There was a Yid named Reb Pinchos Teitz zt”l who was one of the few people permitted to visit the USSR.
He once related that the day before he left for Russia, the Lubavitcher Rebbe sent him a package containing some siddurim, chumashim, and pairs of tefillin to bring there. This was not unusual. This time, however, the Rebbe also gave him a small Tanya and told him to carry it with him wherever he went.
On his third day in Moscow, he was walking down a dark side street when two young men suddenly appeared, grabbed him, and pulled him into a waiting car.
As soon as he got inside, they calmed him down and explained that they were Chabad chassidim who desperately needed him, but had no way of reaching him other than “kidnapping” him.
They told him that each of them had a burning question for the Rebbe. The first said that he had discovered that the KGB was after him. He wanted to know whether he should flee, even though doing so would force him to stop all the important work he was doing in Moscow.
The second asked whether he should apply for papers to leave Russia and go to Eretz Yisroel, even though merely applying would likely cost him his job.
Reb Pinchos then farbrenged with them for a while and told them about the Tanya the Rebbe had given him. They asked if they could see it, and he agreed. They were excited just to hold a Tanya that the Rebbe had touched that same week.
Suddenly, one of them noticed that there were two folded pages in the sefer. The first fold was next to the words: “The hour is very late; there is no time to wait.” The second fold was next to the words: “Go into Eretz Yisroel.”
They were astonished. The Rebbe had clearly sent them answers to their questions: telling the first Yid to leave immediately, and the second to apply for papers to go to Eretz Yisroel!
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 85.
