“Another example of this was the increase in the distribution of kuntreisim. A few times over the year (long after Tishrei) the Rebbe also requested that they be packed together with a piece of lekach, which was extremely unique.
“Something special I recall from these distributions is how the Rebbe interacted with children, clearly wanting each child to notice and acknowledge the interaction. Many times he would even wave the kuntres or dollar in front of the child’s eyes to gain their attention and make eye contact before handing it.
“Looking back, it is clear to me that during these last precious moments, the Rebbe was physically and spiritually pouring and investing every drop of his energy into all of us, including the youngest child, to give them kochos that would impact them for the rest of their lives.”
Rabbi Yosef Greenberg
At times, bochurim may have felt that the opportunities for a personal relationship with the Rebbe, the likes of which were common in earlier years with private yechidus, seemed lost due to the enormous growth of the Lubavitch community. But when the Rebbe started distributing dollars weekly, every person again had the opportunity for a one-on-one personal moment with the Rebbe every single week. From that point on, especially into the year 5752, the amount of distributions of this kind, public appearances, as well as sichos and edited Torah from the Rebbe doubled and tripled from anything we'd ever seen before.
Just the simple Shacharis with the Rebbe every morning was incredible; and the whole week I'd be counting the days left until Shabbos, for the Farbrengen. The sichos said that year were absolutely remarkable, some of my appreciation for this is in hindsight, but the Rebbe spoke of incredibly powerful, novel ideas and showed us how to open our eyes to see the world in a new way. It was extraordinary how much the Rebbe poured and invested in us.
As someone who didn't grow up in Crown Heights, when I finally came to 770 I did not take these moments for granted and I can't think of anything greater in this world.
Rabbi Yitzi Lowenthal
