They Sustained the Farbrengen and He Gave Them Children

Having learned in Lubavitch for eight years, R’ Pinye Schreiber “Rakshiker” became a shochet and mashpia, and was famous for his avodas Hashem. When two Lubavitcher women went out into the Russian night to buy mashke for a chassidishe farbrengen, he bentched them with children – and it was fulfilled.

Reb Pinchas Schreiber (5652-5703) was a chossid of the Rebbe Rashab and Frierdiker Rebbe. Born in Rakshik, Lithuania, he learned in Tomchei Tmimim in Lubavitch for eight years, and was famous for his diligence in avodas Hashem.

Reb Pinye served as a shochet in Poltava and as a Mashpia in the local branch of Tomchei Tmimim. During World War II he fled to Samarkand, where he became a teacher for the local Bukharian Jews until his untimely passing.

*

Due to the NKVD pursuing him, Reb Pinye was forced to relocate from Poltava to the big city of Moscow. However, there too they took interest in him.

One night, they arrived at his apartment building to arrest “Pinyeh Rakshiker,” but they couldn’t find that name in the superintendent’s directory, as he was listed by his true name Pinchas Shreiber. The NKVD officers didn’t realize that they merely had his nickname, and left, figuring that they were misled.

In the meantime, Reb Pinye escaped and went to the home of Reb Shmuel Leib Levin, on the outskirts of Moscow. Knowing that the NKVD would carry out many such operations in one night, the Levin family stood on high alert. At the first sign of a visit, the two chassidim jumped out the back window, and were thus both miraculously saved.

*

During one Yud Tes Kislev farbrengen, the mashke finished and the participants needed someone to go out and buy some more. For men, to wander on those streets was a great risk, since they could be drafted into the army. They therefore asked two Lubavitcher women – Esther Teitelbaum and Sarah Levin – to purchase the mashke for the farbrengen.

When the two returned with the mashke, Reb Pinye announced, “Since the purpose of a farbrengen is to produce ‘fruit’ [positive results], so too, these two women – who did not have children – should be blessed with fruit.”

Indeed, some time later they both had children.

For sources, visit TheWeeklyFarbrengen.com