A Nice Monday Night

Based on my background, I'm not that into the whole Rebbe thing. Neither is MBB, but it's in his blood. His family goes way back with the Vizhnitz Chassidim and Rebbes, with his great and great great grandparents being in the Rebbe's inner circle, and also hosting the Rebbe when he came to their town in Europe. As the story goes, the Rebbe saved MBB's grandfather's life. In the 1920s MBB's grandfather wanted to go to America with his twin brother, so their father said "fine, we'll ask the Rebbe," assuming that the Rebbe would never agree to send them to such a G-dless place. The Rebbe said they should go. Their father never made it out of Europe, and ended up ashes like so many other Jews of that time.

Once a year, the current Rebbe from Bnei Brak's son, the Av Bais Din, comes to New York. He goes to a few different cities, one of them our fair town. Mostly it's a fund raising trip, and his gabbaim/shamashim (the entourage, if you will)put on the hard sell to get you to come see him, and to donate. MBB got the call this week (as he has in the past),and set up a time to meet with Rav Mendel. Last year MBB's uncle pressed upon him that I should go along. After much back and forth, I ended up going.

Rav Mendel was so warm and welcoming, and speaking in Yiddish to MBB,catching up on the old family connections, he turned to me and asked if I understood that language. I responded no, at which time he switched to a beautiful ISRAELI Hebrew, and continued our meeting that way. I was very taken by his smile, and his genuine desire to daven (give brachos) for the names we had written on the paper.

So this year, I told MBB I wanted to come along, there had been some things he had said in our last meeting that I found very helpful and uplifting in a non spiritual way, and I wanted to go. We brought the boy along.

In the past, MBB has made sure to get the first appointment, because these meetings tend to run overtime for some people. However, this year The Rav was here on a weekday, and we had a seven o'clock time. We managed to make it there on time, but we had to wait. After about ten minutes, MBB came over to me (I was in a corridor with another woman,off the main room where all the men were waiting), and showed me that we had mistakenly taken the checkbook that had no more checks in it. He felt we needed to rectify the situation immediately and I offered to run home and get a checkbook while he would continue to wait, and hopefully I'd be back in time to see the Rav for a few minutes.

MBB was going to walk me to the car, so as we started to leave the Shamash, a really friendly, happy fellow, came over and asked why MBB was going, it would only be a few more minutes. At which time, MBB showed him the mistake, the empty checkbook.

"Hust du a credit card?"

MBB laughed, and turned toward the door. I looked at him and said "Really?"

So MBB turned back and asked the guy "Du takkeh nemen credit cards? (do you really take credit cards?)"

"Zicher!"

So I stayed, and we went in soon after, again the Rav inquired if I understood, and then turned to Hebrew, asking me how I was, and again giving me chizuk for my role as a mother. More catch up on the family, a note of being impressed with the name of my sixth girl, who is named for my grandmother, but it's an approximation of what her name was, so it's the same name as the Rav's grandmother. He then davened for those people we asked him to, and we left.

It was a nice experience.

Even for this Yekkish girl.