When Reb Mendel came to Siberia he went up to the officer and said, "I want you to know that I am not going to work on Shabbos. If you think because I am lazy, I am willing to work all Motzaei Shabbos and Sunday." When the officer saw that he was so determined and sincere he was allowed off from working Shabbos.
When asked about his time in Siberia, he replied, "they were the most inspiring days of my life." He continued to explain "throughout my life, I always felt a battle between the material and the spiritual. In the labor camps, there was no battle. My life was all spiritual. All I had to do was learn Torah and daven. Of course we had to work! In one camp, my job was to care for a herd of pigs. I had to begin at 4:00 am and did not finish until 6:00 pm. In the winter, it was so cold that once the straps of my Tefillin froze. When I began to unwind them, they cracked. It was hard and crushing work, but only physically. My soul was free. There was nothing holding me back. All my energy could be focused on prayer and study."
He was asked if he had any Seforim? "Seforim?! The Russians would allow us Jewish books to study from? So how did I study? I would picture the cheder I attended when I was a child. I would sit in the third row. I remembered the table at which I would sit, the Seforim that were placed on it. To my right sat my friend Berel, and to my left my friend Zalman. Yossel sat in front of me. I remembered their faces, the games we would play, the secrets we would tell each other. I remembered the Rebbi, tall, with stern eyes, but with a warm and loving smile. I would picture him and the classroom in my mind. The scene was so vivid that I could actually hear the melamed speaking, "Shnayim ochazin betallis... If two people are holding on to a garment, and one of them says it is entirely mine and the other says it is entirely mine..." (Bava Metzia 2.). I would listen, and concentrate to record his words in my mind. Soon he had taught me a page of Talmud. I then shut off the picture of the cheder and began to review the page that I had just learned. After a time, it was committed to memory. Then I returned to the Cheder to learn another page of Gemarah. In this way, I learned many chapters of Gemarah and a good part of Tanya.
In his later years Reb Mendel was a Mashpia in Chabad Yeshiva. In order not to sleep alone at night he asked two boys to come and sleep with him. The two boys were very excited and came over at ten o'clock to Reb Mendel's house. He offered them a drink, shared with them some Divrei Torah and then said that it's time to say Krias Shema. The boys said Shema and went to sleep. Around 2 am one of the boys woke up and heard quiet weeping. He jumped out of bed and went do the door of Reb Mendel's room. He looked through the key hole and saw Reb Mendel holding a Siddur. He was still before saying Shema. He was saying the part before, 'Hareini Mochel' - The paragraph before Shema that a person forgives everyone who angered or antagonized them. He was busy repeating the same words over and over and bursting into tears.
The boy quickly went back to his room and woke up his friend that he shouldn't miss such an awesome sight. They stood watching quietly for about half an hour and then they were too tired and they went back to sleep. They had no clue how long this went on for. On Shevuos they got together and had a Hitvaadus. Reb Mendel had drunk a lot so one of the boys took the opportunity and asked Reb Mendel what it was all about. Reb Mendel answered with such a simplicity, "when I say that I forgive, that means I am a somebody, so much so, that someone hurt me. Who am I? Who do I think I am? I am a nobody!" And he started crying uncontrollably.
Chabad is known for their Hitvaadus and Fabrengen. (Getting together sharing Divrei Torah and singing) Once at a Hitvaadus, Reb Mendel said, "even Noach knew that the first thing one needed to do after the Mabul was to drink a Lechaim. Therefore he took branches of vines into the Teiva - ark, in order to plant them after the Mabul and grow grapes." "If so," asked Reb Mendel, "how could such a tragedy happen as the Torah tells us with Noach becoming drunk and his son Cham behaving so inappropriately?" "The answer is very clear, that's what happens when one drinks on one's own. 'Lechaim' one drinks together!"
