What Elicited a Rare Response from the Rebbe?

Rabbi Chay Amar, shaliach to Golden Beach, Florida, gave a shiur Tuesday night in North Miami Beach’s Yeshiva Torah Ohr, which was followed by a chasidishe farbrengen.

Rabbi Amar related how fortunate the bochorim are to have the opportunity to learn day and night with no worries and maximize the opportunity. He explained that the Zohar states that a Baal Teshuva can attain much high levels of love of G-d than Yidden who have been accustomed to Yiddishkeit their whole lives.

He related a personal story which stressed the importance of keeping seder. In Tevet 5752 (1992), while a bochur in the Yeshiva Gedola of Manchester, he wrote a letter to the Rebbe. At that time, the Rebbe would get anywhere from eight to ten thousand pieces of mail each week, and most people weren’t fortunate enough to receive a written response. Only very crucial and important matters would get a response. Yet he received an answer back from the Rebbe in under two weeks!

So what did young Chay write in that was so important? He wrote about his hachlata to be ready to learn at seder everyday at exactly 7:30am after finishing all of his personal needs – i.e. saying shema, coffee, mezonos – and to learn for the first 10 minutes of all of each seder without speaking interrupting even for a moment. To that the Rebbe took the time to respond: “brocha vhatzlcha, azkir al hatzion.”