The Rebbe’s Advice that Saved Lives

“Quiet Diplomacy,” the advice that the Rebbe’s gave to former Senator Jacob Hecht, in how to deal with the Soviet Union, saved thousands of Jews, in a deal brokered between President Reagan Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.

It has been over ten years since the Lubavitcher Rebbe has passed on. I am 75 and want to tell the most important story of my life. It is a story of the wisdom of the Rebbe.

I was elected to the United States Senate in 1982. A couple of years later, my brother, Martin Hecht, and nephew, Dr. Chaim Hecht, took me to Brooklyn to meet the Rebbe at a farbrengen (a chassidic gathering). The Rebbe spoke to me and said “your top priority should be to get the Jews out of Russia.” I replied that my late mother was an immigrant from Russia who had to flee with her family to escape death at the hands of the Russian Cossacks. “The key,” the Rebbe said, was “quiet diplomacy.” Please remember that the Cold War with Russia was still on.

About three years later, a very important vote came before the U.S. Senate. President Reagan needed my vote to break a tie. The vote was very important to the President. I had been a top supporter of President Reagan as I felt he was the best friend Israel has in the White House. [continued]

Read the rest of Jacob “Chic” Hecht’s account:
http://www.chabad.org/523711