NOT EVERYTHING IS MEANT TO BE UNDERSTOOD

A compilation of little-known stories, most of which are published here for the first time.

Presented by Mendy Goldman

EXAGGERATED LOWLINESS ALSO COMES FROM PRIDE

R’ Chatshe Feigin, may Hashem avenge his blood, once farbrenged with the T’mimim. At a certain point, one of the bachurim said, “My deficiencies are frightful. Nobody is in as lowly a condition as me.”

R’ Chatshe replied, “You are arrogant.”

He went on to explain. “To you, it is a given that you must be above everyone else. However, you are not such a fool as to think that your qualities are outstanding. So, in your pride, you think are you outstanding in your deficiencies. I hereby inform you that you don’t have outstanding qualities, nor do you have outstanding deficiencies. You are average.”

LOVE FOR THE REBBE
– WITH A P’NIMIUS

R’ Moshe Slonim was known as a Chassid whose love for the Rebbe burned in his bones. His life was devoted to the Rebbe’s wishes.

One time, he was asked what gave him this “ratzon.” He said that in his youth, he had once seen the shliach R’ Gershon Mendel Garelik lying on the floor during the recitation of the bedtime Shma and crying that he wanted to see the Rebbe.

“That led me to understand that there are those who are focused completely on the Rebbe for real.”

GIVING THE FINAL BLOW

During his nesius, the Mitteler Rebbe worked on the Chassidim so they would be on a very high level in matters of Avodas Hashem.

R’ Mendel Futerfas would say that when great Chassidim met, they spoke about matters of yichuda ilaa and yichuda tataa. Simpler Chassidim could not quite relate to yichuda ilaa and barely knew how to daven, but the Mitteler Rebbe elevated them too.

This is how a conversation went between them:

One of them would say to another – How are you? What’s new with you?

The other would reply – What can be new already? Sometimes I give it [the yetzer ha’ra] a whack and sometimes it gives me a whack, and I ask Hashem that the final wallop should be given by me.

WITHOUT QUESTIONS

R’ Nachum Goldschmidt taught Maamarei Chassidus in the Lubavitcher shul in Nachalat Binyamin in Tel Aviv. R’ Michoel Dworkin, who was much older than he, would attend the shiur.

Once, in the middle of a shiur, R’ Nachum asked a seemingly difficult question on the maamer. About thirty people were sitting in the shul and they all sat and thought for ten minutes or so, but were unable to resolve the difficulty.

At a certain point, R’ Michoel felt that the question had turned from a “question in the maamer” into a “question on the maamer.” He got up and said complainingly to R’ Nachum, “By whom, amongst all these people, is the matter not settled? It is an accepted fact to all of us that what is written in the maamer is the absolute truth.”

WALKING THROUGH WALLS FOR THE REBBE

R’ Pinchas Altheus said to the Rebbe Rayatz:

A certain Chassid and I both believe in what the Rebbe says. The difference between us is that if the Rebbe would tell him to go through the wall, he would go until the wall, touch it, and become convinced that the wall is there. I, on the other hand, would go there with the intention of moving onward.

HOW DO YOU CONNECT?

At the beginning of the 70’s, some Lubavitchers in Crown Heights raised money to help Jews in Russia. During that period, R’ Yoel Kahn farbrenged in 770 and a Lubavitcher (who was somewhat inebriated) asked, “How do I get on the Rebbe’s wagon, at least with one foot?”

The crowd expected to hear a deep explanation on the topic of hiskashrus. Instead, R’ Yoel said, “Five packages to Russia.”

The man asked again, “And how do I get on the Rebbe’s wagon with both feet?”

R’ Yoel answered, “With ten packages to Russia.”

THE SIN OF THE EITZ HA’DAAS

Chassidim would say on the phrase “Cheit Eitz Ha’daas” that it means the deficiency (cheit, from the root to miss the target) which results from my stubborn insistence (eitz – wood, i.e. solid and unbending) on trying to understand (daas) everything.

A NEW GENERATION OF HISKASHRUS

The shliach R’ Moshe Lazar said: One of the great novelties that the Rebbe introduced to the seventh generation is how to properly relate to the Rebbe. When I learned in Crown Heights, it was in the lifetime of the Rebbe Rayatz. We did not attribute any special significance to our contact with the Rebbe. We did not value catching a glimpse of the Rebbe, hearing him etc. And nobody bothered to explain it to us.

However, there was R’ Berel Baumgarten who instilled in us a little of the proper attitude toward the Rebbe, but as I said, this was our Rebbe’s chiddush.