Sunday, February 17, 2013

Herman Wouk and the Rebbe

Here's a segment out of a young chassid's diary, who at the time was a "bochur" learning in 770, relating an incident that happened in 1971 (Sunday, Teves 5731).


Today, the popular, secular writer and novelist, Mr. Herman Wouk, was in yechidus [personal appearance with the Rebbe].

When he came out, we asked him if he would repeat anything he had heard from the Rebbe.

He told us the Rebbe had discussed with him the situation of the American youth, the "hippies".

The Rebbe said they are ready to hear, so we must provide them with Yiddishkeit. He told the Rebbe they would not be interested because they are impatient and only go for things which are immediate, like ‘instant coffee'.

To this the Rebbe replied, “That’s perfect! The 'Shulchan Aruch' means "a ready table"!

Mr. Wouk was very inspired by the yechidus and expressed great admiration for the Rebbe's insightful ideas.



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IN RESPONSE TO A COMMENTER re: My "Secular" characterization:
You're 100% right -- I stand corrected.
Here's a brief biography of this outstanding personality: LINK

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Herman Wouk was not a secular writer, he was modern Orthodox.

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