Two women shared a common journey to visit the Rebbe, both of them having lived through challenging situations with the guidance of the Rebbe, each one meriting an unforgettable encounter seeing the king in all his glory
By Esti Lenchner
Yisraela Gur and Rivka Lapid will never forget this visit to the Rebbe. Even today, 27 years later, their eyes light up when they talk about the moment they stood before the Rebbe, the moment they felt they had come home, the moment that their destinies seemed to become intertwined. These two women, strangers, shared a common journey to the Rebbe. Each one with her story, each one with her request. After many years of waiting and hoping, in one moment they stood before the Rebbe which changed their lives.
I met Yisraela and Tzvika, her husband, at the family business they run together in Akko. Behind them is a picture of the Rebbe with a loving smile. First impressions can be misleading, but after they start talking and the Chassidic concepts come tripping off their tongues, I realize how the amazing story that they experienced still lives with them till today.
The Gur couple was in the middle of a day’s work, but they stopped everything and sat down to talk to me. I could hear the emotion in their voices as they told the story.
“It’s a visit that I will never forget. I call it Maamad Har Sinai, or better yet, the event of the Burning Bush,” says Tzvika. “I was never at a loss for words. In my line of work I met with quite a few dignitaries, like Yitzchak Rabin and Shimon Peres, and I never thought anybody could leave me speechless. But when I stood facing the Rebbe, I felt as though I could not utter a sound. His G-dly light made a great impact on me. Today, I call myself a Chabadnik, albeit without the beard and kippa.”
THE POWER OF THE REBBE’S BLESSING
“It all began about ten years before that,” continued Yisraela emotionally. “We were a newly wedded couple, and we had dreams about the home we would build together. One day, I felt a strange lump in my neck and after numerous tests over a period of months, the terrible truth came out. I was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. The doctors who spoke to me said I had three months left to live, at most.
“In one moment, our world caved in. I was 19 years old, with my entire life ahead of me. Then I got the worst news one could imagine. During the next two months I tried all kinds of experimental medicines that stabilized my condition a bit. Despite the terrible reality, our desire to bring life into the world was strong and we decided that despite my illness, we wanted children. Despite the great danger this involved, I became pregnant; at the end of a high-risk pregnancy, I gave birth to our oldest daughter, Yael.
“After giving birth, my health deteriorated. I had a very rare form of cancer and the doctors said that aside from me, there were another three people in the world suffering from the same thing. I was treated with strong medication that kept me alive while not having external side effects. Many people who saw me did not know that this young, kerchief-bedecked woman was fighting for her life.
“When Yael was six, my condition stabilized somewhat and we greatly desired more children. The doctor though, was unwilling to hear about this. He said my body would not be able to handle it. We decided to go ahead anyway, but unfortunately, the pregnancy did not last.”
Here, Tzvika joined the telling. “At this point, Rabbi Shlomo Frank of Akko came into the picture. He advised us to write to the Rebbe. I’m from a home of Holocaust survivors. I was raised in an atmosphere that was very far from anything having to do with Judaism. But at that point, we grasped at anything to save Yisraela. The Rebbe’s answer was to keep the laws of Family Purity, and he gave a bracha for health.
“After a crash course, we began keeping Family Purity, but Yisraela’s condition continued to worsen.”
Yisraela said, “My condition became critical. The doctors indicated this was the end. I was hospitalized with huge bumps on my legs. My body was full of fluid and I was very swollen and in extreme critical condition.”
“That night,” recalls Tzvika,” I returned from the hospital in a terrible state. I stopped at a gas station where I met R’ Frank. I unburdened myself and told him about Yisraela’s critical condition. I sadly asked, ‘What about the Rebbe’s bracha? Since then, she has only gotten worse!’ The rabbi reassured me that the Rebbe’s brachos do not go unfulfilled and it was just a matter of time that it would all turn around.”
“That night, the miracle occurred,” continued Yisraela. “I went to relieve myself in the hospital and felt that I was beginning to be emptied out of fluids. I spent an entire night there and drained off 10 kilo of fluid. In the morning I got up like a new person. The swelling went down and the bumps disappeared. After that, the disease that had made its home in my body for nearly a decade began showing signs of retreat.
“I began to recover somewhat, and with the encouragement of Rabbi and Mrs. Frank we decided to join them on a trip to the Rebbe, to thank him for the miracle and to ask for a bracha for more children.”
THE REBBE KNEW, WITHOUT MY SAYING A WORD
In Av 5750, the Gurs flew to the Rebbe. “The entire trip was a highly emotional experience, and throughout the many hours of the flight, we reviewed over and over what we wanted to ask the Rebbe.
“The long-awaited moment arrived and the line was moving. I was already facing the Rebbe and I felt a tremendous powerful light flooding over me, as though a halo of holiness was surrounding him. I was standing facing the Rebbe and feeling as though I could not utter a word. Within seconds, I found myself moving toward the exit, without having said a word or receiving a bracha.
“‘Come back, the Rebbe is calling you back!’ I heard Mrs. Frank say. I went back, trembling. I asked for a bracha for health and more children. The Rebbe gave me two dollars and blessed me with health ‘and children and grandchildren.’ Suddenly, the Rebbe added a bracha for my father who needed parnasa at the time. I was stunned. I had planned on adding my father, but it had escaped me when I finally spoke. The Rebbe knew it without my telling him.
“I went out crying, overcome by the experience. I felt the holiness, something I had never felt before in my life. After all the years of suffering we went through, including four miscarriages, I had a feeling of tremendous calm, that the Rebbe’s bracha would soon be fulfilled.”
Tzvika interjected, “We met outside and discovered that together, we had received four dollars and had been blessed with the same brachos. I interpreted this as a bracha for four children, as we had always dreamed.”
Yisraela told, “We returned to Eretz Yisroel. I was soon expecting again, once again with a high-risk pregnancy. One day, we were visiting friends when their two children showed signs of a rash and it turned out that they were sick with rubella. My immune system was compromised and the doctor that we went to immediately demanded that we end the pregnancy.
“As we were used to doing, we wrote to the Rebbe, who said to continue the pregnancy with emuna and bitachon. When we told the doctor the Rebbe’s answer, he immediately said, ‘If the Rebbe takes the success of the pregnancy upon himself, who am I to argue?’ Boruch Hashem, our second daughter, Michal, was born.
“Right after her birth, they did a bone marrow test on me and we were told, to our great delight, that the terminal illness that had been with me for ten years was gone!
“Today, we have four children, three girls and a boy, and it was just as the Rebbe had predicted, one dollar for each child.”
NO UNNECESSARY WORD
Rivka Lapid of Yerushalayim was also on that special trip arranged by Rabbi Shlomo and Mrs. Zahava Frank. She has her own moving story.
Rivka’s story began a few years before her life-changing trip to the Rebbe. Rivka was a teacher in Akko where she began taking an interest in Chabad. Today, the Lapid family identifies with the Chardal (chareidi/nationalist) community, and feels very close to the Rebbe and Chabad.
“My first connection with the Rebbe began following a job offer – a two year shlichus for the Jewish Agency in Belgium, which I was chosen for after a number of exams and a careful selection process that eliminated many candidates.
“Before making this trip, I knew I would ask the Rebbe about it. I called the secretaries and submitted my question. The Rebbe’s answer was surprising: ‘Only if there is a good likelihood of a shidduch; I will mention it at the tziyun.’ I was no longer that young. I was past thirty and still hadn’t found a suitable husband. I didn’t know what to do with the answer. Was there a chance of my finding a shidduch in Belgium? But I knew that with the Rebbe there were no unnecessary words and if he said, ‘Only if,’ this was a clear condition for accepting the mission.
“Rabbi Frank and his wife Zahava, who had guided me through my entire kiruv process, contacted the local shliach there to find out about the community in Belgium. Rabbi Frank asked what the likelihood was of a woman like me finding a shidduch. The shliach said he had an older crowd and as far as he knew, the likelihood of my finding a shidduch was slim. I decided to forgo the enticing and high paying job offer and remained in Eretz Yisroel.”
A LIGHT WHICH DOES NOT STOP ILLUMINATING
Some more years went by and Rivka was still unmarried. In the meantime, she moved to Yerushalayim but continued to keep in touch with Rabbi and Mrs. Frank.
“One day, on Rosh Chodesh Av 5750, I spoke with Mrs. Frank and she informed me that I was going to join them on a trip to the Rebbe. As I had been taught, I immediately said no to plan a trip outside of Eretz Yisroel during the Nine Days, but Mrs. Frank persisted and I realized that the time had come for me to go to the Rebbe. It was an opportunity I had been dreaming about for many years.
“The flight was to take place on 15 Av and I started planning my encounter with the Rebbe. I spent the nights until the flight with almost no sleep; I was so excited. For years I had dreamed of this moment, years that I felt connected to the Rebbe. And now, the moment was near. I spent all the hours on the plane preparing. I remember how immediately after we landed we traveled to 770, even though I was exhausted after two nerve-wracking weeks of preparation for the trip, and by my excitement and emotion.
“It was Shabbos and I was standing in the women’s section unable to remove my eyes from the Rebbe. I did not know a word of Yiddish; I just stood there, hypnotized. I had never been in 770 and I felt at home. I don’t know how to explain it, but I felt that the Rebbe was looking at me. Looking, nodding his head, and blessing. A warm feeling filled me and I felt so connected and happy that I had the privilege to make it to this moment.
“Then came Sunday dollars. ‘Don’t forget what you came for,’ said Mrs. Frank. ‘You want to get married and you need to ask the Rebbe for a bracha.’ Yisraela stood behind me as we waited for hours. We kept reminding one another not to forget why we had come. The line moved slowly. We fell silent; each of us preparing ourselves for the encounter. My turn was getting close. There was an indescribable excitement; our hands trembled. Another moment and I was at the head of the line.
“I stood facing the Rebbe and felt like a huge flash entered my soul, an enormous light filling me up. Even now when I recall it, I can feel that same burning light, a feeling that is hard to express in words. I felt how that light was filling me and purifying every corner of my body and I became so illuminated. In a trembling voice I asked the Rebbe for a bracha for a shidduch. The Rebbe gave me a dollar and said, ‘B’karov mamash.’ I stood there stunned by the intensity of the experience and before I realized what happened, the line moved and I was almost outside. Then I suddenly heard that the Rebbe was continuing to talk to me. He gave me another dollar and said, ‘Give this to tz’daka when you become a kalla.’ I went outside and burst into tears. I will never forget it. I felt so strongly and clearly that the Rebbe’s bracha would be fulfilled soon. The light that filled me then shines within me till today.
“Three months later, I met my husband, but the story does not end here. Years went by and we did not have children. Upon the advice of Rabbi and Mrs. Frank, we had Tanya classes for women in our home, we held monthly farbrengens, and we did a number of other things to merit children. After nearly ten years we had a son.”
Back to Yisraela: A minute before finishing her story, she added that two months ago they were invited to a farbrengen in Akko in order to tell their moving story. The next day, their second daughter was in a serious car accident but emerged unharmed. “The Rebbe does not leave us for a moment,” she says.
After this fascinating meeting with these two women, I realized one thing. Many years have passed since that encounter with the Rebbe, and life brings so many experiences and events. But one thing remains as it was – the memory of that encounter with the Rebbe lives and burns forever in whoever merited to see the king in his glory.