As told by Rabbi Berel Lazar, Chief Rabbi of Russia
Recently, during a visit to Eretz Yisrael, I went up to Har HaZeitim, to the grave of my dear daughter Chaya Mushka, a”h, ahead of her yahrzeit. Throughout my visit to various communities, I witnessed many in need of help due to the war’s impact. During my short stay, I received an unexpected message: “Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu wants to meet with you for a brief five-minute meeting.”
I agreed, knowing I had something important to share, and that five minutes would suffice. When I came into the meeting, I immediately conveyed the Rebbe’s well-known words to him, which he surely recognized but needed to hear again: Not to cede an inch of the Eretz Yisrael, since it belongs entirely to the Jewish people according to Torah.
Netanyahu listened attentively. I then asked him, “Mr. Netanyahu, when did you first see the Rebbe?” He replied, “Simchat Torah 1984.” I told him, “I was there too. I remember the Rebbe speaking with you before Hakafot for 45 minutes, while thousands waited.” Netanyahu seemed surprised, and he said, “yes, I was the representative in the United Nations at the time and the Rebbe told me, ‘you’re working in a dark place, and your job there is to bring in the light of the truth.'”
I asked Netanyahu a second time, “so when did you see the Rebbe the first time?” He once again replied, “on Simchat Torah of 1984.” I then, again, asked him for a third time – “so when did you meet the Rebbe for the first time?”
“On Simchat Torahhhh... Oh!!” Netanyahu then became pale as the realization dawned on him of the chilling events that coincided. He met the Rebbe at midnight on Simchat Torah, which is 7am in Eretz Yisrael, the exact time that the terror attacks started this year on Simchat Torah. “And the Rebbe spoke to you for such a long time,” I pressed on, “because he saw back then already what horrors were destined to come in forty years.”
Netanyahu then turned to the man near me and asked him, “did you meet the Lubavitcher Rebbe?” “Regretfully, no,” he responded. “It’s such a shame,” Netanyahu said. “You missed out on the opportunity of a lifetime – you have no idea what it’s like to meet the Rebbe. What an incredible impact it had on my life.”
When I walked out, the official who escorted me said, “notice that the five minutes that was supposed to take place, took 45 minutes...”
Reprinted from anash.org
