By COLlive reporter
“We are surrounded by a world that, [in] its very nature wants to deny Hashem. Bitachon is our window – not out of reality – but into reality.”
This is the philosophy the helped the Rubashkin family remain strong and sane as their business and life were shattered, said Leah Rubashkin.
The wife of Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin and mother of 10 spoke Sunday to 500 women in Crown Heights about “the journey of my family.”
Mr. Rubashkin had been under scrutiny for PETA’s animal rights complaints, bank fraud, and immigration charges while he ran the Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking plant in Iowa.
But his wife received a standing ovation, and told COLlive she was very moved by the warm reception at the inaugural Chinese Auction of Oholei Torah’s PTA.
With a cup of water handy, she read from a paper, her smile revealing her discomfort with the limelight. “They called me the guest speaker… I’m not really a speaker,” she noted.
Her speech was met with enthusiastic response nevertheless, as she described how belief in the Almighty led her past the legal hurdles and personal challenges.
“Either have bitachon and be calm that Hashem is with you or alternatively be upset, nervous and worry,” she said. “Hashem has his time, and when it’s right, it will happen, Sholom Mordechai says.”
She vividly described the May 12, 2008, Federal immigration raid on the plant founded by her father-in-law Aaron Rubashkin, and called it “a date Postville will never forget.”
Mrs. Rubashkin went on to speak about the days in the courthouse in South Dakota, and the many surprising occurences and people they met.
One of those people was a local whose Jewish name was Menachem Mendel – same as the Lubavitcher Rebbe – who declared “he’s innocent, innocent, innocent.”
She also spoke of their appointment as the official Shluchim to Sioux Falls by Rabbi Moshe Feller, Head Shliach to the Upper Midwest.
She said witnesses for the prosecution used the term “Sholom EZ pass”: “Say Sholom told you to do it and you can go.”
But the real story here, she said, was the outpour of support the Jewish public has shown to her family.
“The fact that we can get support from a paper like Yated Neeman, week in week out, for months. The editor Pinchos Lipschutz went out on ‘mesiras nefesh’ to support a yid he never met.”
Rubashkin said 1,300 letters of support were sent to judge Linda Reade and 4,000 Lubavitch students from across the U.S., Canada, England and Brazil had prayed for them.
She ended her speech reciting with the crowd the call “Ad Masai, Ad Masai, Ad Masai” for her personal redemption and the general redemption.
Watch the full speech:
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The Rubashkin family should be reunited speedily in our days and with Hashems help everything will go well and we should have Aleph Beis and Gimel
amazing
wow! amazing person and speech!!!
enough with the money already,people want to express how impressed they are with her courage and all you can do is think about money.we realise how important that is as well.
CAN EVERYONE STOP COMMENTING HOW EMOTIONAL THEY ARE DONATE MONEY. EVERY DROP COUNTS. DONATE WHAT YOU CANN AND GET YOUR FRIENDS, FAMILY, AND ANYONE ELSE YOU KNOW OR DON’T KNOW TO GIVE.
Leah, you are such an amazing person and a real inspiration to us all. I feel privileged to know you and your KH wonderful family. Looking forward to hearing the Good news soon!
vimeo videos can be posted on facebook and email – i just did it the other week
go to this link and on the right hand corner of the video you will see “embed”
http://vimeo.com/8069684
the Ruzhiner was born some 30 years after the passing of the Mezritsher Maggid. So maybe he heard it in his name from his father or somebody else….
unreal.
so we can post it on facebook and email
why the need for youtube?
what can i say? these rubshkins are amazing! a regular person – especialy one without any emuna – would have caved in
Can I ask for this to go on youtube?
thank you for putting up the talk – AMAZING! & Leah – you’re glasses are soooo clear – you’ve seen the winks & the smiles – now it’s time to hear the laughter – & the laughter of SM playing with Moshe, playing with all the kinderlach & einiklach in your home!
AD MOSAI?!?!?!?
To help Rabbi Rubashkin, I am taking on the hachlata of having more bitachon, b’ezras Hashem.
It is truly an amazing story of bitchon etc. I have written a couple of times to Sholom Mordechai and will continue to do so IYH. I also want to take this opportunity to comment on Rabbi Bell’s address criticizing the websites. Of course there are some vitrolic comments which should not be published but what a beautiful opporunity to share this address with the entire Chabad community all over the world as well as all of the other events internationally. Especially for those who were children at the time of Gimmel Tammuz, in addition to the learning to develop… Read more »
Thank you for bringing us this video. she is so inspiring!
We can all learn from her and her family’s bitachon.
Thank you for the post. And thank you Mrs. Leah Rubashkin for the beautiful lesson. May you, your family and Klal Yisroel have only revealed good.
This is the kind of woman Chazal were talking about when they said that it was in the merit of noshim tzidkonios, outstandingly noble women, that our forefathers were redeemed. May Hashem reward Leah and Sholom Mordchai and grant him a yeshua in the zechus of their bitochon that inspires all of us, their stubborn clinging to the Aiber-shteh in spite of so many yesurim.
i came to support you
but thinking about it….
maybe it was bitachon…
thank you for the chizuk, ALEPH, BAIS AND GIMMEL 🙂
wow, good news IYH!
What an amazing person!!! May Hashem grant that she should be reunited with her husband at home before Chanukah!!
i came to the talk in order to show solidarit y but i came away with much more , unbelievable and couragous!!!! no words
to describe emotions
nice to see you in the picture
heart taking!
i am watching this and just crying simply because the emes of this woman is so palpable