Dear Alumni Sheyichyu!
Sholom U’Brocho!
Mazel Tov
to Rabbi & Mrs. Shuky Steinberg on the birth of their son. May they bring him up lTOveCHuMAA”T mitoch harchovo, and to be a true chayol! (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.
Rabbi Yossi Zaltzman, shliach of the Rebbe to the Russian Jews of Toronto, shared the following story about his grandfather, R’ Avrohom Zaltzman, at a recent farbrengen:
R’ Avremel Zaltzman was a yungerman about 5 years after his chasunah, and, sadly, there were no children. They had been to physicians, but to no avail. One top doctor examined them and stated unequivocally “When hair grows on my palm, then you may have children”.
It was Ellul (before Tishrei of 5686 or 5687), and Avremel was filled with a great Chassidic longing to travel to Leningrad, and to spend Tishrei with the Rebbe. He approached his young wife and shared his thoughts with her, and she was fully supportive, encouraging him to indeed follow his heart, and spend the Yomim Tovim with the Rebbe.
But Avremel still looked downcast. ‘How can I go to the Rebbe empty-handed’ he asked her, ‘I must bring something to the Rebbe’,
But, while she emphasized with him, she did not see any practical solution, living as they did in abject poverty. “You can take anything from our house and pawn it to have something to bring the Rebbe. I don’t mind. But you know as well as I that our house is completely bare”.
But as she was talking to him, she noticed that he was eyeing her gold wedding band. She easily divined his thoughts, and happily removed her ring and handed it to him, telling him to get what he could for it, and bring it to the Rebbe.
Avremel was, needless to say, very embarrassed and uncomfortable about taking back his wife’s wedding ring (and becoming an “Indian giver”), but, seeing no other alternative, he accepted it. The ring was worth about 30-40 rubles, but R’ Avrohom, not being a man of business and therefore not knowing exactly how to go about getting the best price for it, decided to take it with him to Leningrad and sell it to one of the Chassidim there who deal in jewelry.
Sure enough, he made the trip, and when he arrived, he approached a fellow chosid and offered to sell him the ring. The chosid inquired as to where he had acquired it, and Avremel, put him off with meaningless platitudes.
But Chassidim, after all, are wise, and the chosid immediately ‘put two and two together’ and realized that this yungerman must be selling his wife’s wedding band in order to have something to bring to the Rebbe. The chosid, therefore, called together a few of his colleagues that evening and shared the story with them. He then places the ring on the table, and told them:
‘We will now auction off this ring. However, this will not be a standard auction; - instead, although the ring will go to the highest bidder, no-one else will get back their money. Everyone will place the amount of their bid – in cash – onto the table, and the entire accumulated sum will be handed over to the yungerman to give to the Rebbe’ (Chinese auction?)
They all complied, and when they were done, they had one thousand ruble to present to Avremel Zaltzman. The chosid who had organized the auction approached Avrohom the next day, and handed him the envelope, saying ‘the ring was sold, here is the money’. Avremel looked into the envelope, and almost fainted! A
