This Shabbat is the third of Tammuz, the eighteenth anniversary of the passing of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of blessed memory (1902-1994). It is extremely difficult to write about what a Rebbe means, since, as Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzchak, 1040-1105) says in his commentary on the Torah regarding Moses (Numbers 21:21): "The leader of the generation is like the entire generation, because the leader is everything." Our sages explain that there is an expression of Moses in every generation, and certainly, the Moses of our generation is the Rebbe.
Therefore, it seemed appropriate to me, instead of writing a rational explanation of some aspect of a leader, to write a simple story that shows the attitude and care that a true leader has for his people. This story was told by one of the Rebbe's secretaries, Rabbi Leibl Groner.
Twenty or twenty-five years ago, the editor of one of the most important Jewish newspapers in the United States, a newspaper that reaches the entire Jewish community and non-Jews worldwide, called me and asked for an audience with the Rebbe. I asked the Rebbe, and he told me not to rush, but to grant him an audience. A few weeks passed, and this Jewish man arrived for the audience. I remember he came in around midnight, stayed until two in the morning, and then another person came in.
When he came out of the Rebbe's room, he was very excited. I asked him, "Why are you so excited?""
He replied: "I am a journalist, and I know what is happening in the world, and I know what Lubavitch is doing all over the world. When I wanted to approach the Rebbe, I thought to myself, 'What would the Rebbe talk about with a journalist? He will surely ask me to write about Lubavitch's work around the world.' But in practice, the Rebbe didn't mention a word about it.""
""The Rebbe began to talk about the newspaper, and he asked me, 'Where does the newspaper reach?' and I answered him."'
""'And what are the smallest places?' the Rebbe asked me."'
""There are places like that too. For example, there's a small town in Texas where two Jewish families live, and they get the newspaper too," I replied."
""The Rebbe looked at me and asked, 'Do you know what your responsibility is?'"'
""I answered: yes, to write a newspaper"...
"'No!' replied the Rebbe, 'The connection of those two families to Judaism is solely through your newspaper. If you write authentic, true Judaism in it, you will be the channel through which authentic Judaism reaches a Jew living in a spiritual desert; but if you write trivial things or, God forbid, things contrary to Judaism, you will be responsible for those two families.''
The journalist told me, "There are two Jewish families in a small town in Texas. Who thinks about them? Nobody! The Lubavitcher Rebbe is sitting in Brooklyn, in the Crown Heights neighborhood, and he finds a Jew whom he assumes can reach those two families in Texas, and he completely forgets about himself, about having people write about the immense work and great effect of his envoys, and all he thinks about is how to use the opportunity of meeting a journalist to see that those two families receive Judaism.""
The journalist ended his story by saying, "If there was any chance the Rebbe could convince me to do it, the Rebbe convinced me.""