The Good Old Days of 770

Reb Mendel Futerfas (1906-1995), known informally as Reb Mendel, was a famous Chabad Mashpia. He was a top student of the famed Mashpia, Reb Zalman Moishe Yitzchaki.

He was known for telling stories, particularly from his many years he was tortured while incarcerated in communist Russia for the crime of forging hundreds of false passports enabling hundreds if not thousands of Jews to escape Russia where they couldn't practice Judaism. He would derive lessons from everything he heard and saw there.

He once told that although playing cards was against prison rules, his prison-mates would always play in their cell. The prison guard could see them playing, however when he came in, the cards would be gone and as hard as he would search, the guard could not find the illicit items. When he finally gave up and promised not to bother the prisoners if they would only tell him what they do with the cards, they told him that every time he came in, they would slip the cards into his own pocket and then pick-pocket the cards back before he left. Reb Mendel learned from this that sometimes we go looking far and long, when we have what we want in our own pocket.

Below is part 2, click below the video on the link on the left for part 1.

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Part 1


Part 3

Part 4