During the emotional wait for the last tekiah that year, there was one chosid in the crowd who was experiencing turmoil in his own life. Having been married already for a few years, he had not yet been blessed with a child. Moved by the troublesome tekiah and by the unseen adversaries that the Rebbe was clearly facing, this chosid burst into tears, and began to cry about his own personal troubles as well. Then and there, he resolved that if he would be blessed with a child, he would take pains to ensure that the child was never exposed to any secular publications (apparently in the home of this particular chosid, the presence of secular reading material was commonplace). He further resolved to cancel any subscriptions he had to magazines etc. that fall under that category.
Immediately following the hachloto of this chosid was when the final tekiah was finally successfully blown! The yungerman took this as such a clear indication that his emotional teffilah was indeed answered, that immediately after Rosh Hashonoh he went about carrying out his side of the deal; - cancelling his subscriptions and removing “foreign presences” from his home. Sure enough, within the year he was the ecstatic father of a newborn son!
The chosid never informed the Rebbe of his hachloto during those tense moments on Rosh Hashono. The first time he brought his son the Rebbe for kos shel brocho, the baby was about a year old. Presumably it was a shock to him when, after pouring the wine, the Rebbe suddenly turned to him and asked: “Ah, dos iz di tekiah yingeleh?” [this is the tekiah child]!!
Two thoughts that I would like to point out about this story:
- I’m sure (as much as we don’t really know what’s going on) that the speculation of Chassidim, that the experience was somehow tied in with the subsequent outbreak of a war in Israel, was probably on the mark. The unfolding events seem to speak for themselves, and it’s easy to conclude that the Rebbe’s efforts were in order to ensure the yeshuah for the Jewish nation. Yet, as the Rebbe himself (seemingly) confirmed in the above story, those efforts were (also) on behalf of an individual chosid, in an effort to bring about the fulfillment of his wishes. Because that is the essence of what a Rebbe is: even while toiling tirelessly for the collective good – even the lives – of the entire nation, he is simultaneously preoccupied, with the same intensity and focus, on the good of the individual (see also the sicha in Korach about yodei’a ani sheyesh lohem chelek b’tmidei tzibur, and in chukkas about hanosi hu hakol, ve’od)!
- But another point seems very important for us to derive from this; The difficulty and delay was not in the Rebbe drawing down a brocho for the chosid. On the contrary, for the Rebbe “do his part” to provide the chosid with his request should not have necessitated undue waiting; rather the delay was until the chosid came to the realization that he has to “do his part” as well. As soon as the chosid made a resolution, made himself a fitting keli for the brocho, there was not a moment further delay.
