first person
The Rebbe
and the
Writer
Simon Jacobson
F
or those seeking to meet the Rebbe, one opportunity to do so was at the conclusion of the farbrengens (chassidic gatherings). At the close of every festival, the Rebbe would distribute the traditional kos shel berachah (“cup of blessing”) to tens of thousands of people. Long lines would crisscross the large synagogue on Eastern Parkway and spill out into the street; often it was closer to dawn than to midnight when the last one in line received his ounce of wine from the Rebbe’s cup and a brief blessing from the Rebbe’s lips. One night, a most unlikely visitor was standing in line for kos shel berachah: the writer and publicist, Natan Yellin-Mur, waited amidst a sea of black-clad chassidim and a sprinkling of secularly-suited and casually-dressed Jews for his moment with the Rebbe.
10
Natan was born in Vilna to Torahobservant parents and was educated in that city’s world-renowned yeshivot. As a young man, however, Natan abandoned the beliefs and practices of Judaism in favor of secular Zionism. He became a leading Zionist activist, finally making his way to the Holy Land. There he joined Lechi (“The Stern Gang”), the most radical of the Zionist groups fighting for an independent Jewish state. But after the establishment of the state in 1948, as mundane politics replaced the ideological fervor of the pre-independence years, Natan became disillusioned with the cause for which he had fought with such vehemence. He turned fiercely antiZionist and pro-Arab. An eloquent writer, he regularly published articles defaming everything Jewish, and particularly the
Jewish state and its policies. Natan was in line for kos shel berachah that night because of his acquaintance with Gershon Ber Jacobson, editor of the New York-based Yiddish language newspaper, The Algemeiner Journal. Gershon Ber is a religious Jew and a Lubavitcher chassid; his paper is certainly pro-Israel and supportive of Judaism; but Gershon Ber also believes in journalistic pluralism and freedom of expression, and, to the consternation of many of his readers, he invited the self-proclaimed atheist and anti-Zionist to write for the Algemeiner and published the venomously anti-Israel and anti-Jewish articles the writer sent in. When Gershon Ber suggested to Natan that he meet the Rebbe, the writer accepted the invitation. As the two men approached the Rebbe, Gershon Ber introduced his guest. The Rebbe
January 2022 / Shvat 5782
