“We Hope That Eventually He Will Accept the Nesius…”

In letters to a friend, Reb Mottel Dubinsky, then a bochur in 770, described the tense year after the Frierdiker Rebbe’s histalkus and the hope that the Rebbe would accept the nesius.

Reb Mottel Dubinsky arrived in New York in 5707 as a bochur, where he joined the Yeshiva at the Frierdiker Rebbe’s court. The momentous years of 5710 and 5711, as the mantle of the nesius passed to the Rebbe, were captured in some letters to a close friend.

In one, he described the 10 Kislev farbrengen of 5711. “The room was very full. We stood packed like canned sardines… He spoke a lot about the [Frierdiker] Rebbe, and cried. Actually, he was controlling himself from sobbing, but didn’t really manage. He swallowed his tears, spoke a few sentences, and then again…

“Generally speaking, the ‘inyan’ [of accepting the nesius] is progressing daily. With turtle footsteps, but progressing nonetheless. The only thing missing is the officiality, the shtreimel, the long kapota, and some other externals… But what we are truly most lacking is the maamorei Chassidus…

“A few days ago, Reb Elya Simpson went in to him, and before leaving, he said that we are lately seeing supernatural things from the Rebbe. But the Rebbe responded, “Indeed, my father-in-law is showing wonders now more than in his lifetime!” Generally speaking, he constantly defers anything he does to the [Frierdiker] Rebbe.

“Anyway, we hope that eventually he will officially accept the nesius, and all restrictions will be removed.”

(Hiskashrus 622)

From The Weekly Farbrengen by Merkaz Anash