There was no meat in Leningrad;
for two years, there were no Shochetim.
There was nothing we could do;
we didn't eat any meat for two years.
Reb Mottel Lifschitz came to town
to circumcise the newborn son of a friend of mine,
and we were eating at the same table.
I said, "Reb Mottel, have pity on my children;
they haven't seen meat in two years.
Slaughter an ox, an animal or a chicken -- something!"
He said, "Izzy, I can't slaughter here;
if the authorities discover that I shechted here without their permit,
I will lose my permit to slaughter in Moscow as well.
You are young; you should study Shechita.
If you need a teacher,
spend a month at my house,
and I'll teach you to slaughter chickens."
When my mother heard my plans to travel away,
she found an old Chassid in the area who taught me the laws instead,
and Reb Refoel Nimyotin
accompanied me to watch every Shechita,
but I didn't have a Kabbalah, a Rabbinical approbation.
My teacher forbade me to approach the government appointed rabbis
to ask for their Kabbalah.
So, for several months,
every time I shechted I needed to drag along an old Shochet
to watch and inspect my work.
It could be several times a week,
an uncomfortable drive of several hours,
to slaughter the chicken at some non-Jew's farm...
I decided that I would continue shechting until Yom Kippur.
I would shecht the Kapparos on Erev Yom Kippur,
and then I would wait for a visiting Rabbi to give me a Kabbalah.
Several Chassidim had been sent by the Rebbe,
but the government had discovered their identities
and had sent them right back home.
On Erev Yom Kippur I was shechting,
and I was approached by Reb Avraham Medalia.
I only knew that he was a professor of mathematics.
He came over to me and said,
"I heard from Reb Refoel NImyotin that you need a Kabbalah.
I am an ordained rabbi but I can't say so publicly;
I already spent 17 years in prison.
Let me see you shecht,
and I'll give you a Kabbalah."
I did a shechitah and he approved,
but he said, "I won't write the Kabbalah.
I spent enough time in prison;
if someone asks for your approbation,
let him call me,
and I'll explain why I didn't put it in writing."
Now, I at least had an address to send questioners.
The next moment --
two minutes hadn't passed,
"Izzy, Izzy"; they called me back.
A bochur had arrived from Moscow,
his name was Yehudah; they called him Yehudah Hakatan.
He said, "I'm not sure what this means;
the Rebbe said to give you a message:
'Take on the occupation of a Shochet.'"
That same moment, on that Erev Yom Kippur...
I saw then how the Rebbe...
Three-four months later,
Rabbi Dovber Levy came to Russia a second time,
and he tested me and wrote a Kabbalah.
I have my first Kabbalah from him; later I received from others.
I didn't understand the Rebbe's words,
"Take on the occupation of a Shochet."
I could barely shecht a chicken,
I wasn't a real Shochet.
A few months later, I had a whole Yeshivah,
a large group of students from all over the Soviet Union,
and I taught them Shechitah.
When a friend of mine left Russia,
he asked the Rebbe for a blessing that I receive an exit visa,
I had been waiting for several years,
seven or eight years,
probably seven years,
and the Rebbe said, "I give him a blessing for everything he'll do."
We literally saw how we accomplished things that were supernatural.