This year (5775/2014) was the first time we had Raizy’s parents for Rosh Hashanah, Below are two of the inspirational Chassidic stories her father shared over the holiday.

The verses in the Shofar service remind me of this story that goes back 70 years to Samarkand a city in Uzbekistan where many Jewish refugees fled from the Nazi onslaught during WWII, among them many Chabad Chassidim. It was a time of terrible hunger, personal suffering and great poverty, not to mention religious persecution as well, but thankfully those who fled to Samarkand were spared the Nazi atrocities. It was during this time that a beloved and respected Chassid Chatshe Himmelstein went missing. His whereabouts were unknown and his fellow Chassidim feared the worst. There was a Chassidic farbrengen a short time after Rosh Hashanah, when a younger Chassid Yitzchak Gurkov cried out bitterly, using a quote from the Rosh Hashanah service, just after the blowing of the Shofar, asking, “Where is the Tiferes Uzomo the beauty of our strength!? The best and greatest are being taken from us! Where is the beauty? Is this the Tiferes Uzomo!?” Reb Yisroel Noach Belenitsky was one of most respected participants at that farbrengen. He was a Chassid held in high esteem, but most of the time he was a man of few words, he didn’t speak up much. This time he rose like a lion, spreading his arms toward where the children were sitting nearby. There were always children around the adults farbrengen, listening in, studying some Tanya by heart, whispering to each other, others were playing nearby still absorbing the Chassidic flavor and atmosphere. Referring to the children R’ Yisroel Noach said: “This is the Tiferes Uzomo, – the children are the beauty of our strength!”

Back in Russia everyone played chess, but I had a relative who excelled at it. As a young boy he won game after game, joined the local chess club and was considered a chess prodigy. He won many local tournaments and was considered a candidate to play the regional tournament which would qualify for national championships. A slight glitch arose. This major tournament was on Saturday in a distant city with virtually no Jewish community, and it would be a conflict with his family’s clandestine observance of Sabbath. This was a huge dilemma for the young boy. For background it’s important to know that his father spent many years in and out of Soviet prisons for issues relating to Jewish observance. His father had unwavering commitment and dedication to tradition that came before anything. Late one night, the boy lay awake, restless with his dilemma. He overheard a conversation between his parents. His mother asked his father, “After all you went through to keep Judaism, how can he play in this tournament?” The father replied, “I can not tell him to do that what to do or not to do. It has to be his decision, it has to come from him.” The boy decided to give up the opportunity and not play. His coach begged him, imploring that he is the pride and hope of the entire chess team and the republic. Reasons had to be given so Sabbath observance would not be suspect. Our families prayed on Rosh Hashanah in a tight closed Minyan in a widow’s home. There were a few other hidden Minyans in Tashkent, but this Minyan was an exact Minyan, maybe 11 or 12 men by invitation only, and a few of us youngsters. There was a Jewish chief engineer of a large factory who made motor parts for military and civilian aircraft who wanted to pray on the High Holidays but could not risk exposure, so this quiet side Minyan was arranged for him with only a few families at the widow’s home. I remember the Chazzan Ruvain of that Minyan. His brother Mikhail later became a leading tenor of the New York Metropolitan Opera, but Ruvain had an even better voice than his brother. Most memorable was that year of the would-be chess tournament. I remember the chess boy’s father praying. There was no visible emotion on his face, but two steady streams of tears flowed down his cheeks. Bittersweet perhaps, but there was joy and relief in them, that his son would remain true to his faith and heritage despite temptation and challenge.