The USS Missouri - And the Rebbe

The USS Missouri was the platform upon which World War II ended. Not on land - but on a gunboat of the United States. That's where General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, held the solemn ceremony, where the enemies formally surrendered.

Who was responsible for wiring this huge battleship? The Rebbe of Lubavitch.

I already recalled one story I heard about this work the Rebbe did back then, circa 1944, which I related here: Escorted by Generals.

Now I came across another such story. Here's the transcript of the video. At the end of this narrative I leave you with a link to the video to see 1st hand, and because of slight changes from the transcript.

(Interview of Milton Fechter with "My Encounter With The Rebbe".)

I worked in the Brooklyn Navy Yard from January 1943 till June 1945. A retired admiral came to City College and said that they were desperately in need of engineers for the Navy Yard. They were building the battleship Missouri there - that's the battleship on which afterwards General MacArthur accepted the surrender of the Japanese in Tokyo Bay after the war - and they were also working on a smaller battleship, the Idaho, and one of the aircraft carriers, but I forget the name for that one.

So they gave me my diploma early and I came to work there, in Building 3, on Flushing Avenue and Vanderbilt. The building, it's a giant building, is still there. It was a huge operation - there were 77,000 people working there - and our section had about fifty engineers and craftsmen, evenly divided between Jews and Gentiles. I mention this because at the time, that was one of the things that was on the Gentiles' mind, always to look who is a Jew.

New York City in 1943 wasn't like today. Up in the Bronx, for example, was an Irish man named Joe McWilliams, he was a big anti-Semite and he had an organization called the Christian Front. Half the New York City police were Irish, and many belonged to the Christian Front. And they created a lot of trouble for Jews in the Bronx. In Brooklyn, Ridgewood, you had the Germans, and before the FBI broke up what they called the "Bund," they used to march at night in Hitler uniforms on Bushwick Ave.

There was this guy I went to school with for 5 years - I was 3 years with him in high school and then 2 years with him in City College. A fellow from a good family, with money. I'm sitting next to him in class. It's Friday, June 1940, the professor comes into the class, and he had a long face. Gentlemen, he says, I have some very sad news to report, it just came over the radio, that France had surrendered to Hitler. My heart fell all the way down.

This guy sitting next to me, turns around to me and his eyes are blazing hate. And here is what he says to me: "You'll get yours next." I tell you, I couldn't say a word. I was so stunned. Five years I go to school with him, and didn't know what was in him.

I'm trying to give you a picture of the times. It's different today. It's completely different today. Then, you're in a room with 50 people, everyone knows who the Gentiles are and who's a Jew. The fact that people were so busy working on the war effort had dampened a bit the anti-Semitism that had raged in New York City for a number of years prior to the war, but it was still there.

Our section was separated from the electrical section by a wooden fence about 3 feet high. And that section had about 300 men sitting at drafting tables. So I turn to the man next to me, and I said, what are they doing there? And he said they are all doing wiring diagrams for the ships, mostly the Missouri. So much electrical wiring goes into a ship, you have no idea.

I take a look, and you have 300 people in white shirts, because in those days most people wore white shirts. And in the middle is sitting a guy with a black beard, earlocks, a black hat and a black suit.

So I turn to the guy next to me, I said who is that? He says, "He's a rabbi, and he is also an electrical engineer, a graduate of the Sorbonne." I looked over there and I said to myself, boy I've got to give this guy credit. If I were sitting among all 300, I couldn't wear earlocks and a beard and feel comfortable. He sat there serene as if he was sitting amongst his chevra, and that really struck me.

So, I went over and introduced myself. He told me his name is Schneerson. But he didn't tell me he was the son-in-law of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and I didn't ask him. Nobody knew, as far as I knew.

He spoke quietly, he was a gentleman and he had two very smart eyes. He was a very self-contained individual. He wasn't interested in what someone on the left thought of him, or someone on the right thought of him. He was content with himself and he obviously had a lot of inner strength. It was very illuminating to me, to see a person in a hostile milieu to be so serene.

Friday he left early because of the Shabbos. And Saturday he didn't come in, Jewish holidays he didn't come in. He was the only guy that got that accommodation. Nobody else left for Saturdays or Fridays or holidays. Only one man - him.

I came up there a couple of Sundays to see some people there and I'd see him sitting there all by himself in that vast hall. Oh, it was more than a block long, that building. You take a look at it. It was quite a building.

He came in Sunday, I guess because he didn't come in Saturday. And he worked all by himself Sunday. And, I'll tell you one thing, the rabbi had a lot of courage, to be there all alone on Sunday. The rats that ran around there were about that big. And he sat by himself, drawing the wires for the various electrical wiring that goes into a ship. You couldn't give me a million dollars to sit there by myself on Sunday.

I didn't see him very often, because he never came to the cafeteria. He wouldn't go to the cafeteria; it wasn't kosher. So I didn't speak to him that much, only about three times altogether. But as I say, I was very impressed with his serenity. You see, if he'd sat among three hundred guys with beards and he was perfectly at ease that would be one thing. But to sit among three hundred goyim, completely oblivious to everything around him, that was something that struck me.

Later, when I read in the paper that he became Rebbe, I wasn't surprised because I saw that he was a very bright man and he obviously he had a lot of inner strength. He could have continued working as an engineer. He had the capabilities, the math he knew more than most of us there. Sure he was an engineer but that wasn't his life, he didn't make it top priority with him. His life was rabbinical and not engineering. He had hobbies, and engineering was one of them, but he was a rabbi at heart. Sometimes he was an engineer, but the Rebbe was always a Rebbe.

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(LINK to interview with above person.)

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Here's a LINK to another person's encounter with the Rebbe -- this time when the Rebbe was Rebbe.

And here is part II of what the engineer was saying.

"Miss Israel" & the Rebbe

Beauty pageant queen of Israel in 1991, Miri Goldfarb, asks the Rebbe for a blessing. The Rebbe then suggests how a woman can truly be praiseworthy, quoting King Solomon (Proverbs 31:30).

What "Converted" this Reform Rabbi?

A successful commercial once had as its main line, "Try it, you'll like it!"

This is the precise formula by which to understand Judaism. This formula launched, and therefore characterizes, the Jewish nation. The Jews, emancipated from Egyptian diaspora in 2448, became a nation by defining their existence based on this principle. When asked whether they could commit to G-d's demands, Jews exclaimed (Ex.24:7),
"We will do and we will understand!" "נעשה ונשמע"
The Jews determined steadfastly, first of all, to accept G-d's Torah blindly! They will unquestioningly take it upon themselves to do as it prescribes. Then, and only then, will they also seek to understand. This conditional statement demonstrated their full trust in G-d.

One might argue that the discovery of a hidden benefit can first be investigated before committing oneself to certain conduct. Maybe one can first try to understand Torah, and then, based on a new understanding, commit to it.

Not with Judaism! The life of an observant Jew cannot be appreciated or understood WITHOUT relevant activities to serve as pre-requisites. Behavioral "input" of Mitzvot offers the mind a new dimension by which to appreciate and comprehend Jewish tradition. The key is doing first, and then grasping its value. Not the other way around. There are some things that you can never like unless you first try them!

Need proof of this Jewish phenomenon? Look about you and see how orthodoxy and "ultra" orthodoxy thrives among Jews. What these Jews believe in outsiders may well consider patently absurd - like Jews wearing strings on a 4-cornered cloth, praying with boxes on their arm and forehead, fasting 24 hours twice a year, believing a Messiah will "redeem" them, always covering their heads with caps, eliminating all form of work one day a week, considering some foods or combination of foods forbidden, and many other "weird" behaviors and beliefs.

Yet, many such "lunatics" abound. Even among people who are generally considered by the world to be rather smart!

How could such absurdity prevail when it makes more common sense to throw off all shackles, to abandon what appears to be ancient practices and blend in with "modern" society!

The answer is simple. Torah truth can be appreciated only when actualized in practice!

This reform rabbi's story is a case in point (LINK). Hear him explain his "conversion" to orthodoxy and you will note he cannot really pinpoint what actually changed him or what had been missing in earlier years. I'm pretty certain he himself hasn't yet discovered that what really changed him was his "Let me try it" attitude. And then, of course, after he tried it, he liked it, in characteristic, authentic Jewish fashion.

Adventure in Animal Kingdom

Wonders of Hashem

"What's for lunch", you ask?
That's probably what the alligator was thinking.
You might be surprised ...

A Chabad Moshichist Firebrand

The son of an Admor and also grandson of 3 Admors speaks during a Chabad "farbrengen" of his own experience - as it relates to Moshiach. 

Of Women and Men

If ever you wondered how differences among Jews serve the good of the whole nation, how gender or tribal differences render a sum that is greater than its parts, listen to this great lecture, by Rabbi Majeski. That way, upon encountering Reform ladies who insist on praying with tefilin or wrapped in taleisim -- at the Kotel, instead of just (happily) doing so in their homes, you'll have more ammunition to guide them to a Torah perspective.
-- LINK

Jerusalem vs Damascus

During the war of 1973, that began on Yom Kippur, where Syria and Egypt sought to destroy the Jewish nation, the Rebbe spoke out and urged the Israeli administration to conquer Syria's capital city, Damascus. Why then did the Rebbe not, by the same token, urge it to conquer Cairo?

Because apparently Damascus must fall before Jerusalem can rise to full stature. That's the gist of what the Rebbe spoke to a liason of the Israeli government, that can be viewed on video here.

We spoke about the miracle now unfolding in Syria, first here and then here.

Because Damascus serves as the counterbalance for Jerusalem's rise to all its full glory, and Cairo's significance in this respect is nil, it stands to reason why the Rebbe insisted only on the defeat of Damascus. May that city fall soon, as Israel watches from the sidelines, and may all of Israel's enemies also be drawn into the conflict and be vanquished, once and for all, so that the Era of Redemption radiate for all to see and appreciate - during this Chanuka!

The Bamboo Plant and the High Holidays

You can learn about yourself as you learn about the wonderful bamboo plant, both growing in Hashem's garden.





A beautiful 2-min. video well worth your time:

A Gentile's Refreshing Opinion

It's a bit refreshing to hear a Gentile come out strongly and sanely in favor of the Jewish side of events, when most Gentiles of the world could care less of the prevalent anti-Semitism.

A Rebbe Story - Diamond Smuggling

These Rebbe stories are so plentiful, the saying in Chabad goes, they're rolling all over, even under the tables, that no one can bother picking them up. Here's one at Gruntig.net.

Satmar Adopts a Chabad Niggun

The Lubavitcher Rebbe taught a new niggun every Simchas Torah until the year his mother, Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson, passed on. One of them, sung in this 1-minute video, has filtrated into the repertoire of Satmar music as well! They improvise a bit by adding an occasional "oy". This must be a "tish" they're at, and it looks packed. The video is amateur, but the impression is great. One day, soon, all chassidim, and all yidden, from the world over, will sing together -- at the tish of Melech HaMoshiach!

Glenn Beck - "We're All Jews"

Although Glenn Beck, towards the end of his speech, quotes Rut, who converted to Judaism, wherein she simply and eloquently identifies with Jews and Judaism - while he is christian, his reason for quoting her was to identify with Jews for humanity's sake, and he therefore is most worthy of praise. The point he made about standing in the gas chambers of Auschwitz, and several more, were poignant and, to Jewish ears, remarkable as they were unusual, coming from the lips of a gentile.

Jerusalem or Damascus - The Rebbe's View

With Syria now embroiled in rebellion and likely to become a flashpoint for broader, regional flare-up, the Rebbe's perspective on this landscape deserves attention because, according to him, Jerusalem and Damascus pivot on the same fulcrum; Only one can rise while the other must fall! What was true in 1973 during the Yom Kippur War may well hold currently as well.

On Jewish Destiny - good video

Some see based on fleshy eyes, relegating conclusions to nothing beyond. Others see with what they believe is their God-given mind's eye, beyond Nature's constraints. For the latter, here's a great video that touches on the Jewish essence.



Jews live by rules that transcend Nature. Their role in this World preempted creation. Each lives eternally despite an impression based on Nature's veil. Even after departure from this World they remain a cohesive unity, coalesced to God and Torah.

The faith of Abraham, the perfect belief system based on Torah that would entirely collapse if even one element proved false, God's language and its revival, the Land of Israel that is the holy property of all Jewry - these and more are the crown jewels of the eternal trio: God, the Jews and Torah. Happy and righteous are those Gentiles who share this noble attribution, for they too will thus merit the anticipated utopia, a new super-Natural era close at hand.

Life in the Wild

The wonders of Hashem

An observer in a South African safari caught these moments of wildlife, you won't want to miss. Watch the drama unfold among buffaloes, lions and crocodiles.

Seen this on Dolphin Solitaire yet?

The Wonders of Hashem

Many of us, especially us dwellers of inner cities so far removed from nature, feel refreshed given the chance to see nature, even if it's one or two steps removed.

Enjoy 49 seconds with a frolicking otter.

(My thanks to Gruntig!)

Now see here two most incredible phenomena related to the the biggest beasts of land and sea. You will not be disappointed.

Dolphin's Solitaire - The Wonders of Hashem

A previous post, The Biggest Beasts of Land and Sea, showed a most remarkable behavior of Humpback Whales while feeding. This one, no less remarkable, shows dolphins playing at - you have to see it to believe it!

(And if you haven't seen this exhilarating "race" between a huge dolphin pod and two boats, watch here.)

(But if you want to see how a huge pack of dolphins run into a "roadblock", watch here.)

The Biggest Beasts of Land and Sea

מה רבו מעשיך ה' כולם בחכמה עשית

How manifold your works, G-d, all that You created in wisdom! 
(Teh. 104, 24)

(1) The Birth of an Elephant - This is a marvelous 5.5 minute video. Watch how mom does not give up on her calf.

Any birth, be it of a baby or a calf, or for that matter, any reproduction in any taxonomic kingdom, reveals the power G-d invested in the species to do what only G-d can do - to create - giving each species the instincts or faculties it needs for procreation.



(2) A Pod of Humpback Whales: Learn, in 2 minutes, how they cooperate to "bubble-feed"!