Dear Alumni Sheyichyu!
Sholom U’Brocho!
Mazel Tov to Meir Lax on the occasion of his engagement. May he use out the special period of Yokor Mikol yokor to its’ utmost! Mazel Tov to Rabbi & Mrs. Mendy Wolf on the birth of their daughter. Mazel Tov to Rabbi & Mrs, Chaim Hoch on the birth of their daughter. May they bring them up lTOveCHuMAA”T mitoch harchovo, and to be a true chayolo! (If anyone is aware of any mazeltov’s that I omitted please let me know).
Thank you as always for the feedback, it is much appreciated.
The following story was retold by the Frierdige Rebbe:
The Holy Ruzhiner (Rabbi Israel of Ruzhin) went to great lengths to abolish and negate amongst his Chassidim any and all feelings of sadness, even of bitterness. So this resulted in some of his chassidim engaging in all sorts of practical jokes on Tisha B’av (in order to mitigate the sadness of the day). They would throw burrs at each other. Then they conceived of the following prank: they opened a skylight in the roof of the beis midrash and lowered a net; when someone walked into the beis midrash, they would yank on the rope so that the net fastened itself around him, and then they’d pull him up to the roof.
It happened that the Ruzhiner himself walked in to the study hall. Those who were up on the roof could not see clearly who was coming in from their vantage point, so –mistaking him for just another chosid - they pulled him up. As if that wasn’t bad enough, when he was half-way to the roof, they suddenly realized to their dismay that they were hosting up none other than their holy Rebbe! Startled, they lost hold of the rope, and the Rebbe was unceremoniously dumped back to the ground, landing with a thud.
The Chassidim, upon learning about what had transpired, were scandalized, and a great tumult arose in town. The Rebbe himself, however, calmed them down.
Cried out the Ruzhiner: "Master of the Universe! If Your children are not properly observing Your 'festival,' take it away from them!"
