THE REBBE’S FRIEND

Since this column was initiated, in which we tell of a Chassid who passed away in connection with his yahrtzait, we have written about many Chassidim. This week, we have the privilege of writing about R’ Sender Reinin, a Chassid whom the Rebbe himself mentioned and asked that his yahrtzait not be forgotten. * About a quiet Jew who was all alone, who was a friend of Beis Rebbi by three of the Rebbeim, and who even lived in the Rebbe’s house for a short period.

The Chassid, R’ Chaim Avrohom Alexander Sender Yitzchok Reinin, or R’ Sender as everyone knew him, was a modest Chassid, someone who served Hashem with all his heart and soul but in a way that nobody knew about.

R’ Sender was born in Russia around the year 5650. While still a young man the Rebbe Rashab was greatly mekarev him. He would sit in the Rebbe’s room and the Rebbe would tell him many things which he wrote down and kept in a special box. He also did things on behalf of Beis Rebbi such as traveling and exerting himself to bring the Rebbe a beautiful esrog.

One year, R’ Sender arrived from Italy with a beautiful Calabrian esrog. It was almost Yom Tov, the 13th of Tishrei. When he walked into shul, he found the Rebbe Rashab standing as the chazan in honor of his father’s yahrtzait. R’ Sender did not wait even a moment. He went over and put the esrog on the lectern so the Rebbe would rejoice at the sight of it.

When he was ready for a shidduch and someone (some say it was the Rebbe himself) suggested the daughter of R’ Shneur Zalman Seligson, the Rebbe told him, “With this person you can live a refined life.”

After the passing of the Rebbe Rashab, R’ Sender became the devoted Chassid of his son and successor, the Rebbe Rayatz and was a ben bayis of his. For a period of time he lived in Germany and was a member of a committee to whom donations were sent from abroad to maintain mikvaos in communist Russia.

When the Rebbe was arrested, R’ Sender worked devotedly to rescue him. In those days, the communists tried to obtain international recognition, economic and military, for the new government that they had established a few years earlier, after the revolution. One of the governments that the Soviet government tried to establish ties with was Germany, where R’ Sender had some high government connections. He spoke to them and suggested that they exert pressure on the Russian government to release the Rebbe. Boruch Hashem, he was very successful and this was one of the things that hastened the Rebbe’s release.

In the 1930’s R’ Sender lived in France and was the Rebbe’s shliach regarding various matters, working for his brethren imprisoned in Russian jails, whether in actual prison or just in the largest prison in history which was the Soviet Union.

When Rashag went to Paris in 5689/1929 on an assignment from the Rebbe, to alert the Jewish communities there on behalf of the Jews in Russia, R’ Sender was involved. Rashag and his staff met with rabbanim and community leaders and the visit ended very successfully.

In the Rebbe Rayatz’s letters that were printed we find a number of letters in which the Rebbe tells him to visit so-and-so in order to convey his views regarding a certain question that that person had asked the Rebbe.

A SCIENCE
LECTURE IN A SHUL?!

A unique chapter in his life was his activist work to spread the wellsprings of Torah and Chassidus in Paris, the city which most symbolized the pleasures and excesses of the free world. 

After World War I, many people flocked to Paris from Eastern Europe including many refugees who fled Russia due to the suffering endured following the revolution. Most of the immigrants were smalltime businessmen and craftsmen but there were also a sizable number of industrialists who developed new products in France and did very well financially.

Many intellectuals also gathered in Paris, particularly Jewish students who were unable to study in the countries they came from, most of them attending schools of medicine and philosophy.

Surprisingly, many who were distant from Judaism in their home countries became interested in their heritage in France under the influence of the conservative atmosphere that prevailed there. Contrariwise, those young people who successfully integrated into the local populace began to assimilate.

At this time, the Rebbe Rayatz began working intensively from where he lived in Riga, to strengthen Judaism in various countries including France. However in this country there was a special effort made in spreading the wellsprings of Chassidus and the study of Chassidus.

The two people who were the core activists in this field were the shadar, R’ Shimon Leib Greenberg a”h, and the askan and wealthy individual, R’ Hillel Zlatopolsky a”h. The former was a talmid of Tomchei T’mimim in Lubavitch and the latter was the son of the Chassid, R’ Zalman Zlatopolsky of Kremenchug.

R’ Sender, who was one of the few Chassidim in the city, was mobilized to help and the Rebbe transmitted to him many instructions that had to do with the aforementioned two Chassidim. In Adar II 5692/1932, the Rebbe wrote him that it would be very good if they carried out R’ Hillel’s plan to convene youth in the home of Mr. Weill “the younger” and to talk to them about Chassidus, and to farbreng in the Mizrachi shul. In short: “Whatever you can do to expand things, it’s all good.”

About a month later, the Rebbe wrote to R’ Sender about “the job for Greenberg, which enabled him to remain in Paris, which in any case was beneficial, boruch Hashem, and surely they will continue working in this and see to bring it to fruition. (In this same letter the Rebbe told him that he had received a letter from R’ Greenberg in which he reports about what took place on Beis Nissan, and that he also received two interesting letters from R’ H.Z. with “rich content regarding ideas for spreading Chassidus.”)

Another interesting letter is from the summer of 5692 when the Rebbe wrote to R’ Sender about the idea of Mr. Kreinis, that a relative of the Rebbe, Professor Fishel Schneersohn, should give lectures about Chassidus, academic type lectures.

The Rebbe acceded to the suggestion in principle, but demanded that lectures such as these only be delivered in private homes and not in shul. In shul, someone like R’ Greenberg needed to speak, who said Chassidus as is and not “an academic lecture” about Chassidus …

ONE FRIENDSHIP
DRAWS ANOTHER

At this time, our Rebbe and Rebbetzin lived in France. R’ Sender’s wife who knew the Rebbetzin from childhood would meet with her often. The relationship between the women fostered a relationship between their husbands. R’ Sender would often visit the Rebbe. He said years later that every time he went to the Rebbe’s home he found the Rebbe sitting and learning.

When a committee representing the various Jewish communities was founded in Paris and there were those who wanted the Rebbe as rav, R’ Sender wrote to the Rebbe Rayatz and told him about the suggestion and that the members of the committee greatly desired having the Rebbe as the rav. The Rebbe Rayatz asked his son-in-law to consider the idea again.

One time, R’ Sender went to the Rebbe’s home and found the Rebbe immersed in the seifer Avodas HaLevi of R’ Aharon Strashele. The Rebbe commented to him, “This is a deep seifer.”

We can see how strong their friendship was from a letter that the Rebbe wrote on 28 Tishrei 5700/1939 to R’ Yisroel Jacobson in the US. The letter was about how to rescue the Rebbe Rayatz from besieged Warsaw. In the letter in which the Rebbe wrote the names and birthdays of the Rebbe Rayatz’s children, he added a few lines, also in French:

“I also have a personal favor to ask of you for a dear friend of our family, Mr. Alexander Reinin who lives in Paris. Please arrange an affidavit for him and his wife, Sylvia. They have enough money that they would not need financial assistance.”

After the Rebbe Rayatz arrived in the US and began working on rescuing his daughter and son-in-law, R’ Sender was one of his contact people. He was sent coded letters regarding rescue efforts and he responded to them.

When they arrived in America, R’ Sender stopped visiting the home of the Ramash as the Rebbe was called then. The Rebbe once asked him about this, “Why don’t we see you?”

“Over here, you are the Rebbe’s son-in-law,” said R’ Sender, meaning that when he was together with his father-in-law, he deserved a different relationship than in Paris where they had been two individual Chassidim.

THE HEALING ALIYA

During his first years in the US, he suffered terribly from a stomach ailment. His brother-in-law, Dr. Avrohom Seligson, who examined him, diagnosed his condition as fatal. His condition deteriorated until the doctors gave up on him and told him they could not help him.

R’ Sender had yechidus and informed the Rebbe Rayatz of his difficult situation as he reported what the doctors said. 

“The doctors are not balabatim to make that declaration,” said the Rebbe. “Every year you must get the aliya which ends with the verse, ‘I am G-d your healer,’ and Hashem will send you a complete recovery.” 

R’ Sender recovered and from then until his death he made sure to get the aliya for Shiras HaYam (the Song of the Sea), the fourth aliya in Parshas B’Shalach, which ends with the verse about healing.

The friendship and closeness with Beis Rebbi continued even after he arrived in the US. R’ Sender was invited to eat with the Rebbe Rayatz on holidays and Shabbos. Even after the people at the table finished eating, the Rebbe made sure not to have the plates removed until after R’ Sender also finished eating.

THE REBBE’S CONCERN FOR A LONE JEW

In 5712, R’ Sender’s wife, Ita Tzivia, became very sick and she passed away on 22 Cheshvan 5713. The Rebbe went to R’ Sender’s house to be menachem avel.

On the following Shabbos, the Rebbe said to R’ Sender at the farbrengen, “When the rebbetzin of the Tzemach Tzedek passed away, he was in a state of great bitterness etc., until one of the close Chassidim said to him, “Rebbe, we heard explicitly from you that regarding the verse, ‘see life with the woman that you love’ – ‘Torah hi,’ [i.e. it is referring to the study of Torah] and the Tzemach Tzedek said: You revived me.

“Even though this is a famous statement of Chazal and surely the Tzemach Tzedek knew it for he was knowledgeable in Shas etc., still, when someone else said it, it helped.”

The Rebbe made sure that R’ Sender would not remain alone at home and said arrangements should be made for two bachurim to sleep at his house. One of the bachurim who slept with him described him briefly, “A straight thinker, of good character, modest in his ways with wondrous exactitude, interested himself in every subject in all its details. On certain subjects he would offer criticism.”

R’ Sender got up every night in the middle of the night to learn Likkutei Torah or Derech Mitzvosecha. On Yom Kippur he would stand throughout the davening every year.

In 5717 he had to leave the house he was living in. The Rebbetzin invited him to come and live in their house but he declined. He finally agreed and lived on the third floor of the Rebbe’s home on President Street. After three weeks he left.

THE BELOVED NIGGUN

The close relationship and friendship with the Rebbe continued until R’ Sender passed away. One time, R’ Sender told the Rebbe that he especially liked the Strasheler niggun and he told the Rebbe the following story:

“When I was a boy, a yeshiva bachur came to our house who had evaded serving in the Russian army. He stayed with us for a while since he couldn’t remain in his own home or anywhere else they would think to look for him. He was older than me but he was very friendly to me and we became friends. He taught me a niggun that he heard from his Rebbe, the niggun of R’ Aharon Strasheler.

“The bachur soon discovered that the military police were after him even in his hiding place in our home. He had to run away and leave the country. After much wandering and difficulties, he ended up in Argentina where he went into business and became very rich. He married and had a family and he donated a lot of money to yeshivos Tomchei T’mimim.

“Many years went by until we met again. When I saw him, my heart sank. You could no longer see that he had been a yeshiva bachur. It was apparent that he had gone off the derech and was no longer religious. I didn’t know how to react. I didn’t want to say what was on my mind for it isn’t pleasant to rebuke someone to their face. Different ideas went through my mind until I was reminded of that special niggun and began to sing it. 

“‘Oy,’ exclaimed the former yeshiva bachur. ‘That’s my Rebbe’s niggun!’ He began to pace the room until he left without saying a word.”

When R’ Sender finished telling this to the Rebbe, he asked, “Until today, I have a fondness for that niggun. Why aren’t R’ Aharon’s niggunim sung at farbrengens?” The Rebbe said he would speak to those in charge of singing at farbrengens.

At the 12 Tammuz 5718 farbrengen, the Rebbe said the Strasheler niggun should be sung and when they began to sing it, the Rebbe turned to R’ Sender and said, “R’ Sender, you asked for a Strasheler niggun.”

THE TRAGIC OUTCOME OF THE LOSS OF THE PACKAGE

Whenever R’ Sender came and went, he held a small bundle which contained, among other things, a journal of things he had heard in yechidus from the Rebbe Rashab, which no one else had ever laid eyes on. He did not allow anyone to see this journal, even the Rebbe, as the Rebbe himself said in a sicha following R’ Sender’s passing. 

At the end of 5718, he lost the bundle. His sorrow was so great that he fell sick and never recovered. He passed away on 24 Elul. The Rebbe said it was apparently due to the heartbreak over the loss of the bundle.

On Shabbos Parshas Netzavim-VaYeilech, the Rebbe said a short sicha l’ilui nishmaso:

Among the undesirable things that need to be corrected before Rosh HaShana, there was something that occurred this week, in connection with the passing of R’ Sender Reinin, “who was not eulogized k’halacha” (as the Gemara puts it).  

R’ Sender, due to his age did not learn in Tomchei T’mimim, but still in his youth he merited powerful kiruvim from the Rebbe Rashab. He often spent a lot of time in his room and heard a number of things from him.

I was unable to draw these things forth from him, he being a very introverted, quiet person, but at the same time, it was apparent that these things were engraved in his mind, so that there was also the advantage of the engraving of words of Torah in the brain as is explained in Likkutei Torah, “V’hadarta P’nei Zakein.”

Regarding all the matters following the conclusion of the burial, surely the Rebbe nishmaso Eden [Rashab] took care of him so that all matters are “k’halacha” and even more so etc.

[The Rebbe paused and then said] If Poilishe Chassidim heard things in this vein, they “would already make from it…”

But regarding matters that preceded the conclusion of the burial … therefore, since in his p’nimius he was a Chassidishe Yid, l’chaim should be said for him as we say for Chassidim (unlike what the world does whose custom is to say “l’zecher nishmaso” but) “l’ilui nishmaso.”

Surely this will also be a nachas-ruach for the Rebbe nishmaso Eden [Rashab].

Nearly thirty years after his passing, R’ Sender’s only nephew, Mr. Boruch Gorlin, passed by the Rebbe for “dollars.” The Rebbe reminded him, “In another two weeks will be the yahrtzait of your uncle, R’ Sender,” probably so that this lone Jew who was so devoted to Beis Rebbi would merit a Kaddish on his yahrtzait.