Nyet Nyet Nikavo

When the Frierdiker Rebbe was informed - at the offices of the Russian NKVD - that he was free, the news reached the home of his host, the shochet of Kastrama, before the Frierdiker Rebbe returned from the office. Reb Michoel Dvorkin was there, and in his great shock and joy over the unexpected good news, he grabbed a sotke, a bottle of mashke. He did not drink it, of course, but held it and danced throughout the house singing a Russian song whose words mean, “There is no-one besides Hashem.”

Reb Michoel worked with non-Jews for many years, and would often use Russian expressions. That’s why he sang this niggun in Russian too: “Nyet, nyet nikava krome - and here one would say Hashem’s name - adnavo.” Since the halacha is that Hashem’s name cannot be be mentioned in any language (not just Hebrew), we cannot say the Russian word for “Hashem,” and so instead, we say “krome yivo,” which means, “besides Him,” and the meaning is clear.

We know of the reactions of three different people to the news of the Frierdiker Rebbe’s release:

Reb Elye Chaim’s [Althoiz] face changed colors - half red, half white, to the point that the Frierdiker Rebbe feared for his well-being and calmed him by patting his shoulders, so that he should calmly absorb the news.

Reb Michoel - as detailed above.

In addition: in the home of the shochet from Kastrama there also lived a young boy of around nine-years-old, who was not particularly intelligent. When he saw the commotion, he wanted to show how he, too, was excited. He did a handstand on the fence, and proceeded to do several cartwheels on the fence.