Deeper Powers?
The wife of a gravely ill man. An historian with a highly controversial book. Why did people who came or connected to the Rebbe believe so strongly in his blessing and advice? The Avner Institute presents fascinating tales from a talk given in Melbourne by the Rebbe’s secretary Rabbi Leibel Groner A”H on the early years of the Rebbe’s leadership, which already revealed signs of his greatness and his understanding of every soul’s task on earth. With special thanks to Rabbi Slonim.
Dedicated in memory of loving memory of Hadassah Lebovic A”h
“A Special Ability”
It was 5711-12/1951-52. I was a young yeshiva student, hanging around the secretarial office, when the phone rang and Rabbi Nissan Mindel answered.
Just then the Rebbe walked in. As usual, he was there to gather the daily stack of letters that awaited him and return with answers to the myriad questions. Hearing Rabbi Mindel on the phone, he remained standing while scooping up his mail.
The Rebbe caught his attention and motioned him to stop. “What’s with the back and forth? What are you talking about?”
“A woman is on the line,” Rabbi Mindel answered.
“What does she want?”
“She said that she had sent a letter to the Rebbe about her husband, who is not well, and that she had asked for blessing and advice.” Rabbi Mindel went on to describe the answer she received, in addition to the blessing: if she did not light Shabbos candles in the past, she should start lighting them now.
“Now she wants to know,” Rabbi Mindel ended, “what is the connection between lighting Shabbos candles and her husband’s health?”
He added that he had tried explaining that if the Rebbe said so, it should be done. The Rebbe listened quietly, then answered, “Tell her that I asked why she wrote to me when I am not a doctor.
“The answer is, she thinks that G-d gave me a special ability to give answers and advice and blessing; so what does she care that she doesn’t understand the connection between lighting Shabbos candles and her husband’s health?
“But she doesn’t realize: if she lights candles, this will be a source of blessing for her husband. Of course, you should say this to her in a pleasant way.”
One month later the phone rang again at 770. It was the same woman – only this time the feminine voice was cheerful.
“I was told that I don’t need to understand the connection,” she related, “and so the first Friday I lit candles. On Sunday, I went to the hospital and asked the doctors how my husband was doing.
“They said his condition had stabilized. The following Friday I lit candles again, and when I went to the hospital on Sunday they said there was a small improvement.
“The third Sunday, the doctors said he was out of danger. In fact, not only will he recover very soon, but he’ll be able to go home!”
“A Clear Answer”
A certain Rabbi Yechezkel HaKohen Rudick, friend of my brother Yitzchok Dovid a”h, happened to know the current Rebbe before 5710/1950. After Yud (10) Shevat 5711/1951, the first yahrzeit of the Previous Rebbe Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, he met up with my brother and exclaimed, “This Rebbe is different than all the others.”
“Really?” my brother asked. “In what way?”
“With this Rebbe you won’t have days or nights. He will demand more and more of you, and never be satisfied with what you do.”
Four or five years later he phoned me. “Until now, I never asked for yechidus, but now I have an urgent matter to discuss with the Rebbe.”
I scheduled him an appointment for two weeks later, at ten p.m. When he emerged from the Rebbe’s room, he took me aside. “If I hadn’t seen if for myself, I wouldn’t have believed it.”
His voice was slow, deliberate. “I’m writing a Jewish history book, see? And I’m trying to make it as accurate as possible.
“When I reached the part about Yoshke (J-sus), I felt that, as a religious man, I ought to avoid the subject. On the other hand, if I don’t write about him, my work won’t be accepted as authoritative. I consulted a number of people but couldn’t get a clear answer. I decided to go to the Rebbe for guidance.
“When I walked into his office, the holiness was palpable. I wondered – how would I ever be able to refer to such a topic? So I decided not to bring it up.
“The Rebbe welcomed me graciously. After a quarter of an hour I got ready to leave, but the Rebbe stopped me.
“‘Reb Yechezkel, stay,’ he said. ‘You are hiding something from me.’ Then the Rebbe utterly surprised me with the following words:
“‘You are having a problem writing about this era. You are correct in your hesitancy, but you can write as a religious Jew.’
“Astounding! It was like the Rebbe looked inside my hand and saw what I wanted to ask.”
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