During this special year of Gimmel (3) Tammuz, the 30th yahrzeit of the Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of blessed memory, we honor the Rebbe’s tremendous legacy of achievements for postwar Jewry. But in addition are the more intimate achievements, effected by the Rebbe’s blessings to Jews from all walks of life. The Avner Institute presents a selection of inspiring stories adapted from the diaries of Rabbi Shneur Zalman Wilschansky, of blessed memory—recently deceased Rosh Yeshivas Tomchei T’mimim Lubavitch in Morristown, New Jersey—highlighting the Rebbe’s everyday activities and quite a few open miracles.
In loving memory of of Hadassah Lebovic A”h
From the diaries of Rabbi Shneur Zalman Wilschansky, obm:
Check Again
A Belzer Chassid facing serious medical issues stood formally in the yechidus, private audience, with the Rebbe, whom he asked to be blessed for a speedy recovery.
Suddenly the Rebbe asked him, “Do you have a prescription?”
Surprised, the Chassid answered that he did not.
The Rebbe asked him again, “Do you have a prescription?”
Again, the Chassid said he did not.
After asking him a third time, the Rebbe finally said, “Check your pocket.”
The Chassid slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small slip of paper with the doctor’s handwriting—the prescription he had received a short time before.
Stepping out of the Rebbe’s office, the Chassid said in amazement to those waiting outside, “I knew for certain that I didn’t have a prescription before the yechidus. Finding in his pocket was a miracle!”
Medical Knowledge
After completing his studies in Morristown, the yeshiva student wrote to the Rebbe for advice about his desire to pursue medicine and become a physician’s assistant. He emphasized the excessive cost and lengthy four years of study.
The student received the Rebbe’s positive answer. Within two and a half years he excelled and finished his studies successfully, passing all of his exams.
One day, however, he received the news: the Department of Health, deciding to cut the medical budget, had done away with the position of physician’s assistant.
The young man’s world came crashing down. His first thought was: why did the Rebbe agree that I enter this profession?
Sometime later he went to Atlanta, Georgia. While there, he was struck by a virus so severe that it attacked his body’s vital systems, and he was transported to a local hospital, located in the heart of a non-Jewish neighborhood.
The doctors, deciding he would make a good guinea pig, gave him various injections that had nothing to do with his condition. The young man, well versed in medicine, began yelling, “You shouldn’t be giving me these drugs! You should be trying others!”
The doctors realized they couldn’t fool around with him.
The young man later said, “The medical knowledge I acquired, thanks to the Rebbe, saved my life.”
Judaism & Chocolate
Four-year-old Yossi refused to wear a yarmulka. All attempts to get him to wear one failed. In despair, his parents wrote to the Rebbe about their strange problem and asked for the Rebbe’s blessing and advice.
They quickly received a reply. “Check and see whether the boy eats a certain brand of chocolate without proper kosher certification.”
The parents investigated the matter. They discovered that Yossi was indeed eating this chocolate at a friend’s house. From then on, they became very particular about which candies their children ate.
At the same time, the child stopped his opposition to wearing a yarmulka.
Just the Right Amount
For many years, the Rebbe sent matzah shmura, hand-made Passover matzah, to certain rabbis who lived in Eretz Yisroel, including famed Rabbi Aryeh Levine (A Tzaddik in Our Time) in Jerusalem. The matzoth were sent with Rabbi Ezriel Zelig Slonim, peace be with him.
One year, when Rabbi Slonim came as usual to the Rebbe for the matzoth, the Rebbe gave him a certain amount for each rabbi, but none for Reb Aryeh.
Rabbi Slonim was surprised. He dared to ask the Rebbe for matzah for Rabbi Levine, as though perhaps the holy man had been overlooked.
The Rebbe did not respond. Nevertheless, he added matzah.
When Rabbi Slonim arrived in Eretz Yisroel, he was shocked to discover that Reb Aryeh had passed away.
Buying a Crib
In a small house in a Jerusalem neighborhood sat a young couple discussing a serious problem. Nearly a year had passed since they had married, and the loans they had taken to pay for an apartment weighed heavily on them. The woman would be giving birth in a few weeks, but they had no money to buy a crib.
The couple tried desperately to come up with ideas of where to raise the money, but it seemed as though there was not one benevolent fund left in the holy city from which they hadn’t yet taken a loan. All avenues seemed closed.
“We have no choice,” sighed the husband. “We can’t afford to buy a crib. We will simply have to rely on our Father in Heaven.”
A few hours went by. Suddenly they heard a knock at their door. Standing there was a Lubavitcher Chassid, Rabbi Avrohom Chanoch Glitzenstein.
“I am here on a mission from the Lubavitcher Rebbe,” he said. He held up a letter written to them by the Rebbe!
In amazement the husband took the letter. He had never written to the Rebbe, with whom he had no connection. He opened the letter.
To his greater amazement, he saw bills that added up to 720 Israeli liras. The next day they purchased a new crib, which cost precisely 720 Israeli liras.
Fulfill Your Obligation with a Verse
From Rabbi Moshe Wolfson, of blessed memory—recently deceased spiritual guide of Yeshiva Torah VaDaas:
A few years ago, I had a certain problem that caused me much heartache. I decided to tell the Rebbe, and when I went for dollars, which the Rebbe customarily distributed most Sundays, I told the Rebbe my problem.
The Rebbe said, “May you fulfill your obligation by saying the verse Lev nishbar v’nidkeh, Elokim lo sivzeh (G-d will not despise a broken heart).”
I was astounded to hear this. Only I knew that in recent nights, had I spent a great deal of time on that verse during the prayers before retiring.
Chanukah in Tishrei?
On Erev Yom Kippur, thousands of people passed by the Rebbe to receive honey cake. As usual, the Rebbe wished each person a “Sweet New Year.” But to one woman, the Rebbe said, “Chanukah sameiach – happy Chanukah.”
“I couldn’t have heard it correctly,” thought the woman.
Three months passed. On Chanukah, the woman realized that she had heard the Rebbe correctly.
During that holiday she suffered a heart attack, requiring immediate surgery. Lying in the recovery room, the woman remembered the Rebbe’s blessing.
Chanukah on 19 Kislev?
“This happened in Kislev 5750 (1989), when I learned in Yeshivas Karlin-Stolin in Boro Park,” began Avrohom Chaim Silver. “I decided to go to the Rebbe for Yud-Tes Kislev, the anniversary of the Alter Rebbe’s liberation from Russian prison. On Sunday, I stood in line for dollars along with my friend, Benny Amar.
“When I passed by the Rebbe, I received a dollar along with a bracha v’hatzlacha rabba—blessing and great success. The Rebbe gave Benny the following blessing in Yiddish: ‘A happy Chanuka,’ along with a long look.
“We were very surprised. We wondered why the Rebbe varied from the usual blessing and why he was wishing a “freilichen Chanukah,” which began later, on the 25th of Kislev, when it was only the 19th and a different holiday. Nobody could explain it.
“That week, Benny and I were walking on a busy New York street, when Benny crossed without looking and was hit by a car. It was a terrible sight to behold. Benny lay there in the middle of the street, his head to one side, his hat, yarmulka, and glasses strewn about him. I stood on the sidewalk, rooted to my spot and thinking the worst.
“To my amazement, Benny got up, put on his yarmulka, hat, and glasses, and motioned to me to continue walking with him to shul! The shocked driver hurried over to Benny and offered to drive him to the hospital, but Benny demurred.
“ ‘I feel fine, thank G-d,’ he said. “I’m not going to the hospital just for some little pains in my leg.”
“But the driver didn’t give up. He insisted that Benny get into the car and drive with him to the hospital. I joined them.
“Suddenly I recalled the Rebbe’s blessing from the beginning of the week. What would have happened if… What kind of Chanukah would it have been?
“The examination at the hospital confirmed Benny’s initial thinking that aside from a few scratches, he was fine.”
Cure before the Fall
A Chassid who had told the Rebbe about the birth of his son, and who had asked for a blessing for his other children, did not receive an answer.
Three years went by. Out of the blue, a letter from the Rebbe arrived. The Rebbe blessed the parents for the birth of the child as well as for the upsherin, the haircutting ceremony of a three-year-old boy, and then mysteriously ended the letter with “refua shleima, a speedy recovery.”
The next day the miracle occurred:
The child fell out of the fourth story window, yet the medics who arrived on the scene were amazed to see the child get up and walk around as though nothing had happened.
Chitas & Pushka in the Car
A Chassid who had told the Rebbe about his recent car accident received the following written answer: He should have in his car a Chitas (Tanya, Book of Psalms, Chumash, and prayerbook), and a pushka (charity box).
At first, the Chassid didn’t understand why the Rebbe had put Tanya, Tehillim, and a Siddur in parentheses. After a quick look in his car, he realized that he had had those items there. However, the pushka, which was usually in his car, was not there at the time of the accident.
Earlier Flight
“Rebbe, I am going to Eretz Yisroel next Wednesday and I request your blessing,” said the woman in line for dollars.
The Rebbe gave her a dollar, reciting the customary “l’bracha v’hatzlacha, blessing and success,” and added, “You will certainly give this dollar for tzedakah on Tuesday in Eretz Yisroel.”
The woman left in a turmoil. She had told the Rebbe she was leaving on Wednesday.
The next day she was told that one of the airlines was offering tickets on sale to Eretz Yisroel. The woman bought a ticket for Monday night, and on Tuesday afternoon she landed safely in Eretz Yisroel.
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