The Rebbetzin "What Exactly did my Husband say to You?"

"Somebody once said to the Rebbetzin that she and the Rebbe should merit to enjoy much N achas from the Chassidim. The Rebbetzin responded by saying, "Our N achas is when we hear that you have Nachas …

-Rabbi Halberstam

I would like to present a conversation that Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka A"H (the Rebbe's wife) had with a librarian at a library in Manhattan. Special thanks to Rabbi Shmuel Lew. Also included is an interesting picture of the Rebbe (part 78 in the series).

"The Rebbetzin often visited a library in Manhattan. Many years ago, she went to the library and presented her card. The librarian saw the name on it and asked,

"Are you related to the famous Rebbe in Brooklyn?"

The Rebbetzin said she was. "How are you related?" "He is my husband," said the Rebbetzin.

The librarian began to complain to her about the Rebbe. She said that she had no children and "with great effort, I went to the Rebbe two years ago and asked him for a Bracha for a child. The Rebbe blessed me and said I needed to commit to some Mitzva, since a blessing is like rain and it needs a vessel to hold it. I told the Rebbe I would light candles Friday night. Two years have gone by and I still haven't had a child!"

The Rebbetzin calmed her down and said, "I don't have children either." The librarian burst into tears and said, "I'm sorry, but I'm a Holocaust survivor and I was in concentration camps, and I am the sole survivor of my family. That's why it's so important to me to have children, so that the family will live on."

The Rebbetzin asked, "What exactly did my husband say to you?" The librarian answered, "He said I should light Shabbos candles." "Are you doing so?" "Yes!" "How do you do it?" inquired

the Rebbetzin. "Every Friday I light candles when my husband comes home from work, around seven-eight o'clock." The Rebbetzin explained that Shabbos candles must be lit before sunset. "Commit to lighting the Shabbos candles properly," she suggested. The librarian agreed to do so and ten months later she had a son. She stayed in touch with the Rebbetzin and even visited her.

Good Shabbos

Menachem.

Copyright © Menachem Kirschenbaum 2007