew what was going on in Russia. He lived through it. He almost lost his life in the Soviet Union. And understood what was going on with Labage in Russia. Tim was personal. He was he lived through it. He was saved by an personally. So the Reb sent a delegation of Anasha that just came from Russia and he sent along with this group and introduced each one four or five people who were extraordinary what you would call what we call very casually yugalite you understand and the Reb said to them that when they go to the m they shouldn't they shouldn't be humble they shouldn't they shouldn't be labicious should see who they were. Introduced each one of them. One of them he introduced he knows he's a how did he have when he went into the Reb stood up for him. Reb stood up for him and the Reb said, "Why is the Reb standing up for me?" So the Reb says, "I'm standing up for you because you know by heartb." So he said to the Reb, "It's exaggerated." And the Reb said to him, "Usually what's said in this room is the truth. Usually what said in this room the truth." Anyway, they went to the Misha and Ramea was very moved. He was so appreciative. He was very moved. that they talked. Amongst the things that happened was that Fan asked this group of four or five men how they survived, how all those years how they survived. And each one gave a different answer. One gave an answer. They were all looking forward to seeing the another one said the Fabian meaningful answers. One of the people in that Mishlas was >> Natik. He was a special he was a son of very special person a very humble man apparently they said God to me he was like an old little guy but they say it was apparently so asked this group how they survived this one gave this reason this one gave this reason in we had a choice we had a choice we had a choice was very taken by this because that's That's aid. You're living in the Soviet Union and they're they're they're destroying everything that's important. They destroy the soul. You know, they didn't destroy the they destroyed the soul. The Soviet destroyed the soul of God. Jerusale it's incredible how tragic and deep the the the the destruction of everything connected to holiness and to God and to into higher definition they destroyed it all and says I choice I had a choice the vart here is a do and the eb's father the's mother did what they needed to do and the eb's father paid his life. This Oh y. Y. Oh yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. I la. Yeah. >> [singing] >> Yah. Y. D you know I live in my da da da da. Y. [screaming] Oh yeah. Yeah. la. Oh yeah. Yal. Okay. Anybody's Who sings the good? Who's like the Who's the Managen? Who starts the Naguna? Kore. I can make I America. [singing] Oh my Oh, I like I They I make I Early I make I can't I may I like [singing]