Highlighting: “Around The Year With Reb Meilech” by Yisroel Besser. ArtScroll Mesorah Publications. 2023. Hardcover. 384 pages. ISBN-13: 9781422639108.

(Courtesy of Artscroll/Mesorah Publications) Have you ever wished you could be there, when Rav Elimelech Biderman—“Reb Meilech”—gives over his Torah wisdom, his unforgettable stories, his unflagging energy to serve Hashem, his exuberant simcha at being a member of His People?

Now you can.

Bestselling author Yisroel Besser offers us Reb Meilech’s divrei Torah, stories, and, of course, his incomparable chizuk—for every month of the Jewish calendar. As he energizes and elevates the thousands who come to see and hear him, let us actually feel the excitement and passion that characterize his every word.

The following is an excerpt from this scintillating book.

The King Has the Power

The Gaavad of the Eidah HaChareidis in Yerushalayim, Rav Yitzchak Tuvia Weiss, was a child when World War II broke out. He lived in a small Slovakian town called Pesing, where the community leaders were uncertain as to how to proceed. They decided to send a child, who would not attract attention, to the closest big city to try to glean information about what lay ahead.

Bright young Tuvia was dispatched on this mission, and when he reached Pressburg, he saw only devastation and loss. He went to meet with the rosh hakahal, who had no good news to share.

The rosh hakahal was very taken by the sincere, courageous young boy, and he offered him a chance at life—a coveted ticket on the Kindertransport to England.

Tuvia returned to Pesing to discuss the offer with his parents. Understanding the reality of the situation, they encouraged him to hurry and go. After a tearful farewell, he left and joined thousands of children on the voyage to England, his mother’s cries of “Tuvia’le, bleib a Yid, remember that you are a Jew,” ringing in his ears.

Here, Reb Meilech’s voice seems to crack.

“Remain a Jew,” he says twice, and then concludes, “parents and their child parting from one another until techiyas hameisim.”

When they arrived, the British government celebrated them, these children who had been snatched out of the jaws of danger and saved, and a large welcoming ceremony was held in a public park. The children lined up and, at one point, the king passed through the group of assembled children, studying the young people saved by his government.

Suddenly, a boy standing near young Tuvia Weiss began to shout, “Your highness, your highness,” throwing himself at the royal carriage. The guards attempted to push him away, but his frantic cries attracted the attention of the monarch, who summoned him closer.

“Honored king,” the child said, tears running down his cheeks, “I owe you my life. You have been so kind to give me this chance and I can never repay you. But your highness, my heart is heavy when I contemplate the fate of my parents who are still back home, the ground burning beneath their feet. The enemy is all around them, so what good is my life when they are in such peril? Please, your highness, help them too.”

The king was moved by the pleas of the young boy, and he asked for the details regarding the child’s family. Two weeks later, Rav Weiss related, that family had been located and brought to England as well.

The Gaavad of Yerushalayim reflected on what had happened.

There were one thousand children there, and each and every one of them knew how incredibly difficult it had been to rescue them. But this child asked anyway, because he knew that the king had the power to do it, and with his sincere plea, he succeeded in moving the king!

They all had the same chance, but none of the others believed they could do it, so none of them did it.

That’s Chodesh Elul!

HaMelech basadeh. During these holy days, He is close by, the King visiting His subjects, and we have the chance to call out, “My king, dear king, hear my pleas… hear my pleas, and have mercy…”

An Overflowing Account

A Yid went into the previous Rebbe of Toldos Aharon with a kvittel, in which he wrote that he had a bittere machalah, a dread disease, and needed a refuah sheleimah. The Rebbe wished him well and asked if he says Tehillim. He doesn’t say much Tehillim, he admitted.

Then the Rebbe shared an insight. If a person has a bank account, he is able to write out checks against the balance in that account—the more funds in his account, the greater his ability to spend.

The way a person creates that sort of spiritual account is through saying Tehillim. The perakim add up and create a surplus against which one can make withdrawals when the need arises.

That’s what the Rebbe said.

Reb Meilech waves his hands. “Nu, be b’simchah. You just found out how to become a gvir, the secret to an overflowing bank account, so smile!”

The Ari Hakadosh reveals that the word Elul is roshei teivos for Ani l’Dodi v’Dodi Li, I am my Beloved’s and my Beloved is mine (Shir Hashirim 6:3), a reference to the fact that this month is a time for closeness, to mend our relationship with the Bashefer.

It’s a time of special rachamim, a time to immerse ourselves in our well-worn Tehillim—to fill up that account!

And this special opportunity makes us happy and gives us a new rush of energy… Elul is roshei teivos “leibidik uhn veiter leibidik” (לעבעדיק און ווייטער לעבעדיק, enthusiasm and added enthusiasm), always with joy and only with joy.

Keep It Close

We usher in the new month by reciting a kappitel Tehillim (Chapter 27), L’Dovid Hashem ori, and with it comes a new light. Tehillim does that for us, the words healing and uplifting, and we therefore recite this kappitel in all our tefillos through Shemini Atzeres.

Reb Meilech looks around, as if he is surrounded by a handful of people and not hundreds.

In our chaburos, we undertake together to come to the heilege teg, the holiest days, bearing the whole Sefer Tehillim. There are five sefarim, five sections in Tehillim, so we start by saying one of the five sefarim on Shabbos mevarchim Elul and we say one more each Shabbos until Rosh Hashanah, finishing the entire sefer this way. Of course, those who have the minhag of saying the complete sefer each Shabbos—in my father-in-law’s beis medrash, like in all of those led by Nadvorna descendants, they recite the Sefer Tehillim every Shabbos in the weeks leading to Rosh Hashanah—shouldn’t say less to take part in this… This is a minimum, but the more Tehillim said, the better!

This is the lashon of the Shaar HaMelech:

I have seen this in various places, and my father has told me about this very fitting custom—and that is to recite Tehillim following tefillah each day between Rosh Chodesh Elul and Yom Kippur, because the prime avodah in this month is to weaken the prosecuting angels who seek to harm us. The more strength one adds, the more effective this avodah will be, and nothing is more devastating to the forces of evil than perakim of Tehillim, which are called “mizmorim,” a term that denotes pruning. They are the means by which we weaken and uproot the destructive angels.

If there is a community that does not yet know of this minhag, please make them aware, so that they keep the Sefer Tehillim close by during this month… and the merit of Dovid HaMelech will stand by them…

The Tehillim needs to be your best friend at this time of year.

The mashpia reaches out and lovingly taps a Tehillim on the table. “Deine besteh freint, your best friend,” he says again.