An excerpt from the new book My Gulag Life: Stories of a Soviet Prisoner, as told by R’ Mendel Futerfas OBM. Published by Hasidic Archives
When I was eight years old, my grandmother arranged for the two of us to meet the Rebbe Rashab in a private audience.
“This is Mendel’s child,” my grandmother told the Rebbe. “He will soon begin studying in cheder, and I ask for a blessing from the Rebbe.”
The Rebbe placed his hands on my head and blessed me to be “a varme Yid,” a warm Jew.
Before leaving the Rebbe’s home, my grandmother asked me what the Rebbe had said.
I responded, simply, that the Rebbe had given me a blessing.
She looked at me closely: “Mendel, the Rebbe placed his holy hands on your head and blessed you to be a warm Jew.”
When we arrived in the courtyard, she asked me once more what the Rebbe had said.
This time I said, “The Rebbe said I should be a warm Jew.”
Again, my grandmother repeated her earlier words. The conversation happened several more times until I answered correctly without hesitation.
Today I appreciate that she etched into my mind the few brief moments of that audience. It is in her merit that I remember them keenly so many years later.
The Bracha was fulfilled.
When Reb Mendle came to visit us he said the brocha was to be a yiras shomayim and arichus yomim.