‘ALL THE DOORS ARE OPEN FOR MOSHIACH TO COME’

A Chassid “creates an atmosphere” and when we’re talking about the great Chassidim, their influence is that much greater. * The following are highlights from an entire chapter on the enormous influence of R’ Shmuel Levitin a”h on the lives of Chassidim in New York, about the limud z’chus with which he would defend the T’mimim and Chassidim in yechidus to the Rebbe, about his optimistic approach to life despite the personal suffering he endured, and the great love he had for the bachurim.

A CLOSE CHASSID

R’ Shmuel Levitin with the Rebbe in the early years of the nesiusR’ Levitin came to the United States in Elul 5698/1938 and was a significant reinforcement to Chabad in New York. He was born in 5643/1883. His father, R’ Zev Wolf, was a Chassid of the Rebbe Maharash and a mashgiach in the yeshiva in Lubavitch. The Rebbe said about him, “A Jew that had the merit of hearing Chassidus from the Rebbe [Rashab] even before I was born.”

The Levitins were considered special even back in Lubavitch, in no small part because R’ Zev Wolf’s father-in-law was none other than R’ Gershon Ber of Pahar, the outstanding oved.

R’ Shmuel Levitin was held very dear by the Rebbe Rayatz and was counted among the G’dolei HaChassidim. The Rebbe Rayatz asked him to take his place as the chazan during the year of mourning for his mother, Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah and on 13 Tishrei, the yahrtzait of the Rebbe Maharash (perhaps also on the yahrtzait of the Tzemach Tzedek and the Rebbe Rashab).

Starting in 5700/1940, R’ Levitin served as the mashpia in Yeshivas Tomchei T’mimim in New York and was the main speaker at the farbrengens of the elder Chassidim. The Rebbeim appointed him as rav of 770 and sold to him the chametz on Erev Pesach.

CHASSIDIC DEFENSE

The Rebbe’s secretary, R’ Groner, said the following at a farbrengen in Nachalat Har Chabad in 5739:

“R’ Levitin demanded of the secretaries: Take advantage of being in the presence of the Rebbe to be melamed z’chus (speak well) on Jews. This ought to be standard practice. If the Rebbe asks you questions, speak in their defense.” R’ Levitin’s demand is in line with the approach of Chassidim of the previous generation who held it was forbidden to tattle on a Jew to the Rebbe. Some of them even said that lashon ha’ra said to a tzaddik is especially harmful.

R’ Mendel Futerfas was known for his utter devotion to the Rebbe and because of this, he refused to speak negatively about any Jew to the Rebbe. When the Rebbe said, “I need to know what is going on in Eretz Yisroel,” referring to a certain dispute, R’ Mendel kept quiet.

R’ Levitin did not stop defending Anash and the T’mimim to the Rebbe. For example, in 5721, one of the bachurim davened Shacharis close to sunset in the basement of 770. The Rebbe suddenly passed by that area and someone whispered to him about this bachur’s late davening. The Rebbe asked who it was and the person told him the bachur’s name. R’ Levitin was present and he said to the Rebbe, “He is wearing Rabbeinu Tam t’fillin.” The Rebbe said, “As far as I can tell, they are Rashi t’fillin.”

LIMUD Z’CHUS

R’ Gershon Mendel Garelik relates that one Friday night, as he left for home, the Rebbe noticed bachurim napping in the small zal after the meal in the dining room. R’ Levitin spoke well of them and said the lesson to learn is that if they are sleeping, they should be provided with negel vasser and blankets.

R’ Menachem Mendel Wolf wrote down an incident which illustrates R’ Levitin’s good nature, as he heard it from the Rebbe Rayatz’s son-in-law, Rashag:

“The Rebbe once spoke about children being guarantors for their parents. R’ Levitin said to the Rebbe afterward that in the Talmud Yerushalmi it says that in Yavneh they annulled the role of children as guarantors (i.e. that minor children’s lives not be taken for the sins of their parents). He added, ‘When I was in Moscow, I heard from R’ Hillel, the nephew of R’ Hillel of Paritch that there was once an epidemic in a town of Chernobyl Chassidim and many children died.

“‘The Alter Rebbe passed by the area and since they were afraid that he would refuse to pass through a town of Chernobylers they led his entourage in a certain way that ‘forced’ him to pass through. While he was there, they told him about the epidemic and the Rebbe went to the shul and said, ‘In Yavneh they annulled the role of children as guarantors,’ and the epidemic immediately ceased.”

GOOD PERSPECTIVE

One night of Chanuka, during the years when the Rebbe would give Chanuka gelt to the bachurim in 770 who learned Chassidus, a talmid of the yeshiva on Bedford who had just begun taking an interest in Lubavitch joined the line.

When it was his turn, the Rebbe asked him, “Do you learn Chassidus?” He kept quiet because he barely knew what Chassidus was. R’ Levitin came to his aid and said to the Rebbe, “He will learn Chassidus.” The Rebbe smiled and gave the bachur a dollar.

At one of the Yom Tov meals in the Rebbe Rayatz’s apartment, R’ Levitin said to the Rebbe, “The fact that all Jews say the prayer, ‘do not take away Your holy spirit from me,’ means that all Jews have ruach ha’kodesh.” The Rebbe said, “That’s a good vort.”

SHMIRAS SHABBOS

R’ Levitin’s practice to speak well of Jews, especially to the Rebbe, began during the Rebbe Rashab’s nesius. This is what happened:

R’ Levitin was voted as the rav of Rakshik in Lithuania and the Rebbe Rashab saw to it that his appointment would be recognized by the government. His job lasted until the Cossacks invaded Rakshik during World War I. They demanded that the Jews leave their homes and they all fled deep into Russia.

One of the Jews of the town feared that his possessions would be ruined by the Germans who were approaching the area. He asked R’ Levitin whether he would be allowed to take his possessions in a certain way on Shabbos and was told no. The man obeyed and lost all his money. After a time, the man met R’ Levitin in Dvinsk and thanked him for saving him from desecrating the Shabbos.

In 5677-8, in the midst of World War I, R’ Levitin went to the Rebbe Rashab in Rostov. At the Simchas Torah farbrengen, the Rebbe spoke in a tone of “g’vura” and noted that many acts of chilul Shabbos occurred during the war and Jews fled from their towns on “the holy day” (i.e. Yom Kippur).

R’ Levitin, who was standing near the Rebbe, mustered the courage and said l’chaim to the Rebbe and asked to speak. The Rebbe consented and R’ Levitin said he knew many Jews who kept Shabbos even as they fled. He spoke at length about someone from his community who refrained from chilul Shabbos and lost all his money. When he finished speaking, the Rebbe smiled at him and stopped talking on this topic.

The Rebbe Rayatz, who was standing next to R’ Levitin, enjoyed what he said and said to him, “Rav of Rakshik, say l’chaim.”

NACHAS FOR THE REBBE

R’ Levitin’s relentlessly positive outlook on others is worthy of special admiration considering his terrible personal circumstances. His wife and several other relatives perished in the Holocaust.

R’ Levitin’s defense of Jews to the Rebbeim came from a desire to bring them simcha. He always tried to minimize the severity of various things and to present them in a favorable light.

In the first years following the passing of the Rebbe Rayatz, the Rebbe sat at Yom Tov meals, mainly on Rosh HaShana, very much closed within himself as he looked at the Rebbe Rayatz’s empty chair now and then. R’ Levitin refused to put up with this and asked a lot of questions in order to get the Rebbe to talk.

R’ Shlomo Zarchi adds:

“At the 11 Nissan farbrengen of 5712, which took place in the Rebbe’s room, the Rebbe said a maamer on the verse, ‘Hashem, open my lips,’ from chapter 51 of T’hillim. The Rebbe cried as he said the maamer, especially when he expounded on the verse, ‘I will teach deliberate sinners Your ways.’

“At the conclusion of the maamer, R’ Levitin wished the Rebbe, ‘Let me hear joy and rejoicing,’ quoting from the beginning of the chapter. In response, the Rebbe quoted the continuation of the verse, ‘let the bones that You crushed exult,’ with a big smile.”

DAAS ELYON

The daas of the Rebbeim is Daas Elyon (supernal knowledge) and sometimes, they pushed aside R’ Levitin’s encouraging words. For example:

In Elul 5798/1938, before he went to the United States on shlichus from the Rebbe Rayatz, R’ Levitin had yechidus. The Rebbe looked very moved, it being ten years since they had last seen one another.

Those were terrible times for Judaism in Russia and before he went in, R’ Levitin was warned by the Rebbe’s household: 1) don’t give sad news about what is going on behind the Iron Curtain, for it will affect his health, 2) refrain from expressing sadness over the change in the Rebbe’s appearance due to his health.

R’ Levitin zealously followed these guidelines and even repeated an encouraging vort to the Rebbe: “It says, ‘I have left you for a brief moment’ – in the Future, they will look at the suffering of exile as at a brief moment.” The Rebbe refused to be consoled and said, “Yes, it’s but a moment, but it’s a bitter moment.”

When he left the yechidus, he spoke about this to Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah who said, “Your grandfather, R’ Gershon Ber of Pahar, would say, ‘The word ra (evil) cannot be uttered, but the word mar (bitter) is an antidote.”

The Rebbe’s painful approach towards “a brief moment” in which the Jewish people suffer, was expressed again a year and a half later. It was on Purim 5740/1940, when he said his first maamer after arriving in the United States. At the end, he mentioned the verse, “I have left you for a brief moment,” and gazed at R’ Levitin who was standing next to him with a piercing, sad look.

R’ Levitin felt that the Rebbe meant to say, “Now do you understand what I meant?”

REVIEWING CHASSIDUS

Another example:

On 5 Teves 5725, the members of the hanhala of Tomchei T’mimim in 770 had yechidus. R’ Levitin took the opportunity to give the Rebbe nachas and, at the end of the yechidus, when he was alone, he said, “The bachurim are working on hafatza!”

The Rebbe said, “Is that how you console me? Since 5715 the doors are open for Moshiach to come, as per the response of Moshiach, “when are you coming, when [the wellsprings] spread forth, etc.” but there is a dearth of recipients.

R’ Levitin noted that hundreds of men attended the Rebbe’s farbrengen and the Rebbe’s reaction was, “If these two hundred men would go out afterward and review Chassidus in the shuls – for actually, they can review Chassidus in every shul, and even yeshivos allow it, and there are no opponents. And even those who seem like opponents [and he mentioned some names] are also not opposed, and Chassidus must be spread, learning it oneself and spreading it ‘outward,’ with all the connotations, for then Moshiach would have come already and it would be good materially and spiritually and all obstacles would be removed.

“Even though the niggun, ‘U’faratzta’ was only revealed in 5718, it is ten years already that all the doors are open for Moshiach to come and everything is still open.”

CHASSIDIM AND MISNAGDIM

R’ Levitin promoted Ahavas Yisroel, but he differentiated between Chassidim and Misnagdim when it came to ideological disputes. R’ Menachem Zev Gringlass related:

“The Rebbe Rayatz sent R’ Levitin to speak with one of the great Litvishe rabbanim about the importance of having Jewish studies in the morning in Jewish schools. The Litvishe rav told R’ Levitin that Chassidim are always fomenting disputes, to which he responded, ‘Because of the machlokes of the Misnagdim against the Chassidim the Alter Rebbe was arrested, and thanks to the ‘machlokes’ of the Chassidim against the Misnagdim we have the letter the Alter Rebbe wrote after he was released, ‘Katonti,’ [in which he asked Chassidim to refrain from reacting to their opponents.]

“R’ Levitin added, ‘The Misnagdim admire the Chassidim but hate them. The Chassidim do not admire the Misnagdim but love them.’”

REAL LEARNING

R’ Levitin described how the gaon, R’ Pinchas, author of Haflaah zt”l, came to be a disciple of the Maggid of Mezritch. What he recounted was written down by R’ Gringlass and expresses the difference between the approach of the Chassidim and the Misnagdim. Here is a summary:

When he first arrived, R’ Pinchas was told by the Maggid to talk in learning with the itinerant sitting next to the oven. He left the room and found an ordinary Jew sitting with a tallis and learning the tractate Brachos. It was R’ Zushe of Anipol. R’ Pinchas thought, “He is probably a simple Jew for he is not learning a difficult tractate like Yevamos or K’subos, but a tractate with a lot of Agadata. He hesitated but finally decided to talk to him.

“I was at your master and he told me to talk to you in learning.”

R’ Zushe looked surprised, “To talk to me?! What is there to talk about with me?” It seemed that only because the Maggid said so would he talk to the guest in learning.

R’ Zushe said to the Baal Haflaah that he was learning the tractate Brachos where the Gemara raises the question, “Nine people and an Aron (Kodesh), can it be included to form a minyan? Rav Huna says, is an Aron a person?!” R’ Zushe asked, “What was the reasoning of the Gemara then? Why would we think an Aron could be counted towards a minyan?”

R’ Zushe answered the question: An Aron is a piece of wood that is full of Torah, so there might be the conjecture that it has become (on the spiritual level of) a person. To that R’ Huna retorted that although an Aron is full of Torah, it is still a piece of wood and an inanimate lump remains an inanimate lump and is not a person!”

R’ Pinchas got the message and went back with great humility to the Maggid and became one of his great disciples.

KEEPING THE S’DARIM

Under the guidance of the Rebbeim, R’ Levitin was particular that the bachurim keep the s’darim. R’ Yitzchok Dovid Groner said:

“The Rebbe Rayatz would often call R’ Levitin to his room in the middle of Seder. R’ Levitin would hurry to his room, change his outer garment and only then go to the yechidus room. In 5703, he told the talmidim when he came out:

“‘The Rebbe said, ‘You were taken out of the zal in the middle of the learning,’ and he asked where the bachurim were up to in their studies. I said that I was learning with them the maamer ‘Tuv Taam V’Daas.’ The Rebbe explained the maamer to me so my sudden summons would be a benefit to the learning and not the opposite.’ The Rebbe was even particular about the mashgiach’s keeping to the times of learning.”

R’ Levitin’s insistence that the bachurim keep the s’darim came from his great love for them. When he felt the need to offer someone a gentle admonition, he would say to them, “Either way, if my point is correct, then you gained by hearing good advice. If I am not right, that’s even better.’ Being a p’nimi, R’ Levitin sincerely meant every word that came out of his mouth and he was happy to be proven wrong.

TRUE ESSENCE

R’ Levitin’s love for the talmidim was also expressed in the positive way he viewed them. He told them they had to reveal their true essence rather than to change. He said:

Czar Nikolai I suddenly announced that he would visit an army camp the next day at ten o’clock. One of the soldiers had a high fever and he went to swim in the river. Suddenly, he noticed the czar coming. He quickly got out of the water and stood there naked at attention.

The czar asked him why he looked like that and the soldier said: My master, the czar, do I serve you or my clothes? Here I am.

Czar Nicholas enjoyed this response.

R’ Pesach of Malastovka explained the lesson to be learned:

When making a spiritual accounting before davening, you discover that the spiritual state of the soul garments is not good. Yet you should know that the etzem HaNeshama (the very essence of your soul) cleaves to its source and serves G-d fully.

CLEAN TALK

Shazar attended one of R’ Levitin’s Tanya classes and R’ Levitin repeated this story about the czar. At the end of Shazar’s visit, the Rebbe asked one of the Chassidim what the shiur had been about. The Chassid told the parable about the czar and the Rebbe smilingly asked: Did it look as though Shazar understood the parable?

R’ Levitin’s optimistic approach came across in how he spoke. He told about Rashag who told the Rebbe that his maamarim during the Ten Days of Repentance showed that our spiritual state is not what it’s meant to be. The Rebbe reacted in surprise, “What do you mean by not the way it’s meant to be?! It is the way it is meant to be.”

R’ Levitin concluded from this that speech is significant and we should not “open our mouths to Satan.” He said someone once asked the Rebbe Rayatz for a tikkun for a situation in which he had sinned. The Rebbe responded dismissively regarding the severity of the matter but the man insisted that it was a serious sin. His saying so made it serious and the Rebbe gave him a tikkun.

SHLIACH OF THE REBBE

R’ Levitin did tremendous work in the country of Georgia, having been sent there by the Rebbe Rashab for nine years. His success was held up as an example by the Rebbe Rayatz and the Rebbe.

On his first visit to Lubavitch, after traveling to Georgia, he complained to the Rebbe Rashab, “It is hard to instill Chabad concepts in the local Jews.”

The Rebbe said, “The Jews, when seeing the Rebbe’s shliach, imagine what the one who sent him [i.e. the Rebbe] is like!”

R’ Sholom Dovber Gordon described a similar sentiment expressed by R’ Levitin years later:

“When R’ Levitin arrived in the US, a certain Chabad Chassid began acting like a Rebbe. He wore a shtraimel and gave brachos to people. R’ Levitin wanted to contrast hiskashrus to the Rebbe with what this Chassid was doing and he said, ‘The advantage of glass is that you can see through it. That is the advantage of a Chassid, that if he is mekushar to the Rebbe and does not feel his own independent existence, you can see the Rebbe through him.’”

STRONG LONGING

R’ Gordon added:

“R’ Levitin stood out in that period of time for his powerful longing for the Rebbe Rayatz. He sang the niggun, ‘Oy Rebbe, ven vellen mir zich zen (when will we see one another),’ and his inspiring words at his farbrengens left their mark on me.”

R’ Levitin’s longing for the Rebbe came from his absolute hiskashrus to him. When the Chassidim parted from the Rebbe Rayatz in Tishrei 5688/1927, they sang the niggun, “HaBeinoni” as the train began to move. The Rebbe Rayatz once reminded R’ Levitin of those difficult parting moments and said, “Remember when you stood as they sang ‘HaBeinoni,’ and imagine how you looked then, so brokenhearted.”

THE REBBE TESTIFIES

After R’ Levitin’s passing on 18 Elul 5734/1974, the Rebbe explained that reaching a level of is’hafcha depends on a clear awareness that the totality of the existence of this world is only for the purpose of sifting the sparks of holiness within it.

The test as to whether a Jews feels that his material concerns are merely a means towards a spiritual end is when he recalls an experience that prevented him from serving Hashem: reliving the physical suffering testifies that he is not holding at the level of is’hafcha, but when his memories are focused entirely on the absence of avodas Hashem that the suffering caused, this indicates an elevated spiritual level.

To illustrate this, the Rebbe gave R’ Levitin as an example:

As an example of this in daily life, of people who actually felt this way – as each person must know his own soul – it would be right to mention the Chassid, R’ Shmuel Levitin, whose Shiva ends today. He once told me, when nobody else was present in the room in 770, about when he had been imprisoned in Siberia; details of what happened including a description of his spiritual standing at the time. He had no s’farim and he wondered about the wording of the morning brachos. He did not remember whether it was “ha’nosein l’ya’eif ko’ach” or “ha’nosein l’ayeif ko’ach.”

Just think, what remained in the memory of this Jew after ten or twenty years of exile and imprisonment, something which he cared about very much, which is why he did not forget it – not the suffering of a difficult galus like exile to Siberia, lacking basic human needs, but this confusion over not remembering the exact wording of the morning brachos!

We see here how great is the effect of the Rebbeim on those who are mekusharim to them, that they can attain a level like this in which that which bothers them is not the pain of the suffering of the body but confusion in avodas Hashem.

Surely this is so after his passing, for the Rebbe, my father-in-law, takes care of him in all the matters necessary after the parting of the soul from the body and all the more so, at the conclusion and completion of the Shiva.

MATERIAL AND SPIRITUAL

On another occasion, the Rebbe alluded (apparently before his nesius) to R’ Levitin’s estrangement from material matters. It was when R’ Levitin was talking in 770 with a Chassid about what this world will look like when Moshiach comes. He quoted the line, “The Moshiach people are waiting for won’t be revealed to the world; as for the real Moshiach, nobody is waiting for him.”

R’ Levitin explained that ordinary people look forward to Moshiach’s coming for the money that will grow on trees when Moshiach is actually about the revelation of G-d in the world.

The Rebbe stood looking into a seifer but was close enough to hear the conversation. Suddenly, he turned to R’ Levitin and said, “You hear Shmuel! When Moshiach comes, even your foot will be healed” (from which he suffered terribly). Thus, the Rebbe expressed the physical accomplishments of Moshiach along with the spiritual.

R’ Shneur Zalman Gurary related that when he had yechidus on 16 Cheshvan 5724, the Rebbe said, “When Moshiach comes, even the skin on R’ Shmuel’s feet will be healed.”

From Otzar HaChassidim – New York, edited by R’ Yosef Ashkenazi.