Memories of Moshe Rubin By Dr. Yitzchak Block

There was a time in Lubavitch when you could hear stories- previous generation- stories about devaykus in davening, a geshmaker farbrangen and ahavas yisroel that was not just a slogan but a feeling that permeated the very being of a Chasid and flowed out into a warm, heart -felt shalom aleichem, a smile, a friendly slap on the back and a rikud with closed eyes streaming with tears.
Today we have video tapes, speeches, programs, workshops and banquets. It's all very nice, but very cold. The Chasidishe varmkeit is missing. Where can you find it today?
Moshe Rubin A"H was one of the few whom you can still find it. Moshe Rubin knew what it meant to daven and if you wanted to farbreing, there was absolutely no one better to farbreing with. I clearly remember being snowed in one motzaei shabbos in the Yeshiva in Montreal at a Shabbaton with students. There was no where to go as all the airports were closed and the streets were impassable. What else could you do but farbreing? And farbreing we did-- all night long and at the end - in the early hours of the morning- when students and Chasidim were sleeping under the table or on the table, Reb Moshe and myself were the only two left awake. We went a rikud together, fell on one another and kissed a Chasidishe kush.
It could be that Reb Moshe A"H was one of the last of the 'Elterer Chasidim'. There are not many left with whom one can farbreing like that or who had the warmth and the love that Reb Moshe had for Chasidim and for Chasidus.
Some years ago, I visited Eretz Yisroel and stayed with a friend in Har Nof. I davened in the Lubavitcher Yeshiva in Har Nof and everyone-- bochurim as well as baalei batim, were talking about a Chasid from Montreal who had just spent a couple of months in Har Nof . During that time, he had become the unofficial mashpia in the Yeshiva and the official farbreinger in the Shul on Shabbos mevarchim. "Don't tell me who it was let me guess," I said. "It was Moshe Rubin, wasn't it?" "How did you know?" they asked. It was easy. Reb Moshe always left his mark wherever he went. You remember him with a smile that makes you feel good inside, as I am smiling now, as I write these sad words of remembrance. The bochurim and Chasidim in Har Nof smiled when they talked about Moshe Rubin. What better testimony can there be for an 'Elterer Chasid' than the smile that his memory elicits from those with whom he farbreinged.