Dear Alumni Sheyichyu!
Sholom U’Brocho!
Mazeltov to Rabbi Gershon Avtzon, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Lubavitch of Cincinnati, on the occasion of his 40th birthday. May he have a shnas hatzlocho rabo umuflogo and continue mei chayil el choyil. Mazel Tov to Boruch Chaikin on the occasion of his engagement. [Mazel Tov as well to Rabbi and Mrs. Dovid Leib Chaikin and family]. Mazel Tov to Mendel Vogel on the occasion of his engagement. May they use out the special period of Yokor Mikol yokor to its’ utmost! Mazel tov to Rabbi and Mrs. Yossi Nigri on the birth of their daughter. May they bring her up lTOveCHuMAA”T mitoch harchovo, and to be a true chayol! (If anyone is aware of any mazeltov’s that I am missing please let me know).
Thank you very much, as always, for the feedback, it is much appreciated!
Behemshech to the email of last week, I was sent in the following story (that was related by Rabbi Nosson Gurary), by both Rabbi Zalman Goldberg and Rabbi Mendel Goldwasser, yasher koach godol to both:
Rabbi Zalman Gurary once wrote to the Rebbe with a question about a certain matter and received the response תצעכם ידידים יניבמ. Reb Zalman was taken aback about the fact that the Rebbe didn’t answer him directly, and instead referred him to yedidim mevinim. With his special guts (and perhaps a bit of chutzpa...), he wrote back to the Rebbe that he doesn’t have a better yedid than the Rebbe. The Rebbe replied: ‘What do you care if I give you my answer via the yedidim mevinim?’
The following story, was shared by Rabbi Pinchas Baumgarten, shliach of the Rebbe to Argentina, who was personally involved. I am giving it over in first person, as he related it:
“One day, when I was an older bochur (chosson) learning in 770, I was called by Rabbi Benyomin Klein to his office. There were some people there who needed his help, but they didn’t know enough English and he didn’t know Spanish, so he needed my services as a translator.
I went into the office and there were 3 fellows standing there, and they told me that they were brothers, and they came to ask for a brocho from the Rebbe for one of them, who was very ill and the doctors didn’t give him much hope. They clarified that money is no object for them, but they were requesting to see the Rebbe right away, because there was a Jew back in Argentina who had told them that if they go to New York and they don’t see the Lubavitcher Rebbe, then it’s as if they never went!
I told Reb Benyomin Klein what they said, and Rabbi Klein told me to tell them that the Rebbe doesn’t see anyone until after the 9 days (this was in the beginning of Av), so if they’re willing to wait until after tisha b’Av, then he can try to arrange for them an appointment. I asked them where they’re staying, and they explained that they were staying in a very fancy hotel in 5th Ave, where they have an entire floor for themselves (because – in addition to their group - they were accompanied by their doctor, who was one of the top doctors in Argentina, and they had flown him down with them).
I asked them if they’re ready to wait, and they said that they were willing to wait, and in the meantime the brother who was not well would continue his chemotherapy treatments with the doctor who was accompanying them. In the course of our conversation it came to light that they didn’t keep any parts of Yiddishkeit, not Kosher, not Shabbos, nothing!
I took them around the corner and bought them 3 pairs of tefillin, explaining to them that they need to start doing something even before going into the Rebbe, in order to be keilim for the brocho. Every day I went to...
