How in the Merit of Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman HY”D

THE DAY OF 11 TAMMUZ IS TRADITIONALLY ACCEPTED AS THE DAY OF THE MURDER OF RABBI ELCHANAN WASSERMAN HY”D, ROSH YESHIVAT KOVNO AND ONE OF THE LEADING TORAH SAGES IN THE GENERATION PRECEDING THE HOLOCAUST.  BELOW IS AN EXCERPT FROM A SHIUR GIVEN YEARS AGO BY MOREINU HARAV ELIEZER BERLAND SHLIT”A, IN WHICH HE RELATES HOW RABBI ELCHANAN WASSERMAN WAS MURDERED IN KOVNO, AS WELL AS OTHER STORIES AND FACTS ABOUT THE GREAT GAON ZY”A.

BECAUSE OF A NOTE, RABBI ELCHANAN WAS MURDERED:

Today is the yahrzeit of Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman.  He was in Kovno, he fled to Kovno.  The Nazis forbade walking in the streets, but they didn’t kill children.  So the children were sent from house to house with notes of “How are you?” and all types of things.  Exactly then, they sent a note with some child to the house where Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman was.  There were forty families in that apartment, and there was this fortress [the Seventh Fort].  It was full of tens of thousands of Jews [who were confined in this fortress].  However, specifically there, in his apartment, they did not take [anyone to the fort].  The Nazis captured this child who placed this note for him.  They said it was a spy note.  Immediately, they entered the house of Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman.  They asked where the lead rabbi was and someone showed them the house of Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman.  They took him along with a number of other rabbis.  Or they knew about him beforehand and took him to the fort.  This is today – 11 Tammuz.  They do not know if they killed him today or tomorrow or two days later on the 13th.  This comes out three days, because they certainly did not keep him long, as they beat him there.  They tortured them, and they would take them to some forest and shoot them in this place [in the fort].  Nearby, they dug pits and killed them.

IN THE MERIT OF A STUDENT OF RABBI ELCHANAN WASSERMAN, THE BRESLOV YESHIVA WAS FOUNDED:

Rabbi Shimon Epstein was a student of Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman.  He was with him all the time.  His uncles had migrated to some village.  It was forbidden to learn Torah in the large cities, so they went to learn in some town where there was a yeshiva.  In the end, he heard that they were searching for him.  The Russian police were looking for Rabbi Shimon; someone had informed on him.  Then he began to flee.  He decided to flee the city.  Then two children caught him.  They saw a Jew walking with a beard and sidelocks.  He wanted to flee on foot.  The police were looking for him for some unknown reason.  Then two disgusting people captured him at the city entrance.  They said, “For sure you are fleeing and have some reason.  Come to the police.”  So they took him to the police.  They said, “Yes, we are looking for you.  Something is wrong with you.”   They took him straight to Siberia, and because of this he was saved.  From all those who stayed, nothing at all remains of them, from any of them.  Then the Germans came, may their names be obliterated.  This is the story of Rabbi Shimon, and everything that there is today is in the merit of this and in the merit of Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman, who had such a student, that if it wasn’t for Rabbi Shimon, I always say, there would be no remnant of Breslov today!  He was a man of Torah.  Everyone passed through his hands, everyone!  Everyone passed by way of the Breslov Yeshiva of Bnei Brak, [without which] no one would have come close.  We see people in Breslov who do not know how to learn, do not know Gemara.   This is the biggest Chillul Hashem (desecration of God’s Name).  This needs to be now an elevation of his soul.  What we are talking about now is for the elevation of the soul of Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman ZY”A, whose student wanted people to learn Gemara, because he was the only one who established the Breslov Yeshiva.  No one else went to start a yeshiva; everyone was concerned with himself.  There was no such thing… Everyone was concerned about his money, his livelihood.  He was the lone first individual who went out as a pioneer and said that we need to start a yeshiva!

RABBI ELCHANAN WASSERMAN TRAVELS TO AMERICA FOR A SUIT BUTTON?:

Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman, may Hashem avenge his blood, traveled to America to gather money for the yeshiva that he started.  They said to him that there is a wealthy Jew, a suit factory owner, that if he manages to get him to donate, he can contribute a large sum; however, he is a miser.  Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman went to him and reminded him that they were friends in their youth.  The wealthy man immediately brought him in and prepared in his honor a rich meal.  Rabbi Elchanan, instead of talking to him about the dire state of the yeshiva, inquired about the financial state of the factory.

The factory owner told him: “Everyone is bankruptcy.  We’re not making a penny.  We’re only in debts, debts, debts.”  Rabbi Elchanan says, “Ok, sorry.  Is it possible to fix a button?  You have a huge factory of fabrics, suits, clothes, dresses – only a button!  Here, this button.  You see that it’s already coming a little loose.”  “Certainly, certainly, what a question!  What, for a button?  Certainly!  Certainly!  Certainly!”  He immediately called the best worker and told him to put the suit in the button machine.  Put new buttons on the entire suit, iron it a bit, fix it up for him, spray it for him.  He brought him after five minutes a new ironed suit, shining buttons, pure gold, mamash like that of a king.  Wow, how he was happy!  Such happiness, such joy.  Such joy he never had before in his life.

Afterwards, after a day, he calls.  “Come quick, come quick.”  He says, “Tell me, did you come for a button?  What happened here?  Am I crazy?  Do you think that I believe you that you came to fix a button?”  Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman tells him, “I came for my yeshiva, not for a button.  I understood that little-by-little you would comprehend that I didn’t come for a button.”  Rabbi Elchanan said to him: “And what with you?  You are already here in America for twenty years and sew buttons?  You’re not ashamed?  You were once a bachur yeshiva.  You went to sew buttons?”  And from then on, he did teshuva (repentance) and supported the entire yeshiva.

WHEN RABBI ELCHANAN WASSERMAN ATE A RAG WITH CLEANING MATERIAL:

If a person puts his head in the Gemara, they will find that there is no need to sleep, no need to eat.  Their mother will bring them food, and they won’t even touch it.  It won’t even interest them.  They won’t even see it.  Like what is told about Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman, that he came from the yeshiva at one in the morning, they put for him a plate of food, and next to it was a bowl with a bit of kerosene and a rag to clean the table, with a little bit of Lysol – some cleaning materials.  So, instead of the plate with the meat, he took and ate the rag, he ate the piece of cloth, the one that was soaked in Lysol!  He said that it was a bit sour… the meat was a bit tough…apparently, it wasn’t cooked enough…  He didn’t know what he was eating!  So that’s how it was with Tzaddikim!  That’s how they reached all their levels that a person has never seen, heard, or known.  He didn’t know what he was eating, he didn’t know anything!  So the Rebbe says, this is what I wanted from you, and I wanted you to sit and study day and night!!