Just returned from the levaya which was very short since the Rebbe gave orders not to give hespedim.
My contact with the Bostoner Rebbe goes way back to 1965 when I spent Shabbos with him on several occasions. Aside from davening at the Boston Beis Medrash in Jerusalem when I first moved to Har Nof, I spent 5 years there while I was working on Yad Yisroel. In my time there I noticed a strange thing. While the normal procedure is to give attention and encouragement to those who devote time and energy to help the shul, and to give not so much to outsiders or those not involved in the shul - Boston was different. The Rebbe had all the time in the world for complete strangers who were just curious about Yiddishkeit or even for frum people who were passing by. On the other hand those who devoted a lot of time and energy to help the community or even old timers in the community were almost ignored. I asked the Bostoner Rebbe's son - Rav Maier - about this phenomenon. He answered simply that the Bostoner Rebbe gives time to people according to what they personally need - not what they would like and not what would be most useful for the community.
He illustrated this was a chassidic story. The Lelover Rebbe's son was very sick and was in fact dying. He had high fever and the doctors had given up hope. The Rebbe called together all the chassidim and they prayed and said tehillim - in between sobs and tears. After hours went by the son's fever broke and he was clearly out of danger. The chassidim started to dance and shout for joy at the miracle. Suddenly one of the chassidim noticed that the Rebbe was still crying. He went to the rebbe, "Rebbe a miracle has happened, your son is out of danger." But the rebbe kept crying. The other chassidim came over and tried to convince the rebbe that the danger was over but he ignored them. Finally the Rebbe spoke, "I am not crying for my son. I know he is out of danger. I am crying for myself - because I just realized I love my son more than other people."
Baruch Dayan Emet! It is sad news to hear of the passing of this great Tzaddik.
ReplyDeleteBaruch Dayan HaEmet.
ReplyDeleteA most unique Ohev Yisroel. His yearly Shabbos visit with his kehilla to CHevron were an event to be remembered. The rebbe had a heart of gold, klal yisroel were his children. He cried and lent a shoulder to the Gush Katif residents when he was the sole Rebbe who visited them.
ReplyDeleteWould be interesting to address all the posters around town placed by our brothers in sin 'the Neutrai Karta' who debase and denigrate the Bostoner Rebbe....
ReplyDeleteBaruch Dayyan Emet.
ReplyDelete