Even at a very tender age Yosef Yitzchok had a fixed daily schedule, and he had great satisfaction keeping his affairs in order. At eight o'clock in the morning, Yosef Yitzchok jumped out of bed, and half an hour later he was in the synagogue davening (praying) with the congregation. From 9:30 until 10:00 was breakfast. Then, for four hours Yosef Yitzchok studied in yeshiva. Then came lunch for an hour and another hour devoted to writing. From 4:00 until 8:00 there was yeshiva again, then supper and some free time to spend in his room, before retiring to bed. Quite a schedule for a little boy of five!
Shabbat, of course, was different. Most of the morning was spent in the synagogue in prayer. In addition, he had a special treat, a visit to his grandmother, Rebbetzin Rikva. There he would find the elder members of the Chasidic community, white-bearded chasidim who came to pay their respects to the "Grand Old Rebbetzin." They would stay for a while and relate stories about the lives of older chasidim or even of the Rebbe, Yosef Yitzchok's grandfather, himself.
When everybody went home to eat the Shabbat meal, Yosef Yitzchok went back to the synagogue. There all the worshippers had long since finished their prayers and gone home--all except his father. He sat with his head near the Holy Ark. He was still praying. Yosef Yitzchok approached his father quietly in order to listen to his prayers. His father davened very slowly, as if he were counting the words. Sometimes he paused and then would slowly continue.
Yosef Yitzchok wondered why it took his father so long to say prayers, which even he, a boy of five, knew so well and could read so fluently. But his heart throbbed as he listened to the soulful melody which his father hummed now and again, and the singsong of the words. Once, Yosef Yitzchok asked his uncle, Rabbi Zalman Aaron, his father's brother. "Why does Father daven so slowly?"
His uncle smiled as he answered with a twinkle in his eyes, "Your father finds it difficult to read the words from the prayer book very quickly. He has to say each word separately and can't daven very fast. That's why it takes him so long."
Yosef Yitzchok turned away without saying another word. But he felt a deep pain and a burning shame that his father couldn't daven more fluently.
The following Shabbat, Yosef Yitzchok silently approached his father and listened carefully. His father was saying the Shema. "Shema Yisroel..." His father said slowly, then he paused. Yosef Yitzchok was startled to hear his father sobbing. His father said another couple of words, and sobbed again, and when he said "Hashem Echad--G-d is One" the words seemed to burst from his heart, with a flood of tears.
Yosef Yitzchok couldn't listen any more. His heart was bursting with pity for his father. He went home, and with tears in his eyes, appealed to his mother, "Mother, Father is crying in the shul. Why does he daven so slowly, and why is he crying? Come, see for yourself. I can't bear it."
"There is nothing to be worried about," Yosef Yitzchok's mother consoled her little son. "Go to your grandmother and tell her about it. She is a very wise lady, maybe she will be able to explain it to you."
Yosef Yitzchok lost no time and went to his grandmother, certain that the wise, old Rebbetzin would find a remedy to help his father learn to read the prayers more quickly, perhaps even as quickly as all the other Jews in the synagogue.
When he came to his grandmother, Yosef Yitchok told her about his poor father's difficulty saying the prayers. "Mother said that you could do something about it," he concluded hopefully.
Grandmother looked at him seriously and said, "Your father is a great chasid and a tzadik. Before he reads any word from the prayer book, he thinks about it carefully. What it means and to Whom he is saying it. And when he thinks about the holy words of the prayers, his heart is filled with love for G-d, just as a son loves his dear father who is near and yet far away. So your father longs to be closer to Him and the tears just come. I cannot tell you more now, but when you grow older you will understand this better, and you will know how it feels."
With his grandmother's explanation, Yosef Yitzchok felt as if a tremendous weight came off his heart. So it wasn't that his father couldn't read the prayers quickly. It was because his father was such a great person that he davened differently. Yes, he realized that his father was different, in the way he spoke, the way he acted, the way he studied, the way he prayed. That very day, Yosef Yitzchok resolved that as the only child of such a great person, he too must act differently, to merit being his child.
Yosef Yitzchok's father, Rabbi Sholom Dov Ber, became the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe. Upon his passing, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok became the sixth and previous Rebbe
Dedicated in memory of a dear friend of the Lubavitch Youth Organization Mr. Eric Miller
