I hope that all of you had an inspiring and uplifting Yud Tes-Chof Kislev, and the hachonos for Chanukah are b’ha’locho Rabo u’muflogo. Following is a thought l’kovod Chanukah:
The Rebbe Rashab was once travelling in a wagon, and a chosid was travelling along with him. The Rebbe Rashab deviated from his usual route, resulting in their passing by an opera house en-route. As they passed by the opera house, the Rebbe Rashab turned to the chosid and asked: ‘Were you ever in this establishment?’ The chosid was startled by the unexpected question, and he hemmed and hawed and turned colours (he was obviously unable to answer with an unequivocal no, and was extremely embarrassed to admit to this to the Rebbe Rashab). When the chosid failed to offer a clear response, the Rebbe turned to him, placed his hand on his heart, and said ‘Gloib mir, ich bin keinmol dorten nit geven!’ [Trust me, I’ve never been there].
The statement seems perplexing, what was the Rebbe Rashab trying to tell the chosid? Why would anyone think that he would have visited such an establishment, necessitating his denial thereof? During the Farbrengen of 14 Kislev in Yeshiva, Rabbi Mann explained the following:
Every chosid wants to be connected to the Rebbe. As such, it is important for us to bear in mind that there are certain places where the Rebbe does not go, thus a chosid who is aiming to be constantly attached to the Rebbe, doesn’t belong in such places either [u keyodua the letter of the Rebbe to the shliach who wanted to go to college, VAKML].
Veyesh lehosif: This applies not only to mekomos ho’asurim, of course that goes without saying. But even places that are reshus, that are not associated with any explicit aveiros (i.e. the 3 impure peels), we have to sometimes consider and come to the conclusion that these are also not places that the Rebbe would visit (and are subsequently not fitting places for a chosid to be found).
To help us determine what kind of places or activities could be labelled as one’s that ‘the Rebbe would not visit’–I heard the following story from Rabbi Lustig of New Haven on 19 Kislev this year: Before R’ Pinya (Korf) got married, he wrote to the Rebbe, asking if there was anything ‘not chassiddish’ about having a piano in his house (because his kallah played piano). The Rebbe’s response was: ‘Make a list of 10 people who you respect as Chassidishe Yidden. Then take a survey to find out how many of them have pianos in their homes. If most of them do not have one, then you can conclude that it is ‘not Chassidish’. [R’ Pinya had no need to make the survey, he never got the piano!]
Likewise, the Rebbe was once having a conversation with a noted scholar, regarding the laws pertaining to the prohibition against shaving one’s beard. In the course of the conversation the Rebbe asked him: ‘How do you picture Moshe Rabbenu, with a beard or without?’ to which the person answered ‘With a beard’, so the Rebbe told him: ‘You see that you yourself realize that a Jew belongs with a beard’. The way we picture the person/people we revere can be as good a criteria for determining what is appropriate for a Jew and a chossid, as many scholarly explanations and calculations.
If we are honest and objective, we will be able to correctly determine which places are places that “the Rebbe would visit”, and engage only in such activities that enhance our connection with the Rebbe.
[Something to bear in mind and to warm you up on your way down the slopes during Chanukah vacation, me’igra rama l’bira amikta ☺]
Ha’locho Rabo, VeYemei Chanuka Smeichim u’Me’Irim, be’Ofen d’Maalin ba’kodesh, Holachu Mosif ve’Or!
Akiva Wagner
