Standing next to her father in the hallway of 770, little Rivka Zajac of Brazil saw a chossid who was inebriated from the pre-hakafos farbrengen. “Tatte er iz shikker,” she told her father, but the Rebbe heard the comment and corrected her.
Rebbetzin Rivka Zajac of Brazil, affectionately known by her students as “Morah Rivka,” grew up around 770, and merited to experience much of the early years of the Rebbe’s nesius from a child’s perspective.
One Simchas Torah, whilst standing next to her father in the upstairs hallway, near the door of the Shul, she noticed a chossid sitting off to the side, as his joyous participation in the pre-hakafos farbrengen had left him noticeably unwell.
Frightened, she tugged at her father’s sleeve, and pleaded with him to take her to a different part of the Shul, further away from this man.
“Tatte er iz shikker – Father, he is drunk,” she said.
At that moment, the Rebbe stepped out of the Shul and into the hallway. Overhearing her comment, the Rebbe looked directly at the young girl and with a gentle smile said, “Ah yid vert nisht shikker, ah yid vert freilach” – a Yid does not become drunk, a Yid becomes joyous.
(As told by her grandson R’ Mendel Itzinger)
From The Weekly Farbrengen by Merkaz Anash
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