One of the first students at the Yeshivas Tomchei Temimim, the yeshivah established in the village of Lubavitch in 1897 by the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe, the Rashab, was Rabbi Shneur Zalman Gorelik, who later became the first rav of Kfar Chabad in Israel. Rabbi Gorelik assumed this position at the age of 70, following a lifetime of vibrant communal activity. He established and managed a gemach, free loan fund, from his own salary, thus helping many struggling immigrant families establish the future Lubavitch center in Israel.

Once Rabbi Gorelik confided in a friend, “Besides the mitzvah of offering free loans, the gemach helps me perform my rabbinical duties. You see, I am not young, and it is difficult for me to pay home visits as an active Rabbi should in our growing town.

“When people come for a loan, I can offer them assistance and guidance about their families, their finances, and their spiritual advancement.

But at his first yechidus, when he was already eighty years old, Rabbi Gorelik mentioned that the gemach required too much of his time.

The Rebbe replied, “To the contrary. The gemach grants you additional time.” And Rabbi Gorelik was indeed granted much time, living well into his nineties.

At one point, Rabbi Gorelik told the Rebbe that he felt Kfar Chabad deserved a more dignified Rav. The Rebbe replied: “You can increase your dignity.”