Raphael Nachman Cohen

R' Raphael Nachman (Folleh) Cohen (5 Shevat 5657/1897 - 17 Tishrei 5748/1987) was a Chabad chassid, a bearer of tradition and author of the books "Shmuos V'Sipurim" (Traditions and Stories), "Lubavitch V'Chayoleha" (Lubavitch and Its Soldiers) and "Me'achorei Masach HaBarzel" (Behind the Iron Curtain).

Life History edit

He was born on 5 Shevat 5657/1897 in the town of Rudnia to R' Baruch Shalom and Slava Cohen. When he was eight years old, his mother - following his father's instructions - took him to Yeshivas Tomchei Temimim in Lubavitch, intending to leave him there to study. Upon arriving in Lubavitch, Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah expressed her surprise at the intention to leave such a young child alone far from his parents and advised the mother to bring him to the Rebbe for yechidus (private audience). When the 8-year-old boy entered alone into the holy chamber of the Rebbe Rashab, the Rebbe smiled at him, inquired about his learning and even tested him. During the yechidus, the Rebbe asked him if he slept wearing a tallis katan and yarmulke, and continued to ask and investigate the eight-year-old boy in great detail... Finally, the Rebbe gently asked: "Do you want to stay here?" - "Yes," the little one replied. "Won't you miss your mother?" - the Rebbe continued with a smile - and suddenly the dam of tears burst, and the little boy began to sob... The Rebbe immediately sent him out of the room, instructed his mother to return home with him, and right there wrote a letter to his father: "Your son is still a child who needs his mother. If in another two years, G-d forbid, Moshiach does not come - bring him here to study!"

With the Rebbe Rashab edit

From the age of 10, R' Folleh grew up in Lubavitch, in Yeshivas Tomchei Temimim. The Temimim had a special learning schedule, but the Rebbe gave R' Folleh special instructions to modify this schedule slightly - so that he would also manage to learn Tanya by heart, so that within time he would know the entire Likkutei Amarim Tanya by heart.

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.

Cover of the book 'Behind the Iron Curtain'

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."

Marriage edit

R' Folleh got married to Mrs. Rivka Cohen, the daughter of Rabbi Yoel and Mrs. Freida Davidson.

The Arrest edit

In the year 5690 (1930), R' Folleh was arrested by the secret police. He describes it in his book "Behind the Iron Curtain":

"On the holy Shabbos, 18 Sivan 5690, I received a letter from the G.P.U. It stated: 'You must report to the G.P.U. office at 2 Lubyanka Street on Sunday, 15/06/1930, at 11:00.'"
"Great fear fell upon me, my wife, my parents, and my closest friends... And what were my additional sins? Perhaps religious matters... the mikveh... or maybe because of the 'Tomchei Temimim' classes... But these are only known to Anash who are involved in them..."
"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..."

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' folleh of course did not agree, and as punishment for this he was sent for three years of exile to the Urals in Siberia.

His book "Lubavitch and Its Soldiers"

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' Folleh stood with superhuman courage in his refusal and did not desecrate the Yom Tov. In the end, they released him - miraculously letting him go.

Self-Sacrifice for Observing Mitzvos edit

While in the village of Che - the northernmost settlement, almost at the Folleh, where the temperature was 75° Celsius below zero, his mother sent him warm boots by mail. Although she had informed him that they were checked for shatnez (forbidden mixture of wool and linen), R' Folleh suspected that she had altered the truth out of concern for pikuach nefesh (life-threatening situation), so he did not wear them, and made do - despite the life-threatening danger - with simple shoes! As a result, he caught a severe cold and developed a fever. Only when he received a letter from "Aunt Yezha" (this was the 'letter nickname' for R' Yankel Zuravitcher, because it was dangerous to write real names in letters) in which he faithfully promised that there was no concern of shatnez in the boots, did he begin to wear them. All this - despite knowing that according to the law it was permissible for him to wear them from the outset, even without any investigation, since they were sent by a Jew. All the more so when not wearing them presented a genuine danger to life. "But how could I wear them initially?" he wrote to his brother, Leibe, who 'chastised' him for his 'stubbornness', "It is known that the acronym of shatnez (שעטנז) is 'Satan Oz' (שטן עז - 'powerful Satan')! And besides this - a sin remains in the three impure kelipos forever!"

By the grace of Hashem, he evaded the Russian secret police through incredible miracles, and on Rosh Chodesh Adar I 5695 (1935), with Hashem's kindness, he succeeded in immigrating with his family to Eretz Yisrael.

His Aliyah to the Land of Israel edit

When leaving for the Land of Israel, he traveled through Vienna in order to meet the Rebbe Rayatz who was then in the resort town of Purkersdorf near Vienna. There he met with the Rebbe Rayatz and the Rebbe. On that occasion, the Rebbe Rayatz blessed him saying, "May we hear good tidings from one another."

When the Cohen family boarded the train to travel toward the port, they were surprised to see the Rebbe arrive with chocolate for the children. The Rebbe explained that his father-in-law had asked him "to see how you traveled."

When he arrived in the Land of Israel, he was offered to live in Haifa, which was also the only place where he was offered a livelihood. However, he insisted on living specifically in Tel Aviv, where he suffered from terrible poverty and worked hard all day paving roads. When asked why he insisted on living specifically in Tel Aviv, he replied that the Rebbe had told him while still abroad that he needed to strengthen the chassidim who had arrived in Tel Aviv!

After some years, he moved to live in Ramat Gan where he worked for his livelihood as a milkman. Immediately upon his arrival in the country, without wasting a moment, he began frantically rushing between various government offices to obtain entry visas to the Land of Israel for many chassidim who remained in Russia.

It was customary in Ramat Gan that on Simchat Torah, all the Chabad families with their wives and children would gather in the home of Reb Folleh, and he would farbreng with all the passionate warmth of his soul, as was his way. After the long and uplifting farbrengen, everyone - the chassidim in front, followed by the families and their descendants - would march in formation, with singing and dancing, toward the Rabbi's house to drink and farbreng a bit, and from there they would enter all the homes of the chassidim, staying in each apartment for a short "mini-farbrengen." The few Chabad homes in Ramat Gan were scattered throughout the city, so the procession had to cross main roads. Whenever they reached a busy road, Reb folleh would stand upright in the middle of it, stopping all traffic, explaining in a loud and joyful voice about Simchat Torah, encouraging Torah observance and mitzvot, and concluding with sweeping enthusiasm: "Today is Simchat Torah, we must rejoice, dance and even do somersaults!" And then, before the amused-astonished eyes of all the drivers and their passengers (most of whom knew him...), the enthusiastic Reb Folleh would jump and do a somersault in the middle of the main road - and other chassidim would roll after him. This happened every time the procession crossed a road. This was Simchat Torah in Ramat Gan, year after year, with Reb Folleh. The Rebbe mentioned him at the Purim farbrengen of 5716 (1956) after he had expressed at a farbrengen (after saying l'chaim) that the Chazon Ish (one of the greatest rabbis among the Lithuanian Jews who had passed away two years earlier) envied a Chabad child who studies Tanya (the Rebbe said that the postal service in Israel became wealthy due to the letters sent about this).

In his later years he was sickly, but endured it with supreme courage.

He was among the founders of the Oholei Yosef Yitzchak network in the Holy Land.

The Faith in the Coming of Moshiach edit

He was unique in his burning faith in the coming of Moshiach and in his daily anticipation of his arrival. Even in Ramat Gan - his family members related - upon hearing about the Rebbe Rayatz's call "Immediately to Teshuvah, Immediately to Redemption," he returned home with deep joy, happily announced the news of redemption to his wife, and hurried with exuberance and confidence to the bookcase. When he found the "Kinot for Tisha B'Av," he made a bonfire in their honor, and with joyous jubilation threw them into the fire - a fire of confidence!

In his final days, when the Rebbe began to cry out loudly "Moshiach Now" etc. - he strengthened the faith in Moshiach and the confidence in his immediate arrival, and instilled it firmly in all his descendants. Reb Folleh lived the faith in redemption every moment of the day.

Two days before his passing, when he could no longer speak at all in his terrible weakness, he exerted all his strength and uttered the words: "Ven kumt er? Ven kumt er?" (=When is he coming? When is he coming?)

Reb Folleh merited to establish generations of chassidim, mekusharim, the Rebbe's shluchim throughout the world, and passed away at a good age in Kfar Chabad on 17 Tishrei 5748 (1987).

His Family edit

His daughter, Mrs. Chasia, wife of R' Baruch Pariz (born in 5682/1922) - passed away 17 Adar 5764/2004.
His daughter, Mrs. Freida, wife of R' Gershon Segal - passed away 17 Adar I 5771/2011.
His daughter, Mrs. Gitel, wife of R' Yitzchak Ginzburg - passed away 5 Kislev 5775/2014.
His son, Rabbi Yoel Cohen, the Rebbe's chief "chozar" (oral reviewer of the Rebbe's talks). He married Mrs. Luba Leah, daughter of R' Shneur Zalman Butman.

His Books edit

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.
Lubavitch and Its Soldiers - history of the Tomchei Tmimim Lubavitch Yeshiva and the Tmimim who studied there. Published in 5742/1982.
Holy Talks from the Rebbe Rayatz (editor) - collection of holy talks from the Rebbe Rayatz on various topics translated into Hebrew.

External Links edit

The KGB envies a young 'Tamim': When the Rebbe told about R' Folle Cohen, website
Biography and photo of his commentary on chapter 14 in Tanya, website
Zeide Folle, teshurah from his descendants' wedding, Menachem-Av 5779/2019
"And then, the Rebbe began to climb"..., journal he wrote during his stay in the Rebbe's court in the month of Tishrei 5717/1956, in Beis Moshiach weekly before Rosh Hashanah 5777/2016