Rabbi Mendel Scharf relates:

After my father passed away, leaving me and my three siblings orphaned at an extremely young age, the Rebbe, for all practical purposes, adopted us, tending to us with love and care. He wanted us to stand right near him at davening and farbrengens, and constantly gave us strong, almost exaggerated encouragement.

At the same time, when it came to halacha, the Rebbe was firm.

Once, my brothers and I were conversing during krias haTorah, and we suddenly felt the Rebbe’s piercing gaze. It was the first time the Rebbe looked at us with a stern and firm expression. When our eyes met, the Rebbe pointed to the Sefer Torah, telling us that we must not speak during krias haTorah.

This too was part of the Rebbe being a fatherly figure for us. No one was telling us what to do. No one was telling us to be quiet or when to answer “Amen.” The Rebbe himself took that initiative and raised us, with love and care and without compromise.