Dear Alumni Sheyichyu! Sholom U’Brocho!
Mazeltov to Rabbi and Mrs. Yossi Rubaskin on the birth of their son. Mazeltov to Rabbi and Mrs. Zalman Teleshevsky on the birth of their son. Mazeltov to Rabbi and Mrs. Shmuel Shmuelly 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 am missing please let me know).
Thank you very much, as always, for the feedback, it is much appreciated!
It was the year of 5752. It was between 8:00 and 9:00 in the morning. The previous day had been a yom ad’pagra, I don’t remember which. There were farbrengens the night before. But now was back to a regular day. In kollel it was seder chassidus (although some of the yungerleit had a harder time waking up than usual). In 770 the early minyonim for shacharis were already done, and additional minyonim were in progress. And Reb Gershon Mendel Garelick was in 770 farbrenging. This was his hour, and he was still fresh and energetic. For others, perhaps, the excitement and inspiration of the auspicious day had to stand aside, to make way for a new day to come through. But for Gershon Mendel the separation and compartmentalization didn’t exist.
Before I share with you something that he related on that memorable morning, I want to preface with something else that he said (I don’t remember if it was at the same farbrengen, it may have been at a different one. Different day, but same hour...):
Reb Gershon Mendel had a friend and roommate (ulange yohren) R’ Moshe Gurkov, who later went on to become a shliach of the Rebbe to Boston. Gershon Mendel would say that it was through this bochur, Moshe Gurkov, that he came to appreciate what is unique about dor hashvi’i. As he explained: This bochur would daven ba’arichus. He would finish davening hours after everyone else, and there would barely be anything left for him to use for seudas Shabbos. When the Rebbe farbrenged, he would be a choizer, who would repeat the maamar precisely. And every Shabbos afternoon he would walk to a different neighborhood where he would run a mesibos Shabbos with tremendous success, attracting over a hundred children weekly! The combination of these two, seemingly contrasting, behaviors, was to Reb Gershon Mendel what defined and portrayed dor hashvi’i.
Following is the story that he told about this same friend by the abovementioned farbrengen:
“My roommate, Moshe Gurkov, was a very chassidishe bochur, who, in many ways, exemplified the ideals of Tomchei Tmimim. But there seemed to be one flaw; - he consistently came late to chassidus. Not necessarily very late, but he wasn’t on time, he would regularly be a few minutes late.
[And to all the bochurim out there – coming late to chassidus is not in accord with being a chassishe bochur. You could farbreng and say the deepest chassidishe lines, and know all the darkest secrets in Lubavitch politics, but if you don’t come on time to chassidus...].
The hanholoh tried speaking to him, explaining to him, chastising him. But to no avail. Despite all of their efforts, the problem persisted. The hanholoh was at a loss. And it also didn’t make sense to them, this didn’t seem to fit with the rest of this bochur’s character. Sometimes, when the hanholoh is unable to reach a bochur, it can be possible for one of his peers to have more success in getting through to him. Not seeing any further options, the hanholohturned to Reb Gershon Mendel, to see if he could influence his roommate.
“The most effective tool that I had”, R’ Gershon Mendel shared, “was mashkeh. And, the challenge in this case was that this particular bochur did not share my appreciation for spirits. But, finally I found the opportunity, during a farbrengen together, when I was able to see to it that he consumed a sufficient amount of l’chayim to loosen his tongue. Indeed, then, his secret finally emerged”. נכנס יין יצא סוד.
“During a yechidus that I had with the Rebbe”, Moshe Gurkov explained at that time, “the Rebbe gave me a very specific directive. He told me to think about achdus Hashem, every day for 5 minutes, in tefillin, and it should be without blitos (inconspicuous). Now, it’s possible to think about achdus Hashem, and I could see how it could be done for 5 minutes and daily, and in tefillin. But I was troubled with the part about ‘without blitos’. After all, someone who is engrossed in the Oneness of Hashem, and how nothing else exists, can’t be simultaneously paying attention to whether or not people are noticing him. If he endeavors to completely forget about the existence of the world around, it would seem inevitable that that would be conspicuous to those around him”.
Finally, he came up with a brainstorm! He would get up earlier every day, and put on tefillin before seder chassidus, in the privacy of his room, and think then about achdus Hashem for 5 minutes in tefillin. That seemed the perfect solution. The only problem was, when thinking, sincerely and truthfully, about achdus Hashem and how ein od milvado, and truly understanding it and internalizing it, it is difficult to simultaneously be paying attention to (something as mundane as) a clock, hence the resulting tardiness in seder chassidus.
[I guess this is an important lesson for all hanholos yeshivos as well. If a bochur comes late to chassidus, there could be a very legitimate reason for it; - he could be busy with achdus Hashem...]
This directive of the Rebbe is extremely powerful and relevant. It’s not enough that we’re chassidim, that we learn a lot of chassidus and participate in farbrengens. It is crucial for every chosid to also think about achdus Hashem, and to think about it in a personal way – אדעתא דנפשי' – about what it means to him and how it affects him. And this is not something that should take place once in a while, on special occasions. This is a requirement that needs to take place regularly, on a daily basis. Thinking about the concepts of chassidus, about ein od milvado, in a personal way, is the only way that the chassidus that we learn will actually change who we are.
And the Rebbe said to do it in tefillin. Besides the fact that wearing tefillin enhances the ability to focus on G-dly ideas, I think there is a more basic idea in this that is very relevant to each of us: The best time to be engaged in this is while you’re wearing tefillin, i.e., - during davening. Davening properly means to contemplate the ideas about G-dliness that we learn about in chassidus in a way that we apply them to ourselves and internalize them.
[But the conclusion of the Rebbe – that it should be without blitos – I think we can assume was a personal directive to that bochur. This is based on what we heard from the Rebbe on numerous occasions that for our generation הצנע לכת עם אלוקיך not the ideal approach, and that people who serve Hashem inconspicuously have the risk of decreasing their avodas Hashem. Rather, the Rebbe continuously emphasized, for us, the importance of מצוה לפרסם עושי מצוה and ממנו יראו וכן יעשו etc. However, what we could take to heart from the directive of “ohn blitos”, perhaps, is that – at the very least – our involvement in internalizing achdus Hashem shouldn’t be for show, should be for the sake of the blitos. We need to understand that making G-dliness real and personal and alive for ourselves is vital for our whole connection with Yiddishkeit and chassidishkeit. In fact, the absence of that is amalek.
Reb Itche the masmid was once by a farbrengen of the Frierdige Rebbe, and, after saying a lot of lchayim, said to the Frierdige Rebbe that only a chosid can truly be considered amalek. Chazal tell us that amalek was יודע את רבונו ומתכוון למרוד בו. Who is יודע את רבונו? Only a chosid who learns chassidus! The Rebbe once repeated the story, and said that although the Frierdige Rebbe didn’t appreciate the vort, and silenced R’ Itche, still we can find some meaning to it...
Amalek wasn’t an ignoramus. On the contrary, he knew all about the greatness of Hashem. But that was his greatest problem. Nothing could excite him. Even the greatest miracles didn’t move him, because he would say ‘for such a great Eibishter, what’s the big deal’.
Think about it: Who is it the most difficult to influence, to be mashpia on? If you could bring a non-religious Jew to yeshiva and teach him about yiddiskeit; - chances are that he’ll be awed and overwhelmed and decide to change his life (as so many tens of thousands did). If you take someone from a Litvishe background and introduce him to the beauty of chassidus, in most cases he will be excited enough by it to make major changes in his life. But try to influence a bochur from a chassidishe background to change for the better. Tell him a chassidishe maase, he’ll correct you, and tell you which details you got wrong. Tell him a concept from chassidus, he already knows it from the source, and what each mashpia said in his shiur about it. There is nothing that you can tell him that will give him a jolt, that will cause a change in him, because he already knows it all, he’s already יודע את רבונו.
This is a problem that we all experience. We all learned so many sichos and maamorim, watched so many farbrengens, heard so many amazing chassidishe stories. One would expect that we should have been have been impacted in a major way, that we should have become different. But, somehow, we learn a geshmake sicha, we see a nice vort in a maamar, and we understand it well. And then we go back to our sushi and superbowl as if nothing happened!
The solution is to apply what we learn to ourselves, to think about it in a personal way and internalize it. Even if it’s for 5 minutes a day, those 5 minutes will bridge the gap between what we learn and what we know, and the way we act and who we are.
It’s Shabbos zochor, and what better time to do our part to obliterate a bit more of amalek. Let’s use out this eis ratzon to make hachlotos tovos to actually think – personally and practically – about achdus Hashem, and about what the concepts that we learn about in chassidus mean to us in real life. The more we do to wipe out amalek, the less we’ll have to deal with his effects, - the ספק, the doubts and questions in matters that should be certain to us, and the אשר קרך, - the apathy and indifference – the kaltkeit - to matters that our whole life depends on. And collectively, by wiping out amalek, we usher in the era of השם שלם, when Hashem echad u’shmo echad!
On a Personal Note
I had a few rounds of chemo, after going back to it, with the latest being this past Tuesday. Throughout the months of chemo, for the most part, I was BH coping extremely well, and barely experiencing the side-effects that many people suffer so much from. In fact, the medications that I was given to use following chemo were barely used. This week was different. This last treatment, on Tuesday, hit me very hard, and I was hardly functional the last few days. I was experiencing various side effects (that I hadn’t experienced since the beginning), and was taking medications again (today I’m BH much better). Which is, BH, a very good sign.
The chemo is, after all, powerful poisons that are inserted in the bloodstream to destroy what doesn’t belong. But it wouldn’t be natural for the rest of the body to remain complacent and indifferent to the experience. It’s only natural that the body reacts drastically to this infiltration. That is the biggest indication that the chemo is doing its job.
In a sicha (of parsha Yisro, in Liku”s chelek 1), the Rebbe likens chemo to chassidus. Chassidus is (like) a powerful and potent drug, that destroys whatever doesn’t belong (the קל זר אשר בקרבך). But the biggest indication that it’s being effective is when the results are recognizable in every aspect of the person’s life. If chassidus is going to affect us, then we can’t be an amalek, complacent and different. There has to be drastic symptoms and side effects, - our eating has to be different, our davening has to be different our interaction with others need to be impacted etc. etc. If we’re learning chassidus properly, then the first indicator has to be the fact that no part of our life stays as it was. And if that’s not happening, we need to tweak our treatment.
So, with my chemo I seem to have gotten it right now, all I need is to get it right also with my spiritual chemo! Let’s all work on perfecting our spiritual treatments, by ensuring that they’re personal and real to us, and this is the sure way to rid ourselves – and the entire world – of any trace of amalek, and pave the way for the geulah!
L’chaim! May we do our part to obliterate amalek in every form he takes (as the pisgom that the Rebbe quoted “a bigut ois mekken”), and may the Eibishter crown our efforts with the ultimate success and bring about the את רוח הטומאה אעביר מן הארץ with the immediate hisgalus of Moshiach Tzidkeinu NOW!!!
Rabbi Akiva Wagner
לזכות ב"ש ד בן מרים, 'שיט" לאויוש מתוך בריאות הנכונה ס"וכ ט בטוב! ג"ה נרו ה נ לזכות 'רמ" מה כהן בן חוה, 'שיש" לרפוט" ואויוש מתוך בריאות הנכונה ס"וכ ט בטוב !ג"ה נרו ה נ בתוך כלל שאר חולי ישראל וכל הזקוקים, לרפואה ש" לרפוק" ורפוי" תומ ממש! ממש נ" לעיח" הגה' הת' ר ישראל יצחק בן ר" הריעקב ע" פרידמאן נ" לעיה שלוחה מרים בת' ריהושע ע" נ" ולעיכ לאלוש הלכו לעולמם, לאחרונה שישתדלו שמה להחיש י" תומ ממש את הגאולה האמיתית. והשלימה
