Rabbi Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg, author of the Halachic work Sridei Eish, served as director of the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin from 1924 to 1938. After the war, he opened a Yeshiva in Montreux, Switzerland. Rabbi Gershon Mendel Garelik, the Rebbe’s Shliach to Milan, Italy was invited to speak at the Yeshiva's opening ceremony. Before travelling to the ceremony, the Rebbe gave Rabbi Garelik specific guidance.