Small Shift to a New Horizon

by Dovid Zaklikowski for Hasidic Archives

Even during the most pressing times, Rabbi Sholom Dovber Schneersohn, the Rebbe Rashab, devoted much time to those who sought private audiences. When it came to his own needs, however, he did not allow himself the same liberty.

At one point, when Rabbi Sholom Dovber suffered from excruciating neck pain, a doctor would visit weekly with a hot compress to ease his suffering. More than once, when the doctor arrived, the Rebbe said he had no time. After this happened several times, his wife, Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah, asked him: “Everyone comes to you with their personal needs, and you give each one ten minutes, or however long is required. Why are you worse than they are, that you cannot give yourself half an hour?

The Rebbe replied simply: “But what can I do if I truly do not have the time?”

Before an important rabbinical convention in Petersburg, Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah was taken aback by the amount of time and energy her husband was investing. “You cannot recreate the entire world!” she exclaimed.

When steering a ship, the Rebbe explained, a small turn of the helm may seem insignificant at first, but over the course of the voyage it can result in the ship ending up thousands of miles to the right or left of its point of departure.

“So it is here,” he concluded. “You have to change the foundation, and then, G-d willing, we will ‘arrive’ at our proper ‘destination.’”

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