By Dovid Zaklikowski for COLlive and Hasidic Archives
Mr. Louis Mayzel, a real estate developer from Toronto, Canada, would pray with deep concentration and devotion. Those who attended synagogue with him recall how he would cover his head with a prayer shawl and weep. He greatly enjoyed Shabbos, and always invited friends and strangers alike to his table for the festive meals.
In 1957, one of his children got divorced, and Mr. Mayzel was despondent. Phillip Roth, a fellow real estate developer, suggested that he travel to the Rebbe to ask his advice on coping with the situation. Mr. Roth introduced him to Rabbi Eli Lipskar, who arranged for a private audience with the Rebbe.
“We will never know what was said during his private audience with the Rebbe, but whatever the Rebbe said consoled my father and brought him back to attend many gatherings at Lubavitch World Headquarters,” said his daughter Betty Bloomfield.
Although Mr. Mayzel did not understand much of the Rebbe’s talks, which were delivered in Yiddish, he would absorb the exuberant atmosphere that permeated the large synagogue. When the chassidim sang upbeat melodies during the breaks between the talks, Mr. Mayzel would jump for joy and clap his hands. He told acquaintances that going to New York lifted his spirit and gave him the strength to forge ahead.
Mr. Mayzel did not have the luxury to travel to New York for long periods of time. He would arrive shortly before the gatherings, and head back home by plane several hours later. After one short visit, during which there had been no special gathering, he still professed that simply being in the Rebbe’s synagogue had “revived” him.
Like others in the crowd in “770,” Lubavitch World Headquarters, Mr. Mayzel would vie for a place on the benches. “He did not act like a fancy man; he was just one of the guys,” said Rabbi Menachem Wolff, who remembered Mr. Mayzel from gatherings in the early 1960s.
At a packed gathering in 1980, he could not find a place to sit comfortably. Although thousands were in attendance, the Rebbe noticed Mr. Mayzel and invited him to the dais, giving him several slices of cake. Several people immediately asked him to share the cake that the Rebbe had distributed by hand, and he happily obliged.
The Rebbe, watching the scene unfold, said (paraphrased), “Don’t just take from him… perhaps someone can give him a seat.” Immediately someone opened a place, and the Rebbe – clearly pleased – began his next talk once Mr. Mayzel was seated comfortably.
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