Dedication to Chinuch Atzmai

Countless stories are told of the Kopycznitzer Rebbe's boundless Ahavas Yisroel, his incredible acts of chessed, and the miracles witnessed in the zechus of his brachos. Many of them could fill entire volumes. A few of them, which contain pertinent lessons, are shared here.

At a certain gathering of gedolei Torah at which both Rav Aharon Kotler zt"l and the Rebbe were present, Rav Aharon turned to the Rebbe and asked his opinion on the issue under discussion. When Rav Aharon was later asked why the Rebbe's opinion was so important to him, he replied, "The Torah was given to the Jewish people in order to purify them, and the Kopycznitzer Rebbe has purified himself."

The Rebbe was the first to volunteer for any holy undertaking, and he was one of those who shouldered the burden of fundraising for Chinuch Atzmai. Together with Rav Aharon Kotler, Rav Moshe Feinstein, Rav Yaakov Kaminetzky and the Novominsker Rebbe, he knocked on people's doors for hours each night to appeal for donations. Ten thousand dollars had to be collected each month.

Before Yom Kippur, Rav Aharon Kotler called the Rebbe and said that the money had to be sent immediately to Eretz Yisroel so that the teachers could be paid before Yom Tov, but he did not yet have the entire sum. He asked the Rebbe to please lend five thousand dollars to the cause, and he himself would make up the difference. The Rebbe answered that there was no way he could take a loan, since he had not yet paid back the loan from the previous month, but he agreed to raise the requisite sum.

On Erev Yom Kippur, as everyone was getting ready for the seudah hamafsekes, the Rebbe called Reb Henoch Cohen, the director of the Chinuch Atzmai American office, and asked him to come at once. When Reb Henoch arrived, the Rebbe said to him, "Go to my table and gather up all the money that is there." Many Jews had come to the Rebbe that day to receive a brocha and give a pidyon. Reb Henoch knew that the money on the table was the Rebbe's means of support for the next half a year, and he hesitated to take it. But the Rebbe insisted, saying, "Don't worry about me." So Reb Henoch took the money, and it added up to exactly the sum that Chinuch Atzmai needed.