Dear Alumni Sheyichyu!
Sholom U’Brocho!
Mazeltov to Yankel Raskin on the occasion of his engagement. Mazeltov to Schneur Zalman Munitz on the occasion of his engagement. Mazeltov to Aryeh Lavner on the occasion of his engagement. Mazeltov to Avrumi Chayempour on the occasion of his engagement. Mazeltov to Yerucham Lipszyc on the occasion of his engagement. Mazel tov to Saadia Weingarten on the occasion of his engagement. May they use out the period of yokor mikol yokor to its’ utmost! Mazel Tov to Rabbi and Mrs. Yehuda Leib Aronson (Ahearn) on the birth of their daughter. Mazel Tov to Rabbi and Mrs. Mendy Halberstam on the birth of their daughter. Mazel Tov to Rabbi and Mrs. Zalmy Brownstein on the birth of their son. Mazel Tov to Rabbi and Mrs. Bentche Korf on the birth of their son. Mazel Tov to Rabbi and Mrs. Yisroel Noach Rabiski (and to grandparents Rabbi and Mrs, Hirschel Rabiski) 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.
Lately, in chumash, we’ve been learning a lot about dreams, so here’s a story about dreams:
There was a chosid of the Alter Rebbe by the name of R’ Yossel (apparently this was the uncle of the Tzemach Tzedek, who was known by chassidim as “der fetter Yossel”). Once, some years after the histalkus of the Alter Rebbe, he had a remarkable dream. In his dream, he saw the Alter Rebbe saying a maamar, while both he and the grandson of the Rebbe (the Tzemach Tzedek) were listening attentively.
When he awoke, he remembered the dream vividly, and was still uplifted by the awesome experience. But, try as he might, he could not manage to recall any of the maamar itself. At first he was troubled, but then he thought of an idea. After all, in his dream the Tzemach Tzedek had also been listening to the maamar. Perhaps the Tzemach Tzedek would have some advice for him about how to recall the content of the maamar.
He immediately set out to the house of the Tzemach Tzedek. When he arrived, he found the Tzemach Tzedek occupied with transcribing a maamar. Upon closer scrutiny, he was amazed to recognize that it was, in fact, the very maamar he had heard in his dream, that was now being put to writing, word for word!
“Did you, then, also have a dream about the Alter Rebbe last night?” he asked the Tzemach Tzedek in surprise.
“Yes”, was the reply, “we both had the merit, last night, to together hear deep concepts of chassidus from my grandfather”.
“How is it, in that case”, R’ Yossel expressed his wonder, “that I have no recollection of the maamar itself, while you seem to remember it in its’ entirety?!”
“At night, while a person sleeps, his neshomo arises to the heavenly realms, and basks in G-dly lights”, the Tzemach Tzedek explained. “Last night, both of our neshomos merited to ascend to the chamber of my grandfather, and hear chassidus from him. However, not all neshomos are equal. Some neshomos are capable of receiving the G-dly light only while they are detached from their physical bodies. As soon as they return to their physical forms, they can no longer contain it. Other neshomos are able to retain the G-dliness even after returning to their physical existences.
We all dream. We all have our spiritual experiences, our moments of inspiration, when G-liness and holiness are real and tangible to us, when life is all about serving Hashem and making the world a dwelling place for Him, and that gives everything meaning and satisfaction.
We have – sort of – out of body experiences. We have those times when we’re fully in tune with our inner self, with our neshomo, without all of the interference by our bodily desires and our worldly preoccupations.
It may be a Yom Kippur in shul. It may be at a simcha of a loved one. It may be an especially inspiring surreal moment during a farbrengen or davening. For those of us a bit older, we may recall a special moment spent in the presence of the Rebbe, when our reality was Elokus, and nothing else mattered, or even existed.
Whatever the case, these dreams may be extremely meaningful and moving. But the problem is, they don’t last. Inevitably the moment comes to an end, and we reunite with our body, its’ thoughts, concerns, desires and preoccupations. And, not unlike the chosid in the story, most of us are, unfortunately, not on the level to recall these dreams even while returning to our physical existence.
Suddenly the dream becomes a vague memory that, try as we might, we seem unable to hold onto. The concerns and pressures of our daily struggle seem to easily overshadow whatever trace remains of our more lofty experience.
Perhaps in a more general sense, this is true in the life cycle of every chosid. We all spend any number of years in Tomchei Temimim (going through the system). היינו כחולמים,- as much as we may complain and disparage and find fault with our particular Yeshiva, once we leave Yeshiva we (usually) recognize that those years were really like a dream. It is so easy and accessible for every bochur to tune it at that time to the call of his neshomo, to truly involve himself in the Yeshiva experience which is being connected to Hashem. And, ultimately, the essence of what Tomchei Tmimim is all about is actually living – to some degree with Elokus bePshitus, with ein od milvado.
But, eventually it is time to move on (all good things have to come to an end). We get married, we focus on new responsibilities and a new shlichus. And often we find that, having descended into our new reality, we have difficulty even recalling the dream. We find ourselves moving fast forward in a very different direction (leading, of course, to the same destination, but, by necessity, taking a very different road), and it is a challenge to even conjure up the mindset and outlook that was once a given.
In both cases the story has a very important message. Firstly, it is understandable that this phenomenon is taking place. If even a great chosid of the Alter Rebbe was unable to retain the spiritual vision while in a body, then it is to be expected that (usually) we will not do any better.
Yet, the story teaches us as well that there is still hope: Although on our own we may be incapable of reliving our dream, there is a sure path for all of us. As R’ Yossel did in the story,- we go to the Rebbe.
That is what a Rebbe is for. He retains the dream, and records the dream. He enables us to connect to the dream and continue the dream even while in our physical existence and attached to our physical body.
In the words of the Possuk: אנכי עומד ביניכם ובין אלקיכם להגיד לכם את דברה',- the Rebbe is our ממוצע המחבר, our bond that enables us and empowers us to be tuned into our neshomo – and to its’ essence, which is a part of Hashem – without being distracted and discouraged or disillusioned by the shallowness of our guf and NHB.
But, as R’ Yossel in the story, we have to turn to the Rebbe. In the simple sense of the story, the dream was recorded by the Tzemach Tzedek in a maamar chassidus. And our tool to reconnect and reawaken our inner self is - first and foremost – through strengthening and increasing our studying of the maamorim of the Rebbe.
But it is also, in a more general sense, about turning to the Rebbe. The Rebbe often spoke about the term “sam saposhnik” (no spell check for that!), illustrating it with a story:
A gentile once broke into a Jewish home, and found a precious looking velvet bag. Certain that it contained valuables, he grabbed it and ran off. When he arrived at his home and opened the bag, he found, to his dismay, that – rather than valuables – there were only some black leather boxes.
He couldn’t figure what use they could possibly have, so he decided to try to sell them to a Jew. He approached a Jewish person, and presented the tefillin, asking how much he would be willing to pay for them. The Jew looked at him suspiciously. “Where did you get these from?” he demanded.
The goy replied: “Sam saposhnik”, “I myself am a shoemaker, and I made them myself”!
We have to recognize that there are areas that are beyond our abilities, which we can’t do alone. Just as – lehavdil – the most talented gentile shoemaker is obviously clueless and helpless when it comes to tefillin, so too, as great as we may be in our learning or avodas Hashem, when it comes to matters of our neshomo (and its’ bond with G-dliness) we are helpless. We have to turn to the Rebbe.
Not as a matter of Chabad custom, of fulfilling our duties as conscientious chassidim, but out of a recognition that we need help. We have to awaken our yearning for G-dliness, to relive our dream, and turn to Rebbe - with letters, with visiting the ohel and with all of the means we know well that strengthen our hiskashrus – to keep us tuned in.
Tonight is the auspicious date of hey teves, the day when we celebrate didan notach. Moreover, it is 30 years since the events took place, an important milestone by any calculation, and which requires us to make the day even more meaningful.
Let us, then, not lose focus of what the victory was all about: The challenge was against the whole concept of a Rebbe, and that was much of what the court case revolved upon. The צד שכנגד, the opponents, claimed that a Rebbe is an old fashioned imaginary concept. It is not reality, it is not what determines what happens and how to live our lives. They said forget about the dream (or hallucination), it’s only an illusion, and focus on what you can see and feel.
But they lost the case. The ruling of the judge affirmed that the idea of a Rebbe is very real and tangible. It is a ruling that calls out strongly to reassess our own hiskashrus to the Rebbe, and how much we make our connection to the Rebbe a central part of our lives. Indeed, on Wednesday, the 6th of teves, one day after the ruling, the Rebbe invited everyone to send in letters for him to read at the ohel. Many of us remember well the car full of bags filled with pan’s and letters (from all kinds of people from all walks of life) that accompanied the Rebbe to the ohel that day, and the endless stream of letters that continued to make their way between 770 and the ohel for the remainder of the day. The victory was first and foremost about the importance of the Rebbe chosid relationship, and how important a place it takes in the life of a chosid.
And this has to be the focal point of our celebration today. Because the victory has to be reflected, first and foremost, in the way of life of every chosid (and, in fact, every Jew). The ruling is not for the annals of history or the archives of the Manhattan courthouse, but for the heart and soul of each of us. We have to redefine our reality and our priorities. And we must come to the inevitable conclusion that we are dependent on the Rebbe to reach them, and increase whatever behaviour strengthens our hiskashrus with him.
Only when we appreciate and internalize the message of the day and apply it to every aspect of our life is the ניצחון, the victory, true and absolute. And we can then be assured that this didan notach will be merely a precursor to the true and ultimate didan notach – when G-dliness will be the only reality for the entire world – with the immediate hisgalus of Moshiach NOW!
L’chaim! Let us all endeavor to perpetuate the didan notach and all that it represents, and ensure that it permeates our life and our behavior, and may the Eibishter make this the day of the true and ultimate didan notach, one that permeates the entire world, with the immediate revelation of Moshiach Tzidkeinu TUMYM!!!
Rabbi Akiva Wagner
לזכות 'ר שלום מרדכי הלוי בן, רבקה לישועה וגאולה בפשטות ובגשמיות ולמטה ט"מי ויום אקא גרים – דידן"!!"נצחי" תומ ממש ולזכות 'ר ברוך מרדכי בן 'חיאסתר ש"ל רפוק" ורפוט" ואויוש מתוך בריאות הנכונה ס"וכט
