Probably the best, and certainly the most popular, book written on the work performed by the Lubavitch shluchim is The Rebbe’s Army, by Sue Fishkoff, a journalist. Though Fishkoff did not choose to become a Chabadnik, or in any way Orthodox, by the time she finished writing the book, the experience of immersing herself for a year within Chabad profoundly affected her. The changes were not because she witnessed public Chanukah candle lightings for thousands of Jews or saw otherwise secular men putting on tefillin, or nonobservant women lighting Shabbat candles. What most affected Fishkoff was a series of kind, loving acts directed both to others and to herself
that she witnessed repeatedly over the year during which she was writing her book: “[These people] incorporate into their daily lives the Jewish values to which most of us give lip service: They visit the sick. They comfort the grieving. They take care to avoid embarrassing others.”
On the day that Fishkoff completed a visit to Chabad in Minneapolis, Rabbi Moshe Feller, the city’s head shliach, dropped her off at the airport for her trip home to California. Fishkoff recalls that as she was waiting for the flight, she looked over the sandwiches at the airport food stands and dis- covered that all that remained for sale that day were ham and cheese sandwiches, and “whereas ordinarily I wouldn’t think twice, this time I hesitated. It felt wrong, somehow, after spending a weekend with Chabad, to eat trayf so soon. Maybe that’s silly, but I just couldn’t do it.” Then, as Fishkoff, now anticipating a long trip without food, proceeded to the security checkpoint, she saw Rabbi Feller “running around the waiting area, clutching a small brown paper bag to his chest. Seeing me, he ran up and thrust the bag into my hand. ‘I got home, and my wife couldn’t believe I let you go without giving you lunch,’ he apologized. ‘Here, please, you shouldn’t go hungry.’ Inside the bag were neatly wrapped slices of kosher cheese, some bread, a cookie, and a bottle of juice. I almost cried.”
[The Life And Times Of Rabbi MM Schneeorson]
