Hidden in Plain Sight

He never wanted to be a rebbe, and even when coronated against his will, he chose the most anonymous location for a beis medrash. Yet no matter how much of a “gornisht” Rebbe Chai Yitzchok Twersky ztz”l of Rachmistrivka-Boro Park wanted to make himself, the public flocked to him as if his very humility were a magnet, his impeccable middos and devotion to Torah and emes the glue for his chassidim. This week they’re in mourning. Next week they’ll strengthen themselves with the very lessons he taught them

“Zichron Moishe,” the Rebbetzin would say.

Yet she didn’t mean the shul, but the mindset, the neighborhood, and most of all, the pure simplicity of its people.

“My husband,” the daughter of Rav Yaakov Yosef of Skver and wife of the Rachmistrivka Rebbe would say, “wants to retire and go back home, to sit and learn in Zichron Moishe.”

But the Rebbe, who had been whittled out of the streets of Yerushalayim, was destined not just to live in America, but to rest there as well, a brand new beis hakevaros inaugurated last week for his kevurah. He did not leave America, because when, before his own chasunah, he asked his rebbe, Rav Aharon of Belz, for a brachah that he merit returning to the Holy City, the Belzer Rebbe said, “Yes, mit Mashiach in einem — together with Mashiach.”

The chassan understood and accepted the Rebbe’s words.