"Give Him a K'li to Work With"
As I Heard Them, Vol. 1, pp. 479-480, no. 11
On Thursday, 6 Iyar 5749 (1989) R. Yisroel passed away at the age of 59. He was buried in New York near the Ohel. (Incidentally, a few months earlier, at the farbrengen of 22 Shvat of that year, the Rebbetzin’s first yahrtzeit, the Rebbe strangely turned to R. Yisroel and said, “Say Lchaim for your father. ”)
After his passing, his son Baruch wrote a letter to the Rebbe, explaining how he had always felt that his bond with the Rebbe was through his father. Now, that his father had passed away, he felt broken and unsure of what to do. The Rebbe answered him, “Your father is certainly in Gan Eden. There he is highlighting your positive virtues. If you give him a k’li, a medium, with which to work, he will be very successful. ”
The Rebbe once said that arichus yomim , long life, is not a chronological phenomenon, but is judged by the extent of the experience with which a person was able to fill his life. Though he lived only 59 years, R. Yisroel enjoyed a life filled with many positive experiences.
He raised a family who would continue to carry out the Rebbe’s desires on both the personal and communal plane with the same dedication. R. Yisroel’s wife Rochel, the matriarch of the family, still maintains an open house, with guests visiting at all times. Through her guidance and the inspiration of the memory of R. Yisroel, their children and grandchildren are actively involved in different dimensions of the Rebbe’s work and take leadership roles within the chassidic community.
Occasion: chof_beis_shevat (3/5): The Rebbe's unexplained instruction to R. Yisroel — 'Say L'chaim for your father' — was given at the 22 Shvat farbrengen of the Rebbetzin's first yahrtzeit, months before his death.