Shabbat in Meah She’arim

My first Shabbat was spent at the Spinke Hasidic Shteibel, in the heart of Meah She’arim, where I had occasion to daven and dine with the Rebbe back in the 1980s.  I was warmly welcomed and remembered by the eldest son of the Rebbe (himself now a grandfather to more than 50).  Following a spirited Shabbat morning davening, he invited me for lunch where I was greeted with graciousness and warm hospitality.  Indeed, his family could not have been more respectful – at one point he and his son-in-law, whose wife was had just delivered a newborn girl the night before, debated in Yiddish (the language in which all discourse was conducted except when they moved into Hebrew for my benefit) over who should lead Birkat HaMazon – the new father (ba’al simcha) or the honored guest (yours truly).  I insisted that the new father was more deserving. My experience with the Spinke Rebbe was profoundly nourishing.