WEBVTT 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There was no meat in Leningrad; 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for two years, there were no Shochetim. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There was nothing we could do; 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we didn't eat any meat for two years. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Reb Mottel Lifschitz came to town 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to circumcise the newborn son of a friend of mine, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and we were eating at the same table. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I said, "Reb Mottel, have pity on my children; 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they haven't seen meat in two years. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Slaughter an ox, an animal or a chicken -- something!" 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He said, "Izzy, I can't slaughter here; 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 if the authorities discover that I shechted here without their permit, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I will lose my permit to slaughter in Moscow as well. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You are young; you should study Shechita. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 If you need a teacher, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 spend a month at my house, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I'll teach you to slaughter chickens." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 When my mother heard my plans to travel away, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 she found an old Chassid in the area who taught me the laws instead, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and Reb Refoel Nimyotin 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 accompanied me to watch every Shechita, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but I didn't have a Kabbalah, a Rabbinical approbation. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 My teacher forbade me to approach the government appointed rabbis 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to ask for their Kabbalah. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So, for several months, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 every time I shechted I needed to drag along an old Shochet 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to watch and inspect my work. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It could be several times a week, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 an uncomfortable drive of several hours, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to slaughter the chicken at some non-Jew's farm... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I decided that I would continue shechting until Yom Kippur. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I would shecht the Kapparos on Erev Yom Kippur, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and then I would wait for a visiting Rabbi to give me a Kabbalah. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Several Chassidim had been sent by the Rebbe, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but the government had discovered their identities 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and had sent them right back home. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 On Erev Yom Kippur I was shechting, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I was approached by Reb Avraham Medalia. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I only knew that he was a professor of mathematics. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He came over to me and said, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "I heard from Reb Refoel NImyotin that you need a Kabbalah. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I am an ordained rabbi but I can't say so publicly; 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I already spent 17 years in prison. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Let me see you shecht, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I'll give you a Kabbalah." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I did a shechitah and he approved, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but he said, "I won't write the Kabbalah. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I spent enough time in prison; 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 if someone asks for your approbation, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 let him call me, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I'll explain why I didn't put it in writing." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Now, I at least had an address to send questioners. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The next moment -- 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 two minutes hadn't passed, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "Izzy, Izzy"; they called me back. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 A bochur had arrived from Moscow, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 his name was Yehudah; they called him Yehudah Hakatan. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He said, "I'm not sure what this means; 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the Rebbe said to give you a message: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 'Take on the occupation of a Shochet.'" 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That same moment, on that Erev Yom Kippur... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I saw then how the Rebbe... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Three-four months later, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Rabbi Dovber Levy came to Russia a second time, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and he tested me and wrote a Kabbalah. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I have my first Kabbalah from him; later I received from others. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I didn't understand the Rebbe's words, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "Take on the occupation of a Shochet." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I could barely shecht a chicken, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I wasn't a real Shochet. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 A few months later, I had a whole Yeshivah, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a large group of students from all over the Soviet Union, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I taught them Shechitah. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 When a friend of mine left Russia, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 he asked the Rebbe for a blessing that I receive an exit visa, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I had been waiting for several years, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 seven or eight years, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 probably seven years, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and the Rebbe said, "I give him a blessing for everything he'll do." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We literally saw how we accomplished things that were supernatural.