Eternal Bond
The love of Chassidim for their Rebbe is greater than that of a parent for their child. It is a deep soul connection stemming from Heavenly heights, and a legacy brought down to the physical world and felt in every aspect of a Chassid’s being. The Avner Institute presents poignant memories of the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe by Rabbi Yosef Goldstein OBM, famed storyteller and educator, who during his life had witnessed the anguish of family and community at the Rebbe Rayatz’s passing and the utmost care to the funeral rites by the Rebbe Rayatz’s son-in-law and successor, the current Rebbe.
Dedicated in memory of loving memory of Hadassah Lebovic A”h
“We need ‘a Yisroel’”
When the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, known as the Rebbe Rayatz, lived in the U.S. he was not in the best of health. As I already mentioned, I had the privilege of living on the bottom floor of 770, where the administrative office of Tomchei T’mimim-770 is now located. This enabled me to be a witness to various incidents that took place in 770. One of those incidents took place in the winter of 5705 (1945).
I was sleeping in my room when I was suddenly woken up by strong knocks at my door. I opened the door immediately and saw R’ Shmuel Levitin standing there,
trembling.
“Come upstairs quickly; we need ‘a Yisroel,’” he said I realized that something terrible had happened with the Rebbe Rayatz and that they fearfully anticipated his imminent passing.
The holy books say that when the soul leaves the body it’s a portent sign to have a Kohen, Levi, and Yisroel standing nearby, referring to priest, Temple attendant, and ordinary individual — the hierarchy of Jewish males. R’ Levitin was a Levi, R’ Sholom Ber Eichorn was a Kohen, and they woke me up because I am a Yisroel.
In great fright I went up to the second floor. On the way I saw doctors running with their instruments towards the Rebbe’s room. Just as I was about to enter the Rebbe’s room, the Rebbe’s son-in-law (the Rebbe) arrived. Because he was a Yisroel, he motioned to me to go, as he would take my place.
Later on I learned that the Rebbe Rayatz had had a severe heart attack. He ultimately recovered from it, but from that point on, new decrees were enacted which prevented people from approaching the Rebbe at private audiences and
farbrengens, in order to make things easier for him.
I once heard that the Rebbe’s doctors said they had no rational explanation as to how the Rebbe continued to live after such a serious heart attack. The Rebbe
continued to have audiences and to farbreng, but it was quite limited.
The Rebbe!
The events surrounding the passing of the Rebbe Rayatz have been written in many places. I will just mention some details which I remember.
In general, it is difficult for me to relate the events of those days. It is engraved deep within me, and I find it difficult to even speak about it. Our lives were with the Rebbe, with farbrengens, the image of the Rebbe, the spodik [high fur hat], the beard, as well as the face that always appeared aflame. We were as attached to the Rebbe as bees to honey, and suddenly…
I was in Boro Park that Shabbos, at my parents. On Motzaei Shabbos, after Havdala, Rabbi Sholom Mendel Simpson called. He could not say a word except for, “the Rebbe…”
I blanched, and my mother, who got scared, asked me what had happened. But unable to answer, I simply said, “the Rebbe…”
I went to Crown Heights, and the atmosphere was horrendous. “Upon whose shoulders has he left us,” bemoaned one of the Chassidim. Years later I reminded him of what he had said, and I added, “Now you know upon whose shoulders he left
us.”
“Gevald, you are a heavenly man!”
When we got to 770 all the doors were open. One could walk all the way in, and this itself demonstrated what a churban, devastation, had taken place. I shuddered as I entered lifnai u’lifnim, the inner chamber.
The holy body of the Rebbe Rayatz, covered with a tallis, lay near the door from east to west. The Rebbe stood on the side and recited Psalms, Tehillim.
I also began saying Tehillim. When I got to the verse “the One Who sits in heaven yis’chak – will laugh,” I accidentally said, “Yitzchok,” and the Rebbe MH”M gave me a sharp look.
The Rebbe looked constrained, his facial features severe. Nevertheless, he was on top of things, tending to every detail. As someone entered, the Rebbe asked whether he had gone to the mikvah, and that if he hadn’t, he was not allowed to come in.
R’ Mordechai Groner entered the room, and, using his gartel [belt], he measured the length of the Rebbe’s body in order to be able to prepare the casket. Downstairs, carpenters built a casket out of the lectern the Rebbe Rayatz had used for davening.
It was a terrifying sight. I remember R’ Yisroel Altein standing and crying bitterly, while in his hand was a piece of wood that the carpenter had left over from the lectern.
All the Rebbe’s relatives were there. They looked absolutely green in their great pain. In the hallway stood Rabbis Rothstein, Ushpal, and Rivkin. R’ Ushpal said that at the time of the passing of the Rebbe Rayatz’s father Rabbi Sholom Dovber — Rebbe Rashab — one of the Chassidim standing there refused to believe what he was seeing and cried bitterly, “Gevald, gevald, Ribono shel olam! Even a murderer in the forest wouldn’t take a Rebbe from his Chassidim!”
Rabbi Rivkin, who wrote Ashkavta D’Rebbe in which he describes the passing of the Rebbe Rashab, said, “I saw the first churban, and now I’m seeing the second.” Referring to the promise that the Third Temple would soon be rebuilt, he added, “I am certain that the third ‘bayis’ will last forever!”
When the casket was taken down the steps and out of 770, I stood off to the side and watched. My heart cried within me, and tears didn’t stop rolling down my cheeks.
I miraculously managed to get a ride to the cemetery, and I arrived there before the funeral procession. A few minutes later the hearse arrived. The Rebbe meticulously oversaw every detail while restraining his emotions. He indicated what had to be done with a motion of his head. I stood very close to the gravesite.
Suddenly, Rebbetzin Nechama Dina, widow of the Rebbe Rayatz, approached, and as the casket was lowered into the ground she cried out, “Gevald, du bist doch a himel mentch, vos lozt men dich arup? Vu firt men dich?” (Gevald, you are a heavenly man! How do you allow them to lower you? Where are they bringing you?)
This exclamation is hard to forget and good to remember.
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