Reb Leibel Bistritzky relates, "My son Levi [the late Rabbi Levi Bistritzky, a"h) often merited special attention from the Rebbe. For example, during Hakafos on Simchas Torah, the Rebbe gave him a sign of encouragement. Whenever I went to 770, I always made sure never to leave the place until the Rebbe had gone home. On one such occasion, I waited for the Rebbe on the sidewalk with Levi and his brother Yossi. When the Rebbe came out, we huddled together, and the Rebbe'suddenly walked right up to us and offered Levi his hand. I grabbed Levi's hand to make sure that he would not offer it to the Rebbe, as in Lubavitch it is not customary to hold out one's hand to the Rebbe.

"I said to the Rebbe, "Have mercy on the child." The Rebbe replied, "Before bar mitzvah it won't do any harm." At that moment, Levi held out his hand, and the Rebbe took it and said with a smile, ???I hear that you are learning well,' before giving him and his brother a blessing."

Translated from the Kfar Chabad Magazine