R. Eliyahu Mishulovin, a chassidic young man of deep inner character, served as the supervisor. He was especially particular regarding the cleaning of the rolling pins. Under his watch, we would use sharp glass fragments to virtually remove the entire outer layer of the pins. He also carefully checked the bowls in which we mixed the flour and water. It happened more than once that after everyone had checked the utensils and said that they were clean, he would find a tiny scrap of dough which we had all somehow overlooked.

It would break my heart to see R. Eliyahu crying with regret when he found something improper or noticed a detail to which no one had paid attention. In Hebrew, the extra care and measures one takes in the performance of a mitzvah is referred to as a 'hiddur', literally the adornment, or beautification of the commandment. Oh, how these hiddurim touched him to the very core of his soul! Each year he would make a list of issues that needed to be corrected the following year. But the next year he would cry again, saying that we had not yet achieved the proper standard of hiddur. On the other hand, however, it was heartwarming to know that we had such chassidic young men amongst us.

It truly was the most ideal matzah production we could have hoped for. From the time we began grinding the wheat ourselves until I departed from Russia in 1971, we were able to grind all of the shmurah wheat every year with our special millstones and bake the matzos in new ovens.

In the late 1950s we began receiving packages of matzos from Kfar Chabad. When we first received them in the original packaging with the seal of approval from the Chabad Rabbis, it was hard for us to believe that they could bake such large quantities while ensuring that they were baked within eighteen minutes.

When R. Simcha Gorodetzky departed from Russia, we asked him to take a look and report back to us whether these matzos were prepared according thestandards we were accustomed to. A short while later, he informed us that he had visited the matzah bakery in Kfar Chabad and they were careful with all the precautions that we were particular about. “However,” he continued, “you should continue eating the matzos you bake yourself. There is no greater hiddur than that.”