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:
“I am what is mine. Personality is the original personal property.”
—Norman O. Brown (b. 1913)
“The great pines stand at a considerable distance from each other. Each tree grows alone, murmurs alone, thinks alone. They do not intrude upon each other. The Navajos are not much in the habit of giving or of asking help. Their language is not a communicative one, and they never attempt an interchange of personality in speech. Over their forests there is the same inexorable reserve. Each tree has its exalted power to bear.”
—Willa Cather (1873–1947)
“The monk in hiding himself from the world becomes not less than himself, not less of a person, but more of a person, more truly and perfectly himself: for his personality and individuality are perfected in their true order, the spiritual, interior order, of union with God, the principle of all perfection.”
—Thomas Merton (1915–1968)