Dear Alumni Sheyichyu!
Sholom U’Brocho! Mazel Tov to Shmulik Raices on the occasion of his engagement. Mazel Tov to Nochum Labkowski on the occasion of his engagement. Mazel Tov to Shmuly Rutman on the occasion of his engagement. May they use out the special period of Yokor Mikol yokor to its’ utmost! Mazel Tov to Rabbi and Mrs. Avromi Zaltzman on the birth of their daughter. May they bring her up lTOveCHuMAA”T mitoch harchovo, and to be a true chayol! (If anyone is aware of any mazel tov’s that I omitted please let me know).
Thank you as always for the feedback, it is much appreciated.
On Sunday morning I was on the way to the mikva (a.k.a. the Schiff shul or the boat shul), and I found myself walking alongside a person from the local community (not a Lubavitcher). After we exchanged ‘good morning’s, he commented about how he enjoyed the story (about the Rebbe), that he was sure I was familiar with. When I indicated that I didn’t know which story he was referring to, he clarified that there was a story about the Rebbe that was printed that week in “Torah v’Tavlin” which is a weekly (non-Lubavitch) publication that is distributed in shuls etc. here. Seeing that I seemed unfamiliar with the story, he proceeded to share it with me (all the while exclaiming “You sure you never heard this before? I thought it’s a famous story” etc.).
I, in fact, had never heard it before (although, subsequently, another bochur in Yeshiva shared with me that he saw the same publication in a different local mikva, where he, too, read the story), so I don’t know the source or anything (other than the above publication), but if it is, in fact, a famous story, then I’m sure there are some of you who can help with the details:
In Poland, in one of the darkest eras of our history, in one of the concentration camps. A new shipment of unfortunate Jews had just been brought there by train. The Nazis, YMSH, told some local villagers that they can feel free to attack, loot and plunder the wretched human cargo of the train as they disembark.
One of the “passengers” was a woman wearing an expensive fur coat. Two villagers fell upon her, and forcibly separated her from it. Upon closer examination, they noted that it contained numerous pockets that were filled with money and valuables. Apparently the woman had tried to prepare herself for the “journey”. But then they encountered a big surprise! Camouflaged in the inside lining of the coat was another secret pocket, and contained in it was none other than a little baby girl! Apparently the hapless woman had hoped to salvage her most precious belonging through her coat as well.
One of the villagers was childless, and wanted the baby for herself, so they agreed to divide the “loot”, with one keeping all of the valuables, and the other taking the baby, which she raised as her own. The girl grew up as a Catholic child, and eventually studied medicine and became a pediatrician.
After her “mother” died, a friend of the family told her of her background, and revealed that she was, in truth, a Jewess. She further told her that when she was kidnapped there was a necklace with her, and this was still amongst her “mother”’s belongings. The young woman didn’t know what to make of the story, but it aroused in her a curiosity about Judaism, and the necklace, which she did manage to locate, became one of her prized possessions.
Once she was travelling abroad, and bumped into 2 Lubavitcher bochurim who were on the street doing mivtzoim. They asked her if she was Jewish, thinking to give her a “neshek” packet. But the question only reawakened the woman’s inner turmoil, and she told the bochurim her own story, explaining why she couldn’t provide a satisfactory answer to the question of her Jewishness. The bochurim were intrigued, and suggested that she write to the Rebbe, which she did.
The answer of the Rebbe was not long incoming: “Your story provides conclusive evidence to the fact that you are, indeed, Jewish”. And, regarding the fact that she was practicing as a pediatrician, the Rebbe wrote to her that there is much need in Israel for children’s doctors, and that she should relocate to Eretz Yisroel and continue to practice there. The woman followed the advice of the Rebbe, and moved to Eretz Yisroel.
In August of 2001, there was a suicide bombing in downtown Yerushalayim at the Sbarro restaurant, which left 15 kedoshim, r”l HYD, and 130 wounded. Many of the wounded were taken to the hospital where the above doctor from Poland practiced.
Amongst the victims were a grandfather and his granddaughter, and, in the hospital, the grandfather was frantically seeking his einikel. He turned to this pediatrician for help, describing his granddaughter by a unique necklace that she was wearing.
When the doctor successfully helped the man locate his grandchild, she was astounded to note that the child was wearing a necklace that was identical to her own! She inquired of the man where it had been acquired. “You can’t get a necklace like this anywhere in the world”, he informed her. “I was a jeweler in Poland, and I made it myself. I only made two of them, which I gave to my two daughters. But one of my daughters was, unfortunately, lost to us, and the second was this girl’s mother, who passed it on to her!”
Thus, as a result of the Rebbe’s advice to move to Eretz Yisroel, the woman rediscovered – not only her religion, but – her dear father as well!
Every single story is replete with lessons and messages, but I would like to focus on 3 important lessons that I think can be derived from this particular story.
LESSON #1
The first lesson is, you have to go to the mikva! After all, I heard this remarkable story, practically while standing on one foot, on my way into the mikva. The other bochur in Yeshiva who was familiar with the story also read it while visiting the mikva. So, no matter what the circumstances, be sure to be in the mikva every morning.
The Alter Rebbe lists 3 necessary prerequisites to davening, and they are learning chassidus, giving tzedaka and immersing in the mikva. Whether it’s cold or hot, early or late, before you start davening devote a few minutes to the mikva. Not only does the mikva provide us with some added purity, which can go a long way in enabling us to tune into our neshomos and be able to really focus on the tefilla experience, - we may just have the opportunity to hear a story about the Rebbe in the process!
And of course, the story is not at all apart from the general davening experience; - both are, in fact, part of our effort to focus on Elokus rather than on the world around us. As the Alter Rebbe writes in Tanya, one of the ways of hisgalus Elokus in the world is through the miracles performed by tzaddikim.
So, first of all, - go to the mikva!
LESSON #2
The second lesson is, maybe someone is thinking, sure, mikva and all that is great. But not for me. I don’t do mikva. I’m not that type of guy, I’m not at all chassidish and everything, I’m more of a Lubavitch light type of a guy. I could go to the gym, or the sauna or the spa. I don’t mind taking a dip in the swimming pool and calling it a mikva. But I just don’t feel like going to the mikva (that I have to share with all of the foreign articles that are floating around in there).
Or maybe someone is saying, that’s all good and fine, but I don’t need to go to the mikva, it’s not for me, I’m not a chosid, I’m a misnaged (yes, you, you know exactly who you are!).
About this there is the second lesson of the story, you’re wrong, because you’re not who you think you are. You’re not a “light” and you’re not a misnaged. And you’re not a goy. The reason for your confusion is because you were raised as a goy. But that’s not who you are, - that’s not the real you. The real you is a chelek Eloka mimaal mamosh. You are a pure unblemished Jewish child.
And you need to disregard the lie about who you were raised to think you are. Even if you have proofs from your behavior in the past that you’re not really a chassidisher guy, that’s an erroneous conclusion. All those questionable behaviors were not really you. They were from the animal within you who stole you as a child, - who stole your childhood from you. But now that it has become revealed to you who your true identity is, it’s time to go back to being who you really are, and living according to who you really are. Which is a pure Jewish child. Who does everything that he is supposed to without question, including – and beginning with – going to the mikva.
An animal, physically, walks on all four. It has no ability to look up, it is naturally drawn to earthliness and worldliness, and has no goals towards anything higher. It is the characteristic of the nefesh habehamis – about which the posuk says נפשה בהמה היורדת היא למטה - which is completely preoccupied with self-gratification, and has no interest in self-betterment or refinement. A human being, on the other hand, walks upright, representative of the characteristic of the nefesh Elokus which aims towards elevating itself more and more and becoming ever closer to the Eibishter. Chassidus asks: why is it, if so, that goyim walk upright. They, after all, possess only a NHB, it would be fitting for them to go about four-legged? And the answer is that this is so merely to enable bechirachofshis (and if this sounds racist to you, well, so be it. I didn’t make it up).
So if you find yourself living a life focused on your own self-gratification, if you’re more interested in visiting the gym and enjoying yourself than in visiting the mikva and increasing your opportunity of refinement and purity, - know, then, that this is not really you. This is because you were raised (by the “goy asher bekirbecho”, your yetzer hora and NHB) to think that you’re a gentile, that you’re someone who you’re not. You were raised to think that you’re merely here for your own pleasure, rather than for striving to better your service of Hashem. And now it’s time to accept the reality of your true identity, and shift your focus to (what the focus of every good Jewish child is, what the focus of a chelek Eloka mimaal mamosh is) becoming more spiritual and closer to Hashem.
LESSON #3
The third lesson is, all good and fine, I now know who I really am, I’m not the goy or the beheima that I was raised to be, I’m (what I truly am inside) a pure Jewish child. But I don’t feel like a pure anything. I feel like the goy or the animal that I was raised as. That’s what I can identify with, That’s what I can relate with. Telling me about what my real background is doesn’t change the way I feel about myself!
For this there was the advice of the Rebbe – move to Eretz Yisroel. About Eretz Yisroel Chazal say למה נקראת שמה ארץ שרצתה לעשות רצון קונה. In the holy Sefiros it represents the sefirah of malchus. In avodas Hashem it is the avoda of kabolas ol. It means to just do what you’re supposed to do, even if you don’t feel like it. So, even if you don’t feel like a Jewish child, you don’t feel like going to the mikva, like learning more Torah, like thinking about davening or like showing more ahavas yisroel, - nevertheless just take control of yourself and start doing it. Start acting and behaving like a Jewish child, even if you feel like (acting like) a goy.
Because going to Eretz Yisroel, beginning to actually behave the way you’re meant to even without feeling it, is the way to actually feel and sense your true identity. It is the way to affect your consciousness and your senses, to experience who and what you really are and care for that. Going to Eretz Yisroel, a bit of kabolas ol, is the sure way to rediscover our inner self, and – by extension – to rediscover our
