#144(s5760-44/10 Tammuz)Sleepless “Of
course! I should call the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Why didn’t I think of it earlier!”
Sleepless
Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Schwartz is the founder and head of a very successful Jewish
school in Brazil that has several hundred young pupils, most of them from non-religious
families. One day, a well-dressed middle-aged couple knocked and entered Rabbi
Schwartz's office. He immediately recognized them; they were the parents of
one of his pupils, a boy that was progressing nicely in his studies.
The parents sat down opposite him, and looked at each other nervously. The
husband nodded to his wife. She leaned over facing the Rabbi and began speaking
in low confidential tones that was almost in a whisper. "Rabbi, you must
help us. Such a tragedy! We do not know where to turn. Our oldest daughter just
announced her engagement to a non-Jew!" She became choked up with tears
and began whimpering into her small handkerchief. They both were obviously beside
themselves with anguish.
"It is true that we were never very observant ourselves," the father
continued, "but we never dreamed it would go this far. Oy! If we would
have known.
Rabbi, we will do whatever you say; just bring our daughter
back!" And he too began weeping.
Rabbi Schwartz nodded silently, thought for a while, then told them he would
do what he could. Right then and there he picked up his phone and called her.
But as soon as he introduced himself and told her why he was calling, she slammed
the phone down. So, too, when he called a second time.
Rabbi Schwartz did not give up, however. The next day he got her address from
her parents and went in person. She was not brazen enough to close the door
on the distinguished figure standing there, so she told him to come in.
He sat in the chair she indicated, and after some brief chitchat used every
argument he could think of to convince her to change her mind. He appealed to
her emotions, her loyalty, her intellect etc., until, after three hours, he
was simply out of ideas.
"Well, thank you Rabbi," she said as she stood up, indicating that
the conversation was over. "I appreciate you taking all this time for me,
I really do. But, you see, Rabbi, Eduardo and I love each other and we are going
to get married. The date is already set. I know that this is not what you want
to hear, but just as you live your life, so I must live mine. Again, thank you
for your good intentions," she said, as she showed him politely to the
door.
The Rabbi walked down the apartment building stairs in low spirits. He had
failed. And you can imagine how her parents felt when he called them.
Two days later he was sitting in his office when a thought suddenly occurred
to him. "I should call the Lubavitcher Rebbe! Why didn't I do it yesterday
already!"
Rabbi Schwartz was a Munkatch chassid, but he was very attached to the Lubavitcher
Rebbe and would ask his advice frequently. In fact, the Rebbe was the one who
advised him over ten years earlier to move to Brazil to look for work. Now,
thanks to this advice, many hundreds of souls had been saved from assimilation.
One of the Rebbe's secretaries, Rabbi Hodakov, answered the phone and listened
to the problem. "Please tell the Rebbe," concluded Rabbi Schwartz;
"thatI really need an answer as soon as possible. It is very urgent."
The secretary told him to wait on the line, and a minute later he was back
with an answer. "The Rebbe says you should go to her again. This time,
tell her that because she wants to marry a gentile there is a Jew in New York
that can't sleep nights."
Rav Schwartz was totally confused. "A Jew in New York can't sleep? Who
is he? What is his name?"
Suddenly the conversation was interrupted. The Lubavitcher Rebbe's unmistakable
voice cut in from an extension, saying, "His name is Mendel Schneerson".
Startled and no less confused, Rav Schwartz thanked the Rebbe and said good-bye.
"How will this help?" he was thinking to himself after he put down
the phone, "it makes no sense! The girl will just laugh at me!"
While he was still lost in thought, his phone rang. When he lifted the receiver,
he heard the Rebbe's secretary speaking once again. "Hello, Rabbi Schwartz?
The Rebbe says to tell you that a Chassid does what he is told with trust and
joy, not with doubts. Also, the Rebbe said that you can tell the young lady
that she has met him and she knows him."
No less confused, Rav Schwartz called the girl once again and convinced her
that he had something new and important to tell her. They arranged to meet again
the next day.
"That is what you have to tell me!" She shouted indignantly, after
they met briefly in her parent's home. "Listen Rabbi Schwartz," She
fumed. "Last week I listened to you for three hours. Today I even took
time off from work! I want you to leave me alone or I will call the police.
I don't know any Jews in New York and I can't imagine why my conduct would disturb
anyone's sleep over there. Now please stop bothering me!"
But the Rabbi was in it too deep to stop now. "If the Rebbe says you know
him then you know him!" he continued, "He is a famous Rabbi."
"The only Rabbi I know is you and I'm beginning to regret that!"
she said, as she rose from her seat to leave.
"Wait, Wait! I'll show you his picture," said Rabbi Schwartz, beginning
to feel a bit crazy himself. He began searching together with her parents, and
a few minutes later he presented her with a picture of the Rebbe they found
in some magazine.
She grabbed the picture and gave a quick angry glance. Suddenly her face became
serious and she sat down, still looking at the picture. "Who is this man?"
She asked. After hearing the answer, she sputtered, "This man has been
appearing in my dreams for the last several nights and begging me not to intermarry!
I didn't pay any attention. I thought that because I had met you I was dreaming
about Rabbis. Now I understand why he doesn't sleep at nights
he is busy
talking to me!"
In addition to the thousands of Jews the Rebbe had already 'woke up' in Brazil
(there are over 20 Chabad houses there), he had found time for one more.
One week later she postponed the wedding, and shortly thereafter it was cancelled
completely.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[Edited by Yerachmiel Tilles from the version of Rabbi Tuvia Bolton [www.ohrtmimim.org]
, with some supplementing based on the version in Our Man in Dakar by Tuvia
Natkin.]
Biographical note:
Rabbi Menachem
Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe (11 Nissan 1902 - 3 Tammuz 1994),
became the seventh Rebbe of the Chabad dynasty after his father-in-law, Rabbi
Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, passed away in Brooklyn on 10 Shvat 1950. He is widely
acknowledged as the greatest Jewish leader of the second half of the 20th century.
Although a dominant scholar in both the revealed and hidden aspects of Torah and
fluent in many languages and scientific subjects, the Rebbe is best known for
his extraordinary love and concern for every Jew on the planet. His emissaries
around the globe dedicated to strengthening Judaism number in the thousands. Hundreds
of volumes of his teachings have been printed, as well as dozens of English renditions.
Yrachmiel Tilles is co-founder and associate director of Ascent-of-Safed,
and editor of Ascent Quarterly and the AscentOfSafed.com and KabbalaOnline.org
websites. He has hundreds of published stories to his credit. back
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