By Yochonon Donn, published in the weekly edition of Hamodia
A recent bris in a Boro Park basement shul tied together the strands of a story which began 3 decades ago in Crown Heights and continued on to a Belgian goodbye party.
Shimon and Yehudis Klein got married 6 years ago with hopes and dreams of starting a family in the Klausenburger mesorah in which he grew up.
He was from Antwerp, she was from Boro Park, and together they moved to Brussels where Shimon had a parnassah as a chazzan.
But the years passed, and the sounds of crying and laughter which are the natural accompaniment of a growing family failed to materialize. The soaring ups and abrupt downs of tests and consultations filled the young couple with anxiety.
Money was also hard to come by, and the couple felt that they just were not succeeding in their chosen home city. About a year ago they decided to move to New York. They had no jobs set up but hoped that a change in location would bring a change in mazel.
Before they left, the community in which the Kleins belonged in Brussels made them a goodbye party. Afterward, Dr. Hershel Greenberg, a local general practitioner and friend of the family, invited them to his house for a Shabbos meal.
It was 3 Tammuz, the yartezit of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, so Dr. Greenberg took out a small bottle of wine and said that he had received the flask from the Rebbe some 30 years before. Almost immediately afterward he had misplaced the wine and had just recently found it.
“Let’s drink a l’chaim!” he told his guests.
The two families drank from the wine and Dr. Greenberg, who is a well-known and longtime mohel in Brussels, then wished them hatzlachah on their upcoming move.
“I give you a brachah that you should soon have a baby boy,” he said. “And when you make the bris I want you to invite me to be the mohel.”
The Kleins answered amen. After Shabbos they moved to Brooklyn, settling in Boro Park. They both managed to find good jobs, and shortly afterward — like a bolt of lightning, Shimon said — they heard the good news.
The baby boy was born two weeks early. As Klausenburger chassidim, Shimon initially expected to name the baby for his own Rebbe, Harav Yekusiel Yehudah Halberstam, zt”l, whose 22nd yahrtzeit would be the week after the bris.
It then hit him — the bris would take place on 3 Tammuz, exactly a year after he drank the wine from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, zt”l, whose yahrtzeit fell on that date. There was no longer any question what the name would be.
Dr. Greenberg came in from Belgium to perform the bris, which took place in the Sanzer shul on Dahill Road in Brooklyn.
Reached by Hamodia on Tuesday, the sweet cries and gurgles of two-week-old Menachem Mendel could be heard in the background. Shimon agreed that reporting on this story would give chizuk to other couples in similar situations.
“This is my personal miracle,” he said. “But for all those going through what we went through [you should know that] there’s a bright day coming in the end. Your hopes go up and down, but all of a sudden you hear the good news.”
And one other lesson he learned from the whole story: “You should try to get brachos from Yidden. They help.”
This is amazing! I am one of those parents who also struggled, and my wife and I were zoche to have a healthy baby boy, after losing our oldest daughter to pediatric illness. Folks, its right before the 9 days…do not reply with such hateful remarks. They are hurtful, and this is why we lost our holy beis hamikdash. May Menachem Mendel be a source of nachas to his parents for years to come!
May Menachem Mendel grow to Torah, chupah, and maasim toivim, and may there be a lot of good news of married couples bieng blessed with children.
this BLOG brings grate ACHDUS amongst clall yisroel its grate lets keep it that way
A team chizuk for all. Thanks for sharing.
Yasher Koach – what a beautiful story!
May all Yidden share Simchas and good health!
umm do you realize that most aidel, frum women do not want their picture broadcast on the internet? Do you realize that until very recently when standards have dropped low, this was NORMAL in Lubavitch publications also?
to couples experiencing infertility – review the laws of
Taharas Hamishpacha. May they all have their hopes
fulfilled!
If you look carefully you notice the article was taken from Hamodia, from there is where the picture came from.
This is so touching and beautiful. Mazal tov!
Mazel tov and continued nachas to these parents. It is imperative that we all be mispallel for couples wanting to have children. I daven that Hashem should bless all married couples with zara chaya v’kayama, and that all the babies be normal and healthy, and that their parents should raise their children l’gadla t’Torah l’Chuppah u l’Maasim Tovim in good health ad mea v’esreem shana.
My reply to commentor # 7 WOW: Why should the different hat styles matter? Achdus is what is important.
It’s a beautiful story and I wish the happy couple only Mazal. By posting a picture of three men you discount the struggle and joy of the mother. Don’t preach about tznius, there are a lot of way that the mother’s Tznius could have been honored.
That is so amazing! A beautiful rebbe story
Very Kool story!
Iyh all the couples will have babies!!
Schep tons of nachas!
Really cute story
But lol the pic is 3 different types of hats
one of the most heartwarming stories heard in a while
Look how Menachem Mendel is focused on his father. Beautiful!
Truly lovely story, just in time for Shabbos.
And iyh he will have many more children and can name another after the Klausenburger Rebbe. We should have so many kids that this should be our only issue to figure out the name.
Beautiful!
Thanks for sharing