Concerning the Rebbe wanting to go to the mikveh Erev Yom Kippur תשכ״ה when sitting shivah after his mother, on Erev Yom Kippur before Minchah he wanted to go. So the story is that the Rebbe asked some rabbanim, like even though it says in Shulchan Aruch that really he should go only סמוך לחשיכה towards the evening, but he would like to go before מנחה ערב יום כיפור, wanted to go to the mikveh. So he asked different rabbanim, and it seems like he couldn't find a heter. It looks like, I'm just saying what I remember what took place then, I didn't see each of these details, but this is what was going on, that Rabbi Rifkin, Berel Rifkin, he said to the Rebbe that על פי דין you're allowed to go, and he said some heter. And the Rebbe was happy, but the Rebbe told him, לא מצאתי לך חבר, that, \"I didn't find somebody else to agree with you. I want another person to agree.\" And actually when even the Satmar Rebbe came, the Rebbe asked him whether he's able to go, and the Satmar Rebbe answers, shteit dach סמוך לחשיכה, that you could only get up before חשיכה, close to the evening. So, in other words, he didn't find a heter. Then

Rabbi Rifkin was standing outside of the house where the Rebbe was sitting shivah, and any rav who came, he would stop him before he went in and he would say, \"If the Rebbe will ask you whether he could go to the מקוה ערב יום כיפור before Minchah, say that he could.\" I remember when the Munkatcher Rebbe came, and there's a whole story what the Rebbe said, but what's נוגע to this ענין is that the Rebbe told him that they should print all the teshuvot of the Minchat Elazar. And the לשון the Rebbe used was, \"I'm sure if you'd have printed all the teshuvot of Minchat Elazar, I would already find a heter to go to the mikveh before Minchah on Erev Yom Kippur.\" And then I remember also that, I think it was Erev Yom Kippur in the morning already, that when the Tzehlemer Rav came, and I was standing outside and I saw that the Tzehlemer Rav is coming and he's going to go in to the Rebbe to מנחם אבל, and Rabbi Rifkin stopped him and he said, \"If the Rebbe will ask you about going to the mikveh before Minchah, so you should answer yes.\" He walked in, and he was able to go over right away, cause sometimes had to wait for other people to finish, here he came and it was a very short, right away he sat down. And what he did was, I was standing there, he did not even wait for the Rebbe to start, and right away he says, \"I heard that there's do a she'eilah here, there's a she'eilah here about going to the מקוה ערב יום כיפור before Minchah, so I think you could go.\" So the Rebbe asked him, \"farvos?\" In other words, you're saying you're allowed to, give me the reason. And I remember, since he was not ready for this question, he hadn't thought it through properly, so he started giving sevarot, and the sevarot were שוואכע סברות, and the Rebbe right away asked him different kushyot on the sevarot, and it didn't come out. But he tried to give the Rebbe a heter. He said clearly, \"איך האלט אז מען מעג, that you're allowed to.\" But the sevara he started giving was he wasn't דורכגעטראכט, he didn't prepare it, so it wasn't, and that that wasn't really accepted by the Rebbe. And otherwise also, l'poal mamash what happened is not really so clear whether he went before Mincha or not. It seems like he did not go before Mincha. That's what it seems like. So that's noge'a the Rebbe going then. Then

there's another inyan which has nothing to do with this, and I think it was when the Rebbe was מנחם אבל Rav Shaag at a different time, so the Rebbe said that a vort that if you're meikil in הלכות אבילות למטה, they're meikil with the נשמה למעלה. And Rav Shaag asked the Rebbe, \"Where's the makor to this?\" And the Rebbe answered that, \"This is, אזוי האב איך מיר עס געלייגט, this or I don't know the exact expression, this is the way I understand, the way I understand it.\" And that for us be'emet is a makor, we don't need any more makor, this is the makor itself. And that's why anybody who connects this, the Rebbe's asking to go to the mikveh before Mincha on ערב יום כיפור has nothing to do with this vort that the Rebbe said. There was a person who came to the shul and was talking to me and we were talking about going to the mikveh, so I mentioned to him benoge'a that be'etzem the Rebbe felt that you're allowed to, that's itself a makor, and I told him the story that the Rebbe said that if you're meikil in אבילות למטה איז מען מיקל with the נשמה למעלה, and the Rebbe said that, that... I didn't... אזוי האב איך מיר עס געלייגט, and for us that's enough makor. And the truth is, so why is this not a makor? Imagine you would find to some din that you say where's the makor and you'd say, \"Well, it's Aruch HaShulchan.\" Okay, Aruch HaShulchan, where did he get it from? Where is his makor? Or anybody else that you could say. Ela mai, we're talking about גדולי ישראל, that's called a מקור. So if the Rebbe says it, that's the מקור for the ענין itself. But we can't mix the stories. So it's, the Tzehlimarer Rav בפירוש tried to give a היתר, Satmar Rav, Satmar Rebbe did not give a היתר. He tried to give, but that the Rebbe didn't accept it. לפועל ממש I don't think that the Rebbe went. It's not clear, wasn't sure, no one knew exactly, but it seems like that he didn't go to the מקוה ערב יום כיפור before מנחה. And also the ווארט בנוגע אז if you're מיקל in אבילות איז מען מיקל with the נשמה למעלה, that's a separate issue. And the Rebbe said this to Rashag, that that's what he that's what he thinks, אז ס'איז מורא'דיג געלייגט, and the אמת is, that's enough מקור. You don't need anymore. Now, I wanted to just add that there is a תשובה in Divrei Nechemiah where about the Alter Rebbe, that the Alter Rebbe says something, and there's a long תשובה trying to find the מקור where the Alter Rebbe is from, and there's before he starts giving the מקור, so Divrei Nechemiah writes that we need a מקור for other people. For us חסידים, he writes בפירוש, for us חסידים, this is we don't have to look for a מקור. This is the Alter Rebbe says it, it's good enough. For those that are looking, so he goes through a whole תשובה, he says a מקור, but באמת we don't need a מקור because what the Rebbe said is a מקור for itself. And I remember even once Rav Alberg, when he was in ישיבה, once he spoke and he said the same vort. Said something what the Rebbe said, said people asked, \"Where's the מקור for this?\" So he says, \"I answered, the L lubavitcher Rebbe alein is the מקור. That's it, and you don't have to go any further.\" That's basically the story around this ענין.