Stories

A Special Brand of Kindness

In the year 1943 the Frierdiker Rebbe sent nine bochurim from Poland to set up a Yeshiva in Montreal. Rabbi Leibel Kramer became the director of the new Yeshiva. Rabbi Weinberg, another bochur from Poland, became a teacher. Shortly after the Yeshiva was established, Rabbi Weinberg got married. It didn’t take long for him to realize that his small teacher’s salary, which may have been sufficient for a bochur, was no longer enough to support a couple and this was a problem as there was not enough money to give him a raise.

Rabbi Kramer quickly came up with a solution. Rabbi Kramer’s own salary as director of the Yeshiva was slightly higher than Rabbi Weinberg’s teaching salary. Rabbi Kramer therefore suggested that since he was still a bochur and did not yet have a family to support, they should simply switch salaries.

Rabbi Weinberg realized what a great chesed his friend had done for him and he wrote in to the Frierdiker Rebbe to tell him what Rabbi Kramer had done. The Frierdiker Rebbe was very pleased when he heard the news.

This is a free translation of part of the letter the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson sent back to Rabbi Weinberg:

“To my dear illustrious student, Rabbi Weinberg, You should accept the suggestion of my friend the illustrious student Rabbi Leibel. Indeed, I have much pleasure from this, that one person cares so much about the well being of his friend. Through every good action that I see amongst you I receive great pleasure, the likes of which there is no comparison in this world. Because the students, the Tmimim, who devote themselves to perfecting the world through Torah and fear of Heaven, are dear to my heart and are my very life force because of their actions in spreading Torah and fear of Heaven illuminated by the teachings of Chassidus.