Weekly Chasidic Story #716 (s5771-50 / 16 Menachem-AV 5771) The Tenth Man "Rabbi [Levi-Ytizchak] Schneerson, I'm very thankful to have reached here without being caught. Now you must do a great favor for me." Connection: Seasonal -- 67th yartzeit
The Tenth ManYekaterinoslav (Dnepropetrovsk), 1935 Another winter night. Silence and fear rule dark desolate streets. A drunk staggers past the secret police. The chief rabbi of the city, the brilliant Torah scholar and kabbalist,
Rabbi Levi-Yitzchak Schneerson, is awake, deep in his studies, after
a day taken up with underground activities. For there are still Jews around
who immerse in a mikvah, pray in a minyan, and teach their children
Torah. Stealthy messengers come and go with coded notes. Bribe money changes
hands. Earlier, when dusk descends, he thanks G-d for whatever successes there
were. Then, too, the tension hits - a steel trap always ready to slam shut.
For a moment he permits the exhaustion to have its say, but his hands are already
reaching for a sefer. His eyes find the lines they had left off last
night; a smile flickers, and his strength returns. These are the times he loves
the best. He sits, tense - and ready. Another knock: weak, vacillating. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak exhales. No, it's not the secret police. The NKVD's style is: kick, and break through. This visitor needs help. He gets up and opens the door. A woman stands there, completely bundled up and very frightened. She enters quickly, as if pursued. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak closes the door after her. Once inside, she takes off her winter wraps, looking furtively into every corner of the house. No one's there besides the Rabbi and his wife, so she begins to speak. "Rabbi, I'm very thankful to have reached here without being caught. I'm from a distant city, and now you must do a great favor for me..." Rebbitzin Chana offers her a chair, but she declines. She's speaking quickly: "My daughter and her fiancee wanted to get married in the government offices. But my heart wouldn't let me agree to a marriage without a chuppah and kiddushin, the Jewish way. "I begged and begged them - and they finally consented to come to you for a true Jewish wedding. They're frightened out of their wits: both are high-level Communist Party officials. If they're exposed, they'll lose their jobs - if not their lives. They're coming here exactly at midnight to get married. Please, Rabbi, do this great kindness; marry them. Put three souls at ease." Minutes pass. The clock sounds twelve chimes. More quiet taps on the door, and a young fearful couple comes inside. The rebbitzin takes them quickly into an inner room; the rabbi sets out to find a minyan. It's approaching 1am. Even the NKVD have disappeared. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak moves swiftly and deliberately through the lonely streets, asking the Master of the Universe not to encounter a late-night police squad. Now he knocks on another door, leading the faithful from their beds to the wedding. He prays in his heart not to err regarding the minyan's discretion - there's no room for a tragic slip. Nine faithful Jews are in the room. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak feels blessed. Nine faithful Jews in Yekaterinoslav that know how to keep their mouths closed. But, who will be the tenth? Who can he trust? His mind scans all the possibilities and decides upon a solution. "Wait," he tells them as he leaves the apartment and goes downstairs. Grisha, "Chairman of the Residents' Committee," lives on the ground floor by the entrance. For many years he belonged to the large Yekaterinoslav shul, until the communist madness swept him away and he became a Party member. Now he worked hand-in-hand with the NKVD - keeping an eye on Jews suspected of underground Jewish activities; reporting "deviant" behavior. His current assignment: Rabbi Levi Yitzchak - his rabbinical activities, and everyone coming to and leaving his home. Grisha sees, writes, and reports everything. He dozes now in his observation post, his alertness dulled after a long day of spying. A sudden knocking at the door, and he rises with difficulty to open it. Reb Levi Yitzchak himself is standing there, smiling. Grisha feels confused; he invites the Rabbi inside. "Come, Grisha," the rav is holding Grisha's hands warmly, "come complete a minyan for a young Jewish couple. They're getting married; building a family - an eternal house in the path of our fathers..." Reb Levi Yitzchak's presence overwhelms Grisha. The elegant beard
and noble countenance, and - more than anything else - his eyes: piercing eyes
whose direct gaze looked into a man's soul. "Me?" whispers Grisha, choking. "But the Rabbi
knows that I... I..." He can't finish the sentence. "There are ten kosher Jews here," says the rav in a voice radiating trust and pleasure. He sits down to write the ketubah, the wedding contract; everything is quickly signed and readied. The rebbitzin produces a tallit, four men take hold of its corners; the wedding canopy is spread above the young couple. Reb Levi Yitzchak starts humming the soulful wordless niggun
tune customarily sung at the chuppah. The chatan lowers his gaze.
Now the kallah, with her mother and Rebbitzin Chanah Schneerson
on either side, begins her seven circles. The chatan places the ring
on her finger: "Now you are my wife sanctified to me according to the law
of Moses and Israel... he says in Hebrew, with a Russian lilt. A new eternal
house rises in Israel - a house built upon genuine self-sacrifice. Connection: Seasonal - 67th yahrzeit Biographical note:
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