Personality
Reb Zalman Moishe was known for his sharp and even crude style of rebuke during farbrengens. However, those who knew him well understood that the "real" Reb Zalman Moishe was refined and considerate. Nevertheless, he used this approach at farbrengens because he believed that then is the appropriate occasion to deal with the animal soul, which understands no other language.
When he arrived in Tel Aviv, some elderly Chassidim there were upset at Reb Zalman Moishe’s sharp style of farbrengens. They wrote a letter of complaint to Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneerson, who replied, saying that their letter caused him “great pain and much sorrow of the spirit,” and completely dismissed their complaints.
A characteristic episode is told concerning his sense of submission to the Chabad Rebbes: The Rebbe Rayatz once turned to him at a farbrengen and said something to him. Afterwards, the other Chassidim asked him what the Rebbe had said. "I didn't hear one word," he responded, "only one thought bothered me at that moment: When will the Rebbe already remove his holy eyes from my disgraceful face?"
Read more about this topic: Zalman Moishe Ha Yitzchaki
Famous quotes containing the word personality:
“The essence of democracy is its assurance that every human being should so respect himself and should be so respected in his own personality that he should have opportunity equal to that of every other human being to “show what he was meant to become.””
—Anna Garlin Spencer (1851–1931)
“Her personality had an architectonic quality; I think of her when I see some of the great London railway termini, especially St. Pancras, with its soot and turrets, and she overshadowed her own daughters, whom she did not understand—my mother, who liked things to be nice; my dotty aunt. But my mother had not the strength to put even some physical distance between them, let alone keep the old monster at emotional arm’s length.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)