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# 566 (s5769-01 / 3 Tishrei 5769) Saturday Night Melody "Go wash now and eat something for Melaveh Malka," the Lubavitcher Rebbe instructed him in front of the large crowd."
Saturday Night MelodyIn many Chassidic circles, the Rebbe "firen tish", that is, he enlarges his Mitzvah Meal table on Shabbat night and day, Saturday nights, Festivals, and special occasions to allow his followers and others interested to participate with him. Throughout the meal, the Rebbe distributes some of the leftover ("sherayim") food from the different courses to his eager chasidim. These occasions are nearly always full meals, which require the washing of one's hands in order to eat bread, at least by the Rebbe. Not so in Chabad. Although the Lubavitcher Rebbe led Shabbat and festival "farbrengen" get-togethers quite frequently, these took place in his synagogue and were primarily teaching occasions. He frowned on the idea of the Chasidim eating his leftovers. A bit of cake and more than a bit of wine and vodka were present, but almost never did the Rebbe wash for bread. The exceptions were at the end of festivals when the Rebbe would declare a meal in order to extend the holy occasion. These took place towards the completion of Rosh Hashana, Simchat Torah, Passover, & Shavuot. These meals would continue into the night, as would Shabbat Day farbrengens in the winter, after which the Rebbe would recite havdalah, and thousands (no exaggeration!) of Lubavitchers, members of other Chasidic groups, and non-chasidim, from all over the Greater New York area, some driving for hours, would arrive in the Crown Heights district of Brooklyn to file by the Rebbe for a bit of havdalah wine that the Rebbe would pour into the person's cup. A Saturday night farbrengen, however, was especially rare (except in 5738, after the Rebbe's major heart attack, when he needed a microphone in order to speak publicly). And for the Rebbe to wash in public for "Malaveh Malka" ["Escorting the Queen"…the official Saturday night mitzvah meal], was virtually unheard of. Nevertheless, there was one Saturday night when the Rebbe did wash publicly and ate bread. This took place on Vav Tishrei 5735 (September 21, 1974) on the occasion of his mother's twelfth yahrzeit. At the end of the meal, the Rebbe gave everyone who approached him a bit of wine, this time from "the cup of blessing" upon which the concluding prayer for the meal was recited. One such visitor, a Jew from the relatively near-by Boro Park section of Brooklyn, was quite surprised when the Rebbe called him back after he had received his wine. "Did you participate in the farbrengen and did you wash your hands for Malaveh Malka?" The Rebbe asked him. "No," answered the Jew wonderingly, and added that he had just arrived a few minutes before. He had come for the "cup of blessing." "So, go wash now," instructed the Rebbe, "and eat something for Melaveh Malka." "After all," added the Rebbe, "It is a mitzvah to eat the Malaveh Malka meal, and a segula (propitious thing) for protection and success. As it says on the popular traditional Saturday night song 'Do not be afraid, my servant Yaakov'." The man was quite taken by surprise, as were the people around him who heard the exchange, especially when the man told them that he hadn't come seeking a blessing or a segula for anything in particular. Nevertheless, he of course immediately went to follow the Rebbe's directives; washing his hands, eating a slice of bread and other edibles. Ten days or so later, during one of the nights of the Sukkot festival, a number of Chabad Chasidim were sitting and farbrengen in the large sukkah on the patio of 770 Eastern Parkway, the Rebbe's synagogue and Lubavitch World Headquarters. They were startled when the Jew from Boro Park burst in and shouted in high emotion, "L'Chaim! L'Chaim, my Jewish brothers and L'Chaim to the holy Rebbe. This is truly a Baal Shem Tov story - so amazing!" He was clearly both shaken and excited. After he calmed down somewhat, he reviewed for them his unusual encounter with the Rebbe two Saturday nights previously, and then continued. "At 4 a.m. this morning, my son set out for Monsey by car with his wife and children. On the way, a large freight truck crashed into them and their car was totally destroyed. Miraculously, and by "miraculously" I mean there is absolutely no possible explanation according to natural law, no one was seriously injured. In fact, nobody was hurt at all. All the policemen at the scene and all the passersby said they had never seen such a miracle. "And that's not all," he went on with great excitement, "From the force of the crash all of their belongings were crushed. When they came back home I noticed that among the crushed things was a siddur, totally unusable and illegible, except that one page had torn loose and was dangling out - the page on which was printed the Melaveh Malka song, "Don't be afraid, my servant Yaakov!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [Translated,
adapted and expanded by Yerachmiel Tilles from Kfar Chabad Magazine] Biographical
note:
If you want to see the original Hebrew (300+ words) and get an idea of what goes into producing these simple-seeming stories (1000- words) for a broad audience, here it is:
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Rabbi
Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe (11 Nissan 1902 - 3 Tammuz
1994), became the seventh Rebbe of the Chabad dynasty after his father-in-law,
Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, passed away in Brooklyn on 10 Shvat 1950.
He is widely acknowledged as the greatest Jewish leader of the second half of
the 20th century. Although a dominant scholar in both the revealed and hidden
aspects of Torah and fluent in many languages and scientific subjects, the Rebbe
is best known for his extraordinary love and concern for every Jew on the planet.
His emissaries around the globe dedicated to strengthening Judaism number in
the thousands. Hundreds of volumes of his teachings have been printed, as well
as dozens of English renditions.
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.