NO TRICKS, NO SHORTCUTS
Rabbi Bentzion Stein
Even before I was Bar Mitzvah, I had a few audiences with the Rebbe. My father used to travel to the Rebbe from Montreal every year, and from when I was a little boy in the late ‘50s, my brother and I would take turns going with him.
Before going into the Rebbe’s room, my father would always write a note about whatever he wanted to say or ask. When we entered, he would give his note to the Rebbe, who then read the whole thing, while making notes with a pencil. He then answered my father’s questions, while I listened, although most of the time, I didn’t understand what exactly my father had asked.
One time, as we walked into the audience, even before my father had a chance to hand his note to the Rebbe, the Rebbe asked: “How is the sugar doing?”
My father had diabetes, and he used to take insulin shots every day to regulate his blood sugar. Today, the needles used for those shots are quite different than they were in the 1950s, and some diabetics don’t need to inject anything at all. But back then, the needles were thicker, and taking those shots could be very painful. Knowing how my father suffered from the shots, the Rebbe then added that he should ask his doctor about some of the new medications that were coming out.
In the end, my father wasn’t able to take any of those new medications, but the look that I saw on the Rebbe’s face, and the way he cared for his chasid made an impression on me.
After he finished answering my father’s questions, the Rebbe would turn to me. “And what are you learning?”
One year I had been studying Tractate Pesachim in the Talmud, which discusses the laws of Passover. Specifically, we had just learned the Mishnah that says one may eat chametz, leavened bread, “until four hours” on the day before Passover.
When I quoted this Mishna, the Rebbe asked, “What does four hours mean? Four o’clock?”
“No,” I replied. “It means four hours from the beginning of the day.”
“And when does morning begin?” the Rebbe pressed.
“Sunrise or dawn?”
I wasn’t sure, but for some reason I thought that those hours were calculated from sunrise, so that is what I answered.
“How do you know that it’s from sunrise?”
“Probably because that’s what my teacher said.”
The Rebbe smiled, and later I learned that there is actually a disagreement among the Halachic authorities when exactly the day starts in this respect. The Alter Rebbe, the founder of Chabad, ruled that it is sunrise.
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