“R’ Mulle” was how R’ Shmuel Azimov, the Rebbe’s shliach to France, was known. He was mekarev thousands to Judaism, the Rebbe and Chassidus. Sadly, he passed away on 13 Cheshvan.
Those who saw the pictures of the airport in Paris, where hundreds of Chabad Chassidim waited in line to purchase tickets for flights to Eretz Yisroel so they could attend the continuation of R’ Mulle’s funeral, got a glimpse of the tremendous love his mekuravim have for him.
The t’shuva revolution that R’ Shmuel and his wife Basya Azimov wrought is incomparable in the world of shlichus worldwide. France is home to the largest concentration of Jews in Europe. It developed as such over a number of years in which hundreds of thousands of Jews emigrated from various North African countries. This dynamic shliach was devoted wholeheartedly to the Rebbe and carried out his shlichus to the fullest extent, without compromises and without cutting corners.
Troops of baalei t’shuva. Entire k’hillos. Men, women, and children. Literally. He transformed the lives of hundreds and even thousands who live today as G-d fearing Jews. A large percentage of them are Chabad Chassidim, shluchim, roshei yeshivos and mashpiim.
In this article we will focus on the uniqueness of the huge revolution that R’ Azimov wrought among thousands of Jews through shiurim and true hiskashrus to the Rebbe as well as through group trips for Tishrei.
JUMPING INTO THE SEA OF SHLICHUS
R’ Shmuel Azimov was born in Russia. His father was R’ Chaim Hillel Azimov. When he was a baby, his family joined the groups of Chassidim who escaped across the border via Lvov. After a period of wandering and suffering, the family settled in Paris, France where his father began running a Lubavitch school. Over a span of thirty years, he taught hundreds of students.
R’ Mulle grew up in France of those days and he later attended Yeshivas Tomchei T’mimim in Brunoy. Even as a bachur, he started reaching out to Jewish students in Paris.
In 5724, he arranged shiurim for Jewish students attending various universities in Paris. At that time, Paris was a symbol of modernity and the state of Judaism was abysmal. The average Jew chose to keep his distance from Judaism in order to fit in socially, in academia, and in business. Most of them preferred to show up occasionally at shul and some even put on t’fillin, but that was all. R’ Mulle, as a young bachur, began with working with them and did all he could to get them on the path of Torah.
With the encouragement and blessing of the Rebbe, he began to ramp up the work among French Jews with the goal of spreading Judaism and Chassidus in Paris in particular, and France overall.
He went to Beis Chayeinu and had yechidus in the course of which the Rebbe encouraged him to continue his work with the youth: “To study with the young men you started with, Nigleh and Chassidus and yiras Shamayim.” The yechidus ended and Mulle backed out in order to respectfully leave the room. Then the Rebbe said a heavenly statement: “You will have great success and the meaning of great success is success that is inestimable.”
These words injected him with a particular strength so that indeed, over the years, Mulle attained incredible success.
After a few years of outreach on a small scale, he married Basya, the daughter of R’ Bentzion Shemtov, in 5728. After a short time he returned with his wife to Paris with an explicit order from the Rebbe to work among the Jews of Paris.
ON THE WAY TO LUBAVITCH
When he returned to Paris, he began a new initiative through shiurim that he gave. He established shiurim in numerous places around Paris which were meant for students or academics who wanted to understand each subject in a rational fashion. He taught them Nigleh and Chassidus and these shiurim began a huge revolution among students, businessmen, civil servants and ordinary Jews who began taking step after step toward a religious life. With time, the number of people giving the shiurim increased, with some of them students of his who were now in a position to influence others.
Over the years, the circle of mekuravim expanded and became hundreds and thousands, but the students in the first circles recount with love and admiration how he cared for them like a father and mother. Up until a few years prior, they had attended university while knowing next to nothing about their Judaism, and they had become Lubavitcher Chassidim. R’ Mulle, a warm and inspired Chassid, knew how to inspire the French Jews. He farbrenged with them and had long soul discussions with them.
R’ Mulle knew that the “final blow” would be with their hiskashrus to the Rebbe. In 5731 he arranged the first group of more than ten young men who went with him to the Rebbe for Tishrei. The Rebbe’s response to the French group was unusual. He asked his secretary, R’ Chadakov to see to proper accommodations for all the members of the group. During farbrengens, the Rebbe turned his attention again and again to the group, told them to say l’chaim together and to sing “HaAderes V’Ha’Emuna” to the tune of La Marseillaise, the French national anthem, and displayed many other kiruvim.
One of the outstanding activists in Beth Loubavitch is Chaim Nissenbaum. He has worked as legal counsel for the French Labor office for many years. Many years ago, he described his journey through R’ Mulle:
“I was born in Paris and had no connection to Judaism whatsoever. I was known in high school as someone who took a great interest in the esoteric, anything relating to philosophy and mysticism. Two students who had already become close with R’ Mulle, decided to draw me toward him. They told me that once a week there was a class on Jewish mysticism in Paris and since I was Jewish and loved mysticism, it was tailor-made for me.
“When I got there, I found myself in the midst of a deep shiur in Chassidus that lasted two hours. Concepts like Atzilus and s’firos that were heard again and again during the shiur sated my desire for the esoteric in the most fascinating way. But what particularly attracted me was his personality. I thought he was a man of truth in a way that I had never previously encountered, and this truth captivated me.
“I continued going every Sunday but my progress toward religion was slow and hesitant. The first summer vacation I was not willing to go to yeshiva in Brunoy as many other students did for two months. I went for just one week because Gemara study did not appeal to me. I wanted to learn Chassidus.”
He slowly moved forward and began accepting the yoke of Torah and Chassidic practices:
“With R’ Mulle’s guidance, we [students who were niskarev] conducted ourselves like bachurim from Tomchei T’mimim. We had shiurim in Nigleh and Chassidus every day. We used every free moment for learning.”
He went to the Rebbe eventually and became one of the Chabad askanim in Paris.
SECRET TO SUCCESS
What was the secret to R’ Mulle’s success? How did he manage to convince Jews to take an interest in Judaism and Chassidus? R’ Mulle was often asked these questions. This is the answer he gave the journalist, R’ Yehuda Tzeitlin:
“It’s very simple. It’s because the Rebbe was here in Paris and he plowed and planted and we just have to harvest. If the Rebbe wants it, it’s possible. We cannot forget one thing – when the Rebbe sent us and we began spreading the wellsprings, speaking and doing, we were practically the only organization. Everyone immediately saw and recognized Chabad because we were the only ones around. There is also the advantage here in that the Jews can be found everywhere, so it is much easier to get to them and work with them. Over the years, other groups began copying us but there is no doubt that all of Judaism in Paris is only because of the Rebbe’s ko’ach.”
Chaim Nissenbaum also tried to ascertain the secret to R’ Mulle’s success:
“The tremendous hiskashrus to the Rebbe that he demanded above all else and before all else from everyone he was mekarev, led to his great success. He demanded of everyone to do precisely what he himself did, which was to be mashpia, to give shiurim, to organize groups, in short: to be a loyal soldier of the Rebbe 24 hours a day. He established here, as a matter of course, that in Tishrei everyone had to be by the Rebbe, that every Shabbos Mevarchim there had to be a raffle so that someone from the chevra would travel and represent them all, and the following Shabbos tell them everything he saw and heard at the Rebbe’s farbrengen.”
THOUSANDS AT THE FUNERAL
In recent years, R’ Azimov suffered from various serious health problems but he continued many of his activities. It was a moving sight to see him giving shiurim, farbrenging with hundreds of his talmidim and continuing his work, despite his compromised health. The doctors thought this wasn’t good for his health but they did not understand that this was his true life, i.e. carrying out the Rebbe’s shlichus.
On 12 Cheshvan his condition took a turn for the worse and he was hospitalized. His students and Chassidim around the world prayed for him but to their great sorrow, R’ Mulle passed away at the relatively young age of 69.
Thousands attended his funeral which began in France and continued in Eretz Yisroel. He was buried next to his wife on the Mt of Olives in the section where ziknei ha’chassidim are buried including his mashpia, R’ Nissan Nemanov.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
Excerpts from the eulogy that was written by one of the European shluchim who lived in Paris in his youth where he knew R’ Mulle:
1) The following scene is etched in my brain: The Rebbe standing on the raised platform in 770, looking at the screen opposite him on which was displayed the simultaneous broadcast from five continents – “Chanuka Live.” It was another revolutionary chiddush in which modern technology was harnessed for holy purposes. On the screen it said “France” and emotion rises to the fore. Unlike the other locations where dozens or hundreds gathered, in Paris there were thousands.
A mass of people surrounded the tall menorah placed at the foot of the symbol of progress and freedom in France, the Eiffel Tower. R’ Mulle went up on a huge lift, going higher and higher, and when he reached the top of the menorah with the mayor of Paris (City of Lights) he burst into singing “HaAderes V’Ha’Emuna,” trembling with emotion. He knew that the Rebbe was watching him. The song spread and thousands joined in the victory march signifying the heritage of the Alter Rebbe who overcame Napoleon.
This “Didan Natzach,” the song which reverberated on the boulevard at the foot of the Eiffel Tower which runs toward the Élysée Palace intersecting the corner of the Louvre museum, was for us children the acme of “is’hafcha” in France, from the mundane to the holy.
Then the Rebbe waved his hand forcefully. On his face was a heavenly joy. He was clearly pleased with the flourishing that came after the “plowing and sowing,” as Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka once put it on a rare occasion when she spoke about those years in which she and the Rebbe lived in Paris.
2) All those who “lived” the good years in Beis Chayeinu remember the “group,” a synonym for “k’vutza,” that R’ Mulle would bring with him each year to the Rebbe. A group which grew from year to year.
He would collect precious Jewish souls dressed in bodies and clothes that looked light years away from the authentic Chassidic life in Lubavitch and he would transform them into Chassidim. The difficult work was done thousands of miles away from Beis Chayeinu, door by door, neighborhood by neighborhood. Kiruv with love and Jewish pride. Another Tanya shiur and another shiur in Chassidus. Another mikva in this neighborhood and another yeshiva in that neighborhood. But the “final blow” in the work of kiruv was bringing them to the Rebbe.
Whoever was in 770 knew that these groups were clamorous. The warm feeling that flowed in their veins was felt in the atmosphere and sometimes also by those in their immediate vicinity. They made every effort not to miss a second of the hakafos, of the March, or of the t’kios. Their fervor, even though most of them did not understand a word of what was said at the farbrengens, did not weaken for a second. A firestorm of holiness and genuine hiskashrus burned within them.
It was an opportunity for the Chassidim and other shluchim to get a glimpse into the power of R’ Mulle who invested everything he had to create Chassidim in the form and image of the finest sons of Lubavitch.
For the special and rare treatment that this group publicly received from the Rebbe, on every occasion, see the diaries from Beis Chayeinu from those years.
3) Despite his great and impressive success, despite the fact that he built an empire of mosdos and Chabad houses, R’ Mulle conducted himself most simply. He drove an old beat-up car and would not hear of changing it for something more respectable. He lived simply and modestly in a small apartment, very far from the standard of minimal “prosperity.”
R’ Mulle went to the main office of Beth Loubavitch every day where he maintained the simplicity and modesty even as magnificent Chabad houses were built with donations from wealthy donors, when all it would have taken would have been a nod of his head to get them to go all out to build him a beautiful office in the main headquarters of his mosdos in Paris.
MY RAV MULLE
By R’ Yehuda Koskas, Elad
I took the first steps toward Torah and mitzvos for my bar mitzva. We lived in a suburb of Paris. There was no Chabad house and my parents asked the rav of the local shul to prepare me for my bar mitzva.
Learning with the rav of the shul had a great effect on me. From my bar mitzvah on I began observing Torah and mitzvos gradually and under the guidance of the rav whose name was R’ Maman.
I finished elementary school as a religious boy, and continued at ORT, a famous Jewish high school in Paris. At ORT I was surprised to meet a large group of boys my age who were making their first steps toward Torah and mitzvos too. I asked them which rav they belonged to and they told me enthusiastically about a young Ashkenazi rabbi from Paris by the name of Mulle who was attracting masses of young people.
They did not have to do much convincing since their enthusiasm simply swept up everyone around them. The next Sunday, I joined them for a shiur at the local [premises in French, the nickname for the Chabad house] and after that, the concept “Rav Mulle” became a significant part of my life.
The local was a huge baalei t’shuva machine like a massive vacuum which sucked in whoever passed by. The enthusiasm, the joy, the d’veikus, and mainly the truth, the truth of R’ Mulle which swept up everything that came in its path. The shiurim, the farbrengens, those were the most special farbrengens of my life. We would sing niggunim over and over, R’ Mulle kept the focus and there was nothing at the farbrengen that veered from the point. Not jokes, not personal “attacks.” He would say l’chaim but never lost control. It was not a Melaveh Malka of storytelling. It all revolved around the message which he wanted to convey, and the messages were sharp, simple and very radical. With R’ Mulle’s truth there was no room for compromise. The Rebbe is life, Lubavitch is truth, and spreading Judaism and Chassidus is the derech. He instilled this in us again and again until it penetrated our bloodstream. We left those farbrengens with a tremendous desire to conquer the world. Every farbrengen was a constructive farbrengen. Every farbrengen engendered something. Another campaign, some more baalei t’shuva.
What grabbed me about R’ Mulle was his simplicity and his personal touch. Over the years, he continued to be a melamed. He taught alef-beis to little children and did the hachnoso l’cheder for all the boys. For years, he continued working as a teacher in a Sunday School in Montmartre which his father, R’ Chaim Hillel, ran. At the same time, everything was on his shoulders. He would take loans in order to be able to help people and to expand the mosdos. It wasn’t easy. He was involved in every detail and ran it all himself. Obviously, he was always very busy. He did not answer telephones and people would wait for hours to be able to talk to him, when he left the room, in the local, before shiurim, afterward, but the moment he was with you, he was solely with you. He would take a real interest, always tried to help, and always gave you the feeling that he had all the time for you.
I very quickly joined the work at the local, as a volunteer, of course; Mulle made us all into soldiers of the Rebbe. We were from the first workers at the Beth Loubavitch and did everything that had to be done. We worked and he gave orders. Then he appointed people in charge of every sphere who continued to operate this big machine.
The R’ Mulle that I knew was a public figure in the full sense of the word. He had no private life. People would call him in the middle of the night, and on Shabbos, dozens of guests would “land” by him as a matter of course. They would go to the shul on Rue de Rosiers 17, the shul where the Rebbe davened when he lived in Paris. This is where R’ Mulle regularly farbrenged on Shabbos. They would simply go home, along with him. He did not have a large home and every so often he would ask me whether I could take some guests home with me because he did not have room for all of them.
Even after we left Paris and made aliya, R’ Mulle continued to be in touch, inquiring about every detail, the chinuch of children was important to him. When they got older and reached the age of shidduchim, it was already after his first stroke and he did not feel well and yet he still made inquiries and tried to help. This was despite the many years that had passed since we left Paris.
My R’ Mulle was first and foremost a shliach of the Rebbe, a mashpia, a father, and a big brother, the man who had the greatest impact on my life.