The Chassid who was born in Dokshitz, learned in Tomchei T’mimim, and attended the Rebbe’s wedding, immigrated to the United States after receiving the Rebbe Rayatz’s bracha. * He founded the first Chabad minyan there and was a member of important Chabad organizations in America. * R’ Yochanan Gordon a”h.
CHASSIDISHE CHILDREN IN THE LAND OF OPPORTUNITY
R’ Yochanan Gordon was born on 23 Iyar 5654/1894. His father was R’ Yisroel, the mohel in the Chassidishe town of Dokshitz, where R’ Leib Sheinin (may Hashem avenge his blood) was the Chassidishe rav.
He learned in Tomchei T’mimim in Lubavitch and Szedrin, he was a shochet in Dokshitz, and was a devoted student of the mashpia, R’ Shaul Dov Zislin. R’ Yochanan attended the Rebbe’s wedding in Warsaw. Before the wedding, he deliberated as to whether he should go, due to financial considerations, but R’ Leib upon hearing of his hesitation asked him, “How could you not go when the Baal Shem Tov, the Maggid, and all our Rebbeim will be there?!”
Although his three brothers had moved to the US and were shochtim there, R’ Yochanan refused to go until he asked the Rebbe Rayatz for a bracha for his children’s chinuch and the Rebbe blessed him. The Rebbe repeated this blessing in several letters even after the family moved in 5691/1931: “And may you raise your children to Torah, chuppa and good deeds.” And indeed, despite the winds of heresy that prevailed in those days in the land of endless opportunity, R’ Yochanan merited that all his children and grandchildren followed his ways.
In those days, there were hardly any Chabad Chassidim in the US. R’ Yisroel Jacobson was a special Chassid who was there as the shliach of the Rebbe Rayatz in order to transfer the Chassidic headquarters to America. He gave shiurim in Chassidus to young students. As soon as the Gordon family arrived, his two older sons, Nissan and Sholom Dovber, began attending these classes. The third son, Yisroel, was still a little boy.
In Tishrei 5694/1933, R’ Yisroel started the first Chabad minyan in America, i.e. a minyan of graduates of Tomchei T’mimim (as opposed to the Nusach Ari shuls which abounded). R’ Yochanan served as chazan and baal tokeia on the Yomim Nora’im. When they went to Tashlich from Brownsville, the Chassidim stopped at R’ Yochanan’s house in East New York, farbrenged, and learned a maamer.
At that time, living in R’ Yochanan’s home was a dear friend from the days they learned together in the yeshiva in Lubavitch, R’ Avrohom Pariz. He also left a deep impression on R’ Yochanan’s young children, thus helping raise them as Chassidim on a new continent. This bond of friendship persisted so that even when R’ Avrohom’s grandchildren went on K’vutza, they stayed at R’ Yochanan’s house.
BUILDING CHABAD IN AMERICA
In 1938, following the visit of R’ Mordechai Cheifetz who taught Chassidus to the girls in Riga, Chassidishe girls were inspired to learn Chassidus too, like their brothers. They started an organization called Achos T’mimim. The Rebbe blessed the initiative and appointed a vaad hanhala. The members of the committee were called “shepherds” by the Rebbe, among them R’ Yochanan. He was to teach the girls once a week, give them homework for the rest of the week, and farbreng with them. The Rebbe told the members of this committee “to arrange lessons according to their level going from easy to hard, since at the beginning the main task is to bring them into the tent of this Torah … the learning needs to be in the maamarim published in the kuntreisim which will make it easier for them to understand, and selected chapters of Tanya, and assign them lesson plans in reading the sichos, and from time to time to speak to them in these subjects to discern their level of knowledge.”
When the Rebbe came to the US, he told R’ Yochanan to arrange a gathering for girls and to make arrangements for the upcoming year. The Rebbe said R’ Chadakov should address the girls and explain to them the purpose of the organization. Nearly fifteen years later, the Rebbe told him to continue with the instructions he had received, but added that he should also tell them stories of tzaddikim every day and talk to them about the “peripherals” of Chassidus and that it would be worthwhile to write down what he said so it could be used elsewhere. R’ Yochanan’s notes, which are full of stories and anecdotes from the lives of the great Chassidim, have been published in a number of forums and are a treasure for whoever wants to farbreng about the ways of Chassidus. Many of these notes were based on what he heard from his mashpia, R’ Zislin, which is why R’ Yochanan sent them to him to review.
At first, the participants were only Lubavitcher girls but then, slowly, girls from other groups joined too. In a fascinating diary which was published by Di Yiddishe Heim, one of the girls relates, “Among my friends were some who hid their Tanya under their pillow and learned it only late at night. They told their parents that they were going to a friend when in fact they were going to a shiur in Chassidus given by R’ Yochanan Gordon a”h. Once, the parents of one of my friends caught her at a farbrengen and dragged her home …”
Aside from his roles as a member of the hanhala of Aguch in the US (where he was also a member of the Maamad committee and the Vaad L’Hafotzas Chassidus) and as a member of the review board of Nicho’ach, R’ Yochanan served in important roles in another two organizations that are less well known, which the Rebbe Rayatz founded in 1944. He was chairman of the Bikur Cholim organization whose function it was to visit the Jewish sick and wounded in the military, and secretary of a special tz’daka fund which was run by the Rebbe Rayatz and Rebbetzin Nechama Dina for Jewish organizations in the US, and which bore their name (as an acronym: Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok v’Nechama Dina Schneersohn Lubavitch). Another position which the Rebbe appointed him to was as gabbai of the shul in 770, a role he filled until his final day.
R’ Yochanan also founded and ran the Shomrei Shabbos gemach. After his passing, the gemach was given over to his son-in-law, R’ Shimon Goldman, who runs it until this day. The Rebbe showed a special fondness for everything associated with the gemach and referred to it more than once in his sichos. In many letters he encouraged him to continue his good work, and now and then the Rebbe sent him a check for the gemach.
The first year after the Rebbe MH”M arrived in the US, R’ Yochanan would give a shiur in Mishnayos every Shabbos after the davening. The Rebbe was present and after R’ Yochanan finished, the Rebbe would explain the Mishnayos according to Nigleh, Kabbala, and Chassidus.
THE PASSING OF THE REBBE RAYATZ
The Rebbe Rayatz passed away on Yud Shevat 5710. R’ Yochanan who was there, tearfully told the bachurim who came to say T’hillim. He could not bear to stay inside during the histalkus so he went out. When he returned he saw that the yarmulke had fallen off the Rebbe’s head and he replaced it, but then he saw there was another yarmulke underneath. R’ Yochanan, who was a member of the chevra kadisha, “won” the raffle of conducting the purification of the Rebbe’s head.
“During the tahara, there were more tears than water,” said R’ Yochanan afterward.
After the funeral, R’ Yochanan told his son Sholom Dovber that he was afraid of an ayin ha’ra for having drawn that privilege, like the Alter Rebbe who merited to perform the tahara of the head of the Maggid and was afraid of an ayin ha’ra. Indeed, right after the funeral, his wife became sick and the doctors discovered a malignant growth.
The family hid the severity of her illness from R’ Yochanan until one time, when the Rebbe asked him about the situation and he said with a sigh that the doctors advised surgery and he did not know what to do. The Rebbe told him, “Ask the Rebbe [Rayatz] and he will know how to answer.”
R’ Yochanan went to the Ohel and also told his family what the Rebbe had said. One of the sons had yechidus and told the Rebbe that they had discovered a malignancy in his mother. The Rebbe said to do the operation, and she lived another seven years until she passed away in Av of 5717/1957. After her passing, R’ Yochanan merited what not many Chassidim merited – the Rebbe went to console him.
Another special kiruv was when his grandson, the son of R’ Shimon Goldman, turned three. The Rebbe had already stopped doing upsherens but R’ Yochanan expressed his dismay to the Rebbe, “Just by my grandson you stop?!” And so the Rebbe conducted the upsheren and said a sicha.
MEKUSHAR TO THE REBBE MH”M
R’ Mordechai Groner and R’ Yochanan once walked into 770 and met the Rebbe who said “shalom aleichem” to them and held out his hand. Of course, they refused to extend their hands. The Rebbe said, “You are also from those people…”
Every year R’ Yochanan would submit an annual report of the gemach’s activities to the Rebbe Rayatz. A few weeks after his passing, R’ Yochanan brought the report to the Rebbe MH”M. The Rebbe looked at it and asked, “Is this gemach fund capable of dealing with the needs of the Jewish community in New York?”
“We have a Rebbe with broad horizons who will demand a lot of us,” said R’ Yochanan to his fellow Chassidim when he went out. The Rebbe raised the level of expectations and demands of the gemach until one year, the Rebbe asked, upon seeing one of the reports, how it was possible that the gemach, whose objective it was to dispense loans, had so much money available!
Over the years, R’ Yochanan received dozens of letters regarding his many communal involvements in which the Rebbe blessed him with good health in the merit of the mitzvos he had committed to, and the Rebbe instructed him to add even more. For example, the Rebbe told him that as gabbai, he had to see to it that there were shiurim for the public in the shul, that the maos chittim fund should grow, as well as the gemach, etc.
GABBAI OF THE SHUL AT 770
The writer, Shmuel Avidor, who spent Tishrei 5724 in Lubavitch and later wrote his memoirs as the Rebbe told him to, described Erev Rosh HaShana in his diary:
“R’ Yochanan Gordon, the shochet from Dokshitz, an old Jew whose red beard has already started turning gray, the gabbai in the beis midrash, gives the final instructions regarding the seating.”
One of the hardest tasks R’ Yochanan took upon himself was when he entered the Rebbe’s room on Erev Yom Kippur for malkus. Before that, he would enter the Rebbe’s room after Kaparos and the Rebbe would give him a $50 bill for Kaparos.
Every year, R’ Yochanan would enter the Rebbe’s room the night of Hoshana Raba with thirteen bundles of Hoshaanas. The bundles were prepared by R’ Leibel Bistritzky. The Rebbe would pick three and give $10 for them. A few days later, R’ Yochanan would stand at the Rebbe’s farbrengen on Shabbos B’Reishis and sell aliyos and mitzvos for the rest of the upcoming year, wearing a shtraimel as the Rebbe told him to.
The Rebbe relied on R’ Yochanan for minhagim. One time, the Rebbe asked him about saying “Keil Malei Rachamim.” R’ Yochanan said in Lubavitch they did not say it and the Rebbe said, therefore, they would do as in Lubavitch and not say it.
In 5718, R’ Yochanan did not have a shtraimel on Shabbos B’Reishis and the Rebbe told him, in the middle of the farbrengen, to bless the month and to wear a shtraimel like the previous year. R’ Yochanan said that the previous year he had no hat. The Rebbe said that nevertheless he should wear a shtraimel and say “Torah.” R’ Yochanan asked for how much to sell the aliyos and the Rebbe said that was up to the gabbaim. R’ Yochanan began to say the Birkas HaChodesh from yichadisheihu but the Rebbe stopped him and told him to start from mee sh’asa. They announced the molad and R’ Yochanan blessed the month a second time.
In 5725, the Rebbe said when he took the shtraimel, “A change in garment and also a change in speech, so that he should say ‘Torah.’” R’ Yochanan said something humorous and the Rebbe smiled.
On 11 Nissan, a few weeks before R’ Yochanan’s passing, the Rebbe went down to the big zal in order to transfer the Torah from 770 to Nachalat Har Chabad. The Rebbe gave 200 dollars to R’ Yochanan in lieu of the purchase price and when R’ Yochanan gave the Torah to the Rebbe, the Rebbe smiled and blessed him, “You should live to see Moshiach.”
THE RESHIMA OF SHIMON THE HERETIC
In the early years of the Rebbe’s nesius, R’ Meir Ashkenazi once had yechidus and the Rebbe spoke to him about his trip to the country. R’ Ashkenazi complained that he wouldn’t have what to do there and the Rebbe took Reshimas Shimon HaKofer out of his drawer and gave it to him to read there.
R’ Meir, who immediately realized this was something special, upon leaving the Rebbe’s room met his friend R’ Yochanan and told him what happened. R’ Yochanan immediately went home and told Yosef Blizinsky who lived with him and had a typewriter, to copy the reshima, making two copies. R’ Yosef made several copies and the reshima was spread among Anash.
WITH PERMISSION FROM THE REBBE
One year, when R’ Yochanan left the Rebbe’s room after the selection of Hoshaanas, he had a big smile on his face. When R’ Sholom Ber Levitin pressured him to explain why, R’ Yochanan said that he had blessed the Rebbe that the Rebbe’s name become great and sanctified in the world “as Avrohom Pariz wants.”
The Rebbe reacted with a big smile.
On Erev Yom Kippur 5728, R’ Shmuel Levitin gave R’ Avrohom Pariz the honor of leading the bentching at the meal in the old Rebbetzin’s house. “If you want me to bentch I will say, b’r’shus Adoneinu Moreinu V’Rabbeinu Melech HaMoshiach” he threatened, and R’ Shmuel refused. R’ Yochanan told the Rebbe about this and he smiled broadly.
TODAY YOU ARE IN NEW YORK, IN THE FUTURE …
At the famous farbrengen of Shabbos Parshas Shmini 5712, when the Rebbe blessed some individuals, he said to R’ Yochanan: You are the gabbai of the beis midrash of Lubavitch in Lubavitch which today is located in New York, but, “all shuls and battei midrash in Bavel will in the future be established in Eretz Yisroel,” as the Gemara says.
The Rebbe asked whether anyone knew where this maamer Chazal is and when nobody responded he asked, “Where is my baal Nigleh?” and mentioned the name of R’ Moshe Dreizin who was known as a baal Nigleh. However, R’ Dreizin was not present and the Rebbe said to R’ Yochanan: It’s an aggadata in the Gemara and you are knowledgeable in aggadata … One of the Chassidim tried to say the source in the Gemara but the Rebbe motioned dismissively.
Finally, the Rebbe asked for a Gemara Megilla in order to say the source. Until they brought the Gemara, the Rebbe continued with the farbrengen and when he was given the Gemara he was already in the middle of another topic and the Rebbe held the Gemara for a while. After a while, one of Anash noticed this and offered to take the Gemara since it may have been difficult for the Rebbe. The Rebbe said: For a Rebbe, Torah is not difficult. It was only toward the end of the farbrengen that the Rebbe opened the Gemara, looked at it briefly, and said the source for what he quoted.
WHEN GEHINOM IS CLOSED
R’ Yochanan was known to be very sharp-tongued and woe to the person who interfered with his work. Every year, when he would sell aliyos, he would say a short vort and often the Rebbe would smile at his wit.
At the farbrengen of Shabbos Parshas Shmini 5725, R’ Yochanan did not feel well. He had come early in the morning to prepare the shul and hadn’t eaten anything before the farbrengen. The Rebbe stopped in the middle of a sicha and looked at him briefly. He asked for Dr. Seligson and when there was no response, asked again, but he wasn’t there. The Rebbe continued with the sicha.
After a short time, they helped him leave. His son-in-law, R’ Shimon Goldman and R’ Yisroel Duchman picked him up to take him out of the zal. When they passed the Rebbe the Rebbe also moved a little. He looked at him and moved his chair so they could pass by easily.
The Rebbe continued to look at him until they took him outside and said, “Instead of everyone making a commotion, someone should go to Seligson for him to examine him.” A few people went to look for him.
When they took him out of the shul he had fainted and outside, with cold fresh air, he regained consciousness. After the farbrengen, he waited for the Rebbe near the small zal before Mincha so the Rebbe could see he was fine. The Rebbe looked at him and motioned as though to ask, what was that?
R’ Yochanan replied, “I died but since it is Shabbos today and Gehinom is closed and they don’t want to let me into Gan Eden, they had no choice but to send me back and here I am.” The Rebbe smiled broadly and blessed him with long life.
R’ Yochanan passed away on 29 Av 5729/1969.