By COLlive reporter
The Vizhnitzer Rebbe, Rabbi Moshe Yehoshua Hager of Bnei Brak who passed away 2 weeks ago, was slated to meet the Lubavitcher Rebbe during the week of 27 Adar 1, 5752.
“He came to America for a family simcha and was going to come and meet the Lubavitcher Rebbe,” revealed Rabbi Shlomo Yosef Ovitz, a respected Vizhnitz educator and author.
He told the Kfar Chabad magazine, “you cannot describe the admiration the Vizhnitzer Rebbe had for the Lubavitcher Rebbe.”
Ovitz said that once, during a “tish” gathering on Shabbos, his Rebbe mentioned an incident that increased his respect for Chabad and the Shlichus network.
“I was once traveling on a plane and sitting on the flight was a yungerman, a chossid of Lubavitch,” Ovitz recalled the Vizhnitzer Rebbe saying.
“I asked him where he was traveling to and he said “on shlichus.” To where? He said, “I don’t know. Someone will be meeting me at the stopover and will be telling me where to go.
“This is a chossid,” the Vizhnitzer Rebbe went on to say. “This is a true connection to a Rebbe. To stand up and travel without knowing where. That’s how a chossid is meant to act.”
On Sunday, 26 Adar 1, 5752, a large group of Vizhnitz chassidim came to 770 Eastern Parkway to receive a blessing from the Rebbe and a dollar for charity.
The Vizhnitzer Rebbe was meant to come as well later that week, but that didn’t happen as the Rebbe suffered a disabling stroke while praying at the gravesite of the previous Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn of Lubavitch.
My father arranged for a group of lubavitcher rabonim in England to visit the Vishnitzer Rebbe during his visit to London Shortly after Chof Zayin Adar and he recalls the Vishnitzer Rebbe speaking very highly of the Rebbe and expressing his concern about the Rebbe’s health.
Beautiful story,thank you for sharing