Our Heros: Reb Yosef M. M. Tenenbaum (1917-1993)

Horav Hachossid Reb Yosef Menachem Mendel Tenenbaum was born in 1917 to Hachossid Reb Yitzchok and Mrs. Sima Masha in Kotzk, Poland. Reb Mendel’s maternal grandfather, Reb Alter Yaakov Yehuda, was a Kotzker chossid. Chassidim recalled that the Kotzker Rebbe would not begin davening until Reb Alter had come into shul.

When Mendel was still a young boy, his family moved to Otwock where his father managed a business. A businessman by profession, nonetheless, Reb Yitzchok was a chossid, a great scholar and very well versed and sharp, boki vchorif, in the knowledge of Torah. His place of business was near the Bais Hamedrash and anyone that had a question in his studies would run over to Reb Yitzchok for an answer.

Mendel absorbed his chinuch in Torah and yiras shomayim from both his grandfather and father. In addition, his uncle taught him skills such as blowing shofar, and over the course of the years he became the baal tokea at the Rebbe’s minyan.

“This signifies that you were given the kochos”

The Tennenbaum family shared a yard with Horav Hagaon Hachossid Reb Dovid Teitelbaum, also known as Reb Dovid Riker. Reb Dovid was a magid shiur, a teacher in Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim in Otwock. Chassidim recalled that he once told the Previous Rebbe that the Kotzker chassidim wanted him to conduct himself as a Rebbe, and he asked what to do. The Previous Rebbe answered, “Since they came to you, this signifies that you were given the kochos but they are concealed.” The Rebbe instructed him how to bring out these kochos.

As Mendel grew up, Reb Dovid realized that this boy was blessed with talents and was a vessel which contained blessing. He advised Mendel’s parents to send him to Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim.

It needs to be pointed out that in those days thousands of Jews in Poland studied Torah outside the structure of a yeshiva. Children studied with their father or grandfather in shuls or botei medrashim. The few yeshivas found in Poland were generally designated for the elite and for the talented students. One of those yeshivos was Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim. It had gained a good name and young students flocked to the yeshiva. Many were turned away because they didn’t meet its standards.

At the head of yeshiva stood the Rosh Yeshiva Hagaon Hachossid Reb Yehuda Eber who would personally evaluate each student that applied to the yeshiva.

Accepted in Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim in Otwock

The following story was told regarding the young Mendel. Mendel was tested together with another student and Rabbi Eber posed a difficult question. After much thought, Mendel said that it was a good question and he did not have an answer. The other student began answering the question. Mendel was accepted into the yeshiva and the other student received a confirmation of acceptance after a few days.

Sometime later, Rabbi Eber told Reb Dovid, “The bochur that you sent me, immediately understood the question. I saw that he had a good mind and therefore I agreed to accept him. He could not be responsible for not having the answer. The other student on the other hand was just blabbing.”

At the time that Reb Mendel began his studies in Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim, he merited to enter into his first Yechidus with the Previous Rebbe. Rabbi Yitzchok Hendel, later Reb Mendel’s brother-in-law, recalled that already in that first Yechidus the Previous Rebbe showed an unusual affection toward Reb Mendel.

A Discrete and Modest Person

Reb Mendel conducted himself in a very discrete and modest manner. He did not discuss this Yechidus or later yechidusen with anyone. However, he would occasionally review the first Maamor that he had heard from the Previous Rebbe on Shabbos Lech Lcho 5695/1934. He had memorized the Maamor so it was always with him.

Reb Mendel adjusted very quickly to the studies in the new yeshiva. He was successful in the study of Nigleh, in following the teachings of Chassidus, and eventually excelled to the point of becoming one of the elite students who studied consistently and had a smooth mind.

Well Versed in Tanya

Over the course of time, he became a maskil, an intellectual in chassidus. He was especially well versed in the Tanya, which he knew by heart. His acquaintances recalled that when Reb Mendel was asked a question in Tanya he would respond as if he had just studied that particular piece. When Rabbi Yosef Wineberg began to broadcast the weekly Tanya shiurim on the radio in 1960, he would consult with Reb Mendel regarding the shiur. The shiurim would then be handed into the Rebbe who would edit them. When the shiurim were released by the Rebbe, Reb Mendel would again review them with Rabbi Wineberg. These shiurim were later compiled and published in Yiddish, English and Hebrew as Shiurim B’Tanya.

When the famous chossid Reb Yisroel Jacobson came to Poland in 1937 from the United States, it is told that the Previous Rebbe said to them, “It was worthwhile to travel by boat from the United States to Poland to see Mendel Tennenbaum’s davening.” In another version of this comment the Previous Rebbe said, “It was worthwhile to establish the yeshiva in Otwock only to see Mendel Tennenbaum’s davening.”

Daily Schedule

The mekubal and mashpia Reb Zev Greenglaz recalled in a letter to the Tennenbaum family.

“When I came to Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim in Otwock, Reb Mendel and I shared a room. I noticed for weeks that his bed was not used. Around midnight he would be at the table studying the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch. He would drowse off and lean on his hands as they rested on the Shulchan Aruch. This is how he slept. When he woke up from his brief nap, he would recite the shema and quietly sing a nigun. The volume of the nigun was like the playing of a violin.

In the morning he studied chassidus for a few hours, sometimes with his friend Hatomim Avrohom Kwasho, may Hashem avenge his blood. Then he would prepare for davening. On his half-hour walk to the mikva he would chazer chassidus. After he put on his Tefillin, he would stand for about two to three hours meditating chassidus, and due to his intense concentration his face would become pale. In general, his davening would extend until two o’clock in the afternoon, and on Shabbos the davening would stretch longer.”

This was similar to the account of Horav Reb Berel Levi, who came to study in Otwock in 1939 and also shared a room with Reb Mendel. “At the end of the evening before retiring for the night and prior to his Krias Shema, Reb Mendel would check to see if I was asleep. Many times I pretended to be asleep in order to see the special Krias Shema of Reb Mendel.”

His talents and exertion in chassidus molded him into one of the chozrim who would orally review the Previous Rebbe’s Maamorim. The setup was that immediately after the recital of the Maamor by the Previous Rebbe, Reb Mendel and his friend, Hagaon Hachossid Rabbi Mordechai Mentlik would review the Maamor with the Previous Rebbe’s secretary, the mashpia Reb Yechezkel Faigin may Hashem avenge his blood. After they had completed the chazora, they would enter into the Previous Rebbe’s room and repeat the Maamor for the Previous Rebbe.

In 1939, Rabbi Mentlik was able to successfully leave Poland for the United States, since his wife had American citizenship. After that, Reb Mendel would go into the Previous Rebbe’s room by himself and repeat the Maamor for him.

“A Torah student needs to use his thick finger for learning”

By nature, Reb Mendel was shy and refined. One was very easily able to picture the manner in which he stood before the Previous Rebbe, quietly reviewing the Maamor with fear, eima v’yiroh. After a few moments the Previous Rebbe told him, “When a businessman uses his thick finger for business, it is not appropriate, but a Torah student needs to use his thick finger for learning.” The Previous Rebbe demonstrated for Reb Mendel the way to chazer a Maamor. The Rebbe began saying the words of the Maamor, continuing where Reb Mendel had left off, in a loud voice with a strong tune.

In Elul 1939 WWII broke out, and the yeshiva closed. Bochurim escaped with their lives. Many returned to their parents’ homes to be together with their families in those dangerous and difficult days. Others attempted any way they could, to escape the country. After the Nazis overran Poland, the Tmimim, the students of Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim, heard that the Previous Rebbe had advised to leave the country at once. Some of the Tmimim headed for Vilna.

Reb Mendel was among those who tried to escape to Vilna. When he and his friends Rabbi Greenglaz and Rabbi Shmuel Dovid Raichik attempted to cross the border, they were caught by the Germans. They were interrogated on the train and forced to get off at the city of Shedlitz. The entire night they were guarded by armed German soldiers who forced them to clean the platform of the train station. In the morning, by a miracle, they were able to continue on their way and successfully cross the border into Latvia and reach Vilna.

Vilna in 1940-1941

The Tmimim in Vilna were refugees who had nothing. They were exhausted from the constant running, and were pained and worried about the fate of their families who remained in Poland. All this did not stop them from maintaining the seder hayeshiva as they had in Otwock. The yeshiva in Vilna continued until the winter of 1941.

To go this way or that way?!

The Russians controlled Vilna and announced that they were going to open the border. Those with Polish passports could either return to Poland or escape into Russia. It was actually a complicated choice. It was, “Woe unto me if I do this and woe unto me if I choose the opposite.” Poland was under Nazi occupation, and the option of going to Russia was also potentially dangerous. Jews remembered that Russia had previously offered to open its borders and convinced many Jews to accept their offer of returning to Russia. But it was a trick and the Jews that came back to Russia were sent to Siberia.

For the Tmimim there was another reason to reject the option of escaping to Russia. They knew the relationship of Stalin to Jews and Chassidim. The events surrounding the Previous Rebbe’s arrest and liberation in 1927 were still fresh for them. They knew what might be waiting for them in Russia if they were caught like those who had established underground yeshivos.

The situation was a dangerous one. A life decision needed to be made immediately and they were unable to consult the Previous Rebbe. There was no time to send a message to the Previous Rebbe in the United States and receive a response.

What to do?

Hashem sent a solution. One of the members of the Japanese consulate in Latvia was Chiune Sugihara. Mr. Sugihara was one of the righteous gentiles among the nations. Against orders from his superiors in Japan, he issued thousands of transit visas for people to travel to the island of Curacao in the North American Hemisphere. With this visa, they were able travel to Vladivostok, Russia by train, a two week trip, and from there take a ship to Japan, and then on to Curacao.

The Japanese government, after learning what their consul was doing, instructed him to return home to Japan. Witnesses testified that he remained in his hotel room, issuing visas and then putting visa stamps on empty paper for the necessary information to be added later. He did so throughout the entire last night of his stay in Vilna. From the window of his train compartment, prior to his departure, he continued to issue stamped papers to the desperate crowd of Jews on the platform. Many thousands of Jews were saved with these visas.

A group of Tmimim in Vilna, Reb Mendel among them, received visas from Sugihara and were able to leave Vilna. Although they were on the run, they still maintained the seder hayeshiva, getting up in the morning to study chassidus and continuing their studies throughout the day.

The government of Curacao did not allow the refugees entry into the country. Having no choice the refugees remained in Japan and from there they were transported to Shanghai, China.

Most of the Tmimim remained in Shanghai until after WWII. In 1941, Canada issued visas, nine of which were given to the Tmimim and the rest to other yeshiva students. Reb Mendel was among the nine who received a visa. The other eight Tmimim were Rabbis Yosef Hakohen Rodel, Yitzchok Hendel, Hersh Kotlarsky, Arye Leib Kramer, and may they live and be well, Rabbis Zev Greenglaz, Yosef Wineberg, Moshe Eliyohu Gerlitzky and Shmuel Stein. They traveled by ship from Shanghai to San Francisco, California.

In California they were greeted with a special reception by the Joint Distribution Committee. During their two week trip they ate only fruit and sardines. They were served meat meals but did not eat anything, suspecting that it might not be reliably kosher.