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.