Monthly Archives: May 2020

My work as a bacteriologist started years ago when there was an outbreak of a penicillin-resistant staphylococci which caused an epidemic of staph infections.

At that point, I was doing a lot of research; I was looking for microbes on the walls of hospitals, in the air-ducts of laundry rooms and operating rooms. I was very successful in my work – developing a reputation nationally, and then internationally, in the field of infection control, disinfection, sterilization and quarantine.

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Subsequently, in 1969, I met with epidemiologists in London, who asked me to take a leave of absence from the University of Minnesota – where I was teaching and from where I had received a Ph.D. in medicinal bacteriology – in order to spend a few months with them learning how disease spreads in hospitals and how their techniques could prevent this.

People go to hospitals to get cured. Indeed, that is the whole function of hospitals – to cure people. Unfortunately, too many times people go to hospitals and become infected. It’s a very insidious thing, but why does it happen? Because sick people with every type of disease come to hospitals – some ill from infectious diseases, some from other types of ailments. So you have all these people together in one environment. To design an isolation system between them is not easy to do.

The epidemiologists in London were researching the spread of infections within their hospital wards, and when they invited me to come to learn their techniques, I asked the blessing for success from the Rebbe, with whom I had developed a relationship over the years.

I was very proud that I had been invited by these people at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital who were then on the forefront of studying the epidemiology of antibiotic-resistant bacteria – one of whom has since been knighted by the Queen of England – and when I mentioned all this to the Rebbe, he asked if I could send him a copy of the protocol of the research that I intended to do.

Of course I did so because, to be honest, I wanted the Rebbe to be impressed by it.

The Rebbe looked over my protocol and said, “Very, very good. Of course, I don’t understand most of it, but you’re the expert in the field, so I wish you great success. But, if you ask me, it might be a little more fruitful to investigate a different field.” (more…)

When I offered to make a substantial donation to Chabad, I received an amazing response from the Rebbe, which gave me great insight into his worldview and, literally, changed my life.

All this started when, in the early 1980s, my law partner and I got involved in real estate investment in the city of Melbourne, Australia, where we live. We bought two small properties in the center of town and, after holding onto them for quite a few years, we were approached by a big Japanese company which wanted to buy them. This Japanese company was planning to build a huge store in that location and they made us an offer we could not refuse. So we made the deal and realized a substantial sum.

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I discussed it with my wife, Sylvia, and we both thought it would be a good idea to do something for Chabad with this money. After due consideration, we finally decided that we would like to build a hospital for children in Crown Heights, where the Chabad headquarters is located and where a significant Chabad community lives. We wanted the hospital to be operated in accordance with Jewish law and to function under the Rebbe’s guidance.

Since we were from Melbourne and didn’t know too many people in Crown Heights, we sought out Rabbi Yudel Krinsky, the Rebbe’s secretary. We came to New York, met with Rabbi Krinsky, presented him with the check and returned home to await the Rebbe’s response.

It came shortly thereafter in the form of a three-page letter, dated the 15^th of Tammuz, 5746 – that is, 22^nd of July, 1986.

The Rebbe opened the letter by quoting the saying of our Sages: “The reward of a mitzvah is the mitzvah itself,” and then continued: (more…)

On April 15, 1981 – the 11^th day of the Hebrew month of Nissan – the Rebbe celebrated his 79^th birthday with a farbrengen at which he spoke about Tzivos Hashem (“Army of G-d”), a children’s organization he had founded six months prior. The mission of this organization, the Rebbe said, was to motivate children to do good deeds in order to hasten the coming of the Mashiach. But since this “Army of G-d” was spread all over the world, the best way to bring all the children together – to achieve true unity – was through Torah.

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Therefore, the Rebbe suggested that a special Torah scroll be written in which only children would have the privilege of buying a letter. They would be united through this Torah scroll – the Children’s Torah Scroll.

Not only would this project unite the children, it would bring about a special blessing for the Jewish people as a whole, at a time when they needed it most.

The Rebbe specified that the writing of this Torah scroll should begin immediately and that it should be done in Eretz Yisrael – the land which is constantly watched over by G-d – and particularly in Jerusalem, the city of unity which, unlike the rest of the Holy Land, was never divided among the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Furthermore, it should be written in the historic Chabad synagogue, which is located in the oldest part of Jerusalem and named after the third Chabad Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek.

Immediately thereafter, I was appointed to lead this campaign and received specific instructions from the Rebbe.

All Jewish children under Bar/Bat Mitzvah age would be eligible to buy a letter for the token price of one dollar (or the equivalent in their country’s currency). Adults could sign up very young children, but if they were old enough to fill out the registration form, the Rebbe wanted them to do it themselves.

The Rebbe even described a child as he fills out the form, rolling up his sleeves, sticking his tongue out between his teeth as he labors with his pencil to write his name.

It was important for each child’s donation to be properly acknowledged, the Rebbe said, but he didn’t want a standard receipt to go out. He wanted the children to receive a beautiful certificate, which featured in its four corners drawings of holy sites in Israel – specifically the Western Wall, Rachel’s tomb, the Cave of the Patriarchs, and the tomb of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. (more…)

One fine autumn morning in 1952, while I was studying in the Chabad yeshivah at 770, one of the Rebbe’s secretaries came running into the study hall, asking me if I had a driver’s license. I said that I did. I had gotten it at age sixteen upon the advice of my family while home in Boston for the summer. “Oh good,” the secretary said. “The Rebbe wants to go to the Ohel [the resting place of the Previous Rebbe] as soon as possible and needs someone to drive him there. Can you take him?”

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That is how I came to drive the Rebbe to the Ohel for the first time. Afterwards, I was privileged to drive the Rebbe there many hundreds of times in the course of the forty years that I worked in his office. On many of these occasions the Rebbe would speak with me about office matters or other timely issues.

Fast forward to Tuesday, May 8, 1990, just five days before the scheduled annual Lag B’Omer parade at Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters. On the road returning from the Ohel, the Rebbe asked me if it would be possible to mint a silver coin – like a silver dollar – that he would be able to give out during the parade.

That year large crowds were expected, because when Lag B’Omer came out on a Sunday many more children, especially public-school children from the entire tri-state area, could attend.

To the Rebbe’s question I responded that I had no knowledge of the process of minting a coin, but as soon as we got back I would make inquiries.

That day, after we finished the evening prayers and I drove the Rebbe home, I sat down with my son, Hillel Dovid, and my son-in-law, Yosef Baruch Friedman to make inquiries. It was already nighttime and most businesses in America were closed by then, so we tried contacting mints around the world. We soon learned that minting a coin is a complicated procedure and would take considerable time. Although it was not a simple project, we found two mints that were willing to try to mint the coin for us in a few days. (more…)