The chosid realized that he was much better off with the brochos that the Rebbe gave him unsolicited, and, the next time he was in yechidus, he wrote in his letter that he’s asking the Rebbe for a brocho for parnosoh “vi der Rebbe farshteit” [as the Rebbe understands it should be]!
Indeed, we all would be better off with brochos that are not restricted by our own narrow perspective. We would undoubtedly benefit to receive the Rebbe’s brochos vi der Rebbe farshteit, according to the way the Rebbe calculates and determines what is best for us.
This is what we say in the davening of Yom Kippur and Hoshana Rabo: שערי שמים פתח ואוצרך הטוב לנו תפתח, we ask the Eibishter to bestow upon us from those brochos that He knows are good for us. We don’t want our brochos to be restricted by our limited hasagos; we want them to be according the infinitely broader viewpoint of Hashem Yisborach.
In the Igros of the Rebbe, there is a letter to a chosid who complained about his failing health. The chosid begged permission to lessen his involvement in avodas hakodesh due to his health restraints. The response of the Rebbe is classic: ‘I’m surprised at you that you don’t have the wisdom to know what to ask for. If you’re not feeling well, the reasonable thing would be to ask for a brocho to feel better, so that you can continue your projects unhindered. Instead, your approach is to accept the health failings and request permission to adapt your lifestyle to them?!’ The Rebbe concludes: ‘As one who has your best interests in mind, I have taken the liberty to daven for your refuah shleimah!’
Indeed, to know what to ask for is (more than) half the challenge. Were we to receive brochos that are not affected by our inability to present our requests properly, we would be much better off! This is true in every single area, in material and spiritual, both in our personal lives and our communal activities.
A shliach in Middle America was launching a building campaign. This shliach had been a plain American bochur in Yeshiva, and he went on shlichus in a small city with not more than a few thousand Jews. This was just a few years after he had moved there, and he was setting out to put up a 6 million dollar building, which was a very ambitious project, - both for the individual and the place.
A friend was speaking to him, and asked him: ‘Do you really need to over-extend yourself to such a degree? How could you raise such an amount? And why do you need to? After all, for your area even a 2 million dollar building would be considered very impressive and a very noteworthy accomplishment?!’
The shliach replied simply: “I see how the Rebbe is showering me with brochos; should I, then, be foolish and not take them?!”
It is certain that what would be best for each of us would be to receive the brochos “vi der Rebbe farshteit”. We should get – not the brochos that we might think we need and might ask for – but, rather, those that the Rebbe chooses for us. But, if we want such brochos, according to the Rebbe’s understanding, not limited and constrained by the limitations of our intellect, then it would be necessary for us to ensure that we are keilim for such brochos.
How do we go about being proper recipients? Presumably by a corresponding avoda: We need to engage in avodas Hashem, learning, davening and hafotzas hamaayonos, in a way that is not defined and constrained by the limitations of our intellect. We need to re-dedicate ourselves to serving Hashem - not as much as makes sense to us, but – “vi der Rebbe farshteit”. Just as was customary for chassidim to give tzedaka subject to the Rebbe’s understanding, depending on the Rebbe to determine the amount, so too we must try to remove our limitations from our learning and davening.
