Monthly Archives: June 2013

Before the war, my father learned in a yeshiva in Hungary. Although he was not from a chasidic background, he made sure that I got some exposure to chasidism.

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When I was a kid he took me to see the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and also to Satmar and Bobov. He wanted me to experience the whole spectrum of Judaism – the modern side, the chassidic side, the non-chassidic side – to see what it’s all about. That way, wherever I found myself, I’d be able to fit in.

In 1973, my Bar Mitzvah year, my parents sent me to a summer camp in Israel. When I came back, I learned that my father was about to undergo surgery. It turned out he had colon cancer, and from that point on his health went downhill.

Two years later, just before Purim, my father’s condition took a turn for the worse. We went to the hospital, the doctors examined him, then they called me in and said, “You’d better go home; your father is staying here tonight.” That night they opened him up, but they saw that there wasn’t much they could do – just to try to make the end as painless as possible.

Of course, we didn’t want to give up, so we went to several rabbis for blessings. We even tried the alternative medicines of the time. My father was losing a lot of weight – he was five-foot-six, but pretty soon he weighed barely ninety pounds. Nothing was working.

Then one cousin told us, “You should go to see the Lubavitcher Rebbe.” (more…)

Before his historic first meeting with newly-elected U.S. President Jimmy Carter in Washington, Begin asked me to arrange a meeting with the Lubavitcher Rebbe in New York.

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I myself had visited the Rebbe previously on behalf of Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, and later as an advisor to Yitzhak Rabin, Israel’s then-ambassador to the UN.

When we arrived, the Rebbe came out and escorted Prime Minister Begin to the entrance. Reporters were throwing out questions at the both of them, and I recall one question from a reporter for the Village Voice. He asked Begin, “Why do you seek out the Rebbe prior to your meeting with President Carter?” And Begin said, “It’s my first meeting with the new US President and it’s very important for me to get the blessings of the Rebbe for its success.”

He went on to say that the Rebbe had many insights, and that he was a man of awesome knowledge. “I can learn many things from him.” He said. He also described the Rebbe as an old friend.

Then he was asked, “Why doesn’t the Rebbe come to you – as you are Prime Minster – why do you go to the Rebbe?” And he said, “He is a great sage of Israel … he is a great leader himself.”

Actually, Begin thought that the Lubavitcher Rebbe was the greatest Jewish leader of the 20^th century. I had heard him say that. (more…)

While I was a student in the Lubavitcher yeshiva in Montreal, I rented a room from a family living in the neighborhood. And the woman of the house was pregnant at the time. She always had difficulties in childbirth and, in this particular instance; she was told that there was a very serious complication.

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As the husband told it to me, the doctor had done a lengthy examination and said: “The situation is critical. It’s highly questionable that the baby can survive a normal delivery. Based on my experience in such cases, I suggest that you abort this child. Otherwise, the mother’s life will be in danger and the baby many not survive anyway.

This doctor was the most famous and most competent that this family could find, because they had anticipated problems due to the wife’s medical history – and this expert was telling them the baby should be aborted.

Before he would sign on the form allowing them to abort the child, the husband said, “You have to give me a while to think about this.” And he went and called the Rebbe. After hearing all the details, the Rebbe said: “Don’t sign anything. Don’t allow the doctor to abort the child. Tell him that you insist that he should do everything possible to save the baby and the mother.”

The husband went back to the doctor and said: “I want you to do whatever you can to save my wife and my child!” To which the doctor replied, “Do you have to tell me that? If I could do it, wouldn’t I do it?” Then he added, “If you insist I have to save both your wife and the baby, you might just lose both of them, because the situation is critical.” (more…)

Dear Friend,

As we approach Gimmel Tamuz, we’re asking you to please join us in this project.

“…charity should be given to causes associated with our Nosi, my revered father-in-law, of sainted memory. Donations should be made on behalf of oneself and on behalf of each member of one’s family…”

During recent years we have been recording precious testimonies about the Rebbe and how he affected Klal Yisroel.

The portions of these interviews that have been published – in Living Torah, online, and in our many video series, have inspired impassioned feedback from children and adults across the spectrum.

Here’s My Story, a weekly inspiring story for your Shabbos table is read by many thousands across the world every week.

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Rabbi Elkanah Shmotkin &  Rabbi Yechiel Cagen

Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, the Executive Vice President Emeritus of the Orthodox Union shared a powerful story that has affected his life until today. The episode took place in February of 1971, when he was living in Silver Spring, Maryland. He was interviewed as part of the My Encounter with the Rebbe project in May, 2013.

I didn’t consider myself a Lubavitcher, but I lived in Crown Heights for a short time after I got married. I would attend the Rebbe’s farbrengens from time to time, but my relationship was always from a distance.

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I mention this because of what happened later on.

Three years after we married, my wife and I moved away to Silver Spring, Maryland, where I attended the University of Maryland. I received a PhD in psychology and began working as a psychologist in the local school system. Besides this, I used to give classes in Talmud – one on Shabbos afternoon for the general public, and one on Tuesday night for a smaller group who wanted to learn on a deeper level.

I was in my early thirties, so I suppose I was too young for a midlife crisis – or maybe I arrived at a midlife crisis earlier than most people – but around this time, I was torn with a number of very pressing questions:

Should I stay in Torah learning, or should I continue in psychology? And if so, how should I further my career? Should I move into private psychotherapy work or accept an offer from one of the county social service organizations in the area? Also, I wasn’t sure what was best for my children in terms of educational options in Silver Spring.

In addition to all these dilemmas, like everybody else I guess, I had my own questions of faith and trust in God, as well as some philosophical questions. I was in a state of uncertainty.

All these questions had me depressed, and I was unsure what to do or where to go. I spoke to various close friends, and one of them – a Chabad chosid – suggested that I visit the Rebbe.

And so it was that in February of 1971 I called the Rebbe. (more…)