Appointed “Minister of Culture”

I recall the time before our son left home. It was almost twenty years before I saw him again.

The Rebbe,3 of sainted memory, who later became our son’s father-in-law, immediately recognized his special qualities. [After meeting him] he almost never let him out of his sight, always calling on him to come to him for some important purpose or another. The Rebbe said he was appointing him as his “Minister of Culture” and he delegated to him many issues that called for Torah scholarship and secular knowledge to bring to fruition.

“I won’t find such a son-in-law there!”

When the Rebbe was permitted to leave the USSR in 1927, he submitted a list of those for whom he requested an exit visa to accompany him. The list included my son, M.M., long may he live. For each one on the list individually, the Rebbe gave a reason for his request—a reason the Soviet government officials had to find satisfactory.

When they came to his request for our son, however, they asked the Rebbe why he needed him. He replied that he wanted him as a son-in-law, to marry his daughter. “Do you really need to bring even a son-in-law from here?” they asked, to which the Rebbe replied firmly, “I won’t find such a son-in-law there!”

...

11 Sivan, 5712 [1952]

I recorded this date here, but wrote nothing else. It was 52 years since my wedding. There was something on my mind prompting me to pen some recollections, but I didn’t actually do so.



For the full diary entry please visit: http://www.chabad.org/1881290