The Hasidic followers have the custom of handing pidyon requests for blessing to the Tzaddik, or visiting the Ohel graves of earlier leaders.
He composed stage music for the workers' theater "Ohel", gave lessons and began his path-breaking research into the music of the Bible, which later made his name known all over the world.
However, during the yahrzeits of the two Rebbes, thousands of people crowd into the ohel, effectively blocking the opening and spreading tumas meis from the graves into the yeshiva building.
In Medzhybizh, Ukraine, burial place of the Baal Shem Tov, Gabbai was instrumental in refurbishing the Baal Shem Tov's grave and ohel, which also covers the graves of the Degel Machaneh Ephraim, the Apter Rav, and Rabbi Boruch of Medzhybizh.
He was the supervisor of the yeshiva in Baranovichi, "Ohel Torah", which followed the way of musar.