ה"ב יום חמישי פ"לש שלח לך ,אנשים ד"י ,סיון שנת ד"תשע ק"לפ
Dear Alumni Sheyichyu!
SholomU’Brocho!
Mazel Tov to Chaim Rosenstein on the occasion of his engagement. Mazel Tov to Yossi Chesney on the occasion of his engagement. Mazel Tov to Abi Raskin on the occasion of his engagement. Mazel Tov to Yosef Truxton on the occasion of his engagement. May they use out the special period of Yokor Mikol yokor to its’ utmost! Mazel Tov to Rabbi & Mrs. Motty Lipskier on the birth of their daughter. Mazel Tov to Rabbi & Mrs. Rafi Mogilefsky on the birth of their daughter. Mazel Tov to Rabbi & Mrs. Tzvi Tauby on the birth of their daughter. Mazel Tov to Rabbi & Mrs. Shmery Labkowski on the birth of their son. Mazel Tov to Rabbi & Mrs. Shloimy Geisinsky on the birth of their son. 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.
A shliach from the Ukraine travelled (recently?) with a balebus of his to Eretz Yisroel, to serve as his interpreter in a business deal that this balebus was doing with an Israeli. When they concluded the business aspect of their trip, the businessman from Tel Aviv shared the following personal experience with the shliach (Rabbi Mendel Gluckowski, who heard the story from the shliach, retold it during a recent visit to Toronto):
This businessman, we’ll call him Yaakov, was a regular Israeli unaffiliated Jew. He had been married a number of years without any children, because they wanted it that way. This was what was most convenient (in his opinion) for the lifestyle that they chose for themselves.
Once, Yaakov took part in a trip to America, and his friends convinced him to visit the Lubavitcher Rebbe and get a “dollar”. When it came his to turn to pass in front of the Rebbe, the Rebbe gave him a dollar and wished him “brocho veHatzlocho”. Then, to his surprise, the Rebbe handed him another dollar, saying “This is for the twins”.
Yaakov was very puzzled by this statement, since he didn’t have any children, let alone twins. Finally he decided that the Rebbe must have mistaken him for someone else.
However, the Rebbe’s words became very meaningful at the end of the year, when his wife gave birth to twins!
Sometime later Yaakov was on another trip to the States, and once again found himself in line to receive a dollar from the Rebbe. When his turn came, the Rebbe again surprised him by giving him an extra dollar “for the new baby”. This time Yaakov took the encounter more seriously, and sure enough at the end of the year his wife gave birth to a healthy baby.
During a 3rd visit to America Yaakov was again in line for a dollar. However, this time he was on guard, and as soon as he began approaching the Rebbe he raised his hands defensively, exclaiming: “Rebbe, please, no more brochos! I hadn’t been planning for the first 3 children, and I hope you don’t intend to bless me with more” (thanks, but no thanks).
The Rebbe said to him “I was only helping out the tefilos”.
“What tefilos?!” Yaakov asked incredulously.
“The tefilos of your wife when she lights Shabbos candles” was the Rebbe’s cryptic reply.
Yaakov was more puzzled than ever. Not only did neither he nor his wife have any desire for children (at that time), but he was also quite certain that his wife never lit Shabbos candles.
As soon as he came home he sat down for a talk with his wife. “Tell me the truth”, he asked her, “do you light Shabbos candles?”. The poor woman hemmed and hawed for a few moments, and finally confessed: “Well, yes, as a matter of fact I do”.
“What?!” exclaimed the shocked Yaakov, “how could that be? Where? When?!”
She explained to him that – knowing that he wouldn’t be excited about the idea – she lit it in a corner of the house where she knew that he would never notice.
“And what do you daven for, while you light?”, he asked her. Caught ‘red-handed’ she was forced to confess: “I’ve been davening for my hearts’ deepest desires. First I prayed for the twins, and then I prayed for our third baby!”
Yaakov was flabbergasted. “The Lubavitcher Rebbe told me about it”, he told her in amazement. Yaakov realized that from thousands of miles away, the Rebbe sensed the heartfelt plea of a Jewish woman, and gave his brocho to help it along!!
This story may help resolve a difficulty in the parsha of this week: Just before sending out the meraglim, the Possuk says: ויקרא משה להושע בן נון יהושע, and Rashi quotes Chazal that Moshe Rabenu davened for Yehoshua saying ה-י יושיעך מעצת מרגלים, - Hashem should protect you from the evil designs of the meraglim, your colleagues.
The question is obvious: Moshe Rabenu was not, chas veshalom, a political leader who was looking out for his own party members or supporters. He was the Raya mehemna, the faithful shepherd of all Yidden and of every single Jew. He was ready to put himself on the line to defend the lowliest Jews, those who had stooped so low as to worship the Egel hazohov. How can it be, then, that Moshe davened for Yehoshua, and seemed to show nepotism, treating him differently than the rest of the spies (see Likutei sichos chelek 2 and chelek )?
Perhaps we can better understand it based on the above story: A Rebbe, a Moshe Rabbenu, hears the true desires, the heartfelt tefilos, of every Jew wherever they may be. And when a Jew genuinely wants something, and begs Hashem for it with a full heart, why then the Rebbe will “help along” the tefila with his own brocho.
In this case, presumably, it was Yehoshua who sincerely wanted, who felt a sincere and wholehearted desire, to remain loyal and true to Moshe Rabenu (his personal Rebbe). It was only natural, if so, that Moshe Rabenu, as the Rebbe of all Yidden, would sense his true feelings, and daven for him to help along his tefilos.
You may ask: if so, why did Moshe not daven for Kalev as well? After all, we find explicitly in Rashi that Kalev went to me’oras hamachpelah just in order to daven that he be saved from being drawn into the plot of the meraglim. Why did Moshe not help his tefila?
I would suggest that the best answer to that is: he did! Of course, as soon as Kalev davened for this, Moshe, as the roieh Yisroel, joined in with his own brocho to help his tefilah as well. The biggest proof for this is – Kalev was indeed saved from their schemes! Undoubtedly this was a result of the Rebbe of his generation bestowing his brocho that his tefilos be effective. The Torah does not mention this brocho because: a) it did not involve a name change (he davened for Kalev in some other manner that was appropriate for Kalev), and b) this only took place at a later stage, once Kalev himself realized the urgency and took pains to daven for this himself.
All that we see clearly from Chazal is that Moshe did not daven for all of the meraglim (in which case there would be no understanding of the wording "יושיעך מעצת מרגלים"). However, for those 2 who did truly desire to be protected, and who davened for their own welfare, surely Moshe joined in his own brocho to their tefilos to ensure their success.
Besides the obvious lesson – more than anything I think this story encapsulates what the essence of a Rebbe is, the one who hears the prayer of a Jew across the world and works to ensure that it is fulfilled – this story reminds us that when we daven for something sincerely, we can be sure that the Rebbe hears us and joins in with his brocho.
Which raises the question: What are we davening for sincerely? What are we truly begging for and wishing for wholeheartedly?
Of course, I’d love to win the lottery, to have a vacation in Barbados, to ski the Alps. I’d love to understand a blat gemoro or a maamar chassidus, to have a feeling in davening, to become a chassidisher Yid.
But what about what should be our most heartfelt, most sincere desire?
The Rebbe said in the famous sicha of 28 Nissan: “If you would be crying out “Ad Mosai” with sincerity, then Moshiach would have been here long ago!”
To be sure, we want Moshiach (now, - it’s a befeirushe song), we daven for Moshiach, we ask for Moshiach. We are all, undoubtedly, fed up with this long and bitter golus, and we truly recognize the urgent need for Moshiach Now! But how sincere are we really about this? How much time do we spend talking about Moshiach, thinking about Moshiac and being preoccupied with Moshiach after the token shiur, lesson or declaration of yechi?
During one of the seudos of a Yom Tov, together with the Rebbe, the Rebbe was asked (again) and implored to allow the hemshech of 5766 to be printed. At one point, the Rebbe told them the following:
I received a letter from a yungerman, a chosid, who makes his living photocopying (קופיר) seforim for people. This yungerman heard about the idea of printing samech vov, and wrote to me of his concern that, were that to happen, it would mean a big loss of revenue for him.
“This yungerman”, the Rebbe continued, “is actually a chassidisher yungerman. He himself re-thought what he wrote, and he wrote me again expressing his regret and taking it back (not wanting to be, ch”v, the obstacle to the printing of chassidus)”.
“The fact, however, remains”, the Rebbe concluded, “that I didn’t receive any letter from anyone asking for the sefer to be printed, with the same sincerity as this yungerman had when he asked (initially) that it shouldn’t be printed”!
So, we have to ask ourselves, is our demand for the geulah with the same sincerity, with the same sense of urgency and desperation, as our demand for good health, for money to pay the mortgage (or the rent) or for the Slurpee machine not to run out of ice before we get to the counter?
As we are in the days leading up to gimmel Tamuz, every chosid is surely filled with an intense longing for Moshiach, to see the true geulah and to see the Rebbe once again. But we have to work to ensure that this desire is sincere and wholehearted, that we ask for Moshiach with the same sense of urgency as we ask for our livelihood, our welfare (not the welfare checks . .) and all of the things that we think we really need.
Because when a Jew prays from the heart, the Rebbe hears and helps along his tefillos. If we work on focusing on Moshiach and becoming preoccupied with Moshiach – the way the woman in the first story was preoccupied with her desire for a child and the chosid in the 2nd story was preoccupied with his need for a livelihood – then we will find ourselves davening for him with true sincerity and wholeheartedness.
Those tefillos are sure to be helped along and to be effective. This way we can spend the auspicious day of gimmel Tamuz together with the baal hageulah, together with the Rebbe and together with all Yidden from all generations with the complete and everlasting redemption!
L’chaim! May we all add another shiur, another conversation and a bit more preoccupation with Moshiach, which will ensure that our ensuing teffilos for his hisgalus will be with more sincerity, and may the Eibishter in turn hear those tefilos in a way of טרם יקראו ואני אענה, and respond with the immediate hisgalus of Melech haMoshiach TUMYM!!!
Rabbi Akiva Wagner
לזכות 'ר שלום מרדכי הלוי בן ,רבקה לגאולה וישועה קרובה ,ושלימה י"תומ ממש ג"בטוהנוהנ
