The first Shliach after the Ufarazta campaign in 1958, Milan, Italy, Hiskashrus & more!

theid Mel gelik was a most unique individual from the humble beginnings in Russia in which his family and he himself helped the Reb's mother and father during their difficult times when they when the Reba's father was sent away to a remote Village in which he was tortured by not having proper food illness was boiling hot it was very difficult not having his community not having his holy books it was really very difficult and the gics were one of the families that made it a little easier for them G mendle who I only knew from the distance but heard about him from my father who knew him from the kabad Yesa in lud in the early 1950s was a student who devoted himself to Torah and particularly to the study of and aod the service of prayer prayer service through daving praying at Great length with kavana with great intent and focus my father tells me he remembers where they learned was it was called the Parise it was like a a Vineyard you know in lud over there I actually when I was in lud a few years ago I could see in the distance a building and I was told that was the building in which it's still standing in which the Yeshiva began in the Paris and it was a very very special place for the students and the teachers and the whole environment anyway he remembers the way they would shabas of GHA mendal and his best friend Reb label Rasin who was a in Morocco and G was in Italy when they were students how they would walk together in the in the in the P you know kind of you know it felt like they're holding you know they're so close you know they they were walking with this love and and you could see they just had Daven they just just prayed and their faces were red and they were talking about God andas and the rebba and his kashus and connecting and all of of that so he comes to America in the early 50s I think 53 54 55 something like that and he subsequently becomes a a mashpia in Newark which was the predecessor of Marist toown Kaba there and I heard from raban eous who was a student at the time I think 58 or so 59 in in in Newark and he said that he had R gash mle and he said he was a most special person in the fact that the way he F brained with them and his calmness and his thoughtfulness was very very um contagious and very uplifting and respectful he didn't speak much and he and he and he carried himself in a most elegant way charismatic way we would we would call this he had class he was the first SCH of the Reba when after the rebba started his campaign of uara 1958 I believe the re that's when that Nick that kabad songara was composed and it was sung both in America and Isel all over and um the Reb spoke a lot during the fingas about reaching out Outreach you know disseminating Torah the culture of the time was by by the parents of people like Gara Mendel and label Rasin and all those 770 boys students not boys students older students barl shm you know man the the the the the the atmos the the mindset by many of their parents was hey you know we're lucky we made it alive to is to Australia to Canada to America let us rest we say let me catch my breath you let me you know give me and the Rebus says no there's a fire burning the fire of assimilation we need you now we need these these these young men to go out it was a revolution and who was the first one who did it was rgar men he married Basia Posner who was Shalom poisoner's daughter she was an American Girl and he was a Russian Israeli boy two cultures Two Worlds but she was committed to the ideals of kabad laich being raised in such a home depos her home and she together with him went out to Milan Italy they replaced har M perov who had been the r there in the bakov sh I believe Yakov sh and he went to Australia to live with his uh CH his children and from then on gamle was in Milan but it didn't stop there he would come in I believe every he would come to the rebba whether he had money or he didn't have money and there are many stories about that and he had he received a letter from the rebba so often that some say that he has a letter for each day of the year he has hundreds of letters not only did he receive letters but she Bas may may she be well and continue her good work she also received letters and the rebba was marar of them so much the rebba spoke at faans about the first G Ro that opened up in in Europe in Milan was I think in 1959 M gelic and his wife's gasr a camp for Jewish children but I want to just for a moment what what you know so I I've been looking at different clips of his and and and and rethinking we spent a lot of time in thought a lot of time in thought you know today thought is out the window thinking is out the window writing is out the window I can tell you as a writer it's a struggle people don't read people used to read today everything is on the phone you have everything instant instant gratification thinking imagine sitting and thinking for an hour two or three about God about re about connecting said this it's an art of the past and I think this is something that we learn from such a person who he wasn't from those schim that built big buildings and brought in hundreds and hundreds of schim other schim to work for him and under him and with him Etc he had some of that too but his main thing was a different a different style as his sons a friend of mine a childhood friend and his younger brother Yosi gelli have said publicly he would come to 770 and there he was like a different person they say the story that he once came from maras town from Newark he he came out in Kingston Avenue there's a train station and he saw the Reba entering or coming out of 770 and he said to himself and he went right back down to Newark to the Yeshiva he had an urge to like kiss and hug and feel the Reb and and be with him and he saw him and it was satiated and he went back to his job in a way he was the quintessential who represented his connection to the re to using thought using meditation using reflection as a means to come to that and this is something that we all can learn from should learn from from Aid who did who did this and when he came to 770 from Milan he would faing and he would take a lot of mashka and he wouldn't speak much but when he said those few words it like went into you and you saw that he's living with something real something authentic so as we continue the series ofu following our leaders following will follow the leaders we take away from this a special important approach to to his connectedness to the and to serve a God Almighty through thoughtfulness calmness reflectiveness and all of this will definitely help this person's Nisha be experienced more in our day-today life