How to Get Your Prayers Answered | An INCREDIBLE Story

A saying connected to my father-in-law, the Rebbe, when he reached the age of Bar Mitzvah his father told him to ask any question on his mind. He asked his father: The Alter Rebbe writes in his prayer book that before one begins his morning prayers, he must declare that he is prepared to take upon himself to fulfill the command to “Love your fellow as yourself.” He asked, “Why is this recited specifically before prayer?” I merited to have an audience with the Previous Rebbe. That summer was when pairs of students started going out to do outreach, and my Shlichus was to go through Pennsylvania, to disseminate the literature of the Chabad publishing house. Before I went out on this mission, the Previous Rebbe said, “You should always see the good points in every person, without ignoring his faults. Chasidim say: In<i> </i>the Torah there are different types of letters, <i>asvun ravrivin v’asvun zeirin – </i>big letters and small letters. <i>Yenems maalos darf men zehn mit groyse osiyos</i> <i>un di chesronos mit kleyne osiyos</i> <i>– </i>the other person’s good points, his attributes you should see in large letters, and his faults, in small letters.” His father, the Rebbe Rashab, answered him: “Before approaching our father with a request, we must first bring him some joy and happiness. When he sees that his children, who are many and diverse, are united with a mutual love for one another. This pleases the father so much, that he agrees to the requests of his children.” It was with this introduction that the Rebbe began his life as a full-fledged Jew, and his preparation to becoming the Rebbe and leading Jewish people, when he took over the leadership of Chabad. In an audience I had in 1974, the Rebbe asked me if I had heard from a certain person, a communal figure, recently. this person had very strongly criticized the Rebbe for his stance on the “Who is a Jew?” issue – about Israel’s Law of Return, and the whole idea of Jewish identity. I decided: “As soon as I get back to England, I’m going to make an appointment with that communal figure and straighten this all out.” As I’m thinking it, the Rebbe says: “It’s not a good idea to go and talk to him.” Now, I’m unfortunately, a little bit of a wise guy, and in my mind, the next second, I said to myself, “I’ll get somebody else to go.” As I’m thinking this the Rebbe says: – it’s not a good idea to ask somebody else to go speak to him.” “There are 613 commandments in the Torah. One of them is ‘Who is a Jew?’ If this person will not work with us on ‘Who is a Jew?’, let him work together with us on the other 612.” To me, this was a directive in life, generally: Look always for the unifying force. We are currently in the “Three Weeks,” when we are instructed to recall the events of many years ago; the destruction of the Holy Temple. Our sages ask, “What caused the Temple’s destruction? It was a result of senseless hatred, there was a lack of love between one Jew and another. The commemoration of these three weeks needs to inspire, awaken and reinforce our commitment to annul the cause of the Temple’s destruction. The response to senseless hatred, is senseless love. In 1970 we had the occasion to rebuild our Mikva. And at that time, we wanted to build a “Lubavitcher Mikva,” according to the Rebbe Rashab’s ruling. We found out that the rabbi who was involved in designing the Mikva did contrary to the way we had expected. We found many things there that disqualified it – actually disqualified it – and he refused to change it. Two years of world war among different rabbis… A lot of disappointments, I lost my innocence. The end was: We won. Nine months later, I’m sitting with the Rebbe – this was in 1973. It was during the Three Weeks of mourning the Temple’s destruction. I told the Rebbe that we would like to institute Kosher slaughter here in South Florida. The Rebbe said, “Take this Rabbi…” – that was on the other side of the “Mikva War” – “put him as one of the supervisors, as one of the certifying rabbis of the meat.” I said, “Rebbe, after such a war – such a personality, I should take him along?” He said two things: As long as you know you can trust the Shochet<i>,</i> and you know the Shochet’s expertise and sincerity, bringing that rabbi’s name cannot make it worse.” Then he said, “Besides, the things that happened during these Three Weeks” – he would never say the word “destruction” – “these things came about because of unwarranted hatred. How do you overcome unwarranted hatred? Unwarranted love.” Someone who never did you a favor, You might not even see any reason to love him at all, but when you nonetheless accept the obligation to senselessly love your fellow as yourself, then, God guarantees, that He will bring down the greatest possible blessing, the true and ultimate redemption, may it be very soon, through our righteous Moshiach.