The Seven Children That Weren’t

Prior to the marriage of his eldest son, a neighbor of ours asked my father, Rabbi Chaim Meir Bukiet, to arrange for him a private audience with the Rebbe, of righteous memory. My father found it peculiar that he only requested an audience for himself, without including his wife and the bride and groom, as was customary.

Nevertheless, my father did as asked, contacted the Rebbe's secretariat and arranged the requested audience.

The day following the audience, my father received an alarming call from the secretariat. He was told that the father of the groom abruptly fled the Rebbe's office in middle of the conversation. The secretary also informed my father that the Rebbe had left a check for that individual, and he could pick it up from the office.

My father received an alarming call from the secretariat. He was told that the father of the groom abruptly fled the Rebbe's office in middle of the conversation... When my father approached him, he broke down in tears, explaining that business had been very bad and he was struggling to make ends meet. Now with the wedding preparations, the burden and struggle was overwhelming. In order to secure necessary funds for the wedding, he had approached many community activists and rabbis requesting their assistance.

In order to make his case more urgent and thereby to secure a bigger check, when requesting money he added seven fictitious names to his family, so that it appeared that he had ten children in all. It seemed that no one questioned his large family and hence, everyone gave him a sizeable gift.

When he handed to the Rebbe his note listing all ten children, the Rebbe asked, after reading the first few names, "And who are these?" pointing to the next seven names.

Overwhelmingly embarrassed, he simply could not face the Rebbe and quickly ran out...