in Honor of tHe UpsHernisH in Honor of tHe UpsHernisH ;שי׳ (Dovi (Avrahom Dovid ;שי׳ Avrahom Dovid His parents His parents ;שיחיו Shui & Sheva Kastel ;שיחיו ,Rabbi Mordy & Itty Feiner His siblinGs His brotHer ;שי׳ Remi ;שיחיו ,Mushka, Sara, Moshe Mendel His Grandparents His Grandparents Rabbi Raphael & Goldie Rabbi Raphael & Goldie ;שיחיו Tennenhaus ;שיחיו ,Tennenhaus Reb Yisroel & Miriam Rabbi Mendel & Tzippy ;שיחיו Kastel ;שיחיו ,Feiner Contents Introduction & Background 6 First Encounters 1. First Encounter 11 2. An Even Earlier Connection 11 3. My Dear Friend… 12 4. Stay in Business 13 5. Tear Up Your Checklist 14 6. The Frierdiker Rebbe’s Yechidus 15 7. Why Do You Need the Headache? 15 8. First Letter 17 9. Dancing Hakofos With the Rebbe 18 The Rebbe’s Man in Bathurst 10. Miracle Mother and Child 21 11. Stopping an Intermarriage 22 12. More Nachas From Small Town Farbrengen 23 13. Surprised You Did Not Report Yud Shevat 24 14. Pesach in Bathurst 25 15. Studying Torah during business hours 26 A Special Connection 16. Always on the Rebbe’s Mind 28 17. Yechidus in Latin 29 18. 17th Century French 29 19. Print Before Counterfeit 30 20. Happy Birthday, Happy Anniversary 32 21. The Rebbe anticipates next letter 33 22. Dear Beloved Rebbe 34 23. From Dovid to Avrohom Dovid 35 24. Your Work is the Work of Heaven 36 26 years / 52 stories 25. The Rebbe’s Kindness 37 26. The Rebbe Means Me 38 27. Hope You Received My Letter and Read It 39 The Chabad Approach 28. Pioneering Jewish Outreach 42 29. Farbrengen in the Rain 42 30. Vilna Gaon on Studying Pnimiyus HaTorah 44 31. Teaching Chassidus to the Unfamiliar 44 32. Teaching Chassidus to the Unsuspecting 45 33. Tzedaka for Torah = Security for Israel 46 34. A little light dispels a lot of darkness 47 35. Reb Peretz is Besimcha 49 Transition from Bathurst to Montreal 36. Permission to Leave Bathurst 51 37. Last Tishrei in Bathurst 53 38. Parnaasa Comes from Hashem 53 4 39. Tennenhaus (Bathurst) Montreal 55 40. Time for Tzedaka Beruchniyus 56 Influence in Montreal 41. Implanting Love and Fear of Hashem 58 42. Encouraging R’ Hirchprung to Visit the Rebbe 59 43. Taught Secular, Spiritual Influence, Secret Class 60 44. Pioneer in Mivtza Tefillin 61 45. The Minyan on Jeanne Mance 63 Family Matters 46. Nachas From Your 5-Year-Old Son 66 47. Rebbe’s Blessing For Newborns 66 48. Please Share Details of Your Sister’s Wedding 68 49. Medical advice for Psoriasis 69 50. Bracha from Rebbetzin Chana 69 51. Caring for your younger siblings 71 52. The Rebbe’s Father 72 5 26 years / 52 stories Introduction & Background My father, Reb cold winter months, visit the dormi- (Avrohom) Dovid tory of the Lubavitcher Yeshiva Tennenhaus students, when the Bochurim were was born studying in Yeshiva, and anonymously ,ז״ל in Romania in leave brand new pairs of “long under- 1921. At the age wear” for all the Yeshiva students. of seventeen, he I was told by a number of these emigrated with his “nine Shluchim” that my grand- parents and siblings to mother Esther, who was highly intel- Canada in 1938. My father was orig- ligent and knowledgeable in worldly inally a Viznitzer Chossid. He first matters, was often approached by encountered Lubavitch when the the Shluchim when they needed nine Shluchim of the Previous Rebbe advice in their personal matters etc. arrived in Montreal in 1941. Thanks to (It was long before “therapy” etc. these Shluchim, my father became a and “psychologists” was popular in devoted Chossid of both the previous the “frum” world). She was someone Rebbe and our Rebbe. who many people came to for advice, These Shluchim became close including the Shluchim and Bochurim with my father, my father’s parents, from the Yeshiva. and the Dalfen family. My father’s In the Igros Kodesh of the ,ז״ל mother was (Sheva) Esther Dalfen, the Previous Rebbe, on 14 Cheshvan 5702, oldest of nine children of Menachem twelve days after the nine Shluchim Mendel and Tova Devorah Dalfen. arrived in Montreal, there is a letter The Dalfens were from the early from the Previous Rebbe to Rabbi concerning my ,ז״ל ,and prominent supporters of Rabbi Yitzchok Hendel .and the Lubavitcher grandfather Reb Yisroel Tennenhaus ,ז״ל Leibel Kramer Yeshiva in Montreal. Rabbi Hendel showed me this letter, My grandfather Reb Yisroel and told me that the letter was in would during the response to a letter Rabbi Hendel ,ז״ל ,Tennenhaus 6 26 years / 52 stories had written to the Previous Rebbe has lasted over 70-80 years, as several that described my grandfather, who months ago, a 90 year old non-Jew, befriended the Shluchim upon their who lived in Bathurst in the 1940’s arrival. In the letter, the previous and early 1950’s, made mention of Rebbe makes reference to the letter this on a Bathurst, New Brunswick of 9 Cheshvan which served as guid- Facebook page. ance to the Shluchim, right after In the winter months, when their arrival, on what their mission Shabbos would end early, my father in Montreal was all about. would open up his store some 15 My father first met our Rebbe, in minutes after Shabbos. My father told the winter of 1946 (see Story 1: First his customers, that he would show Encounter). up Saturday night, after three stars My father lived in a small town, appeared in the sky. Bathurst, New Brunswick, from 1940- So on Main Street, in Bathurst, 1960. He helped support his parents New Brunswick, on any given winter and siblings long before he married Saturday night, crowds of non-Jews in would congregate, with their heads ,ז״ל ,my mother, Hanna Faust February 1949. turned to the sky, to see if three stars In this small town, and neighbor- were visible; if three stars appeared, ing towns, my father was the “unoffi- they knew that “David” was on his cial” Rabbi and spiritual leader. way… Both the Previous Rebbe and the This letter gives a glimpse of the Rebbe, gave my father many direc- warm and loving relationship that tives in spreading Yiddishkeit in this existed between my father and the “Shtetl”. Rebbe, in both personal and commu- My father always kept his store nal matters. closed on Shabbos, and always wore My father, with the Rebbe’s his Yarmulke, something that was support, built a Mikvah in Bathurst in not all that common, which had an the mid 1950’s. (see Story 7: Miracle impact on all the townspeople, both Mother and Child) Jews and non-Jews alike. The impact As the children were getting 7 7 26 years / 52 stories older and needed formal Jewish 770, muttering “the Rebbe’s Bais education, the Rebbe gave my father HaMidrash must be clean…” the blessings to move to Montreal It is said that “a Minyan” of in 1960, on condition that he stayed Chassidim depart this world in the in Bathurst to conduct High Holiday year that a Rebbe is nistalek (passes services before he departed. away). once My father passed away on ז״ל R’ T. Hirsch Gansbourg told me that he had been to Bathurst as Shabbos Shuva, 3 Tishrei 5754, exactly chazzan in the early 1950’s. He added: 9 months before Gimmel Tammuz Your father was a very Chassidishe 5754. Yid. He took me Rosh Hashanah As we celebrate the upshernishen morning to the backyard of his house, of my grandsons Dovid Tennenhaus, on 525 Riverside Drive, which was on and we observe the 26th year since the Bay of Chaleur, and we used it as Gimmel Tammuz (and 26th yahr- a Mikvah. It was freezing, but that’s zeit of my father), I have compiled what a Chassidishe Yid does… 52 stories about my father and the My brother, the late Rabbi Yisroel Rebbe. told me, that he once arrived at May these stories inspire all of us ,ז״ל 770 in middle of the night with my to strengthen our bond to the Rebbe. father. My father noticed that the A special thank you to all who Bais HaMidrash was a bit “messy” helped compile 26 Years, 52 Stories, (perhaps there was an impromptu including my secretary Mrs. Chana farbrengen?). So my father found Eliyahu, Mr. Ari Kasowitz, Rabbi a broom and started to clean Yossi Lebovics and Rabbi Mendy 8 8 26 years / 52 stories Tennenhaus. Tennenhaus.) As we celebrate the May we merit the complete and Upsherenishen of my grandsons final Redemption, NOW, with the Avrohom Dovid Feiner (4 Tishrei) Rebbe at our head, and celebrate all and Dovi (Avrohom Dovid) Kastel future simchas in Jerusalem. (5 Tishrei), and we are in the 26th Year since Gimmel Tammuz, and as Rabbi Raphael Tennenhaus I observe today the 26th Yahrzeit of Hallandale Beach, Reb Avrohom Dovid 3 Tishrei, 5780 ,ז״ל ,my father (David ) Tennenhaus I have compiled 52 stories about the Rebbe and my May it be the Year of our father who had a warm and loving Liberation: תש״פ תהא שנת פדותינו .relationship ז״ל 26th Yahrzeit of my father (This is a sequel to “25 Years 26 —in the 26th Year since Gimmel Stories”, published in honor of the Tammuz. Bar Mitzvah of my grandson Dovid 9 26 years / 52 stories First Encounters 10 26 years / 52 stories 1. First Encounter push the“) ”קוועטש די קנעפל“ My father first came to 770 in accent 1946, and had a yechidus ( private button”), referring to the elevator audience) scheduled with the button shortly after entering 770.