In honor of parshas Vayishlach
Rabbi Kaganoff
Lessons I Learned from Great People
The Bostoner Rebbe, zatza”l, whose yahrzeit falls this week.
By Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff
When I moved to Brookline, Massachusetts, Rav Levi Yitzchok Horowitz, better known as the Bostoner Rebbe of Boston, had a shtiebel-type shul on Beacon Street, right near the border of Brookline (which is a separate municipality) and the Brighton neighborhood of the city of Boston. At this time, the rebbe himself no longer lived in the shul building but in an adjacent house. The shul building still contained the room where the rebbe held his seudos (today they would be called tishin), had his sukkah, was where he baked matzohs (using a firewood oven in the basement) and had numerous hachnasas orchim rooms upstairs. The shul part of the building on the main floor still had all the appearances of a partially converted house.
The rebbe himself was the attraction of the shul. There was no community to speak of at this stage. The shul had a few gabba’im to make sure that the daily minyan was somewhat organized. There wasn’t much of what we would call an organization. All of that would happen later.
The rebbe was an incredibly warm and caring individual. And he was also very, very astute. He understood people, understood what their concerns and fears, where they needed their confidence bolstered, when and how you could push them to accomplish more of themselves, and when (and for whom) it was best to say nothing. He was very accepting of who you were and what you were doing. It was never his role to judge, to indoctrinate or to demand. And it made no difference whether you were looking for a chassidish approach to Yiddishkeit, were a stubborn ba’al habayis or a classic misnageid. He was there to help and share with you of his vast understanding and erudition.
And he was extremely honest in his evaluations. He never whitewashed a situation to pretend that a problem did not exist. On the contrary, he amplified it. He made sure that you knew full well what you were up against. He was not going to convince you that everything would be easy and rosy. He explained to you what problems you were going to face and told you how to navigate them. And he gave you very straight answers. Answers that were built on the love he had for everyone.
Although the shul was officially a rebbe’s shtiebel, the “chassidus” as such was hardly existent. There was a hodgepodge of various frum baalei batim with a wide range of minhagim, personal observance levels, styles of dress and Torah knowledge. Some were various “survivors” from Europe, most were American. Some were professionals, others were manual laborers. There was also a handful of students (most of them graduate students at Harvard or MIT) who enjoyed the rebbe. This latter group probably became the most famous of the rebbe’s later chassidim. At this time, aside from the rebbe, I do not remember a single shtreimel – perhaps there was one or two.
Later, the rebbe’s different chesed projects would grow into various organizations, perhaps the best known was a large medical referral service (now called ROFEH), but at that time, this “organization” was the rebbe, his persona, and his contacts. Because of the incredible warmth and caring that he exhibited for everyone, when the rebbe asked a physician he knew for a favor, the doctor was hard pressed to turn him down. It would be a rare instance that a doctor would want to turn the rebbe down. By the nature of who was calling him (and the rebbe always found the time to take care of everything himself – no one to this day knows how), they were all eager to help – regardless of whether they professed any religious beliefs or interest and regardless of their ethnic origin.
We might say that the rebbe was charismatic – but most charismatic people I have met are artificial. Although the charisma can create a vast following – think of Napoleon – it is a self-interest whose purpose is to create power for its possessor. The rebbe had no interest in himself on any level. His single job was to serve Hashem, and his interest in loving people and helping them was one manifestation of this. When he called to ask for assistance in any matter, it was clear to whomever he called that he was offering them to help someone. And it was clear that he had no other motivation; no vested interest; no personal agenda. This came across so clearly that it was virtually axiomatic that they would help the rebbe – meaning help the person on whose behalf the rebbe had called.
With time, the rebbe’s programs, communities, shullen expanded. They now included large communities on both sides of the Atlantic, numerous organizations, shullen, activities and programs.
Once, when we still lived in Baltimore, my wife and I were visiting Israel when a personal matter needed immediate attention. Someone aware of our predicament recommended we go discuss the matter with the rebbe. I was not aware that the rebbe was in Eretz Yisrael at the time, nor did I have the slightest idea how one could possibly gain an audience with him. I knew that innumerable individuals clamored for a few seconds of the rebbe’s precious time and that the rebbe was no youngster anymore. My friend arranged that my wife and I could go talk to the rebbe together. Yes, you read that correctly: an admor who sat on both moatzos gedolei Hatorah of Agudas Yisrael – the American one, which predominantly reflects the Litvishe yeshiva world, and the one in Eretz Yisrael, which is exclusively rebbes of very large chassidiyus –was willing and available to meet with a married couple of American litvaks who happened to be visiting and represented no political group and were not noted askanim in anything.
The rebbe met with us, gave us all the time in the world to hear us out, and explained to us how to deal with the issue involved, and why it was nothing that we should be shaken up over or afraid of. He did not whitewash any problems, but explained, presented and encouraged. To this I will always be grateful. Yehi zichro baruch.