The Miraculous Deliverance of Rabbi Shmuel Horowitz on the Way to Uman

RABBI SHMUEL HOROWITZ [AFTER BEING CAUGHT ON HIS WAY FROM ISRAEL TO REBBE NACHMAN IN UMAN BY THE RUSSIANS AND ACCUSED OF ESPIONAGE] WAS ALREADY WITH RED CLOTHES; HE WAS ALREADY TWO HOURS FROM BEING HANGED.

THE DAILY CHIZZUK OF THE GAON AND TZADDIK MOREINU HARAV ELIEZER BERLAND SHLIT”A – TUESDAY, 14 ELUL 5784

He knew that in another two hours, they would hang him – not just [hang him].  They said that they were going to cut him into pieces, because they said that he was a spy, that he wasn’t even a Jew, that he was just an impostor.

All of this happened because he let a few words slip in Russian.  They said, “You do know Russian.”  Rabbi Shmuel Horowitz answered that he had fled from the pogroms that were then in Israel [the 1929 riots], because in truth, he had arrived in 5690 (1930).  He fled the riots of 5690.  He was already on the way to Uman.  He was there from 5691 to 5692 (1931-1932), and he was imprisoned for seventy days from Shabbat Zachor, from the Fast of Esther.

During Sefirat HaOmer, on Gevurah She’be’Netzach, they informed him that they were going to take him out to execution in Odessa.  On Motza’ei Shabbat, they transported him six hours by train from Kiev.  Two soldiers stood over him with rifles, so that if he moved, they would make him into a sieve, like a sifter [a type of filter] – they would pierce him with bullets.

So he is travelling like this, only believing in Hashem.  Suddenly a 17-year-old girl comes to him and says to him, “What’s happening to you?”

Rabbi Horowitz answered, “They say that I’m a spy, and they want to take me out to execution.”

> SHE SAID TO HIM, “IN ANOTHER WEEK, YOU’LL BE HOME.  WHAT ARE YOU WORRIED ABOUT?”

And he was travelling in the train from Kiev to Odessa.  He recounts, “I was travelling on a train ride of twelve hours, and two soldiers were standing next to me with rifles, guarding me.  A 17-year-old girl is standing and asks me, ‘What’s happening with you?  Why are they doing this to you?  What is your sin?’

“I answered her, ‘They say that I am a spy.  They said that I’m not even a Jew.’”  Because the Jews in Russia already didn’t have beards.  All the Jews there already didn’t have beards.  They said about him, “This is definitely a Christian priest.  You came here for the church.  You came here to work for the mission.  You want to make Russia religious.  You have all types of plans.”

They said, “We won’t hang you.  Rather, we are going to cut you into tiny pieces.”  He heard the entire trial in Odessa.  They made a thin wall of plywood, and he heard all the accusation of which they were accusing him.  They said that he was a spy.  The soldiers who escorted him testified that he knew Russian, because on the way he spoke Russian.  A few words slipped out.

He said that he fled from the pogroms.  In truth, after this, when he returned to the Land of Israel, they didn’t allow him to disembark.  He arrived on the evening of Lag B’Omer, exactly like that girl had told him.

LIKE THAT 17-YEAR-OLD BOY HE CAME TO RABBI LEVI YITZCHAK BENDER, AFTER THEY HAD ARRESTED HIM TOGETHER WITH RABBI CHAIM ELIYAHU ROSEN ON SUNDAY OF PARASHAT VAYERA.

He was in Uman when a certain ordinary boy, an innocent boy, said to Rabbi Levi Yitzchak that on the evening of Shabbat Zachor, he would be released.  He said this to him a half-year before it happened, from Shabbat Vayera until Shabbat Zachor is a half-year.  Because Parashat Vayera is three Shabbats after Shabbat Bereishit.  Then they arrested Rabbi Levi Yitzchak, saying that he was a counter-revolutionary.  They made a case file on him with a thousand pages.

Rabbi Levi Yitzchak would distribute Tzedaka.  He would receive the Tzedaka from abroad.  They arrested them and told them, “You and Rabbi Chaim are counter-revolutionaries.”  Because in Russia, you need to work.  There’s no such thing as free charity.  They give you everything.  They give you a telephone for free, a house for free, everything you receive for free – just be Russian, just be loyal to communism.  Say that communism is true, Pravda – Pravda is the truth – then you’ll receive everything for free.  There in Russia, they receive water for free, electricity for free.  A telephone is seven rubles a month.  You can make unlimited calls all over Russia, as much as you want, except for international calls.

So Rabbi Shmuel Horowitz was travelling now to Odessa.  They were going to take him out to execution, and he heard that they were going to cut him into tiny pieces, like Rabbi Akiva.  Rabbi Shmuel Horowitz took onto himself the four death penalties of the Beit Din, all types of torture.  He prepared himself to be cut into tiny pieces.

ALL OF THIS WAS ON MOTZA’EI SHABBAT.  ON SUNDAY MORNING AND ON MONDAY, THEY HAD ALREADY HELD HIS TRIAL AND IMMEDIATELY INTENDED TO TAKE HIM OUT TO EXECUTION.  TWO HOURS BEFORE TAKING HIM OUT TO EXECUTION, A TELEGRAM ARRIVED SAYING THAT HE SHOULD BE PUT ON THE FIRST SHIP.  FROM WHERE WILL YOU TAKE A SHIP?  YOU’RE UNDER ARREST – FROM WHERE WILL YOU GET A SHIP?

You’re there in Russia, at the end of the world, at the North Pole, who knows?  Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego [Eretz HaEsh in Hebrew, lit. “The Land of Fire”].

First there is the Land of Fire, and after this there is the Land of Ice [Iceland?].  If you want to travel to the Land of Ice, first travel to the Land of Fire.

> AFTER YOU’RE IN THE FIRE, YOU CAN BECOME ICE – IN ORDER FOR US TO NULLIFY DESIRES [TO BECOME ICE], YOU FIRST NEED TO BE A FLAMING FIRE FOR HASHEM YITBARACH.

https://vimeo.com/1010018883