By COLlive reporter
Since the Clear Vision books were published, the information and stories – particularly the Rebbe’s guidance – have sparked never-ending excitement and conversations in the Chabad world.
The two-book set includes an autobiography of Rabbi Asher Zeilingold, a rov and Shliach in Minnesota for 60 years, and a second volume containing hundreds of Rabbi Zeilingold’s letters, responses, and personal audiences with the Rebbe.
In each of the books, there is a chapter on New York powerbroker Julius C. Edelstein. As the longtime assistant to Mayor Robert Wagner, the New York Newsday called him the Phantom Mayor “because of the powerful influence he exerts in municipal affairs.” He would later be the senior vice chancellor of the City University of New York.
Over the years, as the chapters tell, he helped Chabad in numerous ways, but one detail that is stark is the Rebbe’s care for his daughter Suzy, whose mother was in a coma when she gave birth to her. From the first time the Rebbe met Mr. Edelstein, he began cajoling him into sending her to a Jewish day school, as her mother would surely have wanted.
The Rebbe spoke to Rabbi Zeilingold’s father, Reb Shlomo Zeilingold, about this. In addition, the Rebbe wrote to Jacob Herzog, who was an attaché at the Israeli embassy in D.C. while Mrs. Edelstein worked there, and later the ambassador to Canada. In addition, the Rebbe reached out to the heads of Ramaz day school to be in contact with Mr. Edelstein.
The Rebbe wrote to Mr. Edelstein himself in Kislev 1963: “May I take this opportunity, while on the subject of religious feeling and corresponding daily conduct, to broach a personal subject. You will recall that when we met in the presence of Ambassador Jacob Herzog, the question of your daughter Shoshana’s education came up, and it was urged that she should attend the Ramaz School. It is surely superfluous for me to remind you of this, but I thought I would take the liberty, nevertheless, to inquire about her.”
Adding in the postscript: “P.S. I requested the office to send some Chanukah literature to your daughter.”
Tragically, Mrs. Edelstein passed away and Rabbi Zeilingold, with his father, organized the funeral. The Rebbe later wrote a condolence letter, not forgetting about Suzy: “It is my prayerful wish at this time, as my heart goes out to your orphaned daughter, that you will devote your fullest attention to her education and bring her up – again to quote a traditional but happy phrase – to a life of Torah, chuppah and good deeds. I hope and pray that she will be a source of great comfort for you, in addition to the comfort which you will derive from your work in the public good, which you carry on with such discretion that few know of its full scope.”
In the two fascinating chapters in each book, one learns of the many interactions and assistance that Mr. Edelstein provided to Chabad, including a trip by London Shliach Rabbi Shmuel Lew to Greenland. However, the Rebbe never forgot Suzy and her well-being.
As attested in a letter from Rabbi JJ Hecht OBM, head of NCFJE organization and Camp Emunah for girls in New York, to Mr. Edelstein, over fifteen years after he first met the Rebbe: “I sent in your little note I received during Chanukah with the clipping from the Jerusalem Post, to the Rebbe. He sent it out, thanked me for sending it in to him, but, then, added a question: ‘What’s doing with his daughter?’”
Visit Clear Vision: Living by the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s Guidance to order the book, or click here for a discounted set at ClearVisionBook.com.
