Shimon Halkin was a famous poet, novelist, and translator. As the head of the department for Modern Hebrew Literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, he was considered by many the greatest Jewish poet of his day.
“Please tell the Rebbe that there is no one like him in the world,” Shimon once asked of the Lubavitcher poet Reb Tzvi Meir Steinmetz.
Shimon then proceeded to share an encounter he had once with the Rebbe, at the wedding of his cousin, Reb Yisroel Jacobson’s daughter.
“Why don’t you come to visit me?” the Rebbe asked him.
“I am embarrassed,” Shimon explained.
“That’s already a good sign!” the Rebbe responded.
(Hiskashrus Issue 799)