We have arrived at lesson forty-nine in the chain of lineage, to the ninth part of the Rebbe's biography. We concluded in the previous section that the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin were in France during the war and fled from place to place. We said that they were in Nice until the beginning of the summer of 5701, and we described several stories about the hardships that existed then during the war in Nice.
We must add one more line. In the Shalsheles HaYachas it is written: 5701, on the 28th of Sivan, a man and his household arrived safely in the city of New York. Here it is a simple line that the Rebbe arrived with the Rebbetzin to the United States, but let us describe a bit of the background surrounding this great day.
The Previous Rebbe made tremendous efforts so that the Rebbe would be able to be saved from the situation of the war and reach a safe haven, the United States. The first thing needed was a visa to enter the United States. For this, the Rebbe Rayatz activated many connections and much pressure, and thank God they succeeded in obtaining a visa for the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin to the United States. This was received in the month of Nissan 5701.
And then they arranged the travel plan. One does not cross directly; along the way there is a first ship that travels through Portugal, and there one had to have a stopover. So now one had to obtain a visa for Portugal. It was an entire ordeal to obtain visas for Portugal, after there were already visas for the United States. This dragged on for more time, and in practice the Rebbe boarded the ship on the way to Portugal, from there they smuggled him across the Spanish border, meaning they crossed the border without permits, reached Barcelona, and from there arrived in the United States.
From Barcelona to the United States, as mentioned, by ship. This was a very, very dangerous journey, because the Nazis, may their name be blotted out, also fired on the ships that were traveling, killing along the way, and there were many who were wounded and killed. There were all sorts of stratagems for how the ships had to travel and be saved, and this in itself was a path that was not really simple.
There is an interesting story there that was truly an open miracle. The Rebbe already had to board a ship sailing to the United States, and they did not know whether there would be another ship afterward. It was wartime, nothing was certain, and it could have been that this was the last ship. The Rebbe and the Rebbetzin received all the permits, and were about to board the ship at the very last moment. An urgent telegram arrived from New York from the previous Rebbe, telling them not to board the ship. So, purely out of kabbalat ol, the Rebbe said not to board, and the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin did not board the ship, even though by the natural course of things one does not know when, or whether at all, there would be another ship.
What was later revealed? That it was a great miracle that they did not board this ship. This ship was captured by the Italians, who took it captive, and until the end of the war it was stranded on some island, and only at the end of the war were they freed. That is, those who traveled on this ship were stuck for a long time in some place. So the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin were saved as a result of the instruction of the previous Rebbe not to board. In practice, thank God, there was afterwards another ship, and they boarded the next ship, and by the grace of God they arrived on the 28th of Sivan at ten-thirty in the morning. The ship docked and arrived at the port in New York in the United States.
There is a lengthy description there of how the previous Rebbe sent a delegation of four chassidim to receive the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin when they arrived. The previous Rebbe called them and said: "I just want to tell you whom you are going to receive," and he described to them that this was a person who was proficient in the Bavli, in the Yerushalmi, in the Tosefta, in tefillin, in the Midrashim, in Kabbalah, who does not sleep. He truly gave them a complete description of the Rebbe, whom they were now going to receive.
The Rebbe and the Rebbetzin arrived at Cemetery Street. There were not many students left, but all the students went outside to greet the two of them, according to an instruction of the previous Rebbe.
The Rebbe once told about himself, that when he first arrived at "770," he was in a quandary about what to do. On the one hand, this was a first opportunity to immediately enter to the Rebbe, after a long anticipation. But perhaps not, perhaps he should first go to the mikveh. He said to himself: should he enter before the mikveh, for "grab and eat"—you have an opportunity to grab immediately—or nevertheless, entering to the Rebbe needs to be with preparation, so you have the mikveh. In practice he went to the mikveh, prayed Mincha, and informed the Previous Rebbe that he had arrived. He did not enter until the Rebbe would call for him.
The Rebbe recounts that he managed to eat supper, davened Maariv of course, and at night the Rebbe Rayatz called for him. There was a very, very great excitement in the Rebbetzin's home. The Rebbe and the Rebbetzin went up to her mother, and it was very emotional, and the Rayatz was in the adjacent room, and had not yet called for them. This continued for three days. Only on the third day did the previous Rebbe request that the Rebbe come in to him, and he said that the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin should not come in together, but rather each one separately.
And why was the order like this? The Rebbe explained. The previous Rebbe was very emotional in his surroundings, and he was concerned. Chassidus demands that the mind rule over the heart. He said that if they would enter immediately, he did not know, in the natural way, how to withstand this. So he waited three days so that there would be a settling of the mind, and even then that each one should enter alone, and only on the third day.
I believe his name was Rabinowitz, who wrote to him with excitement that today my son-in-law and my daughter arrived in the United States. He literally writes to him with joy, and then the date was revealed.
I remember that I was there in 5745, there was a very, very small chassidic farbrengen on the 28th of Sivan. Small, meaning—if anyone is familiar—in the small zal upstairs in the second room, that is where they farbrenged on the 28th of Sivan. That is what there was. A year later, in 5746, the temimim were already awaiting the date and decided not to do something small like the previous year, but rather a large central farbrengen in the center, with the participation of a large crowd, and with great publicity.
Until then, the one who always organized the famous farbrengens of Rosh Chodesh Kislev was Rabbi Erlich, so they appointed him to be responsible for this farbrengen as well. The arrangement then was that when they held large farbrengens, the Rebbe, at the farbrengen where he farbrenged, would give a bottle of mashke to the organizers of certain farbrengens so that they would distribute it there, and the Rebbe would participate.
And then on Shabbos, it was Shabbos, the 28th of Sivan, because the main farbrengen was to be on Motzaei Shabbos. On Shabbos, at the farbrengen, Rabbi Erlich approached the Rebbe, and the Rebbe gave him a bottle, a participation in the farbrengen that was to take place on Motzaei Shabbos. And the order was always that whoever received a bottle of mashke from the Rebbe to distribute, the distribution would begin a little at the farbrengen, and afterward the continuation at the main farbrengen, because the Rebbe always wanted them to announce to the entire crowd for what purpose this bottle was being taken.
Then Rabbi Ehrlich responded to the Rebbe's hint and announced—I remember seeing it there—he announced before everyone that this was in honor of the fact that the Rebbe shlita arrived in the United States on the 28th of Sivan. The Rebbe, with a smile, interrupted him and said to him, "a man and his household." At first he did not grasp what the Rebbe meant, so he corrected himself: "So we are inviting everyone, each man and his household, that everyone should come to the farbrengen." He thought the Rebbe wanted him to invite the members of the household as well. Afterwards they corrected him and explained to him that the Rebbe wanted to emphasize that this is the day of rescue of the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin, that by "a man and his household" the Rebbe was referring to himself and to the Rebbetzin. And this is in fact what appears here in the Shalsheles HaYichus in quotation marks, the two words "a man and his household," from among the words that the Rebbe said in 5746 to emphasize the special quality of this day, the 28th of Sivan.