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Devar Torah - Bo

Thursday, 2 February, 2017 - 8:30 pm

Rabbi Menachem Shmuel David HaLevi Raichik ob"m
Lessons from the life of a true Chosid
By Rabbi Shimon Raichik

My father’s Yahrtzeit is this Shabbos - the eighth of Shvat. The eighth of Shevat is the anniversary of the day that ended the era of the Zekainim in the times of Yehoshuah. The Zekainim were the educators and the leaders of the generation under the guidance of Yehoshuah. When I reflect upon my father’s life and how he represents what a true chosid is, I see the hashgacha pratis in his yahrtzeit falling out on this day. As a child, I witnessed his davening and would often find him in shul late even on a weekday. He had his corner in Rabbi Halbershtam’s shul. On Shabbos he would be seen leaving shul as preparations were being made for shalosh seudos.

A friend, Rabbi Yitzchak Dovid Groner ob"m of Melbourne Australia, who lived for a while in Buffalo NY, told the following story about one of my father’s trips to Buffalo to collect ma’amed. My father’s driver in Buffalo said to Rabbi Groner; “I don’t understand Rabbi Raichik.” “He tells me to be ready right after davening, but he isn’t ready until eleven o’clock in the morning. If he spends half his day davening then how does he expect us to do what we need to do?”

Reb Moshe Lazar from Italy once went on Merkaz Shlichus to Oklahoma. He stayed for Shabbos by the local shochet. When the shochet met them he asked them if they are Lubavitchers. When they answered yes he said, “Rabbi Raichik also comes here, but he only arrives home from shul two thirty in the afternoon.” There was a person who became close to Chassidus from watching the way my father davened. The Rebbe responded to this person in a letter, “You were recently inspired by observing and meditating on the ways of Rabbi Menachem Shmuel Dovid Halevy Raichik Sheyichiye, and it had added in you a great desire to be connected to ‘Ilana diChaya – the living tree’ this is pnimiyus haTorah and Toras haChassidus…” (Igros Kodesh v. 6 pg. 234)

My father would go to Reb Yoel’s chazarah when he was by the Rebbe. He had to be there. On Sunday he would sit down and write down the points of the farbrengen. He would stand up amongst the bochurim. He said that he had heard from the Previous Rebbe how important it is to come to chazarah, and what is missing if one does not. He only heard this one time from the Previous Rebbe, and as a result was always present at chazzarah.

As a child, I would sometimes wake up in middle of the night and find my father bent over a sefer. He wouldn’t go to bed until he completed all his shiurim in Chitas, Chassidus and Nigleh. When he traveled, his handbag was full of sefarim. Learning was constant, with a kvius. In Rabbi Halberstram’s shul, he had a samach vav that he kept to always learn from when he was there.

With regard to Mivtzoyim, my father was never to be seen without his tefillin. He had his daily route in Fairfax. On the day of his daughter’s wedding he did Mivtzoyim. Countless people can tell about how they put on tefillin with Rabbi Raichik. He wasn’t afraid to stand up in public for Mivtzoyim. Once, my father and Reb Sholom Gordon went to visit someone to support the yeshiva and asked him to put on tefillin. Afterwards, when they left he came running after them. He said, “You forgot the check.” Then he said, “For twenty five years people have come and have always remembered to ask for a check, but they don’t always remember to ask me to put on tefillin. Today, for the first time it’s the opposite.”

In 1973, the Rebbe introduced the mivtzah of Torah, saying that Jewish children should learn Torah. As a result, my father started a summer learning program in Los Angeles because there was a void of Torah learning. When he wrote the Rebbe a duch about the program, the Rebbe answered, “Kein yivaser tov kol hayamim – so you should give good news all your days.” The program consisted of learning Torah with the children and then going out on Mivtzoyim. For food, they ate in the Raichick restaurant at 101 N Edinburg.

In shnas shivim, in the Rebbe’s 70th year, my father went with Rabbi Gershon Shusterman to raise money for a new mikvah in Long Beach. Rabbi Berel Weiss took upon himself the obligation to pay for the mikvah. He had to convince the Hungarian community of the great importance of having a mikvah in Long Beach. My father would call Mrs. Dauer, on a regular basis to find out how many people came to use the mikvah once it was built. My father would attend the dinners for the upkeep of the mikvah and once called Rabbi Shlomo Shwartz to teach a woman who took upon herself the mitzvah of going to the mikvah.

My father knew that since he was the Rebbe’s Shadar, that he represented the Rebbe wherever he went. When he went on shlichus the first time, the Rebbe told him; “You are my shliach, you represent me. If I were there, I would go to mizrach (the eastern wall of the shul), therefore so should you.” My father did this b’kabalas ol. Reb Moshe Groner was in Milwaukee with the two Twerski brothers. One of them told him, “I don’t understand Rabbi Raichik. He is a bituldike Yid, yet he was shtuping to stand by the mizrach wall.” The only reason he did this was because he represented the Rebbe.

One could think or imply that my father was a “himel mentsch,” a lofty person. The truth is that my father also understood this world very well. He understood business and he understood the stock market. He understood the physical well and used it to perform many acts of ahavas Yisroel. If someone didn’t have a job he would be on the phone every week to see how he was doing. If someone new came to Los Angeles and entered in business, he became involved in how their business was prospering. When he spoke to others he knew each person in the family. He knew what was bothering other people, even in small matters. Even though he would daven late normally on Friday night, if he had guests who might be hungry he would be home before six so they could eat. He would take loans for other people to help them. The people who gave him the loans thought that they were for him.

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