was regretful: perhaps had he not weakened himself he could have lived to put on tefillin even one more time.
R. Michoel Dvorkin came in once when I was working at the machine. Noticing my expression which, in all likelihood, was gloomy, he said: “Serve G-d with joy!”49 — mirroring the Rebbe Rayatz’ words, “Six days you shall work50 — is a mitzvah.”
Continued from the biography of R. Zalman Duchman:
Likewise, when they felt dejected by their difficult state, it was a vort from the Rebbe that uplifted them:
“R. Michoel Dvorkin came in once when I was working at the machine. Noticing my expression, which in all likelihood was gloomy, he said, ‘Serve G-d with joy!’ — mirroring the Rebbe Rayatz’s words, ‘Six days you shall work — is a mitzvah.’”
When Reb Aizel once heard that R. Mordechai Yoel and R. Eliezer Shimon began learning a new Gemara, he admonished them for not making a siyum celebration. “It shows that Torah is not precious in your eyes. ”
It was then that the Rebbe gave instructions to learn a portion of Chumash every day with Rashi. And on Yud-Tes Kislev, 5685 (1924 ), he gave instructions to learn an amud (page) of Gemara, and commented, “Tomorrow we will already be able to count the pages of Gemara…and by whom will it be felt? — the person who made it happen. ”
I heard from R. Binyamin Althoiz that the Rebbe Maharash once told the eminent chossid and shochet R. Asher of Nikolayev, “You should learn Midrash.”
“I have no Midrashim,” he replied.
“And Rabbenu Tam tefillin, you do have?” said the Rebbe.