Two askonim once visited the Rebbe. They told him that among the recently arrived Holocaust survivors was an important rabbi who was dressed in tatters, and that they were trying to collect for respectable clothing for him. They then asked the Rebbe if he could donate his old hat. The Rebbe went to the closet, took out his new hat and gave it to them. The askonim were embarrassed. “We meant that the Rebbe should give us his old hat, the one he doesn’t use any more,” they explained. Replied the Rebbe, “In the World to Come, a person’s clothing will be made up of the mitzvos and good deeds that he did in this world. Do you want me to sit in Olam Haba with an old hat?”
Yisroel Safrin author. As featured in the Monsey Mevaser 'Klal Personalities' series
