Homeward Bound

Our ship was due to depart on Tuesday morning, Shevat 18 (January 27), at 10:30. On Monday, we visited the Rebbe‘s Lubavitch schools. The first was an all-girls school of about 500 students. The second was a boys school with about 450 students.

I made periodic inquiries about the tapes. I was told that they would be available in a couple of hours, then another few hours; then, “It won‘t take long.” In the end, we had to give Rabbi Chodakov permission to hand these tapes to Avrohom Shemtov, who in turn would deliver them directly to the Queen Elizabeth the next morning.

Before we left 770, the boys - the students - insisted that I join them in singing and dancing for my departure. It was a very hectic departure.

At 9:30 the next morning, we arrived on board the Elizabeth with our cabin trunk and ten suitcases. We were anxiously awaiting our friends and the tapes. At 10:00 there was no sign of them yet, neither at 10:30 nor at 10:45. Actually, they had arrived at 10:30, but they were not allowed onto the ship; they had left it until it was too late. We rushed down to see them: Mendel, Avrohom and Frieda Shemtov, Faivish Vogel, Aaron Cousins, Nachman Sudak and Yitzchok Sufrin AND the tapes (which had not been completed until 1:15 the previous night). We said goodbye to our friends and the Queen Elizabeth left the quayside shortly thereafter.

Avrohom Shemtov had given me four books of Tehillim, which I placed in the shul of the ship. I stamped them with the official Queen Elizabeth seal.

Most of the journey home was rough, and hurricanes were prevalent. We arrived at Cherbourg, France at 8:30 on Sunday morning, Shevat 23 (February 1). The sun was shining  - the first time we had seen it in a week. The French passengers disembarked by tender and we crawled across the Channel to Southampton; for we could not dock before 5: 00 p.m. because of the tides.

Rabbi Shemtov (and others) came to meet us at Waterloo Station in London, and took us to his home for a meal. A women‘s meeting was in progress, so we had a good opportunity to give personal regards from the Rebbe and from relatives and friends in Brooklyn. We left London‘s Euston Station for Manchester at half past midnight, and arrived home at 7:30 on Monday morning. We had been away from Manchester for forty days and forty nights!