The Rebbe’s Deep Respect For His Childhood Teacher

Welcome to our weekly program. Today's program is a continuation of last week's program. It's a day after Chof Av. We spoke about the Rebbe's melamed, my Zeide — so this is a continuation from last week.

My Zeide came to America in Tof-Shin-Yud-Gimel (5713), 1953. Being the Rebbe's melamed, as we mentioned last week, he went into Yechidus right away. When he walked into Yechidus, the Rebbe stood up and asked him to sit down. My Zeide said, "How can I sit in front of a Rebbe?" So the Rebbe said to my Zeide, "How can I sit in front of my melamed?" So they were both standing for close to two hours, speaking.

The second time my Zeide went to Yechidus, it was a while later. My Zeide wasn't well. He came in, and the Rebbe said, "Sit down — just like we used to sit years ago by the blatt Gemara, we should sit now." So my Zeide sat down, since he wasn't feeling well, and the Rebbe also sat down.

When my Zeide came to a farbrengen, sometimes he would arrive after the Rebbe, because he was paralyzed in one foot and it was hard for him. When the Rebbe saw him from far away — even in the middle of a sicha — the Rebbe would stand up until he sat down. And when he had to leave — in those days the Rebbe would farbreng very late — my Zeide couldn't stay, and the Rebbe would stand until he no longer saw him leave.

We see here, b'chol zot, the kavod — he was a melamed when the Rebbe was seven, eight, nine, ten years old. I mean, who thinks of giving such kavod to a childhood teacher? But here we can learn the kavod, the way the Rebbe gave my Zeide this respect.

My Zeide lived in New York for a while, and then he moved to Cleveland. We all moved to Cleveland. Cleveland is a Misnagdishe city — Cleveland is the city of the Telshe Yeshiva, a big yeshiva. And my Zeide — everybody had kavod for him. First of all, he had hasbarah (a gift for explaining clearly). When he spoke, when he said a ma'amar, he said it so clearly that even the Litvish bochurim were impressed by my Zeide. He used to farbreng, and bochurim used to come.

I remember — I want to tell you a maaseh. The bochurim from Telshe, maybe a carload or two, came every Motzei Shabbos to learn Chassidus from my Zeide, from my father. They once came over to my father and said, "You know, Telshe Yeshiva is in Wickliffe." Wickliffe, from where we lived, is a distance of maybe forty-five minutes, and it cost a lot of money — a car, or maybe two cars, taxis, a lot of money. They didn't have money, and they wanted to learn Chassidus. And the reason they came on Motzei Shabbos is because of mesirat nefesh: if the Rosh Yeshiva would find out that they were going to learn Chassidus, [it would not be looked upon well] — it was mamash mesirat nefesh, and they had no money. So what should they do? They didn't know what to do, but they wanted so much to learn.

Rabbi Reitchik was there — after Simchas Torah, he used to come to Cleveland almost every year to collect money. So Rabbi Reitchik said, "I think we should raise money for the bochurim, so they can learn Chassidus — you have to raise money for them." My father did not agree. My father said, "If they really want to, even though it's a lot of money, they'll find a way." So Rabbi Reitchik asked my father to ask the Rebbe what to do. My father went into Yechidus, I think when he came for Yud Shvat, and told the Rebbe. The Rebbe said, b'zeh halashon (in these words): Chassidus darf zich nisht lozen veren niderik, az m'zol noch tzuzogn lernen Chassidus — Chassidus does not have to lower itself, that we should pay people to learn Chassidus. If they want to learn Chassidus, they will find a way. And kach haya — my father did not pay them. He came back to Rabbi Reitchik and said, "The Rebbe said so, of course." And they found a way, and they pushed through, and they came every single week.

I remember Rabbi J.J. Hecht once told me that he told the Rebbe, "Rebbe, before Pesach I give out hundreds of matzos for free." And he saw the Rebbe wasn't excited about it. He said, "Free?" The Rebbe said, "Free — es iz gornisht? No — free? When you pay for something, you feel that it's important to you. So it should be [paid for], so that it's important."

And here is b'chlal hahora'ah for a lot of shluchim — something I want to mention in a future program, I don't know when, because I have all the letters that shluchim wrote in the early years. [A shliach named something like] "Bentzion Baumgarten" [unclear], shluchim from Morocco, the shliach Rabbi Garelik from Milan — and once the Rebbe answered [him], which I don't think people know, but I'll talk about that another time. So this, I think, is a hora'ah — that if a person doesn't pay [for something], I don't know if that's always the best thing.

So when my Zeide moved back to New York, the Rebbe told my father, "Now it's your achrayut (responsibility) to say a ma'amar," because my Zeide used to say the ma'amar. And the Rebbe told my father, "There are times it's better not to mention my name — it doesn't matter. The message is important, not the messenger. Don't mention my name." Sometimes people have a way of mentioning the Rebbe's name ten times, but that's not the way the Rebbe wants it. The Rebbe wants the inyan (the point) to come across — it doesn't matter where it comes from.

After a few years, my father became close with the Rosh Yeshiva of Telshe. I want to share with you a maaseh, also about what the Rebbe said. Rabbi Gifter, who was the Rosh Yeshiva in Telshe, became close with my father, and he came to our simchas. He said to my father, "I want to tell you something — please say it over to the Rebbe when you go." He said there was a bochur in Telshe who, he found out, had spoken not b'shevach (not favorably) about the Rebbe — something negative. He called him over and asked him, "Did you speak not b'shevach about the Rebbe?" The bochur said, "I don't know if he's the gadol hador, but the Rebbe, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, is surely one of the gedolei hador." Rabbi Gifter said, "Say over to the Rebbe what I said: he is one of the gedolei hador. And [to the bochur I said]: 'How do you make amends? Take your peklach — your packages, your suitcase — take a Greyhound bus and go to the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Take off your shoes, ask him for forgiveness, and then I'll take you back. [Otherwise] go out of the yeshiva.' Please say this to the Rebbe."

So my father, when he went into Yechidus, told the Rebbe what Rabbi Gifter had told him to say. The Rebbe leaned back with a smile and said, "The decree against Chassidus has been removed." And the Rebbe was very happy. So we see that when it comes to Chassidus — because of the Rebbe, because of Chassidus — this is one story that I wanted to mention to you.

In any case, I want to share with you another maaseh, and this is about my Zeide. I came home from yeshiva on Friday. My Zeide was sitting on the sofa — my Zeide always used to review Mishnayos ba'al peh (by heart); he always knew Mishnayos by heart, since he couldn't see out of one eye. He was constantly reviewing Mishnayos ba'al peh. I came home, and he's sitting on the sofa, and I see he's not himself. So I asked, "Zeide, how do you feel?" He started to speak, and I saw it wasn't clear, and I was afraid it was a stroke. So I helped him into bed — there was no Hatzolah in those days. I went to Dr. Zalikson; Dr. Zalikson came and told me it was a stroke.

Dr. Zalikson went to the Rebbe — this was Erev Shabbos, Friday. He spoke to the Rebbe after Kabbalas Shabbos, and also on Shabbos, about my Zeide. The Rebbe needed to know everything about my Zeide.

This happened Friday and Shabbos. On Shabbos, I was standing — I was a bochur then — near the Merkos door, in the hallway. Half an hour after Havdalah, the Rebbe opened the door to go home, and the Rebbe saw me. He motioned to me — he called me over, as if to say, "Come with me." I was standing with other bochurim, but he pointed to me. I went with the Rebbe; he went back to his room, to the Yechidus room. I was in the room — it was dark, not completely dark, because there was a lamp left on from before Shabbos. Apparently, before Havdalah, the Rebbe doesn't turn on a light — he hadn't made Havdalah yet, so it was pretty dark.

I was standing near the desk, and the Rebbe opened his drawer. I didn't know what he was doing — for maybe two minutes he was moving things around, searching. He took out the matzah — this was a few weeks after Pesach — and said, "Give this to your Zeide, to your grandfather. Give him the matzah — put a piece in his mouth. And if you can't, put the matzah into water so it becomes softer, and then put it in his mouth."

When I gave him the matzah, I thought to myself that since it's food for refuah (healing), it doesn