He Lived His Dream

With the world of opportunity open wide before him, Reb Meir Chaim Gutfreund, who passed away on the 17th of Cheshvan, sacrificed all for the sake of his people, and the Torah he cherished so much. 

The young rebbi sat in the black swivel chair in the menahel’s office. This was his first progress meeting with the Cheder of Brooklyn’s veteran menahel and founder, Rabbi Meir Chaim Gutfreund — and he assumed it would be a quick process. He began with the first name on his class list.

“Let’s start with Adler,” he said.

“Baruch?” Rabbi Gutfreund interjected. “He has a lot of chein, that one.”

The new rebbi was taken aback. There were three parallel classes at the Cheder, and Rabbi Gutfreund was the menahel of two other schools as well; he couldn’t possibly keep track of thousands of individual talmidim! Perhaps the menahel was somehow acquainted with the Adler family.

After discussing Baruch with the menahel — who was jotting down information in a fresh notebook — the rebbi moved on to the next name on the list.