The Rebbe Asked Me To Call
By M. ben Meir
 

I was married in 5749 (1989) to my wife Rus, daughter of Rabbi Ben-Tzion Lipsker, rav of Arad. A few months after our wedding we asked the Rebbe about going on shlichus. I was offered a position in yishuv Meitar, which is on the highway to Arad. In my letter to the Rebbe I described the yishuv, the number of residents, the percentages of those who voted Right and Left, the name of the head of the council, etc. I concluded my letter with, “Does the Rebbe shlita agree that my wife and I should be his shluchim in Meitar?”

The Rebbe’s answer arrived quickly. The Rebbe answer was concise. He crossed off the word “does” in my concluding question and circled the words, “the Rebbe shlita agrees that my wife and I should be his shluchim in Meitar.” Then the Rebbe added a handwritten note, “Haskama u’bracha. Azkir al ha’tziyon. (Consent and blessing. I will it mention at the gravesite [of my father-in-law].)” From that moment on, we became the Rebbe’s shluchim in yishuv Meitar.

In Sivan 5749, my wife wasn’t feeling well and we sent a letter to the Rebbe. The Rebbe answered “Azkir al ha’tziyun,” and thank G-d, her health improved.

Six months passed. On Chanuka 5750, my wife was in her final months of pregnancy and was resting at her parents’ home in Arad. It was my first Chanuka in Meitar. I had set up a tall menora in the center of the yishuv and each night we held a menora lighting ceremony with the head of the council and other public figures. Each day I traveled to Meitar, organized the Chanuka event, and returned to Arad.

Mivtza Chanuka was extremely successful and was greeted enthusiastically by the residents of the yishuv. On Erev Zos Chanuka I wrote a letter to the Rebbe reporting about Chanuka and the other projects that had taken place in the first months of our shlichus.

I returned to my in-laws’ home in Arad. The telephone rang and my father-in-law answered, and then I saw quite a strange look on his face – the Rebbe’s secretary, Rabbi Leibel Groner, was on the line! The two were old friends, and chatted briefly, but Rabbi Groner wanted to speak to me. My father-in-law asked what the message was. Rabbi Groner answered that if he could have told him, he wouldn’t have asked for his son-in-law!

I quickly took the phone in wonder. Rabbi Groner asked me whether I had recently sent the Rebbe a letter. When I answered yes, he told me to get a pen and write down the Rebbe’s answer. Since the Rebbe’s answers were customarily given to Rabbi Chaim Shalom Segal of Afula and others, I was sure this had to be a most unusual answer, not one of the klali-prati answers with which the Rebbe answered hundreds of people. To my surprise, Rabbi Groner read a typical answer, the gist of which was “niskabel v’t’shuos chein t’shuos chein” (I received the letter and many thanks).

I expressed my surprise and asked Rabbi Groner whether he had called just to tell me the Rebbe’s response to my letter. His answer amazed me. Rabbi Groner said that the Rebbe requested him to ask, “Vos tut zich mit deine Rebbetzin?” (What’s doing with your wife?).

I answered that thank G-d she was fine, wondering why the Rebbe asked this question. Rabbi Groner said, “When the Rebbe received the letter you sent him, among hundreds of reports from shluchim around the world, he was surprised that you didn’t mention a word about your wife.”

“The Rebbe said that he is accustomed to getting correspondence when there is a problem and no correspondence when the problem is resolved, but you actually wrote a report – and didn’t say anything about her – so he wanted me to call and find out how she is feeling.

“I called your house in Meitar, but nobody answered the phone. I decided on my own to call your parents in Yerushalayim, but they didn’t know where you were. They assumed that you went out on mivtzaim and would be back soon.

“I told the Rebbe that I wasn’t able to reach you at home or at your parents, and the Rebbe said, “Call his in-laws. Perhaps he’s there.”

The words “How is the Rebbetzin?” accompany me to this day. That telephone conversation is with me in every project I do. It simply feels good to know that somebody (the Rebbe!) is thinking about you all the time – even today!

(As told by the protagonist at “Shabbos with Chabad” in the Chaf Dekalim Hotel)