Gathering at the Ohel for Gimmel Tammuz was Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and his distinguished delegation that included Martin Silverman, US Ambassador to Uruguay, Rabbi Jay Rosenbaum and Chabad Leaders of the 5 Towns and Mineola, Rabbis Zalman Wolowik and Anchelle Perl.
Hon Bruce Blakeman recognized the Rebbe with a special proclamation and spoke at length on the impact of the Rebbe worldwide and lauded the growth of Chabad across Nassau County.
Rabbi Wolowik, who arranged and coordinated the event, eloquently explained to all the depth and meaning of a visit to the Ohel and how to write a Pan.
Rabbi Perl shared a story about the Rebbe and its lesson, that he personally heard back in 1971, when a student at the Lubavitch Brunoy Yeshiva.
“I was once visitin g the Shul,” says Perl, “where the Rebbe davened in Paris in 1947 during the task of accompanying his mother, Rebbetzin Chana back to New York.
“There was an elderly man in the Shul. I asked him if he remembers the Rebbe at that time. He shared this with me: ‘The Gabbai of the Shul always invited the Rebbe (the Ramash at that time) to sit up front, at the eastern Mizrach wall, as befitting the son-in-law of the Friediker Rebbe.
“‘The Rebbe refused, saying ‘it’s better for me to see everyone than everyone should see me,’ the Rebbe said,” Rabbi Perl concluded.
