Wednesday, July 9, 2008

The Others Knew, Too


I would maybe doubt the story, because of the website it was first published in, but a good pal of mine from downunder confirmed it with the Baal HaMa'aseh. I also don't intend on making "my Rebbe great," I was just taken by the point that the Bobover Rebbe, who some may think was upset at Lubavitch, also "knew" where to turn to in a time of need.

The Bobover Rebbe, Harav Shlomo Halberstam of blessed memory, was holding a Melaveh Malka in his shul in Boro Park. All the Chassidim were dressed in shtreimlach. Pinchas Woolstone, who wore the simple black hat of Chabad Chassidim, felt somewhat out of place. Reb Pinchas, of Sydney, Australia, would visit New York from time to time. On this occasion, a friend of his who is a Bobover Chassid invited him to join the Melaveh Malka. During the meal, the Bobover Rebbe turned to Reb Pinchas, who had been introduced to him as a Chabad Chassid. He said, "I wish to make you my emissary for a mitzvah.

A while back, a certain couple in our community developed problems shortly after their marriage. The wife argued that she cannot continue to live with her husband. During the next few months, her family tried everything they could to restore peace between the couple, but were not successful.” The family could not make peace with the fact that their daughter wanted to divorce. They pressured her very strongly to stay with him and try to get along. The young woman’s life became a misery. She could not contend with life with her husband, and found no support from her parents either. At a certain point, she apparently reached the end of her rope and ran away. No one knew where she had gone. Her parents, naturally, were broken and confused, and her husband, who was prepared to grant her a divorce and move on with his life, found himself in a bind. "I would be very happy," concluded the Bobover Rebbe, “to receive advice from your Rebbe on this matter. Would you help me and give him the message for me?"

Reb Pinchas was happy to agree. A few days later, he approached the Rebbe and asked for a blessing for a safe trip back to Australia. At the same time, he gave over the Bobover Rebbe's message. The Rebbe listened carefully and then answered in a brief sentence: "When you get back to Sydney, make sure to fly to Brisbane!" The Rebbe gave no further information, but this was enough for Pinchas. As a Chassid, he was prepared to carry out the Rebbe's instructions. Within a few hours after landing in Sydney, he was already on a flight to Brisbane, an Australian city about 900 kilometers north of Sydney. He did not know exactly where to go or what to do once landing in Brisbane, but was sure that the purpose of his trip would soon make itself clear to him. On the flight, a woman sitting next to him turned to him and said, "Excuse me, you look Jewish. Can I ask you something?" Reb Pinchas nodded politely. "What relationship do Jews have to Jews who have left the faith?"

Reb Pinchas examined the woman's face to see if she was perhaps referring to herself. But the woman looked decidedly like a non-Jew. "I am the manager of a women's clothing store in Brisbane," she explained. "Recently, a Jewish woman came to my store asking for work. I hired her, and after a certain period of time we became close. She confided in me that she comes from a religious family and for certain reasons she ran away from home and has distanced herself from Judaism. I am curious to know how you relate to this woman." A red light began to flash in Reb Pinchas's mind. He strongly suspected that she was speaking about the woman he had been sent to Brisbane to fine. "Look," he explained to the woman, "Judaism teaches us to respect and care for each Jew, regardless of their level of observance, and to help them return to the right path. I take it from your question," he continued, "that this woman is alone in Brisbane?" "You are correct," she answered. “She does not seem to have any friends."

"If so," he said, "perhaps I can help her. She probably could use some assistance in acclimating herself in Australia, and I'm sure she wouldn't mind connecting with some Jews. Can you give me her name and address?" The woman agreed and gave over the information. The name was not familiar, but Reb Pinchas was sure that whoever was guiding him along until now would help him reach his ultimate goal. As soon as he landed, Reb Pinchas took a cab to the address the woman had given him. His first meeting with the woman he was seeking was not easy. She became distraught at the sight of a religious man and at first refused to have any contact with him. However, Reb Pinchas did not give up. He told her that he had found her in a miraculous way, after following the Lubavitcher Rebbe's advice, and that he would not do anything against her will. Slowly, the woman thawed out. She made it clear to him that returning to Boro Park was out of the question. However, she was prepared to accept the divorce from her husband, move to Israel and begin a new chapter in her life. So it happened. Reb Pinchas helped to arrange for the divorce and she moved to Israel. There, she settled down and found her place. Evenutally, she married a Chabad Chassid, also through the help of Pinchas Wellstone.

Please note: the fact that the woman later "joined" Lubavitch is totally irrelevant, and not the point of the story at all.

48 comments:

Anonymous said...

I know this guy from Sydney,he is a Meshicist!

Anonymous said...

Another bobeh mayseh.You have tons of these silly stories in Sichas Hageulah Bais Moshiach and even Kfar Chabad.
What else is new?
Remember the baal shemskeh moyfes about the fifth night of Chanuka? One big fantasy.Btw the notzrim are full of sipurei mofsim cyad hadimyon.

Anonymous said...

Gevaldige maaseh. It seems that she did not have children before the divorce. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is m'zavig z'vugim even against a person's ratzon. Her besheret was her eventual husband in EY. H' put into her mind a complete inability to remain with her first husband, in a way that must have seemed completely irrational to her family. But it was all l'tov.

Anonymous said...

RE Maaselach about the Rebbe...
As I have said elsewhere, I am a Litvak, both in hanhaga and shita. And I am not one to swallow maases uncritically and kal shechen, Chabadster maases. However, I have heard maaselach from very reliable non-chabadsters about the Rebbe that I believe to be emes, hagam that they were pliyos muflagos.

I think we need to all try and not be posel and tone down our language. I see, first hand, a great deal to criticize in Chabad, aside from belief in the Rebbe. But they are not going away and the more one knocks, the more they circle the caravans and strike back.

Chabadsters are very hurt by Rav Shach. But they need to really think honestly about how to make peace with those feelings. Stam a zoi blabbing lashon hara about an adom gadol (not only Rav Shach but many others as well) will not make them friends and it is a great segulah for lots of bad things.

Anonymous said...

hershel,

the honest truth please. you believe this story is true?

did you believe that the story with the fifth night of channukah is true?

Anonymous said...

To anonymous #1

Firstly, he no longer lives in Australia, he moved to New York a little over a year ago. And he is far from a meshichis, you would know if you ever spoke two words to him.

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

1) the story with the fifte lichtel came from AD Halperin, and when Lubavitchers tried to confirm it they could not. THIS story HAS been confirmed by the Ba'al HaMa'aseh.

Anonymous said...

the rebbe was upset at the bobover, not the other way around....

CJ Srullowitz said...

"A few days later..."

???

The Bobover Rebbe gives you a message to give to the Lubavitcher Rebbe and YOU WAIT A FEW DAYS?!?!

That alone, lulei demistafina, impeaches the credibility of the story.

Nonetheless, I have heard stories about the Rebbe from friends of mine, so I know the power!

Mottel said...

Credibility of the story question or not, it is certainly more relable then the ma'asehs about the GR"A, Rashi or the Rambam.

Anonymous said...

mottel,
Lav Dafka.

Hadoid said...

Anyone who was a regular at Bobover Maelava Malkas will tell you that this story does not hold water, it couldn't have happened that way. If you know your source is valid, then tell us when it happened and the name of the Bobover Chassid

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

ok, I'll try and do that for you.

Anonymous said...

'The baal hamaseh has confirmed it'
Wonderful.
The 'ba'al hamayseh' has also announced that he is currently accepting offers for a large bridge connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan...

Anonymous said...

I heard that by Reb Naftoli Bobovers shiva Reb BZ told Rav Groner that his father was by the Frierdige Rebbe and asked his opinion about going to Eretz Yisroel and the Rebbe advised him to stay in the US and built yiddikiet

Anonymous said...

i know reb pinchas personally i can vouch for him as being a great guy and full of many stories that happened to him personally. if anyone ever meets him ask him to relate the story about the rebbe and his grandmother. on top of all this he is a great guy

H

Anonymous said...

a good chasidishe maiseh

Anonymous said...

I too know Reb. Pinchas, and, he is an emestike, sincere yid. If he said it, I beleive it.

Anonymous said...

there r many similar stories that the Lub Rebbe sent someone to x place, etc.and Bingo
I don't know which one is true or not
we have the record of the 5th Chanukah candle,etc
what i can tell u. is that the Lub Rebbe greateRS miracles, are available for all of us to confirm
If we just go to China, or Tailand, or Bariloche, Cancun, and you see that after 14 years of phisical absence in this wotrld, you can see these youngermen with a gevaldike chayus , with their families.established in these remote places

Anonymous said...

why do some misnagdisher chevre think its a mitzvah to deny nisim? it mamash reeks of lack of emunah that there is ruchniyus in this world, r"l. the litvisher g'doilim who are steeped in learning, yiras shomayim and emunah would certainly shem zich from s'feikos in emunah nislabesh in hisnagdus to chassidim.

Anonymous said...

The Bobover rebbe lived in CH for a number of years and then moved to BP, which was not far from CH.
We know the Lubavitcher rebbe rarely left Ch, but the Bobover liked to travel, to Israel, London, , California etc.
Please tell me how many times the Bobover rebbe went in to see the Lubavitcher rebbe ?
While you are at it , is there any correspondence between the 2 rabbonim.Did he invite the Nasi to the many weddings and simchos that marked the Bobover huif in the period after 1970 ?
I specifically refer to the 7th rebbe and the 1st Bobover ruv in the US.
And while we are talking Zandz, how many times did the Kluizenberger rebbe see the Nasi hador ?
I will say no more.

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

schneur

from you I expected better "proof." You could say the same about many other Gedolim in New York. Besides, much of what you say is assumptions.

Anonymous said...

The bobover rebbe consulting the rebbe is no sign of freindship, he was a decent jew and not so politicised that he wouldn't help one of his people by contacting a rebbe that was famous for having chasidim in the 4 corners of the world

Anonymous said...

Whats this fifth night of chanukah story?
Where can I find it?
Thanks

Hadoid said...

ma'aravah

There are enough mofsin and nissim from rebbes and gedolim - it's not beneficial to emunas tzaddikim to write stories that probably never happened

Milhouse said...

It's not beneficial to write stories that never happened, but it's equally not beneficial or honest to cast doubt on stories that did happen. If Pinchas Woolstone says this story happened, then it did.

Hadoid said...

easy enough to verify

Hadoid said...

i don't think beliveing Pinchas Woolstone qualifies as emunas tzaddikim

Anonymous said...

I was cleaning up some papers and came across this mailer from "kupas Hair" in Bnei Brak. These guys put sichas hashevua, kfar chabad, and chabad websites in their pocket with their mofsim of gedolim. when did Roshei Yeshiva start reading kvitlach erev yom kippur? Was I asleep for 20 years? "Miracles at the homes of gedolim in Bnei Brak" is the cover. All u chabad haters out there, you've put us to shame with these stories they come up with. Maybe they're true, but R. Chaim Kanievsky making mofsim? R.Steinman reading names? Is this what they are meant to to be, for the purpose of shnorring money around the world? I've got alot more to say about this, but I'm too tired right now, and gotta be up early tomorrow.

Milhouse said...

Hadoid, believing Pinchas Woolstone is not emunas tzadikim, it's common decency. If he has confirmed the story, then you have only two choices: either it's true, or he's a liar. And where do you get the chutzpah to call him a liar?

Lostinca, tzedokoh tatzil mimoves. None of the stories are implausible. If Rashbi and R Akiva could spend their time "shnorring money" for tzedoko, then so can the gentlemen you name. I will not give to this fund, for reasons of my own, but I don't doubt the stories. Whether they actually happened, I don't know, but that they could be true is a matter of basic emunah. If you say that they couldn't be true, then you're basically denying the Torah and all the nevi'im and Chazal.

Anonymous said...

MILHOUSE (WHO PUBLICLY CALLED ONE OF THE LEADING ROSHEI YESHIVA IN AMERICA A ROSHA) IS NOW BLABBERING SOMETHING ABOUT COMMON DECENCY DICTATING THAT WE SHOULD BELIEVE A MAASEH??!!!

A CHUTZPAH SHE'B'CHUTZPAH

Hadoid said...

From your response it is obvious that either you did not read or did not understand my original post. I did not say that such a story could not be but that this story, as told, could not be. That is not something I believer but something I know. If you wish to believe Pinchas Woolstone you can (I gave him the means by which to prove me wrong). I, on the other hand, believe what I actually know. If all this is too much for you to comprehend then maybe you should have a little more kavana by Vo'atta Chonein.

Anonymous said...

Schneur, Tzadikim like the Klausenburger or the Rebbe don't have to meet down here;they communicate on a different level.

Milhouse said...

Hadoid, are you saying you contacted Pinchas Woolstone and "gave him the means by which to prove you wrong"? No, I didn't think so. Why would he be reading this blog? And why should he have to "prove" anything to you? The point is that he's an honest person with an excellent reputation, and you have no right to call him a liar.

And yes, Michoel, Shechter is a rosho; what's that got to do with this? I judge people by their actions. Shechter's actions are public and can't be denied; Woolstone has never given me or you any reason to doubt his honesty, so it's a chutzpah to call him a liar. I don't know whether and to what extent he's confirmed the story, but if he has then it's true.

Anonymous said...

Milhouse,
If you would tell me that you were basing yourself on Rav Aharon's private actions, I would I have to admit that perhaps you know something I don't. But now that you say that you are basing yourself on his public actions, you really to do t'shuvah. And please do not list your gripes here; grant me that I shouldn't be a michshol for a baal aveirah such as yourself.

50 years of harbaztas Torah, thousands of talmidim, a big baal tzedakah, I could go on and on about his great achievements. And BTW, he is not particularly against Chabad, which I have discussed with him a bit.

Anonymous said...

Michoel:
You might enjoy being brainwashed and gullible, but don't expect anybody else to. Isaac Hirsh + Tranquility Bay + Lo tsayis dina + destroying innocent yidden + destroying innocent yiden's parnosse + Vaad lehagonas child abusers = Aharon Schechter / Rosho.
Yes, indeed.

Anonymous said...

Isaac Hirsh- I don't know and you don't either. But it seems like a case of very bad judgment on the part of the father and Rav Aharon failing to clarify for himself.

Lo tsayis- I really wish you would ask Rav Dovid Feinstein and report back to us.

Destroying innocent yidden- you are being a bit too vague

Destroying innocent yiddens' parnassa- I agree fully with Rav Aharon that large posters of women do not belong in store fronts in charedi neighborhoods and those that disagree can choose to be m'chazek him and give him more business, or he could try to shlep Rav Aharon to a beis din. Also, do me a favor and find out if the guy has more or less parnassa now then when the posters were up and before Rav Aharon wrote his letter.

Vaad lehagonos child abusers.
Now my hands are tied. Because by you, blabbing lashon hara is a big inyon. But by me, it is not. So I have to refrain from saying "..." is just as bad.

I never said Rav Aharon was the pope. But calling a Rosh Yeshiva a r.... is just an insanely grave aveira.

Anonymous said...

hhad she not converted it wouldn't be a story....

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

then you complain that nobody takes your questions seriously...

Hadoid said...

Milhouse

You bring new meaning to the phrase "I already made up my mind, don't confuse me with the facts"

Anonymous said...

Hadoid
Millhouse is all over the frum blogosphere, google him, he generally writes nonsense and sells himself as some kind of 'talmid chochom'
He apparently is a bored bt shliach in hotzen plotz who knows very little about frum people ut of Chabad.

Sometime ago on this blog he claimed that there is no halocho of dina demalchusa.
You are wasting your time with him

Unknown said...

If someone wants to varify this story call me on 7189139760

Hadoid said...

First, thank you Hershel for keeping your word and providing me the means to verify the story. I called R' Pinchus and the story he told me had very little resemblance to the story posted on this blog.

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

nu, so tell us where we went wrong.

Hadoid said...

hirshel why don't you call him and get the story right?

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

if I had time to call I would've written something new on the blog from Tuesday on.

Anonymous said...

I figured the mayseh was blown out of proportion.Sounded to good to be true.
Another bunch of suckers just bought the Brooklyn Bridge again.A new sucker is born every day

SDK said...

HaDoid,

If you do research from first-hand sources, you obviously don't belong in the blogsphere!