Monthly Archives: December 2010

Rabbi Wolf Greenblass, zt”l, of Montreal, passed away this week at the age of 94.  He committed his life to educating Jewish students from nonobservant families on the beauty and intricacies of living a Torah life.

But before he established the Yeshiva, before becoming the mashpia of the Yeshiva Gedola of Montreal, before he went on to document Chabad customs in Sefer HaMinhagim, before the Rebbe called him “my kabbalist…” he was a young bochur learning in the Previous Rebbe’s yeshiva in Otwock and in Lodz.

A few years ago, through JEM’s My Encounter with the Rebbe project, we were privileged to interview Rav Greenblass, may his memory be a blessing.  Part of the interview was featured in The Early Years series, in which he and his friends Rabbi Yitzchok Hendel and Rabbi Herschel Fuchs describe one of the Rebbe’s rare visits to the Yeshiva, and how he interacted with the students, and with his father-in-law, the Previous Rebbe.

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Interviewing all the people in the world who’ve ever had yechidus with the Rebbe is a mammoth task.  This week we were snowed out of 2 different interviews in the New York metropolitan area.  But even the post office, which prides itself in delivering the mail through “snow, sleet or storm” cannot top a group of people who are set on learning and sharing the life story of the Rebbe – because they have the Rebbe’s own model to never be deterred as their own example. Which is how we spent our snow days in our editing caves, reviewing this great interview we caught last week with Dr. Naftali Loewenthal, a Lubavitcher professor in University in London.

He tells over his fascinating stories, in a most modest and humble fashion.

Some highlights:

1. The Rebbe encouraged him and his wife in their studies and in their professions as lecturers in University, where they are still are today.  Dr. Loewenthal reaches Jews of all walks of life through his lectures on Jewish spirituality.

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