July 30, 2008 • 27 Tammuz 5768Mishpacha Issue 219

1947: Into the gloom of postwar New York — a community of survivors reeling from their losses, numb, uncertain, grieving — came a soul aflame. He melted their doubts with warmth and healed their wounds with love. He too had lost so much: a wife, children, community … yet he was single minded, focused on the people and their needs: jobs, shidduchim, housing.
1997: He sits at the head of the tisch, surrounded by a wall of devoted chassidim rising to meet the sky, families equaling, perhaps surpassing, the Bobov of his youth.
The Rebbe. Majestic, regal, glowing. Not only what he built, but who he was. Serene, soft, tender, yet clear and deliberate in his goals for them, for their families. His language touched them all: not only that first group of war-torn survivors, but even a new generation, the young chassidim, born and nurtured on American soil, were inspired by his bearing, his conduct, his message. In honor of his yahrtzeit on Rosh Chodesh Av, Mishpacha’s Yisroel Besser sits with two of the Rebbe’s close family members: Rav Benzion Twerski, Rav of Beth Jehudah in Milwaukee, and Rav Chaskel Shia Tauber, Rav of Montreal’s Bobover kehillah

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