The
Rebbe Is Here With Us In Madrid
The fascinating account of the
shliach Rabbi Yitzchok Goldstein
Imagine
yourself in Madrid, Spain, where the excited spirit of the culture is contrasted
with the misery and horror of the Inquisition that began over 500 years ago…
The Jewish population in Spain at its heyday was in the tens of thousands. Now
it is only about 12-15,000 people. How did a born-and-bred Lubavitcher from
Crown Heights, not knowing a word of Spanish, much less any Spanish history or
culture, find himself in Spain on shlichus? And what are his feelings
about being there?
"From
the Rebbe’s teachings, we understand that everything we do is for the
sake of preparing the world for Moshiach." This is the statement that
characterizes the special shlichus of Rabbi Yitzchak Goldstein, who began
his shlichus 24 years ago in Malaga, Spain and just recently opened a
Chabad Center in Madrid.
The
one who introduced Rabbi Goldstein to the opportunity to be shliach in
Spain was Mr. Avrohom Yitzchok Glick, a’h, of England. Before
Rabbi Goldstein was married, he was a teacher and youth director in London,
where he met Mr. Glick. The two worked together on mivtzaim and other
projects.
Mr.
Glick was known to all as an important personality and a significant resource
for the growing needs of various Jewish communities in Europe in terms of Yiddishkeit.
He was nicknamed "the shliach ha’noded" (the
traveling shliach). He frequently would travel throughout Europe on
business. The Rebbe told him that while in the various cities he visits, he
should use every available opportunity to improve the observance of Yiddishkeit
in that city. Once, at a yechidus with the Rebbe, the Rebbe asked Mr.
Glick if a kosher mikva existed in Malaga, Spain.
"This
request shows how much the Rebbe cares about the ease and accessibility of
opportunities for every Jew to do mitzvos," said Rabbi
Goldstein, "because Malaga, unlike many other cities, is directly on the
southern seashore of Spain, where the weather is like Florida. Anyone who would
want to use a mikva any time of the year could conceivably go to the
shore. But the Rebbe wanted a mikva to be available even in this city so
that no one would be prevented from using a mikva out of
self-consciousness or discomfort."
The
following summer, while Mr. Glick was on a business trip to Barcelona, Spain,
someone informed him about a Jewish hotel owner in Malaga who, wanting to
promote his hotel, decided to try to open a kosher restaurant in his hotel, and
asked Mr. Glick if he wanted to meet the man. Mr. Glick, unsure if the Rebbe
would want to get involved in a kosher restaurant in Spain because of the
complications it would entail, nonetheless, having the possibility of a mikva
in mind, decided to ask. He phoned Rabbi Hodakov to ask the Rebbe if he should
use this opportunity to assist with this kosher hotel, because subsequently he
might be able to build a kosher mikva in that city. A half-hour later,
Rabbi Hodakov called Mr. Glick back with the Rebbe’s response:
"See if you can possibly take a plane tonight, so you can meet him tomorrow
morning if possible. Make an effort to meet him one hour earlier, to make the mikva
one hour earlier, so that a Jew can use it one hour earlier." Mr. Glick
took the next flight to Malaga and met the man early in the morning to start the
plans rolling for a kosher restaurant in the hotel and to plan the new mikva.
The
hotel owner asked Mr. Glick to find a mashgiach for the restaurant, and
Mr. Glick immediately thought of the newly married Goldsteins, who at the time
were both teachers in upstate New York. When Rabbi Goldstein asked the Rebbe if
he should take the position, the Rebbe answered: "If they [the hotel
owners] will obey [halacha], then to be interested, and if there is a
doubt, not." When it was apparent that everything would go
according to halacha, Rabbi Goldstein took the position. Rabbi Hodakov
told him that he wanted the restaurant to be the standard of kashrus that
Rabbi Goldstein would eat. Rabbi Goldstein made sure to have everything in the
restaurant with Lubavitch sh’chita, chalav Yisroel,
etc., and he did, in fact, eat there.
At
the outset of the shlichus, right after Pesach 5737, in yechidus,
the Rebbe emphasized that they should "bring up each and every one of your
children to Torah, chuppa, and maasim tovim." Rabbi
Goldstein felt that the shlichus would also enhance the chinuch of
his own children, as the Rebbe had blessed him also in their particular needs.
(In fact, all of the Goldstein’s children have obtained their education
from both of their parents at home until they were old enough to send them to
out-of-town yeshivos. Shifra Goldstein, who supervised most of the home
schooling when the children were young, wrote an article about her techniques
and successes in an article printed in the Tishrei-Cheshvan 5761 [September
2000] issue of the N’shei Chabad Newsletter, pages 73-74.)
During
the months before the restaurant was ready, Rabbi Goldstein gathered and taught
the children, ages 2-10, of three Jewish families. Shifra also taught these
children for two hours a week. In this way, they influenced eight children in Yiddishkeit.
Shifra
is a personality unto herself. One of the Goldstein’s mekuravim,
Shoshana Traxler, now a shlucha in Houston, Texas, recalls the first time
she met Shifra. Shoshana went to the Goldstein’s apartment which they
had just moved into. Shoshana related, "The Goldsteins had just moved to
Malaga to be the shluchim there. Shifra was a lively person whose love
for the Rebbe just radiated from her. She had a real exuberance for Yiddishkeit.
As soon as I showed up at her door, she proudly showed me the number of their
new apartment they had just moved into - 77E - and asked me if I knew what it
signified. I really didn’t have any idea, so she exclaimed, ‘770!
770! Do you know what that is?’ And when I replied that I didn’t,
she indicated that 770 was the address of the Rebbe’s main headquarters
in New York. She was so excited that she took my hand and started dancing and
singing. She is a real live-wire! She taught me a lot about Yiddishkeit
and because of her influence, by the time I left Spain to return home I had
decided to keep Shabbos and eat only kosher food."
The
effect that the Goldsteins had on this very small community (located in the
vicinity of the hotel, a half-hour drive from the larger Jewish community and shul
in Malaga) became quite apparent in the answer of the Rebbe to his request to
come to 770 for Tishrei (because he was afraid there was not going to be a minyan
in his area for Tishrei that year): "Totally out of the question. This
will put into danger all he has achieved until now in Yiddishkeit. Azkir
al ha’tzion." Rabbi Goldstein was pleasantly
surprised to find that, including the hotel guests, there was a minyan
for all of Tishrei.
"From
this answer we can see how deeply the Rebbe cared for those few children, and
felt it would be a disaster to abandon them, even just for a few weeks,"
remarked Rabbi Goldstein.
That
year, Rabbi Goldstein had a contract with the hotel to work for just a half-year
trial as mashgiach in the hotel restaurant, which unfortunately folded
because of insufficient advertising. After the hotel closed, Rabbi Goldstein
asked the Rebbe what he should do. The Rebbe wanted the Goldsteins to continue
their shlichus in Spain. Mr. Glick arranged, through the Rebbe,
the funding for Rabbi Goldstein to continue as the shliach in Malaga, and
every month the Rebbe sent checks to the Goldsteins from September of 1977, and
also asked Rabbi Goldstein to search for new funds.
Rabbi
Goldstein subsequently taught in a Talmud Torah, but that was not a regularly
paid job. That August, he received a telegram from Mr. Glick advising him to
meet two brothers in Madrid, Yehuda and Dovid Toledano, who wanted to speak to
him concerning teaching their own children. Rabbi Goldstein took
that offer after the Rebbe gave his haskama (agreement) and bracha
to move to Madrid.
For
Tishrei of that year the Goldsteins finally had the Rebbe’s blessings
to come in for the Yomim Tovim. Their oldest son, Schneur Zalman,
had his third birthday while still in America. The upsherenish took place
in 770. To the Goldstein’s great surprise, the Rebbe personally
performed the upsherenish in their presence and gave an extraordinary bracha
for them to have Chassidishe nachas from Schneur Zalman and the
other children. The Rebbe gave Tanyas to Rabbi Goldstein, Schneur Zalman,
and the baby, Menachem Mendel, and gave siddurim to his wife and
one-year-old daughter, Menucha Rochel - each of which had the personal signature
of the Rebbe.
Rabbi
Goldstein’s shlichus included teaching private classes to all
four of the Toledano children, ages 4-8, every day for half a day. Before he
began, he told Mr. Toledano that he would teach the children according to the
philosophy of Lubavitch and that he would teach them Tanya. The Toledanos,
Sephardim who had been educated in the Ponevizh yeshiva in Bnei
Brak, responded that they have no choice, as they knew that non-Lubavitchers
would probably not come as far as Spain to teach their children.
Once,
Rabbi Goldstein brought the Toledano children to 770. The Rebbe gave the
children nickels for tzedaka and gave a nickel to Rabbi Goldstein, as
well. Rabbi Goldstein was taken aback that he got a nickel like the children,
but did not say anything. The Rebbe must have read his mind, because he said, "You
are also from Madrid."
But
the Goldsteins did more than just teach. They also planned activities from their
apartment and in the shul. One such activity was a daily dvar Torah
and coffee session after Shacharis in shul, which is an ongoing
activity even now. During one of these sessions 18 years ago, a man named Moshe
Bengio had just finished reading a book of the Rebbe’s writings in
French. At the end, it said that we should proclaim "We Want Moshiach
Now."
"’This
statement means so much that we should proclaim it in Spain also. Let everyone
hear it. I want to hear you proclaim this in public now!’ Moshe
exclaimed to me in front of everyone. I said this loudly in front of everyone,
and he exclaimed, ‘Now - immediately! We need him now!’ This
was 18 years ago. I run into him every so often, and each time I do, he looks at
me, comes over to me and says, ‘We want Moshiach now!’"
Other
activities include teaching other shiurim, making Chanuka candles,
hosting many guests for Shabbos and Yom Tov, and preparing holiday journals for
distribution. The Rebbe received all of the mailings the Goldsteins made, in
which the whole family, including all of the Goldstein children, always
participate by collating the journals and stuffing and addressing the envelopes.
The Rebbe responded to one such mailing with a letter acknowledging the children’s
role in helping to prepare these journals.
Rabbi
Goldstein has approximately 50 letters from the Rebbe with the Rebbe’s
signature. He received one letter approximately every three months. At the end
of each letter, the Rebbe added a bracha for something that the
Goldsteins needed at that particular time. Sometimes there was a bracha
for success, sometimes a bracha for joy, and time and again there was a bracha
to do their activities "b’darchei noam u’b’darchei
shalom."
From
these answers, it was apparent to the Goldsteins that they should make every
effort not do anything to cause the people of the city to become displeased in
any way. That is why Rabbi Goldstein did not feel it would be appropriate to
open his own shul or Chabad House. He did not want anything he did to be
considered competition to the local shul.
The
Goldsteins daven in the local shul. Each week tourists show up at
the shul for Shabbos. These are people who may not even go to shul
back home, but in Spain, in such non-Jewish surroundings, they feel that on
Shabbos they need a break, so they go to shul. Each week Rabbi Goldstein
invites between 5-10 tourists to his home to enjoy a heimish traditional
Shabbos meal.
"I’d
say that by the end of the year, I might have met about 1,000 new faces just of
tourists I meet during the week and on Shabbos! In 24 years, that would be about
24,000 Jews! As far as contributions go, since it’s Shabbos we can’t
ask for donations. However, some of them say that they are so glad that
Lubavitch is as far away as Spain. They tell me that when they get home, they’ll
contribute to Lubavitch (of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Australia, etc.),
assuming that we are all one big family and that the donation will get to us one
way or another."
After
24 years of doing activities in the city in collaboration with the local Jews
and the JCC, the Goldstein’s felt confident that opening their own
Chabad House would not be considered competition any more. It had become
increasingly difficult to continue operating all of their Chabad activities from
their apartment. People sometimes felt they were infringing on the family’s
space and felt uncomfortable. That’s why, when Rabbi Goldstein saw an
apartment for rent near the shul and near their own apartment, they
rented it and began holding their Chabad activities there. When they notified
people that they were renting an apartment in order to conduct additional
activities that would not conflict with the work the community was doing, they
received positive responses, though the community has not yet responded to help
finance the activities.
Their
first activity in the new premises was a farbrengen held on Chai Elul.
Rabbi Moshe Ben Dahan, the rabbi of the shul in Madrid, attended the farbrengen
and spoke about the significance of the day.
Every
Shabbos, Rabbi Goldstein offers classes in Tanya before Mincha to
students who come into the Chabad House. On Motzaei Yom Kippur, the Goldsteins
provided Havdala, honey cake, and orange juice to those who attend the
local shul for services. For Sukkos, they made a huge sukka on the
patio adjacent to the Chabad House, inviting the people from the shul to
the sukka during Chol HaMoed for cake and coffee. This was an innovation
for the members of the community, because some thought that only Kiddush
takes place in a sukka, and not many realized that having a simple coffee
in the sukka during Chol HaMoed is important. In an act that expresses
the good will between the two, Rabbi Ben Dahan gave a dvar Torah each day
on this occasion, as well.
"Prior
to Chanuka, the school children had two weeks of winter vacation. Six families
approached me and asked us to enhance their children’s religious
education during those weeks. Every day, eight children came to the Chabad
House, where my wife taught various halachos and showed the children the
sources of these halachos in the Chumash, Mishna, Gemara, Rambam,
and Shulchan Aruch.
The
Goldsteins also did some beautiful projects for Chanuka this year. "We made
an olive press, which the children used to make oil from olives with their bare
hands," Rabbi Goldstein related. "They were excited when they saw the
oil actually dripping out of the olive."
"We
told them that oil and water don’t mix. Oil rises and water flows
downward. We told them that we can learn from this that Jews remain unaffected
by any secular, gentile influences. We gave them a little flask of their oil
with water to take home to remember this vital lesson. No matter how vigorously
they shake that flask, they will see that the oil will rise and the water will
be on the bottom."
They
also built a Chanuka candle factory, in which over 250 children (almost the
entire population of Jewish children in Madrid) participated in making their own
candles. In shifts several weeks before and throughout Chanuka, children learned
how to make their own candle by repeatedly dipping their wick into colored wax
of their own choosing, and ten minutes later - presto! They had a candle they
could use for Chanuka.
"This
one little candle is the impetus for the head of the family, and even each
individual in the family, to begin to light Chanuka candles the entire holiday
and say the brachos on the lighting," said Rabbi Goldstein.
"And this is repeated in 250 different families!"
"We
also have Saturday night game night for children who wish to participate.
Between 5-10 children come, ages 4-12, and we provide Jewish games, popcorn, and
a video show. And my wife gives a shiur to women called ‘Educating
children in the home and out.’
"Now
we are involved in a big project for Pesach - we are creating a matza
bakery in the Chabad House. The children will be able to make their own model matza,
which of course will be chametzdik, but we’ll give them a piece
of shmura matza that they will carefully guard until Pesach.
"My
wife does not only teach shiurim. She is fully responsible for the entire
operation of the mikva. She is also literally involved in all
aspects of the shlichus. We plan and organize all of our projects
together, and we are both equally involved in all of the aspects that each
project entails."
"It’s
interesting to note that one time the Rebbe wrote a letter to us in English.
This was during S’fira. The Rebbe wrote that when we count the
Omer, we say the day is 2 days or 3 days, showing how each day accumulates with
the next - we don’t say the second day or the third day, as entities in
themselves. When two people lift something together, that object is actually
lighter for them than if each would lift half of it singly. This teaches that
the accumulation makes us able to accomplish much more together than separately.
The
lesson the Rebbe was telling us is that when people work on a project together,
much more can be accomplished than if each of the two would work on it
separately. We see this in our everyday shlichus life."
***
What
are some of the difficulties involved in carrying out your shlichus?
"Frankly,
we have been there so long that we are already used to the difficulties and we
don’t even think of them as difficulties anymore. It’s just the way of life
there. We don’t have many kosher products available to us from a grocery
store. We must make almost everything ourselves. I go to a farm every week and
supervise the milking of the cows, bring the milk home, and then pasteurize it
in a large pot to 177º F. Then we cool it and freeze it in bottles. There are
usually pieces of butter or cream floating in the milk, which we all got used to
already. Meat has been very difficult to get. Sometimes my older children will
bring us meat from Paris or London when they come home from yeshiva, or
tourists or visitors will bring us a frozen case of meat from Crown Heights, but
when we have no meat, we rely on fish for our meals. We obtain our matzos
in the same ways."
"I
have to say that my mother, Mrs. Chana Goldstein, a’h, is the one I owe
for helping us so much, sending us so many packages. Without her help, we don’t
know how we would have managed.
"But
we are not here to talk about the difficulties, which are less significant. What
we look at are the times we get telephone calls from students we worked with
18-20 years ago. They tell us they are shomrei Torah and mitzvos
and are bringing up their children in a Jewish way.
"We
don’t get these kind of phone calls as much as we would like, but these few
calls indicate how much the Rebbe’s work through us in Spain bears fruits
eternally. When we are lucky, we are actual witnesses to this.
"In
our 24 years there, we could pinpoint 25 families that became fully Torah
observant Jews in every way. Many hundreds of families, each on their own level,
have improved their standard of observance through their contact with us. These
people are not just Spanish residents. Most of the families who became baalei
t’shuvos are curiously from other countries - America, Eretz Yisroel,
and countries in Europe.
Tell
us one of your success stories.
"The
spectacular part of our shlichus are the baalei t’shuvos.
That is a big part of our success. About 18 years ago, a few weeks before Purim,
a student who wasn’t from the community came to shul. My son gave him a
siddur and showed him what to daven. I invited him to our Shabbos
table, but he refused the invitation. The next week, when he came to shul,
I invited him again, and this time he came. He enjoyed the meal and before he
left, he said, ‘You must be Lubavitch. I come from New York, and there they
always find me and try to convince me to put on t’fillin, but I always
manage to find a way to escape. Now, you’re here again. I will come again, but
you must promise that you’ll never ask me to put on t’fillin, keep
kosher or keep Shabbos.’ I said, ‘no problem, we will work it out.’ So
we had a deal.
"On
Purim morning he came to shul and said, ‘When I had my bar mitzva,
I didn’t wear t’fillin. Could you show me how to put them on?’ I
gladly did and wished him mazel tov, for at the age of 30 he did so for
the first time. Well, one mitzva leads to another. He came to our Purim seuda.
There, he told me why he came to shul. He was originally from the Bronx,
and in his youth he had somehow fallen in with the wrong company. Although he
didn’t really feel comfortable with the people he hung out with, he was
influenced by them.
"After
a long time, he decided to change his behavior. He thought that if he would
leave America, he could leave his cloudy past behind and begin a new life. He
owned a dog that had belonged to him since he had been a child, and he couldn’t
part with this dog. His first choice was to go to England, as they speak English
there, but they had a policy that for six months prior to departure, pets have
to be in quarantine. He didn’t like that, and when he found out that Spain did
not have this restriction, and since he knew a little Spanish, he came to
Madrid. But again he found the wrong company to hang out with and things didn’t
get any better.
"Eventually
he felt that life was not worth living. He decided to make an end of it. He
found a 10-story building, climbed up to the top, looked down, looked up - and
just then he remembered that he still had to say goodbye to G-d. Thinking that
to speak to G-d he will need to find a Synagogue. He contacted the American
Embassy and asked if there is a synagogue in Madrid.’"
This
shul is where he met Rabbi Goldstein. "‘Rabbi Goldstein,’ he
said, ‘you saved my life!’ This man decided that now life was
worth continuing, but in a different way. He returned every day and asked me to
assist him to put on t’fillin. Later he wanted to make sure that he knew how
to do them properly to know how to put on t’fillin on his own when he
had to return to America. His return ticket was for Chol HaMoed Pesach. By Chol
HaMoed he already was practicing some mitzvos, and even more
significantly, he became a mentch.
"I
led him to meet my parents in Crown Heights, and a year later, through their
efforts and our relationship with him, he married a woman who was a baalas
t’shuva. Today they have two children. The oldest, a girl of 14, and
the younger child, a boy about 11 years old, both go to an Orthodox day school
in New York. The children are a source of inspiration and nachas to the
Rebbe, to us and to their parents."
How
do you financially support your Chabad House activities?
"In
the beginning, the hotel paid us for 6 months, and then the Rebbe himself
supported us for one additional year in Malaga. Then the Toledanos took care of
all of our financial needs while we were teaching their children, which
continued for 6 ½ years. Eventually, Dovid Toledano decided to leave Spain with
his family, so I was only teaching Yehuda’s children. I received only half of
my previous salary. Mr. Glick told me to try to obtain local funding, but in the
meantime, the Rebbe would send what I would need to make up the missing part.
Two years later, Yehuda and his family decided to leave Spain, as well. Again,
Mr. Glick told me to try to obtain some local funding, but the Rebbe would send
what I needed. We are continuing to search for local support. We hope the day
will come when we will have the financial support of the local community."
What
are some of personal instructions the Rebbe has communicated to you?
"Aside
from the first time the Rebbe told us that we shouldn’t come in for Tishrei,
as the work in Spain was so important to the Rebbe, we had an unusual experience
with an answer from the Rebbe. When the hotel owner told us that the kosher
section of the hotel was closing, I had an offer from a man from Madrid to be a mashgiach
in a different hotel in Malaga. Since he was also a travel agent, he gave us
tickets for the family to go to New York for Yud Shvat. The travel agent had a
telex machine; remember - this was before fax machines existed. I told him I
first must ask the Rebbe if I can make such a visit. I prepared a note for him
to telex to my parents in NY to give in a tzetel to the Rebbe. A few days
later this fellow tells me (in his words) that my mother telexed back that we
have an agreement to come and wishes for a safe trip. It was hard for us to
conceive that we finally had the OK from the Rebbe to come!!. However before we
were even offered the tickets, I had also sent a letter by mail to the Rebbe
asking the same question (in case the telex would not get through).
"We
made our preparations to come, and we had a farbrengen in Malaga before
our departure. We explained the significance of Yud Shvat to the participants,
and we collected about 200 names of people who wanted to request a bracha
from the Rebbe. In those days, most flights were connecting flights, and our
flight from Malaga was to Madrid, from where we would catch another plane to
America. While we were waiting in the airport in Madrid for our flight, I heard
an announcement over the loudspeaker calling my name. It was a telephone call
for me from the travel agent. He said, ‘Your parents are frantic, they are
trying to reach you urgently! They told to me to tell you that the Rebbe just
gave an answer to my tzetel, that "The trip now is not
worthwhile."
"I
was bewildered, and I explained to him that the Rebbe does not change his mind
once he decides something. But my parents were telling me that the Rebbe said
that regarding my question, the journey now is not worth taking. So of course we
didn’t go, and I explained to the travel agent that if the Rebbe says not to
go, we don’t go, though I was at the moment totally confused.
"The
mystery was eventually solved. There was apparently a lack of communication
between the telex office and my parents. My parents had misunderstood my
original communication to them, understanding it to mean that we already had
permission from the Rebbe to come and that we intended to do so. It was my
letter that I had written prior to that telex that brought us the Rebbe’s
answer ‘not to come now.’
"Rabbi
Groner told us that since the Rebbe keeps on refusing that we visit, we should
postpone asking for a while and perhaps ask for Pesach. That is what we did. Mr.
Glick came to Malaga for Purim, and we arranged a hook-up of the farbrengen
in Mr. Glick’s hotel room. During the farbrengen, someone running the
hookup said that if Rabbi Goldstein is listening, he has an answer from the
Rebbe that my father just got from the office, and gave it over to him just
before the Purim farbrengen regarding the question whether he should come
in for Pesach: ‘It is not worthwhile to come for Pesach, and they will
succeed in the Pesach campaign in great measure. Azkir al ha’tzion.’ At
that time we stopped asking to come, because we understood that the Rebbe wanted
us to stay for an uninterrupted length of time.
"We
had another answer from the Rebbe concerning my wife’s third pregnancy, which
would be our first baby to be born in Spain. A certain doctor, Avrohom Davila,
once noticed that my wife was expecting. He asked me where we planned to have
the baby. When I answered that we planned to have the baby in Spain, he warned
us that the doctors in Spain were primitive, and told us to go to America to
have the baby. I asked the Rebbe if we should come to New York based on this Dr’s
opinion, and the Rebbe answered, "Investigate if this is true." I
contacted a woman named Mrs. Bibas, who was active in the Jewish community in
Malaga, and she told me that babies are born healthy in Malaga. Our baby was
subsequently born, happy and healthy, in Malaga, and we named him Menachem
Mendel.
"The
Rebbe told us that, regarding our work, he especially cherishes when visitors
report to him about their enjoyable experience of Shabbos in Madrid, and about
our dvar Torah and coffee session that we organize in shul
after Shacharis.
"Once
I came to Crown Heights for Rosh HaShana. I wrote to the Rebbe, ‘I am
enclosing copies of some letters I get from people who came to our Shabbos
table, thanking me.’ The Rebbe wrote back, ‘I do also.’ The Rebbe
was telling me that he also received letters from people who we hosted at our
Shabbos table and enjoys hearing this from them.
"One
year, after we had not seen the Rebbe for 2-3 years, we particularly yearned to
spend Tishrei with the Rebbe. But we had some difficulties - one of which was
that we didn’t have the money to pay for the tickets, and we also needed
permission from Mr. Glick and Rabbi Hodakov before we would ask the Rebbe to
come. Turning to the Rebbe as a child turning to his father, I wrote a Pa’N.
I wrote about my problems: ‘We feel we need a strengthening, to see the Rebbe,
but we don’t have money to buy tickets. Since the Torah recognizes the
significance of financial needs, how much more so is the significance of the
needs of the soul. We want the Rebbe to bless us to be able to come for Tishrei.’
"We
received a few answers to this letter. Answering the problem about funds, the
Rebbe wrote: ‘So there’s your sign.’ In response to the soul
feeling a need to come, the Rebbe asked, ‘Since when do you know where it’s
better for a soul to be? You’ll succeed in the campaign in Elul when
the "king is in the field" and following that, in the month of Tishrei.’
"I
had also written at the end of the letter, ‘We want to be with the Rebbe!’
In response to this statement, the Rebbe wrote, ‘The Baal Shem Tov says
that when a Jew thinks of Madrid, he finds himself in Madrid.’ (The
words "he finds himself in Madrid" were underlined twice!)
"In
other words, the Rebbe is here with us in Madrid."
*
* *
"It
took four full years and unfortunately, a serious operation"
Rabbi
Goldstein relates: About 15 years ago, Mr. Shmuel Haddas, the first
Israeli ambassador to Spain, opened the first office of the Israeli Embassy in
Madrid. Since then, there have been approximately 30 Israeli families employed
on a rotational basis at the embassy at any one time. We made tight ties with
them from the start. Mr. Haddas made it clear that I, as the local Chabadnik, am
welcome there at all times. We’ve celebrated many holidays with the Israelis
in the embassy, which is located on the 7th (top) floor of an office building.
It’s been my routine to visit them at least once a week on Fridays for Mivtza
T’fillin, etc. I also meet many Israelis at the airport, where I go to do mivtzaim
as well, and at other offices, i.e., the El Al office, the Zim office, etc.
The
Israelis in Spain feel secluded, partially because they don’t speak
Spanish, but mostly because the cultural differences are so great. In Eretz
Yisroel they might not put on t’fillin or observe Jewish holidays, but
here in Spain they welcome the company of my family because they feel there’s
more in common with us "tough" datiyim than with those from the
secular world of Spain. This feeling sometimes helps make them more receptive
and open.
Nevertheless,
it’s not easy to convince the Israelis to put on t’fillin. Some of
them often refuse or argue. Sometimes I say something that wins them over, and
then they give in to what they always knew was right, and subsequently put on
the t’fillin.
Some
of them told me from day one: Listen, Chabadnik, I never put on t’fillin
- not in Eretz Yisroel, and nowhere. I don’t mind if you visit me, and we can
have a nice discussion, but forget about putting on t’fillin with me -
forever! One such person did his formal denouncing against t’fillin,
but was always nice about everything else. It took four full years and
unfortunately, a serious appendix operation he had to go through before he came
to me and said, "Rav Goldstein, please put on t’fillin with me
today!" Ten years after he left his position at the embassy, I met him
again, and he has become a chozer b’t’shuva!
*
* *
"Can
you find a better candidate for Moshiach?"
About
15 years ago, we had a public menora lighting ceremony at the Israeli
Embassy in Madrid, and we honored Mr. Shlomo Ben-Ami, Israeli ambassador to
Spain, with the lighting. Mr. Ben-Ami was ambassador until just after the Gulf
War. When Mr. Ben-Ami first took office, I greeted him and wished him success.
At this first encounter he was not yet in the mood to put on t’fillin.
However, I continued to visit him week after week and brought him gifts to
enjoy, especially the homemade Shabbos wine and challos.
He
felt warmer and more receptive and finally agreed to put on t’fillin.
He told his secretary to hold all calls until he would be finished. After that
he did other mitzvos with me, including lighting the Chanuka menora,
putting on t’fillin, and benching lulav and esrog.
One year before Rosh HaShana, the ambassador wrote a letter asking for a bracha
from the Rebbe. [See the Rebbe’s reply on next page.] Then came the Gulf War,
with gas masks being distributed and people getting instructions to use them if
necessary. Mr. Ben-Ami and others asked me, "How can the Rebbe make vital
decisions such as whether to wear gas masks or not? What does he know?" I
answered, "Mr. Ben-Ami, the Rebbe is more in Eretz Yisroel than many that
live there. He has his connections. Whenever the Rebbe said a statement it
always turned out to be so." Mr. Ben-Ami replied, "Well, let’s wait
and see how right he is."
America
entered into war with Iraq, and Saddam Hussein threatened to bomb Eretz Yisroel.
The next Friday, I met Mr. Ben-Ami in the embassy. "Nu? Has the Rebbe
changed his mind? Saddam is about to bomb Israel, G-d forbid, with chemical
weapons. We have confirmed information that this is extremely serious!" I
replied, "The Rebbe says the same thing – no need for gas masks. Israel
is the safest place on earth, guarded by G-d Himself."
Mr.
Ben-Ami blurted out, "If the Rebbe had any children in Israel, he wouldn’t
talk like that!" I told him that the Rebbe feels as if he is the father of
each and every single Jew in the entire world; no one is as concerned about
their well-being as the Rebbe. "Since the Rebbe knows the truth, he
informed us that Israel is the safest place," I asserted. Mr. Ben-Ami said,
"Well, let’s see what happens now. Saddam is a madman, and is not
concerned with what the Rebbe says..."
39
missiles hit Eretz Yisroel. No casualties! Miracles! The next Friday, I met Mr.
Ben-Ami once more. He smiled at me and said, "Hey, I see that the Rebbe
knows what he’ s talking about. But let’s see what will be in the next few
days." The next Friday, Mr. Ben-Ami said, "The Rebbe is right again!
So far so good." Then he asked, "Tell me, Rabbi Goldstein, why do you
say that your Rebbe is Moshiach?" I replied (and he loved this answer and
kept reminding me about it), "Can you find me a better candidate?" He
looked at me and said, "I guess not."
On
Purim, I brought the ambassador shalach manos and something very
special: a letter from the Rebbe to him, which had just arrived! This letter, a
response (unusual in itself) to the pidyon nefesh that the
ambassador had written the previous Tishrei, was addressed to him (mailed to my
address) and signed with the Rebbe’s holy signature. Mr. Ben-Ami then told me
that he is actually leaving office in just a few days. [Mr. Ben-Ami was promoted
several times until his present position as foreign security minister of
Israel.] What a great coincidence that the Rebbe wrote to him while he was still
in office, only days before his departure. Mr. Ben-Ami told me that he sees how
great the Rebbe is, and how he organizes everything so perfectly.
*
* *
Letter
of the Rebbe MH"M to Mr. Shlomo Ben-Ami, Israeli ambassador to Spain (free
translation):
B"H.
The
end of the month of Tishrei, 5752
Brooklyn,
New York
Dear
Mr. Shlomo Ben-Ami,
Israeli ambassador in Madrid
Greetings
and blessing!
I
received your pidyon nefesh on your behalf and on behalf of your family,
they should live and be well, which will be read at the Ohel of my father-in-law
at the appropriate time. Hashem should fulfill all the requests of your heart
for good, and He will bless them among the rest of our brethren, the Jewish
people, with a good and sweet year.
May
you experience wondrous success in fulfilling your position of responsibility
for the true good of the community, both physically and spiritually.
hashem
saved his life!
About
15 years ago, a bomb exploded in the Barajas Madrid Airport. An Arab had hidden
a plastic-covered bomb in his suitcase, and Nir Ran, the security guard with
whom I had been previously acquainted, insisted that the Arab open his suitcase
for inspection. Upon opening the suitcase, Nir suddenly saw smoke coming out.
Nir, an expert in his field, quickly shouted for everyone to run for their
lives, grabbed the Arab and threw him to the floor – but the bomb exploded
literally in Nir’s face. His life was spared, but his face was totally burned.
The airport was in chaos; fire engines arrived on the scene. Thank G-d,
miraculously no one was killed, though the entire pavilion went up in flames.
Only months later was the airport fully repaired and back to normal.
When
I heard about the explosion and that Nir had been hospitalized, I rushed to the
hospital to comfort and help him in whatever ways were necessary. It was
impossible to enter the sealed room Nir was in because of the special medical
treatment he was undergoing to recover his facial skin. However, I managed to
talk to him on the telephone and waved to him. Nir returned the wave. The next
day, Friday, my wife baked several challos to bring to the Ran family,
with wishes for a good and happy Shabbos. When I discovered that the Rans were
going to spend Shabbos at the hospital, I brought the challos and some
wine to them there, which they greatly appreciated. Since that Friday, it became
my routine to bring a few challa and wine parcels on a weekly basis and
distribute them (in rotation) among the families associated with the embassy.
A
few weeks passed since that horrifying incident. Nir returned to work in
security. He remembered my visits and had no words with which to thank me. I
told him that G-d saved his life because he has many good things to do in the
world. To this he agreed, and for the first time since I had been asking him to
put on t’fillin (before the incident he had had a different approach),
he said, "B’vadai!" In a minute he was all wrapped up in t’fillin,
and recited the Sh’ma with special devotion.
Nir
recovered completely and he and his family have started along the road towards
Jewish observance. His whole family would often visit us on holidays, and they
have become dear friends of ours.
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