By COLlive reporter
Back in 1966, controversy erupted in the Israeli media as well as in the United States surrounding the Israeli President Zalman Shazar‘s visit to 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn to meet the Rebbe.
Some believed that the president’s position should have had the Rebbe travelling to New York city to visit Shazar, and not the other way around.
One of the people defending Shazar was the noted author and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel who, in an op-ed in the Maariv newspaper, explained why the president needed to travel to the Rebbe:
I am not what they call a Lubavitcher Chassid. However, I still support President Shazar’s trip to meet the Lubavitcher Rebbe in Brooklyn.
Imagine President Linden Johnson showing up in the home of a famous composer or artist. Is there anyone that would lessen their respect for him and his position as president? Absolutely not. On the contrary. People would appreciate that he puts aside all political interests and power to visit a friend. He would be hailed a fabulous, dedicated and real leader.
I really don’t understand what people want from President Shazar. In what way did he sin? And against whom? President Shazar goes to buy books in Oxford University or on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan and a whole brigade of press photographers follow him.
But all of a sudden, for him to go to the Rebbe is forbidden?!
I have said before, I would have preferred the Rebbe go to the President. However, the President did not invite the Rebbe. The reason for that is because, “a Chassid which tires his Rebbe is not a Chassid.”
Zalman Shazar believes that a person can be both a President and a Chassid, and that the Chassid needs the Rebbe. This is Shazar’s real greatness. Despite his high stature, he demonstrated the Rebbe-Chassid relationship with pride.
In my opinion, the people that are trying to make a fence between the two souls are doing a terrible thing.
This article is presented thanks to The Avner Institute. To receive letters and inspiring stories about the Rebbe, email [email protected]
to 2 and 3: thank you for your excitement in defending Reb Elie.
In defense of 1, I don’t think he was referring to Elie Wiesel. He was making stam a comment about the inyan.
U go through aushwitz & come out alive then u could talk. were u waiting 2 go 2 the gas chambers. He is this biggest chasdim of all of us, he came out of hell & still believes in HKB”H. Yes he is from Siget Trasilvania Hungary & is not Lubavitch. Som1 who has a # on his arm is a tzadik bec they went through it. 1st of all r u near his age he is probably a lot smarter then u that is #1. #2 when u see your family murdered in front of your eyes then u… Read more »
Wiesel was not a misnaged- he was born a Vizhnitzer Chasid, and was very frum until after his experiences in the Holocaust. If you would know anything about his history, you would know that his relationship with the Rebbe was one in which the Rebbe “restored his faith” after the Holocaust, which he writes about clearly in his memoirs. He also was a witness for the Rebbe’s side in the seforim case, explaining the Rebbe-Chosid dynamic. So while not everything he says is kodosh vetohor, your comment is simply incorrect and has no basis in historical fact.
geb a misnasged zu farshtein