THE INTREPID COLLECTOR OF SOULS

Not many know that behind the image of a “tz’daka collector” was a genuine Chassid who was extremely active in spreading the wellsprings of Chassidus and the Besuras HaGeula. * With the help of acquaintances, friends and family members, Beis Moshiach tried to unlock the mystery of the Chassid, R’ Meir Roness a”h. He was an exceptional individual whose devotion to the Rebbe was boundless and who remained an unsolved riddle to many. Who can replace him?

Dov Levanon and Avrohom Rainitz

One of the stories in Jewish folklore is about a Jew who is labeled a miser until after his death when the town rabbi is suddenly flooded with requests for help from the poor. It turns out that until he died, the so-called miser provided weekly support for the poor and it was only after his passing that he was revealed as a tremendous philanthropist who gave tz’daka secretly.

Many of those who are involved in spreading the wellsprings of Chassidus in the New York area were reminded of this story after the passing of the well-known tz’daka collector, R’ Meir Roness. In this case, R’ Meir managed to conceal his manifold activities under the guise of a tz’daka collector. There is hardly a Chabad Chassid who did not meet him collecting in 770 or at simcha halls in Crown Heights. He always came up with a “reason” why today, of all days, you needed to give more tz’daka. But only a few knew that with the money he raised with his original pronouncements, he started hundreds of shiurim in Chassidus and did many other hafatza activities.

In a conversation with family members I learned that even they were unaware of the extent of his activities. During the Shiva they learned of dozens of unique activities in the realm of hafatza which R’ Meir initiated and funded with the money he collected. Many Chassidim at the Shiva house said that R’ Meir funded their activities and now they are stuck and are looking for new donors so they could continue their work. The family thought they knew what he did, at least somewhat, but discovered posthumously that whatever they knew was just the tip of the iceberg.

Among the hundreds of people who visited during the Shiva you could also see the results of R’ Meir’s work – teachers, mashpiim and “ordinary” Chassidim who said how they came to Chabad thanks to the Tanya classes that R’ Meir started and funded for over fifty years.

MIRACLE FROM THE REBBE RAYATZ AND SHABBOS WITH A LUBAVITCHER UNCLE

R’ Meir was born on 21 Teves 5701 in Montreal to his parents, Avrohom and Gittel Roness. His parents, who were from a Chassidishe family, descendants of the B’nei Yisachar of Dinov, sent their children to the Chabad schools that were founded at the time by a group of T’mimim from Europe.

The family’s ties to Lubavitch grew stronger after R’ Meir’s brother was stricken by severe asthma and was healed after his mother went with him by train to New York and received a bracha from the Rebbe Rayatz in yechidus. The Rebbe referred her to a certain doctor who was the natural means by which the bracha was fulfilled. His mother’s sisters married Chabad Chassidim and the Chabad connection was further strengthened.

After his bar mitzva, under the influence of the Chabad chinuch he had received, R’ Meir wanted to learn near 770. He went to New York to the Lubavitch yeshiva on Bedford Avenue. He spent Shabbasos with his uncle, R’ Yosef Wineberg, and absorbed from the authentic Chassidishe atmosphere.

Even at a young age you could see that he was a bachur with a special yiras Shamayim and who was particular about the customs of Chassidim. His family tells, for example, about his daily immersion in a mikva before t’filla – sometimes he would be hosted in communities that did not have a mikva and he was not fazed by walking for more than an hour, in rain or heat, to a mikva.

After he finished learning in yeshiva, his father wanted him to attend college, but R’ Meir refused. His father wrote a letter to the Rebbe in which he asked him to explain to his son that he had to go to college. R’ Meir did not know about his father’s correspondence with the Rebbe and it was only when he went home for Pesach that his brother told him that a letter from the Rebbe had arrived.

In the letter, the Rebbe MH”M explained that Hashem is the One who provides parnasa and he also provides it to those who do not attend college. Regarding what his father wrote about college not harming R’ Meir’s religiosity, the Rebbe wrote that he knows many who went to college and they were all harmed. The Rebbe negated the idea that R’ Meir would learn for half a day in yeshiva and would attend college for half a day, explaining that this was like jumping from a warm room into cold water a few times a day; it is not possible that this would not be harmful.

R’ Meir used the Rebbe’s explanation when his sister finished high school and one of his brothers who had learned in Yeshiva University tried to convince her to go to college. R’ Meir spent hours talking to her until she joined some friends and went to learn in the Chabad seminary in Yerres in France.

THE INFLUENCE OF STORIES OF TZADDIKIM

R’ Meir began his work in spreading the wellsprings in Camp Gan Yisroel where he was a counselor from the end of the 1950’s until the middle of the 1960’s. During those years, most of the children in camp were not from Chabad homes and were not religious. This was an opportunity to instill basic concepts of Chassidus and to create a bond that would last for life.

While his friends wanted jobs as counselors of a bunk, R’ Meir preferred to be a substitute counselor. The way it worked was, every three weeks each counselor was given two days off. R’ Meir’s job was to replace the counselors on their days off, so that every two days he was the counselor of a different bunk. There were times that he had five year olds and fifteen year olds during the same week. This way, he ended up being the counselor of most of the children in camp.

Although it was hard switching bunks, R’ Meir liked it for a reason he disclosed to his friend, R’ Shmuel Butman (director of Tzach in New York). The first reason was, he established a relationship with all the children in camp and could have an influence over many children. Another reason was, since the counselors took a day off during the week but on Shabbos nobody was off, he therefore did not have a bunk on Shabbos. Thus, he was able to travel to 770 every week to be with the Rebbe and to attend farbrengens on those Shabbasos when there were farbrengens.

“Two days later, he came to one of the sheva brachos and told me in amazement that he did not know that there are such iluyim (geniuses) in Chabad.”

One of the jobs of the counselors was to give shiurim. Since R’ Meir had to give a shiur every day to a different age group, he focused on topics that pertained to all ages. He would learn the laws of the Three Weeks with everyone and then would tell stories of tzaddikim. Since most of the children were not from Chabad or even religious homes, he did not tell stories only about tzaddikim from bygone ages but mainly about the Rebbe, so the children would know there is a living Rebbe and that tzaddikim are not merely history.

R’ Meir told about the long-range effect of these stories in an interview he gave to HaTamim a decade ago. “Years later, one of the boys called me. He had grown up, married and had a few children. He told me that one of his children was sick with a serious illness that the doctors had yet to diagnose (they eventually concluded that it was caused by a genetic problem). He asked me for the phone number of the secretariat. He remembered all the stories I had told him about the Rebbe and decided to ask for a bracha. That is when I realized how influential the stories of tzaddikim that I told to the little children had been, with effects for a lifetime.”

“GREAT IS HIS MERIT [AND EVEN MORE SO] FORTUNATE IS HIS LOT”

Over the years, R’ Meir developed relationships with many children who became bachurim and learned in non-Chabad yeshivos. Since these bachurim had a good connection with Chabad, and were open to learning Chassidus, R’ Meir spoke with R’ Dovid Raskin, menahel of Tzach, and began to arrange shiurim in Chassidus in all these yeshivos.

When I spoke with R’ Butman about R’ Meir’s work, he said in amazement that R’ Meir worked with a dedication that transcended time. There was no time during his day that was not devoted to this sacred work. His success was commensurate – completely above nature.

His son-in-law, R’ Yisroel Botnick, heard from R’ Leibel Abelsky of Cleveland about something unusual that the Rebbe said about R’ Meir. It was during the years when R’ Abelsky was a secretary at Tzach. One day, he received a letter from someone who drove a milk truck who wrote, in amazement, that one night when he was driving in the Catskills, he saw a yeshiva bachur try to hitch a ride to New York. He stopped for him and while talking to him he learned that the bachur’s name was Meir Roness. He was going from camp to camp, arranging shiurim in Chassidus and now he was trying to get back to New York after a night of work.

R’ Abelsky wrote about this to the Rebbe in a report about Tzach’s activities and the Rebbe drew an arrow to these lines and wrote, “Great is his merit (and even more so) and fortunate is his lot.” R’ Abelsky, who worked for ten years as a secretary for Tzach, said that this was the most extraordinary response he got from the Rebbe in all those years.

R’ Meir did not suffice with the dozens of shiurim that he organized. Together with his friend Tzvi Hirsh Bronstein, he bought a small camper which apparently was the first mitzva tank and made it into a mobile library. They paid a driver, who drove from one school to the next throughout the week, bringing the light of Judaism to thousands of children. Aside from books that could be borrowed, there was a place on the tank to listen to tapes with a Jewish message. During the Lag B’Omer parades that took place during those years, the tank passed by the Rebbe and gave him much nachas.

In connection with this, his son-in-law relates that once, R’ Meir’s mother-in-law complained to the Rebbe that because of the great expenses incurred in running the mobile library, R’ Meir was unable to support his family and his family was suffering. The Rebbe told the hanhala of Tzach to help with the expenses in running the mobile library.

THIS MERIT WILL STAND BY HIM IN HIS REQUEST

At a certain point, R’ Meir began collecting money himself while he continued running all the activities. He found magidei shiurim, bachurim and balabatim who could explain Chassidus well, and procured for them rides to various non-Chabad yeshivos. During the summer, the bachurim would go to camps and give shiurim there. For fifty years, R’ Meir continued his holy work and the shiurim took place throughout the year in yeshivos, and in camps in the summer.

As soon as R’ Meir heard about an opportunity to start a shiur in some yeshiva, he immediately got to work, without thinking twice about the expense. When the opportunity arose to give a shiur in Telz in Cleveland, but the maggid shiur was in New York, he paid for a weekly flight, the main thing being that the shiur start as soon as possible. Over the years, he paid for long trips from New York to other cities, to keep up the cycle of shiurim.

Many of the bachurim who were drawn close and came to Lubavitch, afterwards gave shiurim themselves, thus meriting to reach more and more neshamos who were chosen to learn in Tomchei T’mimim.

About ten years ago, when we spoke with R’ Meir about bachurim who were drawn close and began giving shiurim themselves, he was reminded of an interesting story which happened with one of these bachurim who ended up becoming one of the organizers of shiurim in his yeshiva:

The shiur in that yeshiva was given by R’ Shloma Majeski. He was sent by the Rebbe in the first group of bachurim-shluchim to Melbourne. When he returned, he began regularly traveling to one of the famous Litvishe yeshivos to give a Tanya shiur there.

At that shiur was a bachur who made nice progress and had already become one of the organizers of the shiur. Before Pesach, when he was supposed to go home, he fell and broke his elbow, sustaining a very bad fracture. The doctor put his arm in a cast and told him he would have to wear the cast for at least eight to nine months even though a cast is usually worn for just two months. The bachur and his family were very concerned.

After Pesach, when he returned to yeshiva and came to R’ Majeski’s shiur, the bachur asked him to ask the Rebbe for a bracha for him. When R’ Majeski returned to 770 it was about two in the morning on a Thursday night, a yechidus night. He wrote a note in which he mentioned the name of the bachur and the bachur’s mother and said he was one of the organizers of the Chassidus shiurim in his yeshiva. He submitted the note.

Yechidus ended at about four in the morning. R’ Majeski was still in 770, farbrenging or talking with someone. At five in the morning he heard that the secretary, R’ Binyamin Klein, was looking for him. R’ Klein told him that right after yechidus, the Rebbe read the note and there was a response. (This was unusual that the Rebbe would read a note and respond to it immediately after a long night in yechidus.)

The Rebbe took the note, circled the words in which he wrote that he was one of the organizers of the shiur, made an arrow and wrote: this merit (and he should also increase) will stand by him in his request.

A few days went by and the bachur went for a routine X-ray. The nurse went to have it developed, and in the meantime the doctor began to examine his elbow. He immediately noticed that the elbow did not look the way it should after being in a cast for a month without being moved or used and he asked him whether he had used the arm. The bachur said that since they hadn’t put the palm of his hand in a cast, he thought he could use it and he had played basketball with it.

When the shocked doctor digested this, he began berating the bachur for possibly doing irreversible damage. Basketball with a broken elbow could shake the broken bone out of place.

The nurse walked in with the developed X-ray and showed it to the doctor. The doctor examined it and then looked at the bachur with a severe look on his face. The bachur felt uncomfortable and asked why the doctor was looking at him like that. The doctor, who had seen the X-rays showing the fracture a month before, said he could not believe what he was seeing.

“I am looking at the X-ray and don’t see any fracture.”

When the bachur explained that he had received a blessing from a big rabbi, the doctor was even more astounded. He told the bachur to continue wearing the cast for another month to ensure that no mistake had been made.

A month later, the X-ray showed no fracture whatsoever. The fracture was entirely healed. Instead of many months, the cast was on his arm for 8-9 weeks.

DIFFICULTIES ON THE WAY TO LUBAVITCH

In Yeshivas Torah Vodaas, Tanya shiurim were started by R’ Yisroel Jacobson back in the 1930’s before the Rebbe Rayatz came to America. It was from these shiurim that the “lions of the group” of T’mimim were “born,” with whom the Rebbe started Yeshivas Tomchei T’mimim in America, the likes of R’ Meir Greenberg and R’ Mendel Feldman. Over the years, responsibility for these shiurim passed on to R’ Meir who shared with us what he saw and heard in connection with arranging these shiurim:

“One of the bachurim who learned Chassidus in Torah Vodaas wanted to have yechidus before he got married, but R’ Groner said this was only for T’mimim. He asked me to speak up on his behalf and I was able to convince the secretary that he learned Chassidus and was a Lubavitcher in every respect. He reminds me of this every so often and says he is grateful to me for this till today.

“You have to remember that it wasn’t easy for these bachurim. It wasn’t smooth sailing. There was pressure from home, parents who were not always thrilled with their child’s new ‘meshugas,’ and many of them felt that in Chabad too, they were not fully integrated.

“I remember an interesting story when parents of a bachur who learned in Achei T’mimim in the Bronx and then in Tomchei T’mimim on Bedford, wanted him to go to college and the bachur refused. The shocked and angry parents wanted to see the Rebbe and tell him to convince their son to go to college.

“When they had yechidus and realized that they would not be able to convince the Rebbe to permit their son to attend college, they got ready to leave with depressed looks on their faces. The Rebbe said they could not leave the room like that and they had to smile.

“Another worried parent I remember was someone with a few sons who became interested in Lubavitch and he was worried they would not find good shidduchim. He told this to a friend who himself had come to Lubavitch through Tanya shiurim. The Chassid asked his friend if he knew R’ Nissan Nemanov.

“’R’ Nissan? Of course I know him.’

“The man knew R’ Nissan from the period after the war and remembered that he was no simple Jew. Said his friend, ‘After I came from Kamenetz to Lubavitch, I married his granddaughter.’”

A SHIUR BY WAY OF THE CEMETERY

R’ Meir told about truly “underground” shiurim:

“In a yeshiva in Monsey there was a nice-sized shiur with about eighteen talmidim. It was given by R’ Avrohom Stone. At first the shiur took place in a shul near the yeshiva, but apparently someone tattled to the hanhala of the yeshiva because one time, the mashgiach showed up and threw them out of there and ordered him not to come back. He also warned the bachurim not to dare attend the Tanya shiur again.

“This was a bit too late since the bachurim had already gotten a taste of Chassidus and wanted the shiur to continue. To their astonishment, they discovered that the rosh yeshiva and the mashgiach patrolled the area around the yeshiva in a car in order to catch those who committed the terrible crime of learning Chassidus. The talmidim were scared.

“There were some bachurim who decided that they would continue the shiur, no matter what; they wanted to learn Chassidus. What did they do? A Lubavitcher by the name of Dr. Hayes, a psychologist, let them use his office for the cause. But how could they go out and evade the patrols?

“Near the yeshiva was a cemetery. The bachurim would go out the back door at night toward the cemetery where the maggid shiur waited for them. From there they took a circuitous route to the office. They returned the same way with a big detour to the cemetery and from the cemetery to the yeshiva. Three out of those bachurim who attended the shiur ended up in Lubavitch.

“One of these bachurim met me years later and hugged and kissed me and gave me $50 as a donation toward shiurim. He said, ‘If not for your shiur, I would have remained a misnaged.’

“Not all roshei yeshiva opposed the shiurim. R’ Zushe Feldman, for example, would give a shiur in Beis Midrash Elyon in Monsey, a yeshiva run by R’ Gedalia Schorr. R’ Schorr knew about the shiurim and since he lived in Crown Heights at the time, he would take a ride with the bachur who gave the shiur on his way back to 770 and they would talk in learning.

“When R’ Boruch Lesches, rav of the Chabad community in Monsey, once went to give the shiur in Lakewood, R’ Shneur Kotler, the rosh yeshiva, was standing at the entrance to the yeshiva. When he saw the car turn into the yeshiva’s premises, he asked the bachur what brought him, and when the bachur told him, he nodded and said, ‘Gut, gut.’”

SHOWING THAT THEY KNOW HOW TO LEARN

Like in the Alter Rebbe’s time, when Chassidim were sent to Shklov and Vilna to promote Chassidus, R’ Meir also sent bachurim from Tomchei T’mimim to yeshivos in the New York area in order to talk to the talmidim there in learning and to show them that Lubavitcher bachurim did not neglect the learning of Nigleh; on the contrary, they learned with great depth.

R’ Meir related:

“It wasn’t only shiurim in Chassidus that brought bachurim to Lubavitch. Many bachurim who considered themselves b’nei Torah, who met with T’mimim who knew how to learn Nigleh, were amazed to discover that in Lubavitch they excel at Nigleh too.

“For many of them, this is what made them respect Lubavitch and Chassidus; for others it was the first step on their way to Tomchei T’mimim.

“I remember how one of the T’mimim, who would give Tanya classes in one of the Litvishe camps, once got into a deep discussion with some yeshiva bachurim. They saw he was more knowledgeable than them on every subject discussed and so they sent one of the lamdanim of the yeshiva to talk to him in learning. Within a few minutes, the lamdan saw that he was no match for the Tamim.

“Chassidic cleverness was also an important tool in discussions like these. One time, R’ Sholom Dovber Lipskar (today a shliach in Miami Beach) was in a Litvishe camp and they wanted to test him in learning. He said they could test him on any tractate they wanted. He knew that in our yeshivos and their yeshivos they learned the same Masechtos and what could they ask him already? The test ended with the Litvishe bachurim ‘going crazy’ in amazement with this bachur who knew all of Shas!

“I have a relative who is a Litvishe rosh yeshiva. Before I got married, I arranged with three bachurim who knew how to learn well (R’ Leibel Kaplan, R’ Shneur Zalman Labkowski and R’ Sholom Lipskar) that I would point him out to them at the wedding and they should go over and talk with him. During the dancing, I showed them who he was and they went over to him afterward very respectfully and asked him to say a vort. They spoke to him for a while. Two days later, he came to one of the sheva brachos and told me in amazement that he did not know that there are such iluyim (geniuses) in Chabad.”

WORK IN SPREADING THE BESURAS HA’GEULA

R’ Meir was permeated with the belief of Chassidim that the Rebbe is Moshiach and he worked to publicize this in every possible way. Along with the shiurim he arranged, he also passed along booklets about the Geula to be distributed among b’nei ha’yeshivos. In later years he bought many sets of the series Shemen Sasson Meichaveirecha and sent them to roshei yeshiva and magidei shiur in Litvishe yeshivos with whom he was in touch.

He always had pictures of the Rebbe in his pocket with “Yechi” written on them, and the Rebbe’s chapter of T’hillim on the back, which he would distribute to little children and say, “The Rebbe loves you.” He gave the pictures out not only in Crown Heights but in Boro Park and Williamsburg too. Nobody could resist his warm smile.

When a weekly brochure in English on the Besuras HaGeula began to be published, R’ Meir bought many of them and would send them to dozens of locations in the US. Each shipment cost nearly $800 and he would increase the amounts from time to time.

R’ Meir, who always knew how to explain why today is a day to give more tz’daka, certainly was able to explain in the heavenly yeshiva why today the Geula must happen with the hisgalus of the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach immediately.