Browd:Layout 1 8/10/2008 7:58 PM Page 1 MAKING TIME for  Batsheva Browd

I was so excited when I was pregnant with our first child. I tried to be so careful with everything I saw, heard, read and ate. I remember his birth fondly as well. My son surprised us when he was born three weeks early on a Shabbos afternoon, Yud Tes Tamuz, 5766, at 4:04 p.m. But it was a beautiful birth and I felt great afterwards. He weighed 6.7 pounds at birth, a healthy and alert baby. My sister Chanie was an incredible help to me throughout. She came to the hospital with me, helped me through labor, and then stayed with me the rest of Levy Yitzchak Browd (father), Shabbos to keep me company. redeeming Menachem Mendle from the kohen, Issac haKohen Kogan.

hings were very busy once we pictures, which I will forever treasure. The week of shiva was a blur, with were home, planning the sholom After all the excitement of the first so many people coming to show their T zochor and bris and checking in month, things finally started to settle love and lend us their emotional sup- with the mohel a few times. Boruch down. The stress of planning the next port. It was odd being the mourner that Hashem, the bris was on time. It was a event was over. Life as a new mommy other people came to comfort. Often a Shabbos bris into which my mother put was demanding, but I was very happy. whole family sits shiva together, and much effort and love, preparing every- Sadly, only a short week later, ex- they share their favorite memories of thing herself, and the outcome re- actly a week after his , the times they had with the niftar. Our flected it. It was a truly memorable my son Menachem Mendle suddenly situation was different. We were a occasion. passed away. His passing came as a young couple, without many memories There was no time to waste, and sudden, heart-wrenching jolt. In my of our one-month-old son to share, and immediately after the bris we started mind I was imagining his opsherenish, with our hopes for the future forever preparing for the pidyon haben, which bar and his teenage years. I altered. We were no longer a father and was to take place only three weeks even braced myself for his teen rebel- mother. Or maybe we were, but what later. My mother outdid herself for this lion. does it mean to be a parent with no event as well. She also took tons of Now none of this would ever be. child? My grief was compounded by

N'SHEI CHABAD NEWSLETTER  JUNE 2008 0 Browd:Layout 1 8/10/2008 7:58 PM Page 2

r the ceremony.

the physiological changes I was going could we establish to continue Men- through after childbirth. achem Mendle’s life in some way? It’s However, I felt closer to Hashem known that the neshomoh has deep than I had ever felt before. I was able nachas from mitzvos done in its merit to cope with the loss only by recogniz- in this world. If we could no longer ing Hashem’s total control of the world take care of him physically, we and the fact that I don’t see the Big Pic- thought, at least let us take care of him ture. My husband and I tried to recog- spiritually. nize the hashgochoh protis in One of our visitors told us that it Menachem Mendle’s short life. He was says in Sifsei Kohen al HaTorah that a a pure neshomoh, whose shlichus in bchor is particularly connected to the this world had been accomplished inyon of limud Torah. My husband and quickly. These realizations were not I looked at each other. What hashgo- easy in coming, but they were neces- choh protis that he should say that! We sary before we could reach the stage of had privately discussed the concept of acceptance. starting an organization dedicated to Our son passed away on Chof the strengthening of Limud Torah. Zayin Menachem Av, which is the Now we knew that it was an inyon acronym for zoch, pure. Every mile- linked with Menachem’s neshomoh. stone he reached was on a yoma depa- Making a mivtza (campaign) out gra, a significant day on the of Torah learning is something the Chassidishe calendar: Yud Tes Tamuz Rebbe encouraged. One of the reasons (the date of the Frierdiker Rebbe’s he did so is because the study of Torah bris) was his birthday, Chof Vov refines one’s outlook on life to one of Tamuz (a day of nitzochon for the Baal morality, respect, and truth. If we could Shem Tov) was his bris, and Chof And so Yagdil Torah was born. For Menachem Av (the Rebbe’s father’s Menachem Mendle it was a rebirth, the yahrtzeit) was his pidyon haben. His start of a different life. All births are no longer take life was full of mitzvos from the mo- difficult, and this was no exception. So ment of his birth: negel vasser, Modeh much goes into arranging and organiz- Ani, Shema, the twelve psukim, his ing before you begin to see the fruits bris and pidyon haben. of your labor. We started a few months care of him As my husband and I sat shiva, the after Menachem’s petiroh with shiurim question was on our minds: What in apartment buildings. Qualified physically, we thought, at least let us take care of him spiritually.

Menachem Mendle just before his pidyon haben, 20 Menachem

N'SHEI CHABAD NEWSLETTER  SEPTEMBER 2008 0 Browd:Layout 1 8/10/2008 7:58 PM Page 3

k0llel yungeleit gave (and still give) lot or a little. When a woman encour- When a wife shiurim in different apartments each ages and enables her husband and sons week. In the subsequent months, many to learn, she earns a reward too, and types of shiurim in both Nigleh and it’s greater than theirs! sends her Chassidus were arranged in homes and The Rebbe taught that Rebbetzin suls. B”H, since its inception, Yagdil Chana went out of her way, above and Torah has organized hundreds of shi- beyond her role as a wife, to make ink, husband out urim given by world-renowned speak- so that Reb Levik’s Torah could be ers. We have also published the first saved for posterity. So, too, we should and second edition of The Crown have that level of dedication for Torah with an eager Heights Shiur Directory, started a study, to the point of mesirus nefesh. Chavrusa Pairing System, and com- (Taken from a Shabbos Farbrengen and joyful mien, piled educational and inspirational commemorating Rebbetzin Chana’s pamphlets, as well as many other pro- yahrtzeit in the year 5746) grams. Every time Yagdil Torah is in- The mesirus nefesh that is ex- it will give him strumental in someone’s learning, I pected of us can take many forms. For know my son Menachem is having one woman it may be that she is will- hano’oh from it. ing to forgo her husband’s help in the peace of mind My husband arranges most of the house for an evening or two a week so shiurim and programs and fundraises he may attend a shiur, or learn early in for all our peulos. I usually work be- the morning in a bais medrash with a to concentrate hind the scenes. However, I feel that chavrusa. The Rebbe said that when a it’s imperative for women to be made businessman stops what he is doing to aware that they are a central part of keep his set time for learning Torah, he fully on his their husbands’ learning. They can in- should be fully involved and absorbed fluence whether their husbands learn a in it, and not let his other responsibili- studies.

Packed house shiurim organized by Yagdil Torah

N'SHEI CHABAD NEWSLETTER  SEPTEMBER 2008 0 Browd:Layout 1 8/10/2008 7:58 PM Page 4

ties divert his attention. When a wife bread to eat and clothing to wear, G-d sends her husband out with an eager forbid, but in order that one is able to and joyful mien, it will give him peace show off to a neighbor. For this, the of mind to concentrate fully on his husbands are not afforded the ability of studies. being able to study Torah!” The strong Another form of mesirus nefesh language used conveys the Rebbe’s that the Rebbe suggested in a Sichoh view that Torah study is paramount and on Purim 5717 is that women cut down that it is up to us, noshim tzidkonios, their demand for luxuries, so men will to ease the burden on our husbands so be less pressured at work and will have they may increase their time for learn- more time to study Torah. “It is the ing. woman’s responsibility to inform her I truly hope that in the zechus of husband that they are trivial and to the Torah learning done in his merit, strongly demand that he not forgo on we will soon be reunited with our son matters of Torah and mitzvos for in- Menachem with the coming of Moshi- significant things.” In a similar vein: ach, may it happen right away. “As a result of our many sins, this dis- Postscript: Boruch Hashem we ease has found its way into the houses have a beautiful baby boy, Shneur Zal- of Anash. A husband is required to man Aharon, who turned one year old completely devote his entire being to- this past summer. He gives us much wards bringing in a livelihood, not for nachas.

If you would like to donate to Yagdil Torah and help its good works to grow in zchus of u rv ,u Menachem Mendle, please send your tax deductible donation to 383 Kingston Avenue, Room 188, Brooklyn, N.Y., 11213. ncmg ,knus ,urv ,knus ncmg Yagdil Torah would like to express our thanks to all our workers, volunteers, and donors.

half page ad

N'SHEI CHABAD NEWSLETTER  SEPTEMBER 2008 0