The Vizhnitzer Rebbe’s call in challenging times: “A Yid must never get lost”

Photos: Dovid Cohen, Menachem Weinberger, Baruch Yaari, Naftali Lerer, Family archives

The Vizhnitzer Rebbe is the last person to consider public opinion or popularity, especially in matters of the soul. A Yid, he told us in a special pre-Yom Tov conversation, must never lose his frame of reference. “Faith draws down blessing,” the Rebbe said, “and it draws down salvation. Even if everything around you looks dark, it can all change in an instant”

We’ve merited to see the Vizhnitzer Rebbe, Rav Yisrael Hager, many times in public gatherings, but this time was different. We’d soon be admitted to his private chamber to give a new-year kvittel, a personal note in which chassidim pour out their struggles and challenges.

Holiness is hard to convey in words; it simply permeates the entire space. Hundreds of chassidim are standing outside, some waiting for hours, some with small children. The line is snaking along.

For all those who are waiting, the encounter is priceless — a private meeting between the Rebbe and individual chassidim, each one feeling like an only child. The Vizhnitz community is baruch Hashem large, and the needs of the people are many. The Rebbe has been traveling for an entire month, from city to city, from town to town, wherever chassidim reside, meeting them where they are, so as not to burden them.

It seems as if every word of the kvittlach etch a new mark on the Rebbe’s heart, and it’s clear that he’s looking far beyond those scribbled lines. At times, the Rebbe pauses, raising his compassionate eyes above his glasses, locking them with the eyes of the chassid. It’s hard to describe the moment that their gazes meet.

But the chassidim have good reason to wait: They know that their rebbe has a special power to absorb their pain, empathize with their challenges, and open a channel for their personal salvation.

Once, when the Rebbe was a young boy, he entered the room of his zeide, the Imrei Chaim of Vizhnitz, to borrow a sefer as the Imrei Chaim was holding a kvittel in his hand. The Imrei Chaim directed a loving gaze at his grandson and remarked to the chassid who was sitting opposite him, “This grandson of mine has three attributes of greatness. He has a broken heart, but his heart is large enough to have room for his own burdens and those of every Jew, and his soul is pure and free of stains.”

In fact, years before he became Rebbe with the 2012 passing of his father — the Yeshuos Moshe, his uncle, the Vizhnitz-Monsey Rebbe, said that his nephew possessed the power

of prayer and the power to dispense blessings, and he had long encouraged him to accept kvittlach.

The truth is that these days, for the Rebbe, this is a literal self-sacrifice. The Rebbe, who is always so full of vitality and engagement, hasn’t been feeling well, and receiving masses of chassidim requires enormous focus and energy. And yet, he doesn’t rush through anyone’s turn.

The gabbaim, for their part, are already getting stressed, but the Rebbe doesn’t consider stopping for a minute. Jews are waiting, and no level of personal weakness could make him send them away empty-handed.