Machberes: Inside The Chassidish And Yeshivish World
By Rabbi Gershon Tannenbaum
Rabbi Dovid Twersky, revered Skverer Rebbe, leads the chassidish community established by his sage father, Rabbi Yaakov Yosef Twersky, zt’l (1899–1968), previous Skverer Rebbe. The upstate community of New Square was initiated with the purchase of a large tract of land in Spring Valley in 1963 with the first homes completed in 1967. Today New Square numbers almost 1,500 families living a complete chassidish lifestyle with little outside cultural influence. The Rebbe is visited on weekdays by hundreds of people from all over the world who seek his advice and blessing.
Skverer Rebbe
Since 1999, the Skverer Rebbe has been coming to Pressburg (Bratislava), Slovakia, to rest from his exceptionally strenuous schedule and to regenerate. On the average day, beginning in the late afternoon, the Rebbe accepts kvitlech (written pleas) and receives an estimated 300 petitioners, or more, lasting hours after midnight. The Rebbe remembers those that visit him, startlingly recalling minute details of private conversations that took place decades ago.
Plainly, the Rebbe is overtaxed and in need of physical rest. The Rebbe visits the hot baths of Piestany and is revitalized. In addition, the Rebbe derives much inspiration in visiting the gravesite of Rabbi Moshe Sopher, zt’l (1762–1839), venerated rav of Pressburg and author of Chasam Sofer. The Rebbe arrived in Pressburg on Monday, June 22, and will be returning home to New Square on Thursday, July 9. The Rebbe is staying at Hotel Devin in the historical center of Pressburg, on the banks of the Danube River. The swimming pool serves as a mikveh in addition to the city’s mikveh, which is identified in the trip’s literature as the Rebbe’s mikveh.
During the Rebbe’s stay in Pressburg, the entire hotel is rented; its first floor is reserved for the Rebbe, his family, children, grandchildren, and for the Rebbe’s personal staff. The reception floor’s dining rooms are combined for meals for chassidim. In addition, several rooms (lobby bars) have coffee and refreshments served almost 24/7. During the Rebbe’s stay, all TV remote devices are absent from hotel rooms. On Shabbos, from candle lighting to motzaeiShabbos, the digitalized key cards are all inoperative, rendering hotel rooms unlocked while security guards are stationed in key areas of the hotel. On motzaeiShabbos, new digitalized key cards are issued for reentry into hotel rooms. The entire hotel staff is exceptionally courteous and helpful.
On the second floor, the hotel’s large conference rooms are combined to serve as a beismidrash with an aronkodesh and bima. The area also serves for the Rebbe’s tischen. The ezrasnashim, ladies section, is separated by a large white embroidered tapestry that provides a view from the ladies’ side but is almost opaque from the men’s side.
The holy Shabbos schedule is as follows: Candle lighting in Pressburg is at 8:30 p.m. Minchah and KabbalasShabbos is at 9:10 p.m. The Friday night tisch begins with the Rebbe’s entry at 12:10 a.m. and concludes well past 3:30 a.m. Shabbos Shacharis begins at 11:00 a.m., followed by the Shabbos meal immediately thereafter, which is concluded with Minchah. The Rebbe’s Shabbos tisch begins at 6:30 p.m. Shaloshseudos is scheduled for 9:40 p.m. Though technically Shabbos ends at 10:11 p.m., Ma’ariv and Havdallah are much later, and they are followed by the melavehmalkah.
As one can easily surmise, the schedule is all-consuming. After the melavehmalkah, in the early hours of the morning, the Rebbe receives petitioners well into the dawn hours. For ShabbosChukkas, June 26–27, several chassidim came to be with the Rebbe. They came from the United States, Canada, Israel, and especially from the countries of Europe. Usually, at home or away, thousands of chassidim attend the Rebbe’s tefillos and tisch. The two Shabbos stays of the Rebbe in Pressburg, with much smaller attendance, are more intimate. At every tisch, everyone in attendance received shirayim directly from the Rebbe. From a closer vantage point, one can observe the holy work of the Rebbe that is invested in the formal meal. Challah is dunked into the small salt bowl before consumption. However, everything else that the Rebbe eats is accompanied with grains of salt, in remembrance of every sacrifice in the BeisHaMikdash that was accompanied with salt. During the meals and at all times, the Rebbe is served by his indefatigable gabbaim: Rabbi Dovid Berger and Rabbi Beinish Eisenberg.
For all food other than the challah, the Rebbe uses the top reverse of his fork to scoop some salt onto the tablecloth near his plate, from which he adds several grains to every spoonful. The Rebbe is served two kugels together, from which the Rebbe slices off 26 pieces. Each piece is eaten with a few grains of salt and the rest is distributed as shirayim. The Rebbe’s Friday-night divreiTorah are divine insights. They are published in PisgaminKadishin. Everything that the Rebbe does is calculated and meaningfully deliberate. The holiness during the entire Shabbos was palpable.
Notable, internationally prominent rabbanim participated as well. Amongst them (in alphabetical order) were: Rabbi Aleksander Austerlitz, New Square Dayan; Rabbi Chaim Michoel Biberfeld, Zlatipoli Rebbe of London; Rabbi Yaakov Yosef Breyer, Antwerp Skverer Dayan; Rabbi Yaakov Eisenberg, Bnei Brak Skverer Dayan; Rabbi Sholom Ozer Hager, grandson of the Seret-Vizhnitzer Rebbe of Haifa and son-in-law of the Zlatipoli Rebbe; Rabbi Akiva Schlesinger, roshkollel Chabad, London; Rabbi Avrohom Yafe Schlesinger, rav of Geneva; Rabbi Peretz Steinberg, rav of the Young Israel of Queens Valley and chairman of the National Young Israel Council of Rabbis; Rabbi Gershon Tannenbaum, rav of B’nai Israel of Linden Heights in Boro Park and menahel of the Igud Horabbonim of America; and Rabbi Yochanan Wosner, Montreal Skverer Dayan and author of ChaiLevi. The Geneva Rav addressed the assembled before KabbalasShabbos; Rabbi Peretz Steinberg and Rabbi Yochanan Wosner spoke during the Friday-night meal; Rabbi Gershon Tannenbaum and Rabbi Akiva Schlesinger spoke during the Shabbos afternoon meal; and Rabbi Aleksander Austerlitz taught PirkeiAvos.
The Skverer Rebbe’s arrival in Pressburg is noted with respect by the general community and every effort is made to make the Rebbe’s stay there as comfortable as possible. Representatives of the government, local as well as federal, extend warmest greetings upon the Rebbe’s arrival. In the first years of the Rebbe’s visits there, he was invited and encouraged to attend a formal governmental reception.
Skverer Rebbe Hosted
By Slovakia’s President
The Slovak Republic, seceding from Czechoslovakia, became an independent country in 1993. Rudolf Schuster, former mayor (1984–1999) of Kosice (Kashau), Slovakia’s second-largest city, and charismatic leader of Slovakia’s ruling coalition Party of Civic Understanding (SOP), was elected as the second president of the Slovak Republic in 1999.
The first Slovak Republic, though short lived, was established in 1939, and was in reality a Nazi puppet state run by fascists who collaborated with German policies that included the deportation of Jews. That period in Slovak history is viewed today by most Slovaks with mixed feelings, since what was to be a joyous occasion of independence signaling the birth of a nation and the freedom of a peoples is overshadowed by complicity in atrocities sponsored by Nazi Germany.
The majority of today’s Slovakian Jews, almost 4,000 souls, live in Bratislava, also known as Pressburg, with a Jewish population of about 800. Kashau has a Jewish population of 700, and Jews also reside in Presov, Nove Zamky, Komarno, Dunajska Streda, Galanta, Nitra, Trnava, and other towns.
Slovakia represents the smallest Holocaust-surviving community in Europe; its population of 4,000 consists of mostly senior citizens. Many younger people have rediscovered their Jewish origins and are the most visible remains of the once glorious Jewish past. Religious observance is increasing and children are returning to the community and studying Judaism. In 1993, Rabbi Boruch Myers, a native of Brooklyn and a disciple of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, zt’l (1902–1994), became the rav of Pressburg and chief rabbi of Slovakia.
Slovakia has many sites of Jewish interest. One of them is the recently renovated me’arah (underground mausoleum) in Bratislava which contains the resting places of many great rabbis, including Rabbi Moshe Sofer, zt’l (1763–1839), Pressburger Rav and revered author of ChasamSofer, who founded and led the leading yeshiva in Europe, with more than 400 students. Slovakia has approximately 200 functioning synagogues and 620 Jewish cemeteries around the country, vestiges of the more than 1,500 pre-WWII Jewish congregations.
During the Pressburg visit in 2003, the Rebbe was approached by Mayer Wagner, the official Swiss governmental representative of its Jewish community, advising that the Slovakian government desired to formally receive the Skverer Rebbe as a VIP. Ronald Weiser, then United States Ambassador to the Slovak Republic (2001–2005), helped facilitate the request. The Slovakian Jewish community also felt that the formal reception would help strengthen its activities and help protect, preserve, and rehabilitate its old shuls and cemeteries.
On Tuesday, July 15, 2003, an official limousine brought the Rebbe to the gates of the Presidential Palace where two honor guards stood at the ready. The gates swung open and the Rebbe disembarked from the limousine onto a red carpet that led to the doors of the palace where the Slovakian president waited with his diplomatic corps. As the Rebbe was escorted towards the palace, the president came to officially greet him. After warm introductions, the president asked the Rebbe which language would be preferable, English or German. The Rebbe indicated that he would speak in Yiddish.
The president led the Rebbe into the historic formal reception room. The Rebbe was seated next to the president. Also in attendance were the Slovakian Minister of Interior and staff members as well as U.S. Ambassador Ronald Weiser and his assistants. With the Rebbe were his two sons, Rabbi Aaron Menachem Mendel Twersky and Rabbi Yitzchok Itzik Twersky; Swiss Consul Mayer Wagner; and Skverer community leaders, including Rabbi Sholom Dov Ber Fischel. The table was set with light refreshments that were especially brought from Israel under the hashgachah of the Jerusalem Eidah Hacharedis Badatz.
The meeting was opened with a review of Slovakia’s Jewish history, dating back more than 700 years, when Bratislava had more than 900 Jewish inhabitants, representing a considerable population percentage at the time. Throughout the years, Jews were welcomed both as residents and as guests. Sadly, during WWII, more than 150,000 Slovakian Jews were murdered. However, the present climate is a welcoming one.
The Rebbe, speaking in Yiddish, shared with the president that Slovakia’s large cities are well known in Skver, as many of its leaders were raised in Bratislava, Nitra, Serdehaly, etc. The Rebbe praised present-day Slovakia, where everyone is accorded equal rights. The Rebbe thanked the president and told of how Jewish visitors are given every courtesy and assistance throughout Slovakia. The Rebbe told of the glowing praise of Slovakia given by Rabbi Boruch Myers.
The 70-year-old president responded, declaring that Slovakia regrets and apologizes for the terrible crimes committed against Jews during the Holocaust. President Schuster stressed that Slovakia, since its independence in 1993, has exerted every effort to ensure that its Jewish citizenry is accorded full rights and privileges. As ambassador to Canada representing Czechoslovakia, President Schuster was active in Jewish community affairs there.
The Rebbe, on behalf of all American citizens, thanked President Schuster for his moral support and blessed him, asking Heaven to make his presidency great and bless Slovakia with economic growth to become a leading example of prosperity and protection of minorities.
The president told of his governorship of Bratislava, Slovakia’s second-largest city, of his allocating government monies to restore old Jewish cemeteries, and his meetings with many rabbis. However, the president acknowledged, the meeting with the Rebbe surpassed all others. In parting, the president escorted the Rebbe all the way to the waiting limousine, expressing thankfulness for the exceptional privilege. v
Rabbi Gershon Tannenbaum is the rav of B’nai Israel of Linden Heights in Boro Park and director of the Rabbinical Alliance of America. He can be contacted at yeshiva613@aol.com.