JOY AND TEARS IN THE VALLEY OF WEEPING

“After the people sitting there said l’chaim, they sang a lot with great fervor from the depths of their hearts and with much joy, with clapping and tremendous enthusiasm.  The entire house was filled with joy and light, lofty holiness and jubilation, as though angels on high were singing and dancing with the Chassidim who farbrenged together in unity and brotherly love, in an atmosphere of great holiness.” * From the memoirs of Rabbi Shlomo Galperin a”h, who describes farbrengens that took place in his parents’ home when he was a child.

One night, in those days, Rav Hendel and Rav Avrohom Yaffe and a few other elder Chassidim of that generation sat and farbrenged in the home of R’ Chanoch Hendel [Galperin, father of this author].  On the table was a bottle of vodka and herring. There were about ten Chassidim and they were in a state of d’veikus (lit. cleaving), and tears ran down their cheeks.  Their eyes were closed and on their faces was a certain sadness and a look of being lost in thought.  You could sense how they were in another world, more glorious, more holy, more pure.  They sang the “Daled Bavos” of the Alter Rebbe.  They were immersed in this niggun with all their heart and soul and might.  From time to time one of them would wipe the tears from his eyes.  Thus they sat and sang with amazing d’veikus for quite some time.

Then R’ Chanoch Hendel stopped singing and took a cup and said, “My friends and brothers! ‘Those who pass through the Valley of Weeping, turn it into a wellspring.’ There came those souls who needed to descend to this physical, material world.  A world whose deeds are difficult and evil and the wicked are powerful in it, and they must descend because Hashem desires to make for Himself a dwelling here below.

“And the souls hear what is going on in this physical world, lashon hara, theft, etc., and therefore, they do not want to descend below to this world. And since they must descend, they are explained that this is a nachas ruach to Hashem and through the service of a soul in this world, it attains things it would never attain up above.  Specifically, in this world they attain revelations that no creation can achieve.  Only by service in a time of concealment and double and redoubled darkness, and the concealment of the Supernal Face and hindrances and worries and obstacles.  And when a person stands and triumphs over all, nothing can get the better of him, and thus he withstands many tests and achieves a high level which is impossible to achieve up above through any service.

“But despite it all, the souls do not want to endanger themselves and descend below, because all roads are presumed dangerous.  So the souls cry when they come down below because who knows how they will return from this dangerous, difficult mission.  Like someone who goes to rescue a precious treasure of the king who promised him everything good and half the kingdom, but he needs to traverse a place with snakes and scorpions and many dangerous obstacles.

“And so, the descending souls cry, and the tears that are shed from their eyes like great waters become a great spring, as it says (in T’hillim 84), ‘Those who pass through the Valley of Weeping, turn it into a wellspring.’  The souls go and cry through the valley of souls and a spring forms.

“Along with all the good that is promised the soul after its work in the world, and along with what Hashem says, ‘For He stands at the right of the pauper to save [him] from those who judge his soul,’ and along with being made to swear with the prodigious powers of the soul before it descends, the tears come as though of themselves, and a ‘sea of tears’ forms from them.”

R’ Chanoch Hendel did not manage to complete the word l’chaim when he burst into great and bitter tears and his emaciated body shook with emotion and tears.  His crying was as if to represent those holy souls that descended to this lowly, material, physical world, a cruel world in which the best of the Chassidim, from the lions of the group, were torn apart by the cruel wild animal, the cursed Russian government.  A person suffers so many tribulations. And at times, when life is so terrible, and still a soul descends from the treasury of souls since the One who is all good and wants good sent it; the question is why has such a thing come to pass from the Essence of Good? This is a question that is perpetually asked – why did the soul descend into a body?

It would seem that the answer was already given, “to make G-d a dwelling here below,” but this is a question of the heart, and it is not easy to answer a difficulty that wells from the heart.

***

After the people sitting there said l’chaim and tasted the herring, they sang, “Al Tira M’Pachad Pis’om,” and they sang for a long time with great fervor from the depths of their hearts and with much joy, with clapping and exceedingly great enthusiasm.  The entire house was filled with joy and light, lofty holiness and jubilation, as though angels on high were singing and dancing with the Chassidim who farbrenged together in unity and brotherly love, in an atmosphere of great holiness.

At that time, they forgot all their sorrows and suffering, hindrances, worries and obstacles, and all turned happy and spirited.  Everyone sang and was joyous because today is a holiday, the holiday of Yud-Tes Kislev, the day the Alter Rebbe was freed, the day that Hashem redeemed the teachings of Chassidus from exile and didan notzach and it is a holiday for every Jew.

As the farbrengen continued, they read the famous letter (from the Rebbe Rashab) about Yud-Tes Kislev, “This day is the beginning of Your work, the completion of the true intention of the creation of man on earth, to further draw down the revelation of the inner light of our holy Torah, which is drawn down on this day in a general way for the entire year. We must arouse our hearts on this day with desire, and inner, essential will with the true [innermost] point of our hearts, which will illuminate our souls with the light of the inner part of His Torah.”

This was just one paragraph from the letter and one of the people said, “L’chaim, may Hashem open our eyes so we understand and feel the light that is good and feel the light of Hashem in every single thing and that Hashem stands over us and is to be found everywhere, and that we feel with the heart in every detail, l’chaim, l’chaim!”

The Chassid finished and said, “There are things that a person thinks he feels but it is only in a way of ‘makif’ and not with a p’nimius, and you need to really feel in your heart and mind just like a person has a tangible feeling when he stands before a wise person or before a king and a great head of state, for then his awe is tangible in his heart without falsehood and without error, and there are no kuntzin (tricks); it’s all real.  And incomparably more is demanded before G-d before whom we certainly need to stand with awe and love.  And this what it means to feel in one’s heart, that it’s real and not imagined and not delusional, G-d forbid.  As R’ Yisroel Neveler once said, like the feeling a person has when a gun is aimed at him.  We know, obviously, how he would feel and this is how he should feel the fear of Hashem…”

The farbrengen lasted a good long while more with inner warmth and holy joy, and with songs that were sung with enormous feeling and aroused the hearts of the people sitting there with a holy fire as they forgot their mundane daily lives.  Of course, they brought another bottle of mashke and another herring and whatever scraps of food to eat that they could obtain, for those were days of trouble and confusion.

R’ Chanoch Hendel asked the people sitting there to wash their hands and eat.  The Chassidim shared with each other the bit of bread and measured water and as the Rebbe Rayatz cites, my bread is yours as well, i.e., we will divide it together so there will be for me and you.

Being that it was already after midnight and dangerous to go out in the street, he begged them to stay.  They remained to farbreng and they put up a samovar.

After they washed and ate some bread and vegetables and herring and tea, there were those for whom this was their first meal of the day because of the terrible situation of those times.  Only the holy fire of p’nimius ha’Torah and divrei Elokim chaim kept them going and gave them tremendous energies to live.

And there sat Jews, baalei avoda and learned men, eating some potatoes and a slice of bread and outside there was a great snowstorm and danger from the police and their agents, angels of destruction who roared like animals of the forest to prey upon the poor man and pauper and slaughter the righteous, as the verse says, “outside, the sword bereaved.”  And within these waters of destruction and hell that swirled around them, and specifically here, Jews sat, souls which descended from the world of souls who stood there with great love and without the tribulations and dangers that were their lot in the physical, material world, and why was it so, from Hashem? Because Hashem wanted a dwelling down below, and specifically here in this world full of wicked people who do terrible things.

Then the people asked the oldest of the group to say a maamar Chassidus.  He prepared, tied on his gartel, and they began to sing the niggun that is sung before a maamar Chassidus is recited, their eyes closed and their faces on fire.  Some cried as they sang and you could see that in their thoughts they were far away.  Perhaps they were thinking about the days of light and holiness that were in Lubavitch, how it was during the maamar from the Holy of Holies, the Nasi, the Rebbe, how the preparation and niggun were.  He reviewed the maamar with eyes closed and his voice very somber and he explained one idea and then another idea as he continued to pour forth.

When the Chassid finished saying the maamar it was nearly morning and they decided to bentch.  After mayim acharonim, R’ Avrohom bentched in a loud, happy voice.  When they finished bentching it was already light outside and they hardly felt how the holy night had passed in the intensity of the ancient niggunim that were from the glory days in Lubavitch.  The maamar and sichos transported them to another world, a beautiful world of secrets of the Torah and of hisbonenus.

The farbrengens provided strength and chayus to withstand all the enemies of the Jews and not be deterred, and as it’s written, “They almost destroyed me on earth, but I did not forsake Your precepts.” And that was one of the apt sections of T’hillim for that era.

***

After the farbrengen they dispersed to their homes.  The families knew that their fathers were at the home of R’ Chanoch Hendel, because the farbrengens were always there, and that they stayed there for the night most of the time, and that when they went home it was already broad daylight.

In the meantime, R’ Chanoch Hendel’s wife and son woke up and Chanoch Hendel said he would come soon.  He went to the mikva which was covered over in the home of someone else, hidden away so it wouldn’t be seen by the evil ones (until they arranged for a mikva, they immersed in the river, and in the winter cold they would break the ice and immerse) and there lived the Chassid, Chaim Ber, who was in charge of cleanliness.  This is where Chanoch Hendel went to immerse before Shacharis.  When he returned he was all white because of the snow that kept falling.

When he walked in, he took off his winter coat (the coat was padded inside but was already worn out and old) and he stood to daven Shacharis with his face to the wall.  His son Chaimke [referring to himself, R’ Shlomo Galperin, but in his writings he referred to himself as Chaim] loved to watch how his father put on his tallis and t’fillin and would occasionally say something out loud from the tefilla.

The davening took an hour and a half.  Then he would eat black bread and salad and chicory (ersatz coffee) without sugar, and then he would bentch.

MEMORIES FROM KFAR CHABAD

After the exile of Russia and the exile of Germany, every family asked the Rebbe Rayatz where to move, to the United States or Eretz Yisroel.  Some also remained in Paris and started a community there.

The question of where to go was a life and death question for the Chassidim who left Russia.  That is, each of them wanted with all their soul to go to the Rebbe, the source of our lives; all gashmius and ruchnius come through the Nasi, for the Nasi is everything and everything is the Nasi, and just mentioning the Rebbe gave hope to Jews in the land of desolation, who suffered many tortures and even death in all sorts of terrible ways.  Many remained buried on Russian soil which covered the holy ones who were killed and drowned and suffocated al kiddush Hashem.  “Earth, do not cover over the blood of the righteous,” the pure souls which gave up their lives al kiddush Hashem.

And those whom Hashem brought, with His great mercy, saved from the valley of tears with miracles, to Paris, who said they want to see the Rebbe, but the verse says, “many are the thoughts in a man’s heart and the counsel of Hashem prevails,” and so, the Rebbe who stands between Hashem and Yisroel is the one who says what to do. Some received the answer to go to the US (in France, the way they said it was, “go to the Rebbe”) and some did not.  I remember one family of Anash who received an answer to go to Eretz Yisroel and the children turned pale like snow in their great sorrow and anguish.  But of course, they listened to the Rebbe and went to Eretz Yisroel, because to Chassidim what the Rebbe says is holy and they listen, but not being able to go to the Rebbe broke their spirit, and I am talking about Anash and the great Chassidim.

I was also told to go to Eretz Yisroel. I will not spend time on the trip but after I arrived there, they gave me a place in Kfar Chabad, which as the Rebbe Rayatz wrote, is “a quiet place near Tel Aviv.”  Previously, the Arabs called it Safraya and it’s on the way to Tel Aviv.  Then it was called Kfar Chabad.

The Chassidim began renovating the homes of the Arabs who fled, fixing and enlarging etc. Also, every family received farming supplies, chickens, cows, and a parcel of land to plant.  The government also provided a stipend and thought they would turn the immigrants into farmers.  They tried for a long time to plow and plant but only a few remained farmers.  The rest took jobs as clerks, in business, klei kodesh, ritual slaughterers etc. Each one arranged a nice garden.

After a while we started building nice homes and taking down the Arab houses that had been renovated and replacing them with villas with nice gardens.  They also built Beis Menachem, a beautiful shul and another big nice shul, and a yeshiva g’dola and elementary school and many buildings for Torah and tz’daka etc, and many workshop buildings belonging to the Chabad yeshiva and many mosdos.

But now and then, the murderers called fedayeen came from Egypt, spent especially by Nasser, and did terrible things to the Jews in Tziyon.  They destroyed facilities and murdered men, women and children.  They sneaked in through the orchards, and under cover of night and darkness chose a house containing people and threw in a grenade and caused death, destruction and havoc.  Or they hid in an orchard and waited for a victim to pass or a car traveling on the road that went through the orchards and shot at it.

They also began harassing Kfar Chabad which they called Safraya.  Back in the day, dangerous murderers lived there who ambushed convoys that traveled to Tel Aviv, and as mentioned, they later began coming from Gaza through the orchards to Kfar Chabad and stealing from the residents what there was in the barns.  They stole horses too and brought them to caves so they could move them onward.  That is what was discovered by the tracker who once went with the armed police and balabatim from the kfar.  The tracker followed the footprints until they found boxes of pesticides in a building of the kfar which looked like jam, and since the Arabs didn’t know what it was, they stopped for a meal in this house and they ate their pitas and smeared it with this poison and died on the spot and that is how the police who were searching the fields found them.  That is how all Your enemies, Hashem, should be destroyed.

Another group hid in an orchard from where there was a road from the main highway into Kfar Chabad, a road that went two kilometers until the kfar.  The orchard continued on both sides of the road, and they hid in the orchard and looked for some target to strike at and kill. The residents were usually wary about walking there in the evening because of the danger.  One of the outstanding bachurim of the yeshiva Tomchei T’mimim, Yisroel Dubroskin, may Hashem avenge his blood, gave a regular Tanya shiur for the boys in the vocational school in Kfar Chabad.  It seems he entered the ambush of the murderers sitting in the orchard.  How did he enter their trap? It’s not known, but when he did not come to class and did not return to the yeshiva in Lud and he wasn’t at his home in Haifa, police and older bachurim immediately began searching for him. They searched frantically in all the orchards with the help of a tracker until they found him in an orchard that wound around the road that leads to the kfar, his hands tied behind him and his face blackened. They shot him from up close. May Hashem avenge his holy blood and take revenge on his enemies.

The authorities took him to Tel HaShomer hospital and we older bachurim kept watch over him all night and said T’hillim and in the morning the talmidim from the yeshiva and Anash came.  We went into great mourning.  The authorities insisted on cutting into him to remove the bullet from his body, for this is the only way they could locate the murderers.  There was a great eulogy held and the entire yeshiva was shocked by this tragedy.  We received a letter from the Rebbe of consolation and encouragement.

Much time passed until people began to recover from this horrific tragedy. A dear friend of all, great in Nigleh and Chassidus, who worked on avoda of the heart which is tefilla, possessed of elevated character traits.  A magnificent tree such as this was cut down by wild animals.  Animals whose place is with other animals, who have nothing to do with human beings.  His blood was spilled like an ox by savages, and this is why we read the verse in T’hillim, “For G-d knows the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked will be destroyed.”

Many residents of Kfar Chabad did not want to remain there because of these murderers, but the Rebbe did not agree that anyone should leave because of this and he strengthened the people and promised that everything would work out with Hashem’s help.

These were seen as words of the holy of holies, of Moshe Rabbeinu of the generation and the extension of Moshe in every generation.  Moshe Rabbeinu said, “Behold, I stand between Hashem and you to tell you the word of Hashem.”  And so too in every generation, the Rebbe stands and brings the word of Hashem.  And we find in Tikkunei Zohar that in the final generation it will be Moshe.  It usually says, “there is no generation that does not have someone like Moshe,” but referring to this generation it says not, “like Moshe” but “Moshe.”

And what the Rebbe said had its effect and it bestowed calm and the talmidim returned and learned with peace of mind.