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Beis Moshiach (USPS 012-542) ISSN 1082-0272 is published weekly, except Jewish holidays (only once in April and October) for $160.00 in Crown Heights. USA $180.00. All other places for $195.00 per year (45 issues), by Beis Moshiach, 744 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11213-3409. Periodicals postage paid at Brooklyn, NY and additional offices. Postmaster: send address changes to Beis Moshiach 744 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11213-3409. Copyright 2014 by Beis Moshiach, Inc.

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FEATURED ARTICLES

6 USHERING IN PESACH IN THE LUBAVITCH OF THE REBBE RASHAB

10 FROM HODU TILL KUSH Rocheli Dickstein

22 THE CHASSID WHO GAVE HIS LIFE FOR HIS SHLICHUSRefael Dinari

30 R’ MOTTEL THE SHOCHET – THE MAN AND THE LEGENDShneur Zalman Berger

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CONTENTS

744 Eastern ParkwayBrooklyn, NY 11213-3409

Tel: (718) 778-8000Fax: (718) [email protected]

www.beismoshiach.org

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:M.M. Hendel

HEBREW EDITOR:Rabbi S.Y. [email protected]

ENGLISH EDITOR:Boruch [email protected]

WEEKLY COLUMNS 4 D’var Malchus19 Viewpoint20 Moshiach & Geula27 Parsha Thought38 Tzivos Hashem40 Crossroads

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THE FINAL GENERATION – AND 3 MOREFrom Chapter Six of Rabbi Shloma Majeski’s Likkutei Mekoros (Underlined

text is the compiler’s emphasis.)

Translated by Boruch Merkur

THE REBBE’S REDEMPTION: A CATALYST FOR THE FINAL REDEMPTION

4. […] The redemption of my revered father in-law, the Rebbe (the Yosef of our generation), is connected with and serves as a catalyst in hastening the true and complete redemption through Malka Meshicha, Moshiach ben Dovid. Moshiach will bring about the recognition of G-d’s reign throughout the entire world, as described in Torah: “G-d shall reign forevermore,” “and kingship shall be G-d’s,” “and G-d shall be king upon the entire earth; on that day G-d shall be one and His name will be one.”

PREPARING FOR THE FINAL GENERATION

5. The latter concept is further emphasized in the final stage of exile. More specifically, within this period itself, its impact is particularly felt in [the sixth generation of Chabad] the generation that the Rebbe Rayatz served as Rebbe in the dynasty of Chabad, as well as

[the following generation] our generation:

The Rebbe Rayatz is the sixth generation from the Alter Rebbe, founder of Toras Chassidus Chabad. (The teachings of Chabad find expression in spreading the wellsprings of Chassidus outward into the mind’s faculties of Chochma, Bina, and Daas, in a manner of “isparnasun minei – one gets sustenance from it [becoming a palpable reality, affecting the emotions, rather than remaining abstract, intellectual concepts].” Chabad Chassidus also reaches the “outside” in the context of the world, extending to the furthest possible distance.) And in terms of s’firos, the sixth generation corresponds to the s’fira of Yesod (Yosef), the sixth Divine attribute.

In general, the sixth generation parallels the sixth millennium, the final millennium of the six thousand years for which this world is destined to exist – two thousand years Tohu, Chaos; two thousand years Torah; two thousand years the Era of Moshiach. Within the sixth millennium itself, the sixth generation corresponds to the

end of the two thousand years of the Era of Moshiach.

The sixth generation in the sixth millennium serves as a direct preparation for the next generation (the final generation of exile and the first generation of redemption), the seventh generation (corresponding to the s’fira of Malchus) – a preparation for all the men, women, and children of the generation individually – as well as the seventh millennium, “a day that is entirely Shabbos and tranquility for everlasting life.” Although there are “two thousand years of the Era of Moshiach” (the fifth and sixth millennia), there is also the actual redemption [when the redemption becomes a tangible reality]. The pinnacle of the redemption, of course, takes place in the seventh millennium, which is infinity greater than the six preceding millennia (in addition to the fact that it is their culmination and summation). Indeed, in the seventh millennium, all that has been achieved throughout the six thousand years before it is included within it and drawn down to “b’nei shileishim – the

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third generation,” achieving the perfection of “the tenth shall be holy” (seven together with three) – the perfection in Kesser-Malchus of Dovid Malka Meshicha, as well as all the virtues of ten that shall come to the fore in the Future Era.

THREE GENERATIONS FOLLOWING THE SEVENTH

GENERATION?6. This manifestation of

Kesser-Malchus is further expressed on Yud-Beis Tammuz of this year, the 110th birthday of Yosef, the nasi of our generation, beginning a new stage in the ongoing avoda of Yosef, extending to future generations – “And Yosef saw Efraim’s children of the third generation, etc.”

Also, alluding to drawing down Kesser-Malchus is the number sixty-three, being sixty-three years from the Rebbe Rayatz’s redemption (5687-5750). Sixty-three is fifty plus thirteen. (In particular as the sixty-three years are divided into thirteen years in the previous century (5687 – 5700) and fifty years in this century (5701-5750). For Nun (Shaar HaNun, the Fiftieth Gate) corresponds to Kesser, and it is drawn down to all Jews, alluded to by thirteen (twelve Shvatim as well as the Tribe of Levi, totaling thirteen Shvatim), corresponding to the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy.)

Furthermore, sixty-three (Samech-Gimmel) signifies G-d’s Divine name referred to as Sheim Sag, which corresponds to the main avoda of our time (i.e., the refinement and rectification of the World of Tohu). In fact, in the sixth millennium, close to the end, the avoda of Sheim Sag prepares for the revelation of Sheim Av (Ayin-Beis) – Atika Kadisha, the aspect of “maskil

l’eisan ha’ezrachi” – with the true and complete redemption.

ALL VANITY COMPARED TO THE FUTURE ERA

7. This discussion relates to the chapter of T’hillim we begin saying as of this Yud-Beis Tammuz (the Rebbe’s 110th birthday), Kapitel 111:

On the verse (in this chapter), “He has made a memorial for His wonders,” the Tzemach Tzedek cites (in his writings on T’hillim) the Midrash, “All that the Alm-ghty does for the righteous in the present time is nothing other than a memorial of what He prepares for them in the World to Come, and its righteousness stands forever.” The Tzemach Tzedek continues: “‘All that the Alm-ghty does for the righteous in the present time is nothing other than a memorial of what he prepares for [them in] the World to Come’: It is plausible to maintain that this Midrash teaches that even the miracles of the exodus from Egypt are nothing other than a memorial, a premonition, of the miracles of the Future Era, as it is written, ‘As in the day of your exodus from the land of Egypt I shall show you wonders’ … That is to say that in the Future Era there shall be the revelation of the inner dimension of Atik, whereas even in the time of Moshe there was only a manifestation of the superficial aspect of Atik Yomim … Thus, ‘a memorial of what he prepares for [them in] the World to Come’ refers to the aspect of ‘I shall show you [the] wonders’ of the Future Era.”

Then the Tzemach Tzedek elaborates: “All Mitzvos are merely a memorial and symbol for what shall be in the Future Era. For, according to the Talmudic opinion that Mitzvos will not be eradicated in the

Future Era, they will actually be far greater than they are now, to the extent that the fulfillment of Mitzvos nowadays is only a memorial and symbol of how they will be then … See Rabbos, the beginning of Koheles, on the concept of ‘vanity of vanities’ – that all that was created in the six days of Creation is ‘vanity’ compared to the Future Era, as stated in Rabbos that even the Torah of our time is ‘vanity’ compared with the revelation of the Torah in the Future Era, etc.”

These teachings underscore the chiddush discussed above regarding Yosef’s hundred and tenth year. Namely, that then [in the Future Era] it will be revealed how the continuation of generations emerges from “Yosef,” beginning with the generation of the true and complete redemption, which is infinitely greater than anything that exists at present (throughout the six thousand years this world is destined to exist). It goes without saying that the Future Era will infinitely surpass the time of exile, but this is likewise so with regard to the time of redemption – the exodus from Egypt. Naturally, worldly matters of the present time pale in comparison to how they will be in the Future Era, but this is also the case with regard to Torah and Mitzvos. It is all no more than a memorial or symbol of “His wonders,” of the revelation of G-d’s “I shall show you wonders,” from the One “Who alone performs great wonders” (of which, as of now, only the Alm-ghty Himself is aware – “His wonders”). The Future Era will see the dawning of “a new Torah shall emerge from Me,” and the fulfillment of Mitzvos will be revealed in the Future Era “as the Mitzvos of Your will.”

(From the address of Shabbos Parshas Balak, 14 Tammuz 5750.

Seifer HaSichos 5750, pg. 560-56)

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USHERING IN PESACH IN THE

LUBAVITCH OF THE REBBE RASHABOn Erev Pesach in Lubavitch there was a feeling

of satisfaction and joy that grew out from the

great hopes that Moshiach was finally coming,

the Beis HaMikdash would be rebuilt and the

Korban Pesach brought. * A compilation of

stories about the Rebbe Rashab and Pesach, to

mark Beis Nissan, the Yom Hilula of the Rebbe

Rashab and the upcoming holiday.

CHECKING AND SELLING THE CHAMETZ

The Rebbe Rashab would invite some bachurim to his house and tell each one which area to check for chametz. The bachurim would listen to the Rebbe say the bracha and then would go and check. Afterward, they would go and check for chametz in the dining room of the yeshiva and in the tea room and other places.

They gave the chametz they found to the Rebbe so he could burn it.

One time, one of the bachurim, R’ Avrohom Boruch Pevsner, returned from a thorough checking and told the Rebbe he had not found any chametz. The Rebbe said, “The mitzva is to search, not necessarily to find.”

***The Rebbe Rashab would also

sell his horses to a gentile (in addition to selling his chametz through the rav). He would go with the gentile along with his personal valet to the stable and arrange the sale there.

I, and some of the talmidim who saw that the Rebbe was in the yard, ran after him and

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heard the Rebbe say to the gentile in Russian, “Will you buy the horses?” Then the Rebbe noticed us and told us to go back.

***The burning of the chametz

was done in the large hall of the yeshiva in one of the ovens next to the entrance. They began heating up the oven that the Rebbe used to burn the chametz from early in the morning so the oven would be full of glowing coals for the burning of the chametz.

After the burning and saying the Yehi Ratzon, the Rebbe said to the talmidim, “Just as the physical chametz was burned, so too, the spiritual chametz should be burned.” Then he added, “A healthy summer,” and he went home.

(From the memoirs of R’ Refael Nachman Kahn – Lubavitch

V’Chayaleha)

DRAWING THE MAYIM SHELANU IN LUBAVITCH

This is how the Chassidim remember the days of matza baking that took place in Lubavitch in a festive spirit and a state of elevation:

The work of drawing the water for kneading the shmura

matzos that were baked for the Rebbe Rashab on Erev Pesach was done festively and with great joy. The Rebbe himself took part and went with the bachurim to the river behind Binyamin’s Shtibel in Lubavitch.

The entire way, from the Rebbe’s house until the river, the bachurim walked in a long procession and sang. At the head of the procession went the Rebbe and around him walked all the mashpiim and mashgichim of the yeshiva, and behind them were all the bachurim of the yeshiva.

At this time of year, when the snow melted, the streets in Lubavitch, which was a small town whose streets were not properly paved, were full of mud. For this reason, walking was hard for the Rebbe even though the distance from his house to the river was not great.

The drawing process was not simple because large parts of the river were still frozen and they had to find a spot where the snow melted from where it was easy to draw mayim sh’lanu. They usually drew the water not far from the bridge near the flour mill. The bachurim would enter the river with their shoes while the Rebbe stood on the banks of

the river and drew water with a cup attached to a long stick.

One year, the Rebbe’s health was particularly precarious and he did not leave his house for days. When it came time to draw the water, the household members realized that the Rebbe would not forgo this lofty event and he would definitely be leaving the house. One of the household members spoke to Rebbetzin Rivka, the Rebbe’s mother, and asked her to tell her son that this year he should not go to draw the mayim sh’lanu.

The Rebbetzin, who was known as an exceedingly wise woman, said, “I cannot mix into my son’s spiritual matters.” The Rebbe went as usual.

***The custom was that after

drawing the water, all the bachurim would dance in the yard. The Rebbe would sit in his room and watch through a window.

One year, the Rebbe said about a bachur, Shimshon Milner of Vitebsk, “I saw how Shimshon Vitebsker danced after bringing the mayim sh’lanu and his yechida of the nefesh was illuminated.”

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Next to him danced the bachur, Refael Cohen, may Hashem avenge his blood, later the rav of Germanovitch. He said afterward that Shimshon’s face shone so much that it was impossible to look at him.

BAKING THE MATZABaking matza in Lubavitch

was a great and wondrous avoda. The Rebbe was present during the baking and he would stand the entire time in the room where the women rolled the matzos and would watch all the workers.

R’ Mendel of Liadi (a teacher in Tomchei T’mimim) would hold the dough. When he held the meira (the large dough from which smaller pieces are torn off for individual matzos), he would hold and knead it with all his might. One time, the Rebbe told him, “You need to hold onto the moira (awe, fear) in the cheider just like you hold onto the meira here.”

Some of the bachurim would change the paper on which they rolled the matzos and they were also the ones who would bring the matzos to the room where the oven was, which is where they also made holes in it. They made holes with thin pieces of wood. A number of bachurim would make holes in each matza individually.

The Rebbe’s son, the Rayatz, stood near the oven and supervised the baking.

After the matzos were baked, the Rebbe gave a matza to each of the bachurim who worked there.(Lubavitch V’Chayaleha; Likkutei Sippurim)

FORTUNATE IS THE ONE WHO SAW THE SIDREI PESACH IN TOMCHEI

T’MIMIM IN LUBAVITCHR’ Chaim Mordechai Perlov,

a talmid in Tomchei T’mimim in Lubavitch, related:

Until 5666 the way it was in Yeshivas Tomchei T’mimim in Lubavitch was that the bachurim would spend Pesach in one of the local hostelries. Starting from the year 5666, something new was enacted. Each talmid, including those from well-to-do families, would remain in yeshiva and eat there during Pesach. This system was also arranged for the young talmidim of the chadarim who did not eat in the yeshiva dining room all year.

The Rebbe’s son, Rayatz, the “acting dean” of the yeshiva, was in charge of arranging and running things. Everything the Rebbe’s son did was done in the most meticulous manner.

Rayatz sent a messenger to Vitebsk to buy big pots as well as plates and cups and utensils. He bought so much that when it was stored in the yeshiva’s kitchen it looked like a huge housewares store.

Since the usual dining room wasn’t big enough for all of them, certainly not for sitting comfortably in a way that would allow for rejoicing on the holiday properly, the big zal was chosen as a suitable place for a dining room. A special team of bachurim was chosen to clean, kasher and arrange the zal for this purpose.

The first night of Pesach, after Maariv, the Rebbe Rashab

entered the zal with his son. The zal looked new. It was clean and sparkling, and set and ready for the Seder by the bachurim. Later on, they said that the Rebbe said the appearance of the zal was a “spiritual delight.”

R’ Yehuda Chitrik, also a talmid of the yeshiva, said:

The nights of the s’darim and the rest of Pesach were run in the most orderly way. The hanhala appointed someone in charge and an assistant. They, together with a team, were responsible to see to it that everything went smoothly.

A list of names of talmidim was hung on the wall, stating who sat at each table. Each class sat at its own table and at every table there was someone in charge who had to supply each person with whatever he needed for the ke’ara and the four cups of wine.

One of the bachurim was appointed to sell the various honors such as asking the four questions out loud; who would finish each section in the recitation of the Hagada; a certain dance in front of a certain table; filling up Eliyahu’s cup; opening the door for Eliyahu; and Birkas ha’zimun. The money was later given to the Kupas Bachurim.

After they all found their places, the one in charge would announce, “Table 1 will say Kiddush.” After they finished Kiddush, he would announce, “Table 2 will say Kiddush.” The same was done for all the tables. As long as the previous table did not say Kiddush, the others did not begin.

The same was with washing the hands. The one in charge announced it according to tables. Obviously, doing it this way, when there were close to 200 talmidim present, in addition to the dancing, the s’darim ended

When he saw what happened, he cried out, “Oy,

Rebbe! Your fingers are burned!”

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late at night. The first night it ended at 2 in the morning and the second night at four in the morning.

In the middle of the hall was a table with a large candelabrum that was made by the Rebbe Maharash. The candelabrum was comprised of 613 pieces of wood and had thirteen branches. It was painted with three colors – brown, yellow and a color almost black. All the dancing took place around this table.

Throughout the years, the days of Pesach were very joyous with much joy and public celebration, “and in the multitude of the nation is the glory of the King.”

BOILING WATER ON THE REBBE’S FINGERS

The Rebbe Rayatz related:One year before Pesach my

father went to the room where they koshered the utensils for Pesach (they also koshered the utensils that were exclusive for Pesach). He would oversee the work.

When they koshered the water urn, the Rebbe tossed white hot stones into the water so the water would boil hotter. He simultaneously opened the faucet from which water came out of the urn. The boiling water burned his hand.

The Chassid, R’ Michoel Dworkin was present. When he saw what happened, he cried out, “Oy, Rebbe! Your fingers are burned!”

The Rebbe Rashab, whose holy face was bright with joy, said, “Are my fingers not Chassidish? A Chassid does not need to refrain from doing what needs to be done, whether it is cold or hot.”

(Seifer HaSichos 5708)

OPENING THE DOOR FOR ELIYAHU

The Rebbe Rayatz related:When I was a little boy,

my father (the Rebbe Rashab) held a seder in the home of my grandmother, Rebbetzin Rivka (wife of the Rebbe Maharash). When they reached the part in the Hagada of “Pour out Your wrath,” they would open all the doors of the rooms, from the room which they were in until the front door.

In order to open the doors, they sent distinguished guests who were with them at the table. Although Eliyahu HaNavi can find a Jewish home and enter it on his own, we still need to go and open the door ourselves to let him in.

One time, when I was a boy, they sent me to open the door. One of the doors was double. I opened the first door but the other half needed to be opened from on top. I stood on a chair but still was unable to reach the upper knob. Finally, my father came and picked me up.

When I got off the chair, I sighed from the physical exertion. My father said, “In order to allow a Jew, Eliyahu HaNavi, to enter

the house, we need to exert ourselves.”


THE NEWS THAT ARRIVED THAT NIGHTIn 5664-5, during the Russo-

Japanese War, the Rebbe Rashab sent packages of matza to Jewish soldiers who fought in Shanghai. The Rebbe was in Paris at the time. Baron Ginsberg, a wealthy man with connections in royal circles, was there too.

The Rebbe Rashab hoped to use his connection to the Baron in order to send the matza to the soldiers, but at that time he was estranged from the Baron. The Baron was upset with the Rebbe for his opposition to secular studies in Jewish schools.

Despite this, the Rebbe went to the Baron and begged him to obtain permission to send matza to the soldiers. The Baron caustically said, “The Jews have Pesach Sheini ...”

The Rebbe replied, “On the front lines there are no barons; the soldiers are simple Jews. They don’t know any tricks. They need matza for Pesach.”

After much effort, the Russian government helped in sending matza to the soldiers. Seder night, a telegram arrived at the Rebbe Rashab’s home from Petersburg with the news that all was in order and the matza had reached its destination. The Rebbe was excited at this good news and he stood up and said, “Praise to G-d.”


ADD IN ACTS OF GOODNESS & KINDNESS

TO BRING MOSHIACH NOW!

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FROM HODU TILL KUSH Twin sisters, shluchos from the day they were

born, have ended up with one in Hodu-India and

one in Kush-Ethiopia, and not just for Purim!

* Shlichus stories of Chaya Mushka Sudry and

Devorah Leah Chaviv, of the Gromach family

of Beit Dagan. * Shlichus which entails going

completely out of that which is familiar and

comfortable, in order to transform the world.

By Rocheli Dickstein

India is a country of opposites. On one side of New Delhi, the capitol, are the abject poor; on the other side live

multi-millionaires and billionaires. The tourists who land in Delhi, who want to save money, stay in the filthy Pahar Ganj quarter. The Main Bazaar in the center is polluted, noisy and chaotic with beggars, peddlers, and wandering animals. In the summer, add the unbearable heat and humidity. No wonder that the tourists escape after a day or two. But R’ Akiva and Mushka Sudry, who went to replace R’ Shmulik and Mira Scharf, have settled here.

In Ethiopia there are also opposites. Ethiopia is a country where people rent apartments for thousands of dollars a

month, but are unwilling to sell a hundred eggs “because this is all I have.” The country is sizable (27th in the world) but it is hard to find a home with a kitchen of reasonable size. There are embassies from nearly every country, but only one shul. This is where R’ Eliyahu and Devorah Leah Chaviv have opened a Chabad house, the first in the country.

SHLICHUS FROM BIRTH “Beit Dagan,” says Devorah

Leah, “is our home. A big house, which is not only the private home of my family, but of the entire yishuv. My parents went to this yishuv with the Rebbe’s blessings. My father presented a

number of options and the Rebbe circled the yishuvim of Beit Dagan, Mishmar HaShiva and Kfar Ganot.

“The job of us girls was with the children. For example, every Friday, before candle lighting, about thirty girls gathered in the home of my parents, R’ Shmuel and Ruth Gromach. We would light together and recite Kabbalas Shabbos with songs and games. We also ran Tzivos Hashem activities on Wednesdays in a few areas of Beit Dagan.”

Then the two of them got married and Mushka went to Delhi, India

“Three months after we married. It wasn’t something we planned. R’ Shmulik Scharf

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asked us to replace them for three months. The Indian government allows Israelis a visa for only half a year. Every half a year, the shluchim have to leave India and stay away for a cooling period until they can submit a new request for a visa.

“We agreed to go. My husband was in Delhi for half a year as a bachur on shlichus, and that is why R’ Scharf asked us to go. As far as learning and work were concerned, it was a great time to go and as far as visas, we both have foreign passports so everything was quickly arranged. We also opened to an amazing letter from the Rebbe about being a role model and shlichus so we had no doubt.

“We had just two problems.

The first, what would we do with the furniture and electronics that we had bought when we married. The second, I had never been to a place like India before. I grew up on shlichus since I was born. It’s not like Chabad house life is new to me, and most of my family had been in the East on shlichus. But still, when you yourself go and begin to work, it’s different than hearing stories about it.

“We resolved the first problem by selling our stuff. We saw that it would be cheaper to sell and buy again than to pay to store the contents of an apartment. The second problem I discovered only when I landed in Delhi and it’s a problem that only time can resolve.”

Devorah Leah went to Addis

Ababa, Ethiopia: “We went thanks to the

Rebbe,” she laughs. “Before we married my husband was on shlichus in Hampi, India with my older brother, for half a year. One day, he got a phone call from a number that contained the digits 770. He was sure it was one of his friends and he answered the call as he would to any of his friends. It turned out to be a tourist to Ethiopia who was a bit peeved that he hadn’t found a single Chabad house. Since then, it became a joke that Eliyahu Chaviv would open a Chabad house in Ethiopia.

“I, on the other hand, had promised myself as a single girl that I wouldn’t go on shlichus in that way. I had seen my brother

HODU

KUSH

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and sister-in-law, who are shluchim in India, and the kind of life they lead – living in a way that is vastly different than what they are used to, worrying about enormous amounts of money and never being able to stop dealing with it, morning, noon and night … I wanted a different kind of life. Shlichus, but in Eretz Yisroel, with a set salary so that I knew how much was entering my bank account and living accordingly.

“Two weeks before Pesach of last year, we found ourselves, a young couple with a baby on a sort of vacation. It was ‘bein ha’z’manim’ from Kollel for my husband and I had a break from school, and he suggested we make Pesach in Ethiopia. Not in order to stay there, but just to see what Ethiopia is like and to help the tourists there celebrate a proper Pesach.”

STARTING OUT Mushka-Delhi: Acclimating was very hard.

India is a very beautiful country and people go there for half a year and more, but they stay only a day or two in Delhi and even that is only because the airport is here.

Delhi is a place of extremes. The southern part of the city belongs to the wealthy and that is where I go when I need to do shopping. But the cheaper area where the tourists go is filthy. In the summer it is so hot that what you feel when walking in the streets is like the feeling when you open the oven in the middle of baking. It is unbearably hot here.

The Scharfs had enormous mesirus nefesh. It is impossible

to understand under what conditions they lived. The current building, which we are in, is one they came to after many prior stops and they considered it beautiful. This “beauty” consists of four walls and a ceiling. No closets, no air conditioning, nothing. I don’t know how a couple with children was able to live like this. The first thing we did was to renovate it.

Devorah Leah-Ethiopia: We knew nothing about

Ethiopia and we had no one to ask. In the end, we managed to get the email address of an Israeli tour guide who lives there. We made a list of what we needed for a proper Pesach and asked him: what do you have there and what do we need to bring? We had to discuss the smallest details – are there disposable plates? Are there pears for charoses? And the question of all questions: how many Jews are there?

Although he tried to help, when we finally got there we discovered that we were missing so many things due to lack of clear information. The tour guide continued to help us. We found a hotel near the area where the tourists are, and also close to the

shul of the Adenite community. We began to inquire about the

number of people. We soon learned that there aren’t

many Israelis living there. The businessmen go back home and there aren’t many tourists. We decided to prepare for forty people. We had just two weeks and it was urgent to get

down to work as soon as possible.

We went to the manager and asked him to set aside a

place for us in the kitchen which we would kasher for our needs. This wasn’t the best option because on the other side of the kitchen they would be cooking treif and we would have to constantly watch to see that not a single worker approached our area or mistakenly put something down on the counter. But that seemed the best we could do.

When we sat down with the manager, a close friend, a Jew from the Adenite community by the name of Sholom, who is there on business, came in. Sholom lives in England and comes to do business a few months a year. The Rebbe arranged things so that he would be here just at this time. Sholom loved the idea of our presence and since he was a friend of the manager, he explained to him what we needed. We thought of the hotel’s kitchen but Sholom had them turn one of the offices into a kitchen with two sinks, a counter, and a place for an oven and refrigerator. Sholom also got them to give us the lobby of the hotel for free and not at the amount equivalent to twenty shekels per person, as we had originally arranged. Thanks to Sholom, the manager so wanted to satisfy us that he offered to prepare part of our food. When he realized that this

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was impossible, he offered to supply soda. We consulted with a rav and told him no, but the atmosphere was pleasant and accepting and the sum total of expenses was less than we had anticipated.

That last part about the expenses is a miracle of the Rebbe. We had come with an amount of money we thought would be enough, but it really wasn’t. We had thought that since things are so cheap here, it would be easy to manage, but we hadn’t taken into account that we had to buy pots and electronics at three times the price the items cost in Eretz Yisroel. We could not make Pesach without an oven or food processor and that is why our money was quickly used up.

Back to our organizing: Within a week, we had finished fixing up the office and we had a completely separate kitchen. Although it was small, it was ours. We got a refrigerator from an Israeli woman who lives there and we bought a stove and were ready to begin. Just so that you know, there were only three days left until Pesach night. We received phone calls intermittently throughout this time. We recalculated and saw we had to prepare for fifty-sixty people. I decided to “go big” and to prepare for seventy people.

On the last night before Pesach, the phone did not stop ringing. Groups of tourists of eight people and more told us they were on their way and then I realized, I may have prepared for seventy but I had no way of knowing how many would actually show up.

Nothing prepared me for the surprise of the night. One

hundred and thirty people came! Food for two days was consumed in one night. People from the embassies came. We had contacted a few people from all the embassies and they told their friends. All the employees of the Israeli embassy came, and they were quite a few people. Aside from them there were also many tourists. The tourists hadn’t expected to attend such a formal affair and they came dressed in their usual casual attire. They felt uncomfortable around the respectably dressed embassy personnel but they quickly warmed up. Israelis feel at home with Israelis and it makes no difference how they look. The men went to shul and came back for the seder which was run in a most beautiful way. It was a great success.

ONGOING SHLICHUS Mushka: As I said, we were only

planning to be in Delhi for three months, but after three months the Scharf family had not completed the visa process. We knew that a high turnover rate of shluchim at the Chabad house

such as this one in Delhi was not a good thing, financially and on a human level. Three months are

not enough time to acclimate. So although we had already planned on returning home, to breathe the fresh air of Eretz Yisroel, we decided to stay for another three months.

At the end of this period of time, the Scharf

family was ready to return but Hashem had other plans.

The blackest day in my life is when I heard about the terrible tragedy of Mira’s death. We realized that for the meantime, until Shmuel could come back, we would be staying.

Devorah Leah: We returned to Eretz Yisroel

after Pesach and for a few months we received calls like, “We heard you were here for Pesach. Where can we get kosher food?” “Where is the Chabad house?” and so on. We were in Eretz Yisroel, but people spoke as though we were still in Ethiopia. We thought about it and decided to go back.

We received a special bracha from the Rebbe, we consulted with mashpiim, my husband with his mashpia and me with my mashpia, and jointly decided to return. That was at the end of the summer. We wanted to prepare, financially and emotionally, and to get there around Chanuka. But my husband’s mashpia asked: Who will blow the shofar on Rosh HaShana? Who will take care of Kaparos?

So in less than a month we finished our preparations and we boarded a plane for Ethiopia. Organizing meant packing up the house, but we left many things behind like a washing machine and a new oven. Although they are very expensive in Ethiopia,

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the costs of transporting them and the import tax sent the costs way up. We ended up with three pallets that weighed half a ton that contained a lot of s’farim, clothing, sheets, pillows, dishes, and food. We sent it by air and got it all three days after we landed.

We went back to the hotel where we spent Pesach. It was nice to recall what had taken place here a few months earlier, this time with a child who understood more. We took a room in the hotel and thought that within two or three days we would find an apartment and move. It took more time than that. It turns out, it is very hard to find an apartment in Ethiopia. Our requirements weren’t unreasonable. We wanted a place as close as possible to where the tourists stay, which is one of the most neglected, dirty and unpleasant parts of Ethiopia, but we had come for their sake. We wanted a large kitchen, a house that would meet the needs of a Chabad house, at a reasonable monthly rent.

We spoke to a few real estate agents and explained what we were looking for, but apparently the Ethiopian mind works somewhat differently. They took us to see apartments which left me wondering what connection they had with our list of requirements, and they even tried to convince us that this is just what we needed.

Forget about a big kitchen. They prepare the injera (an Ethiopian food that is like a big pita) outside the house on a gas burner or coal fire. All the smells and smoke remain outside. There is no refrigerator in the house. So what do you need a kitchen for? Even if there is a kitchen, it is tiny and without space for

a refrigerator and oven. As far as bathrooms and showers, many Ethiopians see no need for a room like this in the house. There are public bathrooms and showers and they manage just fine.

In addition, a reasonable rental fee to them is different than what we had in mind. We saw a tiny two room renovated apartment for $3000 a month! The reason the prices are so high is because the apartments are mainly for employees of embassies. Ethiopians live peacefully in small tin huts. The ones who pay these exorbitant rental fees are the embassies, so the employees don’t care if it costs $5 or $2000. Although the Ethiopians are not businessmen, they realized the potential here and upped the prices.

After we saw about two hundred apartments, we almost compromised on renting a few rooms in a rundown guest house. We told the owner: we will rent three connecting rooms and pay you for half a year in advance. But he wasn’t interested because there are times in the year, he said, when people move in and out of a room three times a day and each one pays the price of a room. “If you’d like,” he said, “you can pay me triple.”

Well, that wasn’t feasible and so we continued to search. After Tishrei, we moved into an apartment that was very small and became even smaller as people came to visit. People wanted to stay and sleep but we had no place for them. We spread mattresses out in the living room and every night the living room looked like a pajama party. This was not a workable situation because in the morning we needed the living room for davening and in the afternoon

we needed it for meals, and it is not pleasant to wake someone because you need to daven, but that’s the way it was.

This apartment had only one bathroom so before Shabbos I could find myself in a line with Mushka, our baby, waiting behind six people who wanted to use the tub. One good aspect of this apartment was that it was about five minutes away from the airport and it was located on the main street of the city. It was very easy to direct people to it and a lot of people stopped by to eat supper and to get ready for their flight.

We continued looking for an apartment. Thanks to our tiny apartment, we were more aware of our needs: the apartment had to be located no more than five minutes from the main highway so we could be easily located. There are hardly any street names in Ethiopia. In order to direct someone, you say which embassy or hotel is close by, but if you are located deep into the side streets it is very hard to find. Also, of course the apartment had to be near the tourist area, it needed at least two bathrooms, a reasonably large kitchen, and another floor so Mushka would have a private area to play and to sleep and we would have a place where we could clear our heads from all the noise downstairs.

We recently moved to a larger apartment with a bigger kitchen. It is centrally located, not on the main road but only a small way off – a ten minute walk from the Global Hotel. It is interesting that we moved into our first apartment with one car and left it with two trucks and two small cars, all completely full of stuff. This is despite the fact that the money we came with was used within the first two weeks. We

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constantly see the miracles that the Rebbe does for us.

On our first Shabbos in the new apartment, I was very nervous. How would people find us? My fear was for naught, boruch Hashem. Thirty-five people came. Most of them had been with us for a Shabbos or two and they knew we were moving and were in touch with us before Shabbos to find out exactly where we are. The rest of the people came thanks to them.

TARGET AUDIENCE Mushka: Delhi is the “gateway”

to India and whoever comes to India, comes to us. It is important to us that everything be nice, aesthetic and clean. For example, one of the Scharf family’s wonderful projects, that we try to expand upon, is a mikva. The mikva brings tears to the eyes of most of the people who come. In the midst of all the filth, it opens a door to a quiet world with sparkling chandeliers.

One of the reasons that we place an emphasis on gashmius here is because the Chabad house in Delhi is the tourist’s first encounter with Chabad. They find in us a place of refuge where you can sit down in a clean, air conditioned place and eat something. Every Chabad house is a home, but over here it is even more than that. This Chabad house opens the door to the world of Chabad houses in India.

People are here for a day or two. They put down their bags and look for a guest house. In the summer, about two hundred people pass through here every day! My daughter crawls among

them and tries to find herself a path within the bedlam. In the winter, on the other hand, there are fewer people and the weather is more pleasant, so the Chabad house suddenly looks larger.

The fact that thousands of people pass through here, means that our encounters are very brief. You invest but don’t see the results. On the other hand, we are exposed to so many personal stories. Each person is a story and every encounter with someone is an interesting story. We welcome them when they come to India and we send them off back home. Those are significant moments. We see how someone comes and what he goes back with. I don’t have amazing soul stories, but we constantly have little, moving stories.

For example, there was a kibbutznik fellow by the name of Elad. He was here with us for Simchas Torah. The selling of the honor of carrying a Torah was in exchange for good hachlatos. A girl who wanted to buy the honors with a good hachlata could then give it to one of the guys. Elad committed to putting on t’fillin at every Chabad house he went to.

A few days later, he came to the Chabad house around nine o’clock at night. He came over to me and said, “Okay, here I am.” I didn’t know what he wanted. Then he explained that he came for t’fillin. We explained to him that he has to come earlier, but he had things to take care of that caused him to

miss doing it by sunset for a week.

He was really upset with himself. It was finally a

Friday when he showed up a few minutes before candle lighting. My husband put t’fillin on with him and Elad’s emotional reaction moved everyone present.

Devorah Leah: Our target audience can

be divided into four main groups: tourists, volunteers, Israeli businessmen and Jewish employees of the embassies.

Ethiopia is becoming a tourist attraction something like India or South America. There is a lot to see here. There is a salt desert where the earth is shiny and colorful, there are lakes, wild animals, mountains, an active volcano, and more. Aside from the scenery there are the tribes. They live without electricity and without communicating with the world. They try to add variety to their food from what they find around them and they build houses out of mud, straw, or tin.

A group of tourists told me that a certain tribe was so happy to host them that they honored them with whatever they had: a cup of sour milk, some seeds, and a banana. The Ethiopian tribes don’t know quite what to make of white people. They touch the tourist’s clothes and try to understand why they need so many. They touch the tourist’s

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body to see whether he is for real. They don’t understand where this strange creature landed from. The tourists here are different than the tourists in India because, for one thing, they are tourists with “serious” destinations who come to experience nature and to learn about different cultures and tribes. The tourists can be students before or after the army, older people, and even families with children.

Another difference between tourists in India and tourists in Ethiopia is that you can form a personal connection with the tourists here. In Delhi, for example, the tourists pop into the Chabad house for a few hours and then leave. Even if they come back later, it is hard to remember them. In Ethiopia, they go south and then return to Addis Ababa, the capitol, for a few days of organizing and preparing, and then they go north and come back to Addis Ababa, and so on. We, who are near the airport and the main highway, just have to keep track of who left for where and who came back.

The businessmen come here because they find Ethiopia a good place to do business. Labor is very cheap here and there are plentiful natural resources. In Ethiopia itself there is what to do: developing highways, for example, is popular. Others work in agriculture, exporting tons of strawberries every week to the entire world, exporting flowers to Holland, etc. These businessmen find the Chabad house to be a place to unwind. We have a shiur twice a week just for them. They come to learn and also to network with one another, to get advice, to help out where possible.

The volunteers are people from all over the world who decided to go to Ethiopia and

volunteer with children. They teach them math and English, do activities with them, and help out on the health front where things are actually starting to improve. They usually come for three months and the Jews among them come to us often.

All these are Israelis or Jews from outside of Ethiopia. We have nothing to do with Ethiopians except for the members of the Adenite community who are not really Ethiopians but Yemenites. The Aden community is an ancient one which developed in Ethiopia a hundred years ago. Aden is near Yemen and the sea, so Yemenite businessmen who wanted to do business with Egypt and India, came here. Some of that community moved to Ethiopia. They are reminiscent of Yemenites but are different in appearance, customs, and observance of tradition. We daven in their shul. When the British ruled the area, they received British citizenship and many of them left for Eretz Yisroel or England. Today, they are five hundred families who all speak Hebrew and know how to read and write. The reason they stayed here is for business or because of assimilation.

NONSTOP WORK Mushka: My job is to welcome every

female tourist, to be a listening ear to those who need one and to put together shiurim. Aside from that, I am very involved with the logistical side of things. Every day we get dozens of emails and I respond to all of them. We started a catering service, which provides deliveries of kosher meals as well as the Chabad house restaurant. Now, for example, there is a big expo going on for the airline industry. Every

country presents a number of advanced avionics developments. The exhibit attracts people from all over the world. We realized this is a tremendous potential for mivtzaim and boruch Hashem, we managed to get invited. Our part of the expo is to set up stands of tasty kosher food and t’fillin, of course.

By the way, Delhi, as the capitol city, is the least advanced in India as far as medicine and prisons. We take responsibility for all tourists who are in jail or who were injured while traveling. This year, boruch Hashem, there are far fewer instances of injuries among the tourists.

Aside from the work with tourists, we also work with the local Jewish community. They are a few Jewish families who remained out of a beautiful, large community. They came here originally around the time of the Expulsion from Spain and over the years, they acquired the dark skin and look of Indians. One of the families has children and I teach them basic Judaism and Hebrew once a week. These three children are the only Jews among 500 children in the local school.

I remember that when I told them about Chanuka, the little boy asked why the Greeks contaminated the Beis HaMikdash. I explained but he did not understand why the Greeks would want to persecute Jews. I told him that Jews are very smart and successful and the gentiles are jealous and hate us. He said, “How is it possible that there is a boy in my class who gets better marks than me if I am the only Jew in the class?”

In the south of the city there is another Chabad house which is run by Shneur and Sarah Kupchik. The south of the city is another world entirely than

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where we are. Over a hundred Israeli families of businessmen live there along with people from embassies and the aircraft industry. I go there once a week to do activities with children. The fact that there is another Chabad house in the city is very helpful.

Devorah Leah: We don’t have

400 people Friday night as they do in Bolivia or India, the shlichus here is different. At the Shabbos meals we can have fifty people. Each meal begins by people introducing themselves, saying where they came from and what “point of light” they saw that week. A “point of light” means where did you encounter G-d or what we would call hashgacha pratis. People stop and think about what occurred to them and how it came to pass. This practice is very positive and unifying.

There are activities with Israeli children who live in the area, big events before holidays and every Monday there is a class on Hebrew and a class on Judaism which includes the parsha and learning the alef-beis. We divided the children into two groups, one group with little children, ages four to nine, and another group of older girls. These lessons are Sunday school style but we chose Monday because on Sunday they all go on outings. They come to us in the afternoon, after school. By the way, they attend an American school so our Jewish activities with the children are really vital.

We see our little Mushka becoming a real shlucha. Aside from the fact that it is important

that she see children and play with them, she is able to break the ice. When they see her, they take out a kippa and show me they have a Siddur.

Every Thursday we give out challos. I make seventy braided challos out of ten kilos of flour. I have someone to work with me but she can’t manage the braiding. I can’t figure out how she is able to make so many braids in her hair but can’t manage in my kitchen …

With each challa we attach a brochure with information about candle lighting, a little on the parsha and a miracle story of the Rebbe. After the packages are ready, we make the rounds of all the families and offices and personally give out the challa. The rounds take about four and a half hours by car.

This also strengthens our personal relationship. We go to their houses and have a friendly conversation. Activities like these make a long term impact. Thanks

to the challa, a number of people have started making Kiddush on Friday night.

HARDSHIPS Mushka: I don’t like

to talk about the hardships. Every person and every place has its difficulties. “Good”

is an inner sense. In the aggregate, it’s

actually good here. Shlichus fulfills us. It’s

a special feeling because when we encounter a problem,

we feel that it’s not our problem but the Rebbe’s. In Eretz Yisroel, if a person doesn’t have enough money to finish the month and has to pay the rent, he goes around feeling stressed. Here, when there is no money for the rent, we feel that soon the Rebbe will send it and he does. Each time it’s another sort of miracle. This is a worry-free life.

What is the difference between life in Eretz Yisroel and life in India?

Mushka: There are lots of blackouts

and we still don’t have a generator. Imagine what it’s like at fifty degrees Celsius (122 F) without being able to turn on a fan. Last year we spent two days like that. Perhaps it might have been a little less difficult if I wouldn’t have lost hydration and reached the point of hospitalization …

There is also a problem here with the water. The government provides water one hour a day. During that time, you need to operate a pump which fills a big black container on the roof, like the Arabs or Bedouins in Eretz

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Yisroel have. This amount is meant to last all day. If we forgot to turn it on, or we turned it on late, or the government decided not supply water that day, then there isn’t any and we bathe with bottles of mineral water. It’s a way of life you get used to. You slowly get used to it.

Devorah Leah: The money issue bothers me.

Our expenses are very high and raising money isn’t easy. For some reason, people think my husband and I are paid a salary to be here. They are also sure that if I would just ask them to send me something from Eretz Yisroel, I would immediately get it. My dream for the last half a year has been a slice of bread with 5% white cheese …

Communicating with family in Eretz Yisroel and elsewhere is hard; even India is more advanced in that respect. The electricity fails at least twice a week. You never know when it will happen and when the electricity will be restored. If it happens during daylight hours it’s relatively easier to manage but if it happens at night and people come to eat, it’s not that pleasant to search for the schnitzel in the pan in the dark. During the first blackouts, baby Mushka was lost and couldn’t navigate among all the people in the house. Today she is used to it already and we both manage to feel around and find one another relatively quickly.

We bought a generator but it only manages to power the dairy oven. One time, we had a blackout from Thursday until Shabbos morning. In order to be able to give out challos as always, we koshered that oven so it would be pareve and I baked challos and cakes for Shabbos, as usual.

As far as the food here, one of

our miracles is that my husband is a shochet. The first sh’chita was chicken from Kaparos. In Eretz Yisroel, all the live chickens come in boxes and they are all white, clean, and full of meat. Here, the chickens walk freely about all day. That makes then lean and muscular which makes them not very tasty. Also, the area is not clean so their feathers are dusty and you can’t get rid of the odor. We looked for better chickens. After a long search, we found a distant village where they raise chickens. They gave us 200 chickens, a clean work space and support staff. We even had a feather removing machine. Real luxury.

There is only one kosher fish here, called tilapia. It is full of bones and not that tasty, but I try to get the most out of it: I add vegetables and make fish cakes. Other fish aren’t available because there is no sea in Ethiopia, just lakes. They import fish and that raises the price and makes them hard to get.

Milk is easier. We came with two boxes of Cornflakes and they remained closed for four months. We simply did not manage to find a cow. Even when we found one, the process wasn’t easy. You have to get up at five in the morning for milking. The cows don’t always have enough milk, so each time we tried to figure out how long it would last us. Now I want to start making cheese. That will broaden our dairy diet.

Speaking of milk, one day an Israeli came who saw the milk and was excited about it. I asked him why he was so particular about chalav akum and he said that he once wrote to the Rebbe and the Rebbe responded that he should be particular about chalav Yisroel. This sounded strange to him because he lived in Eretz

Yisroel and bought everything there. Still, upon his return, he went through his cabinets and found many products that were not chalav Yisroel. He was amazed by how the Rebbe knew what he had in his house while he, the homeowner, did not know. Since then, he has been very particular about this.

LOOKING FORWARD Mushka: The Chabad house in Delhi

has gone through many changes. It began in a little room in a guest house and today it is in a normal building. We are constantly expanding and improving it. My husband is gifted with a mind that races forward and thinks big. When tourists come back to us after several months, I always hear exclamations of surprise at our progress. But it is still not up to par. We need a big, spacious place that can contain the huge numbers of people who come here. Our dream is to put up a big Chabad house that will be called “Beit Mira” for Mira Scharf, may Hashem avenge her blood.

Devorah Leah: The next big project is

building a mikva. We get a lot of phone calls about this. There is no mikva in any of the neighboring countries and they call us because they are sure the Chabad house has a mikva. With each one of these phone calls, my husband or I explain that there is a lake four hours away and you have to go there. I want a beautiful mikva so that whoever needs it, can pamper themselves.

Aside from that, there is still no Chabad house in all the countries along the Israelis touring route in this part of Africa. So whoever can rise to the occasion, will be blessed.

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LET THE SUN SHINEBy Rabbi Yisroel Harpaz

By default, the sun emanates light. The circumstances through which the light is blocked are all external obstacles – whether they be natural or man-made. As long as there is some obstacle between me and the sun, the light will never shine on me. I definitely want to let more light into my life. Who doesn’t? So, if I want to let more light into my life – more meaning, more spirituality, more goodness – then the question I have to ask myself is: What’s blocking the light? The light is certainly shining, but something is stopping it from getting to me. If I can figure out what the blockage is, then I can remove it and allow the light to shine through.

Sometimes the shadow is cast upon me by external factors that are – to varying degrees – not entirely under my control. I can do my best to avoid or minimize them, but at the end of the day there are going to be situations in which there is not much I can do to remove the obstacle. I will inevitably find myself in times of darkness. Shade is a dimension of reality that I have to learn to live with, and even sometime appreciate.

But, honestly, most of the obstacles are actually self-generated. Whether it be a propensity toward anger, self-aggrandizement, lethargy, or uncontrollable temptations and addictions, the negativity I generate from within and project outwards form barriers that block the light, or make me unable to appreciate it when it is there. These follies stop me from attaining the intelligence, harmony,

health, wealth, world domination, or whatever it is I’m after in life. Working to correct these follies removes the obstacles and allows the light to shine into my life.

On a deeper, more existential level, the obstacle that blocks the light is, ironically, me. Do I then have to remove myself so that I don’t block the light? And if I do succeed somehow in achieving this, then who will be there to benefit from the light once I remove myself?

The answer is Passover. What makes this night different than all other nights? That is the question that begins the historical and existential journey known as the Passover Seder. One of the differences, the one that most explicitly symbolizes the theme of freedom that is so central to this festival, is the custom of reclining while eating the matza and drinking the traditional four cups of wine at the Seder. On the simplest level, the reclining is an expression of our status as a free people, one of the motifs of Passover as a whole and the Seder in particular. In Kabbalistic sources, the custom of reclining is described in more spiritual terms, perhaps exposing the mystical roots of what freedom is all about. The body can generally be divided into three sections that are organized hierarchically according

to function: The head, the torso and the legs. In a standing or a seated position, the hierarchical structure is maintained; the head is above the torso, which is above the legs. However, when a person reclines or lies down, all three sections of the body are on the same level. This is an expression of ultimate freedom. When an individual can focus all of his or her powers toward one goal, with all aspects of the individual equally humbled before the same ideals.

Often, our minds and hearts and bodies each tend to have their own agendas, and the striving of each one in its own direction is the source of great internal strife. But when we focus on the common goal for which all these components were placed within us, then they recline together to serve that common purpose and we are freed of the internal conflicts they generate individually. By subjugating my entire being to something beyond my own little life, I focus all my energy together. I remove myself as an obstacle to the light, and a new, humbled self is created that can then bask in the light shining past the removed obstacle that was my old self. I pass over myself, and let the light shine.

Reprinted with permission from Exodus Magazine

This is an expression of ultimate freedom.

When an individual can focus all of his or

her powers toward one goal, with all aspects of the

individual equally humbled before the same ideals.

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ARE WE STILL IN EGYPT?When Hashem asked Moshe to take the Jewish people out of exile, Moshe responds, “Please send your other messenger.” Rashi explains that he is referring to Moshiach. At first glance, it is puzzling: We all know that Hashem knows best. Why would Moshe argue with Hashem’s decision?

By Rabbi Gershon Avtzon – Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Lubavitch Cincinnati

Dear Reader sh’yichyeh,This week we begin the

month of miracles, the month of Nissan. It is a month in which we celebrate the dedication of the Mishkan and the liberation from Mitzrayim. It is a month that we focus on Geula and Moshiach, as Chazal teach us “ “B’Nisan Nigalu, U’B’Nisan Asidim L’gael” – In Nisan we were redeemed, and in the future we will be redeemed in Nissan.

Chassidus teaches us that the Geula from Mitzrayim was the first catalyst for the Moshiach. As a matter of fact, the redemption from Mitzrayim is still not complete until the final Geula.

With this understanding, the Rebbe (Chaya Sara 5752) explains a fascinating thing: When Hashem asked Moshe to take the Jewish people out of exile, Moshe responds “Please

send your other messenger.” Rashi explains that he is referring to Moshiach.

At first glance, it is puzzling: We all know that Hashem knows best. Why would Moshe argue with Hashem’s decision?

The Rebbe explains: Moshe wasn’t arguing whether he should accept the responsibility or not. He was asking that Hashem connect his mission of taking the Jewish people out of Egypt with the mission of Moshiach to take the Jewish people out of exile to Eretz Yisroel. It is one continuous journey.

That also explains a rather grammatically puzzling Pasuk. The Pasuk says (Micha 7:15) מצרים מארץ צאתך כימי נפלאות As in the days of“ אראנו your Exodus from Egypt, I will show [the people] wonders.” The obvious question is: Why does it say “days” in a plural form if

we really left Mitzrayim in just one day? The answer – based on the above – is simple: We are still in the midst of the journey of leaving Mitzrayim.

Once we are talking about the connection of Yetzias Mitzrayim and Moshiach, it is important to clarify the following:

We find that the accepted Halachic opinion is that we will continue to mention the exodus even in the times of Moshiach. The Mishna (Brachos 1:8) retells of an interesting discussion among the sages: “Said R. Eliezer ben Azariah: behold I am about seventy years old, and I have never been worthy to [find a reason] why the exodus from Egypt should be mentioned at night time until Ben Zoma expounded it, for it says, ‘that you may remember the day when you came forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.’ [Had the text said,] ‘the days of your life’ it would have meant [only] the days; but ‘all the days of your life’ includes the nights as well. The sages, however, say: ‘the days of your life’ refers to this world; ‘all the days of your life’ is to include the remembrance of the exodus even in the days of Moshiach.”

This Halacha obviously

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demands explanation: Being that the reason behind the Mitzva is to reinforce our belief in Hashem, it would seem superfluous to have this Mitzva in the times of Moshiach. The prophet Yirmiyahu describes the times of Moshiach (31:34) “And no longer shall one teach his neighbor or [shall] one [teach] his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know Me from their smallest to their greatest, says the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will no longer remember.” Similarly, the Rambam writes (Hilchos Melachim 12:5): “Therefore, the Jews will be great sages and know the hidden matters, grasping the knowledge of their Creator according to the full extent of human potential, as Isaiah 11:9 states: ‘The world will be filled with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the ocean bed.’”

The Rebbe gives a fascinating explanation:

While the time of Moshiach is a time of serenity and spiritual fulfillment, there is one component missing – the struggle to conquer our evil inclination. Why do we need this conquering? Why not simply transform the impurity rather than conquering it first? This subjugation has an advantage in that, as the Alter Rebbe writes in the Tanya, a person is a true servant of G-d when he is constantly battling against and subduing his nature. It is a battle which brings G-dly light into the world.

The situation is similar to that of a king who distributes all of his treasures to his soldiers so that they can fight a war. In peace time, these treasures would never have been touched, much less, spent so freely. This war is the

battle with the animal soul, and the victory brings treasures of Divine Revelation.

This is another reason why the Egyptian exodus will be mentioned in the Era of Moshiach. By mentioning the struggles of the exodus – and the personal struggles that we had in exile – we will continue to draw-down these special “spiritual treasures.” In the times of Moshiach these treasures will be totally revealed.

Let us finish with the words of the Rebbe (Nissan 5751):

“Simply put: All Jews, men, women and even children, have the responsibility to increase their efforts to bring our righteous Moshiach in actual reality!

“Therefore, it’s obvious there’s no place for relying on others or imposing the work on someone else instead of doing it one’s self – but this is the task of every man and woman; everyone must themselves do their job, ‘to serve my Maker’ (for the sake

of which ‘I was created’), and certainly one has the ability (since ‘I do not ask except according to their ability’).

What this duty consists of is also simple: increasing one’s Torah and mitzvos. This means learning both the open aspects of the Torah and the inner aspects of the Torah and performing the mitzvos with distinction... All of this should be done with an intense anticipation and desire for the Redemption – ‘I anxiously await his coming every day.’ As we say every day in the prayers: ‘May our eyes behold Your return to Zion in mercy’ and (on weekdays) – ‘Speedily cause the scion of David Your servant to flourish.’ This has been mentioned many times.”

Rabbi Avtzon is the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Lubavitch Cincinnati and a

well sought after speaker and lecturer. Recordings of his in-depth shiurim

on Inyanei Geula u’Moshiach can be accessed at http://www.ylcrecording.com.

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THE CHASSID WHO GAVE HIS LIFE FOR HIS SHLICHUSAbout the Chassid, R’ Avrohom Levik Slavin, a Chassidishe rav and shliach

of the Rebbe Rashab to Kulashi and Kutais in Georgia. He was moser

nefesh to spread Judaism among Georgian Jews until he was arrested and

sent to a labor camp, his whereabouts unknown. He did not merit Jewish

burial but his yahrtzait was established by the Rebbe Rayatz. This article is

based on the book “Arba’ah Chassidim” by Shneur Berger.

By Refael Dinari

A TEENAGE BOY LEARNS FOR SMICHAR’ Avrohom Levi Slavin was

born in Rogatchov in White Russia in 5651/1891. His parents were Yisroel Nosson, a Chassid of the Rebbe Maharash, and Gittel. Contagious diseases raged through Russia at the time and they became sick and died within a week of one another. Avrohom Levi became a double orphan at the age of eight. Having no close relative to care for him, he was adopted by the

community who took care of him. When he grew older, the heads of the community sent him to learn in the yeshiva in Bobruisk.

He learned there until he was 14. Then he went to Lubavitch and was accepted into Tomchei T’mimim. At this young age he was already considered an ilui for he knew some tractates by heart with the commentaries and was proficient in Shulchan Aruch. When he was tested, he was discovered to be a tremendous scholar, knowledgeable beyond his years. They decided to send

him to the zal so he could study for smicha for rabbanus.

He spent several years studying and when he was finished, he was tested and was given ordination for rabbanus by famous rabbanim including the Rogatchover Gaon.

His scholarly reputation was known and the community in Bobruisk suggested he return to them so he could serve as the rav in one of the big shuls. He agreed and the young bachur was appointed as rav of a shul.

After he married the daughter

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of R’ Avrohom Dovid HaKohen at the age of 22, he and his wife Rochel Malka moved to Seduva in Lithuania, where his in-laws lived. His father-in-law had a small grocery store and when his son-in-law came to town, he gave the store over to him. R’ Avrohom Levik had his wife run the store while he sat and learned.

SHLICHUS TO GEORGIAIn 5677/1917 the Rebbe

Rashab asked him to go to Georgia. R’ Shmuel Levitin operated in Kutais, Georgia during those years and since the work had grown, he needed help.

It wasn’t easy to travel to distant Georgia in those days, as it was during the communist revolution, but his Rebbe’s directive outweighed all other considerations and without thinking much about it he packed their few belongings and left for Georgia with his wife and little children. His children were quite young when he set out. The oldest was five and the next one was three, and his wife held the year old baby.

The exhausting trip took months. There were times that they had to drag their feet in the glacial cold, in rain and snow, until they were able to obtain a wagon. If traveling in wagons wasn’t hard enough, the trips by train that lasted for days without stop were much harder. The little children, hungry and thirsty, did not stop crying. They could not understand that money wasn’t always available and that there was nothing to still their hunger.

Around them swarmed gentiles, including murderous anti-Semites. The family was constantly fearful. What was the gentile who sat next to them thinking? Was he plotting against them?

The long trip finally reached an end. R’ Avrohom Levik and his family reached Kulashi where 3000 Jewish families lived.

BUILDING TORAHR’ Avrohom Levik realized

that he would not be making a living from the members of the community. So he went to the nearby town of Samtredia and introduced himself as the rav of the neighboring town and asked the manager of the factory whether he could give him a barrel of oil on credit which he would sell little by little. After he sold it all, he would pay what he owed and get another barrel. The manager agreed and gave him what he wanted. His wife sold the oil, drop by drop, and R’ Avrohom Levik got down to the work of shlichus which the Rebbe had assigned him.

With great mesirus nefesh he established schools, chadarim for the boys and yeshivos for bachurim. He did not spend much time at home. He went from city to city, from town to town, and village to village, in order to start schools and shiurim for adults. In Kulashi, he started

a yeshiva and a big elementary school where hundreds of students learned Torah.

Among the places R’ Slavin started schools was the town of Oni. Georgia is mountainous and has many rivers and lakes. This is why there wasn’t good transportation, especially between towns and villages. The mountain passes were narrow and winding and transportation was mainly by carriages and wagons hitched to horses.

Oni was on a high mountain and many Jews lived there. The trip generally took three days. Like the other towns and villages, transportation to this place was through a narrow path. The path was so narrow that if two wagons met, facing one another, they were both in great danger.

One year there was a particularly hard winter and the road to Oni was covered with high piles of snow. There was barely any transportation there. Since this was the case, R’ Avrohom Levik did not know what to do about the schools he had started there.

In the middle of the winter, a messenger arrived at the Slavin home who said that he had come from Oni after a very difficult journey. Due to the terrible weather, it was impossible to leave the town. Business was paralyzed and the Jews had no way of supporting themselves. Under these circumstances, they were unable to pay the teachers and it was impossible to bring money from the city. The situation had deteriorated to the point that the schools barely operated.

When R’ Slavin heard this, he decided to put his life in danger and travel there in order to prevent the closing of the schools. He hired a gentile with a

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strong horse and made his way to Oni. The gentile walked in front of the horse because there wasn’t room for two men on the horse.

The snow and rain fell constantly and the freezing cold penetrated their bones. Their thick clothing was not enough to keep out the cold. After three days of traveling he arrived at the town exhausted from the rigors of the trip. Before he rested and recovered, he found out that the messenger had given an accurate picture of the situation. The children wandered around with nothing to do because the teachers had not received their salaries. All the work he had invested in the local schools was about to go to waste.

R’ Levik immediately called a meeting of the leaders of the community. He spent hours explaining to them the importance of children studying Torah and the holy obligation they had to make sure that Torah study did not cease. In the end, it was decided that they would commit to covering 50% of the expenses and he would take care of the rest.

After a few days he decided to go home. He had so much work to do, holy work, in other places. On his way back to Kulashi he underwent all the same travails as he had on his way to Oni. The snow and rain became increasingly treacherous and the danger of slipping from the narrow path worried him. As he traveled, while he sat on the horse with his feet tied to the saddle to prevent falling, the horse slipped in the snow. The horse rolled about in the heavy snow along with R’ Avrohom Levik, who was unable to move. His feet were tied to the saddle and he hung there …

After a while the horse

managed to get up on its feet while R’ Avrohom Levik, because his feet were tied to the horse, was dragged behind! The gentile, who was walking way in front of them in order to see that the path was clear of potholes and other dangers, did not see the horse slip and rider fall and he continued walking, oblivious to what was happening dozens of meters behind him.

R’ Avrohom began shouting with his remaining strength so that the wagon driver would come to his rescue, but his voice was lost in the vast snow plains. After some time the wagon driver stopped and looked behind him. To his dismay he did not see the horse and rider, and so he rushed back to see what happened. He was surprised to see the horse making its way through the snow while the rider was dragging behind and shouting.

The wagon driver quickly picked him up and cleaned him off. After recovering a bit from his injuries, the wagon driver placed him on the horse and continued walking. R’ Avrohom Levik groaned from the injuries he sustained while he was dragged by the horse. He arrived home in terrible pain. He spent two weeks in bed without being able to move until he slowly recovered his strength and was healed of his wounds.

THE BURNING OF THE SHULS

In 5685/1925, the secret police sought to arrest R’ Shmuel Levitin and close the yeshiva he started in Kutais. The Jews of Kutais, who knew what was happening behind the scenes, told him that the authorities were planning to arrest him. He appointed R’ Avrohom Levik to take his place and fled to the

Rebbe Rayatz in Leningrad. R’ Avrohom Levik and his family moved to Kutais where he was very successful as the Chabad rav and rosh yeshiva.

Hundreds of talmidim who began learning under R’ Levitin, continued learning with R’ Avrohom Levik, and he took care of all their material and spiritual needs.

On his trips throughout Georgia, R’ Avrohom Levik examined the mikvaos in the cities and towns where Jews lived and where necessary, he renovated them and even opened new ones.

He made a list of the status of the mikvaos in Georgia and in the margins he wrote what improvements were needed in some mikvaos and where there wasn’t a mikva altogether. He sent the list to the Rebbe Rayatz.

At the end of the winter 5691, the decision was made to move the Yeshivos Tomchei T’mimim to cities in Georgia and the Caucasus where the communists were not as heavy handed as they were in the rest of the Soviet Union.

In the summer of 1931, a group of bachurim went to learn in Kutais and R’ Avrohom Levik helped them in every way. A few months later, another group of bachurim went to learn in Kutais and the yeshiva grew. The yeshiva was there for about two years and R’ Avrohom Levik was there to help and support the bachurim who were far from home. Sadly, the yeshiva was closed because of the attempt to smuggle across the border which ended in the arrest of a number of the talmidim.

WHEREABOUTS UNKNOWNThere was a certain party

member in Kutais, who, as a

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result of a certain incident, felt that R’ Avrohom Levik had offended her personally. This woman went to the NKVD office and informed on him. The NKVD were thrilled with the formal complaint. They were familiar with his activities, with his founding Jewish schools for children in various cities of Georgia, building mikvaos, etc. all against the law which forbade religious activities such as these. It was just that in Georgia it was hard for them to persecute rabbis because of religious activity. Now they had an opportunity to take revenge on him and put an end to his work.

It was a night in Kislev 5701 at two o’clock when banging was heard at the Slavins’ door. Their hearts beat rapidly as they immediately pictured who it was knocking at the door at that hour. When they opened the door, they saw four NKVD agents. The agents did not wait for an invitation but barged right in. One stood near the door on the inside, so nobody could escape, while the leader of the group took out a search warrant, signed by the NKVD commander in Kulashi.

The three angels of destruction began searching and probing in the bookcase and drawers, kitchen cabinets, desk drawers and every corner of the house. They paid particular attention to the desk drawers and bookcase which turned out to be a bonanza for they found copies of letters that R’ Avrohom wrote to the Rebbe Rashab and the Rebbe Rayatz as well as letters in the Rebbeim’s holy handwriting. They had discovered a genuine “Schneersohnski,” a member of a counter-revolutionary organization, the most dangerous in Russia, and documents signed by the head of the organization

himself, Rabbi Schneersohn!But they did not suffice with

that. They turned over and broke everything in the house, shaking out and throwing bedclothes to the floor, leaving nothing untouched. After confiscating what they wanted to take and packing them up, they ordered R’ Avrohom Levik to get dressed and accompany them. His wife and children, who knew what this meant, began to plead for his life and their lives, that they do him and them no harm and not take him from them. Their pleas were ignored and they were even threatened that they would be taken along if they did not stop crying.

The next day, his wife went to NKVD headquarters and asked where her husband was, but their answer was he was not to be found there. They weren’t lying. After that woman tattled on him, she was sure that the NKVD would go immediately and arrest him. However, when one week and two weeks went by and he was not arrested, she went to NKVD headquarters in Tbilisi

and tattled again. She knew that in his city of Kutais, even if he would be arrested, they would release him shortly because of the close ties that Chacham Michoel Davitiashvili had with the NKVD. So she asked the NKVD headquarters in Tbilisi to transfer him there because the Chacham had no connections there.

That is what happened. The NKVD in Kutais were told to transfer R’ Avrohom Levik to Tbilisi until he would be sentenced by headquarters in Moscow.

R’ Avrohom Levik spent eighteen months in the cellars of the NKVD in Tbilisi in a cell with thieves and murderers. Every few days they would get him up late at night and take him to the

The shul and yeshiva building in Kulashi

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interrogation room on the fourth floor.

During the initial interrogations, he was told that the informing was just an excuse to arrest him. The interrogators read to him what was written in his file: the number of schools and yeshivos he had founded including their addresses; in city X he had founded a yeshiva and in another city he had made a mikva; the exact names of the teachers; the names of the roshei yeshiva and mashgichim. They told him everything. “We are not in a rush. Nobody can escape us. We know everything!”

The interrogations,

accompanied by torture, were debilitating. He bled from their blows but he did not give them a single name of those who helped him or those who worked as teachers and the like. All their efforts to get him to confess were in vain.

At the end of a year and a half in jail, they transferred his file to Moscow for him to be sentenced. His sentence was severe: ten years of exile and hard labor in a Siberian labor camp.

After the family found out about his sentence, they asked to meet with him before he would be sent away. Although many friends tried to dissuade the family not to endanger themselves, his son, R’ Yisroel continued to make efforts and permission was granted to meet with his father.

R’ Yisroel described that painful meeting:

“When I saw him through the bars of the door, after a separation of a year and a half, I hardly recognized him. His face was swollen and his face was completely pale. His body was

shrunken and exhausted. His condition so affected me that I nearly fainted. My father showed me his shirt stained with blood that was stuck to his skin from all the blood that had run onto it from the beatings and tortures he sustained. He tried to separate the shirt material from his skin but was unable to do so.

“‘I am very doubtful as to whether I will have a Jewish burial,’ were his final words to me, knowing what they accused him of and where they planned to send him.

“After a few minutes, they removed me from the area and did not allow me to continue speaking to him. It was a final parting from my father.

“After he was sent to Siberia, we had no information about him. According to the law, he was allowed to send a letter home once a year and we could do the same to him. We only received a letter one time. When we sent him a letter, it came back to us with a note attached that the addressee was hospitalized due to sickness. We knew that in that camp there was no hospitalization.

“We considered this note as a sign that our father had died. His whereabouts were unknown. I sent a letter to the Rebbe Rayatz in which I briefly described everything he went through. I ended my letter with a question, that since we did not know the date of his passing, we did not know what to do as far as mourning, saying Kaddish and observing the yahrtzait.

“The Rebbe’s answer was that since his father, the Rebbe Rashab, was the one who sent my father to Georgia, and since the day the Rebbe Rashab passed away was Beis Nissan, we should observe my father’s yahrtzait on Beis Nissan.”

Shul in Oni

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RECIPROCITYBy Rabbi Heschel Greenberg

WHO GOES TO WHOM?The Torah commences this

week’s parsha with the following description of the purification process for the person who has contracted tzaraas, an enigmatic skin disease (commonly confused with leprosy):

“This will be the law of the Metzora; on the day of his purification. He should be brought to the Kohen-priest. The Kohen should go forth to the outside of the camp; the Kohen shall look, and behold! – the tzaraas had been healed from the Metzora...”

In this brief introductory passage many questions arise:

First, Rashi addresses the question, why does the Torah state that this law applies to the “day of his ritual purification?” What does the word “day” add? The Torah could have stated simply: “This will be the law of purification for the Metzora.”

Second, why does it say “the tzaraas has been healed from the Metzora?” Don’t we already know that the Metzora is the one who is afflicted with tzaraas? It could have simply stated “the tzaraas has been healed” or “the Metzora was healed,”

Lastly, it says that he is brought to the Kohen and immediately afterwards it says that the Kohen goes outside the camp, implying that the Kohen goes out to the Metzora. Which is it? Does the Metzora go to the

Kohen or does the Kohen go to the Metzora?

THE FUTURE PURIFICATIONThe key to answering these

questions is a fourth question: why does it introduce this section with the words, “This will be the law of the Metzora?” Couldn’t it just say, “This is law of the Metzora?” Why is the verb associated with implementation of this law in the future tense?

The answer is that the ultimate realization of the purification of the Metzora phenomenon will be in the future Messianic Age.

The Torah thus states: “This will be the law of the Metzora; on the day of his purification.” The term “day” is a reference to the future Messianic Age when G-d’s light, which will illuminate the darkness, will render all of our existence as day. And it is then that we will be completely healed from all forms of imperfection, including tzaraas which affects the most external aspects of the individual.

EMULATING AARONTo affect this transformation

of the darkness of the night of exile into the light of the day of Redemption, one must be brought to Aaron the Priest.

Each and every Jew is admonished to emulate Aaron the Priest. In Ethics of the Fathers (1:12) the sage Hillel is quoted:

“Be among the disciples of

Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving all created beings and bringing them closer to the Torah.”

Hillel identifies four traits of Aaron that we must follow:

First, we must love peace. Even when one is legitimately disputing matters of principle and values, one must never lose his or her commitment to peace. One must love the peace that will come when the differences are resolved.

Second, one must “pursue peace.” It does not suffice to feel a desire for peace; one must also actively seek means to bring about reconciliation.

Third, one must love all created beings. It does not suffice to cherish peace because it is a less stressful state to be in than conflict. The pursuit of peace then becomes a selfish endeavor. Hillel’s admonition to us is to want peace because it is based on and motivated by love for the other. Even if the other appears to be utterly wrong and his sole visible positive trait being that he or she is “G-d’s creation,” one should still cultivate love for him or her.

Fourth, one must also bring these people closer to the Torah. As the Rebbe emphasized on many occasions, it does not say “bring the Torah closer to them” but rather bring them closer to the Torah. This implies that we must never compromise the

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Torah to make it palatable to others. Rather we must find ways of raising them up to the Torah.

While we must pursue every avenue for peace and express unadulterated love for the other even if he or she is wrong on crucial moral issues, we must never compromise on the standards of the Torah to accomplish the above.

COME TO AARONApplying all this to the

ultimate purification of the Metzora we see that we must all have mentors who fulfill Hillel’s directive to follow in Aaron’s path.

The Torah states that the Metzora shall be brought to the Kohen. This means that the person who is need of direction and purification shall recognize that he or she cannot do it alone and must depend on the other (the Aarons) to assist.

Throughout history, the Jewish people knew that they depended on their leaders for their moral and spiritual advancement, not just for the stability and prosperity which a good leader would bring to the community.

In order to enjoy the full benefits of the Aarons in our lives we must humbly recognize how much they contribute to our spiritual well-being and not ascribe our progress to our own brilliance and hard

work. One of the hallmarks of the Rebbe/mentor-chassid/disciple relationship is the total submission of the disciple to his or her mentor. This devotion is what allows us to be receptive to his guidance and accept the flow of the mentor’s spiritual energy and enlightenment to the follower.

In light of this statement, our

original question becomes even more insistent: Why does the Torah juxtapose the statement that the Metzora must be brought to the Kohen with a contradictory statement that implies that the Kohen must go out of the camp to the Metzora?

RIGHTS OR OBLIGATIONSThe answer lies in our

understanding of the differences between Jewish values and the prevailing secular values in society today.

In the secular world, society is divided into advocacy groups. Each group lobbies for its own interests and for securing its own rights. The hope is that when members on both sides of a divide act with due diligence in favor of their constituency, fairness and equitable solutions will ensue.

For example: our society is made up of leaders and followers; vendors and consumers; doctors and patients; lawyers and clients etc. Each group looks out for its own interest and the protection

of its rights. In theory at least, the outcome should be an equitable balance between interests. However, in reality, we find a society deeply polarized along these self-serving divisions.

In Judaism, however, the focus is not on rights but on obligations. The vendor has to focus on what his obligation is to his customer and the customer has to think about his obligations to the vendor. Each constituency is looking out for the other.

With respect to the relationship between the leaders and mentors (the “Aarons”) and their followers there is a need for a reciprocal attitude. While the followers must be brought to Aaron and recognize that it is he who enables their healing, the leaders themselves have to see it in the very opposite way. The genuine Jewish leader feels that all of his capabilities derive from the people he mentors and assists.

So while the Metzora must be brought to the Kohen and show his total dependence on him, the Kohen must also feel that he is beholden to the one he services, and by going out to the Metzora he is empowered to achieve his goal of helping others.

We can now understand why the Torah states, “The tzaraas has been healed from the Metzora.” The question was asked, why add the words “from the Metzora?” Don’t we already know that the Metzora is the one who is afflicted with tzaraas?

The answer is that the Kohen, to whom the Metzora must be brought and upon whom his purification depends, must also recognize that the Kohen’s ability to heal is not his own. He derives this power from the Metzora himself. It is the Metzora who has the spark of holiness within

In Judaism, however, the focus is not on rights

but on obligations. The vendor has to focus on

what his obligation is to his customer and the customer

has to think about his obligations to the vendor. Each

constituency is looking out for the other.

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him that empowers the Kohen to be able to heal. The Metzora thus attributes his healing to the Kohen and the Kohen ascribes his power to heal to the innate healing powers of the Metzora.

LONG LIVE THE KING!This form of reciprocity

can also be seen in the way the Torah views the role of the king. On the one hand, a monarch is head and shoulders above his nation; on the other hand, our Sages declare “there is no king without a nation.” It is the nation’s acceptance of him as their monarch that empowers him to be king. The power of leadership, Chassidic thought asserts, is very deeply rooted in one’s soul and psyche. To elicit this power requires the devotion and commitment of the nation.

The relationship of a Rebbe and a Chassid has also been described in this manner. There

is no Chassid without total devotion to his Rebbe and there is no Rebbe without his Chassidim.

In a famous legal battle over ownership of the Schneersohn library, the Rebbetzin (the Rebbe’s wife) was asked to whom the library belonged. Did it belong to the Rebbe personally (and, as his private property, therefore subject to the civil laws of inheritance) or to the community of Chassidim? Her wise answer was: “Both the library and the Rebbe belong to the Chassidim.”

This mutuality is even more pronounced in the leadership of Moshiach. The Rebbe explains that Moshiach’s ability to lead us out of exile stems from our

acceptance of his leadership. This we do by declaring “Yechi HaMelech” (the Biblical refrain that translates as “Long live the King”) or any other expression of our sincere desire for Moshiach to get us out of exile.

This notion that Moshiach’s leadership hinges on us, the Rebbe states, is based on the teaching of the Baal Shem Tov that each and every Jew possesses a spark of Moshiach. When we allow that spark to ignite, we empower Moshiach to actualize his leadership potential and finally take us out of exile and thereby usher in the Age of Redemption. May we see that imminently!

It is the Metzora who has the spark of holiness

within him that empowers the Kohen to be able

to heal.

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R’ MOTTEL THE SHOCHET – THE MAN AND THE LEGENDR’ Boruch Mordechai Lifschitz, as Mordechai

in his day, did not bend nor bow to the

communists. In Adar seventy-five years ago, he

was arrested by the communists, interrogated

harshly and exiled for three years. * Even after

being released he continued working in various

cities as a mohel and shochet. * He recently

passed away at the age of 97. * The life of the

man of mesirus nefesh known as R’ Mottel der

Shochet.

By Shneur Zalman Berger

At the end of 5733, only a few Chabad Chassidim were left in Russia since most of them had left the

country. Among the few Chassidim who remained was R’ Mottel der Shochet, R’ Boruch Mordechai Lifschitz.

When he wanted to leave Moscow, the Rebbe did not give his consent. Even after his

daughter Chaya Sarah married R’ Berel Haskelevich in New York, and he wanted to see the Rebbe and visit the young couple, the Rebbe told him not to leave Moscow even for a short time, “for who would take care of sh’chita in the interim?” The Rebbe wrote to him, “Throughout the city and around it only a very few remain as a

shochet and the like, and how can you leave even for a short time? And how could you skip, even for a very short time, not actualizing the great merit you have in being the shochet there?”

***R’ Mottel Lifschitz who

recently passed away in Crown Heights, was a symbol of mesirus nefesh and a model of a Chassid

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whose life was committed to spreading Judaism and Chassidus in Russia. He was one of the few Chassidim in the world who lived in the Soviet Union throughout the entire seventy years of communist domination. From his youth and until he left Russia after the fall of communism, he worked tirelessly to strengthen Judaism wherever he was. He started in Kiev where he was born and raised, then in the labor camps to which he was exiled, and finally in Moscow where he lived for many years and was one of the pillars of the Jewish community. He did so much even as he knew what could happen if he was arrested by the secret police.

He wrote his memoirs which were published a decade ago in Yiddish and called Zichronos fun Gulag. The following article includes parts of his memoir as well as additional sources, which together portray the life of a man of mesirus nefesh.

THE EARLY DAYSHis memoir begins in Kiev

where he was born on 30 Av 5676 to a Chassidishe family. His father was connected to the Chassidim of Chernowitz and his mother to Horonsteipel, but he received a Chabad education. The communist revolution began when he was a baby and learning Torah went underground. Many Jewish schools were closed and the ones that remained open were mainly those belonging to Chabad Chassidim, who were moser nefesh to keep them going. When he learned in these underground yeshivos his soul bonded with Chabad Chassidus.

He continued learning in a branch of Tomchei T’mimim in Kiev that operated secretly. He was not able to sit and learn for long. When he grew older he had to go to work to help support his family. He then joined the Tiferes Bachurim organization run by R’ Binyamin Lipman who served

as menahel, maggid shiur, and mashpia.

This organization was founded by the Rebbe Rayatz throughout the Soviet Union for older bachurim and for young married Lubavitcher Chassidim who had to work but wanted to learn in the afternoon and evening. When the authorities tightened the noose around the religiously observant, the organization in Kiev nearly closed down in light of the great fear that prevailed. It was hard to hide dozens of bachurim who were learning. The activities were curtailed, but now and then a few bachurim from Tiferes Bachurim met secretly and learned a maamer or a sicha of the Rebbe Rayatz.

R’ Mottel said that sometimes the bachurim got the keys to the shul, copied them, and went in secretly at night. “There we learned by the light of a candle whose light we also concealed so it would not be seen outside the

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windows. Nobody could know that Chabad bachurim were learning Torah at this hour in the shul.”

Aside from learning, the bachurim would also meet for farbrengens on special days such as 19 Kislev and 12 Tammuz.

When young Mottel grew older and was of draft age, he sent a letter to the Rebbe Rayatz who was living in Otvotzk, Poland at the time. In his letter he asked for a bracha to be exempt from the army. The answer was identical to that received by many bachurim in that time period. “May Hashem grant that you be a servant of G-d and not, etc.” The meaning was clear, to continue learning and consequently, he would not be a servant of the Russian army.

When he went to the draft office, he presented himself as a religious and believing Jew. This caused the officers to put him through harsh interrogations. The Rebbe’s bracha was soon realized and a few days later he received an official document exempting him from the Russian

army. He was thrilled. He did not know that the secret police were keeping tabs on even the smallest details, even a religious bachur who got out of the army because he preferred learning to fighting. When he was arrested, as will be related shortly, he was also interrogated about evading the army draft.

THE BACHUR ASSOCIATED WITH SCHNEERSOHNMotzaei Shabbos, 21 Adar

5699/1939, Mottel went to his bride-to-be’s house for the purpose of writing t’naim. After this shidduch was suggested to him, he had written to the Rebbe but had not received a reply. The family were Ruzhiner Chassidim and the father of the girl pressured him to make a decision. The man finally said that if t’naim were not written by the next Motzaei Shabbos, the shidduch was off.

Mottel was worried about losing out on this shidduch, especially when in Russia of those days it was hard to find a good,

religious girl. He knew that it was possible that the Rebbe’s answer was delayed because answers did not always make it through the “Iron Curtain,” but Mottel yearned to receive a response before he made this fateful decision. With mixed feelings he went to their house, the t’naim were written, and all rejoiced.

When the bachur went home the NKVD were waiting for him and arrested him. The shidduch was canceled.

He wrote the following about his arrest:

“When I was arrested, they conducted a thorough search of my house. As in all Jewish homes, there were many s’farim, Gemaras etc. But I also had many s’farim of Chabad Chassidus like the famous Hemshechim of the Rebbe Rashab from the years 5659, 5666, and 5670, maamarim and sichos of the Rebbe Rayatz, etc. These Chassidic works were hidden.

“When the angels of destruction searched my house, they took no interest in the regular holy books. They searched only for material connected to Chabad and ‘Schneersohn.’ It seems that the informer who tattled on me also told them precisely where the Chabad s’farim were hidden.

“After a brief search they found the treasure and confiscated all the material. Then they told me I had to go along with them. They told me to pack the personal things I needed and to go with them. I took my t’fillin and Siddur, some clothing and a little money. Their car was waiting outside. They put me in the car together with two guards, one on each side, who guarded me as though I was a dangerous criminal. When we got to the prison, the NKVD took whatever I had brought with me. They also

From right to left: R’ Mottel, R’ Yitzchok Kogan the tzaddik of Leningrad, and R’ Nissim Yemini

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took my shoelaces and belt so I would not try to kill myself.”

That night, 21 Adar 5699, a group of distinguished people from the Chassidic community in Kiev was arrested which included: R’ Aryeh Leib Kaplan, rav of the city (the father of R’ Meilich Kaplan, later rav of the Chabad community in Lud), R’ Moshe Kulikov, the Chassidic shochet and mohel in Kiev, R’ Bentzion Geisinsky, the menahel and mashpia of Tiferes Bachurim , R’ Binyamin Lipman, and some talmidim such as R’ Dovid Geisinsky and R’ Yechiel Michel Rappaport.

Those arrested in Kiev underwent hours of interrogation. They realized that they had been under surveillance for a long time and the secret police knew every move they made, big and small, in recent years. Those being interrogated did their best not to incriminate their friends and were exceedingly careful with what they said, but the interrogators knew everything. The details had been provided to them by a young man who was not a Chassid, who had joined Tiferes Bachurim and had, sadly, fallen into the NKVD’s net. He brought down the rest of them.

In his memoirs, R’ Mottel described the harsh interrogations he underwent. The following are some short and painful quotes from his memoirs. In the first interrogation, the interrogator proved that the NKVD knew everything about him:

The interrogator said to me: Last Shabbos you were in shul. On your right sat so-and-so and on your left sat so-and-so, and he mentioned the names of the people who sat next to me in shul.

“So – was it as I said?”

“Yes,” I replied.“Ah,” he said. “You should

know that we don’t arrest anyone just like that. We know who you are. We know you since your childhood. We know everything you are involved with. We know that you are in touch with Schneersohn who lives in Poland and you spread his ideas.

“For a long time we did not want to arrest you, but now we discovered that you are standing on the edge of an abyss and are about to fall in. So we decided to rescue you, to arrest you and get you back on the right path.”

The interrogation continued and Mottel cleverly avoided disclosing information about

himself or his friends, but the interrogator did not give up. He realized this was no innocent lamb but a hard nut to crack.

At the conclusion of the first hellish night the interrogator said to me, “Now I will leave you. They will immediately return you to your cell. Think over everything you said. You should know that we know that all the answers you gave are incorrect.” The interrogator pointed at some books on the table and said, “In these books, all is written. Here it says everything you and your friends did over many years. Here it says where you visited each evening, who visited you in your house and what you learned with them. And mainly, all the letters that you wrote to Schneersohn!”

In the subsequent interrogations, the interrogators continued to repeatedly ask about his connection with “Schneersohn.”

“Did your friends enter your house?”

“Yes.”“What did you learn with

them?”“The Halacha of an ox that

gores a cow and her dead fetus was found alongside her (I translated it into Russian for him).”

But that was not what the

R’ Mottel, from his KGB prison file

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interrogator was interested in. He said to me, “But you also learned what Schneersohn writes, that it is forbidden to work on the Sabbath, that they should start chadarim where they will poison the minds of young Jewish children, that they should build mikvaos, not to serve in the army, and so on!”

The interrogator continued speaking and I felt a terrible unease in my heart. They saw everything as revolving around “Schneersohn” and this I could not deny, for during the search they conducted in my house, they found all my “Chassidic treasures,” maamarim, sichos and letters of the Rebbe.

FORCED CONFRONTATIONThe seasoned interrogators

used manipulation, lies and deceit, in the hopes of extracting information in any way possible. One day, they read to him something one of his friends had written after his arrest. Mottel immediately realized that if they were not showing him the handwriting, it was possible it was simply made up.

The next thing that occurred is something he could not possibly have prepared for. One of the distinguished rabbanim of Kiev was placed in the interrogation room for a face to face confrontation:

R’ Aryeh Leib Kaplan was brought into the room. “Look at him,” the interrogator said to me. “Do you recognize him?”

“Yes.”“Where do you know him

from?”“He comes to daven in shul

and I see him there.”“But he claims that you went

with him to collect money for the chadarim and secret yeshivos!”

“That’s a lie! Let him say that here in front of me, that I went with him to collect money for yeshivos!”

The interrogator then asked a devious question. “What? You claim he went alone to collect money?”

Fortunately, I immediately realized what he was up to and I said, “I did not say that. I have no idea what he did.”

The interrogator made a motion with his hand to indicate that R’ Kaplan should be removed from the room. The interrogator did not bring up this topic again. His plan had not worked.

Before Rosh Hashanah 5696 (or 5697), a letter came to Russia for the Chassidim from the Rebbe Rayatz. The Rebbe wrote that since the Chassidim in Russia were not able to be with him on Rosh Hashanah (since he lived in Otvotzk), he asked that each of them send him a picture of himself along with his name and mother’s name.

The Chassidim all had pictures taken of themselves and the pictures were forwarded to Moscow from where they were sent to the Rebbe. A while later, many of the Chassidim, including R’ Mottel, received a letter from the Rebbe which confirmed that he received the picture and in which he conferred brachos.

This story was known to the secret police and R’ Mottel was interrogated about this too:

At one of the interrogations the interrogator took out my picture and asked me, “Do you know this person?” I said, “Yes, it’s a picture of me and I sent a copy to the Rebbe.”

He asked me, “Why did you send him a picture of yourself?”

I told him the real reason, but the interrogator insisted it

was for purposes of spying. He banged on the desk and yelled, “Schneersonovitch! We will exterminate you! We will send you to a place from which you will not return!”

I said, “I know that I am in your hands. You can do with me as you like because you fear no one.’”

THE SENTENCE: THREE YEARS IN EXILE

R’ Mottel spent over half a year in the Lukyanovsky prison in Kiev where he was interrogated about Tiferes Bachurim, about “Schneersohn activities” in Kiev, and more. The young bachur did not give an inch. On Pesach he kept kosher to the point of mesirus nefesh. That is not an exaggeration, for on the last two days of Pesach he was so weak he could not walk. Sugar was his main source of energy for the eight days of the holiday.

When the interrogations ended, he was sentenced. Decades later, R’ Mordechai Lifschitz’s file was found in the dusty KGB archives. This is an excerpt from the file and the accusations against him:

On March 10, 1939 (19 Adar 5699), he was arrested as a collaborator in illegal anti-Soviet activity. He studied in an illegal yeshiva.

He founded an underground yeshiva where they learned Torah.

He organized a learning program for youth, Tiferes Bachurim.

He avoided serving in the Red Army.

He raised money to maintain Chassidim and their families.

His sentence was declared on October 17, 1939 (4 Cheshvan 5700): three years of exile in a labor camp.

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PESACH AND SHABBOS IN SIBERIA

Mottel was exiled to Siberia where he suffered tremendously. With self-sacrifice and super human effort, he did all he could to keep mitzvos despite the tremendous difficulties. In his memoirs he tells about this in detail. We will quote a little of it:

Pesach (5740, the first in the labor camp) was approaching. At that time, I still managed to observe the Jewish holidays even though I did not possess a Jewish calendar. One day I was called to the camp office where I was informed that my mother had sent me a package. They opened it in my presence and after ascertaining that it contained no forbidden items, they gave it to me. It was a package of matza! I was thrilled.

There were some older Jews with me in the barrack. Before they were arrested they had held important government positions. I decided that I had to share my matza with them Pesach night so they could do the mitzvah too. That night I brought them over to a corner of the hut and told them, “Tonight is Pesach!” At this, they all shuddered.

I opened the package and gave each of them a k’zayis of matza. As they held the matza, they burst into tears. The old ones among them remembered their childhood and how their parents or grandparents celebrated the holiday of Pesach. Each of them began describing what a wonderful holiday it was in their house. This one recalled the tasty kneidlach and that one recalled the Ma Nishtana, and all cried.

The tremendous spiritual arousal that one k’zayis of matza brought about cannot be described in words. Pesach turned into Yom Kippur for them that year. Some of them openly expressed regret for their deeds over the previous decades. Unfortunately, in order to attain these feelings of t’shuva, they had to undergo incredible suffering in the labor camp.

One of the difficult problems in the labor camp was Shabbos observance. I frequently tried to evade working with the excuse that I was sick, but this was no simple matter. There was a doctor in the camp and if he examined you and declared you were healthy, no excuses would help.

I remember one Shabbos when I got up in the morning determined not to desecrate the day. It was Shabbos Kodesh and I refused to go to work. The commander in charge of the prisoners entered the barrack and asked me: Why aren’t you going to work? I said: I am sick. He said: You are sick? Come to the doctor.

He took me to the doctor who said I was healthy and fit to work. So, asked the commander in charge of prisoners, now will you go to work? I said no, and returned to the barrack.

The next day, when I got ready to leave for work, they told me that since I had not worked on Shabbos, I was sentenced to ten days in solitary confinement. You might think that sitting in solitary confinement was a good thing since it absolved you of hard labor. The problem was that someone sentenced to solitary confinement did

not receive the usual food ration since he wasn’t working. Just once a day he received a small piece of bread, a small piece of herring, and a little bit of warm water. In addition, the solitary cell had holes through which the Siberian cold came through. After a short time, the prisoner began to yell that he was cold. Then they took him out to warm himself up at the oven and then he was put back in solitary. I was sentenced to suffer like this for ten days!

However, after a few days, the door was opened and I was asked to come out. They brought me to a room where there was a committee of doctors. After I was examined, one of the doctors announced, “He is fit, he is healthy.” Fit for what? I did not know. In the meantime, I was sent back to solitary.

***A few days later he was taken

with a group of other prisoners and put on a train that was heading to a notorious camp, Kolima, which was located in

R’ Mottel while in Moscow

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eastern Siberia. The terrible cold and the tough attitude of the jailers there resulted in a high death rate among the prisoners and R’ Mottel had to fight a constant battle for his very existence.

FREEDOM IN STAGESIn Adar 1942, the three year

sentence came to an end, but it was World War II and Russian law stated that even prisoners who completed their sentence could not be released to go home. After much effort, R’ Mottel managed to get transferred to work in a forsaken town. He was paid for his work but he was not allowed to leave.

He remained there until the end of the war and at the beginning of 5706 he was completely free to go. He went to Kiev in order to search for relatives but found out that all his relatives and many of his friends had been murdered by the Nazis at Babi Yar, may Hashem avenge their deaths.

He heard that many Chassidim were flocking to Lvov in an attempt to leave Russia with forged documents. He also went to Lvov, in order to join them, but was unable to get out. He remained in Lvov and married Henya Chana Zeide.

In the years that followed he led a hard life. He moved to Chernowitz and Charkov where he learned sh’chita. Then he settled in Moscow where he learned mila. He then served as shochet and mohel in Frunze (today Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan). After some time he moved to Charkov and then Sverdlovsk.

In 5727 he settled in Moscow where he lived for over twenty-five years.

WHO IS MIGHTY?While living in Moscow, he

secretly performed sh’chita and mila. In addition, he worked hard to strengthen Judaism in Moscow and other cities. He knew of the great danger hovering over him in light of the brissin he performed in private homes and without guests, and yet he continued his holy work for many years. He related:

I was so wary of being under surveillance that even though the minhag is that when a mohel is in shul on the day he performs a bris, Tachanun is not said, I made sure that Tachanun was said so that the KGB agents who were always in shul, would not suspect anything. I fulfilled the verse, “it is a time to do for G-d, they abolish Your Torah.”

He did not only perform brissin in Moscow. In Moscow there was a Chassid by the name of R’ Chaim Abramov. He would occasionally buy a pair of tickets to the Ukraine and would go with R’ Mottel to perform brissin there.

Yuli Edelstein, today the Speaker of the Knesset, was very close to R’ Mottel in those days. He has told of their relationship at Chabad events. This is one illustrative story:

“R’ Mottel was a shochet and mohel and had other roles as well. The children of today think that a hero is someone who fights evil and always wins. To me, a hero is something else entirely.

“I will never forget how one time we were invited to a bris mila in a relatively large apartment in the center of Moscow. Everyone waited for the mohel, R’ Mottel, to come and perform the bris. Suddenly, we heard powerful banging at the door. A policeman stood there and said they had received a

report from neighbors about the noise we were making and was asked to check what was going on in the apartment. Obviously, they had prior information about our gathering. We said that we were celebrating a birthday, but they asked for the ID’s of those present. Whoever did not present an ID was immediately written down by the policeman.

“He left forty-five minutes later. We breathed a sigh of relief but were sure that no bris would take place. After all, they were waiting downstairs and they arrested every person who wanted to come into the apartment.

“As we deliberated about what to do, R’ Mottel suddenly appeared, looking white. On his way to the apartment he saw a policeman enter the building. He rushed to hide nearby and waited until the policeman left. When the policeman left the area, he hurried upstairs and performed the bris.

“What did we have here? Someone who knew that he was going to commit a crime. He was not a doctor or a nurse, and according to the law was not allowed to perform a bris. What would you expect from a normal person in Soviet Russia who sees a police car? That he would leave the area immediately. But R’ Mottel sat and waited and waited until they left and then went right upstairs. That is a different sort of heroism. He knew that there was no one else who would perform the bris, certainly not someone nearby, and he realized that it was up to him, only him.”

SPECIAL KIRUVIM FROM THE REBBE

In 5747, when Russia began to open somewhat, R’ Mottel

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began preparing to travel to the Rebbe. He remembered the Rebbe’s answer about not leaving the place without a shochet and he arranged for a replacement. He began teaching sh’chita to R’ Moshe Tamarin. He went to the Rebbe for Tishrei 5748 and merited many kiruvim.

On the first day of Rosh Hashanah he was honored with an aliya to the Torah in the Rebbe’s minyan and stood next to the Rebbe during the t’kios. At the farbrengen on Shabbos Shuva, the Rebbe gave him a piece of lekach.

Erev Sukkos, when the senior Anash and those who won the raffle went to Gan Eden HaTachton (the hallway outside the Rebbe’s room) to receive Dalet minim from the Rebbe, R’ Mottel was also invited. He received an esrog, lulav and a bundle of eighteen hadasim! These kiruvim thrilled him and he immediately said to the Rebbe, “May Hashem help so that you have nachas from the Chassidim!” The Rebbe responded, “And nachas from me” (i.e. that the Chassidim should have nachas from the Rebbe). R’ Mottel said, “Nachas from you? When you are healthy, that is the greatest nachas of the Chassidim.”

Before returning to Moscow, he waited near Gan Eden HaTachton and the Rebbe passed by when the davening was over and gave him a bottle of mashke and told him to go to the secretariat where he would be given $36. R’ Mottel asked the Rebbe, “Since I am returning to Moscow, they will surely ask me what the Rebbe said. What should I answer them?” The Rebbe replied, “Moshiach is on his way and we need to prepare for his coming.”

Communist oppression dwindled and many people made aliya. The communist government revisited the files of ideological prisoners and most of them were “exonerated,” i.e. their offenses were deleted with the understanding that they acted with political or ideological motivations which differed from that of the government. On 20 Adar II 5749, R’ Mottel was also “exonerated” of all guilt.

In Shvat 5753, his second wife, Chaya Sarah, passed away. He was elderly and the fact that he was a widower was reason for him to leave Russia. He knew he could not remain there alone in Moscow. He informed the local community that he wanted to leave. Within a short time they found a replacement, a young man to serve as shochet and mohel. After his replacement arrived, he wrote to the Rebbe that he wanted to leave to be with his children and grandchildren in New York and the Rebbe gave his consent.

In Adar 5753 he settled in Crown Heights and in the years to come he wrote his memoirs.

Two decades passed and a few weeks ago, as he walked to shul he collapsed. He passed away on 4 Adar II at the age of 97 leaving a son and daughters: R’ Zalman (Monsey), Sarah Haskelevich, and Sheindel Wiener (Far Rockaway).

R’ Mottel receiving kos shel bracha from the Rebbe

R’ Mottel receiving Dalet minim from the Rebbe

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AND THE HOLY ONE, BLESSED IS HE, SAVES US FROM THEIR HANDSBy Nechama Bar

11 Nissan / April 1, 1882. Hungary

Mrs. Solymosi raced through the streets of Tiszaeszlár, a Hungarian village. She was frantically looking for her daughter, Eszter, who had disappeared.

The Solymosi family were Christian peasants and their fourteen year old daughter worked as a maid for a Christian family. One day, she was sent on an errand from which she never returned. Her mother was sure that she was in the house where she worked as a maid, but that wasn’t so. A few days had gone by already and she had not appeared there.

The worried mother asked whoever she saw, “Did you see my daughter? A tall, thin girl with long, blond hair?” She even showed people a picture of her daughter, but nobody could tell her where her daughter was. They all shook their heads no, while some looked at her pityingly and wished her luck in finding her daughter.

Yosef Scharf, the shamash in the shul, was walking to the shul for davening. Eszter’s mother

met him too, and stopped him with her question, did he perhaps know where her daughter was?

Yosef was a simple man and was not gifted with an abundance of intelligence. Instead of saying he did not know, he began to console her and said, “Don’t worry, your daughter will come back home. See, a year ago, around Passover time, a Christian boy disappeared and

nobody knew where he was. Cruel people wanted to make up lies against the Jews as though to say they murdered him and used his blood to bake matzos for Passover. Oy, what a ridiculous claim. Who uses blood to bake matza? Anyway, in the end, the boy was found and he returned home in fine condition. You’ll see, your daughter will also return home.”

The woman did not need more than this. These few sentences were enough for her to decide that the Jews were the ones who had taken her daughter and who knew what they did to her …

She rushed to the police station with a

horrifying claim. “My dear daughter vanished a few days ago. I am sure that the Jews kidnapped her. They probably killed her in order to use her blood to bake matza for their holiday.”

The police commander was thrilled to hear this. He was an ardent Jew hater and this was a golden excuse to harm the Jews.

He nodded understandingly

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and said, “I think that your suspicion is justified. The same week that your daughter disappeared, three Jewish ritual slaughterers came here in order to be tested so as to be accepted as ritual slaughterers in the Jewish community. Who knows, maybe they committed a criminal act.”

He dismissed the woman with the promise that he would research the matter and bring the Jews to justice.

The commander, with hatred for the Jews burning in his bones, got to work. He called over the shamash’s little boy who was also not that clever. He wickedly bribed the boy with gifts and convinced the child to testify that he himself had seen through the keyhole of the synagogue as the Jews took the girl and murdered her.

The evil commander took the boy to his house and watched over him well, so nobody could approach him and talk to him and convince him to say otherwise.

That same day, policemen burst into the shul, blocked the exit and took whoever had the misfortune of being there at the time. Fifteen Jews were taken in chains and brought to the police commander. The savage man tortured them until they felt they had no choice but to confess to something they did not do.

The story became known internationally. Explanations that Jews do not use blood to bake matza and in general, the Torah commands us not to consume blood fell on deaf ears.

Two months went by. A Jew and two Christians were on a raft in the river when they saw a body of a girl floating on the water. They pulled the body out of the river and discovered that she was the missing girl. A doctor

examined her and said that no human being had done her any harm. It seemed the girl had fallen into the river and drowned.

The news spread and the Jews breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, the farce was revealed to all and the unfortunate prisoners would be released. But their joy did not last long. The vicious commander did not give up. He tortured the three men who found the girl and forced them to “confess” that they had brought the girl from somewhere else and had thrown her into the river in order to remove the suspicion from the Jews.

Once again, the Jews were in mourning. They prayed and pleaded to Hashem that He help them.

The court case took place one year later. Journalists from around the world were in attendance. The Jews were extremely tense about how the case would go. Jews all over the world prayed and said T’hillim,

hoping a miracle would take place and their innocence would be revealed to all.

A miracle occurred. A Christian by the name of Károly Eötvös, who was a learned person and an upright individual, was able to prove the absurdity of the accusation. He had the police commander go to the shul, close the door, and try to see through the keyhole. It turned out that nothing could be seen through the keyhole.

The commander’s face turned colors when it was demonstrated before everyone that the accusation had no basis. The Jewish prisoners were released after being in prison for seventeen months for no reason. The results of the trial were publicized around the world.

As we say in the Hagada, “in every generation they rise up against us to destroy us, and the Holy One blessed is He saves us from their hands.”

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“WHO IS A JEW?” OR “WHO IS AN ISRAELI?”Regrettably, many of the politicians in Eretz

Yisroel fail to understand the difference between

an Israeli and a Jew. Again and again, we hear

about the efforts to redefine who is a Jew

according to the national definition of a citizen

of the state of Israel. The fulfillment of Torah and

mitzvos is no longer the formula for belonging

to the Jewish People; instead it’s the fervent

devotion to the nuances of Israeli culture.

By Sholom Ber Crombie

Translated by Michoel Leib Dobry

1.It may sound a bit strange,

but lately the members of the Knesset have appeared to take on an approach of supreme knowledge. They had made the decision on what is best for the ultra-Orthodox community, including a callous intrusion into the educational content of their children’s studies to release them from the “burden” of learning Torah. Now, they have adopted the role of the chief rabbis of Israel, and every

Knesset back-bencher is certain that he knows the opinion of Torah better than these leading Talmudic scholars. Rabbanim are no longer the ultimate authority that decides on the issue of conversion. They have been replaced by the country’s political representatives.

According to the new legislation introduced by the N e t a n y a h u - L a p i d - B e n n e t t coalition government, every potential convert can choose which rabbinical authority will perform his/her conversion,

including Reform and Conservative rabbis. In practical terms, Knesset Member Elazar Stern’s proposal seeks to tear down the last remaining guardrail of government conversion laws. Among the opponents to this legislation is Rabbi Chaim Druckman – the same rav who received a “lifetime achievement” award for his work as director of the Israel Conversion Authority, which has turned this field into a colossal mess. Now, however, even he has come to his senses. The person who has represented

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a matador’s red cape on the conversion issue, arousing the fury of leading Torah giants, has finally stepped forward to prevent passage of a new law that can destroy everything. But the Knesset Members aren’t all that interested. With the encouragement of journalists who are convinced that the ultimate truth and justice lies with them, coalition MKs have come with a full frontal attack against the final bastion of the crumbling conversion system in the chief rabbinate of Eretz Yisroel.

In this determined atmosphere against all that holy is in Israel, everything is permissible. After the minister of religious affairs, the person entrusted with guarding the principles of the Jewish faith, embraced the Reform movement and gave it official sanction at the Kosel, it should come as no wonder that they would dare to push forward this new bill proposed by another kippa-wearing Knesset Member.

According to Bayit Yehudi MK Orit Struk, MK Elazar Stern doesn’t move an inch on this legislation without first consulting with the Reform people. Mrs. Struk was also among those who succeeded in stopping the decree and delaying a vote before the Knesset. In the compromise worked within the coalition, the government’s version of the legislation won’t be as bad as the legislation proposed by MK Stern, designed to give full recognition to the Reform movement. However, there’s no way of knowing what Bennett and his cohorts are preparing for us. They have already taken several steps towards Reform Judaism, which they see as its ideal partner.

2.Knesset Member Stern has

been privileged to acquire one tremendous merit from Heaven. For the first time since last year’s Knesset elections, the rabbanim of the ultra-Orthodox and religious Zionist sectors have managed to unite. Two weeks ago, many prominent rabbinical figures from the knitted-kippa community gathered in the office of Eretz Yisroel’s chief Sephardic rabbi, HaRav Yitzchak Yosef, for a joint discussion on methods for halting this dangerous statutory initiative. Among the participants was Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, who has tried long and hard to stand up against the chairman of the Bayit Yehudi Party and his efforts to create further damage to the country’s conversion system.

In the end, Mr. Bennett was forced to stand behind the rabbanim and put the proposal on hold. The threat made by the chief rabbis, that they would resign if the law passed, made it quite clear that this was a line they were not prepared to cross. From the point of view of ultra-Orthodox Jewry, official recognition of the Reform movement in Eretz Yisroel would compel the more observant sectors of the population to produce texts on genealogy as a means of redefining “Who is a Jew.”

To understand the new legislative initiatives the Bayit Yehudi chairman is trying to advance, we need to go back to his proclamations from before the elections. Bennett didn’t hide his opinions. He repeatedly said, “There are hundreds of thousands of immigrants today from the former Soviet Union who are not Jewish according to Halacha, however, it is possible to convert them in a much easier

fashion… Yet, the institution of the rabbinate is killing them. For example, you have someone who emigrated from the Ukraine, serves in the army, lives like a Jew, wants to be a Jew, and is ready to do a series of activities in order to become a Jew. However, he’s not prepared to be humiliated and [then] rejected. I say: Come, let’s bring them in to us. Who will fight for this today? Only we will.”

Here’s another statement Bennett made often during last year’s campaign: “Who will ensure that the country will be Jewish and Zionist? Who will ensure the conversion of the hundreds of thousands of immigrants from the former Soviet Union who today are not allowed to convert? Who will make certain that the majority of the traditional Sephardic community will receive a Jewish Zionist education, not a chareidi education? Who will ensure this? Only we will.” But above all, there was Bennett’s real election promise: “The party will make it possible for a young couple that wants to get married to see a Zionist rabbi, and not a non-Zionist rabbi.” And when Bennett says “non-Zionist,” he means an ultra-Orthodox rav who will make certain to maintain the protective walls of Judaism and not marry couples without first ascertaining their status as Jews.

As a result, no one can really come with any complaints against Mr. Bennett. After all he had made certain promises, and now he wants to fulfill them. The real question is: Where were all these rabbanim until now? Maybe they hadn’t supported him openly, but neither did they make any effort to block his road to electoral victory, or at least impose conditions for their support.

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3.The problem did not begin

with Knesset Member Stern’s legislative proposal or even with the weakness of the Bayit Yehudi Party and its leaders. The Knesset’s legislative system takes positions on Judaism that are far too independent. Therefore, as long as MKs fail to internalize that they are not the authority in determining Torah matters, we will continue to have a serious problem with their agenda of social activism on religious issues. This system is trying to eat away at the country’s holiest institutions, offering a perilously new interpretation of the basic principles of Torah. Regrettably, many of the politicians in Eretz Yisroel fail to understand the difference between an Israeli and a Jew. Again and again, we hear about the efforts to redefine who is a Jew according to the national definition of a citizen of the state of Israel. The fulfillment of Torah and mitzvos is no longer the formula for belonging to the Jewish People; instead it’s the fervent devotion to the nuances of Israeli culture.

It was regarding this issue that the Rebbe wrote to David Ben-Gurion in 5719: “It is precisely in Eretz Yisroel that there exists the danger that a new generation will grow up, a new type bearing the name of Israel but completely divorced from the past of our people and its eternal and essential values; and, moreover, hostile to it in its world outlook, its culture, and the content of its daily life; hostile – in spite of the fact that it will speak Hebrew, dwell in

the land of the Patriarchs, and show growing enthusiasm for the Tanach.”

This letter was a continuation of the Rebbe’s reply on the issue of converting children to Judaism who were born of a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother. “This is in reply to your letter regarding my opinion on the registration of children of mixed marriages, when the father is a Jew and the mother a non-Jew who did not undergo conversion before the birth of the child,” the Rebbe wrote him.

The Rebbe related to Ben-Gurion’s question whether to show leniency in the conditions for conversion in the Jewish homeland: “The above applies not only to children whose parents or guardians declare their desire to register them as Jews, but to whoever comes forward to declare his wish to change his status in order to enter the Jewish community. Such a declaration has no force whatsoever unless he actually fulfills, or has fulfilled, the appropriate conversion procedure as laid down in the Jewish codes of the Shulchan Aruch.”

In addition, the Rebbe noted several points at the conclusion of his correspondence. Among these points, the Rebbe wrote the following:

a. “The question of registration, or however it may be described, is not a matter confined to Eretz Yisroel alone. It goes without saying – as explained in your letter – that no one may raise a barrier between the Jews of Israel and those of

the Diaspora. On the contrary, all our brethren, wherever they may be, have constituted one people, from the moment of their emergence in spite of their dispersion in all the corners of the world. Consequently, the solution of the problem must be one that is acceptable to all members of the Jewish People everywhere, one that is capable of forging and strengthening the bounds between unity of all Jews, and certainly not one that would be cause, even the remotest, of disunity and dissension. Accordingly, even if you may argue that the present conditions in Eretz Yisroel call for a special study of the abovementioned question, those conditions do not restrict the problem to Eretz Yisroel, but, as noted, constitute a matter of common concern to every Jew everywhere.”

b. “The belonging to the Jewish People was never considered by our people as a formal, external matter. It has always been defined and delineated in terms of the commitment of the whole being of the Jew, something intimately linked with his very essence and innermost experience. Accordingly, any movement which disregards or belittles any of the procedures in this connection degrades the feeling of belonging to the Jewish People and cannot but be detrimental to the serious and profound attitude toward the Jew’s inner link with his people.”

c. “To ease the conditions of transition and affiliation to the Jewish People – particularly in the special circumstances of Eretz Yisroel, surrounded by countries and peoples unsympathetic towards it (that is an understatement) – is to endanger considerably the security of Eretz Yisroel.”

This system is trying to eat away at the country’s

holiest institutions, offering a perilously new

interpretation of the basic principles of Torah.

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OBITUARY

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