Weekly Chasidic Story #1406 (5785-08 ) 17 Cheshvam 5785 (Nov.18, 2024)

"Feeling Exceptional Happiness"

The Rebbe would pay special attention to the organized groups of 50-100 young Jews that would arrive twice a year from France for the Autumn and Spring holidays.

Why this week?
The weekly reading, Chaye Sarah, begins with Father Avraham buying a plot of land in Hebron and continues with his efforts to find a suitable wife for his son and future successor, Yitzchak.

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FEELING EXCEPTIONAL HAPPINESS

Mr. David Dana, currently[1] a resident of Be'er Sheva and a professional tour guide, grew up in a France in a family that wasn't religiously observant. He began getting closer to Judaism through a program intended to acquaint young French Jews with Judaism, organized by Rabbi Ya'akov Mazuz, today the Rabbi of the Chabad synagogue for French immigrants in Netanya.

In those years in France before he moved to Israel, Rabbi Mazuz, as part of his programs, organized trips for young people to visit the Lubavitcher Rebbe in New York. David registered with a group of around one hundred youth travelling to the Rebbe in the beginning of 5750 (fall 1989). Throughout their stay they merited to receive special ttention from the Rebbe. The Rebbe would signal to them to say l'chaim during the farbrengens (chasidic gatherings). He also would make strong hand motions to encourage them to intensify their singing and joy.

The moments that made the deepest impression on David's soul was during the famous 'distribution of dollars.[2]' Every Sunday for six years, the Rebbe would stand for many hours at the entrance of his room, while thousands of people would file past each week to receive a dollar bill (sometimes more than one) from his hand to donate to charity. At the same time the Rebbe would give each person his blessing.

The first time that David received a dollar and blessing from the Rebbe, it made such a strong positive impression on him that he made sure to go again at every opportunity. Each time he felt exceptional happiness at having in his hand something tangible from the Rebbe, the dollar, in addition to the blessing and the warm welcoming expression on the Rebbe's face.

The visit by the Rebbe affected him and his friends deeply and caused a genuine turnaround in their daily lives. Most of the members of the group started or became more careful in observing the mitzvot (commandments), also David started keeping the mitzvot and learning Torah. In the following two years he often went back to be in the the Rebbe's presnce, never missing the opportunity to pass before him on Sunday for dollars, to receive a dollar from his holy hand and a blessing.

On Gimmel Tammuz (June 12)1994, the day the Rebbe passed away, David felt a personal loss and grief. The thought that he would not be able to stand in front of the Rebbe, see his luminous face, receive a dollar from his hand and a blessing of "Bracha v'hatzlacha" ('blessing and success.'

He was consoled by what he heard from Chabad rabbis and mashpi'im (scholarly chasidic influencers), that a leader and faithful shepherd doesn't abandon his flock. As is written in the Zohar, tzadikim (righteous people) continue to act and influence in this world also after they pass on, and even more that when they were alive.

Several months later, towards Chanukah 1994, David flew to New York. Friday, erev Shabbat, he went to the burial site of the Rebbe in Montefiore Cemetery in the Queens borough of New York City (east of Brooklyn). With a broken heart he prayed and read the psalms one says at a burial place, after which he made personal requests.

At that time, David was at a crossroads. He was considering making aliyah (emigrating to Israel) but he was hesitating, uncertain if it was the right thing to do. Now, while standing by the Rebbe's tziyun (tombstone), his main request was to receive a clear sign and direction if he should make aliyah to the Holy Land. As well as a request for a blessing to find his destined soul mate if the near future.

After finishing his prayers he left the Ohel (the large enclosed area surrounding the Rebbe's tombstone[3] ) with a twinge in his heart. With deep felt longing he remembered the times when he would leave the presence of the Rebbe full of happiness and satisfaction, in his hand a dollar of the Rebbe, feeling the closeness and the love the Rebbe radiated to each and every one, and the actual dollar in his hand as a souvenir of the visit.

Now, he thought, all that is over. No more distribution of dollars, no more specific blessings. Who knows, he suddenly thought, if all our prayers at the tziyun are heard.

The same thoughts occupied him during the Shabbat, even when he tried to immerse himself in the prayers, the Torah lessons and the farbrengens in the beit midrash (house of study).

On Sunday he had a feeling of emptiness. How different the situation now is than it was then, he thought On all his previous visits this was the set time for the distribution of dollars. He would prepare himself for the personal meeting with the Rebbe and never missed an opportunity. And now, there was nothing.

Since Sunday was free, he decided to go shopping in Manhattan. In the afternoon he went to a kosher dairy restaurant in town.

After finishing his meal, he gave the cashier a ten dollar bill. The cashier gave him change in some coins and a one dollar bill. David was about to put the change into his pocket when he noticed something written on the dollar bill. A wave of emotion washed through him. He also used to write on the dollar bill he received from the Rebbe the date and the words of the blessing.

Indeed, on the dollar were written the words "I received from the Rebbe shlita ('may he live many long good days') [in] 5751 -- and he said 'for the aliyah to the Holy Land.'"

David was completely overwhelmed. Divine Providence had sent him a dollar from the Rebbe on a Sunday, just as he previously had merited to receive dollar from his holy hand! But the even more incredible thing was the writing, the words "for the aliyah to the Holy Land". There could not be a clearer message than that! He felt he had received an answer to his main request.

He studied the writing on the dollar again and a new wave of emotion filled him. The person who had received the dollar has written the year 5751, in Hebrew taf-shin-nun-alef, but changing the orderof the letters to , taf nun shin alef, an acronym for "you shall get married."

Less than a month and a half later, David was already a permanent resident of Israel. That same year he met his future wife and merited to establish a true Jewish home. He experienced in a tangible way that personal requests are received and answered because the faithful shepherd doesn't abandon his flock.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Source: Adapted and supplemented by R. Yerachmiel Tilles from the translation by Mrs. C.R. Benami, long-time editorial assistant for AscentOfSafed.com, from LChaim Weekly, issue #1329.

Why this week?
The weekly reading, Chaye Sarah, begins with Father Avraham buying a plot of land in Hebron and continues with his efforts to find a suitable wife for his son and future successor, Yitzchak.

Biographical note:
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe (11 Nissan 1902 - 3 Tammuz 1994), became the seventh Rebbe of the Chabad dynasty after his father-in-law, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, passed away in Brooklyn on 10 Shvat 1950. He is widely acknowledged as the greatest Jewish leader of the second half of the 20th century. Although a dominant scholar in both the revealed and hidden aspects of Torah and fluent in many languages and scientific subjects, the Rebbe is best known for his extraordinary love and concern for every Jew on the planet. His emissaries around the globe dedicated to strengthening Judaism number in the thousands. Many hundreds of volumes of his teachings have been printed, and hundreds of English renditions too.

Footnotes:
As of the writing of this article in 5772/2012.
From 1986 until his stroke in early 1992.
And that of his father-in-law and predecessor, the sixth Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn. (Directly across the lane is the burial place of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, the Rebbe's wife, daughter of Rebbe Yosef Yitzchak.)

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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