THE REBBE IS WITH US EVERY STEP OF THE WAY

About the shlichus of Rabbi Dovid (Dudu) Lider, director of the Chabad House for Israeli tourists in Melbourne. He tells about the shluchim in the early years who were guided closely by the Rebbe. He himself went on shlichus in 5764. * Within a short time he was able to double and then triple their activities and now he is about to complete a new, three story building. * The story of a shliach with incredible stories to share, whose shlichus exemplifies “chai v’kayam.”

Gromov Photography

I have known R’ Dovid (Dudu) Lider for many years, since our childhood in Shikkun Chabad Lud. Sixteen years ago I saw the work that he was doing in Australia when I visited the continent for a series of articles on Chabad in Australia. At that time, he was a student in the R’ YY Gutnick smicha program. In his free time, he helped R’ Shneur Schneerson, then passed the director of the Chabad House for Israeli tourists in Melbourne.

Although many years since then, I cannot forget the special atmosphere at the Shabbos meal that took place in the Ohel Devorah shul hall. R’ Schneerson led the powerful singing that accompanied the meal. Then he sat, along with bachurim from the smicha program, to talk to the tourists until late into the night. Already then, R’ Lider stood out and in his conversations with tourists I could see a special spark on both sides – a spark of chayus in R’ Lider and a spark of desire to learn more and more on the part of the tourists.

But back then, R’ Lider was a smicha student and he did not dream that the day would come when he would return to Melbourne to live, on shlichus. Even then, he felt how beneficial the shlichus was for him:

“The long conversations with tourists, led by R’ Shneur Schneerson, which took place in a manner that maintained appropriate boundaries, were a spiritual experience for me. In order to teach others, you need to live what you teach, and this helped me develop a much deeper bonding with all matters of Torah and mitzvos.”

R’ Shneur Schneerson, who noticed the special rapport that R’ Lider had with the tourists, asked him at the end of the year of learning to stay on for another year and to focus on learning and activities with the tourists. He agreed and stayed together with a friend, Shlomo Taubenfliegel.

At the end of the year he received an answer from the Rebbe to return to Eretz Yisroel where he married his wife Sara, daughter of Rabbi Professor Yaakov Friedman. They both committed to go on shlichus after they married. About a year after they married, R’ Lider had many shlichus offers, including returning to Australia. He received that offer from the shliach R’ Yitzchok Dovid Groner along with his son, R’ Chaim Tzvi, who remembered his success as a bachur. Since R’ Shneur Schneerson had moved to a shlichus in Ramat Aviv, they asked R’ Lider to fill the void.

R’ Lider and his wife wrote to the Rebbe about the various offers and asked for a bracha and guidance. The clear answer he opened to in the Igros Kodesh was the first in a series of extraordinary letters that he received, with clear direction from the Rebbe. The answer was in a letter to R’ Shneur Zalman Serebryanski, director of the Chabad institutions in Melbourne. In the letter dated 29 Sivan 5714, the Rebbe wrote:

“Regarding the end of your letter about Anash being very upset when they see that it is possible to be successful and what is lacking is the right people, since Divine Providence brought you [to Australia] and not others and showed you open miracles … obviously Anash in Australia have the ability to do all that is necessary and may it be Hashem’s will that they take this potential and actualize it and that this be soon and go easily.

BRING NEW STUDENTS

There is no comparison between doing outreach in distant Australia as a bachur and filling a permanent shlichus position as a married couple. Aside from the enormous distance from family and one’s familiar environment, the young couple has to deal with a demanding shlichus that requires 24/7 dedication. At a certain point, R’ Lider realized that he needed help from Hebrew speaking bachurim, and since there were no such bachurim that year in the smicha program, he had to bring them on a direct flight from New York which cost $5000.

R’ Lider who was barely managing with the Chabad House’s expenses was unsure whether to pursue this or not. Where would he get the money from? He wrote to the Rebbe and opened Volume Eight in the Igros Kodesh to page 134, to a letter written to the hanhala of the Chabad Yeshiva in Lud, dated 29 Teves 5714:

Regarding the new students, I already expressed my opinion in the past that this is very, very necessary and oftentimes in situations like this it pays to begin the thing which will draw afterward the means, and not necessarily the reverse – to delay the start until you have the means.

R’ Lider immediately called a travel agency in the US and ordered tickets. It was 4:30pm and he had no idea how he would pay for them.

A half an hour later, while visiting an apartment belonging to tourists, he got a phone call from someone who asked him to stop by his office. When he finished his day’s activities, he went to see the man who told him that at 4:45 that day he had closed a big deal and for some reason he had remembered that he once promised to donate toward the Chabad House. He decided to give the maaser as his donation and he handed R’ Lider an envelope. To his amazement, it contained a check for $5000!

BAALEI T’SHUVA WHO MAKE BAALEI T’SHUVA

The Israeli tourists who go to Australia are different than tourists in the Far East. They don’t go for a month or two of adventures, during which they don’t stay in one place for more than a few days or weeks. Rather, it’s a calmer trip usually combined with temporary work which generally lasts a year or two. This creates a special opportunity to forge long-term relationships with tourists, most of whom are young people with open minds, for better or for worse, who are willing to hear anything. Visits to the Chabad House are more serious in nature and their attendance at shiurim is consistent, which usually leads many of them to become baalei t’shuva.

Over the years, R’ Lider has brought dozens of young people to Torah and Judaism. Many of them became Lubavitcher Chassidim and some of them are even shluchim themselves who are bringing back another generation of baalei t’shuva.

This is the story of Yoni Yitzchok and Kobi Ohana, as told by R’ Lider:

“Yoni and Kobi lived in an apartment of tourists and attended our Chabad House’s activities. At a certain point, Yoni began getting stronger in his religious observance, and living in that apartment interfered with his spiritual progress. I suggested that he come and live in one of the guest rooms on the ground floor of the Chabad House. He was unsure whether he wanted to leave his friends. Since we talk to the tourists a lot about the Rebbe being the Nasi Ha’dor with whom we should consult and get guidance, he decided to write to the Rebbe.

“He put his letter into Volume 21 of Igros Kodesh and the answer he opened to was clear as day. In a letter from the first day of Rosh Chodesh Adar 5715, the Rebbe writes to someone who was offered a job to be a shamash in a shul while living in an apartment in the shul:

In response to your letter of 9 Shvat, which was delayed somewhat on its way, in which you write that you are being offered another job … in the shul and you ask whether to take it and settle there in the apartment.

Even though as regards to many of Anash I wrote about settling in Kfar Chabad , due to your personal and special situation, it is proper the arrangement that you write of that your residence be in … and try to get the job.

May you merit the aphorism of the Tzemach Tzedek that he said to a certain individual, “Kara la’shamash va’yizrach ohr” (a play on the words of the prayer referring to Hashem instructing the sun to give off light, to mean instead, “He called to the shamash and he should shine light”). The Rebbe, my father-in-law explained this to mean to illuminate the shul and beis midrash with chayus and an increase in general in both prayer and the shiurim that are learned, and may Hashem grant you success.

“After this clear answer, Yoni went back to his apartment and informed his friends that he was moving to the Chabad House. Before he left, he spoke to his friend Kobi, who was also far along in the kiruv process, and suggested that he join him at the Chabad House. Kobi is an intellectual guy who was not so enamored of answers in the Igros Kodesh and at first he refused to listen to the idea. But then he said, ‘At the next opportunity I will go to the Chabad House and when I will be alone, I will ask the Rebbe. If I get the same answer you got, I will join you.’

“I didn’t know about Yoni’s conversation with Kobi. The next morning I went to the shul of the Chabad House and saw Kobi sitting with an open volume of Igros Kodesh, looking pale as a ghost. In amazement, he told me about what happened the night before and he showed me the answer he had opened to a minute before I arrived. It was exactly the same letter!”

The Rebbe’s amazing answer spurred on the religious advancement of both young men once they felt that the Rebbe was with them, and today they are both Chabad Chassidim. Yoni runs Beis Moshiach in Nachalat Har Chabad where he is mekarev youth to Judaism and Chassidus with a special enthusiasm for Inyanei Moshiach and Geula and writing to the Rebbe.

The phenomenon of tourists becoming baalei t’shuva at the Chabad House has picked up speed in recent years after R’ Lider began a yeshiva. R’ Lider noticed that many of the tourists were inspired at the Chabad House (and also at other Chabad Houses) and planned on going to yeshiva when they returned to Eretz Yisroel, but when they went home and met up with family and friends, they cooled off and did not go to yeshiva. This is why he decided to open a yeshiva where tourists can learn for a long time, get stronger in their religious commitment and knowledge, while working at jobs that he helps them find, and only then return home.

THE TOURISTS LIVE WITH THE REBBE MH”M

R’ Lider’s clear answers from the Rebbe over the years strengthened his awareness and feeling that the Rebbe is chai v’kayam, as well as his fervor in spreading the Rebbe’s Besuras HaGeula. In accordance with the Rebbe’s sicha at the Kinus HaShluchim 5752, in which he said that all aspects of shlichus must be permeated with Inyanei Moshiach and Geula, R’ Lider tries to connect all his activities to Kabbalas P’nei Moshiach. This is aside from shiurim on the topic of Moshiach and Geula, a daily shiur every morning on the weekly D’var Malchus in order to live with the Rebbe’s messages of 5751-5752, and a weekly shiur on Shabbos on Geula concepts. In these shiurim, which take place at the Baal T’shuva Yeshiva which recently opened at the Chabad House, they learn in depth and have recently begun learning from R’ Sholom Ber Wolpo’s excellent book.

Along with the learning, the tourists enthusiastically sing “Yechi” and every Shabbos after Lecha Dodi, they dance and sing “Yechi” like in 770. In this way, the Chabad House is a ray of light of Geula on the Australian continent.

R’ Lider combines and balances the “Lights of Tohu” with the “Vessels of Tikkun,” so that even those of Anash and the shluchim who have different ideas respect R’ Lider’s work and are on friendly terms with him. “In accordance with guidance I received from the Rebbe,” says R’ Lider, “I am careful about not giving in on principles, but it is all done in a peaceful way, with the understanding and awareness that it is unity that will lead us toward Moshiach.”

Despite all his efforts, said R’ Lider, there was one instance in which a wealthy person who did not like the emphasis on Inyanei Moshiach stopped his donations. “Of course I was sorry to lose contact, but you don’t change your principles for money.”

In connection with this, R’ Lider tells a story that happened with one of his wealthy supporters with an important message for shluchim:

“One of the wealthy men in the community, a regular supporter of ours, asked me to do something for him that raised some halachic concerns. I consulted with a rav and after he told me this was prohibited, I called the man and told him that although I wanted to help, I could not fulfill his request since it was not halachically acceptable.

“The man, who was not used to being turned down, was furious and hung up. A few weeks went by and one Friday I wrote to the Rebbe about this and asked for a bracha that no harm result to the Chabad House and to the man’s spiritual and material connection because of this. In the Rebbe’s answer he referred to the field of endeavor the wealthy man was in and wrote that all these dealings need to be done in a way that is permissible according to Shulchan Aruch.

“Without thinking twice, I called the man. Although he had not taken calls from me until then, this time he answered. I told him: You should know that I am very pained over your cutting off ties and I just wrote to the Rebbe and received an answer regarding your business that everything must be done according to Shulchan Aruch.

“He understood, and not only did he not break off ties but this story changed his attitude toward the Chabad House. I later learned in a roundabout manner that he was very impressed by the fact that I wasn’t afraid to stand up for the principles of halacha. That only increased his esteem toward the Chabad House.”

R’ Lider tells an interesting incident about how he demonstrated the power of the Rebbe encouraging the singing of Yechi for an entire year. It was at a farbrengen with the shliach from Thailand, R’ Yosef Chaim Kantor, when a tourist asked him how he decided to go on shlichus. R’ Kantor said that it was after Chaf-Zayin Adar 5752 and when he asked the Rebbe whether to go on shlichus in Thailand, the Rebbe nodded his head affirmatively.

R’ Lider pointed out: See what one nod of the Rebbe’s head did? It changed the lives of an entire family and sent them on shlichus, which over the years changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of tourists in Thailand. Now think about the significance of the Rebbe’s encouragement of the singing of Yechi for an entire year!

EVERY HOME NEEDS
TO BE A CHABAD HOUSE

As mentioned at the beginning of the article, outreach with tourists began under the auspices of the Ohel Devorah synagogue, which belongs to a small community in Melbourne that donated the hall for hafatza activities. However, as the years passed and the shlichus grew, it became necessary to move to larger quarters.

When they found a two story building on the main street, the idea was proposed to have one floor for living quarters and one floor for activities. “It wasn’t an easy decision,” says R’ Lider, “since the hafatza could affect our privacy, but after writing to the Rebbe we opened to a letter that the Rebbe sent to the N’shei Chabad in London in which he urged them about the lesson we learn from the verse, ‘and make for Me a sanctuary and I will dwell in them,’ within each one of them. The Rebbe concludes that every private home needs to be a Chabad House! I could not have opened to a clearer answer.”

A BLESSING IN A DREAM

In recent years, R’ Lider has been busy building a big Chabad House which he is about to finish. From the outset, he has seen open miracles, as he told Beis Moshiach:

“Six year ago I read a letter of the Rebbe in which he expresses his view about buying and not renting. When I convened a meeting of the members of the vaad and told them we need to buy a Chabad House, they looked at me as though I fell off the moon. Prices in Melbourne are sky high, and if you take into account the difficulties in obtaining permits at all stages of construction until actually entering the building, the undertaking becomes nearly impossible.

“A short while later, I had to take a flight overseas. Before the flight I took a nap. I had an incredible dream which moves me till today. In my dream I and my oldest son Mendel are walking with a group of tourists. Suddenly, I see the Rebbe walking toward us, pointing at the tourists and saying, ‘They are the shluchim to bring the Geula to the world since they are dispersed all over the world.’ Then the Rebbe motioned to us to follow him. I suddenly found myself together with my son entering the Rebbe’s room for yechidus. The Rebbe closed the door and placed his hands on my head and began to bless me.

“While dreaming, I thought, this is my opportunity to ask the Rebbe for a bracha to be able to buy and build a Chabad House. But a moment later I thought, the Rebbe knows what to bless me with and I don’t need to make requests.

“When the Rebbe finished blessing me, he turned to my son and began to sing ‘Tzama Lecha Nafshi’ with tears in his eyes. Then he kissed my son several times.

“That was the most powerful dream I ever had and I so badly wanted it to go on and on, but it ended when the Israeli bachur who was going to take me to the airport knocked at my door and woke me up.”

SERIES OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE AND MIRACLES

“While still under the influence of the dream, I told it excitedly to the bachur who took me to the airport. As I told it to him, I got a phone call from a member of the community who heard I was looking to buy a building for the Chabad House. ‘I have an excellent property and I am willing to sell it to you at a good price. Instead of two million, it will be 1.6 million.’ I considered this the fulfillment of the Rebbe’s brachos and quickly signed a contract.

“After signing the contract, of course I had to get the money. I consulted with R’ Yisroel Brod who told me: Who is the richest person you know? Call him and ask for a meeting. When you are on your way to see him, call me and I will tell you what to ask him.

“The richest person I knew was an Israeli businessman I met ten years earlier. It was when I started davening at the local shul and one of the congregants told me that a wealthy man was present who spoke Hebrew, who came because it was his mother’s yahrtzait. He asked me to say a few words in Hebrew at the end of the davening. I agreed and said a short Torah thought along with an amazing story of the Rebbe with the Igros Kodesh.

“An hour later I got a call from the businessman. ‘I heard the story about the Rebbe,’ he said, ‘and I would like to know whether you can come to my office to help me write to the Rebbe about an important matter.’ I said yes, and when I got to his office I asked him what he wanted to write. ‘It’s confidential so I can’t say. Just write that I ask for a bracha.’ I took his name and his mother’s name and asked the Rebbe for a bracha for him. I put the letter into a volume of Igros Kodesh that I brought with me, Volume Eight, and the answer was letter #2289, a response to R’ Michoel Lipsker, shliach in Morocco:

I received your letters from 3 and 11 Kislev. And in the matter of Almaliach sh’yichyeh and the newspaper, I received a letter from him with a copy of the piece from the paper, and he writes to me that he relies on the fact that I will deny what it says etc.

Apparently he has not dealt with those who write for newspapers, who consider themselves absolved of all obligation when harming others etc.

Not being involved with them is best, if at all possible. In this situation, since a significant amount of time has passed since the article appeared, and apparently they did not notice it, silence is preferable for a number of reasons.

“I read this to the man and he (who I later learned was a seasoned businessman who conducted business internationally) was astounded. He emotionally took me to another room and showed me on a screen the latest news report in which he starred in a financial scandal… He took me to his partners and said: I’m not saying a word. Listen to R’ Lider read the Rebbe’s clear answer.

“Then he said that the media was waging a campaign against him and his plan had been to react with a counter campaign at the cost of a million dollars. But before doing that, he wanted the Rebbe’s bracha. Now he was going to shelve the idea! A few days later the media campaign died down and he saw how he benefited by listening to the Rebbe’s advice. Naturally, as a result, our relationship got tighter and he began to get closer to the Rebbe.

“I called this man and told him about buying a building for the Chabad House and asked for an appointment. He, as though not hearing my request, said: I have a big court case coming up soon and I want you to ask the Rebbe for a bracha for me.

“I usually try to make it clear that when asking for a bracha from the Rebbe, you need to make a vessel with a positive commitment of some kind. I told him this and then he said: Write to the Rebbe that if I win the case, I will make a donation to the Chabad House.

“I did not like doing things this way – give me, and I’ll give you – and I said: When I asked you to make a positive resolution, I did not mean that you should make a deal, but that you should simply make a spiritual commitment like putting on t’fillin once a week.

“He was silent for a moment and then said: Write to the Rebbe that I will start putting on t’fillin every Sunday and also, if I win, I will make a donation.

“Before writing to the Rebbe with his request, I thought, it is very easy to ask someone to make a good hachlata. What about my making a good hachlata? I remembered reading in Beis Moshiach that a rich man once said to the Rebbe that when he gives tz’daka, he does not feel that it is an effort. The Rebbe said: ‘When it starts to hurt you, that is your mitzva of tz’daka.’ So I made a commitment to help a friend who has a mosad in Eretz Yisroel with a relatively large sum of money beyond my natural means.

“That was on a Monday. I opened to Volume 18, p. 297 which began the words, “Confirming the receipt of the note of kavod toraso from Monday.” The letter goes on to refer to the maxim of Chazal which says, “Whoever says this coin is for tz’daka etc. is a perfect tzaddik” – which the person had cited in his letter to the Rebbe – according to the explanation of the Divrei Chaim that it is referring to someone who does this regularly, and since from lo lishma (doing it not for the sake of heaven) he will certainly come to lishma (doing it for the sake of heaven), he is therefore already considered a perfect tzaddik. I explained this to the rich man and he asked me to come to his office the following day.

“I called the next day and he wasn’t available. The same was true the day after, on Wednesday. Wednesday night at 10:30 I stood up to say the bedtime Shma and went in front of a picture of the Rebbe and pleaded that I get to see his blessings.

“I suddenly remembered my good hachlata that I had not yet followed through on. I called my friend in Eretz Yisroel, and since he wasn’t available, I left a message to get back to me as soon as possible because I wanted to help him. I had decided on a large amount of money I would give him.

“A minute later I got a phone call from a private caller. I was sure it was my friend in Eretz Yisroel and I answered the call. To my surprise, it was the businessman who said, ‘I am trying to sleep without success. It thought maybe it’s because I did not advance my donation that I promised you. Come to my house on Sunday, we’ll put on t’fillin and talk about the building.’

“On Sunday, on my way to his house, I called R’ Yisroel Brod who said to me, ‘Ask him for a large amount. Since buying the building costs 1.6 million, you need to ask for at least $150,000.’ I was taken aback. I had never asked anyone for a sum that large. I said, not only didn’t I think he would give it to me, since he wasn’t used to giving tz’daka in such large amounts, I was also afraid he would throw me out down the stairs and wouldn’t even put on t’fillin.

“R’ Brod was not impressed and repeated that I should ask for a large sum, and then he hung up.

“I was in a bind. I could not delay because the man was very particular about the timing of meetings with him, but I called my wife and asked her to write to the Rebbe and ask what I should do. As I stood near the door of his house, I called to ask my wife what the Rebbe’s answer was. She said that the answer was in Yiddish and since she didn’t know Yiddish, she could not tell me what the Rebbe said. ‘But,’ she added, ‘you need to remember that this isn’t your personal issue. You are the Rebbe’s shliach! Picture the Rebbe extending his hand and going inside with you – would you be nervous?’

“What she said really got through to me, and I felt that the Rebbe was with me and I went in with full confidence. I hugged the man and then told him about buying the property. I asked him for $150,000. He immediately agreed and then he put on t’fillin.

“That took place on 13 Nissan. A month later, at 12:30, I woke up to the ringing of the phone. It was the businessman who happily said, ‘The Rebbe’s bracha was fulfilled in a most unexpected way, but tomorrow I have another court case and I want a bracha from the Rebbe. Although it isn’t Sunday, I will come to you and put on t’fillin and you write to the Rebbe.’

“When he came, I asked him what his hachlata is. He said that since he sees that I am pressured by the Chabad House finances, he thought of an original way of helping me. ‘Publish a magazine in Hebrew and English and I will commit to helping you get paying ads from big Australian companies and of course I will also put in ads, and you will have a steady income.’

“I wrote asking for a bracha and put the letter into Volume Three, p. 340. The answer was in Yiddish. I translated it and was amazed by the clear answer which referred to his good hachlata:

Surely you have also met with Jews whom Hashem helped be able to support financially the work of the Merkos L’Inyanei Chinuch and Machne Israel … By providing an opportunity to Merkos L’Inyanei Chinuch and Machne Israel, for example, to publish and distribute as many publications as possible in various languages, they become partners in the enormous rescue work that the donor himself cannot do. And it is self-understood that this merit makes him more worthy of easily receiving the spiritual hashpaa that he requires.

“As we both marveled at the answer, I noticed that on the same page was another person’s letter. I did not remember ever opening to this particular answer for any letter and I curiously opened the letter. To my amazement it was my wife’s letter when she asked for a bracha for me when I was on my way to the businessman, that Yiddish letter that she did not understand. Now, it turned out, the Rebbe had given the same answer twice!”

I WILL ASK ANASH TO CONTRIBUTE TOWARDS THE EXPENSES OF THE MIKVA

“After we bought the property and began working on plans, we thought of building a women’s mikva since there is no mikva for a three-mile radius, but after figuring out that it would cost another $150,000, I decided to drop the idea.

“When I reported this to the Rebbe I opened to a letter addressed to a mikva building committee that asked the Rebbe for financial help. The Rebbe writes that due to the importance of building mikvaos, which hastens the end of galus, ‘I will ask Anash to contribute towards the expenses of the mikva in a symbolic way.’

“In light of this clear answer, I called an architect the next day and asked her to once again include the plans for a mikva. Knowing our financial situation, she asked, ‘You said you don’t have the money…’ I couldn’t explain to her the whole thing about Igros Kodesh, so I briefly told her that I was in touch with the Rebbe in New York and he told me he would send the money for the mikva. She accepted that and said she was very happy for us.

“That night I attended a L’chaim in the community, and in the course of a conversation mentioned this story to a fellow Lubavitcher. He was very excited by the story and grasped my hand and said: Listen, name the mikva for my relative who recently died and I’ll pay for it.

“When I showed him the Rebbe’s letter in the Igros Kodesh, we were both in shock for the letter was addressed to someone with the same name and position as this donor!”

THE 770 BALCONY

“After we reinstated the mikva plans, we brought R’ YY Feigelstock, a well-known expert on mikvaos, to oversee the work. When he saw the plan to have the shul on the first floor with two floors of offices and guest rooms over it, he pointed out that l’chat’chilla we don’t build sleeping quarters and bathrooms over a shul. I didn’t know what to do since we had already approved the plans, and every change could delay the construction for a long time.

“A few days later I received a surprising email from the inspector in charge of approving building plans. He wrote that there was an error in the approval of the plans and the upper floors had to be moved back 7.70 meters from the front. A quick check showed that after moving the upper floors precisely 7.70 meters back, the problem was solved. We used the space that was vacated for a large balcony that due to its size was nicknamed the 770 balcony.”

IT IS UP TO ANASH

The cross-continent conversation with R’ Lider continued and the stories were nonstop. Unfortunately, the stories have to fit into an article of limited length in the magazine and we had to stop, while recalling that the Rebbe Rayatz said that we don’t end a farbrengen; we merely take a break until the next farbrengen.

R’ Lider is rushing to put the finishing touches on an upcoming campaign to complete the building. Three wealthy people promised to match what he is able to raise up to $750,000 and R’ Lider is working on obtaining donations of $250,000 so that together with the three men’s donations, he will reach at least the million dollars needed to complete building the Chabad House.

Before he hangs up, he tells me that when he wrote to the Rebbe about the campaign, he opened to a letter that was written to R’ Zevin in connection with the activities of the shluchim whom the Rebbe sent in the summer of 1957, nearly sixty years ago. In that letter the Rebbe writes that although it is important to try to have an impact in many places, the main place ought to be Kfar Chabad and Lud. In line with this, R’ Lider plans on focusing his fundraising efforts on Lubavitcher communities.

I quickly wrote down all the moving stories that I heard in this long phone conversation, trusting that these incredible stories will inspire the readers to hiskashrus to the Rebbe, both in learning his teachings and doing his instructions and in writing to the Rebbe about all aspects of life. And mainly, being involved in Inyanei Moshiach and Geula with the belief and knowledge that the Rebbe is chai v’kayam and will soon be revealed to us and redeem us.