Dear Alumni Sheyichyu!
Sholom U’Brocho!
Mazel Tov to Yonassan Abramson on the occasion of his engagement. Mazel Tov to Shmully Kaufman on the occasion of his engagement. Mazel Tov to Shmully Rosenzweig on the occasion of his engagement. Mazel Tov to Sholom Ber Charytan on the occasion of his engagement. May they use out the special period of Yokor Mikol yokor to its’ utmost! Mazel Tov to Dovid Margolin on the occasion of his chasuna. Mazel Tov to Doniel Goldberg on the occasion of his chasuna. May the new homes be set up al yesodei hatorah vehamitzvos, and be a keli for all brochos! Mazel Tov to Rabbi & Mrs. Yossi Gorman on the birth and bris of their son. Mazel Tov to Rabbi & Mrs, Levi Fusson the birth of their son. Mazel Tov to Rabbi & Mrs, Ari Kamman on the birth of their daughter. May they bring them up lTO veCHuMAA”T mitoch harchovo, and to be true chayolim! (If anyone is aware of any mazel tov’s that I omitted please let me know).
Thank you as always for the feedback, it is much appreciated.
Mottel the gvir, as he was known, was one of the wealthiest people in his country. He possessed huge forests and a multitude of assets. Mottel was very generous with his wealth, and many a Jew benefitted from his philanthropy. In addition, he had close connections in the royal palace, which he also utilized to the benefit of his less fortunate brethren.
Mottel had a childhood friend named Yankel, who he loved like a brother. Once, Mottel made a pact with Yankel as an expression of their deep friendship. He promised to always care for Yankel and all of his descendents, and to assist them whenever they needed, in any way that he is able.
Many years passed, and Moshe, a grandson of Yankel who lived in great poverty, came into hard times. He was unable to honor a promissory note that he had written, and his creditors decided to take a cruel revenge against him. They denounced him to the king, accusing him of treason,- no less. Moshe was immediately arrested, and sentenced to death through hanging r”l. To make matters worse, Mottel, his grandfather's dear friend and benefactor, was away from the town at the time on a distant journey.
The townspeople were heartbroken. It appeared that Moshe, in who’s innocence no one had any doubt, would lose his life due to a cruel twist of fate. When the designated day arrived, the townspeople gathered with tears in their eyes and heavy hearts to the center of the town, where a scaffold had been erected. The noose was placed around poor Moshe’s neck, and the executioner prepared to kick out the chair from beneath him.
Suddenly, a great commotion was heard from the distance. While everyone craned their necks and strained their eyes, they saw clouds of dust announcing the swift approach of a horse and carriage. This unexpected interruption held everyone’s attention, and within a few moments Mottel’s wagon, which had caused the commotion, screeched to a stop, and Mottel himself jumped off and yelled to the hangman to stop what he was doing, and await further instructions. The hangman complied, and Mottel hurried to the royal palace to intercede on Moshe’s behalf with the king.
Indeed, within a few minutes he returned with the official pardon, signed and sealed by the king himself. The townspeople were overjoyed by the salvation that took place, literally, in the nick of time, and in their great feeling of thanksgiving, they showered Moshe with gifts as well. Thus, not only was his life spared, but his poverty was eased as well.
For days nothing was spoken about by anyone except Moshe’s miraculous rescue, and in the house of Yankel, too, the story was recounted. However, when the aging Yankel himself was told the story, he seemed noticeably unimpressed, and appeared to belittle Mottel’s good deed. The family members were shocked at his reaction, and thought that perhaps his mind had been affected by his old age.
Yet, Yankel himself explained to them his perspective: “You do not know Mottel as I do”, he told them, “and therefore you are duly impressed by his efforts to save my grandson's life. However, I am intimately familiar with Mottel’s selfless and generous nature, therefore I am only surprised that he himself didn’t provide my grandson with a significant monetary gift at the same time”.
Parshas Bo and the Complaint of Avrohom
In Parshas Bo, Rashi quotes the words of Chazal, that the reason that Hashem said to Moshe Rabenu “Daber no b’oznai ho’om”,- “please, I beg of you to instruct the Yidden to borrow gold and silver utensils from the Egyptians”, was because Hashem was begging him to please see to it that this would take place, in order that “Avrohom the tzaddik” shouldn’t come and complain that “with regards to the suffering of the Jews He (Hashem) kept his word, while with regards to their leaving with great wealth He did not keep his word”.
All of the meforshim question this Chazal: 1) Why is it only on account of the complaint of Avrohom that Hashem is – so to speak – obligated to keep his words? 2) Why is Avrohom described in this particular chazal as “that tzaddik”? 3) What basis could there be for the complaint of Avrohom, when they would any case acquire great wealth at biza shayam, following kriyas yam suf (see also liku”s Parshas Shmos)?
In the sefer shailos u’tshuvos lishad hashemen on Yoreh Deiah, the author answers the questions by way of the above moshol. Just as with the townspeople, so too the Yidden would have no thoughts of complaining against the Eibishter following Yetzias Mitzrayim, with or without the rechush gadol. On the contrary, having just witnessed the wondrous nissim of the makos, coming to a climax with the amazing miracle of their actual leaving Mitzrayim, there would be no room in any heart for anything but thankfulness and awe of the greatness of the Eibishter.
Not so is the case with Avrohom Avinu: Avrohom, the great tzaddik Avrohom, knew the Eibishter much more intimately than anyone else. The tzaddik Avrohom, due to his great tzidkus, his extreme righteousness, would be unimpressed by all of these miracles, knowing as he did that for the Eibishter, with His infinite Goodness and Kindness, the act of saving the Yidden would be incomplete without the rechush gadol.
The Rebbe and the Mission of Moshiach
As we stand together at the threshold of another Yud Shvat, and we ponder the astounding fact of this marking 60 years of the Rebbe’s leadership, our attention will inevitably be on the Rebbe. Much will be said and written about the Rebbe, about his vision, his leadership, his scholarship and his miracles. We will think about the Rebbe’s unmatched ahavas Yisroel, and the shlichus revolution that he initiated. As always, the more that we learn about the Rebbe, the more that we study him, the more we are left in awe of every aspect of his personality.
And yet... It may be that those of us who “know” the Rebbe, those of us who benefited from 60 years of his instruction and guidance, may be left decidedly unimpressed. While it is unquestionable that these virtues in any other person, in any other tzaddik, would be praiseworthy, we nonetheless “know” the Rebbe, and know, therefore, that these are not the achievements that define the Rebbe.
The Rebbe himself defined the uniqueness of his position in the very first maamar;- as the leader of the dor hashvi’i, charged with completing the return of the shechina into our physical world. His purpose is to remove the final barriers to G-dliness being revealed in this world, to pave the way for the era in which the Kingship of Hashem is clearly visible throughout the universe.
His mission is Moshiach.
To be sure, many gedolei Yisroel throughout the generations spoke incessantly about Moshiach, all of them awaited his coming, and hoped and davened for him constantly. But that was in addition to their other virtues, their great strides in learning or teaching, their leadership or their self-sacrifice. With the Rebbe, the revelation of Moshiach, the drawing down of the shechina, is his defining purpose. It is only when we view all of the other above-mentioned qualities within this context, that we are truly understanding and appreciating the Rebbe.
In other words, it’s not as if we can say that the Rebbe is a great leader, who also was very outspoken about the coming of Moshiach. Rather, Moshiach is the central theme, the overall goal, around which all of the other activities of the Rebbe revolved.
The bringing back countless thousands of Yidden to Yiddishkeit is not merely the practice of “kiruv rechokim” (a term that the Rebbe rejected), rather it is part of a greater mission of revealing the shechina on this plane, of revealing the G-dly spark that is inherent within every Jew. The establishment of Chabad houses in every part of the globe is not merely a means to an end, a way of reaching the lost Jewish people who reside in those places, but it is also an end in itself, part of transforming every corner of this world from a mere physical entity into a vehicle of spirituality.
The Rebbe’s work is to take all of the philosophies of chassidus, that enable one to understand intellectually how the world is not apart from Hashem, and to bring them into actualization and practice, to be actually manifested in so many ways in this physical world. To bring the world to the state in which tachtonim and the Eibishter are one and the same.
For us, who “know” the Rebbe, any description or appreciation of the Rebbe that doesn’t emphasize the aspect of Moshiach, of finalizing the revealed dira b’tachtonim, is falling short and not doing justice.
All this has much bearing on the nature of our own hachanos for this day as well: After 30 days (or more or less) of readying ourselves for the big day, everyone is coming fortified with some type of extra learning and davening, of increased effort in fulfilling the Rebbe’s directives. One can’t help but be overwhelmed by the vast amount of learning and additional mitzvos that have been taking place these past through weeks throughout the world. Any leader or group would undoubtedly be filled with pride over such a remarkable achievement.
Yet, we who “know” the Rebbe, have to wonder whether the Rebbe will be satisfied with learning alone. We, who heard and studied the message of the Rebbe, must be aware that the expectations of “oisoi tzaddik” are nothing short of Moshiach, and all of the additional learning and davening have to revolve around that point. The Rebbe wants us to not merely do a little more, but to live up to our charge as the dor hashvi’i, as those who are living with the complete union between the shechina and tachtonim. Not for us is a life with mundane priorities, interspersed with occasional extra effort in spiritual matters. We are expected to live with the new reality, in which the superficial physical matter no longer hides the reality of G-dliness. Anything less would, presumably leave him unimpressed.
When a group of bochurim wrote to the Rebbe about a hachloto that they made, to learn certain parts of Tanya by heart, the Rebbe responded “this is a shir, a wealthy person, that brought a minchas oni, a korban of a poor man”.
Every chosid is an ashir, and true ashirus is found only in the revelation of Elokus in the entire world. Anything less is trying to shirk our responsibility.
[When Rabbi Kahane from Mir (the son-in-law of the Enayim l’mishpat) was by the Rebbe, after a long conversation (about sleeping in the sukka etc. VAKM), he asked the Rebbe for a brocho for his learning. Now, one would think that this can be found impressive;- he didn’t ask for a brocho for any material pursuits or the like, but only for learning!
The Rebbe, however, appeared very unimpressed. “You want that we should struggle in this dark golus in which chutzpah abounds”, the Rebbe responded to him, “and for yourself you are seeking a conducive atmosphere to succeed in your learning?!”]
As we go forwards towards the upcoming special day of Yud Shvat, we have to contemplate what we have learned in these past 60 years. We are expected to be different people, we should have a different mindset, a Moshiach mindset. We can’t be satisfied running after the same physical indulgences as other people, and then pat ourselves on the back for learning a blatt gemoro or a maamar chassidus. We have to internalize the primary message of the Rebbe, with sixty years of elaboration and elucidation:- that tachtonim are not a separate entity from the shechina, and all of our avoda is designed to reveal this until it’s clear for the whole world to see!
L’chaim! May the Eibishter not leave us unimpressed anymore this year, but provide us with the ultimate rechush gadol, the restoration of all of the nitzotzos to their source, and with it the final hisgalus of Moshiach Tzidkeinu TUMYM!!!
Rabbi Akiva Wagner
לזכות 'ר שלום מרדכי הלוי בן, רבקה לגאולה וישועה קרובה, ושלימה י"ת וממש ג"ב טו הנוהנ
