A Tallis and Four Species
Asked to greet General Eisenhower on Yom Kippur, the Rebbe asked the general for only one thing: an esrog and lulav.
A story ofRav Yekusiel Yehuda Halberstamהרב יקותיאל יהודה בן צבי הירש הלברשטאםProfile ›
Chassidim relate that on Yom Kippur 1945, General Dwight Eisenhower came to visit the Feldafing DP camp, and the survivors could not agree on who should greet him. Each group in the camp had its own claim. As a compromise they turned to the Klausenberger Rebbe, with a request that he look ahead and not dwell on the past.
The Rebbe stepped to the podium and asked for a tallis, put it on, and began to speak in Yiddish. He spoke at length about what the Jews had endured. Lieutenant Meyer Birnbaum, an Orthodox American soldier, translated sentence by sentence. According to Birnbaum, when the Rebbe finished, the general had tears in his eyes.
Afterward Eisenhower asked whether there was anything the Rebbe needed. The Rebbe could have asked for food, clothing or medicine, for himself or for the thousands around him. He asked instead for the arba minim, the four species, since Sukkos was only four days away. The general saw that they were sent, and they arrived just before the Yom Tov.
Source: Dr. Rafael Medoff, "The Klausenberger Rebbe and General Eisenhower" (reprinted from Ami magazine on Aish.com), based on the account of Reb Moshe Reich, who had it from his father-in-law, Reb Yaakov Yitzchak Barminka, a chassid who was with the Rebbe in Feldafing
Think of one request you make often, of Hashem or of people. Today, ask yourself whether it is the thing you want most or only the thing that is closest to hand. When a door opens, as it did for the Rebbe, be ready with the request that carries your real hopes: a mitzvah you want to do, a person you want to help, a way to grow closer to Hashem. Write it down, and bring it up in your davening this week.