R’ Zalman playing the violin in the home of R’ Zalman ChaninPART I
It is now almost thirty years since the passing of a little known Chassid of the previous generation, by the name of R’ Shneur Zalman Taubel. He was born on Yud-Tes Kislev, and that is why he was given the name Shneur Zalman. This Chassid was devoted life and soul to our Rebbeim.
His early childhood was spent in the city of Dobrianka, a city that R’ Levi Yitzchok Schneersohn would visit frequently. During these visits, he noted the exceptional gifts of the young Zalman, and was concerned that without a proper Torah environment he might be swept up in the winds of change that were howling across the world and wreaking havoc on the Jewish youth of the time. R’ Levi Yitzchok sent him to learn in the yeshiva in Lubavitch along with a letter of recommendation. The letter written by R’ Levi Yitzchok had the desired effect, and he was accepted without delay. He was accorded special attention throughout, due to the fact that he was there under the protection of R’ Levi Yitzchok.
R’ Zalman grew into a true Chassid of mesiras nefesh for Torah and mitzvos. This can be seen from the following story, along with the special fondness that he was shown by the Rebbe Rayatz. It took place during the period that R’ Zalman oversaw the operation of the mikva in Leningrad, in the darkest, most difficult years under Communist rule. Through brute force, the communists attempted to erase anything that smacked of the smallest trace of Judaism, and among other acts of religious coercion they closed all the mikvaos. With great mesiras nefesh, R’ Zalman took upon himself the management of the last remaining mikva in Leningrad, despite the knowledge that it might cost him his life. One day, the Rebbe Rayatz came to use the mikva. After immersing, before he left, he gifted R’ Zalman a gold coin which was worth a small fortune in those days. R’ Zalman could not restrain himself and asked in shock, “Rebbe! What is this? This is a totally disproportionate payment; this is worth a fortune.” The Rebbe answered with a sweet smile, “I am giving this to you because you find favor in my eyes.”
Although much can be said about this devout Chassid, one of the outstanding qualities that defined him was his special sensitivity. This came to the fore in notable fashion during the period after many Chassidim had managed to escape the Soviet hellhole. While the rank and file Chassidim were busy dealing with the basics of food and lodging, and the great Chassidim devoted their energies to the founding of a yeshivas Tomchei T’mimim for the bachurim, a yeshiva which could now operate out in the open and not in hiding, R’ Zalman Taubel was busy with an entirely different undertaking.
This was in the Poking refugee camp (and continued later when many of the Chassidim were transferred to France). He discerned that there were many young men who barely learned anything to that point, whether due to the terrible war years or the weight of the cruel Russian regime which had terrorized their parents to the point that they were too scared to send their sons to learn in the underground yeshivos. Because of that, there were many boys and young men, who despite their fine appearance and warm Chassidic souls lacked any knowledge of Torah learning. Some did not even know how to read and write in the Holy Tongue.
Obviously, there was no place for such boys in the yeshiva, since they could not even decipher a Mishna let alone plumb the depths of a complex topic in Gemara. Putting them in elementary classes with the young children was also not an option, since they were much older. R’ Zalman felt the pain of these young fellows, and he arranged a special study program for them tailored to their level of knowledge. He sat with each of them, one on one, and began learning with them, beginning with basic reading and moving on to Chumash, Mishna and elementary level Gemara. Between studies, he also taught them how to write in Yiddish and Hebrew. His whole being was committed to learning with them a few lines of Tanya, and especially to educate them to fear of Heaven imbued with a spirit of holiness.
These young men felt his great love and they returned it in kind, and they accorded him great honor for his tremendous dedication to their advancement. Many of them later built genuinely Chassidic and G-d fearing homes. Were it not for the resourcefulness of R’ Zalman, nobody would have believed that this was remotely possible.
PART II
R’ Zalman himself was a refugee from Soviet Russia, from where he and his wife had escaped by the skin of their teeth. When he arrived as a refugee in France, there was a long period when he lived in uncertainty as to where to make his permanent home. He was hoping to receive direct guidance from the Rebbe Rayatz, as had many other Chassidim, but he had not yet received any final answer before Yud Shevat, the day that the sun set on the sixth generation of Chabad Rebbes.
R’ Zalman was not a man to rest on his laurels, and during those years of waiting he began to travel to Marseilles, where many Moroccan Jews had begun to settle. He and his wife put in a lot of work in trying to raise the spiritual level of the newly transplanted immigrants. It is perhaps thanks to these activities that he received a letter from the Rebbe MH”M with a request to move to Morocco on shlichus, in order to establish a school for girls as a branch of Beis Rivka.
In those early years of the Rebbe’s leadership, the institution of shlichus was in its infancy, and such an undertaking involved great mesiras nefesh. Despite this, he and his wife agreed to take on this difficult shlichus. R’ Zalman hurriedly responded to the Rebbe that he accepted the mission. The Rebbe in turn responded quickly with a letter thanking him for the nachas ruach that his acceptance had generated, and that he would be fulfilling the will of the Rebbe Rayatz to build Torah in Morocco. He concluded the letter with a highly unusual expression, “And upon this it is said, ‘Fortunate is the generation in which the elders listen to the young ones.’”
R’ Zalman was concerned about the move to Morocco, and he wrote those concerns to the Rebbe, including the concern of spiritual solitude. The Rebbe allayed his concerns, “What you write about the loneliness in Morocco, there too is a large settlement of Jews, so may they increase, and there too is the Holy One Blessed be He, in His Honor and Essence. And it is my hope that in the not so distant future other families of Anash will go there.”
And so, R’ Zalman and his wife packed up their meager possessions and set off for distant Morocco, distant not only physically but in mentality as well. Despite the tremendous difficulties, they fulfilled their shlichus devotedly and were very instrumental in establishing the educational system of Beis Rivka. The shlichus concluded in sudden fashion, when R’ Zalman came down with a serious illness. With the Rebbe’s blessing, he and his wife returned to France, where he could receive more advanced medical care from expert Western doctors, which was not available in Morocco.
His lot of suffering was compounded when not long after, this precious Chassid suffered yet another personal tragedy. Basya, his wife of many years, passed away childless at a relatively young age. R’ Zalman was left alone in the world. The students who had been the closest people he had in the world had all left Europe over the years, and moved to the United States or Eretz Yisroel. Nobody was left to provide him any assistance as he struggled with his difficult health situation.
It was the venerated Chassid, R’ Yisroel Noach Blizinsky, one of the Chassidic greats in Europe of that era, who saw the sorry state of his friend and took it upon himself to nurse him back to health. Despite his advanced age, being over seventy years old at the time, he devoted himself to caring for R’ Zalman’s health and life. He literally fed him by hand, gave him to drink, bathed him, and cared for all his needs with unending personal devotion. Anybody seeing such a degree of devotion to a fellow Chassid, could not help but be amazed at the level of brotherhood that existed among Chassidim. (One of those who assisted him a great deal was the Chassid R’ Chaikel Chanin.)
Thanks to the devoted and caring treatment, his health began to improve and slowly but surely he recuperated. His strength returned and the color came back to his face.
R’ Zalman was hardly the type of Chassid to sit on the sidelines. He had every reason in the world to spend the rest of his years in peaceful retirement, without exerting himself overmuch. However, he was concerned for his many students from Morocco, in whom he and his wife had invested tremendous energy. Many of them had emigrated to France over the years, some because he himself had guided them there and some because their families were moving. Before they would head to France he had always tried to guide them to study in Beis Rivka in the Yerres suburb of Paris. After that, he had made it his business to visit them in their new place and farbreng with them. The girls were always thrilled to see him and treated him with great respect.
So he began to visit his girls from time to time to farbreng with them. He served as a father figure for them, looking after all of their needs, material and spiritual. Often, he would visit potential donors in Paris and the surrounding areas in order to raise money to provide for their needs. He arranged shidduchim for many of them with Sephardic boys studying in the Chassidic yeshiva in Brunoy, and saw to it that they were married off in a dignified manner. These students eventually built Chassidic homes in the fullest sense. The girls in turn accorded him great honor and would listen attentively to what he had to say, knowing that it all came from love.
PART III
Powerful yearning filled the heart of R’ Zalman. He longed to see the holy countenance of the Rebbe, and an intense desire to travel to the Rebbe and live near him gripped his soul.
He wrote about this to the Rebbe, explaining that if he were to live in the United States, he could help the Beis Rivka
girls by raising money to help them establish their lives on a secure footing. “I could raise a lot more money than I raise here in France,” he wrote.
It was not long before he got a sharply worded letter that his shlichus was in France, and he has nothing to look for in America.
The years passed, and in early 5720 (late 1959), his childhood friend from way back in Russia, R’ Hendel Lieberman, arrived in France. He was a true Chassid from a long line of Chassidim, filled with fear of Heaven and Chassidus. As directed by the Rebbe, he made his living from using his talent for painting.
R’ Hendel arrived in France in order to show and sell his works. At the conclusion of the show, he decided to continue on to England to hold a similar show there. For company he took along his friend R’ Zalman Taubel. His true intention was to try boost R’ Zalman’s spirit and allay his painful loneliness.
The two made their way to London, spending a few weeks there until they wrapped up the show, which was a great success. At that point, R’ Hendel began preparing for his return to his home in Crown Heights. One day, he turned to his friend R’ Zalman and said, “Zalman, come with me and we will travel to the Rebbe.” R’ Zalman looked at him in surprise, with a tinge of sadness thrown in, “Hendel my friend, how can I join you when you know that I received a letter from the Rebbe prohibiting me from traveling to the US, saying that my shlichus is in Paris?”
R’ Hendel was well aware of the Rebbe’s answer, but his friend’s situation really affected him, and he worked to convince him by offering the following reasoning. “Listen to me,” he said, “We are now on the eve of Yud-Tes Kislev, which is the Rosh HaShana of Chassidus. Regarding traveling to the Rebbe for Rosh HaShana, I heard from the elder Chassidim that one does not ask the Rebbe, you simply get up and go. And if the Rebbe will not be pleased, you will travel home, but meantime you will have been by the Rebbe.”
In truth, R’ Zalman did not need a lot of convincing. This was what he had always wanted, “One thing I ask, to sit in the house of G-d all the days of my life,” to spend time in the presence of the Rebbe. Now, his old friend, a venerable Chassid in his own right, was convincing him to act, even citing an historic saying of the Chassidim of yore. If that wasn’t enough, he was offering to help cover the cost of the ticket.
It didn’t take long before the two of them landed joyfully in Crown Heights. R’ Zalman’s joy was boundless on the day that he merited to see the Rebbe of the Seventh Generation, face to face, for the first time in his life. It felt to him like he had come full circle, as he recalled the first time he arrived in the yeshiva in Lubavitch, thanks to R’ Levi Yitzchok Schneersohn, the Rebbe’s father.
His joy was compounded many times over when he encountered in Crown Heights many of the students that he taught back in Poking and Paris. He saw firsthand how they had settled down over the years and built Chassidic homes, and how they had raised observant and even Chassidic children. R’ Zalman was filled with nachas and felt that he had finally arrived… Not only that, but he began to visit with them on Shabbos mornings to learn some Torah Ohr or Likkutei Torah, along with a few lines from Tanya, as a preparation for davening.
As far as is known, during his first yechidus, the Rebbe gave his okay after the fact that he could remain in Crown Heights. However, this was on condition that he continue to help and influence the girls learning in Beis Rivka in Morocco and in France, and to try to help get them set up materially and spiritually.
Loyal to his mission, R’ Zalman did not relax or rest. He traveled from city to city, from community to community, and raised impressive sums for the Beis Rivka schools and to help the girls get set up for life. Once a year, he would visit Reb Yoel of Satmar, who would accord him great honor and give large sums for “Hachnasas Kalla.” He would also refer to him warmly as “the Rebbe of the girls.”
When he first arrived in America, he lived in the home of his friend R’ Hendel Lieberman, but later he rented an apartment for himself where he lived all alone. Despite having no living soul, he would open his home to the bachurim who would often come to be hosted.
R’ Zalman merited to have a special relationship with the Rebbe, who referred to him as “my Ana Avda.” This was after one year when he joined the Rebbe’s meal on Shavuos, upstairs in the home of the Rebbe Rayatz, and the Rebbe asked him to sing the song as he had heard it from R’ Shimon Klapper of Nikolayev, and the next day the Rebbe instructed him to sing it during the opening of the Aron Kodesh.
Every year he would receive matzos directly from the Rebbe on Erev Pesach and was one of the ten Chassidim who had the privilege of being at the Rebbe’s table on Pesach and other holidays until 5730.
The following years, R’ Zalman went to his friend, R’ Chaikel Chanin for Pesach. Erev Yom Tov they went together to receive matzos from the Rebbe. In his later years, when it was difficult for him to go to 770, the Rebbe sent him enough matza with R’ Chaikel for both s’darim. This was a special kiruv.
Thanks to R’ Zalman, R’ Chaikel also received a whole matza from the Rebbe and after R’ Zalman’s passing, the Rebbe continued to give R’ Chaikel two whole matzos.
PART IV
Around 5726, the Chassid, R’ Yisroel Yosef Rosen came to Crown Heights. As soon as he arrived, he began learning in the beis midrash of Yeshivas Hadar HaTorah. Since he was artistically gifted, he became friendly with the artist, R’ Hendel Lieberman. R’ Lieberman recognized the gifts of the young man and treated him warmly. Rosen often visited R’ Hendel’s home and became a ben-bayis of his. On his many visits he would see R’ Hendel, despite his advanced years, sitting at an easel painting quick strokes that turned into paintings filled with color and expressiveness, and eventually full blown creations expressing the effervescence of Chassidic life.
One day, Rosen noticed a painting of an old man lying on the side of the room. R’ Hendel had, as usual, masterfully portrayed the person’s face. The lines of the faces were filled with cracks, his eyes full of deep sorrow. It looked as though this man, and R’ Yisroel Yosef did not know whether this was a real person or not, was broken in body and soul.
“R’ Hendel,” asked the young artist, “why did you paint this picture? Just by looking at it, one can become depressed. You should paint happy paintings as befits a Chassid.”
R’ Hendel looked grave, and a thoughtful look passed over the deep furrows in his high forehead. “Do you know who this man is?” he suddenly asked the young man.
“Where should I know him from?” wondered Rosen. “I am living here only a few months and I have yet to meet the local residents. I barely know my classmates in yeshiva and perhaps a few young married men, but no more than that.”
R’ Hendel said loudly and slowly, “This is the portrait of my dear friend from my youth, R’ Zalman Taubel. You know him by face.”
Rosen looked at the picture once again and then he recognized the face of the man that he always knew as a happy Chassid who was full of life. On second glance, he connected the lines and the dots and recognized R’ Zalman, R’ Hendel’s good friend.
R’ Hendel went on to say somewhat sadly, “There are times when he cloaks himself in his loneliness and enters into deep sadness. He is a man alone, childless, and his life situation is far from rosy. One time, when I saw him like this, I quickly drew him. When I see this painting on the side of the room, I recall my friend’s situation and it pushes me to go and visit him to cheer him up and get him out of his painfully depressed state.
PART V
A year passed. One day, when Yisroel Yosef visited R’ Hendel’s home, R’ Hendel told him this story:
“Last week I was at the Rebbe and the Rebbe asked me to bring him new paintings that I made lately because he wanted to see them. I hurried to bring the paintings to his home. When the Rebbe came home, he looked at them all and even made some comments about them, some of them complimentary and some of them critical.
“The Rebbe then noticed the painting of R’ Zalman Taubel. He looked at it briefly and to my great surprise he said he wanted to buy it!
“When I recovered from the shock, I dared to say, ‘Rebbe! I have much happier paintings. Why do you want to buy this depressing one?’
“The Rebbe looked at me and said, ‘I am knowledgeable when it comes to matters of depression.’ And he bought it on the spot.
“I don’t know from these things, but I feel that by buying this painting the Rebbe extricated R’ Zalman from this state, and only hope it will be forevermore.”
PART VI
I heard this story with all the details from R’ Zalman Chanin. He and his father were friends of R’ Zalman Taubel. Both lived on the same street in Crown Heights and every Shabbos he would go for Shabbos meals at the Chanins. He was like a member of the family. When he went to visit on a weekday, Mrs. Chanin would prepare for him the kasha he enjoyed.
When R’ Zalman finished telling his story, he surprised me when he said, “I can testify that from when the Rebbe bought the painting, R’ Zalman Taubel changed from one extreme to the other. Not only did he no longer suffer from loneliness or depression, but from then on, and for the rest of his life, he was a happy, hopeful Chassid, to the extent that someone who knew him during the last two decades of his life could not imagine that he was ever a broken person.”
R’ Zalman passed away on 12 Kislev 5748. May this story be l’ilui l’nishmaso.