Melava Malka Stories

“Rebbe, I need a hug!”

I’m originally from Melbourne, Australia and despite the fact that I grew up going to a Jewish school with Jewish friends, the extent of my family’s observance was making kiddush on Friday nights and attending Pesach seders.
We also went to shul for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, and that’s about it.

“Elijah the Prophet” appears at the Seder!

Macon, Georgia, an hour’s drive from Atlanta, did not yet have a Chabad presence. Enter Rabbi Chaim and Chayala Markovits, directors of Chabad of Rural Georgia. This young couple from Australia and California, opened the first Rural Chabad Center in the US. They travel around the state to small Jewish communities and bring the warmth and light of Chabad to each place. One of their first Jewish experiences was to offer a public Seder in Macon for Passover last year, 2021. They rented a room in a hotel and transformed it into a beautiful Passover Seder complete with all the details including a delicious kosher for Passover meal. Jewish people heard about it and came out of the woodworks to attend. As the Seder progressed, little did they realize that G-d had planned a special guest to join them for the Seder. The unexpected guest appeared and for a moment the assembled thought they were seeing, “Elijah the Prophet” dressed up as a local.
Here is how it happened:

From Iran To New York

I was born in the city of Sanandaj, Iran, to a line of rabbis that originally come from Safed, Israel, nine generations ago.

The Rebbe Helped

In the winter of 1975, we moved from the US to Europe. My wife had booked a flight from New York via Montreal because this ticket offered a substantial savings. I was to join her along the same route three weeks later when my job would end, and our lift would be shipped.

Excerpts from an upcoming book about Rebbetzin Shula Kazen’s life

… Not far from our new home was the Zemach Zedek shul*, founded at the end of the 19^th century by Chabad Chassidic immigrants from Russia….

The Rebbe saved her life!

There was a young kallah (bride) from a Satmar family who, as her wedding day approached, wanted to go to the Rebbe for a bracha (blessing). Her family members tried to dissuade her from going (as they were not followers of the Rebbe and in some cases very much against the Chabad ideology) but she was adamant.

The Rebbe’s blessing after an Ohel visit

Although I lived in Brooklyn for many years, had an Orthodox Jewish education in my youth, and passed by 770 (the main Chabad synagogue located in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, NY) quite often, I never had the opportunity to engage with Chabad in a meaningful way, until….

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.