DROPS OF MASHKE

Rosh HaShana. Thousands of people from all over the world went to Beis Chayeinu to spend Yom Tov with the Rebbe. Slowly, as Yom Kippur and then Sukkos arrived, the men’s section continued to fill up until it seemed that there was absolutely no more space. And yet, more and more people came and 770 continued to fill up. How was there place for everyone? I guess it was like a miracle of the Beis HaMikdash.

The highlight of Tishrei is Simchas Torah, the last holiday of Tishrei, the Rebbe’s Yom Tov. Every Chassid makes a major effort to be there and rejoice with the simcha that does not exist anywhere else.

One of the thousands of guests was R’ Zimroni Tzik, shliach to Bat Yam. At the end of the uplifting Simchas Torah farbrengen, Havdala was made and Kos shel Bracha began. That is the tzeida l’derech (the food that sustains a person on a trip) for the return home and day-to-day shlichus.

R’ Tzik crowded in like everyone else, excitedly looking forward to facing the Rebbe and receiving his bracha. As he waited for his turn, he kept repeating to himself that he wanted to ask the Rebbe for a bottle of mashke for the city of Bat Yam. He knew good and well that when standing before the Rebbe, everything flies out of your head. 

The moment arrived. The Rebbe’s piercing eyes penetrated his heart. He felt that all his actions and thoughts were open before the Rebbe. He tremblingly held out his cup and the Rebbe poured. Thank G-d, he managed to request a bottle of mashke for the city of Bat Yam.

The Rebbe took a bottle and said, “For great and outstanding bracha and success.” What a special and unusual bracha! At that moment R’ Tzik did not know to what extent this was so.

He left 770 with the bottle in his hand and his ears ringing with the Rebbe’s words, “great and outstanding bracha and success.” He was walking down Kingston Avenue when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

“R’ Zimroni, see what I have,” said a friend from Bat Yam. “A bottle of mashke from the Rebbe for the city of Bat Yam.”

Hmm, thought R’ Tzik, I asked for the same thing. He wondered whether he had done the right thing in asking for it too.

Just a few minutes went by and there was another surprise. R’ Shimon Jorno, also a resident of Bat Yam, came along in great excitement and waving a bottle of mashke. Yes, he had also asked for a bottle for the city of Bat Yam.

R’ Tzik felt uncomfortable. To ask the Rebbe for three bottles for Bat Yam? But after a split second he thought, surely there is something special going on here, especially with the third bottle that I got which the Rebbe blessed with an amazing bracha.

The secret of the third bottle became clear before long.

It was after they returned to Eretz Yisroel. R’ Tzik arranged a big farbrengen for the people of Bat Yam where he enthusiastically told them about his experiences with the Rebbe. Then he brought the bottles of mashke and poured l’chaim.

The bottles slowly emptied but there were a few drops remaining in the third bottle, waiting to reach their destination. This is the miraculous story of those few drops:

One sunny day, Yaakov Miller, a driver for the Dan bus company who lives in Bat Yam, was taking a power walk, as he always did. Suddenly, with no prior warning, he found himself on the ground. He sat on the edge of the pavement, grasping his legs, moaning in pain. He tried to move his foot, but couldn’t. It did not obey him and remained where it was. Frightened, he shouted, “I can’t move my foot! I’m paralyzed!”

His wife, who rushed to where he was, did not understand what had happened to her husband. “Get up Yaakov, get up.” She tried to persuade him, but Yaakov really couldn’t move.

An ambulance siren could be heard. Two paramedics lifted him into the ambulance and took him to the hospital. After a long series of tests, Yaakov was given the news: his foot was paralyzed.

Yaakov was in shock. He was only 42, a father, a bus driver. How would he be able to work? Was his entire life going to change now?

He burst into tears. “Hashem, help me!”

R’ Tzik heard about what happened. A few drops remained in the third bottle of mashke. He quickly gave it to the Miller family.

Yaakov received the bottle. Even before he drank, he believed with his whole heart that these weren’t just any drops of mashke. They had great power, the power of the Nasi Ha’dor who cares about every Jew. He drank them and believed that a miracle would occur. 

Warmth spread through his body when he drank the mashke and he was overcome by tremors. He felt goose bumps. But a few moments passed and everything remained as it was. He remained paralyzed and was in great pain.

But the next morning there was a change for the better. Yaakov got up and felt his foot move a little and the pain had diminished. Slowly, in a long but steady process, he recovered and could walk again like any normal person. He went back to work as a bus driver and even back to his morning exercise.

He always remembers the big miracle he experienced, thanks to the Rebbe.