On one of my trips to South America, I met a wealthy Jewish family in Guatemala, who were very prominent leaders in the local Jewish community. I became acqainted with the entire family, including a daughter who was then living in New York.
One day she phoned me to tell me her good news: she was engaged to an Israeli young man. She told me that they had decided to marry according to Jewish law, and now they wanted me to officiate at their wedding. I responded that I would be happy to oblige, but before the wedding I would like to speak with her and her groom regarding the observance of the laws of family purity.
During my introductory talk with the groom, I discovered interesting details about his family background. His great-uncle had been a prominent rabbi in Warsaw, Poland, Rabbi Tzvi Yechezkel Michelson, who had been killed by the Nazis in 1942. This was personally significant for me since Rabbi Michelson had granted my own father rabbinic ordination and I had heard from my father about his brilliance.
His father, who was one of the very few who managed to escape from the Warsaw Ghetto, emerged from the Holocaust with an all-consuming hatred towards anything that had any connection to religion.
The date for the wedding was set for 14 Kislev, in the winter of 1983. Unknown to the couple was that this was the date of the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s wedding anniversary.
The custom is for the groom to be called up to the Torah on the Shabbat before the wedding.
The groom did not go to the synagogue on that Shabbat, but rather attended a small synagogue on the Thursday before, with a group of close friends and relatives in attendance. The reason for this was his father’s completely antagonistic approach, adamantly refusing to step foot in a synagogue for Saturday services, and agreeing only under these conditions.
On the morning of the wedding, I wrote a note to the Rebbe wherein I informed him about the wedding that evening. I also wrote briefly about the background of the groom and his bride.
I received an answer via one of the Rebbe’s secretaries later that day. The Rebbe had written that the groom’s great-uncle had been present at his—the Rebbe’s—own wedding in Warsaw, and had even given the Rebbe a gift—a book that he had authored and published. Since, by divine providence, the young couple’s wedding was set for the same date, the 14th of Kislev, the Rebbe suggested that I take that book with me and hold it beneath the chuppah (wedding canopy). The Rebbe noted exactly where the book could be located in his library (“close to the Midrash Tanchumah, near the light switch”).
I was handed the book by the Rebbe’s secretary, and with it I set out to Manhattan, where the wedding was to take place in an elegant hotel.
Before the wedding reception, I approached the father of the groom and showed him the book, telling how the Rebbe recalled his illustrious uncle and sent the book so that it be present under the wedding canopy.
Opon seeing the Rebbe’s handwritten inscription in the book, the man’s face changed. Tears welled up, and he sobbed for several minutes. He was transported back to that terrible time when he saw his uncle being loaded onto a cattle car toward Treblinka.
During the pre-ceremony reception, the groom asked me to address the guests. For many of them this was the first time they had participated in a chuppah ceremony where all the Jewish laws and customs were observed.
I happily fulfilled his request, and in my speech I explained the inner meaning of marriage and married life according to Torah and chassidic teachings. I concluded my speech by telling them that I wished to tell them about the great-uncle of the groom. Raising the book in my arms, I spoke of the groom’s illustrious family background.
“And if you ask from where I got this book, I’ll tell you!"
At this point, I told the stunned guests the whole story about the Rebbe’s answer and request. I added that I was certain that the groom’s great-uncle was very pleased in his heavenly resting place that his relative entered his marriage in accordance with the Torah, for the sake of which he had devoted his entire life.
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