Zalmon Jaffe

An Interlude For Torah Study On the second day of Shavuos, Shabbos Sivan 7 (June 5), at 8:30 p.m, shortly before the conclusion of yom tov, the Shavuos farbrengen began. Some of what the Rebbe said during this farbrengen: Every yom tov has its own distinc...

Professor Herman Branover’s early life was spent in a secular atmosphere. As a youth in Riga, it was his scientific curiosity that prompted him to seek answers on the existence of the universe and the relationship between mind and matter. His disillusionm...

The march to Boro Park this year was scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, the first day of yom tov. I vividly recalled last year’s event (in which I had joined in) and the Rebbe’s tremendous “send-off” to the marchers, so I went along again with kee...

During davening on yom tov, we sang my usual songs with, once again, a silly, heckling minority. We also sang the Rebbe out when he left the shul. On one occasion, I started the Lubavitch song with the Russian words of “Niyet, Niyet Nikavo.” The Rebbe smi...

There was a short farbrengen on Wednesday night, Sivan 4 (June 2), the night of erev Shavuos, from 9:50 until midnight. The Rebbe delivers a yom tov maamar at this pre-Shavuos farbrengen. In years gone by, a yom tov maamar was delivered by the Rebbe at 3 ...

On Tuesday morning, Sivan 3 (June 1), Chaya asked me if I would help her write a letter to the Rebbe. Her ninth birthday was two days after Shavuos and she wanted to ask for a brocha (blessing). I told her that I could not and would not help her. “You mus...

With the Rebbe’s permission, we once again stayed at the apartment above the kollel, adjacent to 770. Chaya and Golda, our granddaughters, were also lodging with us. Rabbi Slavin had enrolled ten bochurim into a working party to tidy up and clean the apar...

Roselyn and I arrived at 770 at around 6:00 p.m. on Monday. We thought we had certainly missed the Rebbe’s mincha by then (which is usually at 3:15 p.m.) However, we soon discovered that the Rebbe was still at the ohel, and hence had not yet davened minch...

Three groups traveled from England to New York for this Shavuos. The first group flew directly from Manchester on Monday, Sivan 2 (May 31) and included Roselyn, Samuel Portnoy and me. Shavuos was on Friday and Shabbos (June 4-5). The following day, Tuesda...

Rabbi Shemtov was an extraordinary person, an outstanding example of a true Lubavitcher chossid. He was a devoted and loyal soldier who carried out the Rebbe’s orders unhesitatingly and without question, with courage, gladness and self-sacrifice. He came ...