Rav Yekusiel Yehuda Halberstam zt"l
הרב יקותיאל יהודה בן צבי הירש הלברשטאם זצ"ל
Tammuz 9 , 5754
Rav Yekusiel Yehuda Halberstam zt"l
Yekusiel Yehudah Halberstam was born in 1905 in Rudnik, Poland. He was a great-grandson of the Divrei Chaim, Rav Chaim Halberstam, zy’a. When Yekusiel Yehuda was 13 his father passed away. Growing up, he learned primarily by the Munkatcher Rebbe, Rav Chaim Elazar Shapiro. At 16, he married his second cousin, Chana Teitelbaum. There was no money available for them to secure a place for them to settle so they moved in with her parents for the next 6 years. At the young age of 22, his relative, Rav Yoel Teitelbaum, the Satmar Rav, urged him to accept the rabbanus of Klausenberg, Romania.
Already at that young age, his ahavas Yisroel, wisdom, wit and inviting personality made him beloved to the community. For the next 16 years as his family grew to 11 children, Rav Yekusiel Yehuda was completely dedicated to his kehilla while at the same time making remarkable personal advances. He ate very little during the week and he often slept little more than 3 hours a night, dozing off on a bench in shul as he was learning through the night. He also started a cheder for the local children to learn ‘al Taharas Hakodesh.’
Although the Yidden of Hungary and Romania did not feel the immediate brunt of the Nazi cruelty until 1944, Rav Yekusiel Yehuda greatly involved himself in helping the refugees who managed to escape over the border.
On March 19, 1944 the Nazis began the deportation of Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz, which is where the Rebbe’s wife and 11 children were gassed together with the 12,000 Jews that were gassed every day. The Rebbe himself kept all of his halachic stringencies, in spite of the inhuman conditions. Not only would he refrain from eating any non-kosher food, he would even make sure to eat bread - only if he could first wash his hands. For his fellow prisoners he told them that they must eat whatever they can get their hands on. He constantly assured them that Hashem was with them and He would never abandon them.
For decades, the Klausenberger Rebbe, Rav Yekusiel Yehuda Halberstam, zy’a, delivered shiurim on Chumash in which he incorporated brilliant chiddushim and demonstrated his encyclopedic Torah knowledge. Those shiurim often included a wealth of fascinating stories, some of which he heard from his father or originated with his great-grandfather, the Divrei Chaim of Sanz. We are pleased to share some of these stories with our chosheve Monsey Mevaser readers.
The Klausenberger Rebbe, also known as the ‘Shefa Chaim’, was a master storyteller. He had a unique ability to rivet his audience even as he recounted stories that they had heard many times already. And it wasn’t only the stories that were fascinating; it was also the lessons he derived from them, the way he presented them, the timing of each anecdote and the reason that he chose to share it.
The Rebbe was a spiritual giant who lived through unfathomable suffering during the Holocaust, in which he lost his entire family, and went on to become the very embodiment of the concepts of survival and rebirth. He played a pivotable role in rebuilding the Torah world after the war. His shiurim on Chumash are published today in kuntresim that are distributed throughout the world on a weekly basis. Each publication, which consists of only a few pages, encompasses a veritable world-in-its-own-right, with contents ranging from mussar messages to words of encouragement and hope, along with remarkable chiddushim on the parsha and fascinating stories. Some of the stories are parables, while others are edifying true anecdotes concerning the tzadikim of earlier generations, particularly the Rebbe’s own illustrious forebearers.
In 1947 the Rebbe settled in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and married Chaya Nechama Ungar, daughter of the Nitra Rav, HaRav Shmuel Dovid Ungar. Together they had five daughters and two sons.
The Rebbe had the power to breathe new life into Jews who had been devastated by their war-time experiences, a capacity that he demonstrated time and again. The Rebbe continued to advocate for the orphans, while building institutions for the community. For bochurim who could not obtain visas to the USA and ended up in Canada, the Rebbe opened a yeshiva for them and asked Rav Shmuel Alexander Unsdorfer to be the Rosh Yeshiva of Mesivta Reishis Chochma, which still operates today.
The Triumph of Yiddishkeit in America: “It is absolutely clear” the Klausenberger Rebbe once said, that if Hashem had not protected us, it would be impossible for there to be any Jews here in America who are faithful to the Torah and mitzvos after so many years of shmad. This is precisely what happened in several other countries, where the influences of secularism have caused there to be not even a trace of Yiddishkeit remaining.
However, since Hashem knew that in the end of days, there would have to be a group of Jews who would settle here in America, he caused the gentiles of America to despise the Jews and the signs of anti-Semitism to appear here as well, to point out that people in the streets of America would admire the Nazis and respect the name of Hitler, the ultimate enemy of the Jews. This would cause the Jews to refrain from mingling with the nations, and every Jew would know that America is not truly his place. He would not take pride in the praises of this ‘Malchus shel chessed’ and not participate in their festivities when a new president is inaugurated.”
Hatred of Jews in America: “I said this publicly in America 30 years ago.” The rebbe once told his listeners, “but at the time, there were people who looked at me in surprise and begged me not to say such strange things. They claimed that here in America there is no hatred of Jews. In those days, the American flag would be displayed at every wedding, even those of religious Jews, and they would sing the American national anthem on those occasions. I was once present at a wedding where I did not stand up for that song, and everyone was quick to remind me to stand.”
“Today, however, after 30 years have passed, everyone has already seen that hatred of Israel and the Jews exists here as well, and people are afraid to go out into the streets lest they be attacked. I remember that when I first came to America, I once walked from Williamsburg to the East Side via the large bridge, among all the goyim, without any fear and none of them tried to harm me. Today, however, I believe that everyone is so fearful of the goyim that no one would be willing to take that route at night alone.”
Kiryat Sanz: In 1957 he established the neighborhood of Kiryat Sanz in Netanya and in 1960 he realized his dream of moving to Eretz Yisrael. At the cornerstone laying ceremony of Kirys Sanz, a journalist asked the Rebbe if he really feels that all Yidden should move to Eretz Yisrael, to which the Rebbe replied that Eretz Yisrael is the best place for Yidden to live. “What about all the anti-religious things that go on here?” The reporter asked. The Rebbe replied “Just because Adam and Chava sinned in Gan Eden doesn’t mean that it’s not Gan Eden anymore!”
Laniado Hospital: In 1958 the Rebbe began to fulfill a vow he made during the war; of building a hospital to be run according to the strictest standards of halacha. After surviving Auschwitz and Dachau, the Rebbe went to work helping rehabilitate young survivors. He remarried and had seven more children. He rebuilt the Sanz Chassidus in America, and then, keeping the promise he had made during the Holocaust to build a hospital in Eretz Yisrael if he survived, he established Laniado Hospital near the sands of Netanya, the seaside city to which he relocated..
Touring Laniado: The author recalls visiting Laniado Hospital to see a room in the children’s ward dedicated by his Miami cousins, Joseph and Sheila Birnbaum, who were not zoche to have any children of their own. After davening in Kiryat Sanz that morning, the author met with the head of the Sanz Mosdos, who described how the Rebbe came to settle in Netanya, while most other Admorim in Israel admonished him for settling in such a makom pritzus at the seashore. The Rebbe, he said expressed himself: “We will go with goodness- we will not throw any stones.”
We were absolutely awed after taking a tour of Laniado Hospital- and seeing the Birnbaum room dedicated in the Children’s Ward, It ‘shmeked’ from happiness and cleanliness- A pride for the Jewish people. We met a couple and their child from Haifa and asked them why they came to Netanya from Haifa, if they have the famous Rambam Hospital in Haifa? Their reply: “The care and Shmirat Shabbat-Al Pi Halacha- Ain K’Mo Laniado- There is nothing comparable to Laniado!”
Mifal Hashas: The Rebbe’s accomplishments were as wonderous as his life itself. His journey took him from the Nazi death camps and the displaced persons camps in Europe to the flourishing institutions and Chassidishe court he founded in America, and then to Eretz Yisrael, where he founded Kiryat Sanz and Laniado Hospital in Netanya, as well as the Mifal Hashas program. This world-wide project encourages thousands of men and bochurim to not only study copious amounts of gemara and Shulchan Aruch but to also take written tests on 20 to 30 pages per month in return for a monthly stipend. Today, there are thousands all over the world that participate in Mifal Hashas. Not long ago, Mifal Hashas held the 463rd test for the program’s participants throughout Israel- over thirty-seven years after the program was first founded. The Rebbe often said that his greatest achievement is his establishment of Mifal Hashas in 1982.
South America: The Rebbe shared: “When I was travelling to raise funds for the construction of Kiryat Sanz, I spent several weeks in the countries of South America. When I arrived in Panama, I found the entire city in an uproar, as everyone was heatedly discussing something that happened there. There were two communities in the city, a community of Sephardim and a community of Ashkenazim. The Sephardic community consisted of fine upstanding people and they had an outstanding yungerman who served as Rav and delivered shiurim to them. The Ashkenazim, however, had strayed from the path of Torah, but there were still some Jews from the previous generation who did not want their children to study in the government funded schools. For that reason, they recruited a teacher from Eretz Yisroel to come to them and teach their children.
This emissary from Eretz Yisrael arrived in the middle of Yom Kippur, and the entire community was outraged by the fact that a Jew would travel on Yom Kippur. They were so appalled by this incident that when I told them that I had come to raise funds for a community in Eretz Yisrael, I had to reassure them that I had no connection to the sinners there.
“Look how immense was the wickedness of this heretic, who did not refrain from traveling on Yom Kippur,” the Rebbe declared.”Yet in spite of that, he viewed himself as a person who was coming to teach others about Judaism and to combat intermarriage. This is our great tragedy in this golus, when most of the Jewish people do not know how to distinguish between good and evil or between light and darkness.”
His Masterworks: A big part of his masterworks are published in the sefarim Shefa Chaim and Divrei Yetziv, which cover the complete spectrum of Torah thought These responsa cover a wide range of fascinating topics and display his mastery of halacha and nigla. His mastery of Chassidic thought and of Kaballa is legendary as well.
Rav Herschel Mashinsky- He treated every talmid like he was his only child. Rav Herschel Mashinsky attended Torah Vodaath and went on to ‘Aish Dos’- a teachers training school that Rav ‘Mister’ Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz, zt’l organized in Monsey. This was the forerunner of Torah U’Mesorah.
When in 1946 the holy Klausenberger Rebbe, zy’a arrived in Williamsburg, Rav Shraga Feivel sent 9 bochurim to greet the Rebbe and daven Mincha with him. The Rebbe’s kavana on the words ‘Hatov Ki Lo Cholu Rachamecha’ took almost an hour as he thanked the Ribbono Shel Olam with such fervor. Young Hershel Mashinsky said “This is my Rebbe”. He heard from the Rebbe such quotes like: “In the war I lost my entire family- I simply lost everything; but G-d I did not lose.”
While still a bochur in 1947, he became a rebbe at the Yeshiva of Spring Valley. The following year at Pesach time, Rav Mashinsky became engaged to Malka Lea Felsenburg and they set the wedding date for 18 days in Elul. When he went to the Klausenberger Rebbe to share the news, the Rebbe told him “better you should marry on 17 Elul, a day earlier.” When his dear friend, Rav Moshe Wolfson came to the Rebbe to share the news that he also was a chosson and intended to marry on 3 Elul, the Rebbe told him to change it to 18 days in Elul. When their rebbe, Rav Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz was niftar on 3 Elul that year, they understood the Rebbe’s premonitions.
The author relates: “Our children still recall the warmth they felt radiating from Rav Mashinsky when they accompanied me on Purim on our annual trip to deliver ‘Matonos L’Evyonim’ to Rav Mashinsky’s home on Orchard Street in Monsey. Rav Mashinsky greeted the young boys with a warm ‘Simchas Purim’, taking their hand in between his two hands, saying “How are my Tzadikim?” When our eldest son had Rav Mashinsky as a seventh grade rebbe, he was motivated and felt the warmth, saying “My Rebbe loves me.” The children felt the love and many wanted to learn just to please the rebbe.” Rav Mashinsky emulated what he learned from the Klausenberger Rebbe. He treated every talmid like he was his only child.
The Sun Sets: Sadly, the Rebbe returned his Neshama to The One Above on 9 Tammuz 5754/ June 18, 1994 at the age of 89. He is interred in Kiryat Sanz, near Netanya. Yehi Zichro Baruch!
Yisroel Safrin, author. As featured in The Monsey Mevaser- 'Monsey Personalities' series.
Stories of Rav Yekusiel Yehuda Halberstam zt"l
Rav Yekusiel Yehuda of Sanz-Klausenberg told the following story one Sholosh Seudos [see Shefa Chaim on Parshas Naso tov-shin-mem-daled] (also found in the kuntres Tav Chaim as a prelude to certain editions of the Chida’s sefer Shem HaGedolim):
Although the Chida was counted among the younger of the Ohr HaChaim’s talmidim, still Rav Chaim ben Attar greatly admired him, drew him close and bestowed upon the Chida a special and unique berocha that from Heaven the Chida should be sanctified with the kedusha of Aharon HaKohen!
At first the Chida misconstrued his Rebbe’s meaning and thought he had been blessed with the ability to give berochos to Am Yisrael be’ahava just as Aharon and the Kohanim bless the Jewish people. However, decades later, the true meaning of this special berocha was revealed in the following amazing manner:
In his old age, the Chida ended up in Leghorn, Italy, which the Jews know as Livorno. He had refused the position of Rav again and again, although the various communities’ elders and leaders tried to have him take up the post. Instead, the Chida preferred to sit and learn Torah uninterrupted except for a four-year stint when he took up the post of Rav while he was in Egypt. Nonetheless, although he held no official title or position, all the Jews knew of his greatness and accorded him the honor and respect due to a sage and Talmid Chochom, one of the Gedolim of the generation.
One day, a community leader came before the Chida and complained to him that his wife had been seen alone in the company of another man. “If this is so,” said the Chida, “you must divorce her, give her a get and she loses any rights to collect her kesuba.”
The Dayonim heard his decision and were baffled; how could he decide such a matter without any testimony or evidence? But they dared not contradict his ruling. The Chida asked that the wife be summoned to the place in the Bais Medrash where he sat and studied, immersed in Torah. The Chida tried to persuade her gently and kindly to accept a get of divorce from her husband, but the woman was brazen and arrogant. She answered the Rav back with chutzpa and as she spat back her arguments to the Rav, the Chida remembered the berocha he had received from the Ohr HaChaim, his Rebbe, all those years ago.
Turning to the insulting woman, the Chida asked, “Please, I have just one request. Listen as I read aloud to you a portion from the Parsha in the Torah.”
The arrogant woman acquiesced to this one request and stood still as the Chida took out a Torah and began to recite the Parsha of Naso where the Torah describes the sota. As the Chida read the pesukim the woman began to leave in the middle – but she did not escape in time, for just as she reached the stairs, the Chida concluded reading the Parsha of the sota, and no sooner did he finish the last words than she stopped with her foot resting on the step, while her face contorted and her eyes bulged out of their sockets. With a shriek she collapsed and dropped dead. Hearing her outcry, many people rushed to the scene as she breathed her last, and witnessed this miraculous event.
The Klausenberger Rebbe, also known as the ‘Shefa Chaim’, was a master storyteller. He had a unique ability to rivet his audience even as he recounted stories that they had heard many times already. And it wasn’t only the stories that were fascinating; it was also the lessons he derived from them, the way he presented them, the timing of each anecdote and the reason that he chose to share it.
The Rebbe was a spiritual giant who lived through unfathomable suffering during the Holocaust, in which he lost his entire family, and went on to become the very embodiment of the concepts of survival and rebirth. He played a pivotable role in rebuilding the Torah world after the war. His shiurim on Chumash are published today in kuntresim that are distributed throughout the world on a weekly basis. Each publication, which consists of only a few pages, encompasses a veritable world-in-its-own-right, with contents ranging from mussar messages to words of encouragement and hope, along with remarkable chiddushim on the parsha and fascinating stories. Some of the stories are parables, while others are edifying true anecdotes concerning the tzaddikim of earlier generations, particularly the Rebbe’s own illustrious forebearers.
Yisroel Safrin, author. As featured in The Monsey Mevaser- 'Monsey Personalities' series.
The Rebbe shared: “A distinguished man once arranged a shidduch for his son with the daughter of a wealthy family. A few days after the engagement was sealed, he discovered that his future mechutan’s family included an apostate. He contacted the girl’s father and complained that the shidduch had been finalized under false pretenses, and announced his intention to cancel the shidduch. The kallah’s father offered to pay a substantial sum in exchange for allowing the shidduch to continue, and he relented.
“Some-time later, the chosson’s father learned about yet another disturbing issue in the kallah’s family, and he complained to her father again. Once again, the wealthy man appeased his future mechutan with a hefty monetary payment. This continued several times, as the chosson’s father discovered more hidden flaws in the kallah’s family and complained to her father, who repeatedly compensated him with large sums of money for each issue. One day the chosson’s father remarked to a friend that his business hasn’t been so successful for a while and he wished he could find a few more apostates in his daughter-in-law’s family.
''You see” the Rebbe continued: “some people find a way to make business deals aveiros; they complain about another person’s aveiros until they are promised a hefty sum of money and then, their objections suddenly disappear.” This story was also told in a drasha against the Reform movement, and while it was somewhat amusing, it is also highly unsettling.
Yisroel Safrin, author. As featured in The Monsey Mevaser- 'Monsey Personalities' series.
Once, when the rebbe spoke harshly against the Reform movement during a shiur, he recounted something told to him by his brother-in-law, Rav Michoel Ber Weissmandl. “Even when those empty people are mechallel Shabbos, they do not mean for it to be a sin.” He said. “On the contrary, they see it as strengthening the religion. For instance, A Reform rabbi considers it a mitzvah to drive on Shabbos in order to daven in a shul. They even make sure to have a parking lot available for that purpose. …. This is not merely my conjecture: I know it for a fact, as my brother-in-law, Rav Michoel Dov, zt’l told me that the Reform rabbi Steven Wise boasted to him that there were no fast days observed in his temple, and that his congregants even ate on Yom Kippur. He claimed that if he did not permit them to eat, they would not come to shul for Yizkor.
Yisroel Safrin, author. As featured in The Monsey Mevaser- 'Monsey Personalities' series.
The Rebbe once told this story to lighten the mood during a shiur. “The Yismach Moshe once rebuked his son-in-law for davening after the z’man Tefillah. Of course, great Tzaddikim who davened after the z’man had reasons that were beyond our comprehension. The son-in-law responded. ‘I have made up my mind several times to begin davening before the z’man, but then I looked at who davens earliest in the morning. Those people are the simple laborers such as the tailors and shoemakers, and I fear that when I arrive in the World of Truth, I will be given a place in Gan Eden with all these Tzaddikim who davened early.
I will be seated together with a particular tailor, a certain wagon driver, and so forth and they will all begin telling me about the shoes they repaired or other mundane jobs they performed. Naturally, I will flee from that Gan Eden and I will seek the gehenom reserved for those that davened late. Then I will be shown the gehenom where the Ropshitzer Rebbe, the Chozeh of Lublin and the Yid HaKadosh dwell, and I will hasten to join them, for it is better to sit with those people in Gehenom than to sit in Gan Eden with the ordinary people.” This, of course, is a humorous response which is not meant to be taken as practical guidance in any way.
Yisroel Safrin, author. As featured in The Monsey Mevaser- 'Monsey Personalities' series.
Best known for his service throughout the Holocaust as one who labored heroically to save lives and bring comfort to the starving survivors. He describes how during his first Yomim Noroim after WW11, he went to the various minyanim set up in the Feldafing DP Camp. “Yom Kippur, I davened Kol Nidrei and Maariv with the Klausenberger Rebbe, ztz’l and survivors from Hungary, Romania and Czechoslovakia. Shacharis and Musaf I davened with the small Litvishe minyan and for Mincha and Ne’ila, I was with the Poilisher minyan.”
Lt. Birnbaum related: “After Kol Nidrei, the Klausenberger Rebbe got up to speak. I had never heard so powerful a speech in my life and I never will again. When he had finished more than two hours later, I was both emotionally drained and inspired for the best davening of my life.”
“The Rebbe stood there with his Machzor in his hand, flipping through the pages. Periodically, he would ask rhetorically, “Wehr haht das geshriben - Who wrote this? Does this apply to us? Are we guilty of the sins enumerated here?” One by one he went through each of the sins listed in the Ashamnu prayer and then the Al Cheits, and he concluded that those sins had little to do with those that had survived the camps.
Ashamnu: We have become guilty- Does this apply to us? Have we sinned against Hashem or man? I doubt it. Let’s go on.
Bagadnu: We have betrayed- Have we been ungrateful for the good Hashem has done for us? Are we disloyal to Hashem? Have we betrayed our loved ones? No. Bagadnu does not apply to us.
Gazalnu: We have stolen - From whom could we have stolen? Definitely, this does not apply to us. There was no such thing as theft in the camps. There was nothing to steal. This does not apply to us! ‘Wait’ jumped the Rebbe. “Gazalnu does apply to me. I have to klap Chatasi for Gazalnu. One day I came in from work and lay down on the wooden slats to rest. While I was sleeping, my skin got caught between two of the slats. I wiggled one way and another, but I could not free myself from the boards. When I did, some skin ripped off and I started bleeding. As I freed myself, I called ‘Oy’. I thought I had only groaned softly, but my cry was enough to wake up one of the fellow prisoners. Gezeilah- I stole sleep from this man. This is the only theft I remember for which I must klap Chatasi. There was nothing to steal. No one had anything to steal, even if we had wanted to steal, we couldn’t have.”
“The Klausenberger Rebbe continued on like this throughout all the pages concerning atonement. He then closed the Machzor and I was sure he had finally finished. But then he asked again ‘Who wrote this machzor? I did not see anywhere the sins applied to us - except for the sins of having lost emunah and bitachon. What is the proof that we have sinned in this fashion? How many times did we recite Krias Shema on our wood slats at night and think to ourselves: ‘Ribbono Shel Olam, let this be my last hamapil. I can’t carry on any longer. I’m so weak. I have no reason to carry on anymore. Is there no end to our suffering?’
“Ribbono Shel Olam, please take my neshama, so that I do not have to repeat once more in the morning, ‘I’m thankful before You Living King, who has returned my soul to me….’ I don’t need my soul, You can keep it.’ How many of us went to sleep thinking that we could not exist another day, with all bitachon lost? And yet, when the dawn broke in the morning, we once again had to say Modeh Ani and thank Hashem for having returned our souls. None of us expected to survive. Yes, we tried to survive but none of us expected to. Every morning, we saw this one didn’t move, that one did not move, and we carried them out to their interment. We looked upon them with envy. Is that emunah in Hashem? Is that bitachon in Hashem?”
“Yes we have sinned. We have sinned and now we must klop Al Cheit. We must pray to get back the emunah and bitachon that went to sleep these last few years in the camps. Now that we are freed, Ribbono Shel HaOlam, we beg you to forgive us - forgive everyone here. Forgive every Jew in the world. Ribbono Shel Olam, our father.”
Quote from the Klausenberger Rebbe: “When you come to a place of darkness, you do not chase out the darkness with a broom. You light a candle!”
Yisroel Safrin, author. As featured in Monsey Mevaser - :'Monsey Personality' Series.
On the eve of his first post-Holocaust Yom Kippur in 1945, the Rebbe’s preparations were slow and deliberate, including study and meditation in isolation. Edith Cohen, a young survivor remembers knocking at his door and entering, pleading: “My father died in the camps- I have no one to bless me before Kol Nidrei.” He graciously complied, put a handkerchief over her head and blessed her. Soon there was another knock and a second orphaned girl was ushered in. “Please bless me, Rebbe.” Again, he obliged sympathetically. Then, another knock and another. Soon a line of several dozen girls had formed, each one receiving individual attention until it was time for Kol Nidrei. The Klausenberger missed out on his contemplative pre-Yom Kippur tefilos.
The role that the Rebbe played in the struggle for girls rehabilitation and education after the Holocaust was legendary. ”Hundreds of girls enrolled in the network of schools that the Rebbe set up in the first year after liberation. The Rebbe developed a personal relationship with the girls, kept track of each girl’s spiritual condition, listened to the girl’s troubles, and gave them moral support and encouragement. One such project was the ‘Letter to Girls’ a page on Jewish doctrine and the weekly Torah portion which he wrote for them every week.
On Shabbos he taught them himself, sitting in the Beis Medresh behind a curtain. In particular, he assumed responsibility for finding them suitable husbands. His attitude towards them was so fatherly and personal, that some people regarded his educational work with the girls as the pinnacle of his activity.
Yisroel Safrin, author. As featured in the Monsey Mevaser - 'Monsey Personality' series.
On Yom Kippur of 1945 General Dwight David Eisenhower who was touring the DP camps in the area, visited the Fahrenwald DP Camp and asked the Rebbe how he can be of help. The Rebbe asked him to obtain some sets of Daled Minim for Sukkos, as well as a Jeep the Rebbe could use to help others.
Yisroel Safrin, author. As featured in the Monsey Mevaser, 'Monsey Personality' series.
Here is another incredible story: “One of my ancestors, the Rebbe of Zidichov, was once davening Shemoneh Esrei, when his son-in-law, Rav Yehuda Zvi, noticed that he was davening with even greater devotion and intensity, than usual. He feared that if the holy Rebbe of Zidichov recited Tachanun in that state, his soul would depart from his body. Consequently, he hurried to finish his own silent Shemoneh Esrei, and then quickly reviewed an entire mesechta of gemora. When the Zidichover completed his Shemoneh Esrei, Rav Yehudah Zvi quickly informed him that he was conducting a siyum, which made it a Yom Tov on which Tachanun is omitted. The Zidichover accepted this even though he had been preparing to surrender his very life in devotion to Hashem. After davening he thanked his son-in-law for his actions.”
Yisroel Safrin, author. As featured in the Monsey Mevaser - 'Monsey Personality' Series.
I have often recounted what I heard from my father, who was told the following by Rav Avigdor of Dukla, the brother of the Divrei Chaim: ‘I have already conducted a galus’ – that is, he wandered from town to town, never sleeping in the same place for two consecutive nights and always sleeping in the local hekdesh- as many tzaddikim have done - and I afflicted myself by waiting half a year without changing my shirt. I have fasted from one Shabbos until the next, not ingesting even a morsel of food after seudah shlishis until Kiddush of the following Friday night, and I have afflicted myself with plants that sting the skin. But even after all that, I can tell you that the creature known as the yetzer hora can be defeated only with a daf of gemora and a tosafos.”
Yisroel Safrin, author. As featured in the Monsey Mevaser - 'Monsey Personality' Series
The author recalls being at a Seuda Shlishis at the Agudah Convention at The Crown Plaza in Stamford, Connecticut. Nearby, an Israeli of South African background is sitting with a large blue and white kipa sruga. I ask him what he is doing at the Agudah Convention and he replies: “I work for a National Israeli Chessed Organization based in Netanya and we have a booth in the pavilion to interest askonim and potential donors. At the same time, I have daughter here in Stamford that is on ‘shlichut’ to teach in the Stamford Hebrew Day School. He asks me where I live and I reply “Monsey.” “Did you know Reb Sidney Greenwald?” “Of course- the first seven years in Monsey we davened together in the ‘Sanzer Kloiz,’ headed by Rav Cheskel Horowitz, zt’l.
The Israeli continued: “Reb Sidney, when he moved to Israel, became the Executive Director of Laniado Hospital and I was his Public Relations Director for 15 years.” He then relates a cute story. “One Motzei Shabbat, a Vizhnitzer Chossid from Bnai Brak calls Laniado Hospital to speak with his mother, who is a patient. The Druse operator says “Ani Lo Yachol Le’Haavir et Hasicha- I cannot transfer the call.” “Why?” asks the Chossid? Her reply: “Because Shabbat is not over yet.” “What do you mean “Not over yet? I am calling from Bnei Brak” replies the Chossid. “Adoni- Ahd Shelo Magia HaRav, Lo Nigmar HaShabbat!- Until the Rabbi does not appear, the Shabbat is not over”….Asks the Chossid “Ayzeh Rav - Which Rav?” She replies: “- I never met him, but they call him ‘Rabbeinu Tam.’
Upshot! It seems the Klausenberger Rebbe was at odds with the Vizhnitzer Rebbe over the time Shabbos ends. He would emphatically tell The Vizhnitzer Rebbe that he was ‘Mechallel Shabbas’ since his grandfathers in Europe would keep the Rabbeinu Taam longer times and not the shortened times being kept by the Vizhnitzer Kehilla.
Yisroel Safrin, author. As featured in the Monsey Mevaser - 'Monsey Personality' series.
Rav Yair Shwartzman related that he once heard the Klausenberger Rav’s derasha during siyum haShas for the daf yomi and he said: “There are some Jews who claim that they have no time during the day to learn even one daf, but every Jew must set aside and establish a time to learn Torah. He must accept upon himself that not a day shall pass by without studying at least a daf, and, if chas v’shalom, a day does go by that he misses, he should make it up the next day and try all he can tomorrow to learn what he missed.” (Yehi Ohr p. 271 #588)
The Klausenberger Rebbe was preparing himself before travelling to the USA. He was ready to daven at the earliest minyan so that he would conclude davening and not be late for his flight. As he davened in his shul in Bnei Brak, the chazan and the mispallelim rushed the service a little to ensure that the rebbe would make it to the airport on time. The Klausenberger, however, appeared to be in no rush at all. He took his time and davened with ga’aguim and kisufim – (desire and passion) for Hashem, especially, when he reached the beracha of “Ahavas Olam” which precedes the Shema. This beracha describes our love for Hashem and Torah and how much Hashem loves us, and here, the rebbe simply was so elevated that he transcended beyond time and space. He repeated the words over and over again, “we shall not be shamed for ever more,” and he burst out sobbing uncontrollably. By this time, the chassidim had given up on the rebbe making the flight; they were sure he would never make it. After davening, the rebbe made his way to the airport, the plane’s door had already closed and the stairs had been wheeled away. Nonetheless, when the rebbe arrived, in his honor, they held the flight up. They wheeled the staircase back, and the reopened the door so the rebbe could make his flight! (Yehi Ohr p. 272 #589)
Rav Yekusiel Yehuda Halberstam, the Klausenberger Rebbe, once told his Chassidim, “I have in my possession a hand-written letter from my forebear, the author of Bnei Yissoschor, which he wrote during Elul. At first glance, something looks wrong with the letter; the lines are uneven--almost sloppy--and tend to go up and down rather than straight across the page. In the letter, the Bnei Yissoschor explains himself: “I cannot write at length and must be brief because my hands are trembling as I write this because of the awe of Hashem and the fear of the upcoming judgment day, Yom HaDin!”
“From fear of the Yom HaDin, he couldn’t even hold his pen straight! And what about us?” the Klausenberger challenged. “What should we say about ourselves?!” (Kodesh Elul Chapter 6, cited from Divrei Torah, Ki Savo)
Two stories to illustrate the power of prayer:
The Sanz-Klausenberger Rebbe, the Shefa Chaim, retold a story his father, the rav of Rudnick, had once told:
There was an old Jewess who lived in Cracow. One day a “crazy idea” formed in her head. She decided that when she would leave this world, she wanted to be buried in only one place--the old beis hachaim (cemetery) of Cracow. This is where tzaddikim such as the Rema, the Bach, the Megaleh Amukos, and others were all interred.
She summoned the chevra kadisha, rewrote her will and informed them of her decision. There was only one problem: for almost a century, no one – not a single person--had been buried in the old beis hachaim. Cracow had a new Jewish cemetery and that’s where all the levayas (burials) took place. The old beis hachaim was officially closed to new burials. Nothing, however, could dissuade her from her plan. She stubbornly refused to change her mind and clung to her desire to be buried in that alte (old) beis hachaim.
She began a campaign to get her way. First, she davened ceaselessly. She pleaded during the three tefillos each a day that her wish be fulfilled. She recited her request before giving tzedakah and said all of sefer Tehillim over and over, each time asking to be buried in the old beis hachaim. She even enlisted the help of the little cheder boys! She waited by the cheder with treats for the chubby-cheeked angels and soon they all knew the strange grandmother who gave them daily sweets in exchange for the outlandish request that they bless her to be buried in the old beis hachaim. Soon enough, they sang gaily in chorus as they passed her, “A gut morgen mime, di zolst bagruben veren in alten beis hachaim – Good morning, Auntie, may you be buried in the old cemetery!” Even at the weddings of her grandchildren, she asked the chassan and kallah to bless her with this unusual beracha.
Finally, one day, she passed on. During her levaya, a snowstorm began that was so strong that it prevented the chevra kadisha from burying her anywhere. . .except in the old beis hachaim! And so, she got her dying wish. Remarked the Shefa Chaim, “I knew the power of prayer was great! But I never realized it was so strong that even for such a seemingly crazy idea it could work!”
Rav Gedalya Moshe of Zhvill once told of a town that he was well acquainted with. This town had only one doctor and one pharmacist and they constantly took advantage of their medical monopoly to raise their fees month after month. Finally, the residents had had enough. They called a meeting together and decided to unanimously give up going to the doctor for diagnoses and give up going to the pharmacist for prescriptions. “We shall rely on Hashem alone; whoever has someone sick in his home shall cry out to Hashem and ask Him to send a refuah (cure), as we say, ‘Hashem is the Healer of all flesh and does wonders!’”
The Zhviller Rebbe told how at the end of the year they met once more and discovered that not one resident had died! In fact, said Rav Gedalya Moshe, the only two who had died were the doctor and the pharmacist. This is the power of true, sincere prayer from the depths of the heart!
Divrei Torah of Rav Yekusiel Yehuda Halberstam zt"l
delight in the glow of the shechina
Once, when delivering his weekly Chumash Rashi shiur, Rav Yekusiel Yehuda of Sanz-Klausenberg, mechaber of the Shefa Chaim, needed to explain just how distant we are from understanding the term leihonos miziv haShechina – “to delight in the glow of the Shechina”, and he gave the following example:
The concept of leihonos miziv haShechina – “to delight in the glow of the Shechina” – has no meaning to anyone who is so grossly physical and megushom that he derives pleasure from food and drink. Such a lofty level belongs only to true, holy Tzaddikim, who are on such a high level that they have divested themselves of all vestiges of physicality and cut off all earthly ties, someone like the Ohr HaChaim HaKodosh, who, when he spoke about dveikus to Hashem, would begin enumerating different examples in the language of love, devotion and desire. If you study his [the Ohr HaChaim’s] words, you can clearly see that his holy soul would “go out” when he spoke about Ahavas Hashem and love of G-d. (Shefa Chaim Chumash Rashi 5742, Teruma p. 234)
delight in the glow of the shechina
Once, when delivering his weekly Chumash Rashi shiur, Rav Yekusiel Yehuda of Sanz-Klausenberg, mechaber of the Shefa Chaim, needed to explain just how distant we are from understanding the term leihonos miziv haShechina – “to delight in the glow of the Shechina”, and he gave the following example:
The concept of leihonos miziv haShechina – “to delight in the glow of the Shechina” – has no meaning to anyone who is so grossly physical and megushom that he derives pleasure from food and drink. Such a lofty level belongs only to true, holy Tzaddikim, who are on such a high level that they have divested themselves of all vestiges of physicality and cut off all earthly ties, someone like the Ohr HaChaim HaKodosh, who, when he spoke about dveikus to Hashem, would begin enumerating different examples in the language of love, devotion and desire. If you study his [the Ohr HaChaim’s] words, you can clearly see that his holy soul would “go out” when he spoke about Ahavas Hashem and love of G-d. (Shefa Chaim Chumash Rashi 5742, Teruma p. 234)