Thousands of Chassidim became the Rebbe’s followers. They were inspired by his sparkling eyes with warmth and vitality, eyes that understood, that promised safety and devotion. He earned the love of the talmidim and respect of the chassidim, showing a unique ability to reach the youth, even those who appeared to have been swayed from the ways of chassidus.
As the noted author, Rav Yisroel Besser wrote in a recent article in the Mishpacha magazine: “My grandfather, Rav Chaskel Besser, zt’l, was not a Bobover chossid, but he would often speak with admiration and awe about what the Bobover Rebbe had accomplished. There is a letter that Rav Shlomo, scion of Bobov, wrote just two weeks after his arrival in America, a strange country, where he did not speak the language, where he had no chassidim. He was still living in a hotel and had not yet remarried, but in the letter- publicized after his passing- he wrote of his hope of ‘building a yeshiva to restore the glory of my fathers and transmit their path.’
“The way he built that yeshiva, my zeide remembered, wasn’t just by teaching Gemara at a table. ‘Families lived with him - they arrived in America and moved into his apartment - Babies were born to these families and those babies became part of his new Bobov, the Rav himself cradling and singing to them. They all were part of this yeshiva and kehilla.”
''In time the chassidus would move from the West Side of Manhattan to Crown Heights and ultimately to Boro Park, but the familial connections would remain. The Rebbe knew them all, remembered their beginnings and celebrated their roots. He embodied the past, but he anticipated the future. He worried about parnasa and identified industries with potential for growth – jobs that did not require college degrees. Hundreds of young men went into the diamond line, while many others became computer programmers. The Rebbe understood early on that they would be better chassidim, able to devote themselves to Avodas Hashem with greater concentration, if they had good jobs, a way to make ends meet and pleasant homes.”
