Permission to Stand

by Dovid Zaklikowski for Hasidic Archives

In the late 1950s, during the summers, the young Eliezer Kuperman did some work for Solomon Telushkin, who handled accounting for several Jewish non-profits, including Lubavitch World Headquarters.

“In the front office,” Mr. Kuperman said he said of his time at 770, “if you dropped a needle there, the entire world knew about it.” There were many activities, he recalled, that the Rebbe did not want publicized. At one point, this included the smuggling of Moroccan Jews, including those from Morocco, Tangier and other North African countries, to France and then to Israel.

Because of this discretion, Mr. Kuperman sometimes found himself working inside the Rebbe’s own office. He recalled the Rebbe studying from large Torah volumes while he worked nearby. Not wanting to disturb the Rebbe’s studying, he would jot down any questions he had. When enough had accumulated, he would signal that he wanted to ask something. The Rebbe would close his volume, answer the questions, and then return to his learning.

Once, while Mr. Kuperman was working in the secretariat’s room, the Rebbe walked in to collect the mail. Everyone in the room stood up, but since Kuperman was being paid to work, he believed that Jewish law did not permit him to interrupt his job. The others in the office began to murmur about what they perceived as his chutzpah. They went to the Rebbe’s chief aide, Rabbi Chaim Hodakov, and complained that the young man had not shown proper respect to the Rebbe.

The chief aide summoned Mr. Kuperman to his office and told him what the commotion was about. The young accountant responded that Jewish law forbade him from wasting time during paid work. Rabbi Hodakov laughed and asked him to come with him to see the Rebbe. He repeated the story, and the Rebbe laughed as well. “You are right,” the Rebbe said, “but they are chassidim. What can we do?”

The Rebbe then told him to call Mr. Telushkin and ask if he had permission to stand up on such occasions going forward. Mr. Telushkin granted it.

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