Zichronos Of The Rebbe By Rabbi Shmuel Lew #1

I have a very beautiful story about heis including how exactly theba reacted immediately when he heard the news of in his room but before that let's go back a year and a half when the whole problem began to uh come to the to light and the first thing that we had to do had to do was to stop Mor for from disappearing and being stolen so they got a restraining water but even before that it was set up that there should always be 24/7 Mish B learning day and night two B would be sitting at the apartment of the on the second floor of 770 that's upstairs you take the back stairs next to G that's the apartment of the to make sure that nobody comes there to piler and to remove any for the objects was at that time he's from Manchester originally he lives now in Pittsburgh he's the son-in-law of Rabbi RAB man fedman and he told me this story on sukus last year hak he was one of the B he was sitting and learning then he went back to Manchester for a Sim I believe he came back and he had a bat cold a bad a bad cough that he caught and he was coughing away suddenly RAB B kin appears on the second floor with a large jar of honey this is honey from kabat from the beehives they would send the a jar of honey very big size every year and he said I re heard you coughing and he said you should take this honey and put it in some tea and uh it'll it'll improve everything now a year and some a year and a couple of months later onav on the actual heis he had something that he wanted to to the re and he was close with Rabbi krinsky so he went next door to 788 with this letter or whatever it was and he sees RAB it's about 10:00 in the morning and Rabbi krinsky is putting on his coat and he says it's early in the day what are you putting on your coat so he said um we just got a call from the court that the verdict has been uh printed and to pick it up so I'm going to the court he said how you going he said I'm going by car and who's in the car rabbii fredman and another person is there room for a fourth one and he said sure okay come along he came along they got to the court RAB krinsky uh started reading the verdict maybe a page or so a page and a half and then suddenly decided he went to the last page see what you know what's the final word it's about 40 pages I think and he saw was this the car Rabbi kin's car had a car phone it's the same technology as the cell phone but it was very very large very heavy and very expensive um but uh he had that because there were different times when he had to make calls from the O where people had to get emergency calls to the O so he he called up on the car phone he figured the re shouldn't have to wait 45 minutes till I drive back to 770 he phoned up to the office Rabbi kleene answered the phone and he told him please tell the and I'm coming back I'm coming back to 770 so RAB kin went to the re's room and there was a rule amongst the M that if you wanted to go into the Reb not having been invited you had to knock on the door and they never let you in but if there was jamas who was already in the re's room that meant that that room at that moment was like an office at K and and you can go in without knocking and Rabbi Groner was there not working with the he's doing some work in the Reba's room for the rebba so he just opened the door and he saw the Reba was riveted was engrossed in learning something very deeply in the saer and so he walked and he made sure that his steps made noise but the rabbit did not notice anything and then after a couple of seconds Rabon made some signal by hand signals back and forth but the re didn't notice he was standing there for five six seven minutes I don't know exactly how long it was like a long time the longest time now in the meanwhile Rabbi krinski after he got off the phone from the office the next thing he did was he phoned the RIT and mus to let her know the good news and the rebit told I guess he maybe was in the house at the time and he right away went out and got a big loudspeaker and music live music and was dancing and singing and Rabbi kleene is standing there in the office waiting to tell the reab and suddenly music blars out blasting out and and and when that big noise came the looked up and said what happened so RAB K said Rabbi kinsky called up 10 15 minutes whenever it was and said to tell theb that that the verdict came out and so the Reb said when he arrived he back at 770 tell him to come in here with the verdict and then the Reba looked back down in his saer just as engrossed as he was a half a minute before in the same thing and that story is the story of a it's the story of the who learned and was so deep ly involved that he was oblivious to everything around him and didn't hear a thing but what he did hear was AA coughing through the oak thick doors upstairs through another set of oak doors that did here and did something about it as well and it reminded me of the story of the AL with the that the didn't hear when his little baby daughter fell out of the crib the Al said you have to talk being gross but you have to be able to hear the C yelled I was going to give everyone a rest before y but I had a couple of requests about to to say something about and teaching it so I'll try to be Mak and speak generally about the it's it's all report and and I'll tell you a little bit of a personal um observation on each of the N that I saw uh just to St to look at the general thing that would finish H about 3:00 in the morning probably 3:30 there was it was long because selling outa until the late SE uh uh lamid the selling of would be an hour and a half maybe was very long time later they started getting people's pledges before so they were just able to read out the names and that procedure became much shorter the would go upstairs to the second floor to's apartment came down probably somewhere between 4 and 5 and he would be there maybe an hour or two there was a crowd it pressed but it was probably not more than a couple hundred people I don't know um but everyone was crowded near that de I knew at least one person from T he did not come to H he was like he he never Jo he considered himself close to laich but he used to come and walk from Bor Park every year just to hear the nigan the of the this was a very special aspect of the taught n other n as well some which he revived like and and but these were that in in the morning are in a category of their own I always thought of it like I said it's in the morning there were two parts to this one was introducing explaining and teaching a nigan and the other was the Distributing Mas to anybody who undertakes to increase Li that year it the was his G very approachable sort of it was it was the Reb's day it it was very intimate something like the fans in which was the first time we saw the with a until then the only saer was the re when he when he had uh and andus but otherwise you didn't see a saer and the whole tone if you look at the in was very very close but it was much much more and it was day the day was special and the connected the whole of in all of those and in all of those practically every n had to do with the rebba would give an introduction sing the nigan once or twice maybe and the would then give Mash so there was a certain um tension there you wanted to be near the Reb as near as possible on the one hand other hand there had to be a s a line going by the de and in the middle while the line was going let's say the would give out maska for 10 15 minutes then he would stop abruptly and sing the nigan again and possibly say something more about that nigan I was not there in when theau no one knew about it before I learned that on from Rabbi G who taught two years I learned by him in and they had a I have a regret to this day I did not go I was I was still in t but I should have known better but from until when theau the other eight I was there um in it's known that the said that this nigan has two parts the first part is is a it's the straightforward that they sing on all the time and then there's the second part which is repetitive sorry sorry sorry that's I take that back what I just said this it's it's only thead was the and the one that he taught was the it was which was divided into two which I'll come to in a minute spoke about the even though it's about was there was a tremendous intensity when the re spoke about sh the Nim and the was holding a bottle of mashka it was the small bottles of maska gave out from at at these events at these fans or whatever you call it and he was holding the botle of maska and like opening and closing the cover while he said I remember one part with when spoke about the is in prison even the biggest s what kind of prison it says in that you cannot compare it to the that the when the reab said that it was very very emotional um was that was the last that was sung with the re standing on a box on on a like a milk crate or something on a wooden box because later on they had the Shool and the was on the be on on the front of the Sho he stood but it was near the place where that where there was the faans and uh in I what I remember is that at I was right beneath the re when he stopped abruptly and sang it again and I saw clearly as the sang the N there were two streams of Tears as he sang this nigan and uh in the said as is probably reported in the more there will be the Brokenhearted list the more there will be the response from Hashem famous story uh sorry was uh and here they was the first part that they sing in the the and then repetition as it says the is everything is and it's a person that's agitated that's singing that second part was and the there at some some stage said if anyone who knows sing with and I I remember that RAB khov knew he sang it uh he was the only person I I it didn't a lot of it didn't work there so I'm withholding in the middle of when the said Byam and I remember with his distinctive accent like I remember him singing it when Alone um and and the story of then there was in and there all he spoke about the whole and has pieces of the phos it's in Hebrew it's in Yiddish it's in Russian and Ukrainian four different languages like the agitation of abala and the when he was teaching it and looking for people who the quickly he the said where is the artist he was looking for hendle who wasn't there um I said it was you know there was a crowd but it was not a a gigantic crowd all the um I also remember by the way going back but I think it was by shamil's and somebody was questioning the way where was singing it and the told this person as something to that effect like leave him alone the rebba came down and made two announcements not sure the order of the two I think right away he said the Reb said that he's going to teach T this year but he is giving like a warning and maybe he even said in order to continue this in future years I don't remember but de said that anybody who did not experience practice dedicate a in the past year not future this is not a c for the future whoever didn't do it in the past do not come from mash and um I'm sure that most people did not go up from maska on that occasion but and I also think that those who did go were either very big who were very mctic or people who didn't really understand that theb meant you know just emphasizing but at some stage the said everyone's coming even kids under and said those words what happen next year I don't know and that would sounded like saying that this is the end but since I promised another n for this year we're going to sing it and he taught who this ofu we knew we used to sing it even in I think the part of was not part of that original n and some people thought that the himself added that that that that and um in laich in the in the village laich there was Ain called thein a very very famous cousin and he matched these this into these words and um the taught the Nan at during the um singing of the niggan either that night you know that 4 5:00 in the morning or 6 7:00 when when would teach again and and say a few more words and the sang it and theb said or maybe when the whole was singing it and it was maybe not as if who connected IND with these words would see you see it without a storm without an intensity he would make an intense storm himself and protest and uh another time was the sang it and he said uh but it came to and did I think he skipped out that part and the said where and also in that n said that the the most the point of that whole song is the words another of the is is the uh important part of that nigan um now so that was the completion of 10 in the morning it's a set even any other with and whatever this was a set of these 10 now the next year it was didn't har didn't go go on and on they saying there's not going to be any more so um I'm sure people I certainly as a young younger man just married thought maybe we have a chance and when it came to next year the night of and it was and then it was office we thought or I thought since it's just two weeks after the's mother passed away maybe he will not want to do something of not singing which would seem like like or something maybe we have a chance or something we would never know let's wait after the goes out at the end after the last kadish the said made an announcement we spoke last year he said something to the effect that last year we concluded the in of in the morning and I will therefore sing one of the previous ones and here I personally remember that the one that the sang was and I remember also he did not say it was the second part he said that's how I remember it I remember that I must say I burst out crying then because it meant this is it after a whole year hoping that maybe we'll get it we'll get it back and his a few years ago I heard this whole story but he said he had a different one I don't remember which one he said that the say later I spoke to him um maybe the time of the K I met him I had the biggest respect for the memory of accuracy of memory of him and by the way of I never discussed this with him also I seems very accurate in what he says but to me in my memory it's very firmly implanted that it was and now we have those they are a summary of they are a summary of the all one thing it says that refers to that's why enumerated other qualities he said because permeates and illuminates all the other parts of a person and um it's the Reb's day the Reb speak the re we saw it when and is a very to reacquaint ourselves and and with have a good let's hope that we all derive as much as we can from this special y here three little bullet points number one which I mentioned that the in on the Monday night which was the gave $61 bills and I don't think I mention that the re said with it I I heard this myself the that the said to draw down the these three days and from there we see that this is not just a fantastic elated day but it's it's it's it's something which can enhance and Empower us for the entire year in our talking about the second is that the is the beginning of and which has which is a per and those few lines the referred certainly hundreds probably thousands of people and times including a few times myself to overcome the struggles of the time today in order to have the control of it requires which is the subject there to picture that is standing with you all the time that is the and like this year it's a maybe half anid but it's also on that same subject and the last few lines especially are almost the same words and the last words of the sh are and it's referring to per the beginning the third I say this from memory but it's very clear memory about maybe 40 years ago uh one of the that we heard here on a in in London on a on a hookup and the said that people will be WR or maybe it was before but said people will be writing for to give to the that you should include also and the re mentioned it's like semi you have I shouldn't have to read so much or everything you're going to write he said the is by me I have you write me give me the choice to read it or not but you should write what your and I personally try to write to the every year and I try to include basically uh the which I have and I'm suggesting that to every person who can manage that a story about the visits that I was to with on as I mentioned in the previous time I came back with a package from and went and was told by Rasin that went there and uh somehow or another I made sure that I was there again in they also went I was in England for right after said it's called but um inal we went there the apartment I should say it was in 1418 on the bottom floor in the back I believe on the left side and when he went in there was a little uh turn into right and there was this room a sitting room it was not a very big room and on the wall was a framed picture it was quite popular in those days of w the five that we have a picture of and of the and Mah that was up on the wall in in that room she sat at the head of the table there must have been how many people could it fit you know it was probably six or eight Almost sure that was left than a minion uh around the table and uh there was Benedictine which she served out and people said and when it came that part they they were talk this and the other then they said rson was leading so she said and one of the El who was there said I know what you mean sometimes you want to give a but you're not sure of the specific so you say a general and smiled and she said no the specific is that was the story and um that story has been a very powerful one in my own life I never shared it really with the rebba because I I didn't want to bother the rebba with anything that wasn't necessary it was I think a very narish attitude but that's how I was until in it was the beginning of and I was in New York I was staying in the basement near 770 and I suddenly realized the in right near the beginning tell the is good is good and good so and I thought of that story and I sat down and I wrote out the story with all the details that I was in England the first time and we have been see gave me this thing and I gave it without this and then and I found out about it and therefore I was there the next year and and she said good somebody questioned it she said that's all the details and I got an which was very beautiful it was a lot of and then I Ved on that since it's now and my own assessment of that V which I tell people as what wants will happen because that will bring to the whole world and uh so the Mas told me that the re gave out back thanking to etc etc like a pile of them with rubber band around it and written at once the TR but on my settle where I wrote that whole story maybe I don't remember 100% I never saw that I got this on the phone on the way to the airport um I was going back to England probably you B uh Nissan and just one more in that same year I was in New York of and I went there there was a much bigger crowd it was in the evening before the maybe because of that there were probably about 20 30 people I'm not sure I don't I just remember it being a different kind of atmosphere wasn't that intimate sitting at a table with and Theon was re recalling all the details about the histo of her husband and how they got all these different things they had to do get certain um official things from a woman who was really was a communist but a ye and everyone had such a respect for her husband and then we were going out this must have been about 8:00 in the evening already and um or maybe I I I don't remember what time it was but it was it was evening and the Reit as we were standing going out she said I have seen many great people in my day because in my father's house he was always visited by great ra so I saw my father and I saw all the people that visited him I had nothing to be ashamed of my husband that's and he also had High very high quality visiting she said someone as great as son the main thing is that he carries this his greatness in a simple way like in a seamless way it's not Noel over it and uh this this was the last time I saw her a few weeks later about seven weeks later was it she passed away on and then the was M the world with the whole G of in her memory and the re time and again especially in the first and the earlier years when he said he emphasized it it's Rashi is there explains it even for a child but at the same time it has deep in in and um and and depth and I always when whenever I heard the I thought of that's the is Godless when iom i' would like like to share with you a few thoughts about I was asked to speak about it from the point of view of the specifically I hope to say a few about and also tell you a beautiful story of and before I'll add some more about then P it's just as well that I should tell you the point of view of B because what the that which revolves around the re himself the B of today have a tremendous idea tremendous knowledge in it they know many of the B know more details or more accuracy in things which I saw at that time but the feeling that was there I'd like to share with you we didn't know what's going to happen itself on the other hand everyone loved the re intensely infinitely and hoped and prayed that there's going to be something public we were well aware of the m and felt that would certainly do something but the prayer was that it would be public it Bei and we found was on a Sunday and we found out onab it was announced and there was such a Sim that there was a probably it was downstairs in the sh B it was probably a small crowd I I remember for sure that RAB is kovski took a tremendous amount of maska I never saw before or since that he should take so much really and I myself it was before the don't forget and must remember that of the that night went on till about 45 in the in the morning out of that the re is going to foring on on his own birthday then then when the re came into the fan he carried he took him with him the first volume leather bound first time a ever came out that in itself was a because um generally speaking until of that were were usually in in reic journals like that type of thing but it was very very rare in they asked every week so will have what to say in it was called I was learning came there for sh and you could and Rabbi we had a Gab for those about 20 came I don't know how many copies came it was stencl it was duplicated our M was RAB P he was in a and you had to pay 5 cents I believe but you could only get it but tonight that you're actually going to go speak and that that's something which pushed me to start going to shes and speaking yish int Etc so it from through it came out the next time came out so those were the only that we knew and we could hold on to but here they were bound into a saer with a two special copies made one for the and one for the but no one had seen it before never came down and generally coming to with anything more than a sid was unheard of in those days in there was already on the table that's there was an electricity in the hall and and in everybody's feelings the said to my which was extremely rare although for a special reason which is maybe spoken about a different time but uh to my mother itself notably but at that time it was a very rare thing and the second was after they gave a big to and it was was the the second in the middle of the beautiful announced every 10 years well 10 years from now and I felt very frustrated and uh we I'm a bet let's ask for every year but anyway it happened nine years later the next night which was your Nissan Monday night after M I was upstairs in the zal and a small crowd PES was a time when people went home especially B who was main inhabitants of [Music] um they stay but that night it was it was not that crowded inal and after the re gave a pack of dollars also unheard of in those days the idea of dollars later on years later many years later became regular but the re gave out $61 it was and the gave $61 towards buying mash for the B he he went every you know every before special the um so he gave money towards that maska I don't know if it happened before I know I'll soon tell you about but in I saw that $61 and told us told the at the next that he's going to Stager it he's going to give it out little by little $3 will be raffled off a every of the official fa and anybody who already wanton it before you didn't have to pay for it you just had to be present the the gal was for those people who are there at the fan and you could only get win once in other words if you won if you got a dollar already your name was not included in the for the next I personally got my Dollar in the of um yeah some of the things that I remember from maybe other things will come up and I'll hope to update it even before y I was sent to England I was a then and I was sent to England to be there to speak at a big concert on B niss and I all I said was I want to be back for you I thought maybe bring again although it fell on a Friday um I arrived landed on Friday morning and I came toy shm gave me a package to deliver to give to the rebit the's mother and um I didn't know what to do with it because I it wasn't a regular there we saw the RAB everywhere but I wasn't I I I didn't visit her before then and I went to who was the contact person all the years was the person if you want to make an appointment for example it was customary to go for you went through so I went to him I went straight from the airport to 770 got there about 7:30 during and I said I have a present which told me to give to will you give it to her so what should I do with it you know what's the protocol and said I there's a group of that go to on the by the on and you join us and we're going at 10:00 11:00 I don't remember what time it was that it had been had been uh arranged but I did go with them there was maybe I don't know how many people it was a small number of people certainly I'm almost sure there was not a minion including myself they were all white beards except forid and myself even younger and I gave she asked about England this and that uh there's another story which happened a year later the last but I will tell that as a separate message the rebbi gave I don't remember when it was it it must have been Sunday night because he gave it on was Monday night but here was on a shabas I don't believe it was M shabas it was probably Su I remember the that the gave again money for Mas at this time instead of $61 or $62 he gave $5 but they were silver dollars and I went with my to possibly even and uh we offered to give $10 each for one of those silver dollars $10 in those days was equivalent to1 $ today probably in purchasing power I don't know but in in Indian it was like $250 $300 because people didn't really have money um and said first of all there's only four left which we assumed meant that he's buying one for himself and second of all give it before the was not yet AER got engaged in the winter of and got married on yeah so I got a dollar from before my and got one as well so that was I will tell you about du was a very uh anxious painful frightening here from and um then we heard the was coming down to so I wanted to go to be at and I found up and he said don't you dare come in he said he said they they're trying to see that as few people will gets when people come and they're trying to keep it as low key because the the very fact that is coming down to be with the regular crowd that in itself will be a challenge so I didn't go but instead I went for that was already a few months later beening a while shab I went and my yaf we did not coordinate or agree or anything and went from Two Cities and two different Plains we didn't know each other is going but we both had that idea that this is a time to go and from it was probably a much bigger very going two days before PES um but he he was there and I was there I don't know how many guests from came it could be they were afraid for de of his health but it was before it became something regular to come for what I do know is that four people were called into the rabbi kak's room on that Sunday and um the four people and I think it might be they were the only ones that came from the a but I'm really not sure sure and those four people were Rabbi gelik RAB who came all the time and by the way was an exception when there was you know quite a few people also nothing like there was in later years even proportionally Rabbi G GIC rabak who came and Rabbi rabman jaffy and myself we were called in and given by Rabbi khov on behalf of theba he gave each of us 18 uh single dollar bills with a paper clip holding them together this was he said that this is from the giving to to you to give in your home cities he also had three packets of mat you know the probably about 2 lbs or so or a kilo and um one packet was for Rabbi gash mandal and one packet was for for Milano one packet was for Raba rabman jaffi from Manchester and one packet was for R for London with instruction from the to give a whole mat so that was like instead of me getting a whole pack of Matas I guess but Rabbi was a a true knew what wanted and in subsequent years he would get a pack of Matas and and and it wasn't that the crowd with K growing but he always tried and I think every single time was able toou to give me a mat for from the from the mat that came wasn't always that many Flames that was the point so and then and at night after which everybody should try to learn it it's very very had a lot of things in that um there was but I was back in England but I went back oh no was that was b l b um anyway I I went back but re was given out dollar he had about after he had some dollars and he gave it to people who were in the H when he was going out to go to the car to go home this was L now the story is a story that's completely different and the reason I'm telling this story and the reason I'm telling this now and not the story of because I just discovered this story I wrote it two years ago I heard it ter in South Africa it was when we were like doing not not traveling as much and uh I speak to him his mindless man on the phone and he told me this story which he heard from booket could be many people on the group know the story but I'm going to tell it because and you could always get something new from a a story Ley was about 12 years old he lived in East Flatbush one of the Neighbors in East flaish was rakov Samuels and his family of young kids a young family and the story happened in that the Samuel's family were going to his wife's parents for PES so he asked this kid 12 13 year old book it when you go to the re to get mat ask for me as well and then let prepare they prepared in advance a small box to put it in like a little carton box and go to the post office on John Street which is maybe a half a mile from 770 maybe a bit less and send it express so I won't get it the first s but at least I'll have it in time for the second s now the that distributed on the mat which sent to other countries obviously they were baked earlier usually b n but these Mattis were mat SM they were bed on which means after 12 noon and if it was already the summer time the daylight savings time like this year it would be after one the baker was on the east side Rabbi k k owned the bakery so Thea couldn't begin they didn't start baking till 1:00 till they had a pile of enough I don't know if they sent everything well at once uh or if they sent in in two batches or something but um it it meant that the rebba began to give out mat 3 330 that was the time that it began and and it was a long line hundreds of people I remembered the even though the last time I was there was in anyway so Ley was a kid and he's on the line by the time he reached the Reba it was 4:45 the post Office closes at 5:00 p.m. but the was very quick you saw how theb did with very quick he gave the mat and you went out with like a second each person maybe even less he asked the Reb he got from theb and he said can I have the Reb said he said Samuel said isn't he here he said no said are you sure he said yeah he asked me that I should ask the for him so the said well then how's he going to get it so he said I'm going to the post office and I'm going to send it express so the Reb said is it is it possible to get there in time he said I'll try and theb asked another question another question it didn't seemed to be taking his time although this was very quick always including that day and suddenly they was asking a lot of questions and then he gave him the mat ladyy he ran as fast as his 12-year-old legs could carry him to F to say to John's place and he got there at 5:03 the door was locked he tried it but he looked inside and he saw the people was all still there so he banged on the door and they ignored it he banged and banged and B till they came and he asked asked and he pleaded and he begged and he screamed and they said 5:00 it's 5:00 and they would not open up the post office and he went home and he felt really low these a botling and people told him whoever heard why couldn't you run faster he felt why he didn't succeed he blamed himself for not getting there in time and and now that family is not going to have them out to the second s and he felt so bad that hours later at the Seder that night in his house when it came time for the Manana he said I don't feel well enough he just he was really feeling bad and he couldn't say the Manana even he had his heart was aching him so much about 11:00 at night there's a knock on the door now you know that El nobody doesn't have to knock so open up the door who's there 11:00 at night and St yob Samuels standing there and what did he come for he says I need the food for the Kyra and but he said oh by the way did you manage to get the mat he said yeah here it is but what are you doing here anyway so he said this is what happened we got up early in the morning he is wife and his three kids and they went to Newark Airport because they're flying to Toronto and they got onto the plane they were already on the plane one of the kids was jumping around before the plane was taking off you know when people were just getting on and he got his foot stuck somehow between the seat and it was very difficult to get that food foot extricated from the from the seat and so they took him to the hospital they had to go off the plane took him to the hospital there was a slight fracture and uh the hospital wanted him to stay overnight and the family insisted and They begged they said it's the first Sor tonight they took him home the house had been made P anyway and they were somebody they got food they had everything but and she started to prepare everything for the S so it took a few hours and um they had everything but they didn't have this Roy maybe say the things for the S the plate didn't have and they lived they were the nearest neighbor so they went there to here to ask for it that's the story and what I see from the story others maybe see many other things but two things number one that from the word go felt that Samuel is he said said isn't he here except on saying you know what's was talking about with Aus that this is where he is and the Second Story the second m is that the asked so many questions and was stalling it and because of that he didn't get to the post office in time and because of that the mat was delivered in New York to the person who the re knew he's in New York em to be continued