"The Rebbe’s face was Beaming with Joy"

This year marks thirty years to a very memorable Simchas Torah with the Rebbe and a subsequent year blessed with many interesting and joyful events. The Avner Institute is pleased to present a “glimpse” of hakafos with the Rebbe from that year. The material is taken from Zalman Jaffe’s “My Encounter with the Rebbe, Volume 3” currently being prepared for print (www.myencounter.com).

We have included some wonderful photos of the Rebbe, courtesy of The Rebbe Archive.

Good Yom Tov.
Menachem.


Hakofohs With the Rebbe:

"We had by now reached the seventh hakofah. The gabai then announced that all those men who had been honored and privileged to take part in the first hakofah should now come forward for a sefer Torah and participate in the last round.

I did not relish another “fiasco” as at the first hakofah, besides which I would rather watch the Rebbe dancing with the Rashag, a scene I had not been able to witness before.

Standing on the platform, where I was now joined by another hundred people, I could just about see the Rebbe and the heads of those men who were carrying the sifrei Torah. The Rebbe had reached the small platform for the dancing, and I was preparing to enjoy a spectacle to which I had been looking forward since I had left Manchester, when –

WHOOSH! Everyone stood up on the edge of the platform in order to obtain a better view. All I could see was – once again – a solid wall of people’s backs. Some of my more athletic friends had pity on me. One, putting his left arm around a pillar and his right arm around my waist, yanked me upwards, so that my feet were resting on another friend’s neck. In this way, I could just manage to see through a gap.

I saw the Rebbe dancing with his brother-in-law. A small sefer Torah was held on each right shoulder, and each left hand rested on the left shoulder of the other. They danced round and round, even faster, the Rebbe forcing the pace all the time. Looking down, all I could see was what looked like a thick black carpet, moving up and down with quick rhythmical movements. From every pillar in the hall which supported the roof and ceiling hung four or five boys. They resembled palm trees with hanging bunches of coconuts or clusters or dates"

Kos Shel Bracha:

"Ma’ariv took place at 12:30 a.m. After midnight, the Rebbe made havdolah, drank a major portion of the wine, refilled the becher (glass), and commenced the distribution of kos shel brocha. When the glass become only a quarter full, someone would top the becher up again – and so it went on – all night. There was always some of the original havdalah wine remaining in the glass.

The Rebbe’s face was beaming and a happy smile lit up his whole countenance in anticipation of handing out the wine. It was beautiful to behold.

It was then my turn to receive my rations. The Rebbe poured me the wine into my paper cup and handed me, also, a small bottle of vodka. I thanked him profusely for everything and wished him well, with plenty of good health, and hoped, please G-d, to see the Rebbe next year at Simchas Torah. The Rebbe observed, “It will be even better next time,” and added, “You will be able to write about it in your diary.” (This was indeed great encouragement.)

The Rebbe’s face was beaming and a happy smile lit up his whole countenance in anticipation of handing out the wine. It was beautiful to behold.

It was then my turn to receive my rations. The Rebbe poured me the wine into my paper cup and handed me, also, a small bottle of vodka. I thanked him profusely for everything and wished him well, with plenty of good health, and hoped, please G-d, to see the Rebbe next year at Simchas Torah. The Rebbe observed, “It will be even better next time,” and added, “You will be able to write about it in your diary.” (This was indeed great encouragement.)

Simchas Torah 1980 & Photos of the Rebbe

This year marks thirty years to a very memorable Simchas Torah with the Rebbe and a subsequent year blessed with many interesting and joyful events. The Avner Institute is pleased to present an interesting letter to the Rebbe composed by the legendry Zalman Jaffe a”h prior to visiting 770 in 1979.The material is taken from Zalman Jaffe’s “My Encounter with the Rebbe, Volume 3” currently being prepared for print (www.myencounter.com).

We have included some wonderful photos of the Rebbe, courtesy of The Rebbe Archive.

Good Yom Tov.
Menachem.

My Dear Rebbe, Shlita:

I am writing this letter at home, and I hope, please G-d, to bring it with me tomorrow. So when you receive this note, then you will realize that, B”H, Roselyn and I have arrived, together with Chaim Dovid (Avrohom’s eldest son, 14), and Chaya (Hindy’s eldest daughter, 12). Yossie and Mendel, Hindy’s eldest sons, have been at Crown Heights for the past few weeks. We are staying with Meyer and Raizy Minkowitz for one week. We would like to have stayed longer but we do not wish to impose upon friends.

I do know that Crown Heights is packed to overflowing. I hear that people are sleeping on the floor of 770 in their sleeping-bags. Yehuda Kramer wanted to go to 770 for Succoth with his wife and child. There was definitely nowhere to stay!

I have been warned by Dovid Abenson to take my oldest suit, my most battered hat, and – if possible – steel-toed boots for the farbrengen and for Simchas Torah. I will be crushed from all sides and my ribs may be broken. The heat will be stifling, and I should also take a bottle of oxygen. It sounds terrible. In fact, I do not think I will actually enjoy myself; I may not even be in a position to see or hear what is going on. But maybe I will be able to write a few pages for my next edition. I have heard that the whole seder is different than on Shavuous, the seating arrangements in particular.

Roselyn, as I have mentioned, will be with me. I surely cannot imagine what she will do all the time. To find a place to see or even hear in the women’s shul will be a sheer impossibility. It is bad enough on Shavuous. However, it will be a new experience – to which I am looking forward – with some little trepidation.

Anyway, here I am.

I wish you a happy and freileichen yom tov.

We all missed you on Shavuous.

Best Wishes for a Good Year

As Rosh Hashanah approaches, it is customary to wish each other “a happy and sweet new year!”

The Avner Institute is pleased to present a handwritten note composed by the saintly mother of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson. In her note, she expresses good-year wishes to Rabbi Greenglass, a prominent Chabad Rabbi in Montreal, Special thanks to Rabbi Mendel Feller.

We take this opportunity to wish all of our readers kesivah v’chasimah tovah – a sweet new year; and express deep thanks to those who sent us their archive photos of the Rebbe to share with the world during this past year.

Menachem.

"The Rebbe's Hand Trembles When he Writes”

Tishrei at 770 was always a memorable month, with many guests pouring in from all around the world. They came to spend the month with the Rebbe and savor the unique experiences offered by each holiday.

The Avner Institute is proud to present the first of a photo-series capturing special Tishrei moments with the Rebbe. Photos are accompanied by a story told by Rabbi Yossi Goldstein about the Rebbe and his father-in-law (the previous Rebbe) Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson that took place the first night of Rosh Hashanah 1943.

Special thanks to the Rebbe Archive and a group of readers for the photos. This week’s email is dedicated in honor of the wedding of my sister Devorah Leah with Issur New; may they build a Binyan Adei Ad.

Good Shabbos,
Menachem.

Rabbi Goldstein relates:

"It was Tishrei 5703, and a visitor came to 770 by the name of Rabbi Weiler. He had purchased a large number of machzorim for public use, which he brought to the room where the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, the Rebbe Rayatz, held his minyan. One of the machzorim was specially left for the Rebbe Rayatz himself.

On Rosh Hashana night I prayed in my regular spot, at the northwest corner. I saw the present Rebbe standing near his father-in-law, who davened while weeping fervently. Following the service, after everyone had exited the room, I stayed behind to help arrange the chairs and tables.

Rebbetzin Nechama Dina, wife of the previous Rebbe, entered and asked me to help her gather the machzorim. Suddenly I noticed how she went over to the lectern of her husband, removed the machzor, and placed it in the pile along with the others. I marked which machzor was the Rebbe's and ran over to her.

“I think this is too heavy for you,” I said, and I offered to carry out the pile instead of her. Seizing the opportunity, I removed the Rebbe's machzor, and as soon as the Rebbetzin left I ran back to the room with the machzor from which the Rebbe had prayed.

Turning the pages of ma’ariv, the evening service, I noticed an amazing thing: under the words "u'malchuso b'ratzon kiblu aleihem” (and His kingship is willfully accepted upon them) there was a line written in pencil. Although still unfamiliar with the entire liturgy, I understood that Rosh Hashana is the time for binyan ha'malchus (establishment of kingship). On the day preceding Rosh Hashana the Rebbe had apparently written this for reasons of his own.

I was ecstatic with my find. I had a machzor with the Rebbe's writing in it! I figured I had to show it to the present Rebbe. So I hastened to him and said, “Here is the machzor the Rebbe [Rayatz] davened from.”

He looked at it and asked, “How do you know it's the Rebbe's machzor?”

Turning the pages to ma’ariv, I showed him the line, proving it was his father-in-law’s handwriting.

The Rebbe looked at it and trembled. “Yes,” he said, “my father-in-law wrote that, but how did you know that he wrote it?” In other words, while he himself naturally recognized it, he wondered how I possibly would.

“Well,” I explained, “I can see the line isn’t straight, since the Rebbe’s hand trembles when he writes.”

The Rebbe asked, “How do you know my father-in-law's hand trembles when he writes?”

I told him that I once sat in the beis midrash, and that Rebbe Rayatz’s secretary Reb Chaim Lieberman had walked in and remarked how difficult it was for the Rebbe Rayatz to write in a straight line. The latter generally avoided writing paper that had printed lines on it. Instead, the Rebbe Rayatz requested a sheet of paper with black lines drawn on it, on top of which he would place another paper and see the lines underneath, thus enabling him to write straight.

“So Reb Chaim wanted me to have my father print up paper like that,” I concluded. “I asked him how far apart to make the lines, and since he didn't know, he went up to your father-in-law and came down a few minutes later with a paper on which the Rebbe had drawn two lines so I would know how wide to space them. That's how I knew when the Rebbe made lines – the writing was shaky.”

Holding up the machzor I exclaimed, “This is precious – a real treasure.”

"Ya, ya (yes, yes),” the present Rebbe agreed, and took the machzor from my hands. I never saw it again.