The Vishedsky and Gorodesky families were a big part of my father-in-law’s youth in Tashkent (then Russia, today Uzbekistan), so we heard the names often. The other day I was browsing the JEM (Jewish Educational Media) APP for free videos of and about the Rebbe and came across this gem (yes, Jem/Gem… there are so many gems in these videos!) and would like to share this story and a few messages I took away from it.
You can see Rabbi Vishedsky tell this short story on this YouTube clip. He speaks in Hebrew, but there are English subtitles.
Aside for the obvious wonder of the story (how the Rebbe knew of their visas before they did etc) here’s what I took from this story:
a) Rabbi Simcha Gorodetsky was a man of faith. Once he heard from the Rebbe that his children are coming out of Russia, that was proof enough. He did not need to hear from his kids, or from any official authorities, hearing it from the Rebbe was enough. He was already uplifted, his heart was filled with joy and he spoke of it with absolute confidence.
b) Everyone has their moments of “no one cares” of feeling neglected, alone, and fighting an uphill battle of life’s challenges. Some people deal with this much more than others. The Rebbe’s message is that we should not feel alone. We should realize that despite whatever we are dealing with, there are great blessings we ought to be appreciative for. Sometimes these blessings are already in the works, even if we are not aware of these blessings yet and have no inkling they may even be possible.