Dear Alumni Sheyichyu!
Sholom U’Brocho!
Mazeltov to our dear Rebbe, to all of the chassidim and to all who have been joining on the culmination of the entire Rambam and the beginning of a new machzor!
Birkas tanchumin to Yossi Brickman on the untimely passing of his dear father. המקום ינחם אתכם בתוך שאר אבלי ציון וירושלים ולא תוסיפו לדאבה עוד. Birkas tanchumin to Rabbi Chezzy Posner (who has been patiently and courageously putting up with the Toronto simchas Torah farbrengen all these years) on the passing of his dear mother. המקום ינחם אתכם בתוך שאר אבלי ציון וירושלים ולא תוסיפו לדאבה עוד.
Mazeltov to Saadya Zirkind on the occasion of his engagement. May he use out the period of yokor mikol yokor to its’ utmost! Mazel Tov to Rabbi and Mrs. Doniel Huebner on the birth of their son. Mazel Tov to Rabbi and Mrs. Zalman Ceitlin on the birth of their daughter. Mazel Tov to Rabbi and Mrs. Dovid Leib Silberstein on the birth of their daughter. May they bring them up lTOveCHuMAA”T mitoch harchovo, and to be true chayolim/os! (If anyone is aware of any mazeltov’s that I omitted please let me know).
Thank you as always for the feedback, it is much appreciated.
The following story was told by chassidim about R’ Shmuel Munkes, one of the celebrated chassidim of the Alter Rebbe:
Once, the chassidim arriving at the beis midrash of the Alter Rebbe were startled to see the noted chosid, R’ Shmuel Munkes, hanging from the fence in front of the house. Although they were somewhat accustomed to his eccentricities, this seemed to be extreme.
“What on earth are you doing there?” they asked him.
“It’s very simple”, he explained. “A tailor needs to have a newly made garment hanging in front of his shop, to advertise his profession. A shoemaker, likewise, will have a shoe hanging there, and a blacksmith will display his craftsmanship. Well, a Rebbe “manufactures” chassidim. That is his occupation. So it is only fitting that in front of his shop should hang a finished chosid”!
Surely the story is not meant merely to illustrate another example of the antics of R’ Shmuel Munkes. Every chassidishe story is meant to teach, guide and uplift us. Every story told and retold by chassidim is replete with lessons to learn and live with, and especially stories about the chassidim of the Alter Rebbe, and such an accomplished chosid as we know R’ Shmuel was.
One of the lessons of this story, I think, is simple: Every chosid needs to recognize that we are the advertisements for the Rebbe’s profession. While we don’t (necessarily) need to hang from anywhere, our behavior and conduct are supposed to be clear illustrations of what the Rebbe does and what chassidus achieves. As the Alter Rebbe, famously, demanded of a chosid: “Vosh ot di Torah dir gelernt?!” [What did the Torah teach you], each of us needs to be able to measure and assess what influence and impact the teachings of the chassidus and the teachings of our Rebbe had and have on the way we live our life.
And – since the purpose of the display, the advertisement, is to attract and convince prospective customers – it is not enough that there is some benefit in the innermost recesses of our heart or soul that we alone are aware of, but the benefit must be visible to and discernible by the casual observer.
This, it would seem, is one of the important messages in the story. If chassidus is truly so important and necessary, and we are the chassidim who actually take advantage of it, then we should be able to hang from the Rebbe’s fence; - the benefits and effects of chassidus need to be apparent on us.
And this message is especially relevant now: Having reached the culmination of the month of Tishrei and all of its special days and yomim tovim, we are now in the time about which the Rebbe would always say we proclaim "ויעקב הלך לדרכו", - the time when we have to focus our efforts on drawing as much as possible of the light and lebedik’keit, of the excitement and inspiration of Tishrei into the coming days, weeks and months. One of the surest ways to successfully achieve this is through hachlotos tovos, - through each of us seeking tangible and practical ways to channel the good feelings into our behaviour and actions.
All of us are surely scrambling; - we don’t want our amazing feelings of Tishrei to ch”v be wasted or to fizzle out, and we are all searching for fitting hachlotos to ensure their continuity. One way to go about this, to determine the areas in which we should be focusing our efforts, is to measure our effectiveness as advertisements for Lubavitch. I may be able to pat myself on the back, and be satisfied, perhaps, with many good things that I’m doing and my many worthwhile accomplishments. But the question we each have to ask ourselves is: Am I the chosid who can hang on the fence? Can I be the fitting showcase for what the Rebbe offers?
Of course, we like to say: ‘Don’t look at me, ich bin a farfallener, I’m not the good example’. But that’s not a legitimate position! If chassidus is real, if it works, then it has to be measurable, recognizable, on all who adhere to it. And each of us need to find the area where, perhaps, the impact of chassidus on our lives is not visible enough, and figure out how to change that.
I think that one very good area to start with is davening. After all, the Alter Rebbe went to Mezeritch rather than Vilna to learn how to daven. All of us, as chassidim have to surely be able to point to ways in which the chassidus that we learned enhanced our davening.
And we have the responsibility to make sure that this is visible, identifiable and unmistakable.
When a visitor, a non-Lubavitcher, comes to a minyan of Lubavitcher chassidim, or even somewhere where there are only one or two Lubavitcher chassidim in attendance, it is reasonable for him to expect that their davening will show something different, something extra. And it is reasonable for us to expect the same of ourselves. After all, having learned chassidus, having dedicating time to דע את אלקי אביך, to knowing Hashem, shouldn’t your appreciation of the general essence of davening (of the דעל פני מי אתה עומד) be enhanced? Shouldn’t your involvement in all of the specific pesukim of davening, all of the detailed descriptions of the greatness of Elokus be that much more intense? Shouldn’t your “omein yehei shmei rabbo mevorach” – you who understand the meaning (that “shem yud kei’ the Elokus that is aloof and above the world, should be “mevorach” drawn down into the world) – be that much more enthusiastic?
And it is not enough that there is some effect deep within our soul, some increased sincerity perhaps – genuine though it may be. Because, as an advertisement, our improvement must be noticeable by and visible to the casual observer.
[In Dvinsk, the Rogatchover gaon was the Rov of the chassidishe community. Possessing a brilliant mind, that was many times faster than the average person, the Rogatchover would complete shmoneh esreh long before anyone else. There was nothing lacking in his kavonoh ch”v; - it just took him a fraction of the time to think what took others much longer. But the appearance wasn’t ideal. After all, he was the Rov, and they were never waiting for him to commence chazoras hashatz; - he was always waiting for everyone else! Once, one of the leading baalei batim complained to him about this. “It is not becoming”, the person suggested, “that the Rov is the first one to complete his tefilah”. “What can I do?” the Rogatchover asked him, “when I’m finished davening, I’m finished?” “Perhaps”, the man respectfully suggested, “when the Rov completes his shmoneh esreh, he can review a mesechta by heart in his mind before he takes the 3 steps back”. The Rogatchover clarified: “This I am already doing”!]
For that matter, where is our advertisement for learning chassidus? We are, doubtless, overjoyed at any success we may have in influencing others to learn chassidus, in carrying out the mission of hafotzas hamaayonos chutzah. But do we ourselves reflect, by our conduct, our proper appreciation for that study? If two of us meet in an airport, and find that we have a half hour delay there, will it be natural for us to spend the time and opportunity learning chassidus together? If 2 (or more) chassidim share a car or bus ride, shouldn’t it be a given that the time will be spent discussing chassidus with each other?
As chassidim, would we ever hesitate to give up the few extra minutes (or hours?) of sleep because the time that we could spend learning chassidus is so much more precious to us? Isn’t that what we would expect of others who we try to influence?
Shouldn’t the impact of chassidus on us be visible, first and foremost in our appreciation of chassidus? If we are the advertisement, then surely we have to be ourselves “sold” on the product that we are attempting to sell to others.
And the same goes for learning Torah in general. After all, if we studied Tanya, and understand how learning Torah creates a yichud nifla etc., an unequalled and unparalleled bond with Hashem, and chassidus enables us to appreciate properly that bond, then shouldn’t this be measurable somehow in our degree of diligence and involvement in our learning?
Another example, application, is ahavas yisroel. If we are the “products” of chassidus, the ones who learned the message of Tanya Perek 32 and who can adequately evaluate, in general, the tremendous qualities of every Jewish neshomo, then shouldn’t our ahavas Yisroel be notable and noteworthy? If we are the ones hanging on the Rebbe’s fence, and that is without any question where we belong, shouldn’t our interactions with each other reflect the Rebbe’s teachings and influence on us?
Of course, the list goes on. But each of us can focus on 2 or 3 areas where we can improve ourselves. We can use the measuring stick of comparing the way we are with the way a proper advertisement for Lubavitch would need to look. And we will have our work cut out for us.
In Parshas Breishis, Rashi teaches us about the sin of the trees: Hashem had intended that the tree itself should have a taste just as the fruits do. But the earth sinned, producing trees devoid of any taste, with the only taste being in the fruit.
What is the lesson and message for us in this – seemingly strange – story? Perhaps it can be understood as follows: We know that man is compared to a tree (כי האדם עץ השדה). And there are the פירות, the fruit. These are the actions of the man (as Chazal say מאיפירות – מצוות). More specifically, the fruit represent the influence that a man has on others, on his students, friends and acquaintances (as the Rebbe once explained on the Possuk צדיק כתמר יפרח, that the tzadik who is compared to a “tomor”, - to a date tree (as opposed to the tzaddik who is compared to an “erez”, a cedar) is the tzaddik who teaches and influences others, thus producing fruit).
The objective is that there should be a taste in the tree itself just as there is a taste in the fruit that it bears. It’s not enough to influence others, to derive satisfaction from the impact that you had on your students and balebatim. You have to have your own taste. You yourself have to represent Lubavitch, by learning, davening and living in a way that reflects the influence that chassidus had on your own life.
But the earth sinned. The earth had a very convincing rationale: The whole existence of earth, of “oretz”, is because of the advantage of maaseh, of dira batachtonim. So, as the earth, its’ satisfaction and fulfillment should be in fruit, in performing mitzvos and impacting others.
But this was an error, and not according to the Eibishter’s plan. And we each need to do our part to correct it. Regardless of whatever positive effects any of us may have had on others or on our community or our neighborhood, we have to take the koach of simchas Torah and of the month of Tishrei in general to reevaluate how much of a tree we ourselves are, and how much of a taste there is in us. How much do our own lives reflect what we were taught by the Torah that we learned and by the guidance and teachings of our Rebbe.
We have to channel the tremendous force of Simchas Torah to reignite our own geshmak in – and dedication to – learning Torah and avodas hatefila and chassidisher conduct in general.
The effort we put into this will help us draw the influence and impact of simchas Torah into the coming year, and speed up the arrival of the time when the entire world will be as it was meant to and created to be, with the coming of Moshiach NOW!
L’chaim! Let us ensure that the joy, excitement, enthusiasm and inspiration don’t end, by channeling them into an ongoing and continuing Simchas Torah, love of Torah and commitment to Torah, and may the Eibishter speedily bring us to the ultimate Simchas Torah, with the שמחת עולם על ראשם from the immediate revelation of Moshiach Tzidkeinu TUMYM!!!
Rabbi Akiva Wagner
לזכות 'ר שלום מרדכי הלוי בן, רבקה לישועה וגאולה בפשטות ובגשמיות ולמטה ט"מ י"תומ ממש ולזכות 'ר ברוך מרדכי בן 'חיה אסתר ש"ל רפוק"ו רפוט"ו ואויוש מתוך בריאות הנכונה ס"וכט
