Tyere Alumni of Yeshivas Lubavitch Toronto Sheyichyu!
Sholom U’Brocho!
a) Mazel Tov to Yitzi Spalter on the occasion of his engagement. May he take full advantage of this special period of Yokor miKol Yokor. Mazel Tov to Moshe Wiener on the birth of his bechor, may they raise him to be a ChaYoL, and have much Yiddishe Chassidishe nachas mitoch harchovo. Mazel Tov also to all those who completed their Bosor b’Cholov farher, may the continuation of their becoming Rabbonim be with success, until its’ completion.
b) As always, the feedback that came in is very uplifting and very much appreciated. Thank you also for all those who sent in additional email addresses.
c) For Shabbos Parshas Vo’eira we had the great pleasure and honour to host a group of alumni who are currently in OT, who came for Shabbos to TO לראות וליראות, to share some of the inspiration of Crown Heights with the staff and talmidim of Toronto. The Shabbos was very enjoyable for those of us here, and hopefully for them as well. Thank you all for coming.
For those who asked why they haven’t been on the list, I have names for all of the alumni of the Yeshiva, I am just still missing a lot of email addresses, and many that I have are outdated. Also, I’m getting error messages about a number of the email addresses I have, either because they were changed, or are erroneous. So I ask for your continued help in this.
And, on the subject of emails, I will share with you the following reflection: Unlike conventional mail, email is not bound by the limitations of time and space, numerous emails travel through cyberspace to anywhere in the world, arriving simultaneously at multiple destinations, בשעת אחד או ברגע אחד. As such, one would expect that with email the technical details should be less relevant. After all it is a phenomenon that rises above the accustomed–to limitations of traditional mail.
In fact, the opposite is true. While in ‘snail mail’ one can make an error in the spelling or the words on an address, and in most cases his intent will be understood, and the letter will still arrive at its’ destination. Even if one makes a mistake in the numbers on the address, it will often merely end up a few houses away on the same block, where the recipient will, based on the name, redirect it to the intended recipient.
Conversely, with email it is not like that at all. If even one character is altered, the email can end up at the other end of the world, or be lost in the netherworlds of cyberspace.
[This brings to mind the following story:
A man once had to take a trip to Florida for business matters. Because he was due for a vacation with his wife, he decided to combine business with pleasure, and that after allowing himself a week to conclude his affairs, his wife would join him, and they would vacation together. As soon as he arrived, after settling into his hotel, he took out his blackberry and sent off an email to his rebbitzen, to inform her of his arrival. However, what with the tediousness of the trip and all, he was careless, and mistyped the recipient's address. Thus instead of the email message being sent to his wife, it ended up in a different computer altogether.
The actual recipient was a widow, who had unfortunately just lost her husband one week before. Overwhelmed by the tragedy, she for the first time opened her computer at the end of the week, and, due to the businessman’s error, she was shocked and horrified to see the following message on her screen:
To My Dear Wife:
I have arrived on schedule, and am getting settled down here. I am happy to know that you will be joining me in a week, and look forward to us being together again. Take care.
Your devoted Husband
p.s. By the way: It sure is hot down here!]
This is also the paradox of Torah and Mitzvos. Knowing that Torah and mitzvos are the Will of Hashem, that transcend time and space, it seems hard to accept that so much importance should be attached to seeming technical details. As a conservative reverend once exclaimed during a debate with a shliach: “I can’t believe that Hashem came down to Mount Sinai, accompanied by thunder and lightning and the myriads of angels, just to tell us not to cut the salami with a milchige knife”.
The same question faces a chossid, especially as we prepare for Yud Shvat: When we consider that Yud Shvat marks the beginning of the 7th generation, the culmination of anything and everything that happened to the Jewish nation, to the whole world, since before time, the natural conclusion is that any preparation that will have any relevance must be of earth shattering proportion. To be considered a fitting hachono for Yud Shvat, we would need to be saving the world, saving Lubavitch, or at the very least saving the ozone layer. What importance could possibly be attached to a little more learning, davening, mivtzoyim or general ahavas Yisroel by little ol’ me, on a day that is about finishing bringing the shechina into our physical world.
In fact, nothing can be further from the truth. While the Rebbe began his nesius by informing us of the historical importance of our mission, one that surpasses the accomplishments of all of our predecessors, at the same time I don’t know if any leader in history quoted more frequently or with greater emphasis the timely and timeless words of the Rambam that one deed or speech or thought of one individual is all it takes to tip the scale and bring the Geulah for all time.
As we enter the last stretch of our days of preparation for Yud Shvat 5768, and we are scrambling to come up with some last-minute hachonos, it is important to bear this in mind. We sometimes get overwhelmed thinking that the hachonos must be of a great magnitude, as befitting the importance of the day, or not at all. Many of the ideas that come to mind seem too insignificant, too petty to be consequential. Without any impressive ideas, we are in danger of coming to the Rebbe empty-handed.
What’s important to recognize is that we are not expected to come up with major, sophisticated, earth-shattering innovations. But every single one of us has to take a few minutes, to think about what the Rebbe expects of us, and where we’re falling short of his expectations. Some of us may find a few areas, many will find numerous areas (possibly some of you won’t come up with anything?). Then choose one area of Torah, one of Avoda, and one of Gmach, in which to increase our effort, to be one step closer to the Rebbe’s expectations. That is the hachono with which we should go to the Rebbe.
May we all put in the effort to do the one act, speech or thought that will tip the scale, and bring about the Geulah TUMYM!
Halocho Raboin all!
Akiva Wagner
(p.s. By the way: It sure is hot down here!)
