How the First Breslov Yeshiva was Opened in the Merit of Rabbi Elchanan

Today, the 11th of Tammuz, is recognized as the day of the murder of Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman Hy"d (May Hashem avenge his blood), the Rosh Yeshiva (head of the academy) of Kovno and one of the luminaries of the generation preceding the Holocaust. Before you is an excerpt from a lesson given by the Gaon and Tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a (may he live long and good days) years ago, in which he recounts how Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman was murdered in Kovno, along with additional stories and facts about the great Gaon (genius) zy"a (may his merit protect us).

Rabbi Elchanan was Murdered Because of a Note:

Today is the yahrtzeit (anniversary of passing) of Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman. He was in Kovno—he had fled to Kovno. The Nazis forbade walking in the streets, but they did not kill children. So, they would send children from house to house with notes asking, "How are you?" and various other things. It happened that they sent a note with a child to the house where Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman was staying; there were 40 families in that same apartment. There was also that fortress (the Seventh Fort). It was filled with tens of thousands of Jews (who were imprisoned in that citadel). But specifically there, in his apartment, they hadn't taken anyone (to the Fort yet). The Nazis caught the child who had been given the note. They said, "This is a spy note." They immediately entered the house of Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman. Someone showed them the house of the Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman, and they caught him exactly then with several other rabbis. Or perhaps they knew about him beforehand and took him to the Fort. This is the day—the 11th of Tammuz. It is not known if they killed him today, tomorrow, or the day after on the 13th; it was a period of three days where they certainly didn't just hold him, they beat him there. They would torture them and take them to a nearby forest and shoot them in that place (at the Fort); they dug pits nearby and murdered them---

The Breslov Yeshiva was Established in the Merit of Rabbi Elchanan's Student:

Rabbi Shimon Epstein was the student of Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman; he was with him all the time. His uncles wandered to a certain village, as it was forbidden to study Torah in the large cities, so they went to study in a town where there was a Yeshiva. Eventually, he heard they were looking for him—the Russian police were searching for Rabbi Shimon because someone had informed on him. So he began to flee; he decided to escape the city. Two children caught him; they saw a Jew walking with a beard and peyos (sidelocks) trying to escape on foot. The police were looking for him, for whatever reason, and two shkatzim (non-Jewish youths) caught him at the entrance to the city and said, "You must be running away, you have some business, come to the police." Well, they took him to the police and they said, "Yes, we are looking for you, something is wrong with you." They immediately sent him straight to Siberia, and in that merit, he was saved. Of those who remained, no trace was left of them at all. Not from anyone. Then the Germans came, may their names be blotted out. This is the story of Rabbi Shimon—everything we have today is in his merit. It is also the merit of Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman that he had such a student, for without Rabbi Shimon, I always say, there would be no trace of Breslov today! He was a man of Torah; everyone passed through him—everyone, everyone to the cheder (elementary school), everyone passed through the Breslov Yeshiva in Bnei Brak. Otherwise, no one would have come close. We see people in Breslov who don't know how to study, who don't know Gemara (Talmud)—this is the greatest Chillul Hashem (desecration of G-d's name). And this must be for the elevation of the soul; what we are speaking about now is for the Aliyah (ascent) of the soul of Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman zy"a, whose student zy"a wanted people to study Gemara because he was the only one who established the Breslov Yeshiva. No one else went to establish a Yeshiva; everyone looked out for themselves, it wasn't a reality... everyone worried about their own money and parnassah (livelihood). He was the only one, the first to go out as a pioneer and say, "We must establish a Yeshiva!"

Did Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman Travel to America for a Suit Button?:

Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman, may Hashem avenge his blood, traveled to America to collect money for the Yeshiva he opened. They told him there was a wealthy Jew, a owner of a suit factory, and if he could succeed in getting a donation from him, he could contribute a large sum—except that he was a miser. Rabbi Elchanan went to him and reminded him that they were friends during their youth. The wealthy man immediately brought him in and prepared a lavish seudah (festive meal) in his honor. Rabbi Elchanan, instead of speaking with him about the dismal state of the Yeshiva, inquired about the economic state of the factory.

The factory owner said to him: "Everything is bankrupt, we don't earn a penny, we are only in the minus, minus, minus." Rabbi Elchanan said, "Fine, excuse me, is it possible to fix a button? You have a giant factory of fabrics, of suits, of clothes, of dresses—just a button! Here, this button, you see it is already a bit loose." "Certainly, certainly! What a question, for a button? Of course! Of course! Of course!" Immediately he called his best worker and told him, "Put the suit in the button machine, put new buttons on the whole suit, iron it a bit, refurbish it, spray it." After five minutes, he brought him a new, pressed suit with shining buttons of pure gold, truly like that of a king. Like that of a king. Oh, how happy he was! What happiness, what joy! There was no such joy in his life before.

Afterward, after a day, the man called: "Come quickly, come quickly!" He said, "Tell me, did you come for a button? What happened here? Am I crazy? Do you think I believe you that you came just to fix a button?" Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman said to him, "I came for my Yeshiva, not for a button. I understood that you would slowly realize that I didn't come for a button." Rabbi Elchanan said to him: "And what about you? You have already been here twenty years in America sewing buttons? Aren't you ashamed? You were once a Yeshiva student—you went to sew buttons?" And from then on, he did teshuvah (repentance) and supported his entire Yeshiva.

When Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman Ate a Rag with Cleaning Fluid:

If a person puts their head into the Gemara (Talmud), they will see that they don't need to sleep at all, they don't need to eat. His mother will bring him food, and he won't touch it at all; it won't interest him, he won't even see it. Like they tell of Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman, that he came from the Yeshiva at one in the morning. They set a plate of food for him, and next to it was a bowl with a bit of kerosene and a cloth for cleaning the table, along with a little bit of Lysol—cleaning materials. Well, instead of the plate with the meat, he took and ate the cloth! He ate that piece of rag! The one that was soaked there in Lysol! He said, "It was a bit sour... the meat was a bit tough... it wasn't cooked enough, apparently..." He didn't know what he was eating! That is how the Tzaddikim (righteous ones) were! That is how they reached all the levels that a person has not seen, heard, or known. He didn't know what he was eating, he didn't know anything! So the Rebbe (Rebbe Nachman) says, "This is what I wanted from you, and I wanted from you that you should sit and study day and night!!"