Dear Alumni Sheyichyu!
Sholom U’Brocho!
With immense gratitude to Hashem Yisborach, I am overjoyed to announce the birth of our son last Tuesday. May we always be able to share with each other only simchos and besuros tovos gezunter heit un freilecher heit!
A double Mazel Tov to Rabbi & Mrs, Chaim Schochet on the birth of their twins. Mazel Tov to Rabbi & Mrs, Itzik Wolf on the birth of their daughter. May they bring them up lTOveCHuMAA”T mitoch harchovo, and to be true chayolim! (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.
Lubavitch and Satmar were (in)famous for having differing views in various areas (that sometimes resulted in intense conflicts). The following 3 episodes seem to underline the sharp contrast between the outlook of the Rebbe and that of the Satmar Rov (Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum). I would like to, however, preface them with two anecdotes that help us keep these differences in perspective:
1) Rabbi Ephraim Yolles and the Rebbe
In the late 80’s or early 90’s, the Rebbe was visited by Rabbi Ephraim Yolles, a great Gaon and boki, and the Rov of Philadelphia for a number of years, who enjoyed a very close relationship with the Rebbe, and would visit him at least once annually. On this occasion, Rabbi Yolles was accompanied by his grandson, who had – not long before – published a sefer of his own chidushim.
During the encounter, Rabbi Yolles presented to the Rebbe his grandson, who showed the Rebbe his sefer, pointing out the haskamos that he had received for it, amongst which was a haskomoh of the above-mentioned Satmar Rov.
The Rebbe remarked to him: “I noticed that when you were showing me the haskomoh of the Satmar Rov you were uncomfortable (because of the disagreements between Lubavitch and Satmar). You should know that I was on very friendly terms with him. I visited him to be menachem oveil (when he was sitting shiva r”l) and he visited me for the same purpose – there is a way of doing a condolence call with a sense of fulfilling an obligation, but with both of us that was not the case, the visits were an expression of friendship -, and all of the conflicts were merely the result of unsavory individuals ( ינב לעילב ).”
2) A Prominent Rosh Yeshiva in Yechidus
A prominent Rosh Yeshiva of a Mizrachi Yeshiva was once in Yechidus, and he said to the Rebbe: ‘I heard something in the name of the Satmar Rov that will shock you”. When the Rebbe asked him what it was, he said: ‘I heard that following your visit to the Satmar Rov to be menachem oveil him, he remarked: ‘I see now that he is as much against Zionism as we are; it is merely expressed differently’.
The Rebbe reacted with equanimity. ‘He is correct’, the Rebbe said, ‘they are against the people, while I am opposed to the ideology’.
Three Illustrations of Differing Outlooks
a) The Satmar Chosid Seeking a Promise
A Satmar chosid didn’t have children for a number of years, and had received many brochos from his Rebbe, to no avail. Finally, during one yechidus, he gathered courage, and declared that he will not leave the room until the (Satmar) Rebbe promises him a child. The Rebbe was incredulous. “A havtocho?! That is not in my power, you know well that this is one of the three keys that Hashem did not give to any human. All I could do is to continue to give you my heartfelt brocho”.
But the chosid would not relent, insisting that he would settle for nothing less than a guarantee. Finally, the Satmar Rov said to him in exasperation: “Di vist a havtucho? Gei tzi yenem!”
The chosid left the room confused, and asked the gabay who “yenem” refers to. The gabay immediately explained that when the Rov says “yenem”, then he is referring to the new, young, Lubavitcher Rebbe, who resides in Crown Heights.
Thus it happened that our determined friend found himself, late one night, in the unlikely position of entering the room of the Rebbe for a yechidus. He complained to the Rebbe about his childlessness, and the Rebbe gave him a warm brocho. The chosid, however, rejected it, and reiterated his demand for a promise (with a money-back guarantee). When the Rebbe looked at him in amazement (over his unusual demand), the chosid quickly explained that he was sent here by the Satmar Rov. The Rebbe became very serious, and acceded to his request.
The Rebbe then turned to the chosid, and said: “I understand that your Rebbe recently had a yohrtzeit, and he surely made a tisch for the occasion, perhaps you can repeat some of the words of Torah that he said there?”
The chosid thought back, and recalled a vignette: ‘The gemoroh states that even “poshei Yisroel” - sinners – are םיאלמ תווצמ ןומיכר, and the Rov questioned this, saying, if they are “poshei Yisroel”, as the gemoroh itself attests, how, then, can we say that they are filled with mitzvos?’
The Rebbe’s countenance became somber again, and he remarked: ‘I, too, have difficulty with this gemoroh: If they are, after all, םיאלמ תווצמ ןומיכר, a fact that Toras Emes attests to, how, then, can they be referred to as “poshei Yisroel”?!”
b) The United Voice for Klal Yisroel
A group of Askonim once conceived of a plan, according to which they would create a body that would include all of the gedolei Yisroel of all the factions, by means of which there would be a united voice to Klal Yisroel. They went to various gedolim to try to get their endorsements.
When they approached the Satmar Rov, his response was: “Are you trying to break out the third world war?!”
And, when they came to the Rebbe with their idea, he responded: “Do you think that it is already the times of Moshiach?!”
c) Stories of the Baal Shem Tov
It is said in the name of the Satmar Rov that he scoffed at people who believed all of the stories of the Baal Shem Tov (saying that if one doesn’t believe that they could have taken place, then he is an apikores, but if he believes that all of them actually took place, then he is a fool). He is reputed to have said: ‘It is not possible that all of the stories actually took place, because just think how many of the stories are alleged to have occurred on a motzoei Shabbos, and there were not enough Motzoei Shabbosim in the Besht’s lifetime to accommodate all of the stories’.
In contrast, the following is an excerpt of a sicha of the Rebbe:
“When there is a story that reaches us, it is a clear indication that that story contains an important lesson for us in our avodas Hashem. There is an irrefutable proof for this. As many stories as have been publicized about the Baal Shem Tov, when we consider that we are dealing with the Baal Sh”T, who’s entire life was with a BaSH”T hanhogo, and every moment was miraculous, we realize that the actual number of miraculous stories that took place with the Baal Shem Tov (that have to account for every moment of his life), has to be much much greater than the number of stories that have reached us. Why, then, we must ask, have only these - relatively few – stories reached from amongst the countless that undoubtedly took place? Obviously, because these have an important lesson for us!”
Let us consider the idea contained in this last point. The Rebbe is saying that the Baal Shem was not merely a great tzaddik, a holy Jew, who was so great that he was also able to perform moifsim on occasion. Rather, the moifsim, the supernatural, were the norm for the Baal Shem Tov. As I quoted in last week’s e-mail, מחציו ולמעלה אלוקים. The tzaddik is – in his upper half – not mortal, not a natural human being. His entire life was one ongoing miracle, and those stories that we heard about were merely reflections of that.
Application to Our Lives
What does this have to do with us?
Well, if the Rebbe said – in this very sicha – that if we heard a story of the Baal Shem Tov then it is undoubtedly a lesson for us, and the fact that we heard it is the biggest indication thereof, how much more so is this true about the idea expressed in that very sicha, which surely contains a very important message to each of us (and even if you never heard it before – you just heard it now!)
Perhaps the message – at least in part – is as follows: A chosid is “a shtick Rebbe”, a part of the Rebbe. A chosid, too, must live his life in such a manner that his chassiddishkeit is not something additional, an added aspect to his life, but, rather, it is what defines every moment of his existence. Just as it was with the moifsim of the Baal Shem Tov, so too with every chosid, darkei hachassidus is not something that he practices occasionally, or even frequently, but it is what he lives and breathes constantly.
You are, for example, a Tomim? It is not something that you do, or that you practice, it is who you are, and wherever you go, in every time and place, it is something that needs to be reflected in every aspect of your conduct.
So it’s the summer. You’re perhaps in camp, going on a trip. Maybe you’re taking your wife and children on a vacation. It is the time of the year when the notion is very strong that ‘we have to take advantage, grab the opportunity, enjoy the world, have a blast!’
But you are a chosid, a Tomim!
That doesn’t mean that you can’t go on a trip, or on vacation. If the trip will increase your chayus and enthusiasm, if the vacation will enhance your ability to make a dira batachtonim, then, by all means,
