7 Moments With Rabbi Kramer That I Won’t Forget

With the recent passing of Rabbi Yosef Kramer, the Rebbe’s shliach in Tveria, fellow shliach Rabbi Mendel Lipshitz shares seven personal memories and lessons he heard and learnt from him, highlighting Rabbi Kramer’s deep connection to the Rebbe, and his unwavering dedication to bringing Moshiach.

By Rabbi Menachem Mendel Lipshitz – shliach in Tveriah and mashpia of the yeshiva
Edited and prepared in English by Mendel Rapoport

With the recent loss of Rabbi Yosef Kramer, the Rebbe’s shliach in Tveriah, whom I interacted with regularly and deeply admired, I felt compelled to share some memories and insights I gathered from him over the years.

Rabbi Kramer was a chossid overflowing with Torah, especially the Rebbe’s teachings, and deeply committed to his role as a shliach. Whenever he spoke, he shared clear insights, particularly about the mission to bring Moshiach – a responsibility he took very seriously.

“The living shall take it to heart” – we need to learn from him and awaken ourselves and others. Even a single thought, word, or action can help bring Moshiach, when we will be reunited with him and the Rebbe will lead us into the time when “Hashem will wipe away the tears from every face.”

(1) He often recounted (though I don’t recall every detail) how, during their shlichus in Australia (1973–1975), the shluchim insisted on broadcasting every farbrengen and event, despite the great expense and effort involved. Many local baalei batim struggled to understand or accept this. Rabbi Yitzchak Dovid Groner explained that everyone has their own habits and pleasures (I don’t remember his exact words). Sitting nearby was Rabbi Chaim Serebryanski, who quietly said to himself, ““What… who… If the Rebbe speaks – one must listen!”

(2) At this year’s Moshiach Seudah, even in his weakened state, he shared that in his years at 770, the four cups of wine at the seudah were never drunk individually. They waited for the Rebbe to say “Lechaim,” and only then would the crowd drink together – one cup at a time. He said, “We never go alone – we follow the Rebbe!”

(3) On the 14th of Cheshvan this year, he farbrenged with local yeshivah bochurim and noted that this date marked the Rebbe’s last public appearance in 5754 (1993). He said, “Honestly, since that 14th of Cheshvan, we’ve been in one long waiting period… But the Rebbe ‘doesn’t like’ idle waiting… (like on 2 Kislev 5748, when the Rebbe rebuked the bochurim for ‘watching the birds’). So during this wait, we must do all we can to bring the Rebbe to every Jew, to bring them Torah and mitzvos and prepare the world for Moshiach’s arrival.”

(4) One of his frequent sayings, based on the Rebbe’s words (7 Tishrei 5750) that Eliyahu HaNavi comes every day to Tveriah to announce the news of geulah (especially to those who are “awaiting him daily”), was: what does this mean for us, especially those of us that live here Tveriah? The answer is we need to be “Eliyahu HaNavi” ourselves – meaning, like Aaron who spoke for Moshe Rabeinu, we must proclaim to those around us, especially in Teverya, the news of the Geulah: “Behold – he is coming!”

(5) Preparing to greet Moshiach was a living concept in him. On many occasions, he spoke about it and even worked to complete a special Sefer Torah dedicated to greeting Moshiach in the holy city of Tveriah, “from which we will be redeemed,” completed several years ago.

(6) On 14 Kislev 5778 (2018), the Rebbe’s 90th wedding anniversary, he spoke with deep feeling about the need to be the Rebbe’s “kallah” on that day – the need to yearn and long soulfully to connect with the Rebbe, not just remain at a practical level. With uncharacteristic emotional openness, he said, “Seemingly, I’m a shliach, and I might think that I have studied the Rebbe’s Torah for many years, gone through countless sichos and maamarim, and am firmly connected to the Rebbe. But on 14 Kislev, I must become a ‘receiver’ again – a true “kallah”, thirsty and yearning”, expressing his deep longing for connection.

(7) In recent months, as his health declined, he shared at a farbrengen in his home: “During my hospital stay, I had much time to think and reflect. It would have been easy to sink into pain and sadness, wondering why this happened to me. But I recalled a sicha (Vol. 10, Noach) about ‘and they did not see their father’s nakedness’ – that even when there is a flaw or deficiency, one should not focus on the negativity itself but on how to fix it. So I decided to divert my thoughts away from the pain and focus on how to bring the good out of it and share it with the world until Moshaich comes.”

May these reflections be a z’chus for his neshama, and may we all be reunited speedily in our days with the coming of Moshiach, amen.