Mr. William Schottenstein
Before his passing in 1971, my father, Leon Schottenstein and his brothers had built a successful retail and real-estate enterprise in our hometown of Columbus, Ohio. About ten years later, our branch of the family left the retail business to focus solely on real estate. By this time, I had gotten introduced to the Chabad movement through my sister and her husband, Chaya and Daniel Wuensch. As a family, we had helped fund the Landow Yeshivah day school, which was run by Chabad in Miami Beach, in memory of our father.
Two years later, in 1984, after our family made another substantial donation to Chabad, my sister and her husband were invited to an event of the Machne Israel Development Fund, and the following year, my brother Tuvia and I were invited too.
Machne Israel was a philanthropic organization founded by the Rebbe to advance Chabad’s work, and twice each year members of this group were granted a private audience with the Rebbe.
We were honored and excited, though unsure of what awaited us, having never participated in such an event before. I was deeply moved by the experience, though I was so nervous that my memories of that first Machne Israel gathering remain vivid only in feeling, not in detail.
All I can clearly remember from that first encounter was the Rebbe’s remarkably gentle manner and his extraordinary eyes. People had told me, “Once you see his eyes, you’ll never forget them.” That turned out to be an understatement. Decades later, I can still recall how striking and penetrating his blue eyes were, even as his gaze was profoundly kind.
As the years passed, I became increasingly comfortable at the Machne Israel gatherings. They offered a wonderful opportunity not only to interact with the Rebbe, but also to request a blessing or seek his advice. The attendees themselves were an engaging and fascinating group of people.
My brother and sister frequently shared stories they had heard about people’s encounters with the Rebbe, about advice he had given and the remarkable results that followed. I tended to view these accounts as being somewhat apocryphal, or at least embellished. That skepticism never diminished my admiration for the Rebbe nor my respect for Chabad, but I found it difficult to believe that these events had unfolded exactly as described.
Unexpectedly, after attending these Machne Israel events for three or four years, I experienced a story of my own.
At the time, our family business was preparing a major redevelopment of a prominent property in downtown Columbus — a high-rise building on a corner overlooking the Ohio Statehouse. Built in the 1920s, the building was more than sixty years old and had a terra-cotta facade. Terra-cotta requires regular maintenance, and unfortunately, this building had
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ערב שבת פרשת וישלח, ט׳׳ו כסלו, תשפ׳׳ו
Erev Shabbat Parshat Vayishlach, December 5, 2025
ISSUE
ב“ה
IN THE UNFORESEEABLE FUTURE
MR. WILLIAM SCHOTTENSTEIN
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HERE’S my STORY
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An oral history project dedicated to documenting the life of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory. The story is one of thousands recorded in over 1,900 videotaped interviews conducted to date. While we have done our utmost to authenticate these stories, they reflect the person’s recollection and interpretation of the Rebbe’s words.
