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Weekly Chasidic Story #908 (s5775-31 /1 Iyar
5775) Like [Grand] Father, Like SonIn the year 1912, Rabbi Yosef-Yitzchak Schneersohn (who would become the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe after the passing of his father, Rebbe Shalom Ber Schneersohn, in 1920) was on a train from Paris to Petersburg. During the trip he was approached by a well-dressed businessman who asked, "Rabbi, are you the son or grandson of Rabbi Shmuel of Lubavitch [the fourth Lubavitcher Rebbe]?" "Yes," the Rebbe said. "In fact, I am his grandson." The businessman's eyes filled with tears. He trembled slightly as though in shock, turned abruptly around and returned to his cabin. This scene repeated itself later that evening when the businessman happened on the Rebbe once again. The next morning the Rebbe had just finished praying in his compartment when the same man appeared at his door. He entered and said, "Please excuse my emotional outbursts, but....." and suddenly began to weep again. After several minutes the man asked if he could borrow the Rebbe's tefilin. The man took the tefilin, kissed them tenderly, put them on and began to pray. The Rebbe left him alone to pour out his soul before his Creator. When he finished, he thanked the Rebbe and asked to borrow a Book of Psalms. Several hours later, the man returned to speak to the Rebbe again. His face was pale and he looked as though he was undergoing dramatic changes. The Rebbe invited him in. "My name is Y...," he began. "I was born into a Chabad Chasidic home. My childhood was very happy; our house was always filled with guests, Torah and joy. When I was 15 I somehow got involved with a 'bad' crowd. "My father saw what was happening and took me to the Rebbe for the High Holidays. Seeing the Rebbe had a profound effect on me. My father even took me in for a private audience. The Rebbe spoke to my father, and then turned to me and said, 'The world can be very dangerous. Never forget that you are a Jew.' "The experience changed me, but only temporarily. Eventually I stopped praying, stopped doing the commandments and after a year or so I left my parents' house. Several times my father tried to contact me but that only aroused my anger. I married an assimilated girl and broke completely with my past. "I joined an underground political movement. There had been several pogroms, and most of our efforts were directed to helping Jews. After several years of this work, we heard that the Lubavitcher Rebbe was to visit Petersburg in order to stop the pogroms at the government level. We decided to let him know of several impending pogroms that we had heard about. "We arrived at the hotel where the Rebbe was staying and were met by a large group of Chasidim, some of whom remembered me and greeted me warmly. Suddenly the Rebbe opened his door to come out to pray the afternoon prayer. He glanced at me and I knew that he recognized me. "Later we had a private audience with the Rebbe. His knowledge of the situation in Russia was nothing short of miraculous, and the next few months we devoted ourselves to helping him in every way. We saw much fruit from our labors and saw how the Rebbe literally prevented dozens of pogroms. "Then one day, as we were leaving his room and I was the last one out, the Rebbe called to me and said, 'Tell me, when was the last time you put on tefilin?' "I was so stunned I couldn't even open my mouth. Those few words made such an impression on me that that day I looked for a pair of tefilin and put them on for the first time in years, and I even stopped eating non-kosher food. "I returned home, told my wife that I wanted to return to a Jewish way of life and she agreed. Eventually I renewed ties with my father. "At the end of that year it became known to us that there were to be a series of massive pogroms in the south of Russia. I was chosen to travel to Lubavitch to tell the Rebbe, and when I entered his office I could tell he was happy to see me. He told me we would meet again to discuss the problem in a few days. "When we met again he said that he had visited his father's grave site. His father told him that there was no real danger but nevertheless, we must take steps. The Rebbe gave me some letters and told me what to do with them. Then he said: 'Because Moses helped the Jews, G-d gave him the chips of sapphire from the Tablets that he carved out. You are helping Jews, so you too deserve a reward.' "The Rebbe continued, 'When I told you that my father spoke to me I noticed that you smirked. The reason for this is that you are so involved in the physical that you have no appreciation for spiritual things.' The Rebbe then sat with me for over an hour explaining what 'spiritual' means. He concluded: 'How long can a person live a life of physicality? Fifty years, 55 years? Remember who you are and where you come from. May G-d protect you and give you true happiness.' "I didn't really understand what he was getting at, because I had already returned to Judaism for almost a year. But I thanked him warmly, took the papers he gave me, and set out by train for Petersburg to give them to officials there. "Police stopped the train and began searching everyone. I considered throwing the Rebbe's letters away, but the Rebbe's words made me think differently. And miraculously, I was the only one they didn't check! In Petersburg I was able to give over the papers to the right officials. And, the Rebbe was right; the situation was not as severe as we thought. "I became a very successful businessman and again left the Jewish path. In the last 30 years I never once even thought about G-d. Now I am returning from a party in Monte Carlo that my friends made for my 55th birthday. When I saw you, I remembered the words of your holy grandfather and it touched my soul." The businessman became a different person. He moved his entire family and business to another country and became a pillar of the Jewish community there. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Biographical notes: Connection: Seasonal--2 Iyar --Tiferet sh'b'Tiferet--is the 181st anniversary
of the birth of the Rebbe Maharash.
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Yerachmiel
Tilles is co-founder and associate director of Ascent-of-Safed, and chief editor
of this website (and of KabbalaOnline.org). He has hundreds of published stories
to his credit, and many have been translated into other languages. He tells
them live at Ascent nearly every Saturday night.