The Rebbe spoke incessantly about the need today to teach non-Jews the Sheva Mitzvos Bnei Noach. At kos shel bracha of Shavuos 5747, the Rebbe handed Rabbi Menachem Mendel Gluckowsky a bottle of mashke and said, “This is for the Arabs.” Thus began the project of influencing Arabs across Eretz Yisroel.

In previous generations, spreading emuna amongst the nations would have been dangerous, and therefore disseminating the Sheva Mitzvos Bnei Noach was not done. But in today’s age, the Rebbe taught, there is no danger, and it is often seen positively, that we are caring for all nations. Therefore, we have a responsibility to reach out to all our non-Jewish business contacts, neighbors, and fellow citizens to make them aware of their mitzvos.

“At the end of the Shavuos 5747 farbrengen,” relates Reb Menachem Mendel Gluckowsky, “at kos shel bracha, after I received some wine, the Rebbe called me back and, with a smile on his face, handed me a bottle of mashke and said, ‘This is for the Arabs.’”

Puzzled, I looked at Rabbi Groner, the Rebbe’s mazkir. But Rabbi Groner said nothing, and the Rebbe just continued smiling.

When I returned to Eretz Yisroel, I began to help Rabbi Yossi Gerlitzky of Tel Aviv, who was in the midst of a secret project of spreading the Sheva Mitzvos Bnei Noach. On the Rebbe’s directive, Rabbi Gerlitzky had them translated into Arabic, and with the permission of the head of Arab education, was distributing them to fourth and fifth graders in the Arabic schools. Subsequently, the project expanded, and I was involved in distributing literature to an Arabic school in Be’er Sheva and, eventually, all over Eretz Yisroel.

From The Weekly Farbrengen by Merkaz Anash