|
Weekly Chasidic Story #664 (s5770-49 / 7 Elul 5770) From Lubavitch To Warsaw Once, a very distraught woman made an arduous one-week journey to Lubavitch because someone told her that the Rebbe Reshab could help her. Connection: Weekly Reading - documents of divorce
From Lubavitch To WarsawOnce, a very distraught woman showed up in the town of Lubavitch. Religious women usually did not wander about all alone one hundred years ago, but this poor woman decided to make the arduous one-week journey because someone told her that the Lubavitcher Rebbe could help her. Sympathetic neighbors had even offered to watch her children and lend her money for the trip.
But her cries were to no avail; the Rebbe wasn't receiving anyone at that time. "If you write your request on a paper I promise that I will give it to the Rebbe and the Rebbe will see it, but I can't promise more than that. I'm sorry." He said apologetically. With no other choice the poor woman found a quiet place to sit and wrote her request. She was an 'aguna'; a "maybe" widow. Her husband strayed from Judaism about two years ago and then upped and left her. She had no source of income, three hungry children to feed and she could not remarry without receiving an official document of divorce (called 'Get') from her husband. But it was impossible to track him down, and no one even knew where to begin. The woman was at wits' end; she had no money, no husband, no experience and
now… her last hope; the Rebbe, was vanishing before her eyes. She felt
so discouraged, but nevertheless she handed in her letter and hoped for the
best.
To her surprise, the answer was fast in coming. That same day the Rebbe's secretary summoned her and presented her with good news. "The Rebbe has answered your letter. He says that you should travel to Warsaw." She was overjoyed! But her smile faded as she realized that there was no more to the message. "But where in Warsaw? What should I do there?" "That is all the Rebbe answered," shrugged the secretary. "I'm sorry, there was no more." She wrote in another letter asking for some details, but…no answer. When the Chassidim heard the story they took up a collection and bought her a round-trip train ticket with enough money to live for a month. A few days later after a two-day journey, there she was; standing bewildered in the Warsaw train station with her old suitcase and no idea where to go or what to do next. People were rushing by her, occasionally someone would almost knock her over, but she just stood there. She had the address of a hotel on a crumpled piece of paper in her hand. She took it out of her pocket but she didn't want to walk anymore. She was tired and alone and confused and she wanted to cry. "Maybe I'll just go back home"--the thought was still in the corner of her mind when she heard someone say, "Excuse me" in Yiddish. She snapped out of her reverie and saw standing before her a neatly dressed chasidic Jew with a reddish beard. "Excuse me," he said in Yiddish, "I notice that you are standing for a long time. What do you need? Perhaps I can be of some help?" "I'm here because the Lubavitch Rebbe said …" and, emotionally drained, she mechanically repeated her entire story. "Tell me," said the man when she had finished, "what was your husband's name and how did he look?" "Ehh, well…" she mumbled, still in a semi-daze; "his name was Feivel but I'm sure he changed it. And he was heavyset. He walked with a sort of a limp, and he had a thick black beard, but I'm sure he's shaved the beard off, and I think he has a sort of mark on his forehead. It's been two years, who knows how he looks now." She almost began to weep again when he interrupted. "I think I know where he is. Please follow me. It's not far from here." He escorted her out of the station down the street to a large busy intersection and gave her directions how to go from there to a certain tavern. "I think that your husband is sitting in the back of that bar playing cards and gambling." After everything she'd been through she asked no questions. She just nodded to the stranger and began walking according to his directions. And after an hour she found it! She took a deep breath and entered the dimly lit tavern, dragging her suitcase and feeling terribly out of place. She made her way through the smoke and noise to the back of the room and stared blankly at the figures sitting there, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the dark. Suddenly one of the gamblers turned, looked at her and let out a cry of horror.
"Yow! Sarah! How did you know I was here? And how did you get She could see clearly now, and the man who was speaking looked something like her husband. He was thinner with no beard, but, but, it was him! When she explained how the Rebbe had sent her and how some Jew gave her directions from the station he began pacing back and forth like a madman, running his fingers through his hair, waiving his arms and repeating to himself, "I don't know any Jews, I don't know any Rebbe! How could anyone know? How? How!" He was so affected by the miracle that he began weeping, and then fell to his knees begging her forgiveness. One thing led to another and one month later, he shamefacedly returned home with her and repented completely of his evil ways. The next year she traveled again to Lubavitch, but this time to thank the Rebbe. The Rebbe's secretary arranged that she would stand outside the Rebbe's door and when the Rebbe would come out, she could thank him personally and give him a letter of gratitude. She took her place and stood there, holding her letter and waiting nervously, as this was the first time she would actually see the Rebbe. Then the big moment arrived, the door opened and the Rebbe emerged. She took one look at him…went into a swoon, and fainted unconscious to the floor! When she came to, the doctor was kneeling over her. "You were so excited that you passed out." He explained, as she began to sit up. "Was that the Rebbe?" she asked, "Was that him?" "Why certainly," the doctor answered, "Why do you ask? Didn't you know that that was the Rebbe?" "Because" she looked the doctor in the eyes, "That was the man whom I saw. He was the one who helped me in the Warsaw train station!" Later the Rebbe's secretary made some calculations. It had been a on a day when the Rebbe had not prayed publicly with the minyan as usual. The chassidim had been concerned about his welfare, and one young student had gotten up the nerve to climb up a tree and peer into the Rebbe's room. There stood the Rebbe, looking like nothing he had ever seen. The Rebbe's face was aflame and his eyes were peering into the distance, totally unseeing. The boy was so overcome by the sight that he lost his balance and fell to the ground. This story was related by the one who had been that young student during World War I and had himself witnessed the events described here. ~~~~~~~~~~ [Source: adapted by Yerachmiel Tilles from the rendition of his friend Rabbi Tuvia Bolton, the popular teacher, musician, recording artist and storyteller, on //ohrtmimim.org/torah /, and supplemented from the version in //L'ChaimWeekly.org (which differs in many secondary details (e.g. she was directed to find her husband in a factory where many immigrants worked], some of which I incorporated. Connection: Weekly Torah Reading - document of divorce. Biographical note:
~~~~~~~~~~~
To receive the Story by e-mail every Wednesday--sign up here! A 48 page soft-covered booklet containing eleven of his most popular stories may be ordered on our store site.
|
|
"Is
this where Rebbe Shalom DovBer [Shneersohn] is? I must see him."
She pleaded to one of the Rebbe's secretaries. "I've come from so far away,
and your Rebbe is my only hope. Please, I must see him! Only he can help me."
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.