Raphael Nachman Cohen: Difference between revisions

Young R' Folleh was considered a "character" in Lubavitch. He was a chassid with all his heart and soul. In addition to being a devoted servant of Hashem and a maskil in Chassidus, he was also counted among the special singers in the Rebbe Rashab's choir.

There was a time when R' Folleh slept in the home of the Rebbe Rashab, with another student (this was one of the times when the Rebbe Rashab was staying in Moscow, not in his home in Lubavitch, as detailed in the story in Shmuos V'Sipurim Part 1). They had a special room at the end of the corridor. One evening, while they were in their room, the door opened, and the Frierdiker Rebbe stood in the doorway: "Come hear good things from Father!" - he told them excitedly. They hurried after him, and together they peeked with awe through a crack into the yechidus room. There was a very interesting yechidus taking place where wonderful things were being said - and for forty-five minutes the Frierdiker Rebbe leaned on Folleh and his friend - as together they 'peeked' and listened to the holy words... Immediately after the passing of his Rebbe, the Rebbe Rashab, R' Folleh connected with all his heart and soul to his son, the Frierdiker Rebbe. In those days, immediately after the passing, he sent a wonderful letter to all the chassidim in which he wrote about the ways to connect to the Frierdiker Rebbe. In his wonderful letter, R' Folleh emphasized the greatness of the Frierdiker Rebbe's loftiness and divine wonderfulness, and concluded with the words: "And beautiful is the power of the son."

"The next day, at 12:30 in the afternoon, I went to the G.P.U. offices. My father accompanied me to the door of the G.P.U. building. I received a farewell blessing from my father, entered inside and approached the information desk... The clerk pressed a button and a soldier appeared... The soldier led me downstairs, brought me into a room and locked the door behind him..."</blockquote>After several interrogations when they failed to extract any information from him about the mikvaos, the underground classes and yeshivas, they offered to release him on condition that once a month he would come to tell them a little about the Chassidim - what they do and what they talk about. But, R' Pole of course did not agree, and as punishment for this he was sent for three years of exile to the Urals in Siberia.

Once while he was in the Urals, they came to him on Yom Tov and demanded that he sign a certain document. When he refused, they roughly threw him into a prison cell and threatened to send him to the island of polar bears - a place from which no one returns - but R' Pole stood with superhuman courage in his refusal and did not desecrate the Yom Tov. In the end, they released him - miraculously letting him go.

== His Books ==

* '''Behind the Iron Curtain''' - his memoirs about his imprisonment and exile in Communist Russia.

* '''Rumors and Stories from Our Holy Rebbes''' - a collection of stories about our Rebbes and their Chassidim - three volumes.