When R’ Shlomo Peppenheim took over a leadership position at the Eidah Hachareidis in Yerushalayim after his father passed away, it proved too difficult and he was ready to give it up. It was the Rebbe who convinced him to continue.
Reb Shlomo Peppenheim a”h, a leading figure of the Eidah Hachareidis in Yerushalayim, related:
After my father Reb Gavriel was niftar, I ran the family bookstore and immersed myself in establishing mosdos chinuch and working for the Eidah Hachareidis. However, due to my involvement in communal work, I neglected the store, and it was on the brink of bankruptcy.
Now, in our family’s six generations of communal work, we have never used it as a source of livelihood. Additionally, my mother strongly encouraged me not to leave the askanus. I took the counsel of many great rabbonim, but no one provided me with a convincing solution to keep up both ventures.
In 5718 (1958), I was in New York on public matters, and went in to the Lubavitcher Rebbe. After I laid out the problem, in a few short words the Rebbe illuminated my world. The Rebbe said, “If a mitzva cannot be done in perfection, should it not be performed at all?!”
The message was clear. It is preferable to do communal work and to take a salary from it than not doing it at all. I am a Toldos Aharon chossid, and we follow the Satmar approach, but all my years of work for the Eidah Hachareidis I credit to the Lubavitcher Rebbe.
(As Reb Zalman Berger heard from Reb Shlomo)
From The Weekly Farbrengen by Merkaz Anash
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