A man of HISKASHRUS, HUMILITY and MESIRAS NEFESH

I want to tell you about Rael futas rendel was known as the Mas ofab after kman passed on be being a a family relative and a Masia to me I had an opportunity to hear and listen to him and talk to him for many hours rendle was a ye who came from the what we call the the cream of the crop of laich laich he was born in 1907 he received the from to be a a God-fearing Jew and to have long life his grandmother and his mother were close to theit rebit he had all that background in the 1920s and 30s he continued to carry the kabad laich torch fighting communism stalinism and then in the 40s he helped thousands of people leave Russia under false passports polish passports and he himself was caught cuz he he was the last one to go to try get leaving and they caught him and he sat nine years he worked hard hard labor for nine years then he came he got out he came to chernovitz Romania and from there he went over to his son who lived at the time barel barel FAS may be well who lives in the kites today he went at the time he was living in England and he and he went there and from there I believe in 1972 or 73 73 I think the instructed him to become the Mas and he was and that's where he was till the end so what type of ye was it and what do we learn from him what made his personality and his impact so special that he's become an icon in a way more than and more than in a certain way in which way Rael pushed the Bim to go to the re he was Pro going to the Reb didn't hold of that approach he he felt you should be in in the walls of the yes for y for shabas and you know understandably at a certain age for for a little while you know a temporary thing you go to the Reb but a mendal really augmented this idea of and uh he did this in public he didn't he didn't just do this privately speaking to the B and to the students in the Yesa and probably that's what left this indelible impression on everyone and it's ongoing is this n this point that here is a Jew who comes from and he saw yet of the and he was the type of ye that was so immersed in and and by the way he learned and knew very well and he he was a Lon he wasn't someone who didn't know you know piece of and and and all the commentaries but when you saw him you saw ack you know what ATI means a piece of we had recently which says as G their walks a their sleeps a and there eats a meaning he eats like Aid he sleeps like Aid and he walks like Aid rendal emulated that slogan that colloquialism that expression I mean I remember sitting with him different times different places and and I just I just couldn't separate myself from him he was so contagious contagious of what and another aspect of theal that made made him different than the others is that he was a BAL sapper he was someone who would enjoy telling a story speaking and giving muser yes my dear friends re menel gave muser he gave me a lot of muser and he gave others muser for example when he came to Marin County to our house where we lived there in the 1988 so he spent time asking me what I'm doing what's my daily work what kind of programs activities I have and I told him and he started to give his opinion and give his ideas and I'm thinking to myself the mendal you don't live here I live here I deal with this daily I have to put up with all the stuff you know and you're telling me what what I should do what I shouldn't do that's right that was a mendal he was the he was the Masia of old but yet very downto Earth with the Reb's projects and programs when he was by us he was Raising also funds that he came with r raichik they would come once a year to San Francisco from Los Angeles and they would go to several people in San Francisco some of which were from you know Hungarian backgrounds polish backgrounds and R knew some of these people so he introduced them to that mendal and they he asked him to support his the yes in um inab I think for gini students ban students that M kazer I think ran that was the the I believe the what he what he collected money for at least part of what he collected money for raised money for so he asked me if I can take it to someone so I took him to someone in Nado nado's in in in Marin County and the man had a a huge estate and he wore this Daniel Boon's you know cap and hat and he had a ponytail he looked like Daniel Boon he needed was a gun in his hand or a stick in his hand and I remember I brought my little boy Bendel with me and he put and and we sat down and to walk from one end of the house to the other end of this house was probably half a mile it was huge it was gigantic and uh rendel on one hand he's sitting there with my son on his on his lap I'm sitting next to him and this uh person who's Jewish was not yet Rel wasn't yet religious and uh and we start talking to him and a mendal spoke to him like you speak to anyone else and of course he he made his pitch and told them you know that they need support with the Yesa and all that and what I saw was that if you're authentic inside regardless of the situation on the outside it makes no difference you know he didn't have had the fancy tie and he could he couldn't speak English you know he spoke yish and I translated but what came across sitting there with him was that heart tohe heart is relating and they say the story that when he came to England again he didn't know England English he went out to the street to put F on he found someone and he said Jew Jew and the man looks at him he says Jew yeah I'm a Jew yeah he says Jew Jew and he rolls up his hand and puts on fing with them that was mendal so the second feature that I'm focusing on besides his him first feature the first point of him pushing the to go to the Reb and all of that theas the connection to the Reb and making that as an eer a primary aspect of his service of his approach was was he was a BAL masap he was someone who spoke and he spoke much and he gave Direction and he wasn't shy to tell you the way it should be I recall for example in Los Angeles at the Yeshiva in 1981 or 82 when we were older students there he came and he would come to fa and R was called the RO um would of course sit by the fa and boy the will give it to him with all the respect he he he gave him Jabs you know so and RAB sh was is a a going a massive tal scholar Torah scholar didn't care makes if if he had to say something and and you were even this rashash Shiva who you know people perceive oh he's on on a plateau he's Greater by remend made no difference and finally the third point that I personally took for mendle and that he worked on me and drilled home was how we have to have bit we have to be humble and not you know GA you know GAA not GAA that's that's P to recognize that everything's from the aish everything's from God you're only there to facilitate what God wants and never think that it's you're doing you know here in America we we we we Pat ourselves on the back let let's let's say the truth we feel good about it and all of the you know the lectures and the seminars and and the self-improvement books is all about oh you're good you're the best You're great and why don't you tell your kid you're the best you know why why' you put down your kid and things like that I'll tell you something mendle once said he said to to me he said it in Gish I'll say it in English you know what's the the the the worst word in the English language it's not your business he says By Us in Russia you wouldn't dare to say that and if you did you got a slap on your face or you know you you just thrown out like you're a lowlife of course it's my business we're brothers and sisters we're in this together of course it's my business but here in America is hey don't get into this facade it's not your business so that mendal said to me that is the biggest Clipper that's the biggest neg negative aspect and he lived a life where there was no such thing that's it's not your business it was his business about everyone and he wanted everyone to have know about him too mean to say not know about him I said it not right mean to say that if you have something to tell him tell him tell him he's ready to hear it then you can ball him out and Cris him out and tell him hey you know you're you're doing this wrong etc etc now this also was very very important in in in growing and developing to realize what type of Jew this is who's giving you the the the muser the the rebuke he told me and this is the story he said to me like this he came to my house and he said listen I'm related to you through your wife's grandmother is my sister I'm an older man I want to leave you with something money I don't have to to leave you as part of an inheritance but a story I can leave you with what's the story there was a Jew I forget his last name but they called him gum from HL the Russians can't say hey they say G they say say G they say hey whatever who he ended up REM ended up once lodging with him the same room somewhere in Russia and REM lay down to sleep and he hear he hears saying saying the nightly prayers the nightly shma and he hears him making noises coming from his nose h you know there are words to say say the words and get over go to sleep no the sitter is open or he's saying it by heart and he's sitting there like this and he's thinking and he says he's making these noises he in yish we say he's making noises under his nose anyway so he's he's doing this and it's disturbing rendal from his sleep the told him this so he gets up from his bed and he says a BRI why you making these noises like what's the problem what's the issue are you not well you need help so in his most humble way a says to him the at that time he was called the re told us that we have to go to shes and make announcements speak about tashbar tashbar is an acronym for which is little children under age to what to encourage the parents to send them to aor to a and this was during the the 30s 1930s when it was forbidden to have children do that and anyone that encouraged that was and was caught was put a w put was locked up and never so again sunlight and I was charged with doing that says so I went to the and I bang after between the gab gave me permission I gave a bang on the on the omen I'm standing on the beer it's on a platform I'm above raised above everyone else and everyone's there looking at me and I start speaking about the importance of TB of sending your children to a and t so mle said so you're galic you did exactly what theba wants wow so he says but I I'm still doing Chua for the for the yeses for the ego that I had from standing there and looking at everyone and everyone's looking at me as though I am some God figure so I'm saying and I'm I'm I'm making these noises because I'm really really upset that there was some kind of ego that came along with me doing this this floored mle and mendle said to me doin I remember he said it doin the those were the words he said doin the doin you he doesn't need shouldn't have ego from doing the the re's work you're a you're a r you're you're a rabbi you're a communal activist you're doing all great things so you think you're some kind of yadam you know what yadam means a big shot so therefore you have take the mileage and go that menal says no remember remember who you are and that you're doing hashem's work and doing hashem's work and the Reb's work should be without ego there are many more things I could tell you about remel and God willing we'll have another opportunity but when we talk about which is the name of this series following our leaders these and a mendal in in particular in the one who we spoke about today teaches these lessons and many other lessons and may Hashem help that we emulate them and we bring them into our life now