At a symposium marking 60 years of the Rebbe’s Rashi Sichos, R’ Elimelech Muskal shared how learning the Rebbe’s sichos  – especially those on Rashi – completely changed his life and led him to become the Lubavitcher chossid he is today.

By Anash.org reporter

At a symposium marking 60 years of the Rebbe’s Rashi Sichos, R’ Elimelech Muskal shared how learning the Rebbe’s sichos  – especially those on Rashi – completely changed his life and led him to become the Lubavitcher chossid he is today.

Raised in Cleveland, Ohio, in a traditional but not fully observant home, he was far from Chabad in both mindset and exposure. His grandfather, a Holocaust survivor from Bayamare, Romania, had learned in Satmar but dropped most observance after moving to America. His father, though traditional, lacked a strong connection.

He attended Hebrew Academy and then Ner Yisroel. Though he appreciated the foundation in mussar and halacha, he often felt disconnected. During his three years in a yeshiva in Eretz Yisrael, he studied diligently and took notes, but still found something missing. When he asked deeper questions about Chumash and Rashi, his curiosity was brushed off. “They kind of dismissed it,” he said. Left without real answers, he began developing his own ideas.

After marriage, he returned to Cleveland and found himself slowly drifting from his yeshiva years – just “holding on.” A turning point came when a brother of the Alexander Rebbe opened a shtiebel in Cleveland. The warmth helped rekindle his connection. Still, Chabad felt fringe. “I thought it was extreme, not for me.”

During COVID, a friend handed him a biography of the Rebbe to read “for fun.” Though skeptical, he gave it a try – and was hooked. “I couldn’t put them down,” he said. He devoured book after book. But questions remained. He turned to the Alexander Rebbe’s Lubavitcher son-in-law, and they began learning together various seforim. Even when out of town, Elimelech would call in to continue their chavrusa.

Eventually, the son-in-law gifted him a set of Likkutei Sichos. And that’s when everything changed.

“The sichos changed my life,” he said. “All the notes I had taken for years came alive. The Rebbe asked my questions and he answered them. It felt like ‘coming home.'”

He described reading a Rashi sicha before Shabbos and becoming emotional. “I knew what the Rebbe was going to ask. I knew how he’d answer. It just resonated.”

Slowly, he and his wife began to change their lifestyle. His daughters began lighting Shabbos candles, and his wife started learning Tanya. Though he never learned in a Lubavitcher Yeshiva, he found a teacher in the Rebbe himself.

“I finally felt at home. It wasn’t the farbrengens or the atmosphere. It was the Rebbe – through the sichos.”

He ended by saying that the real avodah begins after transformation. “Now the question is: how do I become a Chossid be’poel? The work isn’t just intellectual; it’s about living Chassidus every day.”

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