Every person who has developed a relationship with the Rebbe has his own way of talking about the Rebbe. But every person also realizes that his viewpoint is but a limited one; there is something much greater about the Rebbe, something that he cannot possibly describe. Nevertheless, by seeing a variety of personal perspectives, it is possible to develop a heightened sensitivity to what that greater dimension is.
Rabbi Dr. Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of Great Britain and the British Commonwealth writes about his first encounter with the Rebbe:
As a young man, full of questions about faith, I had the privilege of meeting the greatest Jewish leader of my generation, the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Heir to the dynastic leadership of a relatively small group of Jewish mystics, he had escaped from Europe to New York during the Second World War and had turned the tattered remnants of his flock into a worldwide movement. Wherever I traveled, I heard tales of his extraordinary leadership, many verging on the miraculous. He was, I was told, one of the outstanding charismatic leaders of our time. He was certainly not charismatic in any conventional sense. Quiet, self-effacing, understated, one might hardly have noticed him had it not been for the reverence in which he was held by his disciples. That meeting, though, changed my life. He was a world-famous figure. I was an anonymous student from three thousand miles away. Yet, in his presence, I seemed to be the most important person in the world. He asked me about myself; he listened carefully; he challenged me to become a leader, something I had never contemplated before. Quickly it became clear to me that he believed in me more than I believed in myself.
There was no grandeur in his manner; neither was there any false modesty. He was serene, dignified, majestic; a man of transcending humility who gathered you into his embrace and taught you to look up.
No comments:
Post a Comment