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I had the good fortune of spending several hours with Reb Chatzkel Besser z"l about a year and a half ago. Maybe two years by now. I had read the book "The Rabbi of 84th Street" a few years before, and had reviewed it here and was very interested to meet him in person. Obviously we all "knew" Reb Chatzkel just from reading Jewish literature and newspapers, but the book spoke of a totally different persona, a much more exciting one. We can easily say that Reb Chatzkel was the last of a breed that they just do not make anymore. A fusion of erlichkeit despite his dealings in business, and one who could be accepted in all circles despite belonging and being active in a very defined circle. A ben torah who never forgot his roots and who never gave up hope. Reb Chatzkel was an Agudah askan, but was at home - not just tolerated - with all others as well. There are other such askonim out there, maybe even older than RCB, but none have such widespread acceptance as he did. None of them could step out of their confined Agudah space and join forces with others. And in today's day and age that's a rarity.

More on our meeting; I won't lie, I was nervous about meeting him. Here he was, this statesman who met regularly with kings, presidents and ambassadors, and he was gonna meet this Hungarian Lubavitcher nobody. What would he be thinking? how much time would he give me? what would we speak about? All these questions raced through my mind as I was preparing to knock on the door, but the concerns were unfounded, as it turned out. Reb Chatzkel made me feel like a million bucks that day. Despite the fact that I intruded on his breakfast - to which I might say הלוואי אויף מיר געזאגט אזא פרישטאג יעדן טאג - he was a true gentleman, being extremely patient to my questions and gracious despite my intrusion. He owed me nothing and had plenty of other people visiting, so it's not like he needed me. I learned some things that day, and I shared some of my thoughts and observations in subsequent posts that I uploaded after that, despite the fact that I may not have mentioned the visit back then.



After breakfast we retired together to the study/living room ("retired," I've always wanted to use that term but never had the chance!) and we spent some time speaking of the issues of the day, Radomsk, of course, and Lubavitch, again, of course. He was kind enough to tell me what happened on several occasions when he had yechidus with our Rebbe, zy"a, but was firm enough to also share some of the less pleasant moments... Again, all this to a nobody, and no, he wasn't a Loshen HoRah peddler, he knew what to share and what not to. The truth is the point here is not so much to tell you what happened with me as it is to share with you a little about the loss we just experienced. Very few people today - if any - can draw the Rebbes of Ger, Amshinov, Bobov 48 and Bobov 45, Dinov, Makov, Bluzhev, the sons of the skverer rebbe who called that he doesn't feel well, Reb Shmuel Kamenecki, Reb Malkiel Kotler, Hakham Yosef Harari-Raful, R' Yudel Krinsky and R' Binyomin Klein of Lubavitch, as well as Rabbi Adam Mintz from the Lincoln Square Synagogue? I realize we hear cliches about people when they pass, but there really ARE people - or at least were.

The book on Reb Chatzkel - I mean the frum version, not the one written by a non-Jew - if written by the usual vanilla writers will probably miss the point. They'll make him some kind of puppet to Rabbi Sherer and that will be it. If we're lucky they'll throw in some Radomsk and maybe something about Polish Jewry after WW2. But they'll pass up writing about what made him tick, as well as what made him so special, one of a kind. I'm resigned to this fact, it's the world we live in as Jews, as frum Jews, as Lubavitchers. Unless of course his eynikel Reb Yisroel will have something to say about it, then maybe there's hope. Sruly seems to have yarshened some of his zeide's pikches and knows how to think out of the box. Oy, now I'm rambling. I promised myself I would write a nice, coherent, maybe even moving piece, and that I wouldn't make it all about his connection to Lubavitch, which lots of you don't appreciate, despite the facts, and now I'm not sure if I accomplished some of the objectives on the list. Reb Chatzkel, the world will miss you now more than ever. May your family be comforted amongst the mourners of Tzion and Yerushalayim, and may we see you very soon, with all those who rise for techiyas hameysim, speedily in our days.

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