Melava Malka Stories

Reb Menachem Mendel of Kosov

The holy tzadik, Reb Menachem Mendel of Kosov*, was a true lover of the Jewish people. He would always look for ways to help a fellow Jew in his time of need. His heart was filled with compassion and love for each one. He would go around collecting tzedakah and secretly give it out to poor and destitute families.
This is the way he acted beginning when he was still a young man and continuing throughout his life.

Reb Naftali of Ropshitz with the Jews of Lublin

Blizzards and storm winds had pounded Lublin and the surrounding countryside for several weeks. The roads were piled so high with snow that no one was able to go anywhere.
This meant that the farmers weren’t able to reach the city with their produce and food supplies were dwindling rapidly.

Reb Gavriel Nosei Chen

There lived in Vitebsk a prominent Jew by the name of Reb Gavriel. Soon after the Alter Rebbe, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, became the first Rebbe of Chabad, Reb Gavriel became a devoted Chassid of the Alter Rebbe.

Miracles that happened through the printing of the Tanya

A young man who traveled extensively for business, decided that he would print a Tanya in each city he visited.
Sometime later, his father didn’t feel well and needed heart surgery.

The Rebbe’s Vision

Dr. Ira Weiss of Chicago, a renowned heart specialist, became very close to the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, when he was called upon to be part of a dedicated team to care for the Rebbe after the Rebbe had a major heart attack in 1978*.
In 1981, the Rebbetzin was not feeling well, and Dr. Weiss was called.

Reb Meir of Premishlan’ Mikvah Adventures

During the winter of 5663 (1903), when I accompanied my father for a couple of months during which time he spent consulting medical specialists in Vienna, he would sometimes go out in the evening to visit the shtiblach (small houses of prayer and study) of the local Polish Jews—to be among Chassidim, to hear a story from their mouths, to listen to a Chassidic saying, and to observe their fine conduct and refined character.

The Rebbe and Dudu Fisher

During the time that the Previous Rebbe was staying in Riga, Latvia, my grandparents were living on the outskirts of the city. In January 1932, in the freeze of the winter, my grandmother went into labor with my mother, and things started to go wrong.
She was rushed to the hospital, where the doctors decided that it was necessary to abort the baby in order to save her life.

Biography of Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson

The Chassidim of Nikolayev would fondly recall Chana’s scholarship as a teenager. When a maamar (Chassidic discourse) would arrive from Lubavitch—either repeated by a Chassid who was present at the Rebbe’s discourse, or as notes sent to her father’s home—she would meticulously and faithfully transcribe it, making it available for the eager Chassidim.
Bright and talented, Chana had an excellent ear for music—a quality she shared with her father.

His Jewish Name

Many years ago, I received a voice message on the Chabad House answering machine. The person on the call was asking desperately for a return call. So, I called him back.

The Last Potatoes

.…When they returned, Bentzion (her son) said that all they had left were a few potatoes. Mother decided to plant them in the yard, hoping to use the produce both to eat and sell. Nearby, the wife of the shul caretaker also planted potatoes in her own patch of the yard. The two women carefully tended the green shoots pushing up from the earth.