Weekly Moment With the Rebbe

Parallel Lines
Why did an atheist and a Holocaust survivor burst into tears before the Rebbe? How did a rabbi witness twice the Rebbe in action, or a Chassid find his thoughts revealed? The Avner Institute presents three fascinating encounters, where the Chabad Rebbes’ faraway “sixth sense” – to see the past, grasp a situation, or read a mind – restored a soul, saved a town, and humbled someone a tad too curious

In loving memory of Hadassah bas Schneur Zalman

“Forty Years Since I Last Cried”

Rabbi Aaron Dov Halperin relates:

Uri Amit was a successful businessman from Israel, who, in the course of doing business abroad, encountered many native English speakers. Seeing the need for better communication and language skills, he hired an English tutor.

This tutor, a retired American professor now living in Haifa, taught English on the side. In addition, he had a great knowledge of many topics, which he integrated into his lesson plans.

During one session, their English conversation steered toward the topic of religion, and Judaism in particular. At the mention of Orthodox Jews, the professor spewed contempt, and his comments on anything Jewish became particularly vicious.

Uri, though himself not observant, was taken aback. “Not all religious people are like that. I happen to know some who are different.”

Taking advantage of a lull in the conversation, Uri began, “Years ago, I visited the Lubavitcher Rebbe while he was giving out dollars. As I approached the Rebbe, the men’s line stopped, and the women started passing before him.

“I was standing there, waiting, when I caught sight of a woman I knew, the mother-in-law of an old friend, coming to the Rebbe. I was greatly surprised, because I always knew her to be anti-religious and rather tough. My amazement grew when I heard the Rebbe tell her, ‘You must start lighting Shabbos candles.’

“Her reaction was stunning. She literally burst into tears and, when she left the line, fainted. People gathered around to revive her and help her to a chair.

“After I got my dollar I hurried over to the woman and asked her to explain her reaction.

“ ‘You know,’ she said, ‘I am a Holocaust survivor. After everything I went through, I stopped believing and went away from religion completely.

“ ‘ I came to New York to visit my daughter, and when she told me she was going to the Rebbe, I refused to join her. I finally came only because she kept nagging me.

“ ‘When I stood facing the Rebbe and he asked me why I didn’t light Shabbos candles, I suddenly remembered my mother, of blessed memory. That had been her last request of me before the Nazis separated us. “My daughter, always be careful about lighting Shabbos candles!” So my emotions overcame me and I fainted.’ ”

Uri finished his story, adding, “This woman is now deceased. But I’ll never forget that encounter.”

Suddenly the tutor himself burst into tears. He wept controllably for quite some time. Uri rose and left the house, leaving the man alone with his pain.

The next day, when Uri came for his usual lesson, the tutor apologized for his earlier outburst.

“You have to understand,” the tutor said. “I remember that woman quite well. She had once told me about her time in a camp, and the plea to light Shabbos candles. It must have been forty years since I last cried.

“You see, that woman was my mother.”

“Double Reaction”

Rabbi Chananya Yosef Eisenbach relates:

I once heard from Rabbi Avrohom Yitzchok Bromberg, author of the series Gedolei Ha’Torah Ve’Ha’Chassidut [Giants of Torah and Chassidus], that before he moved to Eretz Yisroel, he was the rav of a town near Warsaw.

When the district governor outlawed mikvaoth, the ritual bathhouses, all the local rabbis convened to decide how to take action. Rav Bromberg went to the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, for advice.

The Rebbe, hearing the story, waved his hand toward his famous library. “If we don’t sacrifice ourselves for the mikvah, of what use are all these sefarim?”

His message had its effect. Rav Bromberg hurried back to his fellow rabbis, and they resolved to fight until the decree was rescinded.

Rav Bromberg had told me this story at 770, right after leaving a lengthy audience with the current Rebbe, in Kislev 5725/1965. In a state of shock, he described the scene he had just merited to witness.

During the audience he told the Rebbe about a problem he was having at a certain Chabad office where he was a board member. The board was about to admit a certain professor who held rather corrupt views on faith and Torah.

The Rebbe rose majestically and swept his hand toward the library behind his desk. “If we don’t sacrifice ourselves for such matters, of what use are all these sefarim?”

“Mind Reader”

Rabbi Eisenbach also relates:

I heard from Rabbi Eliyahu Chaim Carlebach about the suffering and arrest, on top of the many fasts, that weakened the Previous Rebbe so much that he took to bed and eventually suffered a stroke. But though crippled, he managed to give over a sicha, a discourse, to his Chassidim.

One of the Chassidim listening, Reb Itche Masmid, couldn’t help noticing his leader’s sick, paralyzed state. “The Rebbe has helped so many others,” he wondered. “Why doesn’t he heal himself?”

Suddenly, during the sicha, the Rebbe paused in thought.

“The Maggid of Mezritch was sick,” he finally said, “and suffered greatly with his leg, as is known. If he had wanted to be healed, he could have been. But . . . .” and his voice trailed off.

The Rebbe did not finish this thought. Instead, he continued with the original discourse and topic. The Chassidim, startled, tried to make a mental connection.

Only Reb Masmid understood.

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