That’s a very important story because the Rebbe never complained, and you could think, “Okay, maybe he’s superhuman. Maybe these things don’t get to him.” So when he said, “I’m also tired,” we realize that he worked on himself to overcome it. The fact that you’re tired doesn’t free you from obligations.
In that same chapter, I tell of another rabbi, Rabbi Zev Segal, whom the Rebbe had asked to carry out a certain mission when he was in Eastern Europe. When he came back, he reported to the Rebbe that he was able to do it but it was much more difficult than he had expected. The Rebbe said to him, “Rabbi Segal, since when did you make a contract with the Almighty for an easy life?”
Going back to the Rebbe’s focus on individuals, you also have a nice story about the Rebbe’s response to a rabbi who felt disappointed with the turnout to his event. Can you elaborate?
In Australia, an effort had been made to organize a class on taharas hamishpacha, and only one person came. Rabbi Chaim Gutnik, who helped arrange the event, was unhappy and wondered if the effort was worth it. The Rebbe told him, “Moshe Rabbeinu only had one mother.”
The idea is that you never know how many more people you might ultimately be influencing when you influence one person. And even if you don’t end up influencing other people, that one person himself is an olam malei.
What did you find most impressive about the Rebbe in researching this book?
The unconditional love he was willing to offer. He really was not judgmental….
When the Rebbe met Rabbi Israel Meir Lau when Rabbi Lau was still a young rabbi, he asked him what sort of work he was involved with. When he said, “I’m doing work in kiruv rechokim – bringing near those who are far away,” the Rebbe said to him, “How do we know who’s near and who’s far? They’re all precious in God’s eyes.”
The wide array of people whom the Rebbe influenced – Menachem Begin, Jonathan Sacks, Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, Daniel Patrick Moynihan are just some examples – is remarkable. How did he reach such a broad spectrum?
Number one, he was known for being really smart. When people met with him, it wasn’t just a photo op. Israeli generals and others would actually discuss strategy with him.
Another way, though, in which the Rebbe became known was through his shluchim. The Rebbe sent shluchim because he was actually [trying to do] something that, as far as I know, has never previously been attempted in all of Jewish history: He wanted to reach every Jew in the world. But in the course of doing that, the shluchim carried the Rebbe’s message wherever they went, so the Rebbe started to become very known.
You write that the Rebbe elevated the status of girls and women in Lubavitch. How so?
I mention that there was a Chabad magazine, The Moshiach Times, and the Rebbe was insistent that if there was a boy on the cover, there had to be a girl too. In one case, when they sent him a magazine cover to approve and there was no girl on it, he said, “Where is the girl?”
The other way in which he elevated the status of women – and this was unusual – was by making the wives of the shluchim as much a part of the shlichus as their husbands. See, the term “rebbetzin” merely means being married to a rabbi. There are rebbetzins who are very active in their husbands’ congregations and there are rebbetzins who have their own independent careers. But in Chabad the shluchim are always couples.