In the Elevator

Yrachmiel Tilles

He was from a family of Gerer Chasidim, and he still felt comfortable in his identity as a member of the Gur community. On the other hand, his textile business, and the extensive traveling it entailed, made it difficult for him to maintain his chasidic lifestyle. Eventually, he removed his peyot (earlocks), his beard, and his chasidic garments. His level of observance weakened gradually, as the pressures of his lifestyle led him to certain compromises.

After several years, he became heavily involved with a certain special quality of lamb's wool which was obtainable mainly in New Zealand. He even found it necessary to move there for a while, and lived in the north of the country. There, in a spectacular yet serene mountain setting, close to the healing hot springs for which the area was known, he established the center of his business.

This was in the years shortly after WWII. The local community consisted of a handful of old people who had moved there from Australia, plus a small number of refugees from East Europe. Organized Jewish life in this remote island country was virtually nil.

In 1949 he made the long journey to visit his daughter, who lived in Brooklyn, New York. She picked him up and the airport and brought him to her apartment house. When they entered the elevator, he noticed that there was another man already in there, a rabbinical-looking fellow with a wide black beard and piercing, serious eyes.

As they waited for the elevator door to close, the bearded man turned to the merchant and, extending his hand, proffered a warm, "Shalom aleichem." The bemused visitor responded, "Aleichem shalom," and shook the man's hand.

"I see you are a visitor here. From where are you?"

"At the moment, New Zealand."

The Rabbi looked at him intently. "And is there a mikveh in New Zealand?" he inquired.

The visitor was surprised by the question. "He shrugged. "I don't think so. I'm only there for a short time," he added; "for business purposes."

"Man's steps are directed by G-d," the bearded man promptly replied. "When a Jew's life leads him to a new place, and especially when it is far away from home and community, he has to realize that this is due to Divine Providence, and he must make the effort to ensure that his presence has a positive effect there."

The elevator stopped, and with a friendly nod, the man exited. The businessman and his daughter continued on to a higher floor. "Who was that man?" he asked his daughter, still a bit perplexed by the unusual encounter.

"That's Rabbi Menachem Schneerson," she told him. "he is the son-in-law of the Lubavitcher Rebbe (Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn)."

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Around forty years went by. The businessman had long abandoned New Zealand, and lived again in the USA. After he retired, he moved to Israel. He had saved a considerable amount of money, and now was at a time in his life when he could do whatever he wished.

He also had returned fully to the life of a Gerer chasid in good standing, and his appearance, his home and his behavior were all appropriate for a member of the Gerer community.

In 1989, while visiting in the United States, he decided one Sunday to go to 770 Eastern Parkway in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, and receive a dollar from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, which he handed to each person that passed before him, to be given for charity. It involved a long wait, as there were hundreds upon hundreds of Jews of every conceivable type and age bracket in a line stretching from the Chabad World Headquarters along the lengthy boulevard. Each one looked forward in eager anticipation to the brief moment when he would have an face-to-face encounter with the Rebbe himself.

The Gerer chasid trembled in anticipation. He recited several chapters of Psalms to himself, softly. He briefly recalled the major stages of his life. Picturing his encounter in the elevator with the man who shortly thereafter, in 1950, became the Lubavitcher Rebbe whom he was now waiting to see, he thought to himself, incredulously, "Forty years ago already! It's hard to believe."

He remembered clearly their pungent exchange, but at the same time knew that it was impossible for the Rebbe to remember him. Back then he was a young man, clean-shaven, with a minature yarmulke on his head. Now he had a long beard, thick peyot curled under his tall black velvet yarmulke. A full-fledged chasid to all appearances. Why, on Shabbat he even wore a spodik (tall fur hat)!

Suddenly, his train of thought derailed. He was at the head of the line! There were only a couple of people between him and the Rebbe. He stared at the Rebbe and with mixed feelings thought to himself, "The Rebbe's appearance has changed too. He is a bit stooped. His beard is longer as well as white. But his eyes, ah, his piercing blue eyes are exactly the same."

The moment came. He stood in front of the Rebbe. In the midst of intense feelings of holiness, he prepared himself to receive the dollar from the Rebbe's hand and to strain to hear every word of the Rebbe's blessing.

The Rebbe, however, was in no hurry. After a brief, penetrating glance that seemed to last forever, the Lubavitcher extended to him a single dollar bill, and at the same time said, "Nu, is there a mikveh in New Zealand yet?"

The man was totally shocked. A few minutes later he found himself out on the sidewalk, breathing the fresh air. The Rebbe's unexpected question had set loose in him such a deep association of thoughts that he was unable to remember what he had responded to the Rebbe and what else the Rebbe had said to him.

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Shortly after his return to Israel, he went to speak to his rebbe, the Pnei Menachem (Rabbi Pinchus-Menachem Alter, of blessed memory) of Gur, and related to him the entire episode. He also told him how amazed he was by the Lubavitcher Rebbe's powerful memory: although he had met him only once, and then for less than a minute, he recognized him after forty years and a drastic change of facial appearance and dress.

Said the Pnei Menachem: "This is what impresses you? You should know that for such a holy and pure Jew as the Lubavitcher Reebe, it is not amazing at all that he remembered you. It is not your features that he recognized, but directly your soul. Rather, what amazes me and is truly remarkable is that after forty years he is still troubled by the question of the mikveh in New Zealand!"

[Translated and freely adapted by Yrachmiel Tilles from the Hebrew weekly, Sichat HaShavua, #785. ]

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Biographical note:

The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (11 Nissan 1902 - 3 Tammuz 1994), became the seventh Rebbe of the Chabad dynasty 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 in the original Hebrew and Yiddish versions, 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.