We have reached the forty-ninth lesson in "Shalsheles HaYachas", the ninth part of the Rebbe's life story. In the previous part we learned that the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin were in France during the war years and wandered from place to place, and that they were in Nice until the beginning of the summer of 5701, and we described a number of stories about the hardships that prevailed there in those days.
Now we continue with another line. In "Shalsheles HaYachas" it is written: "5701 - on 28 Sivan, ish u'beiso (a man and his household) arrive safely in the city of New York". This single line tells of the arrival of the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin in the United States, and we will describe a little of the background to that great day.
The previous Rebbe made tremendous efforts so that the Rebbe would be able to be saved from the war situation and reach safe shores in the United States. First a visa was needed to enter the United States, and for this the Rebbe Rayatz activated many connections and applied a great deal of pressure, and thank God they succeeded in obtaining a visa for the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin. They received the visa in the month of Nissan 5701.
Afterwards the travel plan was arranged. The journey was not direct: the first ship traveled by way of Portugal, which served as an intermediate stop, and therefore visas for Portugal were also required. Obtaining them was an entire story in itself, even after they already held visas for the United States, and the matter dragged on for additional time. In practice the Rebbe boarded the ship on the way to Portugal, and from there they were smuggled across the Spanish border - meaning they crossed the border without permits - reached Barcelona, and from there to the United States.
The journey from Barcelona to the United States was, as mentioned, by ship, and it was a very dangerous route: the Nazis, may their name be erased, fired even at ships that set sail, and killed along the way, and many were hurt and killed. The ships needed all sorts of stratagems in order to sail and be saved, and in itself this was not a simple route at all.
An interesting story occurred there, which was truly an open miracle. The Rebbe was already about to board the ship traveling to the United States, and it was not known whether another ship would sail after it; these were war days, nothing was clear, and it was possible that this was the last ship. The Rebbe and the Rebbetzin received all the permits, and literally at the last moment, as they were about to board, an urgent telegram arrived from New York from the previous Rebbe, in which he instructed them not to board. With complete acceptance of the yoke, the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin refrained from boarding the ship, even though in the natural course of things it was not known when, or whether at all, another ship would arrive.
And what became clear afterwards? That it was a great miracle that they did not board that ship: the ship was seized by the Italians and taken captive, and its passengers were stranded on one of the islands until the end of the war, and only at its conclusion were they freed. It turns out that the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin were saved in the merit of the previous Rebbe's instruction that they not board. And in practice, thank God, another ship arrived afterwards, and they boarded it, and with God's kindness they arrived on 28 Sivan at ten thirty in the morning, when the ship landed in the port of New York in the United States.
There is a lengthy description of how the previous Rebbe sent a delegation of four chassidim to greet the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin upon their arrival. The previous Rebbe called them in and said: "I only want to tell you whom you are going to greet", and he described before them a person fluent in the Bavli, in the Yerushalmi, in Sifra, in Sifri, in the Midrashim and in Kabbalah, and who does not sleep - an entire description of the Rebbe, whom they were going to greet.
The Rebbe and the Rebbetzin arrived at 770. The students were not many in those days, but they all went outside to greet the two of them, in accordance with the previous Rebbe's instruction.
The Rebbe once told about himself that when he arrived at "770" for the first time, he was in a quandary as to how to act. On the one hand, a first opportunity to enter immediately to the Rebbe, after a long wait; and on the other hand, perhaps one should first go to the mikveh. Should he enter before the mikveh, along the lines of "seize and eat" - for the opportunity is before you and one must seize it - or perhaps entering to the Rebbe requires preparation, and for that there is a mikveh. In practice he went to the mikveh, prayed Mincha, and informed the previous Rebbe that he was there; and he did not enter until the Rebbe would call him.
The Rebbe relates that he managed to eat supper, prayed Maariv of course, and at night the Rebbe Rayatz called him in. In the Rebbetzin's mother's home there was very great excitement; the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin went up to her mother, and the Rayatz was in the adjacent room and had still not called them in. This continued for three days, and only on the third day did the previous Rebbe ask that the Rebbe come in to him, and he instructed that the two of them not enter together, but each one separately.
And why was the order this way? The Rebbe explained: the previous Rebbe was by nature very sensitive, and he was concerned: chassidus demands that the mind rule over the heart, and he said that if they were to enter immediately, he did not know how he would withstand it in the natural course of things. Therefore he waited three days so that there would be a settling of the mind, and even then he instructed that each one enter alone, and only on the third day.
It seems to me that Rabinovitch was the name of the man to whom the Rebbe Rayatz wrote with excitement, that "today my son-in-law and my daughter arrived in the United States" - he literally writes to him with joy - and it was through this that the date became known.
I remember that I was there in the year 5745, and on 28 Sivan a very small chassidishe farbrengen took place; small - for whoever is familiar - in the small zal upstairs, in the second room. That was all there was. A year later, in 5746, the temimim were already anticipating the date and decided not to do something small as in the previous year, but rather a large central farbrengen in 770, with the participation of a large crowd and with great publicity.
Until then Rabbi Herlig had always been the one to organize the famous farbrengens of Rosh Chodesh Kislev, and therefore they appointed him to be responsible for this farbrengen as well. The practice in those days was that when large farbrengens were held, the Rebbe would give at his farbrengen a bottle of mashke to the organizers of those farbrengens, for them to distribute there, and in this way the Rebbe would participate.
That year 28 Sivan fell on Shabbos, and the central farbrengen was set for Motzaei Shabbos. At the Shabbos farbrengen Rabbi Herlig approached the Rebbe, and the Rebbe gave him a bottle as participation in the farbrengen that would take place on Motzaei Shabbos. And the practice was always that whoever received a bottle of mashke from the Rebbe for distribution would begin distributing a little at the farbrengen itself and continue at the central farbrengen, since the Rebbe always wanted an announcement to be made before the entire crowd as to what the bottle had been given for.
Rabbi Herlig complied, and with great reverence he announced - and I remember that I saw this there - before everyone, that this was in honor of the Rebbe's arrival in the United States on 28 Sivan. The Rebbe interrupted him with a smile and said to him: "Ish u'beiso". At first he did not grasp the Rebbe's intention, and therefore he corrected himself and announced that everyone is invited, ish u'beiso, each man and his household, to come to the farbrengen - he thought the Rebbe wanted him to invite the family members as well. Afterwards they corrected him and explained to him that the Rebbe's intention was to emphasize that this is the day of the rescue of the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin, and "ish u'beiso" refers to him and to the Rebbetzin. And this is in fact what appears here in "Shalsheles HaYachas" in quotation marks, the two words "ish u'beiso" - from the Rebbe's words in 5746, to emphasize the special quality of this day, 28 Sivan.