A bit more about the Dollar-Mitzvah Messenger

Last night, with the red bricks on the Shabbos Table, we spoke about the “Shliach-Mitzvah” concept, about giving someone a coin or a dollar to give to Tzedakah at their destination.

This is also part of the background to the “Rebbe Dollars” that some of you have heard about. In fact, some students and alumni whom you know well were born after a blessing of the Lubavitcher Rebbe at “Dollars” or whose parents met soon after going to the Rebbe for a Dollar. We heard these stories from them and also from their parents. They’ve told those beautiful personal stories here in the past, we can repeat them another time.

Here are 2 clips about the Rebbe’s Dollars from JEM (Jewish Educational Media):

Clip Excepts from Rebbe-Dollars in 1992 (on Mendel’s Hebrew Birthday actually)

What’s the significance of this Dollar, what to do with it?

So what’s up with these dollars?

From 1950 until 1977, several nights each week the Rebbe would have “Yechidus” in his office at 770, which means private time and discussion with individuals or families. This was open to Jews (and non-Jews, too) of all walks of life, from Israeli Prime Ministers to scholars, questioning and seeking youth and everyday folks. There are many inspiring, heartwarming and telling stories of these personal encounters and many that are yet untold.

But at the end of Sukkot in 1977 the Rebbe suffered a heart-attack. After his recovery that year, he resumed all his activities with much vigor, even increasing in many areas, except for these Yechidus – private personal encounters. Aside for the heart-attack, the Chabad community, especially the extended community of friends etc, had grown exponentially, and it was no longer possible for everyone to have their own private time with the Rebbe. It seemed that the Rebbe was eager to have that personal facetime (before Apple…) again, even for a quick moment. In the 1980’s the Rebbe began the “Dollars”, for when two Jews meet, something positive and tangible should result for a third. It was a way for the Rebbe to empower each of his visitors to act as his messengers to go back out into the world and add a little more light. So the Rebbe gave each person a dollar and a blessing, and it was an opportunity to ask the Rebbe a quick piece of advice, share some good news, or ask a blessing for something specific.

Almost no one gave that actual dollar to charity. They usually kept that dollar, usually writing on it the date they received it and the words they heard from the Rebbe. People would give other dollars to Tzedakah instead. And they cherished the dollar they got from the Rebbe as a momento, a spiritual souvenir, a tangible part of that blessing that they received from the Rebbe in person, face to face. We have quite a few such dollars, perhaps one day on a weeknight we can take them out and share little tidbits.

There are so many stories one can share about the Rebbe’s Dollars. Here’s one story that we heard right here at Shabbos House from Reb Avraham T. an Alexander Chassid (Alexander was a very large Chassidic group in Poland before the Holocaust) from Boro Park in Brooklyn who stayed here one Shabbos a few summers ago. Although not a Chabad Chassid himself, he went after his wedding to the Lubavitcher Rebbe for a blessing.

Some weeks later he was in Macys shopping with his newlywed wife. He did not have credit-cards at the time, so he paid cash. And he was short 86 cents. He was a little flustered, it was awkward, and he had that Rebbe dollar in his wallet. He figured he’d spend it, and he could go back to the Rebbe a different Sunday (the Rebbe gave these Dollars every Sunday) and get a new dollar. He handed the dollar to the cashier, she was an Hispanic woman, she took a closer look at the dollar, (it probably had some writing on it) and she said, “I can’t take this dollar from you.”

Perhaps she knew what this dollar was about, or she just saw writing on it, or maybe she noticed his hesitancy? Who knows. But here’s the effect it had on him: He realized that one can not play around with matters of holiness, one must value and cherish them. And this is a lesson that remained with him for life.