In the chof’s (the 60’s) there was a frum Jew who was employed in Israel by the Israeli army. Specifically, he was in charge of “chalalei tzahal” or of dealing with the casualties amongst the soldiers.
One year, this individual had occasion to have a yechidus by the Rebbe. During the yechidus, he said to the Rebbe: “This year there were 30 “chalalei tzahal” (IDF casualties), and I would like to request a brocho from the Rebbe that next year there should be even less.
The Rebbe became very serious, and said “This year there were 33”.
The man saw no point in arguing with the Rabbi, so he politely remained silent, completed his yechidus, and left. Some time after he returned to Eretz Yisroel, he received a communication from headquarters, informing him of a problem with their calculations, and that there had in fact been 33 casualties that year.
A year later he was once again in NY, and again entered the room of the Rebbe for a yechidus. This time, however, he thought to himself ‘there does not appear to be any point in me giving over information to the Rebbe, he already seems to know it better than me’. However, he was very puzzled by the story and couldn’t resist asking the Rebbe how, in fact, the Rebbe had known.
The Rebbe looked at him and remarked “Alleh neshomos fun di velt darfen adurchgein di tzimmer!” [All neshomos that enter or leave this world must pass through this room, so it’s only natural that the Rebbe should have their accurate count]!
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