by Rabbi Tuvia Bolton
- The following was related to me by Rabbi Yosef Zaltzman about his grandfather Rabbi Avraham Zaltzman.
Once, at a gathering, Rabbi Avraham Zaltzman told a story about his wild childhood in his yeshiva-days in the town of Lubavitch almost 100 years ago.
When Avraham was 12 years old, he had a very difficult time sitting for long hours and studying Torah. He and two other boys in the yeshiva with similar natures were given various odd jobs to keep them busy in positive ways.
One of these jobs was to milk a few goats in a nearby farm and supply milk to the pupils. But this too became boring and one terrible day, desperate for action, they somehow managed to get one of the goats to drink vodka. They then led the intoxicated animal to the entrance of the large study hall. While all the pupils were diligently immersed in Talmudic studies, Avraham and his friends pushed the goat in.
The goat, totally oblivious to the holiness of the place, jumped on tables, knocked over several rabbis and scattered books and papers in all directions. It was hours before the decorum could be restored and, of course, it was no secret as to who was to blame.
The three boys were summoned to the dean of the yeshiva, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, who was the son of the Lubavitcher Rebbe at that time and founder of the Yeshiva. They were told to pack their belongings and leave.
With no other choice they did as they were told and several hours later were waiting in the train station in the nearby city of Rodna, with their suitcases in hand to return to their homes.
Suddenly Avraham turned to his friends and said, "What are we doing?! We can't leave! We have to go back and plead for mercy!" But the others just shook their heads "no."
"It won't work. Did you see the look on the dean's face? He doesn't want to see us again. We're finished!" One answered.
The other boy agreed. "He's not going to take us back this time. We're out for sure!"
But Avraham didn't give up and before the train arrived he succeeded in convincing one of the boys to come back with him and give it a try.
They said good-bye to their friend and trudged back to Lubavitch with no real idea what their next step was but Avraham wouldn't go down without a battle.
They couldn't go back to the dean. And the Rebbe also wasn't the one to approach; he would not override his son's decision... especially here.
Their only chance was the dean's grandmother, the Rebbe's mother, Rebbetzin Rivka. She had a wonderful, warm heart. Maybe she could help.
They went to her house, knocked on the door and when she answered Avraham poured out his heart. When he was finished, her answer was to the point.
"I can't go against the decision of my grandson; he's the dean of the yeshiva. The only one that might be able to do that is my son, the Rebbe. But I can't talk to him about this either. I simply can't mix in.
"But, what I can do is this: every morning at 10 o'clock, my son, the Rebbe, sits in his room and drinks a cup of tea. Come tomorrow morning and I'll show you where the room is ... but you will have to do the talking."
The next morning, Avraham reported back to Rebbetzin Rivka while his friend, who was simply too afraid, waited outside.
She let him in and pointed out the room where the Rebbe was sitting. The door was open and when the Rebbe saw Avraham standing there he looked at him for a moment and asked him what he wanted.
"I want to learn in Lubavitch." He was almost crying.
"Lubavitch?" smiled the Rebbe as he motioned him to come closer, "but there are so many other good yeshivas!" And the Rebbe listed all the other Torah academies, about 20 of them, in the area.
"But I want to learn here, in Lubavitch!" When the Rebbe heard this he began to smile and when Avraham saw the smile he began to cry. Suddenly the Rebbe became serious and said, "We will think about it... come back later today."
Avraham backed out of the office, but suddenly he stopped, and just stood there looking sheepishly at the ground.
"What do you want now?" the Rebbe asked.
"I have a friend," Avraham answered. "He's waiting outside."
"A friend? We will think about him also," the Rebbe replied. "Come back in a few hours."
"Well, the story has a happy ending," Rabbi Avraham concluded to his listeners. "We returned to the Rebbe a few hours later. The Rebbe took us into his son, said a few words and left.
"His son imposed a stiff fine on us: we had to learn by heart tens of pages of Talmud and Chasidut. But he accepted us back. And that is the story of how my broken heart got me back into yeshiva."
Rabbi Mendel Futerfas, who was at the gathering and had been listening with interest was the first to comment. "Tell me, Reb Avraham, why do you think he did that? What made him accept you back into the yeshiva?"
"Like I said," he replied, "because I wanted so much to learn in Lubavitch that I actually wept! A person should want to study Chasidic teachings so much that his heart is breaking!!"
"No!" said Reb Mendel. "You are wrong. Your broken heart is not what got you back into Lubavitch. The reason the Rebbe took you back was because you worried for your friend! You thought of another Jew! That's why he took you back! Because of your brotherly love!"
From Ohrtmimim.org
