The Declared Nudnik 

by Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky for Hasidic Archives

There were protocols to ask the Rebbe questions. Most people approached him through letters, which were mailed or submitted to the secretariat. For some reason, an individual once wanted to ask the Rebbe a question face to face. When he was told that it was not proper to stop the Rebbe, and that he would need to write a note, he voiced his frustration to anyone who would listen. Someone suggested that he should stand near the door where the Rebbe davened minchah. “When the Rebbe exits,” they said, “say ‘Rebbe,’ and he will stop. Then you can ask your question.” 

There were students, however, who had taken on the role of protecting the Rebbe. When several of them suspected that the man was going to stop the Rebbe, they were not happy and blocked him each time he tried. 

When the man complained to someone, they suggested that he hide behind a tree at the time the Rebbe would exit 770 and stop the Rebbe when he passed by. He did this and succeeded in catching the Rebbe’s attention. They spoke for some ten minutes.

When he finished talking and the Rebbe left, several students berated him angrily. “Who do you think you are? You could have written a letter; why did you need to bother the Rebbe and waste his time?”

The man felt bad and wrote a letter to the Rebbe about what the people said and apologized for taking his time. A few hours later, the Rebbe responded, quoting the Baal Shem Tov who said, “A soul may descend to this world and live seventy or eighty years in order to do a Jew a material favor, and certainly a spiritual one.”

Then the Rebbe added, “And who knows if the entire reason my soul came down to this physical world was not to do you a favor? Who are they to mix into this?”

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