Nothing for Himself, Everything for Others

The Rebbe had no “social” life; no friends in the conventional sense, and almost no relatives. Yet most sociable; so close to everyone and treated every child as his own.

The Rebbe had virtually no peers or relatives. His parents passed away, one of his brothers was murdered by the Germans, another brother passed away suddenly in his early 40s, leaving a widow and a daughter, who lived in England and then Israel. Except for the Rebbetzin the Rebbe was left without any close relatives.

The Rebbe’s greatness in every field left him without any peers. Although the Rebbe corresponded with other great rabbis, they were not in touch on a regular basis.

The Rebbe commented that Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik was a close friend, and the feeling was mutual, but they hardly had any regular contact. 

Yet, the Rebbe is a friend to everyone in the truest and most complete sense of the word, as the Rebbe once remarked to a critic of the “adulation” of the Chassidim for him, that it was because he was their real friend.

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Entire life devoted to Jewish people and has almost no time for himself, nevertheless his relationship with and devotion to the Rebbetzin was unparalleled.

The relationship with the Rebbetzin was extremely private as is obviously proper. However, we have gotten some limited glimpses into their relationship which was extraordinary.

The Rebbe would spend days and nights in 770, but the twenty minutes or so that he ate dinner with the Rebbetzin were holy to him. The Rebbetzin would wait up for him until the wee hours of the morning.

They both were extremely protective of the other’s health.

If the Rebbe had one true Chassid it was the Rebbetzin who respected him and would not let the doctors go against his will when he suffered a heart attack.

When the Rebbetzin passed away and we came for Nichum Aveilim, we could see the devastation on the Rebbe’s face. 

The Rebbe once commented that the Rebbetzin’s blessing were superior to his own.

During her Shiva, the Rebbe said that only G-d knows her true greatness.

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People gave the Rebbe millions and he could have amassed a huge fortune for himself, yet was left virtually with nothing; all of it was disbursed for Tzedakah. 

Every week, for many years, the Rebbe would distribute a dollar to thousands of people. Sometimes he did it a few times a week. My estimate is that in the course of a year he would distribute at least a half-million dollars to people with the objective of giving that dollar or its exchange to tzedakah and then adding on some of their own.

Obviously, this money was donated to the Rebbe to use at his discretion. He could have used it for any of his multifarious activities and institutions or even for his personal use. Indeed, there were many people who would have been glad to enrich the Rebbe financially. 

But, for many years the Rebbe wore ripped shoes. His house was simple; the kitchen was from the 1930s…

The Rebbe was financially rich yet lived meagerly. The Rebbe took all this money and gave it to thousands of individual to donate to the charity of their choice.

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Never took a day off, but toiled to make life easier for others

The Rebbe was once asked why he did not take a vacation, as did his predecessors. The Rebbe’s response was that in the past the Chassidim would learn Torah while the Rebbe would rest. But now that the Chassidim go on vacation, he must stay home and learn Torah.

One way of looking at this was that the Rebbe’s refusal to rest was because by his toiling he was taking away some of the toil and hardship from others.

But, even on a basic level, the Rebbe devoted his life to easing the pain and suffering of other Jews.

Once a Chasid left a note under the Rebbe’s door because there was no one available to take the note. He then apologized to the Rebbe for making him bend to pick up the note.

The Rebbe’s response was, “That is why I am here, my whole ‘thing’ is to lift up, especially that which others have overlooked.” 

The Rebbetzin once commented to someone who called in middle of the night for an emergency, “this is what we are here for.” ■