Anecdotes that illustrate the special relationship that the chazan of 770, and shadar for Tomchei T’mimim, R’ Mordechai Dov Teleshevsky had with the Rebbeim. * Presented for the day of his yahrtzait, 25 Shvat.
The Chassid, R’ Mordechai Dov Teleshevsky was born in 5665/1905 in Klimovitch, Belarus, a town with a vibrant Chabad community. He learned in yeshivos Tomchei T’mimim in the Soviet Union. One of the mashpiim who made a great impression on him was R’ Lazer Tcherchesker (Eliezer Dvoskin) with whom he learned in Charson.
When he wanted to go to the Rebbe Rashab in 5780/1919, the last Tishrei of the Rebbe’s life, R’ Lazer refused to allow him to go, saying, “Greater people than you do not go.” But by divine providence, shortly after he received a letter from his mother who told him that his father had traveled to Rostov and she had not heard from him and she ordered him with the power of the mitzva of honoring your mother to go there.
When he showed the letter to R’ Lazer, the mashpia immediately approved the trip and referred him to R’ Zalman Bespalov who would give him money for the journey. That Tishrei in Rostov penetrated deeply into the heart of the young Mordechai Dov who was unable to forget what he saw there all his life.
R’ Mordechai Dov studied sh’chita with R’ Shmuel Zalmanov, one of the talmidim of Tomchei T’mimim in Lubavitch who learned this craft because the Rebbe told him to.
CODED LETTER FROM THE REBBE
In the difficult years after the Rebbe Rayatz left the Soviet Union, when the communists shut down every Jewish educational institution, R’ Teleshevsky managed to send a coded letter to the Rebbe asking for a blessing that his children be protected from the atheism of Russia. The Rebbe’s answer, which was also in code, included a bracha as well as an instruction for him to submit a request to leave the country with his family.
This was dangerous because the communists viewed a request to leave as an expression of dissatisfaction with their leadership. A typical response to such a request was being fired from work and other acts of persecution, sometimes even being sent to Siberia. However, to a Chassid, a Rebbe’s instruction transcends any considerations. R’ Teleshevsky submitted a request to immigrate to the government office in his city.
PERMISSION TO IMMIGRATE
The clerk was taken aback by the request and threw R’ Teleshevsky out of the office. When he reported this to the Rebbe, the Rebbe told him to try again. R’ Teleshevsky got up his courage and went again and once again was summarily thrown out of the office. This repeated itself time and again. The seventh time he tried, a miracle occurred and inexplicably, the visa was approved.
It was years after his passing that it was discovered that the Rebbe was involved in all stages of his immigration and even told R’ Chaim Yosef Rosenblum to make sure that the shul in Riga “urgently request his arrival as a chazan.”
With the visa in hand, R’ Teleshevsky ran straight to the train station. He was afraid that someone would regret having given him the visa and cancel it. He found a boy who was willing to go to his house and tell his wife that the long-awaited visa had been issued, and within a short time his wife arrived at the station with their two children and with packed bags that she had prepared in the eventuality of their hasty exit. They boarded the first train going in the direction of the Latvian capital, Riga, where the Rebbe was.
SHLICHUS TO FINLAND
After three years in Riga, the Teleshevsky family was told by the Rebbe to go to Finland. The local Jewish community there asked the Rebbe for a rabbinic personality who could also serve as chazan, mohel, and shochet, and R’ Teleshevsky fit the bill.
Finland was far from the communists’ net but there were still no Jewish schools there. This unfortunate fact was discovered only when he arrived there. Fearful for the future of his children, he asked the Rebbe what to do. The Rebbe’s answer was to send the children back to Riga where there were proper schools.
The children’s grandparents lived in Riga and they were happy to host their grandchildren. The children were very young. Despite the great difficulty involved, their parents bought them tickets to sail by ship and parted with their two young children.
For a number of years the children lived in Riga and were in touch with their parents through letters only.
THE REBBE IN A DREAM: GO TO FINLAND!
One night, the little girl Chana woke up drenched in sweat. She had dreamed that the Rebbe, who had left Riga by that time, had appeared to her and said their temporary visa had expired and they had to return to Finland.
Chana, who was 11 at the time, was very frightened but did not tell anyone about her dream. The next day she had the same dream. The Rebbe said, “Chanale, the temporary visa has ended. Return to Finland.”
After the dream recurred a third time, she asked her grandmother, “Why didn’t you say we have to return home?”
There actually was no legal problem with their continued stay in Riga, but the fact that she had the dream over and over was seen by the grandmother as a warning. She packed the children’s belongings and they took a train which brought them to the coast of Estonia where, on their own, they found a ship sailing to Finland. Nobody was waiting for them in Finland. Their parents did not know of their coming and the children surprised them when they knocked at the door.
A week after the children returned to Finland, World War II began. The Nazis, when they reached Riga, annihilated the Jews there. Out of 400 girls in the Jewish school, Chana is the only survivor. The Rebbe saved her and her brother Moshe.
SHADAR FOR YESHIVAS TOMCHEI T’MIMIM
After the war, R’ Mordechai Dov was able to bring his family to New York. He lived near the Rebbe. For over forty years he served as shadar (fundraiser) for Yeshivas Tomchei T’mimim, for which he traveled from one end of the world to the other.
On his travels he used his chazanus talent. The Rebbe Rayatz wrote to him about this in a letter dated 22 Teves 5709, “In response to your letter, it would be correct to diligently pursue your travels as a famous chazan for the benefit of Tomchei T’mimim Lubavitch, may Hashem grant you success.”
Several times, the Rebbe wrote to Jews living in the countries that he would visit with the request that they help him and generously support the yeshiva.
VARIOUS MISSIONS FOR THE REBBE
Aside from the official goal of raising funds for the yeshiva, the Rebbe would tell R’ Teleshevsky to take care of other communal matters too.
After the Holocaust, an organization dedicated to the preservation of Jewish culture was founded, which collected Jewish books that were saved from the Nazis and divided them among Jewish public libraries around the world. The Rebbe, who knew that among the s’farim were rare editions, told some of his Chassidim who traveled to distant places to try and exchange those books with s’farim from Kehos, because while nobody would open the old s’farim, they would be of benefit to the library at 770.
Since R’ Mordechai Dov traveled to countries like Australia and Brazil where the books went, the Rebbe told him to work on obtaining and bringing s’farim to the library at 770.
R’ Mordechai Dov worked not only on obtaining s’farim but also in disseminating s’farim. He worked to find local sellers in all the smaller countries he traveled to so they could sell Kehos books. When he asked the Rebbe whether he was doing the right thing by promising them payment for their work, the Rebbe responded, “You did the right thing by promising the young man that his efforts in the matter of the s’farim will be compensated, and surely in the small countries you will visit you will do the same.”
SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR A CHAZAN
Over the years, R’ Teleshevsky was the chazan in 770 and he was the one who made any needed announcements at farbrengens. As such, he often merited special attention from the Rebbe.
Before 12 Tammuz 5712/1952 which fell out on Shabbos, R’ Teleshevsky had a yechidus in the course of which the Rebbe told him that when he would lead the services Friday night he should insert the words “b’simcha u’v’tzahala” (said only on Yom Tov) at the end of Lecha Dodi.
During the farbrengen, the Rebbe told R’ Teleshevsky, “In Petersburg (then Leningrad), the bachurim would sometimes race through the davening on Rosh HaShana in twenty or fifty minutes in order to hear the t’kios by the Rebbe. You are sitting here (the Rebbe knew he had not davened yet), you and BZ should go daven up, how long will it take already?”
The night of Simchas Torah 5715, the Rebbe said to bring children aged five and older the next day to the farbrengen. The next day dozens of children came. The Rebbe said to give them mezonos, to say the bracha together, and to sing, “MiMitzrayim Ge’altanu.” Then the Rebbe told R’ Teleshevsky to sing “HaMalach HaGoel” to the tune of T’fillas Geshem.
The second night of Pesach 5715, after finishing the seder in the Rebbe Rayatz’s apartment, the Rebbe went down to a farbrengen, which was the way things were done then. During the farbrengen, the Rebbe said to sing “V’Hi Sh’Amda.” The Chassidim began singing a different tune, not the one the Rebbe meant. The Rebbe stopped them and began singing the famous tune of R’ Aharon HaGadol of Karlin. He turned in surprise to R’ Mordechai Dov and said, “You don’t know it?” R’ Mordechai Dov indicated that he did not know it and the Rebbe said, “It’s a fine niggun.”
On Simchas Torah 5733/1972 the Rebbe told him to make the announcements at the farbrengen before the hakafos. Since he did not repeat the announcement exactly as instructed, the Rebbe announced, “In the name of Rav Teleshevsky: Quiet! We are announcing and informing that all those who did not make kiddush should made kiddush now and as in the known sicha of the Rebbe (Rayatz) about kiddush before hakafos. Another announcement: Those who cannot make kiddush for health reasons or another reason, someone else should make kiddush for them and enable them to fulfill their obligation.”
On Simchas Torah 5744/1983, when he returned to his place after he was given the honor of the seventh hakafa, the Rebbe turned to him and said that since he was the regular chazan on Rosh HaShana in 770, and that year he did not do this since he did not feel well, he should sing something. R’ Teleshevsky, realizing that he was not expected to sing something from the Yomim Nora’im, began joyfully singing “Aleinu L’Shabeiach” to the known tune.
THE STORY THAT THE REBBE REACTED TO
On one of his trips to Baltimore, R’ Mordechai Dov Teleshevsky went to the Litvishe yeshiva Ner Yisroel, as he did every year, but was screamed at by one of the roshei yeshiva who spoke disparagingly about the Rebbe’s sichos. A bitter argument between them ensued.
When he returned from Baltimore, he wrote a six page letter in which he related everything that happened on his travels. Although the incident with the rosh yeshiva was only one small detail in the entire report, within minutes, the Rebbe responded as follows, “In all the above the main thing is missing, which sicha and what was his complaint? For if you showed him that it was based on divrei Torah, and consequently he was saying that divrei Torah is heresy, lo aleinu, you should have stood up for the shaming of Toras Hashem rather than trying to scream louder.
Obviously, my intention is not to cry over the past but to try to at least clarify things now.