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Weekly Chasidic Story #1403 (5785-05 ) 26 Tishrei 5785 (Oct.28,
2024) This Week
"Twin Calves From/For a Blessing"
I spent weeks looking for a suitable home to live in the small city of Sumy,
Ukraine; half of the buildings didn't even have running water or a bathroom."
Why this week? All the animals came to Noah's Arik in pairs
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Twin Calves From/For a Blessing
(1)
Years ago, my wife Rochi (Rachel) and I [Yechiel-Shlomo Levitansky] [1]
were set to go on shlichus to Sumy, a small city in northern Ukraine,
near the Russian border. When we arrived, my family stayed with the shluchim
(emissaries) in Kharkov [a 3-hour ride southeast from Sumy], while I went to
Sumy to search for an apartment.
One night, I walked to my hotel room feeling very down. I had been there for
two weeks already, but I had not yet found a suitable place for us to live.
Was this all one big mistake?
The town square was mostly deserted. Over and over again, I replayed the events
of the past two weeks in my mind. Packing up our apartment in California and
shipping everything away. Flying with my wife and three children across the
ocean. Spending weeks looking for a suitable home to live in; half of the buildings
didn't even have running water or a bathroom.
Heavy footsteps interrupted my thoughts. I looked up to find a Ukrainian man
walking straight towards me. It was dark, and this man was staring at me. I
got a little nervous.
"Good evening," I called out in Russian.
"Good evening," he replied. "Are you Chabad Lubavitch?"
I blinked. This was not what I expected to hear! "Yes," I stammered.
"Who are you?"
"I'm also Chabad Lubavitch!"
I looked the heavyset Ukrainian up and down. Him, a Lubavitcher? "Are you
Jewish?" I asked.
"No."
"So
how does that work?" I asked delicately. "You're not
Jewish, but you're Chabad Lubavitch?"
"I work for the Lubavicher Rebbe!" He said proudly.
The Rebbe? I knew that in Ukraine, people refer to their Rabbis as 'Rebbe'.
Maybe he works for a shliach in a neighboring city?
"No, no, no!" he said. "I work for Rabbi Shneerson himself!"
My eyes opened wide.
"A few years ago, I won a lottery for an American green card," he
explained. "When I went to live in Brooklyn, I worked for the Rebbe! For
three years, I was the janitor at the Ohel in Queens! I know all the rabbi's
there
Rabbi Refson, Rabbi Krinsky
if you want, you can ask them
about me!"
I was stunned. What were the odds? Just moments before, I was doubting my decision
to go on shlichus in such a remote location. And right then, in the "remote"
town of Sumy, Ukraine, Hashem (G-d) showed me that he knew exactly where I was
and that he was with me! How else could I explain my encounter with a Ukrainian
gentile who so proudly called himself a Lubavitcher?
And if this Ukrainian man, who was the janitor at the Ohel, could walk around
proudly, saying that he works for the Lubavitcher Rebbe, where was my own pride?
I was a shliach of the Rebbe!
All my doubts disappeared. I straightened my shoulders and continued walking
to my hotel room, ready to build my future in this city no matter what it took.
The next day, I found an apartment.
Who
would have ever imagined that a little city in Ukraine would have a shul with
a minyan and daily kollel (yeshiva-style learning for married men), weekly
classes for women and a beautiful mikvah? Little did the Jews of Sumy,
Ukraine know, but their lives were about to be changed forever.
(2)
Each month, I go to the farm to watch the cows being milked so I can bring home
fresh cholov yisroel (Jewish supervised) milk for my family. When we
first arrived here, though, it wasn't so simple. I needed fresh milk for my
baby, so I went around asking the nearby farmers if I could watch them milk
their cows.
To my dismay, they all refused! Apparently, they had this tradition that if
a stranger watches a cow being milked, the cow will die! I offered to pay a
lot of money, but they didn't budge. Finally, I found an old couple who once
had Jewish neighbors, so they were familiar with the concept.
I would come at 5 am, watch them milk their one and only cow for an hour, and
return home with three liters of milk. One week, they told me that their cow
was pregnant and would stop giving milk, so I should come every day to stock
up.
When the cow finally gave birth, it had twins! The couple was ecstatic-they
could sell one of the calves for a half a year's salary!
It was the talk of the town that "the rabbi blessed the cow".
From then on, all the farmers were eager to let me watch them milk their cows
in the hopes that their cows might be blessed as well!
(3)
Let me conclude with a story that might give you an even bigger laugh.
For the first few years of our shlichus, we had to renew our visa very often.
The rules constantly changed, and it was a big headache. I hired a lawyer to
figure it out for me, and eventually, he told me that I should try applying
for residency.
Two weeks after I submitted my application, I was called to the immigration
office. I was told that while my application was denied, the head of immigration
wanted to speak with me.
"I'll be honest with you," she told me. "I'm not convinced by
your story. You brought your entire family from California to live in the small
town of Sumy, Ukraine. The only logical reason I can see for you to do that
is either because you're a spy, or because you're not normal! And we don't need
spies nor crazy people here. So I have to deny your application."
I couldn't believe my ears! There I had it: an official government stamp that
my going on shlichus to Ukraine was crazy. And that's exactly what the Rebbe
wanted from us! Not to go on shlichus because it makes sense, but because of
shtus d'kedusha ('holy craziness'), an unexplainable desire to brighten
up the world for the better!
I left the office on a high, ready to conquer the world.
In the end, we got our residency. My wife gave birth to our two younger daughters
in Ukraine, which gave us an official legitimate reason for permanent residency.
But I will never forget the lesson I learned in that little government office:
logic and reason cannot stand in the way of making the world a better place
and bringing Moshiach.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Source: Extracted, copy edited and supplemented by Yerachmiel Tilles from a
report on //dollardaily.org. ["Dollar Daily" is a creative tzadaka
project to benefit Chabad shluchim families.]
Why this week? All the animals came to Noah's Ark in pairs. :
Footnote:
[1] Yechiel Slomo Levitansky lives at present in Sumy, Ukraine with his wife
Rachel and their six children. After serving as a rabbi in Los Angeles (where
he was born in 1974,) and South Africa (where she was born) he moved to Ukraine
to the city of Sumy to be the chief rabbi. His shlichut is the restoration of
Jewish life in Sumy and the Sumy region. [from the fjc.org.ua website]
Yerachmiel
Tilles is co-founder and associate director of Ascent-of-Safed, and chief editor
of this website (and of KabbalaOnline.org). He has hundreds of published stories
to his credit, and many have been translated into other languages. He tells
them live at Ascent nearly every Saturday night.
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