Here's My Story

I knew that the Rebbe encouraged this practice, but I asked myself: “When the Rebbe says to recite Chitas, does he really mean me? Shouldn’t I first learn more and begin to study Tanya once I can better understand it?”

Dr. Weiss often told me how the Rebbe took a personal interest in my health condition, asking him “How is your favorite patient?” and discussing with him my heart rate and other aspects of my condition.

I wrote a very self-righteous letter to the Rebbe, complaining, “I’ve decided to keep Torah and my husband won’t cooperate. But isn’t it true that I must do it despite what he says?”

The Rebbe’s caring and wise advice guided me on a proper path. As my mother would say, the Rebbe always knew best.

Both your physical and spiritual needs can be satisfied by following the Torah. If you follow the Torah, it will be your healer.

On the road returning from the Ohel, the Rebbe asked me if it would be possible to mint a silver coin that he would be able to give out during the parade.

I remember Rabbi Simpson coming down the stairs with the Torah scroll in his arms, and the Rebbe coming down behind him carrying a big box. Nobody had any idea what was in that box and, of course, we couldn’t help but wonder.

I vividly recall the Rebbe saying that some people are telling him that now is the time to rest, take it easy and retire, but he believes that now is the time to begin work with ever greater vigor.

What amazes me is that the Rebbe had plenty to do leading his own community, yet he took on the additional responsibility of rescuing the Jewish children of Iran.

The Rebbe immediately reminded me that the Talmud speaks of a man named Nakdimon ben Gurion. “And so, whatever [Prime Minister] Ben Gurion should have accomplished, you will have to make sure to fulfill.”

The Rebbetzin’s response to a little boy who didn’t realize that he was committing a faux pas was brilliant, “Richtig, richtig. Aleh chasidim zeinen di Rebbe’s kinder – You are correct. All the chasidim are the Rebbe’s children.”

After a while, the Rebbe took a break in the discourse, so with great excitement my grandfather got up and announced to all those gathered, “G-d has helped us! We have a Rebbe! Let us all say l’chaim to the new Rebbe!”

The Rebbe said nothing about my failure to abide by the condition he had previously imposed, and with a big smile, gave a beautiful blessing that my uncle would be allowed to leave.

Initially, I was reluctant to write. To begin with, I was not a Lubavitcher chasid, and I thought that the Rebbe must get letters from all over the world, so would he have the time to answer me?

“Over the course of your career, you will have many opportunities to help the Jewish people, and you should never miss any opportunity to do so.”

Again I started to leave, but again the Rebbe called me back. “Is this an original?” he asked. I replied that it was, to which the Rebbe responded, “I can’t keep an original, but when you make a print please send one to me.”

The Rebbe then suggested that I recite several passages of the prayer book slowly, with great intensity. The rest of the prayers could be recited at a more regular pace.

To my surprise, the Rebbe said that he would donate the entire sum, but he set a couple of conditions – one was that the local rabbi agreed, and another was that a proper contract would be drawn up by a lawyer, ensuring that the building would, in fact, be used for the intended purpose and that it wouldn’t be used for any activities that desecrated Shabbat.

One Sunday morning in the fall of 1971, Rabbi Ephraim Piekarski, another emissary in town, got a call from Rabbi Binyomin Klein, the Rebbe’s secretary, saying that “since building a mikveh in Long Beach is very important, in order to encourage it, the Rebbe is sending an advance of one thousand dollars for this project by special delivery.”

In that momentous conversation, Reb Yisrael told my brother another astonishing thing – “I have not stopped reciting Chitas for the past forty years. And I certainly intend to continue.”

[The Rebbe] suggested that we ask public libraries to establish a section for Torah literature. This way, the general Jewish public will chance upon these Torah books and be exposed to their message.

The Rebbe suggested that I write down all that I had told him. He said there is a lot to be learned from the lives of righteous people – such stories penetrate the hearts and seep into the soul, and sometimes influence the readers even more than words of Torah.

It is normal that no individual, however proficient he is in Torah and mitzvot, and however educated he is, isolate himself from others from whom he can learn a better and deeper understanding of Torah, at any rate, in those areas where he has not yet attained the highest level. This is the function of a Rebbe,

“you have an opportunity to be a positive factor in You have an opportunity to be a positive factor in spreading and strengthening Yiddishkeit in your surroundings, by showing a living example as well as by participating in activities of promoting Yiddishkeit, whereas relocating in another place would, for a time at least, take up most of your attention and efforts in getting acclimatized and adjusted.

If you speak sincerely and you speak with passion, your message will enter the hearts of others, if you really want to see the effect of your words, then you must speak about practical things.

We did it because the Rebbe said to do it, and we were followers of the Rebbe. And despite all the predictions to the contrary, despite our own worst expectations, the business succeeded.

To look into this holy man’s eyes was something I couldn’t put into words. To be in his presence, I had a feeling that was simply indescribable. He looked at me and through me, and I felt on a totally different plane.

The Rebbe’s love for these young students and his letters of encouragement were uplifting, inspiring and truly amazing. I have no better words to describe it.

[The Rebbe] began by saying, “The Talmud, in Tractate Brachot, discusses the truth hidden within dreams. In your dream, the field represents your life. And in that field is a treasure that you are looking for.

When the Rebbe saw this, he came around his desk and picked him up, and the rest of the time, I spoke with the Rebbe with Hillel sleeping on the Rebbe’s lap.

Today, as a rabbi, I do everything in my power to spread the message of Judaism as the Rebbe wants me to. When people ask me why I do what I do, I simply tell them that G‑d gave me a second chance at life through the Rebbe’s blessing, and I want to do the same for others.

He called himself my “friend” and I was elated. I was a fourteen-year-old boy with no father, and suddenly I had a friend in the Rebbe. It was truly amazing.

"The hour that this boy learns in Melbourne, along with teaching others, will bring him as much success as if he had learned one-thousand hours.”

The Rebbe asked what I was doing in this regard, [finding a match]. I responded that my rabbis in Kfar Chabad recommended I start looking after Passover. To which the Rebbe responded, “It is now a whole week after Pesach, and you have not yet done anything about it?!”

Today, there are about thirty or maybe even forty families who keep kosher, who keep Shabbat as a result of Ryan’s illness and recovery.

The Rebbe told me that every day before prayers, I should read a Chasidic teaching. “It’s not important how long it is, or whether it’s simple or complex. You could even recite something which you know by heart. What’s important is that you take it seriously, not do it by rote.”

It is an incredible story, but there is more to it. The Rebbe didn’t just open my physical eyes, he opened my spiritual eyes. I was exposed to the beauty of Chabad teachings and, at age twenty-three, I became a Lubavitcher chasid.