4 Tammuz · Yahrzeit

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Futerfas

The Great Chosid Rabbi Menachem Mendel Futerfas (1907-1995) Yahrzeit - 4 Tammuz Resting place - London Rabbi Mendel Futerfas was the outstanding student of the famous Mashpia, Reb Zalman Moshe Ha-Yitzchaki. He ran underground Jewish chadarim in the USSR, for which he was sentenced to 14 years in a Siberian labor camp. He later emigrated. After his release, Menachem Mendel Schneerson appointed him to serve as Mashpia in the Tomchei Temimim Yeshiva in Kfar Chabad. One of his students was G. G. Branover. He arrived there in the summer of 1973, and the farbrengens he conducted became very well known. Rabbi Futerfas was a chosid who was sent to Siberia for his Jewish activities. For more than five years he suffered terribly and was constantly on the verge of death. Yet later he said that these were the best years of his life. After 20 years of imprisonment, Rabbi Mendel Futerfas returned home, and some time later his young daughter passed away. He took this extremely hard, and at a meeting with the 7th Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rav Mendel asked: why - why now, after so many years, when he finally returns home to his family, does such a loss await him? To which the Rebbe replied: "And this is your Chassidus?" The Cossack Horse An old Cossack, serving time for his loyalty to the Tsar, shared the camp with Rav Mendel. Although the Cossacks were fierce antisemites, the two became companions in misfortune. One long, cold Siberian winter night, as they sat together in the barracks (the guards were afraid to send them out to work in the dark), he opened his heart to Rav Mendel and began reminiscing about... his horse. As he spoke, his eyes grew moist with tears and his voice became full of emotion. "Ah! The Cossack horse! There is nothing in the world to compare with a Cossack's horse! An ordinary horse in Russia cost a month's wages - five rubles. A workhorse could go for up to ten. But a Cossack horse cost five hundred, six hundred rubles! A Cossack horse was different from other horses, incomparably different! A Cossack horse has a different heart. Beyond being ready to do anything for its master - to leap into fire, to jump over trees and even houses. Whatever its master commanded, it carried out. It was stronger, faster, and braver than any living thing. But the main thing was that it had a different heart. "Let me explain," the Cossack continued, taking a deep drag of his cigarette. "Do you know how a Cossack horse was caught? Well, then I'll tell you the story!" Leaning back in his chair, he exhaled so that smoke poured from his mouth and nostrils. "The Cossacks were experts at this. They had a special group that rode through the mountains and fields on horseback, searching for a herd of wild horses. This was very important, for a Cossack without a horse is like a Cossack without legs - a cripple, you understand? Then, if fortune smiled on them and they found a large herd - say, a thousand or two thousand horses - they would drive it toward the nearest river. As I said, these were professionals, and sometimes it took them several days to reach the spot. Then they would start shouting and firing their guns into the air, driving the herd into the water, to the deepest part of the river. You know, horses can swim, so they had to fight the current and swim to the other bank. Otherwise, they could die. And on the other bank, another group of Cossacks was already waiting. Everything had been planned from the start, and they stood watching what the horses would do. There were always three kinds of horses; most of them were ordinary horses that swam to the other side and ran off to save their lives. There were also older horses that couldn't make it across the river and, sadly, drowned. And there were young ones who had enough stamina not to tire, but not enough strength to cross the river, so they simply floundered in the middle of it." "But sometimes - not always, but sometimes - there was a fourth kind of horse; there were only one or two of them, and they were, in a way, crazy. They would swim to the other bank, but instead of running off, they would turn around, look back at the river to check if any horses needed help, and jump back in to save them." With tears in his eyes, the Cossack continued: "They would swim up to the struggling horses, grab them by the mane with their teeth, and start pulling. They simply couldn't bear to watch their fellow horses drown. These special horses the Cossacks would mark with paint, and they would chase after them for days until they caught them. Then months of hard work would follow to tame them. But the main thing about them was their heart. It was a Cossack's heart!" Rav Mendel said that he immediately grasped the meaning. The Cossack horse is the chosid. A chosid must be "crazy" and risk everything for his fellow; he cannot stand by and watch his brother drown. He cannot simply live for himself: study Torah, swim across the river of life, and reach Heaven. A chosid must be like that Cossack horse - throwing himself headlong into any abyss to save his fellow. May the merit of the Tzadik protect Am Yisrael!

(from a lesson by Rav Avraham Ilyaguev on Bronnaya)

Pilgrimage site: Grave: Menachem Mendel of Rymanov