The Rebbe Put His Hand on Our Shoulders and Danced with Us

“When I was twelve, in the year 5707,” relates Rabbi Yudel Krinsky, “I went to learn at the yeshiva in 770.

“I arrived Hoshana Raba night, and as I entered, I was struck by the image of a person standing in the Zal, at a shtender, saying Tehillim. It was the Rebbe, then known as the Ramash. I was captivated. There was something extraordinary about his face that drew me.

“That night, there were two minyonim for hakafos, one downstairs in the zal, and one upstairs, with the Frierdiker Rebbe. The Ramash attended the Frierdiker Rebbe’s minyan, and at about 10:30 came downstairs, after the seuda, on his way home. But then he came into the zal, wearing his coat, and turned to the five or six of us out-of-town bochurim who were there.

“Did you have a possuk? Did you have a hakafa?” he asked us. We told him that we had neither; we were just bochurim, and nobody paid attention to us.

“The Rebbe went into his office, removed his coat, and returned to the zal. He then proceeded to arrange a full hakafos, with ato horeiso, for us youngsters. Everyone did a possuk, and then he danced with us, for a very long time. He put his hands on my shoulders, and I was elated. I was so taken by the Rebbe’s warmth. From that moment, I was enamored.”