The Rosh Yeshivah apologized to his host, Rabbi Berl Rivkin, where he stayed when visiting New York. Although he shared family ties with his host, he nonetheless did not share all of Rabbi Rivkin’s interests.

“Yes, I enjoyed the davening at “770” last night and this morning. Thank you for inviting me. But farbrengens are not for me. I’m not trying to minimize the depth and breadth of the Rebbe’s scholarship, but his style and selection of topics are different from those discussed in our yeshivah world.

“I like to spend Shabbos afternoons embroiled in a complicated Halachic text or unraveling a difficult passage in the Rambam’s works. Besides, I’m just not used to the Rebbe’s style of exposition of Rashi’s Torah commentary.”

Rabbi Rivkin did not wish to press his guest. They spent the rest of the Shabbos meal discussing a complex passage of the Rambam. As the farbrengen was about to begin, Rabbi Rivkin left his guest grappling with the Rambam and hurried to “770”. He made it to his place as the Rebbe was entering the hall.

The farbrengen began as usual, and the Rebbe elaborated on the lessons to be derived from the weekly Torah portion and the spiritual significance of this Shabbos, continuing with a deep chassidic discourse and lively singing.

During the singing, Rabbi Rivkin noticed his guest inching through the crowd. Evidently, the Rosh Yeshivah had decided to attend the farbrengen, and the chassidim were helping him reach his host’s place. The Rebbe then began discussing Rashi’s commentary.

Towards the conclusion of this talk, the Rebbe explained: “In light of all the above, one can also explain a difficult passage in the Rambam…. ” Rabbi Rivkin and his guest exchanged glances. This was the very passage which they had been studying. The Rosh Yeshivah leaned forward to hear every word.

He was astounded to hear the Rebbe clarify the difficulty in a few carefully worded sentences. He was equally overwhelmed that the Rebbe had tied this seemingly unrelated passage to his discussion just at the time that he had arrived at the farbrengen.

Still intrigued by this awesome coincidence, the Rosh Yeshivah was further surprised when, after concluding, the Rebbe turned to him with a smile and said, “There’s no need to be astonished.”