The Rebbe's boundless love for all Jews was legendary. He would go to extraordinary lengths to help any Jew, spiritually or materially, regardless of location or spiritual status. The pain of any Jew was his pain. The joy of a Jew was his joy.
In his love for all Jews, the Rebbe did not distinguish between anyone. A Jew is a Jew, a piece of G-d, placed in a body. Scholar or layperson, college student or Chasid, happy or dejected, wealthy or destitute - all were welcome. All belonged. All were embraced. The Rebbe was always there, offering counsel and blessing, comfort and hope.
The Rebbe taught - through word and deed - that love for one's fellow is not based on the other person's social status, or even his personal piety. Such love is merely an appreciation of that specific quality and is thus limited to its cause. Instead, the Rebbe taught that love for the Jew's essence, the spark of G-d that is equally present in every one of us. Only such love is truly unconditional.
And it is this personal love for every Jew that is at the core of the Rebbe's intense desire to share with each and every Jew their inheritance - affording them the study of Torah and offering them the means to experience a Jewish way of life.
A prison chaplain once brought a group of Jewish inmates to a gathering that the Rebbe held. Before the gathering began the chaplain received the following message from the Rebbe's secretariat.: "The Rebbe does not want the prisoners to sit together. They should be interspersed throughout the crowd." The chaplain was puzzled by the request, especially because he had just gone to great lengths to arrange that the group sit together. One of the secretaries then explained, "The Rebbe feels that if your group were to be seated together, they will attract attention. People will ask who they are, and it will be known that they are prisoners, causing them embarrassment. To prevent this from happening, they should be seated throughout the crowd."
This is a Rebbe. Our Rebbe.
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