LUBAVITCH IS ALIVE AND WELL!

Rebbetzin Sima Ashkenazi, wife of R ’Mordechai Shmuel Ashkenazi a”h, came to the Rebbe for Tishrei this year, after a hiatus of 47 years. Throughout those years she stayed with her husband who could not, as the rav of Kfar Chabad, travel at that time. * In this insightful interview, she shares her amazement of the chayus and hiskashrus of the young girls and shares stories from her earlier Tishrei with the Rebbe

By Rochele Haramati

Many women were happy to see and hear that you were at the Rebbe this Tishrei. How many years was it since your last trip?

It was 47 years. When my husband, R’ Mordechai, accepted the rabbanus in Kfar Chabad, they all told him that he had to go to the Rebbe for Tishrei but he said that in his opinion he needed to stay with the community for yomim tovim. The best time to go to the Rebbe was for Shavuos, and that is what he did. When he went to the Rebbe for Shavuos, the Rebbe said a special sicha, “this is the way it was in Lubavitch; the rabbanim, the morei tzedek, would go to the Rebbe for Shavuos because on the other yomim tovim they needed to remain with their k’hilla.” This is why they jokingly referred to Shavuos as the “chag ha’motzim.”

So we had an instruction from the Rebbe to spend yom tov with the community and the Rebbe said, “Otherwise, you can’t pasken halacha the rest of the year, if you were not at the Rebbe in Lubavitch for the holiday of Mattan Torah.” My husband understood from this that he was doing the right thing and that he had a horaa to go to the Rebbe every year for Shavuos, and since then, all the rabbanim would go for Shavuos.

Throughout the years, I went to the Rebbe many times, on all sorts of occasions, but not for yom tov. But this year I received an invitation from the Rebbe to come. A few days before Rosh HaShana, I opened a volume of Igros Kodesh in order to ask for a bracha for someone and the Rebbe wrote, “Regarding your visit here for Tishrei, if it won’t take away from your work in the mosad [apparently referring to Beis Rivka] it is a good idea and you should make plans to travel.”

These words of the Rebbe greatly inspired me but I remembered that I did not have a visa yet and so how would I go? You usually need to wait a month for an appointment to apply for a visa, but I got an appointment at the consulate for the day after Rosh HaShana, 3 Tishrei, Tzom Gedalya; it was a miracle! The clerk asked me where I was going. I said, Lubavitch. And where will you stay, she asked. I answered, Lubavitch. She said, “fine,” and added that since during the week of Yom Kippur they did not have enough work days, my passport would be ready the next day with the visa. That was miraculous!

HAKHEL-GATHER THE PEOPLE

Since you hadn’t been to the Rebbe for Tishrei in decades, how was Tishrei this year, as compared to years ago?

What’s special about this year is that it’s a Shnas Hakhel. The Rebbe wants us all to unify this year. The theme of the year is achdus, and in order to emphasize this, the Rebbe changed from his minhag on Sukkos. Our minhag during Hallel in other years is to hold the lulav the entire time and only to take the esrog for the shaking. That is what the Rebbe Rayatz did and the Rebbe followed suit. In 5748 the Rebbe held all four minim together. Why did he change? The Rebbe said this is the idea of the Year of Hakhel, that everyone, all four categories of Jews, unites. The four minim correspond to the four letters of Hashem’s name. When we are united Hashem’s name is also united and then we have a drawing down from G-d’s infinite light, “bless us, our Father, all as one.”

The best segula for bringing Moshiach is to be united. We do all kinds of things to bring Moshiach, but this is something the Rebbe said explicitly, that achdus among the Chassidim will bring Moshiach. We need to work on this. It makes no difference that we have all kinds of opinions. It’s legitimate for different people to have different views, “just as their faces are not the same, so too their views are dissimilar.” The Rebbe will come, immediately, and tell us just how to think and what to do. In the meantime, we need to give each other space. We must stop the fighting and look for that which unites us and not that which separates us. We must focus on the commonalities, not the differences. The main thing is that there should be achdus. That is the message of this year of Hakhel.”

Please share some moving moments you experienced this year.

The amazing thing is that I saw the connection and consistency between what once was and what we have now. The joy, the dancing, the singing, the t’fillos, and the farbrengen on Motzaei Simchas Torah, wow! The bachurim and young men of today did not merit to see the Rebbe and it’s amazing how they sense what the Rebbe truly wants from us, how everything was run, how everything was wonderfully organized!

The fact that I was moved and that I cried is no wonder for I remember the good old days, but that the girls cried… I can’t put into words how moving it was! It was clear that the Rebbe sat there and ran the farbrengen. That is not something that could naturally be!

During the 48 hours of Simchas Torah in the zal downstairs, the dancing did not stop; there were people coming and going on Tahalucha and they did not stop dancing with the sifrei Torah.

In the afternoon they had to straighten up the room for the farbrengen. They used to empty the zal of people before the farbrengen and then they would arrange the tables and prepare the Ches of the farbrengen and the pyramids. Now you don’t see that happening. There was a group that prepared the tables and pyramids while others danced. It was all wonderfully organized and done so nicely. We kept our places so I was there all that time. The farbrengen was at six. They began singing soul stirring niggunim; if the neshama remained inside, it was a miracle! We truly felt k’los ha’nefesh. It cannot be explained in words.

The lights went out in the middle of the farbrengen, due to some mishap, and we stood in the dark. The girls leaned on the windows which creaked from their weight. They just wanted to see and see some more. I was very afraid and I told the girls, “Watch out! Don’t lean on the glass.” But there was such a strong desire to see and hear. They sang all the niggunim. Some of them were niggunei d’veikus and some were niggunei simcha. Everyone participated. The darkness did not bother anyone. Then the light came back on partially. They danced on the pyramids. What the Rebbe said about it being possible to collect simcha from the Simchas Beis HaShoeiva and the hakafos in pails, is exactly what happened there.

WHOEVER DID NOT SEE THE SIMCHAS BEIS HA’SHOEIVA…

You could see that same intensity at the Simchas Beis HaShoeiva. Every night they danced from nightfall until six in the morning. Two nights it rained and the bachurim took off their jackets and didn’t stop dancing! Litvaks and Poilishe Chassidim with shtreimlach, spodiks, and white socks, came with plastic bags and raincoats and danced with them. It was really nice to see.

There were also those who, as of now, are still distant, who at first stood on the sidelines, far from the circles, but they slowly approached and were warmly embraced. They raised their hands and you could sense their cry, “Hashem, save us! Draw us close!”

We saw how much they yearned to be a part of this amazing atmosphere. I saw what the Rebbe said that the street will dance. Even the street kids were so fixed on the goal and danced for hours. There is no describing what this did for their souls. The fact that they were drawn into the circle… We don’t know what it accomplished, how their G-dly soul was woken up…

We saw the Rebbe’s wishes being realized. Nobody looked askance at the late hour, at the rain, at the tiredness… They carried on because the Rebbe said to do so. It is heartwarming in a way that cannot be explained. Nothing changed! We see how Lubavitch lives! We are withstanding such a difficult test, with so much pain, because we want to see the Rebbe! But we see that nothing changed, things are stronger than ever.

THE POWER OF WOMEN

To what extent do you think that going to the Rebbe fortifies the belief and anticipation of Moshiach for the girls?

There is no question that it provides chizuk. They were uplifting days in the women’s section too. The girls conduct themselves in outstanding fashion. They come early in the morning to get a place and they sit and learn in pairs. Each one wants to see and be part of the amazing atmosphere there. The moving t’fillos, the niggunim whose power one cannot explain, all this uplifts the soul to great heights. You cannot find such prayers anywhere else in the world.

How can you explain the difference between our generation in which so many go to the Rebbe and earlier generations when only the men went?

We are close to the Geula and now we see the power of the woman revealed. “In the merit of the righteous women our ancestors were redeemed from Egypt.” And in our merit everyone will be redeemed now! Women are moser nefesh. In Tishrei they barely slept and ate; none of them thought about their physical needs, it was all for the sake of heaven. To be elevated more and more, to learn and be strengthened. In all the women’s sections, the girls were constantly with booklets of learning material, the learning schedules, the shiurim, the farbrengens, one continuous sequence of holiness, not being involved in anything else at all, no taking trips and wasting time. Constantly running. Where? To the life of the World to Come, to k’dusha and more k’dusha.

Hoshana Raba – where do we find such a thing where girls sit, from one in the morning, and say the entire book of T’hillim? Here, they all came and said the entire T’hillim. Their heads are constantly immersed in G-dly matters; nobody thinks about other things, just about k’dusha. Seeing this in our generation is incredible!

When I was here 47 years ago, we were only four women from Kfar Chabad. Plane tickets then were so expensive, they were half a year’s salary, and so people were not able to go.

Since we are closer than ever to the Geula, the women in our generation must be involved. Who instills k’dusha in the children? The woman, the akeres ha’bayis, she runs the house and therefore, she must be closer to all the present day sources of Chassidic energy. We see how the girls are drawn to come and grow, to work hard to earn a ticket. Nobody told them to do this and they don’t have to come, but they want to come and grow and ultimately, to see the Rebbe. So they do all they can possibly do – hiddur mitzva, t’filla with kavana, amazing things which I saw for myself throughout the time I spent in 770. It adds so much chayus, seeing how Lubavitch is alive and well and growing from day to day. It’s no surprise that so many outside Lubavitch, including the Litvish, want to learn Chassidus. When we are saturated with it, it bursts forth and enlightens all Jews and they all want a part in it too.

PUTTING LIGHTS INTO VESSELS

Spending Tishrei with the Rebbe has to make an impact. It is impossible to land. The plane lands but we don’t land. The fire is so powerful and ignites us from within. It must accompany the person afterward, the days before Tishrei are not like the days that follow it; we made a Hakhel gathering for girls and women too, we talk about it as much as we can so that the impressions will be passed along and even girls who weren’t there will benefit. At a shiur for women that I gave recently, women said, “We did not feel the holidays when they happened, but now we feel them!” When you hear what happened at the Rebbe, it warms your heart.

We must continue doing mitzvos and think, regarding every mitzva, how the Rebbe wants us to fulfill it, continue davening and saying T’hillim like we davened there, with kavana and chayus. We cannot forget that we were at the Rebbe and just return to humdrum life! We need to continue with all the hiddurim and the good intentions, to share with every Jew what we got there and pass the gifts forward.

Is there a specific message which we should take from a Shnas Hakhel?

Why did everyone gather together when we had a king? In order to see Hashem and in order to increase their yiras Shamayim. This is what is demanded of us women. In my first yechidus, in Tishrei 5729/1968, the Rebbe asked me: What about the yiras Shamayim of the women and girls of the Kfar? At that time I wasn’t the wife of a rav. I was a young woman from the Kfar, 21 years old, and I hadn’t dreamed about rabbanus. I was involved in chinuch and in the administration of N’shei Chabad in Kfar Chabad, but I was not at all a leader. I did not think I could state an opinion about anyone’s yiras Shamayim and so I remained silent.

The Rebbe began explaining to me that the touchstone for yiras Shamayim is tznius and tahara. The Rebbe told me that when I got back to the Kfar, I should divide the Kfar into sections and we should study these topics in groups that got together in people’s homes. We did that. And from the Kfar it expanded to the whole country and to the rest of the world. Old and young all learned and were strengthened. Now too in Hakhel, we need to strengthen tznius because we need to increase our yiras Shamayim.

Please tell us the famous story about the first proclamation of Yechi and the encouragement you got for it from the Rebbe.

That proclamation of Yechi took place on Motzaei 28 Teves 5752, the birthday of Rebbetzin Chana, which fell out that year on Shabbos. At the time the Rebbe said that what remained was only to be mekabel p’nei Moshiach Tzidkeinu. On Motzaei Shabbos we had a Melaveh Malka for women to be mekabel p’nei Moshiach. I was in Crown Heights at the time because my son had become a chassan and although I was supposed to run the Melaveh Malka in Kfar Chabad, when I heard that the shidduch was progressing, I made the trip.

It was a big event with the women sitting downstairs in the zal and the girls in the Ezras Nashim. The men gathered in various places and heard the broadcast which was conveyed to them and to 119 places around the world. It was very exciting! They set the tables with “shor ha’bor” and “yayin ha’meshumar” and “livyasan.” They brought huge fish, special meat and wine. There were special speakers. The first one to speak was R’ Chaim Gutnick a”h who spoke about Rochel Imeinu who cried and Hashem said to her, “there is a reward for what you did.” He said to us, “Women, you know how to cry. Cry, pray, say T’hillim, ask for Moshiach to come. This is your power.” Everyone took a T’hillim and cried and asked from the depths of their hearts. It was a moment I will never forget all my life.

Then the emcee said they had sent a note to the Rebbe and asked him to come. The Rebbe was in his room, his chair was ready on the platform and there was such excitement that I cannot describe. We felt that if the Rebbe came, that would mean the hisgalus of Moshiach! The hopes of all the generations would be realized now! It was such a heightened moment and we all waited while reciting T’hillim, but the Rebbe did not come. The emcee said that the Rebbe was not coming and maybe he would come later and in the meantime we would wait and continue with the program.

Then I said to those sitting next to me, “What program? Did we come for a program? We came to be mekabel Moshiach! We don’t want a program. We’ve had enough speeches and want Moshiach!” They said to me, “Go up on the stage and say that.” I said, “I wasn’t invited to speak and I’m not going up there!” In the end, they spoke to the emcee who called me up.

I went up and said, “What hasn’t been done in recent weeks so that Moshiach comes? Each of us committed to an increase in Torah and mitzvos; women went on mivtzaim, were mekarev Jews, turned over worlds, just so we would be worthy of Moshiach coming. We all know the story from the time of the Rebbe Rashab when there was an evil decree and the g’dolei Yisroel convened and tried to have the decree annulled. They tried but failed. The Rebbe Rashab cried and R’ Chaim Soloveitchik, who was a gaon and the rav of Brisk, said to him, ‘Admur of Lubavitch, why are you crying?’ The Rebbe said, ‘Because we were unsuccessful in having the decree canceled.’ R’ Chaim Brisker said, ‘But we did all we could do…’ The Rebbe responded, ‘But we were unsuccessful!’ That is why the Rebbe cried.”

I continued, “We did all we could do in recent weeks and we want to be mekabel Moshiach.” I then took a T’hillim and said the Rebbe’s chapter, chapter 90, verse by verse, and all the women recited it after me. When I finished, I had to go down the steps, as after all, I wasn’t part of the program. Suddenly, I felt such a desire to cry out Yechi. I couldn’t restrain myself, I so wanted Moshiach to come. It wasn’t accepted at that time to proclaim Yechi and I knew that I would be doing something that might ch”v upset the Rebbe but I had to do it. I felt as though I was going to fall and faint. I held onto the lectern and looked down. I couldn’t look at the crowd. And from the depths of my heart I called out, “Yechi Adoneinu Moreinu V’Rabbeinu …” I saw how the crowd rose and all cried out together with me. I proclaimed Yechi three times. It was not just a proclamation; it was a cry from the heart! We did all we could do and we want and plead that the Rebbe be revealed. I said, “Now, now, now!” I went down from the platform and felt terrible. I was afraid the Rebbe would be most unhappy with me. What did I do?!

I went home; I could not remain for the rest of the program.

The next day, I was supposed to go to the Rebbe with the chassan and kalla and ask for a bracha, but I felt terrible. I told my son to arrange to pass by the Rebbe for dollars as late as possible. I could not calm down. At five in the afternoon I went to the Rebbe.

I did not know that they had already informed the Rebbe about everything that happened and that in response, the Rebbe wrote to R’ Chaim Boruch Halberstam, the one who arranged the global broadcast, “Thank you for the nachas you caused and cause.” Chabad women in London also wanted to make a Melaveh Malka and they asked the Rebbe what to do. The Rebbe told them to consult with the Chabad women in New York. That meant that the Rebbe approved of what occurred but I did not know this yet. I approached the Rebbe and the Rebbe looked into my eyes and gave me a bracha the likes of which I waited for, for years! I realized I had done the right thing and learned that you need to cry out “Yechi” from the depths of your heart, and Hashem will hear our prayers and bring Moshiach.

THERE IS NOTHING THAT STANDS IN THE WAY OF ONE’S WILL

When I was here for Tishrei 47 years ago, on the second day of Sukkos, the Rebbe would farbreng in the sukka. The wall of the sukka was up against the right outside wall of 770. Women could not see or hear the farbrengen. Still, a group of us women thought perhaps we could manage to see or hear.

We entered 770 and went to the room adjacent to the sukka, the Otzar HaS’farim (library room) of the yeshiva. The window was reinforced glass and the bachurim had knocked in nails before yom tov so that the window could not be opened. We could not see nor hear. What could we do? The women who were with me gave up and left. I was saddened by this and thought, I waited so many years to come to the Rebbe and now the Rebbe is farbrenging and I can’t see?

I saw a crack in the window on top and thought, it will soon be after yom tov and I will try to remove the glass over there. When I was allowed to, I got up on the windowsill and managed to remove that millimeter. When the Rebbe spoke, I put my ear there and when he finished, I looked through and I was ecstatic.

Toward morning, the Rebbe gave out kos shel bracha and I suddenly felt that I wanted to ask for a bracha and for kos shel bracha. I knew this was not a rational thought and I certainly wasn’t going to go to the sukka to ask. There was a long line for kos shel bracha. People came from other neighborhoods. The line was so long that some went with one cup and some went with two cups, for someone else, but did not say for whom they were taking wine.

I knew that it would be like Motzaei Rosh HaShana when my husband received kos shel bracha from which he drank a little and then gave some to me and the children. I thought, I hope he asks on my behalf, but I knew that was nonsense. You did not bother the Rebbe, you did not waste his time.

I longed to ask the Rebbe for a bracha and felt despondent when my husband passed by and did not ask for me. He turned his face back toward the stacked crates in order to go down (for you don’t turn your back to the Rebbe) and then the Rebbe called him and said, “Take for your rebbetzin.” How would he take when he did not have another cup? The secretary immediately gave him another cup and the Rebbe poured and he went down and left. He was sure I was home asleep.

When I saw my husband going out, I went out too and I cried so much. I had heard the Rebbe and felt how the Rebbe knew my deepest wish and had especially sent me kos shel bracha. My husband asked me in amazement, what are you doing here? I told him, I was here all along. I saw and heard everything. It was an extraordinary experience which cannot be described in words.

MY HUSBAND LOVES A SHTUREM

This year, I heard a story about a bachur who served as an aide in the Rebbe’s home. Once, during a special time in the Chabad calendar, the Rebbetzin told him that the Rebbe would farbreng the following day. He went to 770 and, sure enough, at the last moment, they announced that the Rebbe would farbreng. There was such great joy that they began calling people to come and quickly prepared the room.

The bachur was very surprised and afterward, he asked the Rebbetzin: If the Rebbe knew the day before that he would be farbrenging, why wasn’t this announced in advance? With advance notice it is much easier to prepare the room and inform everyone.

The Rebbetzin answered: My husband loves a shturem (commotion). When it is announced at the last moment, we are filled with great joy and excitement and the chayus at the farbrengen is much greater.

That’s the way it will be when Moshiach comes. We all try to add in mitzvos and good deeds and hiddur mitzva, so that Moshiach comes. We don’t see that it works. We wait and wait and it doesn’t happen. We need to remember that the Rebbe loves a commotion! In one moment the entire world will be in an uproar and everyone will know, all the phones, all the networks … Moshiach came! We know it will happen. The Rebbe will conquer the world in a huge storm.