The Rebbe’s family once spent a summer in Balaclava, by the shore of the Black Sea in Crimea. One day, the vacationers heard that a young boy had gone out alone in a small boat. The boat had capsized far from shore, and the child faced imminent danger.

Another boy swam out to the boat and rescued the drowning child. Hurrying to the scene of the incident, the Rebbe’s mother discovered that the “hero” was none other than her nine-year-old son.