Dumpster Diving Shliach Recovers Kovtzim and Dollars From The Rebbe

by CrownHeights.info

Dumpster Diving was never a fashionable sport, but sometimes it does uncover some very worthwhile finds.

When Rabbi Eli Wilansky from Bnai Emunoh Chabad in Pittsburgh, PA, which is under the under leadership of Rabbi Elchonon Freidman, arrived at the Chabad House this past Thursday, he glanced inside the Chabad House’s dumpster, expecting to see the assorted trash that comes from doing a routine cleaning of the Chabad House.

Instead, his eyes found a box filled with what appeared to be Sefarim.

“I look inside and I see sefarim there,” Rabbi Wilansky told CrownHeights.info. “They looked pretty new, so I took a few out.”

After some questions were asked, it became apparent that the people cleaning had simply tossed the entire box, without even checking its contents.

“So I went back into the dumpster and took the whole box out,” Wilansky explained. What he found inside went went far beyond just sefarim.

Under the stack of books that filled the box he found two kuntreisim of the Rebbe, dated the 17th of Kislev 5752 (the blue), and the 10th of Shevat 5752 (the red). Each Kuntres came with a Rebbe Dollar with an owners identifying notation.

On the phone, Wilansky tracked down the original owner of the Kuntreisim, who was overjoyed to be reunited with the priceless artifacts from thirty years ago.

“The box must have been for sheimos or a donation to the Chabad House,” Wilansky mused. ” He must have not realized what else was in the box.”

Bnai Emunoh Chabad – Greenfield just completed a successful fundraising campaign to build a Mikvah in memory of Yudi “Jeff” Sternfeld, raising over $500,000.