Stories

She lived in Balaclava, and from her youth had felt a strong attraction to Judaism. Whenever she heard stories of the Holocaust, she was deeply touched...

I was told that I had a special mission, one that should take precedence over everything else I was doing. I was instructed to take as much time off from my studies as necessary.

Editor's note: In light of the recent tragedy which struck the Chabad-Lubavitch community, we find the following account, penned more than fifty years ago, particularly poignant--and most relevant

"I concluded my letter," Dr. Green recalls, "by saying that the Rebbe had best stick to his field of expertise, Torah, and leave science to scientists..."

“I have a friend called Sarah,” said the woman on the other end of the line. “She’s pregnant and says she can’t afford another child, so she decided to have an abortion . . .”

Mrs. Lifschitz had been advised by Jewish leaders that the phoenix is a non-Jewish symbol. How could it be placed in Jerusalem, no less? I was standing near the door to the Rebbe's office that night, when he called for me and asked that I bring him the book of Job from his bookshelf

I used to be in the police escort that once a week escorted the Lubavitcher Rebbe to the Montefiore Cemetery, where the Rabbi’s father-in-law and predecessor is interred. One time, I stood by door of his car when he got out, and asked him: “Excuse me, Rabbi, do you only bless Jewish people or non-Jews too?”

A Mexican rabbi visiting Teheran; a Jew in Chittagong, Bangladesh.

"Tell him," said the Rebbe, "that not everything in the Dark Ages was dark"

400 apartments housing 1,200 people were destroyed or damaged. Tel Aviv hospitals were prepared to handle mass casualties

Rabbi Hodakov, the Rebbe's secretary, was on the line. "The Rebbe says to tell the young woman that there is a Jew in Brooklyn who cannot sleep at night because she intends to marry a non-Jew."

In the wee hours of a sleepless night, Eli thought of the Rebbe.

The Rebbe demonstrates his miracle-working technique to a group of high-school students

The Rebbe's encounter with a group of disabled Israeli war heroes

The young woman left the room, but the Rebbe immediately told me to call her back in, explaining: "I don't want her to think that we are discussing her behind her back..."

It was a drenching downpour. Three minutes outdoors was enough to soak you to the bone. But the annual march proceeded as usual. We arrived at the park, however, only to find the gates closed and locked.

It was raining very, very hard. I would never have gone out, but it was the final day to pay some bills and I had to get to the bank.

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...

He had everything he wanted, a wonderful wife, a happy family and then along came the Nazis and his life was destroyed, like so many others.

"This [dollar] is for your mother." Rabbi Hecht froze; his mother had passed away many years ago

Louis had sadly become a drunk and had drifted away from family life. "Do you know if anyone might know how to contact him?" the Rebbe asked.

The Rebbe suggested that since we are financially secure, we should close our store on Shabbat and that G‑d will then send our daughter her bashert...

The Rebbe sends a scientist to Russia to help Jews—whom the Rebbe had never met—move forward in their Judaism.

In the 1970’s one of those we were acquainted with was facing a crisis: One of their children was engaged to a non-Jewish girl.

In 1965 the Rebbe requested of Rabbi Mordechai Schusterman, the owner of a printing press, to print a series of Rabbi Shalom Dovber’s scholarly discourses. Several weeks later, the Rebbe requested that the printing of the discourses be canceled. Read the story behind the story.

Mr. Shalom asked, "Lubavitcher Rebbe, I do not understand you. Why don’t you write a letter to G‑d asking Him to send you the money."

On the way to a fundraiser in Canada via New York, the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, arranges for the rabbi to visit a lonely person.

Sitting in front of a classroom year after year challenges teachers to bring new enthusiasm to their students. Rabbi Yechiel Malov found himself dealing often with this difficulty.