A Gift For the Shliach’s Wife

By Dovid Zaklikowski for COLlive and Hasidic Archives

It was a long trip from Australia to New York in the 1970s, but Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner never complained. His yearly visit to the Rebbe‘s court was a chance to recharge his spiritual batteries for the challenging work of building Jewish life in Melbourne. Many times his visits were scheduled during the Australian summer vacation, New York’s winter months.

To the Rebbe, Rabbi Groner’s trips were an opportunity to touch the remote Jewish communities that lay in his path. During each visit, Rabbi Groner received detailed instructions about where he should stop and what he should do there. Thailand, the Philippines, China, and New Zealand all made appearances on his itinerary.

The Rebbe was eager for news of these isolated communities, where a visit from the Rebbe’s emissary was a major event.

“It is surprising to me that I have as yet received no report from your husband about the various cities and countries which he visited,” the Rebbe wrote to Mrs. Devorah Groner in 1961. “However, inasmuch as the memory and impressions weaken with time, the time element is of importance… I would like him to find every day a certain period of time to begin writing, without waiting for the time when he can write the report fully all at once.”

The extra stops added significantly to the length of Rabbi Groner’s trips, and the Rebbe acknowledged that this required additional sacrifice of his wife, whose family and friends were far away in New York. The Rebbe encouraged her several times, praising her “pioneering spirit.” The couple’s mission, “to transform the whole of Jewish life in that remote continent,” presented a unique “challenge and opportunity to the qualified person,” he wrote.

The Rebbe also took a personal interest in Mrs. Groner’s wellbeing. During a visit to New York for her son’s wedding in 1972, she was standing on Eastern Parkway and saw the Rebbe approaching on foot from a distance. She felt that she was not ready to meet the Rebbe at that moment and turned away, giving enough time for the Rebbe to pass.

When she turned back, however, she saw the Rebbe was standing there waiting for her to turn around. He asked her how she was and if everything was okay, then continued on his way.

The summer before, in 1971, Rabbi Groner had been in New York, while Mrs. Groner stayed home. The Rebbe gave him a mission to visit England, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, and Singapore on his way back to Australia, and before he left, the Rebbe called him to his office and gave him twenty-six ten-dollar bills.

“Since your wife didn’t come with you,” the Rebbe said, one of the bills should be considered his contribution toward a gift for her. Rabbi Groner bought his wife an Indian sari, which she later used to make a dress for her son’s wedding.

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