@lkqbkqp - beis moshiach
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Beis Moshiach (USPS 012-542) ISSN 1082-0272 is published weekly, except Jewishholidays (only once in April and October) for$140.00 in the USA and in all other places for$150.00 per year (45 issues), by BeisMoshiach, 744 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn,NY 11213-3409. Periodicals postage paid atBrooklyn, NY and additional offices.Postmaster: send address changes to BeisMoshiach 744 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn,NY 11213-3409. Copyright 2007 by BeisMoshiach, Inc.Beis Moshiach is not responsible for thecontent of the advertisements.
USA 744 Eastern Parkway
Brooklyn, NY 11213-3409Tel: (718) 778-8000Fax: (718) 778-0800
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:M.M. Hendel
ENGLISH EDITOR:Boruch Merkur
HEBREW EDITOR:Rabbi Sholom Yaakov [email protected]
THE REBBE IS IN 770 WITH THECHASSIDIMRosh Chodesh Kislev | Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Pevsner
THE ETERNAL HOUSE OF YAAKOV[CONT.] D’var Malchus | Likkutei Sichos Vol. 15, pg. 231-242
THE REBBE IS ALWAYS IN CHARGE! Rosh Chodesh Kislev | Menachem Ziegelboim
FROM A MOROCCAN VILLAGE TOCROWN HEIGHTSProfile | Nosson Avrohom
WHAT IS OUR SHLICHUS? Moshiach & Geula | Rabbi Shneur Zalman Liberow
DANCING IN THE STREETS OF VENICE Shlichus | Rabbi Zev Crombie
THE PRICE OF SHLICHUS Shlichus | Rabbi Yaakov Shmuelevitz
THE REBBE’S LETTER Story | Nosson Avrohom
HOW TO BRING OUT THE POTENTIALOF A PROBLEM CHILD Chinuch | Rabbi Yosef Karasik
[Continued from last issue]3. The difference between “Torah” and “the word
of G-d” is as follows. The Gemara19 says, “‘the wordof G-d’ – that is halacha,” clearly rendered legalrulings. Whereas, “Torah” (especially whenjuxtaposed to “the word of G-d”) includes theunderlying debate,20 lines of reasoning that arescrutinized and etc.21
In greater detail:With regard to customs, we find that the Torah
says that one must follow the local custom: “A placewhere the people have the custom to, etc.”22
Also with regard to Jewish law there can be adifference between localities, as it is phrased in theTalmud,23 “In Rav’s locale, the law follows theopinion of Rav; in Shmuel’s locale, the law followsthe opinion of Shmuel.” The same principle evenapplies to the dispute between the Academy ofShammai and the Academy of Hillel. Prior to the lawbeing ruled according to the Academy of Hillel,24each followed their own opinion.
Moreover, even after the law had been ruledaccording to the Academy of Hillel – to the point that“[a ruling that follows] the Academy of Shammaiinstead of the Academy of Hillel is not authentic(eina Mishna)”25 – the fact is that “[both] theseand these are words of the living L-rd” (divrei Elokimchayim).26 G-d forbid that one should say that theopinion of the Academy of Shammai is not part ofthe Torah, for then such a person would have noconnection to the entire Torah27 (as per the ruling ofthe Rambam28 regarding one who says that a
concept of the Oral Torah is notDivine, G-d forbid).
In fact, even a line of reasoningthat was considered and rejected(salka detach) and the statementof an apparent difficulty in theGemara are veritable aspects ofTorah that were given from themouth of the Alm-ghty.29 Evenwhen one learns only a consideredline of reasoning or a difficulty inthe Torah (not learning the finalaccepted line of reasoning or theresolution of the quandary in thesame sitting), he is obligated tohave said a blessing for Torahstudy, saying about the consideredline of reasoning or the quandary –and likewise with regard to anopinion that was not accepted as
law – “…Who gave us His Torah” [as the blessing onthe Torah reads].
4. Notwithstanding the fact that all the variousopinions and disputes in Gemara and so on, as well asconsidered lines of reasoning and difficulties in theTorah, are veritable aspects of Torah – “[both] theseand these are words of the living L-rd” – the law isrendered according to only a single opinion, as theGemara puts it30: “G-d (Havaya) is with him,31insofar as the law was rendered according to hisopinion.” Thus, rendered law and differing opinionsparallel the difference between the Divine names“Havaya” and “(these and these are words of) theliving L-rd (Elokim chayim),” both of which areamong the seven Divine names that may not beerased.32
The following is the explanation of thisparallel33: The name “Elokim” (L-rd) – also“Elokim chayim” (living L-rd), which is loftier thanjust “Elokim”34 – is plural,35 indicating amultiplicity of levels and classifications, as it were.The same distinction is, therefore, traced in Torah.Namely, with respect to [the level of Divinitydescribed as] “Elokim chayim,” the concept ofdivisiveness signified by “these and these” applies,whereas Havaya is the Explicit Name36 (ShemHaM’forash), the Essential Name37 (ShemHaEtzem), the Special/Specific Name38 (ShemHaM’yuchad), transcending divisiveness, for whichreason the concept of rendered law in Torah,specifically a single opinion, is derived from thename Havaya.
THE ETERNAL
HOUSE OF
YAAKOVLikkutei Sichos Vol. 15, pg. 231-242Translated by Boruch Merkur
[To be continued, be”H]
NOTES:19 Shabbos 138b, etc. – see Footnote 19 in the original.20 Notwithstanding the fact that all matters of Torah, eventhe narratives, contain teachings, for which reason it issaid that “‘Torah’ means ‘teaching’” (Zohar III 53b;Radak, cited in Gur Aryei, B’Reishis Ch. 1 beg.). And seelater in the text. 21 To note that it is said regarding matters of Torahdiscussion, “Derive teachings and receive reward, etc. ‘Heexpands the Torah and strengthens it’” (Chullin 66b;Yeshayahu 42:21).22 P’sachim Ch. 4, Bava Basra beg., among others.23 See Shabbos 19b.24 Or, according to R. Yehoshua, that we don’t givecredence to a bas kol (a Heavenly proclamation), Eruvin6b ff.25 Brachos 36b, where it is discussed.26 Eruvin 13b.
27 As proved also from the fact thatin the future, the law will beaccording to the opinion of theAcademy of Shammai (Likkutei TorahKorach 54b, end ff, where it isdiscussed).28 Laws of Repentance 3:8 (and seeKesef Mishna there). See PerushHaMishnayos Sanhedrin PerekCheilek y’sod 8. 29 See Likkutei Levi Yitzchok Igrospg. 366. See above [in Likkutei Sichos
Vol. 15] pg. 94 and the citations there.30 Sanhedrin 93b.31 Shmuel I 16:18.32 Sh’vuos 35a.33 See at length Ohr HaTorah Yisro, pg. 890 ff, discoursebeginning with the words “VaYedaber Elokim,” of 5627;Hemshech 5666, pg. 431 ff, among others. 34 See Pardes shaar Erchei HaKinuyim, etc., – seeFootnote 34 in the original. 35 See also Rashi VaYeira 20:13, VaYishlach 35:7.36 Sota 38a, Sanhedrin 60a; Rambam Laws of theFoundations of the Torah 6:2.37 Kesef Mishna Laws of Idolatry 2:7, Pardes shaar 19, AGuide to the Perplexed cheilek 1 Ch. 61 ff, Ikarim maamer2 Ch. 28.38 Sota ibid, Sanhedrin ibid, etc. – see Footnote 38 in theoriginal.
Havaya is the Explicit Name, theEssential Name, the Specific Name,transcending divisiveness, for whichreason the concept of rendered law inTorah, specifically a single opinion, isderived from the name Havaya.
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28 MARCHESHVAN: THE SIGNS AND TIME OF THEREDEMPTION – FREEDOM FOR THE JEWS OF RUSSIA
The departure of hundreds of thousands of RussianJews into freedom, thus bringing them closer to mitzvaobservance, resembles the preparation for the ingatheringof the exiles in the days of Moshiach and the fulfillment ofthe destiny of “a great company shall they return there”(Yirmiyahu 31:7), on the level of “those who taste it meritlife.”
(sicha, Shabbos Parshas B’Reishis 5751)
29 MARCHESHVAN: GIVE TZ’DAKA WITH THE INTENTION OFHASTENING THE REDEMPTION – PART OF THE STUDY ON THEREDEMPTION
To bring about the revelation and coming of theMoshiach immediately, every Jew must increase in thestudy of Torah (particularly) on the subject of Moshiach
and the Redemption… In addition,and this is obviously most important,they should increase in the stringentobservance of mitzvos, especiallystringency in the mitzva of tz’daka(the most comprehensive of allmitzvos), which “hastens theRedemption.”
Furthermore, it is appropriate andcorrect to connect the increase intz’daka with the increase in Torahstudy on the subject of Moshiach andthe Redemption, whereby theincrease in tz’daka is with theintention to quicken and hasten theRedemption, since this intention initself is part of the Torah study on thesubject of the Redemption.
(sicha, Shabbos Parshas Tazria-Metzora 5751)
ROSH CHODESH KISLEV: THERE WILL BEREVEALED IN THE FUTURE TO COMETHAT THERE IS NOTHING ELSE EXCEPTTHE EXISTENCE OF G-D
This physical world hides andconceals the G-dly light within it andthe G-dly power that enlivens andsustains everything at every momentanew, ex nihilo (the word “olam”(world) derives from “helem”(concealment)).
In the days of Moshiach, the truthwill be revealed that the world’s trueexistence is only as a vessel for theG-dly light that enlivens it, and therewill be revealed that “there is nothing
else besides Him,” there is no other existence in theworld except G-d.
(Seifer HaSichos 5748, pg. 514)
THE REVELATION OF THE SPARK OF MOSHIACH IN EVERYJEW ON ROSH CHODESH KISLEV
It has already been accepted and spread (continually)throughout the Jewish Diaspora that the month of Kislevis called “the month of the Redemption,” starting withRosh Chodesh Kislev (which includes the whole month),Rosh Chodesh of Redemption…
Furthermore, it can be said that on Rosh Chodeshthere is revealed within every Jew a spark of Moshiachwithin him, the aspect of yechida, which is a spark fromthe general level of yechida, the soul of Moshiach. Thisrevelation brings about a renewal of his entire existence,and in all of his affairs that have been done, there is
A DAILY
DOSE OF
MOSHIACH
& GEULA:28 MAR-CHESHVAN -
5 KISLEV
Selected daily pearls of wisdom from theRebbe MH”M on Moshiach and Geula.Collected and arranged by Rabbi Pinchas Maman Translated by Michoel Leib Dobry
instilled the level of yechida, and most importantly, itbrings about the revelation and coming of MoshiachTzidkeinu, to the point of its most literal expression – asoul within a body, “a king from the House of Dovid,etc.”
(Seifer HaSichos 5752, from pg. 122)
2 KISLEV: DELAYS IN MOSHIACH’S COMING AROUSESADDITIONAL VIGOR AND VITALITY IN OUR AVODA
Jews must know that that the time for the coming ofMoshiach has certainly arrived already, and there is onlythe need for “Stand ready all of you,” out of a sense ofyearning and longing for Moshiach, which will surelybring the Moshiach.
As for the fact that Moshiach has not come until now,Moshiach will surely answer this question himself.However, it is forbidden to allow this question to weakench”v a person’s avoda. On the contrary, it must arouse anincrease in vigor and vitality with greater strength andgreater fortitude in his avoda.
(Seifer HaSichos 5748, pg. 574)
3 KISLEV: A RAINBOW IN THE CLOUD AS A SIGN OF THEREDEMPTION
It is stated in Zohar (Vol. I, 72b) that the rainbow isone of the signs of the Redemption. It is explained ins’farim (Abarbanel, Parshas Noach 9b) that the rainbowrelates to the elevation and purification of the worldthrough the Flood.
Prior to the Flood, there were thick physical clouds,and therefore, the light of the sun was not subject torefraction as a result of passing through them. However,after the purification of the world through the Flood, eventhe clouds became more refined, reflecting the light of thesun, producing a rainbow.
This shows us the connection between the rainbowand the coming of the Moshiach, when the whole worldwill be at the culmination of purity.
(sicha, Shabbos Parshas Noach 5721 – unedited)
4 KISLEV: SEEING THE DIVINE CHARIOT IN THE FUTURE TOCOME
“And your Teacher shall no longer be concealed(y’kaneif) from you, and your eyes shall see yourTeacher” (Yeshayahu 30:20).
It is not possible today to see even just a “kanaf,”which is nothing more than the end of the garment. Inaddition, even the garment itself (not only a “kanaf”)is secondary and subservient to the person clothedwithin it, and all the more so when it’s “yourTeacher.”
In the Future to Come, there will be the reality of“kanaf” (the “Seider Hishtalshelus” (downwardprogression of the spiritual worlds), the “MaasehMerkava” (Divine Chariot), the Ten S’firos), exceptthat the “kanaf” will not conceal.
(Seifer HaSichos 5749, pg. 134)
5 KISLEV: THE SIGNS AND TIME OF THE REDEMPTION –THE TIME OF YOUR REDEMPTION HAS ARRIVED
This year is the year of “I will show him wonders,”the year when there will be fulfilled the appointeddestiny of “As in the days of your exodus from theland of Egypt, I will show him wonders” (Micha7:15).
Furthermore, they have actually seen already“wonders” that testify to the fact that this is the “yearwhen Melech HaMoshiach is revealed,” to the pointof “the hour when Melech HaMoshiach comes…andhe proclaims to Israel, ‘Humble ones, the time of yourRedemption has arrived’” (Yalkut Shimoni,Yeshayahu, Remez 499), until the proclamation that“Here comes [Melech HaMoshiach],” who hasalready come.
This means that we are already standing on theverge of the beginning of the days of Moshiach, onthe verge of the start of the Redemption.
(sicha, Shabbos Parshas Balak 5751)
The thirty years that have passedsince that night, which to a certainextent, was a turning point in thelives of Chabad Chassidim of theseventh generation, have notdiminished the tremendous shockthat took hold of the Chassidim whowere in 770 at that time. The news
hit Lubavitchers around the worldlike lightning, and especially thosewho were in Crown Heights.
This was true for balabatim andall the more so for the T’mimim,who had nothing else in their worldaside from Torah study andhiskashrus to the Rebbe. The
bachurim, who spent time with theRebbe during t’fillos andfarbrengens, who thirsted for everydrop of information about the Rebbeand waited until late at night inorder to be able to speak with thosecoming out of yechidus, wereshaken to their core. The Rebbe andhealth problems simply did not gotogether. Nobody dreamed that theRebbe could experience ill health.
I spoke to one of the bachurimwho was in 770 at the time,someone knowledgeable about thecustoms of the place, who knew thepeople, and who had connections tothe secretariat, having worked onediting books for Kehos along withRabbi Leibel Groner.
During the second and thirdhakafa, the Rebbe encouragedthe singing, clapped, andmotioned to all to increase thesimcha, albeit with slowermovements. During the fourthhakafa, in which the guests werehonored, they sang “Al HaSelaHach,” but the Rebbe’s clappingwas different than usual. It wasgentle and his hands barelytouched one another. The Rebbe’sleft arm leaned on the lectern.
The Rebbe suddenly turnedpale, and without people realizingit, he asked R’ Groner to bringhim a chair. The Rebbe sat downand brought his siddur closer. Itwas unusual for the Rebbe tolean back and close his eyes. Itlooked as though he was suffering
THE REBBE IS
ALWAYS IN CHARGE!By Menachem Ziegelboim
It was the first time in the history of theSeventh Generation that Chassidimwere confronted with the notion that theRebbe is a man of flesh and blood. Theevent which took place Shmini Atzeresnight 5738, when the Rebbe suddenlysat down, looking very pale, shook theChassidim up. They never dreamedthat the Rebbe could be seriously ill. *Thirty years later, I spoke with RabbiSholom Yaakov Chazan, one of thebachurim in 770 at the time, and hedescribed the scene, the panic, thetears, and the dancing. * Informationfrom diaries that were publicized at thetime are interspersed with theinterview.
great pain. R’ Groner, who did not know
what was happening, called oneof the doctors who was standingnear the bima. The doctor askedfor water. Rabbi Binyamin Kleinhanded the Rebbe a cup of water,but the Rebbe refused to drink it.The doctor asked for a wethandkerchief to be placed on theRebbe’s hand, but the Rebbe did
not want it, nor did he want to betouched at all.
I spoke with Rabbi SholomYaakov Chazan, editor of BeisMoshiach, about what happenedthat night thirty years ago. He hadarrived in America from B’nei Brakfour years earlier, learned in OholeiTorah for two years, and in 5737went to learn in Chovevei Torah.Then he learned in 770 until he
married. I asked him to convey howthe Chassidim and T’mimim reactedto the news of the Rebbe’scondition.
“The bachurim took it veryhard,” R’ Yankel told me. “Wethought that this simply couldn’thappen to the Rebbe. We saw theRebbe’s holy work and how he wasgoing from strength to strengthevery year, more healthy and vital,more farbrengens, more of ashturem. A health crisis was out ofthe question and therefore, it was atremendous shock when ithappened.”
How much did you know ofwhat was going on at the time?
We knew almost nothing; theydidn’t tell us anything. In the firstdays after the Rebbe’s heart attack,Rabbi Groner, after pressure fromthe public, would come down atseven in the evening and update us.The first night he said that thedoctors said there was progress,baruch Hashem. The next night hesaid the same thing, withoutvolunteering details. After the thirdnight, the bachurim got annoyed.
It was only afterwards that welearned that the Rebbe did not allowthem to discuss what was going on.The Rebbe did not allow anyinformation to get out. Over time,bit by bit, with a word here and aword there, people began to realizewhat was actually going on. It wasonly several years later, after thosein the know published their diaries,that more details were made public.
At the time though, all we knewwas that we did not see the Rebbe,the situation was not good, and 770was closed.
When did you finally realizethat something terrible hadhappened?
During the hakafos we could seethat the Rebbe did not feel well. TheRebbe asked for a chair and wasvery pale. Nobody knew what thismeant. They thought it was fatigue
as a result of the great exertion overTishrei. After the davening, theRebbe went up to his room, thenwent out to the sukka and madeKiddush. The Rebbe even toldeverybody to go home for the YomTov meal. So everyone went homewithout anybody realizing thatsomething very serious hadhappened.
Only a few people returned to770 to see what was going on.During the course of the night theyslowly began to fathom the gravityof the situation.
When they reached the seventhhakafa, the Rebbe got up from hisseat in order to join the hakafa,as was his custom throughout allthe years, to dance during thishakafa. All suggestions that theRebbe rest, or alternatively, tohold the hakafa on his bima atthe front of the shul, wererejected. The Rebbe took theseifer torah and walked towardsthe bima in the center of the shulwhere the hakafos took place.
The secretaries tried to speedthings up, to make it easier forthe Rebbe. The tension was felt.The crowd began to sing thehakafos niggun and the Rebbedanced with Rashag, with hishand on his shoulder. TheRebbe’s pale face was the onlyhint that something terrible hadhappened.
After a few rounds, Rashagleft the dancing and that’s howthe last hakafa ended. The Rebbewent back to his bima, finisheddavening, said gut Yom Tov threetimes in a weak voice andarduously made his way up to his
room. The Rebbe entered his room
and closed the door. Thesecretaries remained outside.
There were actually signs earlieron, spiritual signs. The Rebbe, asalways, “prepared the cure beforethe blow,” but the Chassidim didnot understand anything at the time,or maybe they didn’t try tounderstand. It was simply somethingthat made no sense to them.
At the farbrengen for 13 Tishreithat had taken place ten days earlier,the Rebbe spoke about a letter thatthe Rebbe Rayatz had written afterYom Kippur 1929, the first after hewas freed from Russia. In this letter,he asked that they be especiallyhappy during the joyous days ofSukkos and Simchas Torah. TheRebbe said that this letter appliednow too, and he asked/wished thatit be a happy Sukkos.
The Rebbe added someperplexing statements: It is knownthat the doctors told the RebbeRayatz (around the year 1933) thatthey had despaired of his life, but heactually lived another 18 years! TheRebbe said not to listen to doctorswho said to minimize the simcha,etc.
Nobody knew why the Rebbewas saying this when the RebbeRayatz had long since passed away.Which doctors should they not listento?
Sukkos began with unusual joy,relative to those times. Years later,the tremendous simcha was alreadysomething expected, but back then,the Rebbe sufficed with encouragingthe crowd by motioning with hishand. That year, when the Rebbe
approached the lectern, he put hissiddur down and turned toencourage the crowd with greatenergy and clapping, which wasunusual. Nobody understood thereason for the Rebbe’s great simcha.
On Shabbos Chol HaMoed atMincha, the Rebbe began singing“Ana Avda” and he turned aroundand began clapping vigorously.
The night of Shmini Atzeres,when the Rebbe had a heart attackand the best doctors were broughtin, people began to realize what theRebbe meant about not listening tothe doctors who might despair ofthe life of the Nasi HaDor...
A real battle took place that nightabout whether to take the Rebbe tothe hospital. The Rebbe refused togo, but the elder Chassidim, wholistened to the doctors, wanted theRebbe to go. His life was in danger,they reasoned. That’s when theyrealized the Rebbe had beenspeaking about himself. Some feltthat the great simcha on Sukkos wasintended as compensation forSimchas Torah, when the Rebbewould not be present at the hakafos.
Where were you when ithappened?
I was standing in my usual placenear the aron kodesh, not far fromthe Rebbe.
When did you notice thatsomething had happened?
When the Rebbe asked for achair. He was very pale. I wasstanding nearby and I could see this.
In the diaries it says that theyyelled to the crowd to leave sofresh air could get in, and only ahundred or two hundred peopleremained. I’m guessing that youwere one of those few…
Let’s just say that I was therealmost until the end. I tried to bethere as long as possible… I maynot have been there for the finalhakafa.
And?At moments like that you don’t
Nobody knew why the Rebbe wassaying this when the Rebbe Rayatz hadlong since passed away. Which doctors
should they not listen to?
operate rationally. I don’t knowwhat I was thinking. Your minddoesn’t work, only your emotions,seeing the Rebbe like that…
Aside from his being pale andthe chair, the Rebbe tried tocontinue as usual…
Even before he asked for a chair,his clapping was weak. Then hestood up again. The doctors wentover to him to check his pulse, butthe Rebbe did not let them touchhim. He didn’t drink water either.Then they wanted to have the final
hakafa on the Rebbe’s bima, but theRebbe wanted it to be in the usualplace.
We did not understand exactlywhat was going on. They thoughtthe Rebbe wasn’t feeling well, havingstood all day, not eating, notsleeping… They didn’t think ofanything beyond that.
Only the Rebbetzin enteredGan Eden HaElyon. One of thepeople present, who stood nearby,saw how the Rebbe greeted herwith a big smile and then
expressed his surprise that theyhad called for her. Later on, theRebbetzin came out and said toR’ Groner that the Rebbe assignsyou the responsibility to take careof medical matters. This was thefirst time that the Rebbe agreed,in a roundabout way, to acceptmedical treatment.
A large crowd stood on thepavement outside 770 and waitedanxiously to hear what was goingon inside. Nobody knew what hadhappened, but everybody realizedthat it was not good. Many stoodthere in shock and fright.
The worst of all was SimchasTorah night, when the Rebbe didnot come down for the first timesince the nesius.
Simchas Torah is the highlight ofthe year, and Tishrei in particular.For the Rebbe, it was the peak dayof giluyim between him and theChassidim. Then came the time forhakafos and there was no Rebbe.His absence was horrifying.
Nevertheless, from the verybeginning they saw how the Rebbetook charge and said to make thehakafos with great simcha. TheRebbe even told Rashag to sell theverses for the benefit of TomcheiT’mimim and said that he wouldgive a dollar to anyone who boughta pasuk. The Rebbe even told R’Groner a d’var Torah to repeat inhis name.
Yet everybody went home feelingdespondent. They didn’t know whathad happened. In the morning theyfound out that there had beenanother heart attack, worse than thefirst one, and there was a discussionabout whether to take the Rebbe tothe hospital or not. The situationwas serious.
That made people even morescared.
There was chaos. People were inshock. The fact that the Rebbe wasnot coming down to hakafos wasserious enough. Yet the Rebbe
demanded simcha, to dance andrejoice as though nothing hadhappened. Everybody danced. Somecried and danced, cried because theRebbe wasn’t there and rejoicedbecause the Rebbe said it wouldmake him well.
The fact that the Rebbe sentinstructions every few hours wasencouraging. We couldn’t see theRebbe but we knew that he wasrunning the show. The instructionswere surprising. To increase insimcha, to say a d’var Torah, to havea farbrengen. All this was greatlyencouraging because it showed thatthe Rebbe was in command. Thesituation was one of opposites.
Midnight.Most of the Chassidim had
gone home to eat the Yom Tovmeal, knowing only that theRebbe was weak, but the realsituation was far worse. Thedoctors among the Chassidim didnot go home. They stood in 770 inconfusion. The Rebbe did notallow them to examine him. Oneof the doctors dared to ask themto ask the Rebbe whether hecould just ask a few questions.The Rebbe agreed and the doctorwent in. He asked questions andthe Rebbe answered.
At the end of their dialoguethe doctor said emotionally:Rebbe, according to what you say,you had a serious heart attack.You need to be hospitalizedimmediately in order to have thenecessary equipment at hand andthe appropriate supervision.
The Rebbe negated this idea.
Other, greater doctors werecalled. All the top doctors werecalled. They immediately realizedthis was a serious situation andthey tried to convince the Rebbeto go to the hospital.
Throughout the night theycarried out extensive tests. One ofthe doctors asked the Rebbewhether he could give him a painkiller and the Rebbe said itwasn’t necessary. One of theChassidim said to the doctor:When you ask that way, of coursethe Rebbe will say no, since it’s aholiday and according to halachayou can only give an injection ifthe doctor says it’s necessary!
The doctor, nowunderstanding the halachicrequirements, went over to theRebbe again and said: As adoctor, I order the Rebbe toaccept this injection, because thepain endangers your wellbeing.
The Rebbe agreed and thenrested for the next four hours.Later on, the Rebbetzin said: Idon’t remember the Rebbe everresting for four hours straight.
The doctors concluded thatthe Rebbe had had a seriousheart attack. One of the doctorsasked the secretaries whetherduring the heart attack, duringthe hakafos, the Rebbe hadmoaned from the pain. When theysaid he had not, that he had onlysat down, the doctor said that hehad been a doctor for decadesand had never heard of anythinglike that; the pain of such amassive heart attack being too
great for a human being totolerate.
That first night, a group ofChassidim and T’mimim went to theOhel to daven. In the morning,when people found out that it was aserious heart attack, another groupwent to the Ohel. Despite thesecrecy surrounding the Rebbe, theChassidim understood that thesituation was bleak.
“I went with the third group tothe Ohel,” said Rabbi Chazan. “Weleft Shmini Atzeres afternoon forQueens and walked four hours eachway. First we went on Tahalucha tomake hakafos in Rabbi Sholom BerHecht’s shul in Queens. From therewe continued to the Ohel. Wearrived and the place was locked.We had to jump over the gate in thedark. Angry dogs surrounded us anddidn’t stop barking. We went to theRebbe Rayatz’s gravesite anddavened and then we walked back toCrown Heights. We got back thereat 6-7 in the morning. It was anexhausting walk there and back andthe entire ordeal took 18 hours. Weknew already that the situation wasserious, that there had been a heartattack, but we had no otherinformation.”
What did the bachurim think?There was no difference between
the bachurim and the balabatim. OnSimchas Torah we were allbachurim. Nobody was working, ofcourse; everybody was in 770 andclose to what had happened.
At first, everyone was in shock.We could not believe this couldhappen to the Rebbe. The Rebbewas 75 and it was the height of themitzva campaigns, the height of thefight for shleimus ha’Aretz. TheRebbe was fighting the wars ofHashem with Mihu Yehudi.
The feeling at that time was youwere growing with the Rebbe fromfarbrengen to farbrengen. TheRebbe was physically conquering theworld, another country on the map,
At moments like that you don’toperate rationally. I don’t know what
I was thinking. Your mind doesn’twork, only your emotions, seeing
the Rebbe like that…
another big city, another leader of acountry was coming to the Rebbe.The Rebbe’s activities wereincreasing – and then boom! It tookus days to absorb this.
Yet we saw how the Rebbe wasin charge and we understood thatthis episode was beyond nature. TheRebbe took charge from the verybeginning when he said the hakafosshould continue, when he went upto his room and did not drink beforeKiddush, his going out to the sukka,his determination not to go to the
hospital, the type of treatment hegot by top doctors, his instructionsthat we continue with simcha, etc.
The fact that the Rebbe wasconstantly giving instructions abouthow to bring about his cure,encouraged us. That’s when werealized that what the Rebbe wasgoing through was not natural, andtherefore, the healing would also besupernatural.
A day later, the Chassid, R’Shlomo Aharon Kazarnovskyentered the Rebbe’s room and cried.
The Rebbe asked him why he wascrying and he responded with thequestion: How could I not cry?
The Rebbe told him: If you wantme to be healed, you have to behappy.
When you recall that period oftime, what moment in particularcomes to mind?
One of the special moments waswhen R’ Leibel Groner came downto the farbrengen at the end ofSimchas Torah, sent by the Rebbe,and brought wine from the Rebbe’scup to give out kos shel bracha. Hesaid that after Maariv and beforeHavdala, a special announcementwould be forthcoming from theRebbe.
The tension was enormous andwe all rushed to say the BirkasHaMazon and daven Maariv.Nobody thought it could be a sicha.Everybody knew that the Rebbe wasin critical condition and that he hadsat in bed for the Shmoneh Esrei.So when Leibel announced that theRebbe would say a sicha, peoplewere in shock.
There’s a video of it. You can’timagine how 770 danced. I don’tremember another dance that was sohappy and emotional. It gave usenormous encouragement, suchsimcha! The sicha was broadcast toall Lubavitch centers around theworld.
It’s not like today when we havecell phones and the Internet and wecan be updated minute by minute.Phone calls were expensive and noteverybody had a line (in Israel).
And then you heard the Rebbe’svoice …
His voice was weak, differentthan what we were used to. TheRebbe coughed more than usual. Hebegan by saying: “For a certainreason we are speaking now onMotzaei Yom Tov and it can beheard around the world…” TheRebbe did not say the reason, buteverybody knew. The Rebbe spoke
for about half an hour. Nobodybelieved that the Rebbe was in acondition to say a sicha, but he did.
Then came the period ofconcealment. The upper part of770 was closed and thingschanged dramatically.
The situation was murkythroughout. The Rebbe did notallow the doctors to say anything.The Chassidim only knew that thedoctors said there was improvement,but we had no details. Very fewpeople knew anything and theydidn’t tell us.
At ten in the morning aminyan of elder Chassidimgathered near the Rebbe’s roomfor Shacharis Yom Tov morning.Despite everything, it was YomTov. For Krias HaTorah they wentto Gan Eden HaElyon, where theyread the Torah using the Rebbe’sshtender as a reading table. Theycalled the Rebbe for Maftir, as
they always did. With great effortthe Rebbe sat on the bed andread the Haftora as clearly as hecould.
During Musaf, the Rebbeencouraged the singing by tappinglightly on the bed. Whendavening was over, the Rebbebegan to sing, “V’SamachtaB’Chagecha,” which cheered theChassidim up a bit. The Rebbeasked that they pass by and wisha Gut Yom Tov and he thankedthe Kohanim with a yasharko’ach as usual.
The main minyan was held inthe big shul without the Rebbe.Someone spread the news that thesituation had improved and oneof the shluchim got up andshouted that everybody agreed toimprove and they asked Hashemto give the Rebbe good health.
You mentioned earlier the factthat the Rebbe, despite being thepatient, was in charge. What didyou mean?
From the very beginning, theRebbe set the tone. If the doctorsdid not allow the Rebbe to say asicha on Motzaei Simchas Torah,they ended up allowing five minutesand the sicha lasted half an hour.Then the Rebbe edited the sicha andalso asked that they continuesending in the weekly LikkuteiSichos for editing.
Those who worked on thesichos, members of the VaadL’Hafatzos Sichos, did not want tosend in a sicha so the Rebbe wouldnot have to exert himself, but theRebbe demanded to know where itwas. Then the Rebbe began editingthe sichos that he said everyShabbos, which was highly irregular.For a while, the Rebbe said themechitzos in 770 should be takendown and the place should becompletely open. Every day they sawimprovements. The Rebbe was withthe Chassidim even if they didn’t seehim yet. You could sense clearly that
the Rebbe was in charge.This is one of the reasons,
apparently, that the Rebbe did notgo to the hospital. It was for thereason the Rebbe said – that he didnot want to cause his Chassidimpain, and also because in thehospital he would not be able to bein charge. He would be amongmany other patients. The mainreason was that the Rebbe explainedto the doctors about the holiness ofthe room and that the refua wouldonly come here. From the firstmoment, the Rebbe demonstratedthat it wasn’t a typical illness.
The Rebbe did not make peacewith the situation throughout. Theysaw how the Rebbe did things thataccording to the doctors andaccording to nature, he should nothave done. But the Rebbe ruled overnature and nature did not rule him.Therefore, the Rebbe also did thingsthat he wasn’t accustomed to doingbefore, in order to show that he wasin charge. That is the Rebbe’s modeof conduct, way above the laws ofnature.
The Rebbe himself took controlover the matter in an supernaturalmanner.
Indeed, afterwards, from 5738-5739 and on, everybody saw thatthe Rebbe’s work in leading theworld increased tremendously in anopen way. This included the sichos,the schedules and the farbrengens.In everything that the Rebbe didfrom then on, you could see anacceleration, which is not theexperience of a normal person whohad a heart attack and naturallybegins to slow down.
Something symbolic perhaps,took place on one of the days ofChanuka 5738, when the Rebbecame down to daven Mincha withthe congregation, which was not thenorm for that time. After Mincha,the Rebbe said he wanted todistribute Chanuka gelt. Whatalways happened, at various
R’ Shlomo AharonKazarnovsky
entered theRebbe’s room andcried. The Rebbe
asked him why hewas crying and he
responded withthe question: How
could I not cry?The Rebbe told
him: If you wantme to be healed,
you have to behappy.
distributions, was the secretariesremained until the end, and onlythen did they go over to get whatthe Rebbe had distributed.
However, it was different thistime. At the very beginning theRebbe called over Rabbi Chadakov,gave him a dollar, and told him togo up to his office and continueworking. Then the Rebbe called R’Groner and R’ Klein over, and thenRabbi Dovid Raskin, giving each adollar and sending them off to work.The Rebbe didn’t want them
standing there; he didn’t wantlimitations. We saw quite openly thatthe Rebbe was in charge andbreaking new ground in asupernatural way.
The Rebbe left no room fordoubt as to how to behave onSimchas Torah. He called R’Groner and told him to tell thepeople not to forget to make Jewsrejoice in shuls, and the mainthing – mit a shturem! Those whowant to improve my health shouldgo and celebrate!
Yes, the Rebbe continued to beconcerned about the Jewishpeople while his own conditionwas still not stable.
Hundreds and thousands ofAnash and T’mimim went out tomake Jews rejoice, doing so withpain in their hearts but with songon their lips. Word of the Rebbe’sill health had spread quicklythroughout New York andthousands of Jews were saddenedat the news. In many shuls thearon kodesh was opened and theysaid the verses “Ata Horeisa” butdid not dance much.
Then, as their Yom Tov joy wasdiminished, in came theLubavitcher Chassidim whobegan to rejoice. Are you crazy?The Rebbe doesn’t feel well andyou’re dancing?
They were all surprised tohear that it was the Rebbe whoordered the Chassidim to go andcelebrate as they do every year.
At that time, back in 770, theChassidim who remained therestarted the hakafos dancing withgreat enthusiasm. It was easy tosee that the simcha was forcedand that people were sad inside,but they knew that the Rebbe saidto dance and be happy. Even thedoctor, Dr. Weiss, said that themore they rejoiced, the more thesimcha would help the Rebbe’shealth. No wonder then thatAnash began the hakafos withmighty singing and dancing, “DerRebbe zol zain gezunt” (the Rebbeshould be healthy).
Then they changed the wordsto “der Rebbe iz gezunt” (theRebbe is healthy). People hadtears in their eyes. They allwanted to put down their headsand bawl, but the Rebbe said theyshould dance – and dance theydid, and cried too. Some held onto the tables and pushedthemselves up, the main thingbeing to dance…
Thirty years have passed sincethen. We’ve gone through worsesince then with the strokes on 27Adar and then 3 Tamuz. What canwe learn from 5738 if we cancompare it at all?
I don’t know if you can compareit, but one thing we learned fromthat episode: the Rebbe is always incharge! You know the sicha that theRebbe said about the Alter Rebbeand the Rebbe Rayatz – thatalthough they were imprisoned, itwas with their consent. If they hadnot wanted to go to jail, it would nothave happened, and the fact is thatwhen the Alter Rebbe did not wantto continue traveling Erev Shabbos,things happened that made itimpossible to travel.
In 5738 we saw how the Rebbeis in control. When the strokehappened in 5752, although thesituation was different, we knew thatthe Rebbe was in charge. On theone hand, the situation was graveand we needed Divine mercy, but onthe other hand, we knew that the
Rebbe was in control in asupernatural way.
And when we don’t see andhear the Rebbe now?
Today as well, we know that theRebbe is in control of the situation.The heart attack in 5738 was theroot of all later concealments and itis the root of the current situationtoo. The Rebbe said then how to actin a situation of concealment. Wethought we just had to cry and sayT’hillim and the Rebbe said to danceand rejoice. How could dancingbring a refua? The fact is that itworked! Not only that but the Rebbesaid he wanted to hear the dancingdownstairs up in his room and thisis what led to his recovery.
When the Rebbe is not in goodhealth, it is not like an ordinaryperson who is not well; rather, it is aspiritual matter. We don’t know howto explain it, but that’s the way it is.We need to remember thateverything, including the situationtoday, is with the Rebbe’s consentand under his control.
When the Rebbe had a stroke in5752, we had experience and knewwhat the Rebbe said to do in 5738:not to despair but to go forward.Although we don’t see or hear theRebbe, the way to the hisgalus isaccording to the instructions hegave us. We also need to rememberthat even in a state of concealment,the Rebbe is in charge and it’s notanarchy.
You can see this in Tishrei, whenthousands of people continue tocome to the Rebbe, to 770. Whodreamed this would happen back in5755? People thought it was overand there would no longer beTishrei with the Rebbe. Yet, fromyear to year we see more Chassidimcoming to the Rebbe, how thingsare continuing and growing. Youfeel how the Rebbe continues tolead. Every Chassid wants to behere and every Chassid who goesback home tells about what he got
in Tishrei. Is this natural? This isthe Rebbe’s nitzchius (eternality)that leads the way just as he did inTishrei 5738. You cannot explain itrationally. It’s not just faith but apalpable sense.
The morning of SimchasTorah, the small minyan ofChassidim made hakafos aroundthe Rebbe’s shtender up in hisroom. At the Krias HaTorah, R’Mordechai Shusterman, the BaalKorei, began to say m’reshus toinvite the Rebbe to be ChasanB’Reishis, but in the middle hebroke down and cried.
Nobody knew how the Rebbewould go up to the Torah, butthen, the Rebbe got up, althoughthis required tremendous exertionon his part. One of the doctorssprang forward to ask the Rebbeto sit down, but the Rebbe smiledas though to say, don’t mix in…
The doctors could not believetheir eyes as they saw G-dly,supernatural things taking placebefore their eyes.
The physical life of a tzaddik isnot like that of regular people.When you know that the Rebbe’sentire life is dedicated to hasteningthe Geula, how can youunderstand what happened on5738 as part of that process?
I don’t think we can know. Theverse says, “I thank You Hashem forbeing angry at me.” The Rebbefrequently mentioned this verse,which is said in reference to YemosHaMoshiach. The Rebbe said thatthen, in Geula, we will know that allthe suffering in the time of galuswas part of the Geula process, butnow we have to believe it, eventhough we don’t understand it.
I don’t think there is anyone whocan explain what part the heartattack of 5738 had in the chain ofevents leading towards Geula, but itis part of it. We have to believe thisbut not allow our faith to underminethe feelings of how difficult this time
The Rebbe saidthen how to act in
a situation ofconcealment. We
thought we justhad to cry and say
T’hillim and theRebbe said to
dance and rejoice.How could
dancing bring arefua? The fact is
that it worked!
is due to the concealments. Whenthe Rebbe is revealed to us onceagain, we will understand.
Did the Rebbe say anythingabout this?
No, not that I know of. TheRebbe did say, right away on ShminiAtzeres your absence will be noted,i.e., that the Rebbe was not presentwith the Chassidim on Simchas
Torah should not diminish thesimcha, and the Rebbe even gave anexample from the tzimtzum that wasdone to create the world, whichactually facilitated the laterrevelation.
Although the Rebbe did notexplain the direct connection to theevent, everybody understood thehint that a new era had begun in his
holy work, and indeed that was thecase.
If we look at the Rebbe’s firstmaamer, “Basi L’Gani,” we see thatthe Rebbe says that since we wentthrough what we went though, hewill come and redeem us. Clearly,everything that we went through waspart of the Geula process.
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Parshas Toldos tells of thedifference of opinion betweenYitzchok Avinu and Rivka Imeinu.Yitzchok loved Eisav and wanted tobless him, whereas Rivka lovedYaakov and wanted the blessings tobe given to him. She did all shecould to make this happen, even tothe point of endangering herself,when she said that if Yaakov’strickery was discovered, any curseswould befall her, not him.
This is all very surprising. Eisavwas evil. He fooled people andcommitted the gravest of sins, idolworship, immorality, and murder,while Yaakov sat and learned Torah.Why did Yitzchok want to blessEisav?
Although Eisav flattered Yitzchokand tried to deceive him intothinking that he was pious (he would
ask Yitzchok questions like, “how doyou tithe salt and straw?” items thatare not tithed), he sinned publiclyand Yitzchok must have knownabout it! The Torah states explicitlythat Yitzchok knew that Eisav hadmarried wives who were not of thehighest caliber (“and they were asource of sorrow to Yitzchok andRivka”) and that the name of G-dwas not constantly on his lips!
Yitzchok was a man of g’vura,one whose ability to critique waspronounced and developed. It’s justnot possible that a man of his naturecould believe a liar and not seethrough to his rottenness!
THE POTENTIAL OFTHE WAYWARD SON
In Chassidus it explains that
Yitzchok did not err when it came tounderstanding who Eisav really was.He knew the bitter truth aboutEisav’s low spiritual state and abouthis wicked behavior. However, hewas also able to see deep into Eisavand recognize his hidden soulpowers, and he saw enormouspotential there.
In the Torah it says, “And theboys grew up.” The Zohar says thisrefers to spiritual growth. Not onlyYaakov, but Eisav also hadtremendous spiritual power.Furthermore, as surprising as itsounds, Eisav’s spiritual potentialwas greater than that of Yaakov!That is why Eisav was the firstborn,since there was superior potentialwithin the root of his soul. Yaakovreferred to him as “my master,”because Eisav’s spiritual level wasindeed higher than his own.
Converts descended from thewicked Eisav who became greattzaddikim and g’dolei Torah, such asRabbi Meir Baal HaNeis (“thesource of the wisdom of the OralTorah, for any Mishna not ascribedto an individual sage by name isfrom him”). The Arizal explains thatthe success of his descendents issourced in Eisav’s lofty spiritualsource. His source is “a great powerwithin chochma” (and this is the
Why did Yitzchok want to bless thewicked Eisav? Didn’t he know whatEisav was really like? Was Rivka morerealistic than Yitzchok? Who descendedfrom Eisav? * A fascinating look at theparsha from the perspective of Chazal,Kabbala, and Chabad Chassidus.
HOW TO BRING OUT
THE POTENTIAL OF
A PROBLEM CHILDBy Rabbi Yosef Karasik, District Rav Bat Chefer – Emek Chefer
secret of the verse regarding Eisavthat he had “[the ability of] trappingin his mouth,” which refers to thesparks of holiness within him thatwere revealed in his descendentswho converted).
Eisav was like an undisciplined,wild child, who seems foolish andincompetent at first glance. Or hewas like a child with learningdisabilities or behavioral problemswho may actually be quite bright.His problem is his inability tocontrol himself, etc.
Parents and teachers don’t knowhow to deal with him, how to directhim. It’s actually his amazingabilities that are the real problem,because rather than channel them inpositive ways, he uses them allnegatively.
Eisav used his great potential todo evil. Instead of making good useof his abilities, he wasted them onforbidden things. Yaakov, on theother hand, although not as gifted,used what he was granted to become
a great tzaddik. It is often thechildren who are not as gifted, whoare not “wild geniuses,” who achievefar more in their lifetimes than thosewho are endowed with far more thanthey.
In Chassidus, Eisav is comparedto gold and Yaakov to silver, becausealthough gold is far more preciousthan silver, it is less useful. It is notused to buy bread in the store. It isthe less valuable silver that is used inretail transactions.
So too, although Yaakov’spotential was inferior to that ofEisav, it was Yaakov who had thegreater spiritual impact on the world– with Torah, mitzvos, and gooddeeds.
EISAV’S DEATHThe story of Eisav’s death is
tragic. On the day that Yaakov wasburied, Eisav was killed (as theMidrash says) and his head rolledinto the lap of his father Yitzchok inthe M’aras HaMachpella. There it
remained, while his body was buriedoutside the cave.
As with all events, Eisav’s deathand burial were not byhappenstance; they were directed byHashem and reflected Eisav’spersonality. His head represents thesource of his soul and the powers hehad in potential form, which wereholy and very lofty. That is why itwas buried in the M’arasHaMachpella along with the Avosand Imahos. His body, representingwhat Eisav was in this world, wascorrupt, and that is why it wasburied outside the cave.
THE VARYINGAPPROACHES OF FATHER
AND MOTHERThe difference of opinion
between Yitzchok and Rivka aboutwho should receive the brachos,Eisav or Yaakov, is reflected in twodifferent and opposite approaches inhandling a wayward child.
The difference ofopinion betweenYitzchok andRivka about whoshould receive thebrachos, Eisav orYaakov, isreflected in twodifferent andoppositeapproaches inhandling awayward child.
According to Yitzchok, you needto encourage such a child and givehim brachos, the tools, to motivatehim to use his abilities. You need toassign him important jobs, appointhim to responsible positions,because this will inspire him toimprove, and then he will utilize hisgifts to carry out those tasks in thebest way.
Rivka maintained that when it’s achild with such prodigious powers asEisav, giving him brachos isdangerous because he is liable to usethem in negative ways – destroyinginstead of building, breaking insteadof fixing. Indeed, Yitzchok’s brachoswere tremendously potent, like a
split atom whose energy can be usedto build or destroy the world. Thus,Rivka said the energy and powers –i.e., the brachos – had to be given tothe son who was tamim, a tzaddik.As for the difficult son, his tikkunneeded to be done carefully, slowly,step by step, with much patience andafter many years they would seechanges. Ultimately, the child withless potential would get a boost fromthe brachos, and would be the oneto bring about the tikkun in theproblem child.
Rivka was of the opinion that achild like Eisav could not beeducated one-two-three, becausequick changes with him areunrealistic. You need to be cautiousand give a great deal of thoughtabout what to give him and what notto give him.
Even though Yaakov received thebrachos, and not Eisav, we need tobe very careful about the lessons welearn from this story. Only someoneon the level of the righteous Rivkacan say that a child should not bedrawn close and blessed. Amechanech can and must draw outlatent kochos in a child, even onewho behaves like Eisav.
A QUOTE FROMP’NIMIUS HA’TORAHThe following is a description
of the spiritual levels of Yaakovand Eisav as Chassidus puts it inTorah Ohr of the Alter Rebbe onthis parsha:
Eisav is from a lofty, spiritualworld, the world of Tohu. Yaakovis from a lower spiritual worldthat is called the world of Tikkun.Therefore, the Divine life forcecontained within Eisav is in exile,and even though he draws fromthe life force of holiness, he doesnot experience nullification to hissource. On the contrary, he raiseshimself high like an eagle and isarrogant, because the spiritual lifeforce is in the manner of an
encompassing light from aboveand it does not get absorbedwithin him and internalized.
Yitzchok wanted to bringabout the revelation of the loftyspiritual lights within Eisav, andthis is the idea of the added lightin the brachos he wanted to givehim, because in order to sift thegood from the bad, much lightneeds to illuminate there so thatall the sparks that are containedtherein, will be gathered andabsorbed.
Moshiach will reveal thatwhich is hidden in the depths ofthe physical reality and theenormous and lofty kochos thatexist within every single Jew.Moshiach will reveal the goodwithin every Jew and withineverything in nature. That is why,in Yemos HaMoshiach, there willbe perfection in everything and allwill be corrected, becauseMoshiach will reveal the goodwithin everything.
Every child who is consideredan outcast, will be gathered intothe family by Moshiach, as theprophet says, “and you will begathered one by one, all theJewish people.”
We were told by the Rebbe atfarbrengens in recent years thatall of the avoda needs to bepermeated with the awareness that“all your days to bring to YemosHaMoshiach,” and this isparticularly emphasized whenbeing mekarev those who felloutside the camp. Moshiach willdraw them into the Chassidicmainstream. That is why we, whoare busy bringing Moshiach, needto dedicate our energy to theseJews and bring them back toJudaism and Chassidus.
May we speedily merit the trueand complete Redemption throughMoshiach Tzidkeinu with our kingleading the way.
As surprising as itsounds, Eisav’s
spiritual potentialwas greater than
that of Yaakov!That is why Eisavwas the firstborn,
since there wassuperior potentialwithin the root ofhis soul. Yaakov
referred to him as“my master,”
because Eisav’sspiritual level was
indeed higherthan his own.
We see that after 3 Tamuz, notonly is there not a weakening in thecelebration of Rosh Chodesh Kislev,on the contrary, the day is moresignificant than ever. The month ofKislev is called the “Month ofGeula” and a Chassidishe month.Many Chassidic holidays arecelebrated this month.
In the order of the holidays wesee a strange thing. At the end of themonth, we celebrate Chanuka(which, by the way, is alsoconsidered a Chassidishe holidayinsofar as it is the holiday of oil,symbolizing p’nimius ha’Torah).Many years later, the 19th of Kislevwas established as a holiday. Some
years after that, the 10th of Kislevwas established as a holiday, theChag HaGeula of the MittelerRebbe, and as of 5738, RoshChodesh Kislev became the Rebbe’sholiday.
In one of the sichos, the Rebbeasks a simple question. Sinceeverything is by Divine providence,why is it that Chanuka, that wasestablished as a holiday first, is atthe end of the month, followed bythe other holidays in descendingorder? Chanuka should have been atthe beginning of the month,followed, in order, by the otherChassidishe holidays!
The Rebbe asks a similar
question about the new moon. Wecount the new month when we seethe new moon. When we get to themiddle of the month, when themoon begins to wane, how come wedon’t count 14, 13, 12, and so on?
The question becomes strongerwhen we learn that the Jewish peopleare compared to the moon andcount according to the moon. That’sthe way it was in Jewish history –the moon was full in the time ofDovid and Shlomo, when everybody“sat under their vine and fig tree.”
Then there was the destruction ofthe first Beis HaMikdash and thesecond, which is why we say: don’tdespair of the ups and downsbecause “in the future, they will be
It is specifically after the hardships of5738 that we saw the Rebbe’sadditional closeness to us, and ourcloseness to him. In greater measure,this is true after 3 Tamuz. * That was apreparation for our situation today.The Rebbe is downstairs in 770 withthe Chassidim.
THE REBBE IS IN
770 WITH THE
CHASSIDIMBy Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok PevsnerPrepared for publication by G. Mendelsohn
renewed like it [the moon].” This iswhy most holidays are in the middleof the month: Pesach on the 15th ofNissan, Sukkos on the 15th ofTishrei, and Shavuos is celebratedfifty days from the first day ofPesach (Purim on the 14th-15th).
The waning of the moonsymbolizes the descent of the Jewishpeople. So why do we continue tocount upwards towards the end ofthe month, until 29 and 30, ratherthan downwards?
The Rebbe explains that thewaning of the moon is not a realdiminishment but part of the processof its completion which it attains atthe end of the month. The Rebbeenumerates the qualities of the lastdays of the month: the 27th is zach
(pure), the 28th is ko’ach (strength),the 29th is Erev Rosh Chodesh, andRosh Chodesh itself is the ultimatecompletion.
(The Rebbe tempered the customof not marrying during the secondhalf of the month. Thus, in somecases, there can be weddingsthroughout the month, even in the“waning days.”)
I remember that one year, RabbiGroner came to Paris to attend asimcha. It was around RoshChodesh Kislev and that night hefarbrenged and shared some insideinformation with us. He told us thatat a certain critical point, the doctorstried to persuade the Rebbetzin toagree that the Rebbe should go to
the hospital. This was after theRebbe refused to go.
The Rebbetzin refused and saidthat they could not take the Rebbeagainst his will. When the Rebbe gotup after resting, the doctors wentover to him, all in agreement that hehad to go to the emergency room, ashis situation was critical. The Rebbewas not mistaken about hiscondition. He said to RabbiChadakov and Rabbi Groner, “Ifsomething has to happen, I preferthat it happen here.”
I spent Chanuka 5738 with theRebbe. The Rebbe wanted todistribute Chanuka gelt to everyone.Until then, the Rebbe only gaveChanuka gelt to the T’mimim, so theChassidim felt that the Rebbe
wanted to compensate theChassidim for not being with themat t’fillos and farbrengens for weeks.
The Rebbe stood in the lobby ofthe entrance to 770, near a smalltable. People entered from one endand exited via the other door. At acertain point, the secretaries putdown a bench to block the path soas not to tire the Rebbe. Whenpeople stopped passing through, theRebbe noticed the bench and saidaloud so all could hear, “Hashemgave me additional days and yearsand you want to stop it?” The benchwas immediately removed andpeople continued to pass through forhours.
You can understand the
secretaries’ wanting to preserve theRebbe’s strength, as it were, but theRebbe meant what he said. TheRebbe received new life, and a newera and a new approach began atthat point.
I didn’t prepare a precise list, butover the years, since that time, thefamous “dollars” were added. Thisenabled anyone to approach theRebbe. Another chiddush followedthe court case with the s’farim – theidea that 770 belongs to theChassidim. That was from 5745 andon. The Tzivos Hashemorganization was started in 5741.Above all else, Mivtza Moshiach gota major boost starting in 5742.
This is the idea of continuing tocount the days of the monthupwards, even though the moon iswaning. The more distant the moonis from the sun, the more of it isilluminated, until it becomes full. Inother words, in order to receive thelight of the sun, it is necessary tomove away from it. From the 15th ofthe month we see the moon waning,but it is not really diminishing. Onthe contrary, because it is gettingcloser to the sun, it becomes morebattul to the mashpia. This reaches apeak when the moon diminisheseven more and achieves utter bittul,after which we see a sliver of moononce again.
It is specifically after thehardships of 5738 that we saw theRebbe’s additional closeness to us,and our closeness to him. In greatermeasure, this is true after 3 Tamuz.
Some people wonder why wecelebrate Rosh Chodesh Kislev,marking the Rebbe’s recovery. Theanswer is that the point of RoshChodesh Kislev is a new birth,Geula. We boarded the express trainto the Geula shleima. True, we are ina state of darkness and don’t see theRebbe, but we feel him more thanbefore. We are in the second half ofthe month, so to speak, in a time ofincreasing darkness, but also in a
We are in the second half of the month,so to speak, in a time of increasingdarkness, but also in a situation in
which we are approaching the light, acloseness to the Rebbe that we never
had before.
situation in which we areapproaching the light, a closeness tothe Rebbe that we never had before.
Before 3 Tamuz we could sleepin bed while the Rebbe said sichos.Now, we represent him. Back then,the world looked at the Rebbe.Today, the world looks at us, andthrough us, they see the Rebbe.Those who never saw the Rebbe say,“I will look at a Chassid and seewho the Lubavitcher Rebbe is …”
On Simchas Torah 5738, a dayand a half after the heart attack, aminyan was held in Gan EdenHaTachton. The door was opened toGan Eden HaElyon so the Rebbecould hear the t’fillos, but the Rebbeasked them to close the door, saying,“I am with the Chassidim downstairsin 770 now” (the Rebbe said thedoor should be open only forhakafos and they went inside forhakafos). That was a preparation forour situation today. The Rebbe isdownstairs in 770 with theChassidim.
At the hakafos of 5738, theRebbe said that although they don’tsee who sits on the chair, theyshould picture him sitting there. Sotoo, those who come to 770 now saythat they sense that the Rebbe issitting in his chair.
This is the reason to celebrateRosh Chodesh Kislev even after 3Tamuz, and why it should becelebrated more than ever.
When they asked me to comeand farbreng in honor of RoshChodesh Kislev, I hesitated to acceptthe invitation, being inordinatelybusy. But after some consideration, Idecided to do it, if only because of
what I owe the Rebbe in connectionwith Rosh Chodesh Kislev.
At the time that the Rebberemained closed up in his room afterhis heart attack, I was in 770.Despite the concealment, we livedwith the Rebbe all day, every day. Iwas a young bachur learning in 770and my parents lived in France.Trans-Atlantic calls were prohibitiveand it was nearly impossible tospeak every day. The Rebbe was thefather and the yeshiva was themother.
That was all good and fine, butwhat do you do when you have asudden health problem? I didn’twant to worry the Rebbe, eventhough he himself had said on IsruChag that we should continuewriting to him as usual. I didn’tknow what to do because I had toundergo an operation to havesomething removed.
I had Medicaid, health insurancecoverage for people with lowincome, and having no choice, Iwent to the hospital. I underwentmany tests that indicated that Ineeded the operation and I was toldI would have to remove my beardfirst. At this point, I wrote to theRebbe. I explained that I had notwritten until then because I didn’twant to bother the Rebbe, but I waswriting because I didn’t know whatto do about my beard.
The Rebbe told the secretary, R’Klein to get me an appointment witha top doctor at Beth Israel inManhattan. The appointment wasmade under the Rebbe’s name. Untilthis day, I remember how I was seenthe next day and was treated with
great respect. The doctor looked atmy file and finally told his assistant,“preserve Pevsner’s beard.” Heexplained that they would only haveto make a tiny cut of a quarter of acentimeter.
Then the doctor asked me how Iwas paying. I innocently showed himmy Medicaid card. The doctor didn’tknow whether to laugh or cry. Hesaid that at Beth Israel they didn’taccept Medicaid and the operationcosts tens of thousands of dollars.The doctor laughed, but was at aloss as to what to do. He knew hecouldn’t be angry with me since Iwas so naïve. He left the room and afew minutes later he came back andsaid, “You know, the LubavitcherRebbe sent you to me and I consideryou the Rebbe’s son. I won’t takeany money for the operation.”
This story took place betweenSimchas Torah and Rosh ChodeshKislev 5738. I got the best treatmentand care.
When I returned to 770afterwards, I didn’t think to writeand thank the Rebbe. I simply wasn’taware enough of the importance ofdoing so. A short while later, R’Klein came into the zal and said,“Pevsner, the Rebbe sent me to see ifyou feel well,” just like a father caresfor his son. That’s the kind of lovewe got from the Rebbe. Every Jew islike the Rebbe’s only child and theRebbe turns over worlds for him.
This is the reason why I decidedto come and farbreng here today.Through this farbrengen I am sayingthank-you to the Rebbe and I knowthat the Rebbe is listening.
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Why did the Rebbe emphasizethat the avoda of shlichus has beencompleted? If in fact we havefinished the shlichus, what is ourrole as shluchim now? An in-depthlook into today’s shlichus, as basedon the sicha of the Rebbe MH”Mshlita at the 5752 InternationalConference of Shluchim.
We are now after theearthshaking sicha of Chaf-ChesNissan 5751, after the sicha at the5752 International Conference ofShluchim and all the amazing andwondrous sichos from that timeperiod, after Chaf-Zayin AdarRishon, after Chaf-Zayin Adar
Sheini, after Gimmel Tammuz, when“the sun stopped in Givon” – yetafter all this, it still appears r”l thatthe Rebbe’s words from Chaf-ChesNissan have not penetrated ourhearts!... Another surprising fact –that ten (and many tens) of Jewsgather together, and at a worthytime in relation to the Redemption,and nevertheless, they don’t makea tumult to bring about the comingof Moshiach immediately.
Without a doubt, if we wouldlearn in-depth the sicha from the5752 International Conference ofShluchim, we would know clearlywhat our job and our shlichus is
today!While the sichos up until 5752 in
connection with the InternationalConference of Shluchim dealt withthe subject of shlichus, they did so ina general manner. In contrast, in5752, the Rebbe emphasized andproclaimed what the purpose of theShluchim Conference is in the avodaof shlichus from now on, somethingthat apparently was not in placeduring the earlier years.
It is understood that behind thiswondrous fact stands a specialpurpose that finds its expression inthe content of the sicha. The Rebbestates that we have alreadycompleted the avoda of shlichus, andthe only remaining avoda is to greetMoshiach Tzidkeinu. When weconsider and contemplate the natureof this sicha, we find some unusualexpressions.
“The shluchim have already longsince reached the time after thefulfillment of the beginning of theshlichus in spreading Torah andYiddishkait and the spreading of thewellsprings outward, and the timeafter the middle of the avoda of theshlichus – to the point that they havealready completed the shlichus.”
The Rebbe emphasizes here threepoints: a) they have already fulfilledthe beginning of the shlichus; b)they have already fulfilled the middleof the shlichus; c) they have alreadycompleted the shlichus.
The question here seems to be:What is the need for this lengthyaccount? Couldn’t the Rebbe havejust said in brief that we havecompleted the avoda of shlichus?Another question: If we really havecompleted the avoda of shlichus,what are we supposed to be doingnow? Have we stopped being“shluchim”?
When Yaakov Avinu went tocarry out G-d’s mission of spiritualelevation in Charan, G-d said tohim, “And I will restore you to thisland.” The Rebbe asks: Since he’s
WHAT IS OUR
SHLICHUS?By Rabbi Shneur Zalman Liberow, Director, Chabad of FlatbushTranslated By Michoel Leib Dobry
currently in the middle of hisshlichus, why does he have to knownow that he will eventually go back?The Rebbe explains that even whenwe’re in the middle of our shlichus,we have to know that when wecomplete the shlichus, we go back.Thus, since we’ve finished theshlichus, we have to return…
However, the Rebbe continues,since despite everything, the Trueand Complete Redemption has notyet come, “we must say that therestill remains something to do inorder to actually bring theRedemption.” What is the“something” that we still have to do?The Rebbe says: “The only thingthat remains now in the avoda ofshlichus is to greet MoshiachTzidkeinu in actual deed.”
The Rebbe continues in the sichato explain the meaning of thisabstract saying as referring to anincrease in Torah and mitzvos,studying the subject of Moshiachand the Redemption, and more. Butfirst, before defining the currentavoda of shlichus, the Rebbe brings
the following segment:“According to the known premise
that ‘in every generation, there issomeone born from the seed ofYehuda who is fit to be Moshiach ofIsrael,’ ‘one who is fit due to hisrighteousness to be a Redeemer, andwhen the time comes, G-d will berevealed to him and He will sendhim, etc.,’ and according to theannouncement of my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe, leader of thegeneration – the only shliach of ourgeneration and the only Moshiach ofour generation – that they havealready completed the entire avoda,it is thus understood that thefulfillment of ‘Send now with whomYou would send’ has begun, theshlichus of my revered father-in-law,the Rebbe. And it is thus understoodthat the only thing that remains nowin the avoda of shlichus is to greetMoshiach Tzidkeinu in actualdeed, in order that he can actuallyfulfill his shlichus and take the entireJewish People out of the exile!”
At first glance, it is difficult tounderstand the connection between
this “introduction” and theconclusion that it draws? What isthe connection between the fact that“in every generation, there issomeone…fit due to hisrighteousness to be a Redeemer”and the definition of the currentavoda of shlichus? Furthermore,why is it so important to emphasizethat the leader of the generation isthe only Moshiach of thegeneration? Couldn’t we understandwithout this preface that there is noother avoda, and the only avoda thatremains is “to greet Moshiach”?
In order to understand thenecessity of this “preface,” we mustcontemplate upon what the Rebbederives as a result:
The Rebbe explains his intentionby saying: “All the details in theavoda of the shlichus in spreadingTorah and Yiddishkait and thespreading of the wellsprings outwardmust be instilled with this point:How will it lead to the greeting ofMoshiach?”
The following words mightsound rather sharp, but they
apparently speak the truth:We derive from the sicha that
while we were given the task ofdealing with various mitzvacampaigns during the early yearswithout connecting them to theimminent Redemption, the 5752International Conference ofShluchim represented a 180 degreeturn in the basic outlook ofmivtzaim. From now on, a shliachwho carries out a certain activitywithout connecting it to theRedemption – this activity willapparently not stand in his merit asbeing the Rebbe’s shliach! For thewill of the m’shaleiach is that everyactivity will be connected to themain point of “greeting Moshiach,”
and if not – this is not “shlichus.”It’s as if he decided on his own todo some mivtza – e.g., NetilasYada’im – and he certainly can’t saythat he’s doing this mivtza at theinitiative of the Rebbe! Despite thefact that it’s one of the mitzvos andexpresses the Will of G-d, it doesnot represent a “gateway” that theRebbe opened!
Furthermore, not only must allChabad activities be connected tothe Redemption – they must beconnected to the Redeemer, theRebbe MH”M. This is because whilethe avoda in the past was to hastenthe coming of Moshiach – today, theavoda is to greet Moshiach, and in
order to greet someone, you have toknow who he is…
The matter is explained in theRebbe MH”M’s sicha: It must besaid that there still remainssomething to do in order to actuallybring the Redemption, and it isaccording to the known premise thatin every generation, there issomeone born, etc.,” as mentionedabove. Can there be anything moreclear than that? What else are peopleexpecting the Rebbe to say?
It’s true that not every mitzvacampaign can easily be connected tothe subject of the Redemption, andparticularly not the Redeemer, butwith a little desire and concentratedeffort, it is possible to come up with
some amazing ideas and connectevery mivtza to the Redemption andto the Redeemer! It is an establishedfact that a shliach who “lives” withall of these matters will succeed infinding the connection of everymitzva campaign to the Redemptionand to the Redeemer – as this is ourtask: “All the details in the avoda ofthe shlichus in spreading Torah andYiddishkait and the spreading of thewellsprings outward must be instilledwith this point: How will this lead tothe greeting of Moshiach?”
To what can we compare this?There’s a king who decided to movethe capital of his kingdom to anothercity, and sent an announcement and
request to the people of that city thatthey should prepare the city andmake it befitting to serve as theking’s capital. Years passed, and thecity is still not ready, but the kingperiodically sends ministers to getthe townspeople moving. Only aftera few more years does the kingannounce that based on theinformation he has received, the cityis already prepared to be the capitalof the kingdom. At this stage, hesends one of his most importantministers to proclaim the final royalconsent to move the capital city, andhe makes certain that the city’sresidents prepare for the king’sarrival.
At the next stage, the kingannounces that he has alreadydecided to come, and he is on hisway at this moment. Now, it’ssimply a question of time. How longwill the journey take? In themeantime, even though the city isalready fit to be the nation’s capital,it is always possible to spruce thingsup a bit. Now, however, when theking is already on his way, he wantsall these activities to be done in aspirit of preparation for his arrival,i.e., it is evident that every activity isdone for the purpose of greeting theking!
More years passed, the king hasbeen delayed on his journey, and thetownspeople have dozed off… In themeantime, the king arrives at theoutskirts of the city. He expects tosee a crowd of thousands of peoplewaiting for him, but he doesn’t see aliving soul. He observes the city,sees that it is immaculately clean,spotless, properly groomed, actingwith justice and honesty, totallysuited to be the capital of thekingdom. But no one is talkingabout the king. They conductthemselves with justice and honesty,fulfilling all the king’s commands,but no one knows that all this is withone purpose in mind – to greet theking…
The world is already purified, theavoda of spiritual elevation is over.
The Rebbe is interested in seeing thatall the activities done should from thismoment on be in a spirit of preparing
for his arrival, every activity should bedone to greet the king.
Is it befitting for the king to enterthe city in such a fashion?
To pursue this point further, let’simagine to ourselves what a shliachwould do if the Rebbe’s secretarycalls to inform him that the Rebbe isplanning on visiting the ChabadHouse in his city. The shliach’sactivities go into full throttle, andwhen the call comes from thesecretariat telling him that the Rebbeis on his way now, the shliach putsall his holy pursuits aside and standswaiting by the open door. Woe tothat shliach if he should close thedoor and say that he’s busy with hismivtzaim in spreading Torah andYiddishkait, and he has no time r”lto greet the Rebbe.
That is exactly how it appears ifch”v we don’t connect all activitiesto the Redemption and to theRedeemer. The Rebbe has told usthat the Redemption will come inour generation, and we must beready. Every few years, the Rebbeadded another mitzva campaignthrough which we can prepare theworld. The objective of these mitzvacampaigns is to prepare the world tobe fit to accept the indwelling of theSh’china down here below.
After a few decades, we finishedthe avoda, and in 5752, the Rebbeinformed us that the avoda ofbirurim has been completed. Theworld is ready now. The time hascome to redeem the world; he’s onhis way!
The world is already purified, theavoda of spiritual elevation is over,and this time, the Rebbe says, he isinterested in seeing that that all the
activities done should from thismoment on be in a spirit ofpreparing for his arrival, i.e., everyactivity should be recognized asbeing done to greet the king.
The Rebbe is now standingbehind the door and waiting. Let’simagine what he would see in thecity if his shliach is engaging inactivities, but does not connect themall to the Redemption and to theRedeemer. He sees good chassidimcarrying out his orders, activelyinvolved in all the mivtzaim, butfailing to emphasize (in the best ofcircumstances) that all thesepreparations are for the coming andhisgalus of the Rebbe MH”M.
This is the current avoda ofshlichus: to do everything so that allthe mitzva campaigns will beinstilled with the central point ofgreeting Moshiach Tzidkeinu. TheRebbe must see that we are waitingfor him and preparing for his arrival.
In the meantime, he’s standingoutside. He’s waiting. Furthermore,he said this explicitly to HaRavHaGaon Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahushlita: “As I have mentionedrepeatedly several times, not onlywill the Redemption come, but theRedemption is already at thethreshold, waiting for every Jew toopen the door and drag theRedemption into the room!”
He’ll already make certain thatwe’ll prepare for his arrival, but whyshould we wait for all these varioussigns? Let’s do it right now! It’s anestablished fact that every shliachwill fulfill his shlichus in anacceptable manner for the people of
his city, and he will remember thatthe m’shaleiach gives this instructionand he’s also the one who grants theability to carry it out!
In practical terms, it isincumbent upon every shliach tofulfill this holy obligation: Cry out,shout, and awaken the whole world!
At every shluchim conference,every shliach has an obligation todevote at least one whole day to in-depth study, studying in order to dowhat the Rebbe said in his sichabefore the 5752 InternationalConference of Shluchim, which asmentioned above is an explicitinstruction for our avoda today. Wemust discuss how we can bringabout that “all the details in theavoda of the shlichus in spreadingTorah and Yiddishkait and thespreading of the wellsprings outwardmust be instilled with this point:How will this lead to the greeting ofMoshiach?”
And through the “stubbornness”to bring the coming of MoshiachTzidkeinu immediately in actualdeed, mamash, we will merit thetrue and complete gathering, thecompletion of the fulfillment of theappointed destiny of the ingatheringof the exiles of Israel, the buildingof the Beis HaMikdash, as we bearwitness to the revelation of Hisglorious kingship through theRebbe MH”M shlita, and all of us,“sons of one man,” instead ofcrying out “Ad Masai?” will cry outand proclaim: Yechi AdoneinuMoreinu v’Rabbeinu MelechHaMoshiach l’olam va’ed!
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Rabbi Saadia Dahan was recentlyappointed rav of the new MishkanMenachem Shul that was founded inmemory of R’ Zalman Shagalov,who was his relative. R’ Dahan is anexperienced mechanech, a shochet, asofer, and a learned man. He is alsoa warm, Chassidishe person with asincere belief in tzaddikim andhiskashrus to the Rebbe.
I interviewed him a few hoursafter Motzaei RoshHaShana/Shabbos, when he was stillinspired by the spirit of the largefarbrengen that took place in 770with thousands of people. The
emotion was apparent in his voiceand he expressed it in his uniqueway by asking that I convey themessage that we increase andstrengthen our unity with brotherlylove and mivtzaim, in order to bringabout the hisgalus already.
He recalled life back in Morocco,learning in Chabad yeshivos thereand in Kfar Chabad, about apersonal miracle he had, and aboutan unusual instruction in the middleof a yechidus. He says that early onhe knew that his neshama wasconnected to Chabad Chassidus.
REPRESENTATIVE OFCHABAD IN A NON-CHABAD YESHIVA
Morocco is divided into threesections. One is called the Sephardicsection. Another is called the Frenchsection, where French colonialismand its liberal culture has permeatedall aspects of life there, adverselyaffecting Jewish communities. Thethird is more rural and retained itsoriginal Moroccan character, whichis where I was born in the village ofTailit in the “Duds” region.
Near our village were another
He was born in Tailit in Morocco, farfrom the center of the country, in aJewish-Moroccan traditionalatmosphere, where people still wore thetraditional Moroccan jalabiyas. That iswhere he first encountered Chabad andthe Rebbe through the shliach whocame on a donkey, wanting to start aTalmud Torah. The road from there toKfar Chabad was long but smooth.
FROM A MOROCCAN
VILLAGE TO CROWN
HEIGHTSBy Nosson Avrohom
two villages in which Jews lived, withour village being the main one.Many Jewish families lived in ourvillage and we lived a full life ofTorah and mitzvos with peopleexcelling in a life of wholeheartedfaith in G-d.
Our parents, who ensured thatwe were given a proper Jewisheducation would bring an expertmelamed from the outlying citiesand shared the cost. His job was toteach us Torah and Mishnayos,reading and writing. In the villagethere were some knowledgeablepeople, some who knew how tolearn and teach, but for whateverreasons they refused to teach us.Their excuse was that this entailedmuch responsibility and effort. Dueto the need of importing melamdimfrom afar, they were frequentlyreplaced and we did not have aproper curriculum and schedule.Nevertheless, our parents’ examplewas more powerful than anythingelse and we learned from them.
The person who came andrescued our chinuch was RabbiShlomo Matusof, who came toMorocco on shlichus. He foundedTalmudei Torah in all the villages
and cities and at a certain point hecame to us too. He took one of thepeople of our village, Rabbi YosefEmor (today of Ashkelon), who wasa Torah scholar, paid him part of hissalary, and the parents paid somemore. That’s how an organized,daily Talmud Torah was founded.We had learning contests with prizesand we became aware of theLubavitcher Rebbe and Chabad,though in a superficial manner.
Till this day I remember the greatexcitement when Rabbi Matusof’semissaries came to found theTalmud Torah. We in the villagewere wearing our jalabiyas thetraditional Moroccan garb.Everything was simple and primitiveand we weren’t accustomed toseeing men in suits and hats.Amongst ourselves we decided thatthese shluchim were geniuses.Whenever they came to visit, toarrange tests or to supervise, wewould call them gaonim.
At a certain point we moved toMarrakesh, where I attended a non-Chabad yeshiva. One of themelamdim was Rabbi Moshe BenAbu. Today he is the rav of the Gilo
neighborhood of Yerushalayim.I was known as the
“representative of Chabad” at thisyeshiva. I don’t know why, butapparently my neshama is connectedwith the Rebbeim. In those days,there were talmidim from Moroccowho left to learn in Litvishe yeshivos
As soon as Ientered the mainhall of theyeshiva, Idecided this wasmy place. Theatmosphere, thewarmth, and thesimplicity thatshone from thefaces of theT’mimim,captivated me.
in France and England, and thetimeworn debate between Chassidimand Misnagdim came to our yeshivatoo. I was always the ultimatedefender of Chabad and the Rebbe.
I remember how much I quakedwhen the rosh yeshiva in Marrakeshheard that I wanted to switch to aChabad yeshiva in Maknes. Hecalled me in and asked, “What doyou need over there? Over therethey have just T’hillim and Tanya…”
Nevertheless, I switched to theChabad yeshiva in Maknes. The roshyeshiva was a local Torah scholar bythe name of Rabbi Yitzchok Sebbag.People davened from a SephardSiddur and observed someSephardic customs, but it wasotherwise a Chabad yeshiva withmikva in the morning and shiurim inChassidus. I was so connected toChabad and the way of learning inChabad that I found it hard to learnGemara with a melamed in theyeshiva who came from a Litvishebackground.
Later on I learned in the Chabadyeshiva in Casablanca, which wasrun by Rabbi Michoel Lipsker a”h.Around the year 5720/1960 RabbiShlomo Matusof sent me to be amelamed for a year in a town calledBeni-Milel, and then my familymade aliya to Eretz Yisroel and wesettled in Ramat HaSharon.
BECOMING ACHABAD TEACHER
Two months after I arrived inEretz Yisroel, Amram Yifrach, achildhood friend who came to EretzYisroel before me and went toYeshivas Tomchei T’mimim, invitedme to visit Kfar Chabad. As soon asI entered the main hall of theyeshiva, I decided this was my place.The atmosphere, the warmth, andthe simplicity that shone from thefaces of the T’mimim, captivatedme.
In hindsight, the thing whichdrew me to Chabad was Chassidus,
which combines intellect andemotion and can bring a person togenuine spiritual heights as it placeshim in his true spiritual place. Thisattracted me back in Morocco.
I quickly acclimated to mystudies in Kfar Chabad. R’ MosheNaparstek was my mashpia, and hefarbrenged a lot with us. I wouldbring him all my questions inChassidus and soul matters andconsult with him. He is a specialperson who treated me in a fatherlymanner that you don’t see much ofnowadays. You can feel that he trulyloves you and desires to help.
While learning in yeshiva, I hadmy first experience with the Rebbe’spower when I sent him a letter witha request for a bracha. I had amedical problem which bothered me.At the time I thought it was amedical problem and now I realizethat it wasn’t a problem at all, butback then I was preoccupied with itand didn’t know where it camefrom.
I wrote to the Rebbe about it andthe answer was a bracha for acomplete recovery and to check myt’fillin. I rushed to do so anddiscovered that the writing wasfaded. I bought new parshiyos andthe unbelievable happened – theproblem stopped bothering me.
One day I was sitting and
learning with another two T’mimim,Shlomo Fleischman and ZechariaAbadi, when in walked R’ MosheScheerson a”h. He conferred a littlewith R’ Moshe Naparstek and I sawthat they were pointing at me. I hadan idea what they were talking aboutand I said to my friends, “I won’t bea mechanech; it doesn’t suit me atall.”
A few minutes later the two ofthem came over to me and R’Naparstek said they wanted me to bea mechanech in the school inBerosh. I was beside myself. Despitemy earlier pronouncement, I saidthat if the Rebbe agreed, I wouldaccept the job. I wrote to the Rebbeand the answer quickly came. Itsaid, “Blessing and success forchinuch al taharas ha’kodesh.”
I worked for eight years at theschool in Berosh and received manyletters from the Rebbe, both routineletters for births and holidays andletters with specific instructions forme.
Regarding the birth of one of mydaughters, the Rebbe wrote, “Idouble my bracha” about the birthbeing easy, which was not the usualwording of letters of this sort. Afterthe birth, we understood the Rebbe’sbracha. They were anticipating acomplicated birth but it turned out
to be the easiest.
FIRST YECHIDUSWhen I finished my work in
Berosh, I moved to Lud and fromthere, with the Rebbe’s approval, Imoved to Nachalat Har Chabad. Iworked in the vocational school inKiryat Malachi, the vocational schoolin Kfar Chabad, and also in Kiryat
Gat.I saw the Rebbe for the first time
in Tishrei 5734. After a monthreplete with giluyim, I had yechidusand emerged trembling withemotion. A yechidus with the Rebbecannot be described in words. Therewere some personal matters and so Iwill only tell you that the Rebbeblessed me with success in the workof chinuch. As far as one of mychildren, the Rebbe asked me to
keep him another year in gan andnot to rush to promote him to firstgrade.
* * *Rabbi Saadia Dahan works as a
shochet now. He hurried off to makethe final preparations before hisflight to the slaughterhouse in Iowa.He also serves as rav of the MishkanMenachem shul that was recentlystarted in memory of Rabbi ZalmanShagalov.
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TRAVELING TO VENICEThe sixth day of Sukkos, on
the eve of Hoshana Raba:Until today I still toyed with the
idea of going to the Rebbe. Today Ihad to come to terms with the sadreality that we weren’t going. Mywife Nurit and I finally decided toaccede to the repeated requests ofour friend, Rabbi Rami Benin andour son Yosef Yitzchok and hiswife, to spend Yom Tov with themin Venice.
We managed to find a cheapticket to Milan five minutes beforethe travel agency closed and thenext day, bright and early, atsunrise, we were at the airport. Irecited the Hoshana Raba t’fillos bymyself in the shul in the airport.
When I finished davening, Idonated my Dalet minim (that werestill fresh and green) to the Chabadstand at the airport. Beforeboarding the plane I had thesatisfaction of seeing people usingmy (former) set of minim.
After a few hour flight, wecould see Italy beneath us and thenthe pilot said we could not land inMilan. Instead, we would belanding in Venice. I thankedHashem for shortening our tripand bringing us directly to Venice,saving us the ride from Milan toVenice.
I soon saw that my joy waspremature. Hashem had otherplans for me. After we got off theplane and saw Venice before us, the
pilot announced that we should getback on board for we were flying toMilan! Our pleading was to noavail. The pilot was a nice guy buthe informed us that we had totravel with all the passengers to thepredetermined destination.Disappointed, we got back on theplane and headed for Milan.
WHO IS LIKE THEJEWISH PEOPLE!
Our son was waiting for us inMilan with the car that the shliach,R’ Benin had sent for us. Before wearrived our son told us that Veniceis very close to Milan. It wasactually a long, three-hour trip.
Since there are still no planeswith sukkos on board, I nearlyfainted from hunger. I was thrilledto see that our friend Rami hadthought of us and had sent hismobile sukka along in the car. Weopened the little sukka is one of themany roadside truck stops alongthe way. Among all the tractortruck drivers from Turkey andGermany, and all the othercountries of Europe, we set up ourlittle sukka so we could eat.
I stood in the sukka (even if Iwanted to, there was no room tosit) and looked at the goyim whosat nearby and ate. I thought, whois like Your people Israel? They eatand drink like animals, but whenwe eat, we fulfill Hashem’scommand!
At the end of our long andtiring trip we crossed a very longbridge which was built right overthe water, and we finally arrived inVenice. There is a large parking lotat the entrance to the city, whereeverybody leaves their cars. Beyondthat point, there are no more cars.For the rest of our stay we walkedwherever we wanted to go or useda boat (on weekdays).
It was a great relief not to hearthe endless noise of vehicles thatwe are used to constantly hearing.
The shluchim and T’mimim celebrated72 hours of Chassidishe simcha. Thereamong the houses of the Jewish ghetto,within the huge, magnificent shuls,above the canals and thousands oftourists, they met Jews who experiencedSimchas Torah for the first time. * Adiary by Rabbi Zev Crombie from 5765.
DANCING IN
THE STREETS
OF VENICE
In Venice it’s all boats: a boat-bus,a boat-taxi, a boat as a garbagetruck, a truck-boat, an ambulance-boat, even fire engine-boats. Sincewater isn’t lacking in Venice, thefire-boats consist of pumps on aboat that draws up water from thecanal and sprays the fire.
We went to the “bus station.”These boat-busses have schedulesand routes. There’s even a map,like the subway map in New York.Boat #42 floats down Grand Canaland then turns left onto ConergoCanal. We got off at the secondstop on Conergo Canal and sawthe Chabad sukka in front of us.
How exciting! The sukka waslocated on the banks of the canal,close to their restaurant. Not eventwo minutes went by and twoIsraeli tourists showed up. It was abit hard for us to differentiate A sukka on a boat in Venice
among the many tourists as to whowas and wasn’t Jewish, but wedidn’t have to look for them. EveryJew who passed by, whether atourist from Israel, America, or anyother place, reacted withamazement when they discoveredthe sukka, and came right over totalk to us. This phenomenon wasour experience throughout our stayin Venice. An endless stream oftourists came to us day and night,and all we had to do was talk tothem about Judaism.
Next to the restaurant’s sukkawe saw another wonder of Venice.In addition to the large sukka thatwas built near the restaurant, andthe sukka next to the yeshiva, Ramihad a sukka on his boat. This lattersukka is a real attraction and everyJew who passes by this boat takes apicture.
We had less than half an houruntil candle-lighting and wehurried to our apartment so getready for Yom Tov.
HAKAFOS INTHE JEWISH GHETTOShmini Atzeres night:We went to the Chabad yeshiva.
In Venice there aren’t orderlystreets. Explanations as to how to
get somewhere are something like,“walk until the second bridge,make a right and walk along thecanal.” The streets were full ofgentiles and we got ready for ChagSimchaseinu.
The yeshiva was located in theoldest Jewish ghetto in the world. Icould imagine how Jewish life oncewas. Jews lived here for hundredsof years, being born here, learning,marrying, rejoicing, quarreling, etc.
This is where one of the mostimportant communities in theMiddle Ages was established. Hereis where important s’farim werewritten by distinguished scholars.Here is where the first s’farim wereprinted. The famous “Printed inVenice” refers to right here. I couldfeel the “fluttering of the wings ofhistory.”
In the center of the ghetto is astatue in memory of the Jews whoonce lived here who were murderedby the Nazis, may their name beerased. Near the statue is anancient water faucet from whichwater never ceases flowing. Whenwe wanted to wash our hands, weused this faucet. The water is goodfor drinking too. Nobody seemsconcerned about waterconservation here.
When I returned home, my
friend Uri told me that his fatherhad been born in this ghetto.During the war, his entire familyhid in a chicken coop and onlycame out at night to look for food.His grandfather was an engineerand he built bombs to blow up theGerman trains.
The yeshiva opens into theghetto square. Whoever comes tothe ghetto (and we saw that everytourist who comes to Venice, visitsthe ghetto) comes to the yeshiva.Apparently, the ghetto is numberone on the list of touristattractions. The number of peoplewho came to gawk at the sukkacontinued to grow. They thoughtthey had come to Venice to see thecanals, but we knew the truth, thatthey had come to learn aboutJudaism at the Chabad house ofVenice. Jews, who you couldn’t talkto about Judaism back where theycame from, were happy to sit downand hear what we had to say.
Hakafos Shmini Atzeres night:We were particular to take a
l’chaim only in the sukka but theguests were not mehader in this,and so we made sure that each onesaid a proper l’chaim before theydanced with the Torah or said apasuk from “Ata Horeisa.” Somewere shy and stood at a distanceand watched until a smiley bachurhelped them join the circle ofdancers. Many of them entered theyeshiva with their cameras andhesitantly asked, “Can we take apicture?” Some of them have noidea how inappropriate thequestion is.
HISTORY ANDTHE PRESENT
Shmini Atzeres day:In the morning, when I woke
up, all I could think of was how torecover from the abundance ofmashke I had had the night beforeand which still flowed in my veins.“If only I could use a mikva now,”The restaurant’s sukka on the banks of the canal
I thought.When I arrived at the yeshiva I
told Rami what I wished for and helaughed. To my surprise, there wasa mikva in Venice. Past the square,near the bridge, within a smallniche is where I discovered theVenetian mikva. Perhaps it wasn’tthe most beautiful I’ve ever seen,but it was a kosher mikva since thewater in it touches the waters ofthe sea. I immersed and felt better.
Throughout the davening newpeople kept coming in. Some camein for five minutes and othersstayed longer.
Simchas Torah night:After davening in the yeshiva,
we went to bring joy to the Jews inthe “big shul” of Venice. In Venicethere are five ancient shuls,hundreds of years old. The shulsare open for davening only a fewtimes a year. The rest of the time
they are part of the museum tourswhich are organized by the touristdepartment of the municipality.Simchas Torah is one of the daysthat they daven in them.
They told me that every YomTov they daven in a different shulin order to keep them all active sothey don’t get taken over by themunicipality. There was a guard atthe entrance. For security reasons,those who enter have to stay untilthe end of the davening.
The shul was old andmagnificent. You were still able tosee the beauty that once was. Icould imagine the Jews whodavened there on Simchas Torahyears ago. In my mind’s eye I couldpicture the wealthy Jews along withthe simple folk, all rejoicingtogether on Simchas Torah. Theshul has a very high ceiling andaround the walls there is ancientheavy furniture with elaboratewood carvings.
The houses in Venice arecrowded together and connectedone to the next. The shul is alsoconnected to the homes of goyim.
On the walls are plaquesdedicated to Jews who donatedmoney hundreds of years ago tothe shul. The Venetian communityis unique and it has uniquecustoms. The people circle thebima with twelve ancient Torahscrolls with covers of old fabricwith ancient bells. After everyhakafa they put the s’farim onspecial stands that are attached tobenches in the shul. Each hakafahas special niggunim that go backgenerations.
TAHALUCHA OVERTHE GRAND CANALAt the end of the hakafos in the
big shul we went on Tahalucha.About ten Lubavitchers went andsang on the streets of Venice. TheRebbe taught us not to be fazed bythe world and we did this b’hiddur.
In the Talmud Torah Chabad of Venice
Shliach Rachamim (Rami) Benin putting t’fillin on with a tourist
The streets were packed withtourists and we looked likemadmen to them. We sang RabbiLevi Yitzchok’s hakafos niggun andI thought about what a greatdistance this niggun had traveledsince Rabbi Levi Yitzchok had sungit in Alma Ata.
Many tourists photographed us.In general, wherever I went, I was
an attraction. People weresurprised to see such a weird sight– a man wearing a long, black coat.Maybe they thought I was one ofthe costumed revelers that walkedaround the streets of the city,someone leftover from the localcarnival.
On the way we met a couple
from Israel who were touring inVenice with their little boy. Whenwe suggested that they come tohakafos, their young son schleppedhis parents all the way to theyeshiva, a walk that takes three-quarters of an hour. As we walkedthey explained: We have three oldersons who have already toured theworld. Wherever they went, theyvisited Chabad and they told theiryounger brother about it. Now,when our youngest son hears thatChabad is in Venice too, he’sgetting us to follow him to theyeshiva.
We got to the big bridge,Rialdo, which is built over theGrand Canal, the main canal inVenice from which the minorcanals branch off. On either side ofthe bridge were expensive shops fortourists. We walked on to thebridge and did an enthusiasticChassidic dance there. All trafficstopped in amazement andeverybody took photos of us.
Yossi Mendelsohn went on theshoulders of one of the bachurimand spoke in English to the crowdthat had gathered round, about theSeven Noachide Laws. It was hardfor me to tell if there were any Jewsin the crowd, but Yossi identifiedsome Jewish tourists. He took outa bottle of wine and while still onthe bachur’s shoulders he madeKiddush in a loud voice.
We could hear several peopleresponding with “amen” which toldus that indeed, there were Jews inthe crowd. We invited them all tocome to hakafos at the Chabadyeshiva in the ghetto – familieswith children, young couples, thosewhose Jewish spark inspired themto drop their shopping expeditionsand to take part in our traditions.
We continued on the windingstreets until we reached the mainsquare. Hundreds of people fromall over the world stood in awe ofthe ancient buildings while a group
of Lubavitchers entered the squarewith song. Once again Yossi wenton a bachur’s shoulders andexplained to dozens of touristsabout Simchas Torah and theSeven Noachide Laws.
When he was finished, heinvited them all to hakafos at theyeshiva. We rushed back to theyeshiva in order to welcome ourguests.
Hakafos on Simchas Torahday:
Many tourists came to theyeshiva and every one of themdanced with the Torah. Some wereshy and they sat outside near therefreshments. We noticed anAmerican Jewish woman with agentile husband. She seemeduncomfortable, probably because ofher non-Jewish husband, but shecame anyway. She told my wifethat in her parents’ house they saidthe blessing for bread but did notwash their hands.
My wife commented that youcan’t always make shortcuts. Thewoman thought about this for awhile and then said, “Okay, I’mgoing to wash my hands.”
JEWISH SOULSIN VENICE
Shabbos B’Reishis:Today everybody is eating at the
restaurant. One of the specialthings about the Chabad house inVenice is the restaurant it operates.It is located on the edge of thecanal (actually, every place inVenice is on the edge of a canal!).During the week it serves thetourists who want kosher food (aswell as many gentiles who enjoy thegood food).
On Shabbos and Yomim Tovimthe food is free. Dozens of touristspartake of the meals withoutpaying. The atmosphere is special,as Jews from all over the worldenjoy Shabbos, the day which isours. We eat, sing, and hear divrei
She told my wifethat in her
parents’ housethey said the
blessing for breadbut did not washtheir hands. Mywife commented
that you can’talways make
shortcuts. Thewoman thoughtabout this for awhile and then
said, “Okay, I’mgoing to wash my
hands.”
Torah.Near us sat a traditional couple
from Yerushalayim. They broughtfood with them for the rest of theweek, but on Shabbos they wantedto enjoy the special atmosphere andso they came to the restaurant. Thehusband, originally from England,told us about his uncle. This unclewas a famous doctor who lived formany years in an exclusiveneighborhood of London. He wasthe only Jew in the neighborhood.
One night, the local priest calledhim and told him that thegreengrocer of the neighborhoodhad died. “He’s one of yours,” saidthe doctor. It was a cold and snowynight and the uncle had no interestin leaving his house for the funeralof a Christian. He was the familydoctor of the greengrocer and ofthe entire extended family for morethan forty years. He knew thefamily well as old-time familydoctors once knew their patients.
“No,” said the priest. “He’s aJew.”
It turned out that thegreengrocer had lived all his life asa gentile but he did not want to beburied among goyim. He had askedto be buried among his fellow Jewswhom he had abandoned decadesbefore. Since he knew that nobodywould believe that he was a Jew, hehad left the key to a box with hiswill. When they opened the boxthey discovered his parents’ k’subaand saw that he was actually
Jewish.It was touching to hear this
story about a wayward soul whosepintele Yid was not entirelyextinguished.
We looked at two Israeli couplesapproaching us hesitantly. It lookedas though they had come directlyfrom northern Tel Aviv (though notfrom Rabbi Ginsburgh’s yeshiva!).They were discussing amongstthemselves what to do since Ramihad invited them to the Shabbosmeal.
We heard one of them say,“Me? To Chabad? Even if theypaid me I won’t go in!” We smiled.Not five minutes went by and thetwo couples sat down at a table.“It’s just because of my wife,” thehusband excused himself. “I simplycould not refuse her.” And onceagain, I thought to myself, “who islike Your people Israel?”
Knesset member Yossi Sarid (aLeft-wing, anti-religious formerIsraeli politician) came to the oldshul on Shabbos. When they askedhis name and insisted he stay untilthe end of the davening as thecondition for entering the shul, herefused and instead, he went to theyeshiva. Turns out it was hisbirthday and our chevra werehappy to make him a party withKiddush! When I heard this I wasamazed – Yossi Sarid in theyeshiva!?
Motzaei Shabbos:Before we left Venice, we visited
the Chabad school, which isattended by six Jewish children.The children receive a very highlevel chinuch. We were impressedby the devotion of Mrs. ShacharBenin.
* * *The following Friday our son
Sholom Dovber went on mivtzaimto his usual place in Israel. Whenhe put t’fillin on with one of hisregulars, a woman came over andtold him excitedly about hermarvelous trip to Italy. “Thehighlight of the trip was SimchasTorah in Venice. You can’t imaginehow moving it was. Here we don’tpay attention to the holidays but inVenice it was really somethingspecial.”
When she finished describingeverything they had seen, my sonsaid, “The people you met inVenice were my parents!” What asmall world.
Hearing about the shluchim andtheir work is nothing compared toseeing it in action. It was amazingto see what shluchim canaccomplish. How so manyneshamos can be ignited. It’s justunbelievable. Only the Rebbe, NasiHaDor, can empower hisChassidim, the shluchim, to suchan extent. We saw that just beingshluchim endowed them withprodigious powers. They workdevotedly to fulfill the Rebbe’svision that “nobody will be pushedaside.” Fortunate are they!
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Every Friday afternoon, a t’fillinstand is set up near the boardwalkclose to the beach in Eilat andbearded fellows put t’fillin onhundreds of Jews who pass by ontheir way for a swim. They stand inline, young and old, simple folk andintelligentsia, students andprofessionals.
“The Lubavitcher Rebbe is theprophet of the generation,” saidsomeone with a heavy Frenchaccent. Before the Lubavitchersmanning the stand could recoverfrom the surprising announcement,the man continued, “You don’t evenknow who sent you here,” asthough goading them into askinghim to tell his story.
* * *My name is Shimon Levy and I
live in a suburb of Paris. Although,unfortunately, I don’t wear a kippa,I feel that I am a Chassid of theRebbe. When you hear my story,
you will understand why.Like many French Jews, I was
born in Casablanca, the capitol ofMorocco. As a boy, I becameacquainted with the Chabadmovement and its leader, theLubavitcher Rebbe, through hisfaithful shliach, Rabbi Yehuda LeibRaskin. To us he was a role modeland someone to admire. I learnedGemara and Chassidus from himand I was impressed by hispersonality. He was a very specialman.
At the age of seventeen Iemigrated to France with my familyand we moved to Strasbourg.Although in Morocco I hadattended a Jewish school with astrong orientation to observingTorah and mitzvos and ourtradition, in France I attended asecular Jewish school.
Despite my spiritual descent, Iwould go to the Chabad house in
the city and visit with the Chassidimand shluchim. During summervacation I attended seminars thatshliach, Rabbi Shmuel Azimov held,and later, although I wasn’t actuallya Chabad Chassid, I would go withthe shluchim on mivtza t’fillin.
While attending school inStrasbourg, the shluchim connectedme to the Rebbe and I was caughtup in the great enthusiasm thatcharacterized their work. Onvarious occasions I even wroteletters that I sent to the Rebbe, butto my sorrow, I did not get a reply.The Chassidim cheered me up andexplained that just sending the lettermeant that I had given the matterover to the Rebbe. They said thatthe Rebbe read every letter.
Every time I went on mivtzaimwith the Chassidim, every time Iattended a farbrengen, each time Ilearned the Rebbe’s teachings, itconnected me more and more toChabad. I eventually changed myway of dress and wore a kippa.
The atmosphere at the Chabadhouse warmed up as Tishrei 5743approached. Chassidim planned ongoing to the Rebbe. A relative ofmine, Rabbi Yaakov Bitton, ashliach in Sarcelles, helped me andwe went to 770 together that year. Ispent six weeks in 770, which wasthe most moving and extraordinaryperiod in my life. It is engraved inmy memory and every time I recallit, I tremble as I see the Rebbe enter770 for the first time. My heartnearly stopped.
Throughout those weeks I didn’tmiss an opportunity to spend timein the Rebbe’s presence. It was veryuncomfortable with the pushing, butI made every effort to be close tothe Rebbe and to watch him.Whoever did not see the Rebbe,would definitely not understand myexcitement. He was simply an angelof G-d.
I remember how sometimes Iwas able to accompany the Rebbe’sbrother-in-law, Rashag, to his
The thoughts of repentance that cameto me occasionally, mainly around theYomim Noraim when I remembered myvisit to 770, vanished shortly thereafter.They did not bring about a change inme. Then one day, something happenedthat changed my entire way ofthinking...
THE REBBE’S
LETTERBy Nosson Avrohom
apartment on the third floor. Hewas elderly and every day I wouldhelp him.
After a month and a half packedwith spiritual inspiration, I wasconvinced I had to be a ChabadChassid. When I returned to FranceI bought a hat and dark suit and Iwent to the Lubavitcher yeshiva inBrunoy.
At first I did well there. I lovedthe staff of mashpiim and maggideishiurim and I was involved in thefarbrengens, but after a few monthsI felt a spiritual descent. I think thereason was that I didn’t find achavrusa to learn with me. At first Itried joining other learning partnersbut it didn’t work, and my spiritualdescent began. I tried to stop it, butas the days went by I found myselfdavening less and learning less. Onthe one hand, I was sad about myplight, and on the other hand, Ididn’t seem able to control it.
Another thing that disturbed mewas the fact that I saw that otherbachurim had received letters fromthe Rebbe, answers to theirquestions and brachos, while I hadwritten several letters and hadreceived no reply.
After half a year in Brunoy, Ireturned to Strasbourg. At first Ijoined the Chabad house team and Iwent on mivtza t’fillin nearly everyday. I also joined the shliach invisiting homes and kosheringkitchens. When someone wanted hismezuzos checked, I was sent to takethem down. I don’t understand howit happened but at the same timethat I did these holy activities, I wasdropping out of religious practice.
At a certain point I stoppedworking at the Chabad house andlooked for a job where I could makenice money. Ironically, I took a jobas a mashgiach for the rav ofStrasbourg. The work was seasonaland so before Pesach I supervisedthe matza baking. Sometimes Isupervised wine production andother sorts of kashrus-related jobs.
I was still wearing tzitzis and akippa at the time. I removed themwhen I left the kashrus job andbegan working with non-Jews.
I remember that one day I madea spiritual reckoning and I wasshocked at where I had gotten;recently I had been religious, I wentto the mikva every day, I learnedChassidus and davened withconcentration, and now I was livingdisconnected from any religiouspractice.
It was hard for me to get backon track and I mostly made peacewith the situation. The thoughts ofrepentance that came to meoccasionally, mainly around theYomim Noraim when I rememberedmy visit to 770, vanished shortlythereafter. They did not bring abouta change in me.
Then one day, somethinghappened that changed my entireway of thinking. As I said, I hadwritten to the Rebbe many times butdid not get a reply. One morning,as I was busy at work, someonecame in and said that he was sent tome by the shliach of Strasbourg,Rabbi Shimon Samama. Withoutsaying another word, he put asealed envelope on the table. Ilooked at the envelope and saw itwas a letter from the LubavitcherRebbe to me.
I began to tremble. Why had theRebbe written to me? I hadn’twritten to him in a long time.
I opened the envelope and readthe letter. I saw that it was inresponse to the letter I had sent tothe Rebbe three years before, evenbefore my trip to 770, when I wasattending the school in Strasbourg.In the letter, the Rebbe asked me tobe an “illuminating candle” to myfriends and to behave in the way ofTorah and mitzvos.
You can imagine how I felt. Iburst into tears and cried for sometime. The Rebbe’s letter illuminatedmy neshama in an instant. It was asthough beams of light had
illuminated a dark room. I couldn’t work that day. The
letter made me feel ashamed anddeep regret.
Later on I found out why theletter had been delayed for threeyears. The letter had been sent inreply shortly after I had written myletter. It was sent to the school inStrasbourg that I attended, but Ihad left the school and went toyeshiva. The principal of the schooltried to locate me, but as he couldnot find me, he sent the letter backto New York.
The Rebbe’s secretary, RabbiGroner, was told to send the letteragain, this time to the home of theshliach in Paris, R’ Azimov. R’Azimov gave it to the shliach inStrasbourg. The letter remained atthe Chabad house for a while untilthe shliach found out where I was,and he sent it to me.
What can I tell you? Although Ihave not completely returned to alife of mitzvos, the letter shook meup. I went back to putting t’fillin ondaily. I wear a Chabad tallis and inParis, I daven at the Sephardic shulof Rabbi Shimon Dahan, aLubavitcher. The Rebbe’s letterstopped my deterioration and putme back on track, though I stillhave a ways to go.
A shliach (who wishes to remainanonymous) told me, “You can’timagine how much I yearn for aShabbos when I can sit by myself inpeace and daven for a few hourslike I used to do in yeshiva. It justisn’t possible on shlichus.” Thereare many shluchim like him in EretzYisroel.
This shliach went on to say, “Assoon as I started learning in yeshivain Kfar Chabad, I loved to davenb’arichus (pray at length). Iremember a debate that I had (whenI was in shiur Alef) with an olderbachur (from shiur Gimmel) aboutt’filla. I said that it was acceptableand good that I enjoyed davening atlength, whereas he maintained thatit was bad if I enjoyed it becausethen I made davening into anotherenjoyable activity.
“The debate continued and wewent together to the mashpia, R’Berel Kesselman a”h to present ourviews. I remember that the mashpiacensured the other bachur, saying:‘You’re not ashamed? This is yourproblem – that a bachur enjoysdavening? Instead of being bothered
by how the bachurim are immersedin their food and when the chulentpot comes to the table in the diningroom the bachurim get up to makesure they get a portion, that doesn’tbother you? Let him enjoy it; themain thing is that he davens.’
“I continued davening at lengththroughout my years in yeshiva.Now I am on shlichus and everyShabbos I have to be the chazan atthe Chabad house. Sometimes I visitother shuls before davening at theChabad house in order to say divreiTorah (mainly in honor of simchosof mekuravim). I usually haveguests waiting for me at home and Ihave to welcome them right afterthe davening, or there is afarbrengen after the davening. I’vealmost forgotten what it means todaven b’arichus.”
YICHUDA ILAA WITHTHE SHOEMAKER
This problem is familiar to everyshliach in some form or another,but we are not complaining. Wethank Hashem and the Rebbe for
the privilege of being shluchim. We were raised on the story
about the mashpia, R’ Michoel derAlter, who was in the middle ofdavening in the zal of yeshiva whena shoemaker walked in. ThisChassidishe mashpia stoppeddavening, went over to theshoemaker, and by motioning tohim he directed him to one of theT’mimim whose shoes were tornand indicated to him that he wantedthe bachur’s shoes fixed.
After the davening they askedthe mashpia how he could havestopped in the middle of thebrachos of Krias Shma to getinvolved with shoes. The mashpiaanswered, “You don’t understand?To the bachur they are shoes, butfor me (in my role in which I lookafter the T’mimim) it is yichuda ilaaand yichuda tataa” (the higher andlower Divine unifications alluded toin the Shma).
That’s what we were taught.That being on shlichus is thehighest elevation of all our avodasHashem. It is the ultimateperfection of our davening, of ourTorah study, and of our hiskashrusto the Rebbe for all eternity.
I am not going to paskenhalacha for everybody here. I wasn’tgiven the smicha to do so. Everyshliach has to ask his rav ormashpia, but generally speaking,this is what the Rebbe taught us. Itis permissible and a mitzva tosprinkle ashes of the red heifer andpurify someone, even though theKohen himself becomes impure andcannot enter the Mikdash untilnightfall. The goal is to purify andbe mekarev another Jew.
TEARS DURINGTHE HAFTORA
We shluchim sometimes feel thatwe are “soiled” by our shlichus.There are shluchim who davenalmost the entire year without aminyan because there just isn’t a
This is the price of shlichus that we payhappily and proudly. We only pray thatwe be worthy of this privilege that theRebbe help us be mekarev Jews andbring the Geula.
THE PRICE
OF SHLICHUSBy Rabbi Yaakov Shmuelevitz, Shliach, Beit Shaan
minyan where they live or within500 kilometers. We know shluchimwho have a minyan but throughoutthe davening they have to circulateand show people the place and turnpages for them in their siddurim.
There are many shluchim who, ifthey lived in Kfar Chabad or B’neiBrak, would surely be mehader notto carry on Shabbos, but onshlichus they must rely on the eiruvand carry food for the MesibosShabbos or flyers about anupcoming Chabad event. Someshluchim run a public seider thatlasts for hours and only afterwardsdo they have a hurried seider oftheir own so that they eat theafikoman before midnight.
Rabbi Yitzchok Lifsh, a shliachin Tzfas, tells of one year when heplanned on going to the Rebbe forSimchas Torah. He had alreadybought a ticket and made sure thatthings would go smoothly in hisabsence. Then he opened to a letterin the Igros Kodesh saying that aneshama comes down to this worldfor seventy years in order to do afavor for another Jew, and thereforehe should “remain in his place.”
Rabbi Lifsh canceled his ticketand began to think about what favorthe Rebbe could be referring to. Theend of the story was that he devotedhimself to a certain bachur and wasmekarev him. Following that, thisbachur went to a Chabad yeshivaand he established a fine,Chassidishe home.
There are endless examples ofcompromises that people make forthe sake of the shlichus. Every year,when I read the Haftora of ParshasNitzavim, the three-four versesabout Hashem being willing to haveHis garments soiled with blood, themain thing being to redeem Hispeople, tears come to my eyes. Theyare not tears of sorrow but tears ofbeing uplifted, of cleaving to theRebbe. This is the price of shlichusthat we pay happily and proudly. We
only pray that we be worthy of thisprivilege that the Rebbe help us bemekarev Jews and bring the Geula.
Shluchim have two spiritualaccountings to make, one as anyJew – what have I done and whatmore could I have done? – and oneas a shliach – what did I sacrificeand what more could I have done?
MUSING INSTEADOF STORIES
I guess I should apologize to thereaders of this column because Idon’t have amazing stories to tellthis week. No exorcising of demonsor unexpected huge donations. Not
even touching “neshama” stories,although you can definitely findmany stories of heroes here,precisely as many as the number ofshluchim and shluchos.
Understand the spiritual mesirusnefesh that every young couplemakes the moment they leave the“hothouse” of kollel and thecommunity, the Chassidishefarbrengens, the minyanim, theshiurim, the rav and chavrusa. Theygo to a life of compromise andsacrifice, with every t’filla or meal,with every step they take.
Of course, nobody is permittedto take halacha lightly in order to do
the Rebbe’s mivtzaim. I heard fromRabbi Shmuel Gruzman, shliach inmoshava Migdal, in the name of hisfather, Rabbi Meir Tzvi, about theearly years of mivtzaim. There wereChassidim who thought thatmivtzaim could be done at theexpense of t’filla and/or learning.The rabbanim emphasized that allthe horaos from the Rebbeim inKuntres HaT’filla and KuntresHaAvoda were still in force.
The question was sent to theRebbe. The Rebbe said thatobviously good things are notabolished, that there is only anincrease in holiness, but not at the
expense and not instead of learningdiligently and t’filla b’avoda.
R’ Shmuel Gruzman told about afarbrengen with R’ Leibel Groner.R’ Groner related that the Rebbeheard a rumor about the lack oftznius and separation between boysand girls in Kfar Chabad. This wasbefore the girls’ schools were movedto Kfar Chabad Beit. The Rebbereacted strongly, with tears, andclear instructions. R’ Groner said hehad never seen such a strongreaction before, over this lack ofcare regarding halacha and the waysof tznius.
‘This is your problem – that a bachurenjoys davening? Instead of beingbothered by how the bachurim areimmersed in their food and when thechulent pot comes to the table in thedining room the bachurim get up tomake sure they get a portion, thatdoesn’t bother you? Let him enjoy it;the main thing is that he davens.’
There was great excitement atthe Machon (Institute) forRabbinics, Dayanus, and Trainingof Yeshiva Educators of BaisMoshiach 770 in Beitar, Israel, asthe shluchim – the nucleus ofleading senior students – arrivedhere. These graduates of the 5767kvutza (Israeli students who havestudied during the past year at“770” in Crown Heights, NewYork) will be studying Rabbinics –Yoreh Deia, Hilchos Issur V’heter –for which they will take theexaminations of the Israeli ChiefRabbinate. They will alsodisseminate the wellsprings ofChassidus outward in Beitar Illitand the surrounding region.
When they arrived here onThursday, 13 MarCheshven, theywere welcomed by the Institute’shanhala and students at animpressive event held at theInstitute.
At the welcoming event for
the shluchim students, theInstitute’s Rosh Hacollel, RabbiYisroel Shvartz, Av Beis Din of TelTziyon, spoke about how much thenew arrivals will contribute to theInstitute and to the entire Torahcommunity of Beitar, for theInstitute spreads Torah lightthroughout the city and itsenvirons. The mashpia, RabbiAvrohom Pressman, made aprofound impression on everyonewith gripping stories and Chassidicinsights about shlichus andhafotzas hamaayonos. Rabbi RafaelTzikvishvili of Yerushalyim, amember of the Yeshiva’a hanhala,elaborated on the special privilegeof serving as shluchim at theInstitute, which, during the fewmonths since its establishment, hassucceeded in accomplishing a greatrevolution, and, with Hashem’shelp, they will further advance thisfrom strength to strength. TheInstitute’s meishiv (students’consultant for study questions),Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Silberman,
gave the shluchim his blessings andspoke about the great significanceof serving as shluchim of theRebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, in aTorah community such as Beitar.
The chairman of BeisMoshiach 770 in Beitar, Reb D’nielHaLeivi Goldberg, told about theamazing miracles that havehappened since the Institute’sestablishment – as a result of theholy blessing of the Rebbe, MelechHaMoshiach, that has accompaniedthe Institute at every step. Theshluchim, he said, will have a deeppositive influence on the youth ofBeitar and its environs, and cause abreakthrough in hafotzashamaayonos in the city. Heannounced that, as a result of theInstitute’s success, more shluchimstudents will be added during theschool year, and he expressed hiswish that Beis Moshiach 770 inBeitar Illit will soon have theprivilege of welcoming the Rebbe,Melech HaMoshiach, shlita, withgreat joy and gladness.
WELCOME FOR SHLUCHIM
STUDENTS AT BEITAR ILLIT