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FEATURED ARTICLES

6 SHLICHUS – A WAY OF LIFEShneur Chaviv

16 “FOR FEAR OF HEAVEN YOU NEED TO GO TO LUBAVITCH”Shneur Zalman Berger

28 A PASSIONATE CHASSIDDov Levanon

34 “AND THE NATIONS SHALL GO BY YOUR LIGHT”Rabbi Yaakov Shmuelevitz, a”h

28

CONTENTS

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WEEKLY COLUMNS 4 D’var Malchus13 Thought23 Parsha Thought26 Thought38 Crossroads41 Tzivos Hashem

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770 LIFTS UP THE LAND OF THE 70 NATIONSUplifting the world in this way is in virtue of “Beis

Rabbeinu,” located in the Lower Hemisphere.

Beis Rabbeinu is the place from which light shines

forth to the rest of the world. * From Chapter

Six of Rabbi Shloma Majeski’s Likkutei Mekoros (Underlined text is the

compiler’s emphasis.)

Translated by Boruch Merkur

6. […] In this generation, the final generation of exile and the first generation or redemption, we are finishing and completing “our deeds and our service throughout the entire duration of exile” to transform Eretz HaAmim, the land of the Gentile nations of the world – even the lowest possible place of the Diaspora, the Lower Hemisphere (where Mattan Torah did not take place) – into Eretz Yisroel. By elevating the very lowest region, all other places of the Diaspora ascend.

Uplifting the world in this way is in virtue of “Beis Rabbeinu,” located in the Lower Hemisphere. Beis Rabbeinu is the place from which light shines forth to the rest of the world. Thus, the entire world (even the most remote corner) is transformed into Eretz Yisroel, in fulfillment of “In the future, Eretz Yisroel will extend to all the lands” and “In

the future, Yerushalayim will extend to all of Eretz Yisroel.” All the synagogues and study halls of the entire world will adjoin to the Beis HaMikdash, the Holy Temple, with the true and complete redemption through Moshiach Tzidkeinu. The Moshiach (redeemer of the Jewish people) of our generation is the leader of the generation (as above, Section 5). The main thing, however, is that he is the leader of the teachings of Chassidus,* for the dissemination of the wellsprings of Chassidus outward (“when your wellsprings are spread outward,” reaching even the furthest possible distance, spanning the entire face of the earth) brings about the advent of Malka Meshicha.

The latter discussion brings to light the great virtue of Beis Rabbeinu, the Mikdash M’at ha’ikari – the main Miniature Sanctuary, of the final exile,

“for it journeyed from Kadeish and settled there.” Thus, “It is the place of the future Mikdash itself”; the Mikdash of the future will be revealed there, and from there it shall return to Yerushalayim (as discussed above in Section 4).

7. This concept is also alluded to in the name of “Beis Rabbeinu” in our generation:

“Rabbeinu”: Both the first and second names of the Rebbe allude to the redemption. His first name, Yosef, is in the spirit of the verse, “It shall be on that day that the L-rd will add (yosif) [the effect of] His hand, a second time to acquire the rest of His people, who will remain from Assyria and from Egypt…and from the islands of the sea…and He shall gather (v’asaf) the lost of Israel, and the scattered ones of Yehuda He shall gather from the four corners of the earth” (Yeshayahu 11:11-12).

D’VAR MALCHUS

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His second name, Yitzchok, alludes to laughter and joy, which will achieve its quintessence in the true and compete redemption by Moshiach Tzidkeinu, as it is written, “then our mouths will be filled with laughter” – specifically “then,” referring to the Future Era,** when we will say (specifically) to Yitzchok “for you are our father.”

And Beis (Rabbeinu): The building address is 770*** [Eastern Parkway]. The name of Beis Rabbeinu, of course, comes from this number, for all Jews call Beis Rabbeinu “770.” 770 is the gematria of “paratza – you have burst forth,” in the spirit of the verse, “And you shall burst forth westward, eastward, northward, and southward.” This verse alludes to the fact that light shines forth from this building to all four directions of the world, and in a manner of bursting forth through boundaries, elevating all corners of the globe to the status of Eretz Yisroel (“In the future Eretz Yisroel will extend to all the lands”).

This particularly includes the fact that all synagogues and all study halls throughout the entire world become established in Eretz Yisroel and adjoined to the Beis HaMikdash, with the true and complete redemption

through Moshiach Tzidkeinu. Regarding Moshiach it is said, “paratza alecha Perez,” and our Sages interpret that “this refers to Moshiach, as it is said, ‘the poretz will rise before you.’”

(From Kuntres Beis Rabbeinu Sh’B’Bavel, Seifer HaSichos 5752,

pg. 472-473)

NOTES:

*To note that the teachings of Chassidus corresponds to the level of the Yechida of Torah (see On the Essence of Chassidus), which is connected with the yechida of the Jewish people, the soul of Moshiach Tzidkeinu (as above in Footnote 53)

**Which is not the case in the time of exile, “for it is prohibited for a

man to fill his mouth with laughter in this world, as it is said, ‘then our mouths will be filled with laughter’” (Brachos 31a).

***To note the practice of great Jewish scholars to teach allusions and lessons in the service of G-d even from mundane matters, and the like (such as the number of a car in a train, which is [seemingly] arbitrary, how much more so is the number of a permanent structure something that carries significance), especially in our case, where the number became the name of the building, as discussed inside the text proper.

The name of Beis Rabbeinu, of course, comes

from this number, for all Jews call Beis Rabbeinu

“770.” 770 is the gematria of “paratza – you have burst

forth,” in the spirit of the verse, “And you shall burst

forth westward, eastward, northward, and southward.”

This verse alludes to the fact that light shines forth from

this building to all four directions of the world, and in a

manner of bursting forth through boundaries, elevating

all corners of the globe to the status of Eretz Yisroel

In Crown Heights area: 1640/1700AM worldwide, online: www.RadioMoshiach.org

USA phone: 718 557 7701 In Israel (Nechayeg Venishmah): 08-9493-770 (press 1 # / 9 # / 3 #)

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SHLICHUS – A WAY OF LIFEThe four of them are representative of the Chabad community in Eretz

Yisroel. One is a veteran director of a Chabad house, another is a senior

employee in the weapons manufacture industry, a third is the owner of a

printing house, and the fourth is the principal of an elementary school and

the director of a Chabad house. * Discussions with hard-working Chassidim

for whom mivtzaim is part of the air they breathe and a shliach who dreams

of a Chabad house on every street corner. They are Chassidim who don’t

seek a title or official appointment in order to carry out the Rebbe’s horaos.

By Shneur Chaviv

Portrait photography by Koby Kalmanowitz

R’ Shneur Chaviv during the interview


SHLICHUS

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I know R’ Yisroel G. about as long as I know myself. He is the senior supervisor of a team of engineers in

one of the key weapons plants in the center of the country and an old friend of the family from France. G. is a mainstay of the Chabad community in the Gilo neighborhood in Yerushalayim and is the gabbai of the Chabad shul there.

Recently, my family and I spent Shabbos in Yerushalayim with my parents. After davening he came over to me. “Can I invite you to farbreng at our plant in honor of 24 Teves?” he asked. He explained that he arranges a farbrengen on every special date in the calendar for the employees of the plant during the lunch break and he brings someone to farbreng.

I agreed. After much back and forth and endless pleading and warnings to come on time and how important being on time was, and after a series of security checks and interrogations I arrived (late of course), though

not before they had taken away my mobile data device and covered my camera phone with special stickers.

This was not the first time that I was invited to speak in a workplace, but this time I was surprised. Instead of a minyan of men waiting impatiently around an elliptical table in a conference room, I found a fully appointed shul that was packed with employees. They all sat with their eyes glued to Yisroel (after all, I was late) who stood behind the bima and spoke excitedly about the Alter Rebbe.

After a short farbrengen, in the time remaining to me until the end of the farbrengen, Yisroel announced that whoever wanted to write a p’n to the Rebbe could do so at this auspicious time. He took out white papers and the guys stood in line to write a request of the Rebbe for a bracha.

When I left, I noticed the colorful flyer on the door of the shul which said “Beis Chabad … (the name of the company)” on top. Yisroel’s Chabad house

is so active that it would put to shame a more conventional type of Chabad house.

“We have mivtza t’fillin every day, a weekly Tanya class, and big farbrengens with guest speakers on Chassidic holidays. Like every Chabad house, we work to bring the messages of a holiday and its mitzvos to the thousands of employees of the company. Whether it’s lighting the menorah on Chanuka, matza for Pesach, and even a special event for 15 Shevat, we organize it here,” says Yisroel.

Yisroel G. is not the only one. It’s a growing phenomenon of Chabad Chassidim who consider themselves shluchim at their place of work. You see it generally after the Chassidishe holidays in the Chabad media – news items about employees who farbrenged at Kodak, Bezeq, Alta, Machon Lev, etc. The common denominator between all those who initiate and organize these fabulous activities is that these are Chassidim who internalized the idea of “know Him in all your ways.” They have realized that the role of a Chassid as a lamplighter is to illuminate himself and his surroundings with the shlichus of the Rebbe MH”M.

NO WORK BEFORE DONNING TEFILLIN

A few kilometers away from the defense plant and Yisroel’s Chabad house, a salesman for paper goods enters a large printing factory. Without asking a lot of questions, he rolls up his sleeve and offers his arm to one of the employees who puts t’fillin on him.

“Every customer or supplier who walks in here, is asked to

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put on t’fillin,” says R’ Yaakov Kenig of Kfar Chabad, one of the leading Chabad industrialists and manager of the factory. “Today they all know already that if they skip the t’fillin, they will have a hard time doing business with us,” he says with a smile.

R’ Kenig’s printing factory is Lubavitch owned and the style of operation is somewhat different than the weapons plant but the goal is the same: in all your ways – shliach.

“We have a pair of t’fillin here. All the employees, without exception, do not begin working until they put on t’fillin. We also arrange farbrengens on all the Chassidic holidays with guest speakers and sometimes the employees are asked to prepare something to say and the management and employees farbreng together.”

EMPLOYEES CHANGED THEIR LIVESShlichus in the workplace is

different and unique, usually in a good way. “Often, when we do mivtzaim at work, we are able to reach places or people that we would never have reached otherwise,” says Yisroel. He thinks that the professional respect and interaction among work colleagues which is created after years of working together, sometimes literally shoulder to shoulder, breaks barriers and creates an openness and readiness to listen to someone with whom, on the outside, he would never cooperate.

“One of the vice-chairmen told me that he never considered putting on t’fillin at the t’fillin stand near the mall. But when I ask him, he can’t refuse.”

It’s twenty years already that Yisroel has been leaving his house every morning for the defense plant. But he did not always see himself as a shliach. The defining moment, according to him, was nearly a decade ago when he took his son for hanachas t’fillin in 770.

“We stood there, it was a very special moment, and I felt that it was an auspicious time, a moment when you can ask for anything. I closed my eyes and clenched my fists and asked the Rebbe for one thing – I want to be a shliach.

“When we left, I felt like an altogether different person. When I returned to the plant after that trip, I no longer felt like an engineer doing mivtzaim now and then, but like a shliach who uses his advanced education to spread the wellsprings.

R’ Yisroel G.


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“When it’s a workplace, the main outreach is done during breaks. I do wide-ranging mivtza t’fillin that includes all the levels of employees starting with the cleaning crew and ending with the top executives of the company. I measure out the Yiddishkait to each one in the proper dosage. Over time and the years, the impact of mivtzaim during lunch has a progressively deeper effect and there are employees who have changed their lives because of these encounters.

“Two years ago, the employees decided to make a menorah according to the Rambam’s design out of jet engine parts. Every night we lit the menorah together with the employees and the managers. After Chanuka, the vice-chairman said to set up the menorah at the entrance to the plant.”

A NEW ERA AND A NEW PROJECT

“In all your ways” – being a shliach doesn’t only have to be at one’s place of employment; it can mean helping the shluchim. One of the Chabad houses where most of the work is based on the full cooperation of the Chabad community is the U’faratzta-Beis Chabad of the Kibbutzim organization, which is run by R’ Yaakov Tzvi Ben-Ari.

“The Rebbe did not build Lubavitch communities so that in Lubavitch there should be flourishing communities that in the best case donate money to the local shliach,” says R’ Sholom Dovber Chaviv, director of U’faratzta. “Chabad communities around Eretz Yisroel are meant to serve as home base for outreach in the area. A sort of command

center in the south, center and north or more correctly put, the ‘manpower arm’ of the shluchim.”

U’faratzta-Beis Chabad of the Kibbutzim is one of the oldest Chabad houses in the country and its reach extends to an extremely wide range of activities. Under its jurisdiction are hundreds of kibbutzim around the country. For many of those living on kibbutzim, U’faratzta is their only contact for Jewish matters.

On holidays, the organizational headquarters at the Chaviv family in Tzfas is reminiscent of a military command center. Every few minutes another group goes out equipped with a full kit ready to tackle their assignment. This will usually be house calls with addresses provided but

R’ Yaakov Kenig

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sometimes it is a big party or event at a kibbutz.

The “manpower arm” of the shluchim in the Tzfas and outlying areas is the “Matteh HaMivtzaim of the Vaad HaAvreichim” of the Chabad community in Tzfas. The vaad has a list of people who are interested in going out and pairs them up with shluchim in the north.

“Our job is to harness the horses to the wagon,” says R’ Menachem Kretz one of the coordinators of the vaad. He explains how it works. “Before every holiday, we run a campaign in the community encouraging people to go on mivtzaim. We make sure the mashpiim speak about this at farbrengens, we put out flyers, and then we ask each person when he is interested in going out and whether he has preferred locations, special

interests or skills. Then we map out all the applications and divide the teams according to the shluchim’s requests.”

A TEACHER WHO DOES MIVTZAIM WILL BE A

BETTER TEACHER!There are people who, along

with their jobs, do shlichus full-time. R’ Barak Kochavi, principal of a Chabad school in Lud, is a shliach in yishuv Chashmonaim.

Chinuch demands all of one’s attention and so does shlichus. How can you do both?

“Chinuch is a full-time job which demands my complete attention and so does shlichus, but I love each of these positions. Each of them gives me much joy and satisfaction. When I come home and have to throw myself full force into my second role, it

is amazingly energizing,” says R’ Kochavi.

“In general, combining mivtzaim and chinuch is a good thing, and each one enhances the other. A mechanech who is involved in mivtzaim will definitely be a better mechanech and a better shliach. It’s also good for the students to see you as a role model.

“The combination of running a school and full-fledged shlichus is very demanding and may not be for everyone. Nevertheless, the two roles have many things in common; the ability to focus on the neshama, to see a person beyond the layers he is wrapped in, to focus on him and to enable him to blossom. It is the greatest possible pleasure.

“I personally combine the two because of answers I received from the Rebbe, both to work in chinuch and shlichus. Since our

R’ Yitzchok Gruzman

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SHLICHUS

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yishuv is religious, the kind of activities are somewhat different and provides the necessary room to maneuver in order to succeed both in working with Jewish children in the school and on shlichus in Chashmonaim.

“Another thing, without which I could not manage to wear two hats, is delegation of authority. If you insist on maintaining control over everything, it will be hard to do other things. The ability to decentralize and delegate both at the school and on shlichus is one of the keys to success.”

SIXTEEN CHABAD HOUSES IN ONE CITY!

Speaking of delegating to others, one of the cities where Chabad is growing at an astonishing rate is Rishon L’Tziyon. In recent decades, the city that has been developing very quickly in every respect including

upward, is also developing from a Chabad perspective. Sixteen Chabad houses, three of them on one street! A community and mosdos.

The one responsible for the shlichus explosion in the city is veteran shliach, R’ Yitzchok Gruzman.

Sixteen Chabad houses in one city, most of them opened in the past decade. Was this your plan or did it just work out this way?

“Of course it was planned. I think everyone needs to recognize his limitations. We were told by the Rebbe to take responsibility for every Jew in our city. In Rishon L’Tziyon there are over 350,000 people. Can one person, even the most talented, reach that number of people?

“We have that many Chabad houses, and yet I can tell you that we are still not reaching

every person in this city. If you calculate what percentage of the people Chabad is reaching, we have a ways to go.”

Can having so many Chabad houses in one place be the cause of friction?

“G-d forbid. On the contrary, the cooperation and mutual farginin among the shluchim is amazing. It is simply siyata d’Shmaya. I remember that when we wanted to open a second Chabad house on Rechov Rothschild, some tried to stop us with the excuse that it was a surefire recipe for friction. Today there are three Chabad houses on Rothschild and each one does its thing. If there aren’t any special events, I get to see the other shluchim twice a year at the Kinus HaShluchim in 770 and at the Kinus of directors of Chabad houses in Eretz Yisroel.

“I think all shluchim should

R’ Barak Kochavi

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do the same. Bring more and more shluchim to your area and there is always enough work for all to do. Beyond that, I’ve asked Lubavitcher couples to move here, even not as official shluchim. Just to live here with a shlichus mindset. The shlichus will happen naturally, on Shabbos in shul, on line in the supermarket, at the playground. Continue doing what you’ve been doing, just live here and you will make an impact.”

Others do it with a nucleus of b’nei Torah. Is this a model we should adopt?

“Certainly! Why not? It will bring enormous chizuk to every Chabad house and to every shliach, wherever he is.”

With certain things, do you insist on Chabad in Rishon presenting a united front such as in dealings with the municipality?

“No way. Way back when, the

city asked that the shluchim not come separately; rather, the central Chabad house should centralize all requests. I told them, nothing doing. Every shliach is a separate corporate entity with a separate budget and separate activities, so why should they present their requests jointly? The results have shown us that when each one applies separately, they have achieved far more than if they had filed their applications jointly.”

What criteria are there to decide whether to bring in another shliach?

“In principle, just as there is a grocery store on every corner that sells bread and milk, there is no reason for there not to be a Chabad house too. Actually though, it depends. It is usually divided by neighborhood but it can also be according to function. I believe that each person needs to fit his role in shlichus. If I see a young man suited for rabbanus, I will try to find him a

position as rav in a shul. If someone is suited to working with kids, I will match him up with that job.

“When I came to Rishon L’Tziyon, I worked a lot with young people. The years passed and the young people grew up and I discovered that I no longer spoke the language of the young people. That’s why I decided to bring another shliach to work with young people. But boruch Hashem, he also matured and we brought another new shliach for the young people and I will be bringing another shliach to replace the third one. The previous shluchim have plenty of work to do with the families of mekuravim who were once the young people.

“The truth is that I believe that the Rebbe MH”M is going to come any minute now and this belief makes me very nervous about that moment when we will be asked, ‘Did you do all that you could do?’”

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SHLICHUS

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THE SIMCHA OF THE GEULAEach of us has a “barrel” that weighs heavily on his heart and that doesn’t allow him to be joyful. If we want to get rid of it, we need to arouse joy from a place where it does not depend on anything, but exudes from our very being. Through this joy, we will be able to remove the “barrel” and bring in the Geula.

By Rabbi Nadav Cohen

REWARD OR PART OF THE JOB?

Is simcha a reward for our avodas Hashem or is it part of the assignment we got?

I once learned with someone, a beginner who had started committing to mitzvos like t’fillin and Shabbos. At the same time though, he was involved with all sorts of spiritual workshops that are not from a holy source. Whenever we spoke about his adding to his davening and not sufficing with reciting the Shma, he would say, “But I don’t feel anything when I put on t’fillin!”

He explained to me, “At the workshops I attend, I feel something special, a spiritual atmosphere. That doesn’t happen when I put on t’fillin.” I

told him that in Judaism it works the other way around – we did not come here to receive; we came here to give.

WE DIDN’T COME TO AN AMUSEMENT PARKThere are people who want

to be happy. They do mitzvos as they are supposed to do and wait for Hashem to appreciate their service and grant them the expected reward, happiness. Likewise, there are people who go and daven every morning and wonder – when will Hashem excite me and let me feel some G-dliness?

In both cases, the anticipation comes from an incorrect grasp of reality and from an incorrect understanding of the relationship between us and Hashem. We are

not guests at G-d’s hotel. We are not here to enjoy all the services that He offers and to do His will in exchange. We did not pay to enter the amusement park and we are not waiting to enjoy the various “rides” – to be happy, to feel holiness, to attain serenity, to have shalom bayis, to reap the benefits of chinuch of the children, etc.

We descended to the world for a goal and mission that we need to carry out. Our neshama was in the upper world and chose to come down and enter a body to do the tasks Hashem assigned it. Yes, we are promised a reward for doing it, but when we understand the greatness of the privilege of carrying out the assignment, that itself is the greatest possible reward.

Furthermore, when we understand that our neshama is part of G-d, part of the Creator, and we are not just His workers but His children, who is thinking about a reward?! A son does not help his father for the reward he will get but because he loves him. He loves him because he feels connected to him. If the father would give his son a reward, the son would be insulted. Because by paying him for the work he does he shows that the relationship between them is one

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of “give and take” and nothing more.

THE ADVANTAGES OF BEING A HAPPY PERSON

Our main job is to bring the world to Yemos HaMoshiach, to the final state in which the world ceases to conceal G-d and starts to reveal Him. That is the state in which G-dliness is seen openly. In every person, we will actually see the G-dliness within him shine. We accomplish this through a list of instructions we received, i.e. the mitzvos. The moment we focus on the task, we start to forget about ourselves, what we have and what we lack. Only when a person stops focusing on himself can joy start to penetrate his inner being. Now we can begin harnessing the simcha in our work too.

Joy definitely adds a lot of flavor and enthusiasm to a Jew’s life; it is not enough to simply do mitzvos. Part of the job is to fulfill mitzvos with joy. Everything that is done with simcha and enthusiasm is done in a much better way. The simcha is contagious, infecting everyone around us. Everyone loves to be in the company of happy people and when someone walks in with a smile, people smile back.

When we are happy, we move faster, lighter, ready to carry out any job without being fazed by obstacles that might crop up.

JOY SHATTERS BARRIERSThere is another component

to simcha, from which we can understand just how pertinent simcha is to the Geula, and to what extent the Geula depends on our simcha.

Simcha poretz geder, it breaks down barriers. Each of us has his personal limits, emotional

blockages, psychological obstacles that prevent our neshama from expressing itself in the world. For one it’s hard to give tz’daka, for another davening properly is hard, for another it’s learning Torah lishma, for another it’s Ahavas Yisroel, and so on.

How do we break through our inner roadblocks? How do we overcome the obstacles?

Through simcha! When a person is happy, he can break through all limitations and knock down all the barriers. We can see this when even a tightwad is willing to freely give tz’daka on the day he marries off his child. Even those who don’t get along on a day to day basis hug and dance with one another on Simchas Torah.

But even within limitations there are levels, and not all types of simcha break down all the barriers. The greater the simcha, the greater the limits it can break through.

When a person rejoices with what he has, with his personal successes in life and the self-actualization he has achieved, this is a limited simcha since there is a limit to how successful a person can be; ultimately it’s a material success. Since the simcha is limited, the boundaries broken through by this simcha are also limited, and he only rises up a little above his present state.

When the simcha comes from spiritual things and a person rejoices over spiritual success and Torah achievements, it is a loftier type of simcha for it is connected to spiritual things. But this simcha is still dependent on something, and therefore it is also limited and it can only break through some limitations.

But when a person rises to the state of essential joy, the joy

over the very fact of being a Jew, joy over being on the threshold of Geula and hinei zeh Moshiach ba, this is a simcha above limitations. Consequently, it breaks through all boundaries and reaches to the essence of the person’s neshama and the very essence of Hashem. This is a simcha which reveals the essence and brings the Geula.

A simcha like this has an effect not only on us and not only on those around us, but on all Jews in the world even if they are unaware of it. An example of this is our simcha over the Geula of the Rebbe Rayatz on the Chag Ha’Geula of 12-13 Tammuz. When we rejoice on the Chag Ha’Geula, we break additional boundaries in the world and add to the Geula itself. When we rejoice on this day over the very fact that we have a Rebbe and this Rebbe went from darkness to light, we break boundaries, reveal the essence, and add to the Geula of the Rebbe Rayatz.

Since the Geula of the Rebbe Rayatz is the Geula of all the Jewish people, for by his leaving jail we were all redeemed, when we rejoice on the Chag Ha’Geula, we add to the Geula of every Jew everywhere, even those who don’t know about the Chag Ha’Geula. Not only that, but we also receive additional powers to overcome our obstacles, to break through our personal barriers.

THE STORY OF SIMCHAThe story is told of the two

holy brothers, R’ Elimelech of Lizhensk and R’ Zushe of Anipoli, who were both arrested and put in a small cell. Not only was it small and crowded, but in the center was a bucket which is where the prisoners relieved themselves.

R’ Elimelech saw this and was sad since it was prohibited to

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THOUGHT

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even think Torah thoughts. He looked over at his brother and saw that R’ Zushe was happy. He asked him wonderingly, “What are you happy about? We are in this crowded cell, we are the only Jews here, and we can’t even think Torah thoughts because of that bucket!”

R’ Zushe replied, “It’s true that I am usually happy because I connect to Hashem through learning Torah, but now I am also connected to Hashem. It’s just that now I am connected

by not learning Torah [by following the halacha which says he cannot learn under these circumstances].”

Hearing this, R’ Elimelech also rejoiced and the two of them began to dance. When the warden came to check what the commotion was about, all the prisoners pointed at the bucket and said it was because of the bucket. The warden immediately had it removed and R’ Zushe and R’ Elimelech were able to learn Torah.

Each of us has a “bucket” that weighs heavily on his heart and that does not allow him to be joyful. If we want to get rid of it, we need to arouse joy within ourselves from a place where it does not depend on anything, but exudes from our very being. And through this simcha, we will be able to get rid of the bucket and bring in the Geula, as the Rebbe always says, “M’toch simcha v’tuv leivav.”

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“FOR FEAR OF HEAVEN YOU NEED TO GO TO LUBAVITCH”R’ Shraga Elimelech (Meilich) Kaplan went to Tomchei T’mimim as a thin,

sickly child. He overcame many obstacles and became one of the diligent

talmidim there. Despite the wandering he had to endure with his fellow

talmidim, he continued to learn diligently. In his memory he had stored

away images of the great Chassidim that he saw and he later wrote about

these Chassidim. * Part 1 of 2

By Shneur Zalman Berger

LAST MINUTE REPRIEVER’ Shraga Elimelech Kaplan,

known as R’ Meilich der Shvartzer (the dark one), was born on 18 Adar II 5673/1913 in the town of Milicz in Poland. His parents were R’ Aryeh Leib (Kosovitsky) Kaplan, who served as rav in a number of Russian towns and Rebbetzin Dobra, the daughter of R’ Boruch Grossbard.

His grandfather, R’ Boruch Kaplan, was not a Chassid, but he had an affinity for Chassidim

and kept a few of their customs.World War I began when R’

Meilich was a young boy. Many refugees fled from one country to the next to get away from the hostilities. His family was among these refugees. He was only three when his family began wandering from place to place and ended up in the town of Petrovsk. Their financial situation was dismal and the family had to live on the aid provided by the Joint Distribution Committee.

Bands of hooligans traveled among the towns and killed

and pillaged anyone they encountered. Most of the victims were Jews, of course. The family fled to a small town called Gradishitz which is near Kremenchug. There too, they were unable to relax due to fear of the wild bands. The family, including young Meilich, suffered from hunger and contagious diseases. After a few years of suffering, the family moved to Krilov which was very near Kremenchug with only the Dnieper River separating them.

His father began running a

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yeshiva for teenage boys who had learned in Yeshivas Slabodka in Lithuania. However, the Communist Revolution began and the new communist regime closed all the yeshivos, including this one. A short time later, he was appointed the rav of the town.

After things quieted down, R’ Kaplan and his family were asked to return to Poland along with the many other Polish refugees, but it did not work out. R’ Kaplan wanted to move to Eretz Yisroel

but the way there was blocked by the communists who forbade leaving Russia. R’ Kaplan still hoped to carry out his dream. He heard about the possibility of traveling to Eretz Yisroel via Baku in distant Azerbaijan. He decided to go to Baku with his family and to smuggle across the border.

Their bags were packed and the family set out on the long journey. They passed through Yekaterinoslav and then, after a long trip, they arrived in Rostov.

They spent a few weeks there since he did not have any money with which to continue.

R’ Kaplan, who knew of Chabad, decided to have yechidus with the Rebbe Rayatz and ask him whether to continue the journey to Eretz Yisroel. The Rebbe said no, explaining that people like him, rabbanim and maggidei shiurim, were needed in Russia to strengthen Judaism.

R’ Kaplan still strongly desired to go to Eretz Yisroel despite what the Rebbe said. He went to the train station in Rostov and waited there an entire day. As he stood on line to buy a ticket and was already close to the cashier, a train from Baku entered the station. A Jew from Baku, who had come on this train, saw him standing on line. He went over to him and pulled his sleeve and whispered, “What are you doing? You are endangering your entire family!” He said that any Jew who arrived in Baku was immediately arrested since the authorities had learned about citizens fleeing the country via Baku.

The Kaplan family thus remained in Russia.

TOMCHEI TMIMIM After a few days, the family

returned to Krilov where they discovered that the people had already appointed another rav. In order not to generate dispute, the Kaplan family left immediately.

R’ Kaplan still hoped he could smuggle across the border, this time through Poland, but on the way to the border he heard that that smuggling route was very dangerous. At the same time, he was offered a rabbinic position in Skorodna. Since the escape plan had come to naught, the family settled in Skorodna. For various reasons, a short while

R’ Meilich Kaplan

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later R’ Kaplan became the rav in Norinsk and then in Severov. A year later he returned to his position in Krilov.

Meilich was ready for yeshiva and his father considered where to send him. He knew that the Litvishe yeshivos were unable to counter the communist spirit which prevailed. He considered two yeshivos: the Chafetz Chaim’s yeshiva and Yeshivas Tomchei T’mimim. He finally decided on Lubavitch because, “You can learn Torah even at home, but in order to get a measure of yiras Shamayim you need to go to Lubavitch.”

Meilich went to Tomchei T’mimim despite the doctors’ warnings that the young boy was too weak and fragile to leave home. His son, R’ Nachum, mashpia in Shikun Chabad in Lud, tells of his father’s physical condition after years of suffering and wandering:

“In his youth, my father was thin and very weak. He once said that his fellow T’mimim found it hard to get an exemption from the army, but he did not have to play sick. When he got on the scale at the draft office, the doctors were shocked to see an 18 year old boy weighing only 51 kilograms (=112 pounds). They immediately released him. If that was his weight at 18, he was much weaker at 13.

“That’s why the doctors told his parents they would be doing the wrong thing by sending him away from home. Despite this, since his father raised him to love Torah, he was sent to Tomchei T’mimim in Kremenchug. R’ Kaplan himself went with his son to yeshiva where he was tested by the rosh yeshiva, R’ Yechezkel Himmelstein. Only after his son was accepted into the yeshiva, did his father leave for home.”

HE INSISTED ON RETURNING

The material circumstances in the yeshiva at that time were particularly poor. For most of the talmidim there was no place to sleep and they had to sleep on benches in the women’s section of the shul where they learned during the day. Food was inadequate. These harsh conditions negatively affected his health from the very beginning. He became sick with malaria and his fever skyrocketed.

His father was a softhearted person and knowing how weak his son was, he returned a few days after putting his son in yeshiva to see how he was. To his dismay, he found his son lying on a bench burning up with fever. He decided to take his son home. On their way, they visited a doctor who said the boy had to rest throughout the summer. When the doctor heard that Meilich was supposed to be learning away from home, he was taken aback. He firmly stated that the boy had to spend a few months resting.

Meilich’s parents were disconsolate over their son not being able to learn in yeshiva. Their heartfelt desire was for their son to grow into a ben Torah. They decided that he would stay home and his father would teach him Torah. Every day, father and son went to a nearby forest where the father taught his son while following the doctor’s orders for him to rest and breathe fresh air.

Learning in the forest did not satisfy Meilich, even though his father was an outstanding scholar. He wanted to return to yeshiva. He said, “I’ve already gotten a taste of yeshiva life and have already experienced what learning with friends is like. At home I have no friends to learn with.” At first, his parents ignored this because they feared for his health, but then they received a letter from R’ Himmelstein, the rosh yeshiva in Kremenchug.

R’ Himmelstein apologized to the parents for not writing to them all summer since he himself wasn’t in the yeshiva due to his weakness and illness. Now, before the winter z’man, he asked that Meilich come to yeshiva and he promised to arrange a place for him to sleep as well as teg (a place for him to eat each day).

After much begging on Meilich’s part, he was sent back to yeshiva. He was in R’ Himmelstein’s shiur. R’ Himmelstein arranged teg for him in the homes of wealthy people and had him sleep in the home of a widow whose sons learned in the yeshiva.

Meilich found these conditions hard at first, even though they were considered quite comfortable, since he was shy and wasn’t used to eating with strangers. But after a

R’ Aryeh Leib Kaplan

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while, it became routine. In the meantime, he began learning perek ha’sholei’ach assiduously.

A GOOD INFLUENCEHe learned Nigleh diligently;

the hanhala and the talmidim recognized his talents and scholarliness. But he refused to learn Chassidus. He said that he had never heard about Chassidus and his father did not practice Chassidic customs. He did not attend the Tanya shiur along with the other boys. He also refused to change his nusach ha’t’filla and other customs that his father followed. As a result, the boys called him “the Misnaged.”

One day, the hanhala decided to remove him from the widow’s house where he slept since her older son was veering off the derech and had undesirable books in the house. The hanhala was afraid for Meilich and so they informed him that he would no longer be sleeping there. His pleading did not help, nor the reminder of the promise that he would sleep in a comfortable place. He had to get used to sleeping on a bench in the women’s section of the shul again.

A few days later, the hanhala arranged other lodgings for the boy in the home of an old man who lived alone. They had a boy named Heschel Churkin join Meilich since Heschel was older and could supervise him (Heschel was later killed in World War II).

Heschel had a great influence on him and eventually was mekarev him to Chassidus. The very first night, as Meilich prepared to go to bed, Heschel saw him reading the bedtime Shma not according to Chabad nusach. He immediately demanded that he read the Shma in nusach Chabad. Meilich,

who had gone to sleep without tzitzis, was given a lecture by his older friend about the spiritual reason to sleep with tzitzis (despite it not being halachically mandatory). Every night, before going to sleep, Heschel would tell him Chassidic tales and slowly draw Meilich into the world of Chassidim.

R’ MEILICH DESCRIBES CHASSIDIC PERSONALITIES

When he learned in Tomchei T’mimim, Meilich met some of the Chassidic greats of that time. Their Chassidic ways made a deep impression on him and this too was mekarev him to the ways of Chassidus. He described some of these stories in his notes:

“When I was in the yeshiva in Kremenchug, I met the Chassid, R’ Itche Masmid for the first

time. He made a tremendous impression on me. I remember that he once had yahrtzait and he asked permission from the mashgiach, R’ Dov Koznitzov, to daven for the amud in the minyan of the talmidim. The mashgiach knew what R’ Itche’s t’filla was like and said he agreed on condition that he speed things up so the bachurim would not lose time from learning. R’ Itche promised to daven quickly.

“I remember his davening which, even though it was relatively quick, made a huge impression on me. When he got up to the blessings of the Shma, we suddenly saw that the chazan had disappeared from

the amud. R’ Itche was standing next to the southern wall of the beis midrash, his hands raised high, and you could see that he was completely removed from all matters of this world and had no idea where he was. When I saw him, a great dread fell upon me. We did not know what to do until the mashgiach went over to him and grabbed him by his hands. He was slowly drawn back to the amud where he continued davening.

“I also remember the Yud-Tes Kislev farbrengen with R’ Himmelstein. We heard a maamer from him and although I did not understand any of it, I saw the tremendous d’veikus on his face. I heard his pleasant voice which inspired our hearts and saw the hiskashrus of the people who stood around him to hear the divrei Elokim chaim.

R’ Itche der Masmid

When he got on the scale at the draft office,

the doctors were shocked to see an 18 year

old boy weighing only 112 pounds. They immediately

released him.

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All these made a powerful impression which will never be erased from my memory.

“No less than that are engraved in my heart the heartfelt t’fillos of the Chassid, R’ Shmuel Leib Levin (Shmuel Leib Paritcher, one of the Rebbe Rashab’s chozrim). He was a great oved Hashem and spent a long time on his davening in a sweet voice and an outpouring of his heart. We had tremendous love from the innermost depths of the soul toward the menahel of the yeshiva, R’ Yisroel Noach Blinitzky who, with his elevated character and with his complete self-negation, made a tremendous impression on us all.

“I spent the winter of 5687 receiving a Chassidishe chinuch and being influenced by noble Chassidic figures.”

“IF ONLY I WAS IN YESHIVA”

As Nissan approached, many of the talmidim prepared to go home. R’ Meilich also decided to visit home after being in yeshiva for six months.

He was home for Pesach and after Pesach fell sick. The doctor who came to see him warned his father to watch over his son’s health and forbade him to send Meilich away from home to study. He said the boy must relax.

Having no choice, it was decided that Meilich would spend summer at home again and learn with his father in the nearby forest. This decision remained a bitter memory for his entire life as he later wrote:

“I stayed home. Since then, my heart aches when I recall that summer the Rebbe was arrested and I had no idea, being at home. If I had been in yeshiva, I would

surely have visited the Rebbe in Leningrad because nearly all my friends went there for Rosh HaShana.”

In Sivan of that year, the Rebbe was arrested and on 12 Tammuz he was released and went to live in Malchovka temporarily. The Rebbe left the Soviet Union right after Simchas Torah. When R’ Meilich returned to yeshiva after the Yomim Tovim, he heard all about the arrest and release and about the Rebbe’s departing the country and he was heartbroken.

After the summer, R’ Meilich continued his studies in Tomchei T’mimim in Polotzk, which is where the talmidim from Kremenchug had moved. The communists stepped up their persecution of religious Jews, especially the “Schneersohns.” The various branches of Tomchei T’mimim were their targets which is why the talmidim moved from city to city.

R’ Shlomo Chaim Kesselman was the mashgiach in the branch in Polotzk. He later taught with R’ Meilich in Tomchei T’mimim in Lud. There were about forty

talmidim in the yeshiva. R’ Meilich wrote in his memoirs that the yeshiva was very organized and most of the talmidim were outstanding in their learning.

At night he slept in the home of the shochet, R’ Shmerel Flagrin. R’ Shmerel was a unique type of Chassid who made a tremendous impression on R’ Meilich:

“He was a consummate yerei Shamayim. Every conversation was in measured words so he would not, G-d forbid, say anything forbidden. I never heard him say a negative word about anyone. Actually, Shmerel never spoke about others.

“He would say: We need to praise others and disparage ourselves. He was an incomparable baal middos tovos (person of excellent character). When he was sick, one of the talmidim of the yeshiva took care of him like his son. They said that one time his wife had new galoshes made for him. He was walking down the street in the winter and saw a poor man with torn shoes and he immediately took off his new rubbers and gave them to the poor man.

“He spent a long time davening, especially on Shabbos. He washed for bread late in the day and it was interesting to see how he washed his hands for the meal. First, he would take a large cup that could hold a lot of water. He needed a lot of water and since they drew water from the well that was at a distance, he did not want to bother someone else for this. So he brought water from the well himself.

“Then he would stand and examine his hands to make sure they were clean. This took a long time. He would check again and again. Then, when he got up to the actual washing

R’ Shlomo Chaim Kesselman

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and the bracha, I have no words to describe this... Whoever saw him doing this realized how punctilious in mitzvos he was. The same with Birkas HaMazon and with the bedtime Shma. All this made a strong impression on me.”

WANDERINGIn Polotzk, Meilich began

learning Tanya properly for the first time in his life. This was thanks to the wonderful explanations given by R’ Kesselman.

“From him I learned what avoda p’nimis is. Only then did I start to understand a little of what Chassidus is about.”

The material circumstances were pitiable. The bachurim who came from homes with money rented lodgings for themselves. Those who did not have money ate teg. While in Polotzk, R’ Meilich was no longer hosted by wealthy people as before, and he sometimes had to walk a great distance in the freezing cold in order to satisfy his hunger with a meager supper; sometimes he forwent even that.

From Polotzk he went to Tomchei T’mimim in Nevel where he heard shiurim from the rosh yeshiva, R’ Yehuda Eber. For a while he was under the guidance of the mashpia R’ Mendel Futerfas, who was just a few years older than him.

In the winter of 5689 the yeshiva in Nevel was closed and the bachurim scattered to various cities throughout the Soviet Union. R’ Meilich together with his friends went to Yekaterinoslav where R’ Levi Yitzchok Schneersohn was the rav.

IN THE SHADOW OF GREATNESS

While in Yekaterinoslav, he was very close with R’ Levi

Yitzchok and he often heard Chassidus from him. R’ Meilich said that once, at a farbrengen, R’ Levi Yitzchok told a story about the Alter Rebbe. He began by explaining the simple meaning of the story and then explained it according to Chassidus, delving deeply until he gave deep explanations according to Kabbala.

The Rebbe’s father would often interpret the names of participants according to Kabbala. He once explained R’ Meilich’s nickname “der Shvartzer” (which he was called because of his dark skin), “Your name is Meilich der Shvartzer and the verse says, ‘I am black and beautiful.’” And he went on to explain the status of Knesses

When he got up to the blessings of the Shma, we

suddenly saw that the chazan had disappeared

from the amud. R’ Itche was standing next to the

southern wall of the beis midrash, his hands raised high,

and you could see that he was completely removed from

all matters of this world and had no idea where he was.

loved to learn and teachR’ Levi Yitzchok Schneersohn

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Yisroel in exile according to Kabbala and Chassidus.

The persecution by the communist government forced the rabbanim to act warily. R’ Meilich said that the 15 Shevat drasha that was given on Shabbos by R’ Levi Yitzchok in 5792 was said with exceeding cleverness.

It was announced in advance that on Shabbos the rav would deliver a sermon in the shul. The congregants all waited expectantly to hear what he would say since he usually did not give drashos.

The rav delivered the entire drasha in allusions and those who “got it,” “got it.”

“Outside in the street it is very cold now and you can’t go out without a coat. All the trees are bare and have no fruit and yet, we still celebrate the Rosh HaShana of trees because in Eretz Yisroel the trees have started to blossom.”

The message was clear. In the street there is a coldness for everything Jewish but despite it all, in Eretz Yisroel the trees are blossoming. So they should be encouraged and continue to strengthen their observance of mitzvos.

Once R’ Levik took him along to immerse in the river. He said that he saw R’ Levik take off his clothes and remain with just a long shirt and a large yarmulke. The rav stood near the river and thought for a long time. Then, with great enthusiasm, he removed the shirt and yarmulke and quickly immersed three times. He put on the shirt and yarmulke and stood there lost in thought for a long time. The scene repeated itself with his immersing three times with great enthusiasm. The scene took place a third time and only then did he return home with R’ Meilich.

The persecution and suffering were the constant lot of the bachurim and the rabbanim. In 5692 his father was arrested for a brief period of time.

While R’ Meilich learned in Yekaterinoslav his father went to visit him and was also happy to meet with R’ Levi Yitzchok. They already knew one another from the meeting of rabbanim in Korostin.

TRAPFrom Yekaterinoslav, R’

Meilich went to distant Georgia where he and some other bachurim settled in Sachkhere. The bachurim continued learning in the relative quiet there.

Some time later, they heard about the possibility of smuggling across the border from Georgia to Turkey and from there it wasn’t far to Eretz Yisroel. He and his friends negotiated with professional smugglers. After agreeing on a deal the bachurim planned for the fateful night.

A few days before Pesach 1933, twenty-three Jews gathered in Batum, Georgia. They came from all over Georgia and Uzbekistan. Some of them were T’mimim. This city was just ten kilometers away from Turkey.

The group and the smugglers had agreed upon a password. Upon hearing it, they were supposed to start crossing the border. They heard the password and the group began walking quickly toward the border, but within minutes they were shocked to see secret police agents closing in on them from all sides. They realized they had fallen into a police trap.

To be continued

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AVRAHAM OR MOSHIACH:

WHO IS SUPERIOR?By Rabbi Heschel Greenberg

THE SECRET TO WEALTHThe Torah introduces the

commandment to tithe our produce (and by extension to give one tenth of our net earnings to Tz’daka) by using a repetitive expression: “Tithe you shall tithe.” In most translations the repetition is simply translated as “You shall surely tithe.” The repetition is understood as emphasis, conveying a sense of urgency. However, the fact that the Torah indicates urgency by repeating the word “tithe” must serve us didactically as well.

The Talmud addresses this issue and translates the repetitious phrase in a novel way: “Tithe in order that you shall become rich.” In Hebrew, the word for “Tithe” (which means “give a tenth”), is aser. The Hebrew word for “you shall become rich” is ta’ashir. Since there are no vowels in the Torah, both words share the same consonants and are therefore understood to be interchangeable.

THE PATH TO A REFINED MIND AND HEART

One can take this promise of

“Tithe so that you will become rich,” i.e., wealth as a reward for giving tz’daka, a step further:

The Talmud states: “There is no one poor except one who is poor in knowledge.” It follows, conversely, that no one is truly rich unless he is rich in knowledge. Wealth is thus primarily a spiritual concept. The reward of wealth for the giving of Tz’daka is therefore one of spiritual wealth. When a person gives tz’daka it actually has a beneficial effect on his or her mind. In the words of the Alter Rebbe in his Torah Or: “When a person gives to another his mind and heart become refined a thousand-fold!”

If one wants to enjoy true intellectual and emotional wealth he or she must give to others.

THE ROAD TO REDEMPTION IS PAVED WITH TZ’DAKA

On yet another level we can interpret this statement in a novel fashion:

Just as there is spiritual wealth and poverty which is measured by the degree of one’s intellectual and emotional sophistication, there are also historical periods which can be

characterized as poor or rich. For example, the generation of the desert is referred to as the “generation of knowledge,” because they received the Torah at Mount Sinai. In the days of King Solomon, the Jewish people reached their pinnacle and enjoyed incredible spiritual—as well as material—wealth. Generally speaking, as long as we were in the Land of Israel with our Beis HaMikdash we enjoyed great spiritual affluence.

By contrast, the period of Galus, bereft of our Beis HaMikdash and exposed to great suffering and assimilation, is a period of spiritual impoverishment.

The ultimate period of wealth is reserved for the future Messianic Age, which we are eagerly anticipating.

Hence, the Torah informs us that if we tithe today in the period of exile we will enjoy great spiritual wealth in the coming Age of Redemption.

This interpretation actually echoes the words of the Talmud: “Tz’daka is great for it hastens the Redemption.” What is novel about the interpretation is the way it clarifies the connection

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PARSHA THOUGHT

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between tz’daka and Redemption. Why is tz’daka singled out as the Mitzvah that leads to Redemption? Aren’t all Mitzvos that we perform the agents that bring Redemption? What is so unique about Tz’daka?

One answer is that Tz’daka reverses the status of a person who is poor and needy. G-d reciprocates in kind and takes us out of the state of exile/spiritual impoverishment into the state of wealth-Redemption.

MITZVAH FOR ULTERIOR MOTIVE?

All of the abovementioned explanations agree that it is appropriate to perform the Mitzvah of Tz’daka with the intention of becoming wealthy, materially or spiritually.

This accords with the Talmudic statement that it is completely justified for one to

give Tz’daka with the intention, for example, that it should secure his son’s recovery from illness.

This appears to be an exception to the ideal expressed in Ethics of the Fathers that one should serve his Master without the intention of getting a reward. While giving tz’daka for ulterior motives is justified it is still not the highest form of the Mitzvah.

Upon deeper reflection, the giving of tz’daka to hasten the Redemption is not the same as giving for a personal benefit. Giving for the sake of Redemption is indeed a

completely altruistic form of giving because the Messianic Age is the ultimate Tz’daka. The Jewish people and indeed all of humanity will be liberated. Material and spiritual poverty will cease to exist. Even G-d is said to be “suffering” in exile and He too will be liberated with us. There can be no greater act of Tz’daka than to bring Moshiach. Thus, giving Tz’daka so that it will lead to the ultimate Tz’daka is arguably the purest form of Tz’daka.

AN ENIGMATIC MIDRASHWith this introduction of how

Tz’daka leads to Redemption we might be able to decipher an enigmatic Midrash on the words “Tithe you shall tithe.”

The Midrash cites an earlier verse in Genesis as an elucidation of our verse:

The verse in Genesis refers

to Avraham’s statement to his nephew Lot before they parted ways: “If I go to the left then you go to the right, and if I go to the right then you go to the left.”

This Midrash is quite puzzling. How does this verse shed any light on the verse “Tithe you shall tithe…”?

The simple explanation given is that the difference between the word for tithing in Hebrew (Asair) and the word for “you shall be wealthy (Ta’ashir) – wealth” is the placement of the dot on the letter shin. If it is placed on the left then the letter

shin is pronounced like the English letter “s.” If it is placed on the right side of the letter then it is pronounced as the English “sh.”

This then is what the Midrash had in mind:

To understand the repetition of the word “Asair-Tithe ta’asair-you shall tithe” one must look at the placement of the dot.

“If I will go left—i.e., if I will place the dot on the left and read the word “Asair-tithe,” then the result will be wealth, where the dot is placed on the right side and reads “t’ashair-you shall be wealthy.” If however, I place the dot on the right, and my focus is to get rich, and I relegate tithing to a secondary position, then the result will be that I will end up with the dot on the left; I will have only one tenth of what I could have earned.”

As ingenious as this interpretation is, we must search for a deeper meaning that will provide us with a lesson about life in the present and how we are to prepare for the future.

THE IDEALThe following is based on

the words of the Shaloh (a 16th Century sage) who interprets Avraham and Lot as people who personify two ideals:

Avraham is the man of kindness. He is consumed with a passion to love and give to others. Lot, surprisingly, is the symbol of Moshiach! Lot was the ancestor of Moab, Ruth, King David and the entire Davidic dynasty leading to Moshiach. When we speak of the positioning of Avraham and Moshiach it emerges that Avraham, the man who epitomized kindness, is on the right. The right hand is the giving hand and therefore symbolizes

Just as there is spiritual wealth and poverty which

is measured by the degree of one’s intellectual

and emotional sophistication, there are also historical

periods which can be characterized as poor or rich.

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kindness. The monarchy, with its wealth and power to impose itself on others is associated with the left hand. Particularly the Messianic Era is one in which the spiritual power associated with the left (G’vura) will be superior to the spiritual force of the right (Chesed).

This poses a riddle. Who is greater and whose ideal is superior – Avraham or Moshiach? Is it Avraham, whose kindness and tz’daka are the catalysts that bring about the Messianic Age? Avraham is the very source and impetus for the entire process of making this world a “Dwelling Place for G-d,” which will be fully realized in the Messianic Age. Without Avraham’s initiative there would be no process. Or perhaps Moshiach is superior, because

he represents the culmination of that process and the ushering in of a new world order of Divine revelation with all of its attendant benefits such as world peace.

Hence Avraham’s question as to which direction he and Lot should go right or left was actually a theological question as to whose role is superior.

The answer is that from one vantage point the argument can be advanced that without Avraham there could be no Moshiach, while, it can also be said that without Moshiach, Avraham’s work would not be crowned with success. In addition, the fact that one may give Tz’daka with the express intention that it brings Redemption implies that it is not an inferior form of Tz’daka because the Messianic Age is the

highest ideal.This then is the connection

to the idea that tz’daka leads to the era of richness, indicating, on the one hand, the preeminence of tz’daka as the catalyst for Moshiach, and also intimating, on the other hand, that Moshiach is the ideal.

In these last moments of exile as we wait for Moshiach to usher in the Messianic Age it behooves us to keep both ideals in mind: Our obsession today must be giving; giving material assistance, teaching the values of Judaism to assimilated Jews and bringing the message of the imminent Redemption to the entire world. When we combine Tz’daka with Moshiach we solve Avraham’s riddle. We have both Tz’daka and Moshiach combined!

hjh tsubhbu nurbu urcbu nkl vnahj kguko ugs

C H I T A SINYONEI GEULA

& MOSHIACHRAMBAM

SHIURIM IN LIKUTEISICHOS KODESH

j,ww,gbhbh dtukv unahj

rncwwoahgurho ckeuyh

ahju, eusa

WWW.770LIVE.COM

cwwv

LIVE SHIURIM 0NLINEAnywhere, Anytime !


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TO “SEE” YOUR OWN TRUE ESSENCEA point from the weekly D’var Malchus with a relevant message. * This week, you don’t need to “dig” in order to see the revelation of “Anochi.” Just look and you’ll see!

By Aryeh Yehuda

Chassidim relate that one time, the talmidim of the Maggid asked him to show them a hidden

tzaddik. The Maggid sent them to spend Shabbos with a certain person. The talmidim expected a spiritually elevated Shabbos with the revelation of wondrous secrets and apparent miracles.

Upon arriving at the man’s house, they found it hard to believe that this was the right address and that this person was the man they were looking for. A huge man stood in the doorway. Instead of “shalom aleichem” he roared, “What do you want?” After some discussion, he agreed to host them for Shabbos on condition that they do as he did and did not bother him with their practices.

As Shabbos approached, the man threw some clay onto the table and stuck a candle in it. He lit the candle and began mumbling something. The talmidim of the Maggid could barely make out that this was a candle for Shabbos when he thundered at them again, “Why are you looking at me like that?

Move on – Kabbalas Shabbos. Hurry up so I won’t have to wait for you to start the meal.”

As they ate and wanted to sing, he reminded them of their agreement not to annoy him. In the morning, he woke them up early and ordered them to hurry up the davening. When they asked him about a nearby river for them to immerse in before davening, he chortled and told them to stop with the nonsense.

The man raced through Shacharis, skipping words and making mistakes. A coarse peasant song occasionally accompanied his recitation of the text. The meal was like the one of the night before. When the Chassidim tried to say divrei Torah quietly amongst themselves, he immediately ordered them to be quiet. “Don’t bring new customs here.”

After the meal, he lay down to sleep and told them to do likewise. That is how they spent the Shabbos which seemed like an inordinately long day to them.

On Motzaei Shabbos, the talmidim breathed a sigh of relief over being able to leave the house

of this “tzaddik.” They packed their bags and went to the door nervously, hoping the man would let them leave. The man just sat quietly. A moment before they went out, he went over to them and said, “You sought to see something hidden, eh? R’ei – Anochi, don’t seek it elsewhere; it’s within you. Look at yourself and ‘see’ the ‘Anochi’ [i.e. the Divine Essence] within you. See that you yourself are ‘Anochi.’”

This story is a perfect introduction to this week’s D’var Malchus, but just an introduction. The chiddush in the D’var Malchus and the manner of avoda demanded of us is altogether different. Both the “R’ei” and the “Anochi” have Geula connotations. In the past, Chassidim had to travel to the hidden tzaddik in order to internalize that the “Anochi” lay within them. Today, it is an inseparable part of the life of every Jew, every day, every moment, in thought, speech and action. In our generation there is no need to travel to a distant village and suffer throughout an entire Shabbos in order to “get” that the “Anochi” is within me.

The “R’ei” also gets a Geula connotation in this D’var Malchus. Today it is easier to “see,” to see the “Anochi” in the world, to see the “Anochi” in me, and to see the “Anochi” within every Jew. This is because today we are in a time when “we have already seen a number of wonders both regarding the

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Geula of the individual and regarding the Geula of the klal (os 9 of the sicha). Today the “Anochi” is revealed, so we see. Today, we don’t need to “dig” in order to see it. If you look, you see it!

To put it in terms of Elul, “I am to my beloved and my beloved is to me” – not simply a two-sided relationship, mutuality, a yearning for unification between the “I” and the “my beloved” – but: I and my beloved are one and the same!

The best preparation a teacher can do before the school year begins is to look at the list of new students and review again and again: Levi – “R’ei Anochi!” Mendy – “R’ei Anochi!” Yisroel – “R’ei Anochi” … If he does this every morning during the year, he will see the Anochi in each talmid every day and throughout the day. An entire class of Geula!

A director of a Chabad house who looks at a mekurav needs to first look at the Anochi in him, and from there to begin approaching all of the other elements that make up the person.

Parents who want to teach the “Meshichoi” of the generation of Geula have to see (R’ei) the true reality (Anochi) in the child. From this perspective, you can advance and help the child be truly redeemed.

It all begins by a person

looking at himself. If you live with the “Anochi” within yourself, you will also see it in everyone else.

Therefore, the result of the spiritual accounting as we approach Elul – and find ourselves in the time of “see I give before you today a blessing” – leads to the conclusion that there is already “all aspects of blessing and foremost, the main

bracha of the true and complete Geula, that it is not enough that we hear (understand) that ‘hinei zeh (Melech HaMoshiach) ba,’ but we need to see with our physical eyes, and not merely ‘I will show them’ in the future tense but ‘R’ei,’ in the present, and as a command!”

May it be immediately.

It all begins by a person looking at himself. If

you live with the “Anochi” within yourself, you

will also see it in everyone else.


(718) 493-1111Fax: (718) 493-4444













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A PASSIONATE CHASSIDOne year ago, the Chassid R’ Gershon

Chanowitz, one of the ziknei ha’chassidim in

New York, passed away. R’ Gershon learned

in Yeshivos Tomchei T’mimim in Poland and

America and was saved from the clutches of

the Nazis. He established a beautiful Chassidic

home and was an example of a Chassid, Yerei

Shamayim, and Lamdan in his community.

By Dov Levanon

The Chassid R’ Gershon Chanowitz was born in Glubokoe in the Vitebsk region around Chanuka

5681/1920. The small town which today belongs to White Russia (Belarus) was located at that time on the Polish-Russian border and exchanged hands every few years between the Poles, the Lithuanians, and the Russians. The town had a decidedly Jewish character – a census of the year he was born shows 63% Jews in the town’s population. Glubokoe is even mentioned in the listings of the Vaad Arba Aratzos.

Although Glubokoe was small, district government offices were located there and in contrast to the majority of villages in the area, it had electricity. Most of the Jews lived in the center of town while the wealthy people

lived in villas on the outskirts. The town had a large market which was visited by people from the surrounding villages.

Glubokoe was a bastion of religious Zionism and also had a Chabad community. There were four Chabad shuls that were divided according to the various Chabad strains (Liadi, Strashela, and Lubavitch). One of them even had a second-room for the davening of the ovdim, a mainstay of a Chabad shul. There were two rabbanim in the town, one Litvish and the other Lubavitch.

R’ Gershon’s parents were Bentzion and Elka. R’ Bentzion was a distinguished shochet. In those days, the position of shochet was honorable and influential like the position of a rav. He inherited his position

from his father, R’ Yisroel, who immigrated to the town from Sloboda (a town in Russia where many Kopust Chassidim lived). R’ Bentzion was also known as a representative of the Rebbe Rayatz in the town.

Their home was known among the Chassidim who smuggled over the border as a place of refuge. There were Lubavitcher communities in Disna and Dokshitz that were closer to the border, but refugees were afraid to hide there because of their proximity to the border and opted instead to continue to Glubokoe which was considered safer.

Elka was the youngest child of Shmuel Avrohom Hellman. Her brother, R’ Chaim Meir, is known as the author of Beis Rebbi. Her other brother, R’ Moshe, was a

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well-known rav. Elka was also a wise woman. R’ Itche der Masmid would talk to her in learning and R’ Yosef Wineberg said she was considered a lamdanis.

The couple wrote to the Rebbe often, albeit not always for themselves. At that time, most Jewish women and even many men could not read and write. When they wanted to write a letter to the Rebbe, they asked R’ Bentzion or his wife to write for them.

R’ Gershon was one of ten children. He studied with the famous melamed, Yosse Tishes (who passed away when R’ Gershon was 12). The Nach that he learned by R’ Yosse remained with him forever.

Then his father sent him to

Dokshitz because he felt that the melamed there would be better for him. The distance from Glubokoe to Dokshitz is not far, just thirty kilometers, but in those days, because of the poor condition of the roads, it would take half a day to get there.

R’ Gershon learned in Dokshitz until he was bar mitzva. His bar mitzva celebration was typical of those days. His family was sick with typhus and in quarantine so they could not attend the simcha. His mother sent kugel and his father sent money so he could buy some mashke and cake. The event was celebrated in shul with a minyan of Jews, without gifts, without a seudas mitzva and without all the frills that characterize bar mitzva celebrations today.

IN TOMCHEI TMIMIM IN OTVOTZK

A few months after his bar mitzva, he went home and after Pesach he left for Vilna to learn in the Lubavitcher yeshiva there. His name appears in the list of students in the second class on 25 Sivan 5696/1936. His teachers were R’ Gustman, R’ Ushpal, and R’ Yehuda Eber.

A year later, before Tishrei 5698/1937, he went to Warsaw and from there to Otvotzk in order to learn in Yeshivas Tomchei T’mimim near the Rebbe’s court. The Rebbe lived a half kilometer from the yeshiva. R’ Gershon began learning in the youngest class where he was taught by R’ Yehuda Eber and R’ Boruch Friedman. Then he moved to the zal where he heard shiurim from R’ Dovid Teiblum (Dovid Ricker) who was later appointed Admur of Kotzk.

R’ Gershon learned with much chayus both in Nigleh and Chassidus and developed a close relationship with the teachers and mashpiim. Throughout the entire time that he learned in Vilna and Otvotzk he did not go home. Aside from the fact that he did not have the money to pay for the trip, he had another good reason to stay – his uncle, R’ Moshe Leib Rodstein, was the Rebbe’s secretary and lived near him. When the Rebbe would eat the Yom Tov meals with a minyan of Chassidim, young Gershon was allowed in, thanks to his uncle. Pesach night he would repeat the divrei Torah that he heard from the Rebbe in those years. He would repeat them word for word with the special niggun that the Rebbe used.

R’ Yechezkel (Chatshe) Feigin also allowed him to attend the Rebbe’s minyanim more readily because he was related to R’

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Rodstein. R’ Chatshe’s son was one of his very good friends in those days. R’ Gershon also spent time with Chassidim like R’ Itche der Masmid (who was a relative) and heard their farbrengens.

Erev Sukkos, R’ Itche asked him to help him bind the four minim in the sukka since he found it hard to do it himself. To repay him for his help, he learned with him the maamer, “U’shavtem Mayim” in Likkutei Torah. Until the end of his life R’ Gershon had a special chayus in this maamer.

In those days, he loved to learn Ketzos, Nesivos, and the Avnei Nezer on Friday night. One time, the mashgiach, R’ Berel Kurenitzer passed by and noticed that he was learning Nigleh. After a few minutes he came back and told R’ Gershon to review a maamer on Shabbos. This was very short notice, for usually they told a bachur way earlier.

The way it was in yeshiva was that there were a number of bachurim who would review a maamer and each of them would have a group to whom they said the maamer. Among those who listened to R’ Gershon was R’ Berel Kurenitzer who came to ascertain that he knew the maamer despite the short notice.

WHAT TO DO WITH ONE CUP OF WATER

Toward the end of 5699, the peaceful atmosphere in yeshiva was disturbed by the bombing of German planes. The yeshiva immediately disbanded. Many of the Polish bachurim returned home. The five American bachurim who had just arrived returned home as soon as possible. Gershon

walked alongside the horse and wagon that carried the Rebbe’s belongings to Warsaw where the Rebbe told the bachurim to go north.

The Germans had already conquered Poland and began imposing their tyranny. On one of his journeys, R’ Gershon was locked up along with many other Jews in a church for two days, without food and water. In the end, the cursed Germans gave each person one cup of water. R’ Gershon took the cup and used half of it for netilas yadayim.

R’ Gershon tried to avoid the German soldiers. He managed to get to Druya where his uncle was the rav. His uncle found someone to smuggle him across the Dvina River.

After a short pause at his

parents’ house, he continued his travels and arrived in Vilna where refugees from Lubavitch had gathered and restarted the yeshiva in the shul where it had been located before the war.

R’ Chaim Ozer Grodzenski, who was in charge of the Vaad Hatzala in Vilna, helped the yeshiva during those months. For Pesach, he helped them buy a set of keilim (pots and plates) out of respect for the Chabad custom of not koshering utensils used for chametz on Pesach. When R’ Chaim Ozer passed away, refugees who included bachurim from Tomchei T’mimim watched over his body.

Since he came from a family of shochtim and was familiar with the profession, he began learning the laws of sh’chita in his free time with an older man in Vilna, together with R’ Yosef Wineberg. When R’ Yehoshua Isaac, the Rosh Yeshiva, reported this to the Rebbe, the Rebbe answered: Yosef and Gershon’s study of sh’chita is most proper.

A SURVIVORThe situation in Vilna

deteriorated for the Jews in 1941. R’ Gershon miraculously found out that in Kona it was possible to get a transit visa to Japan even though Japan was an ally of the Nazis. The Japanese consul in Kovna, Mr. Sugihara, was a righteous gentile. He issued thousands of these transit visas which enabled numerous Jews to escape to Japan. The numbers show the miracle that R’ Gershon had: Transit visa #1785 was for himself, #1836 was for his sister Fruma, #1841 was for his brother Shmuel Avrohom, and #2027 was for his brother Yisroel. The last transit visa was #2139.

Over 2000 transit visas

HE HAD FORESIGHTWhen the Rebbe published

the sifrei maamarim 5700-5711, he kept demanding speedy work. The editors worked nonstop in order to keep up the pace. In light of that, R’ Moshe Leib Rodstein, thinking ahead, had already prepared the Seifer HaMaamarim 5699. Some of the maamarim were printed from a copy preserved by R’ Shmuel Avrohom Chanowitz, R’ Gershon’s brother who had died.

The Rebbe did not ask that it be printed until the middle of the Shloshim of R’ Moshe Leib and the secretary told the Rebbe that R’ Rodstein had already prepared it. The Rebbe asked where it was and since R’ Gershon had it, he was given a yechidus in order to give it to the Rebbe. The Rebbe said that R’ Moshe Leib should have a luminous Gan Eden.

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were produced but about 6000 (possibly 10,000) Jews left. The method was to turn every transit visa into a family visa. R’ Gershon managed to make his way home to his parents and suggested that they join the trip to Kobe, Japan, but they were too fearful to join in this journey. He took the Pischei T’shuva from his parents’ house and that is what he learned. He also took a Torah scroll (which was later confiscated at the Russian border) and an old typewriter which was used to print the Rebbe’s maamarim. The typewriter survived and arrived with him in New York.

On 2 Shevat 5701 he arrived by train in Vladivostok and from there took a ship to Kobe, Japan where he joined Yeshivas Tomchei T’mimim which had opened there. After a few months, the talmidim of the yeshiva were expelled and R’ Gershon moved with the yeshiva to Shanghai. There he continued learning diligently despite the physical hardships that plagued the talmidim. He excelled in his learning and R’ Meir Ashkenazi, who was the rav of the k’hilla in Shanghai, tested him and gave him smicha.

While in Shanghai, the young Gershon served as father and mother to his brothers who remained without their parents and without any other relatives. His uncles had received transit visas to Japan and then received visas for the US and had sailed to S Francisco. Chabad was given nine visas at that time, but these visas were given to bachurim who were there longer and they were sent, by the Rebbe’s instruction, to start Tomchei T’mimim in Montreal.

When his brother was stricken with an eye disease, R’ Gershon

worked very hard to deal with the doctors and hospitals to have him cured. He was helped by some of the Jewish leaders there like the Amshinover Rebbe who walked the long distance with him to make sure the patient ate on Yom Kippur, and Rebbetzin Kotler (engaged to and later the wife of R’ Shneur) translated for them what the doctors said. R’ Gershon paid her back later on when she was seasick on the ship to America and he made sure she had the right food and medication. She was forever grateful to him for that.

Since he wasn’t in yeshiva during his illness, R’ Gershon’s brother did not receive his small food allotment. Gershon obtained money for him so he could buy food and subsist. He did this for his sister too, who was not yet married.

His help to Fruma was not just with money. He helped her find a shidduch. Since Lubavitcher bachurim were relatively young and the Mirrer bachurim were older, the shidduch was made with R’ Michel Berenbaum, a Mirrer talmid and later the mashgiach

On one of his journeys, R’ Gershon was locked

up along with many other Jews for two days,

without food and water. In the end, the cursed Germans

gave each person one cup of water. R’ Gershon took the

cup he received and used half of it for netilas yadayim.

With his fellow T’mimim in Shanghai. R’ Gershon is standing sixth from the right in the top row.

R’ Gershon appears among the last to receive a transit visa

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in Mesivta Tiferes Yerushalayim. The wedding meal was in the home of the mashgiach of the Mirrer yeshiva, R’ Yechezkel Levenstein, and Gershon was given the honor of saying divrei Torah at the Sheva brachos meal. In general, during those bleak times, the relationship between the bachurim of the two yeshivos was very friendly.

During the war, the news they received in Shanghai was meager. After the war, Gershon wrote to friends and family and asked them repeatedly for

information about his parents. He finally realized that they had been murdered around 19 Av 1942 by the cursed Germans.

EXEMPTING THE REBBE After the war, R’ Gershon

went to America without most of his family and began a new life on his own. Although for years he was unable to deal with memories of the suffering of the Holocaust, he succeeded in tapping into tremendous inner powers. He lived his life without excuses, trying to attain whatever he could. He had a sort of inner drive, perhaps to compensate for the tremendous loss of the previous generation.

The Rebbe Rayatz sent R’ Wineberg to welcome those arriving in S Francisco. There was also a large delegation which welcomed them at the train station in New York. Among them was R’ Yochanan Gordon who was a friend of the family from Dokshitz. When R’ Yochanan saw his friend he ran to hug him but R’ Gershon, in his humility, did not understand what the big deal was about.

Immediately upon arriving in New York he joined the yeshiva in 770. In his first years there, he went many times to fundraise for the yeshiva. He had the gift of oratory which he used when he spoke in shuls about the importance of a Jewish chinuch and Jewish life. He then began working in sh’chita in Rock Island, Illinois and other places.

Some years later he began devoting time to shidduchim. In America after the war he was a rare specimen. There weren’t many religious bachurim at that time with full beards.

His wedding took place on 11 Kislev 5711. Since it was in the middle of the year of mourning for the Rebbe Rayatz, the Rebbe did not take part in his wedding, but at the farbrengen on the Shabbos of the oifruf, the Rebbe said an entire sicha about the aliya l’Torah of the chassan.

The morning after the wedding, R’ Gershon went into 770 for Shacharis and did not know whether to say the SheHechiyanu blessing on his new tallis. He asked R’ Shmuel Levitin who suggested that he ask the Rebbe who would be coming soon. When the Rebbe arrived and heard the question, he said, “Since you ask, that shows that it is precious to you. You can make a SheHechiyanu on something that is precious. At my wedding I did not say it because the Rebbe did not tell me to. Say a SheHechiyanu and exempt me too.”

TORAH, AVODA, GEMILUS CHASADIM

Some years after he was married, R’ Gershon bought his first house on President Street near Franklin Avenue. He helped his uncle build a mikva in the

R’ Gershon with sons and grandsons

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nearby shul and worked as a shochet.

Gershon and Leah opened their home to guests. He was also involved in one of the first gemachs in Lubavitch together with his friend Yochanan Gordon and later with Shimon Goldman.

R’ Gershon rose very early every morning. Before leaving the house and going to sh’chita (around 5:00) he would review the laws of sh’chita. Even on his days off, he would get up early to learn other things, a practice he continued even after he retired. The early morning hours were the best time for him to learn.

R’ Gershon learned all his life. Since he had an “eishes chayil” who pushed him to learn, he had a chavrusa for Gemara in the middle of the day and another shiur in the evening. He went through Shas

a number of times. He learned Torah Ohr and Likkutei Torah regularly. He remembered a lot of Tanach by heart from his youth and always enjoyed a good svara or deep, learned chiddush. He was very close with distinguished rabbanim including the rav of Crown Heights, R’ Zalman Shimon Dworkin, R’ Berel Rivkin, R’ Teitz, and the Admurim of Tzeilim, Bobov, and Novominsk.

He particularly enjoyed testing his children and grandchildren and talking to them in learning. He always

tried to add to their geshmak and chayus in learning and would closely follow their progress in learning.

He stayed far away from disputes. If an argument began relating to community politics, he stayed out of the discussion. He was respected by his friends and peers and was known as a straight person, simple, goodhearted, someone who cared, and a yerei Shamayim. These characteristics and the respect he gave everyone enabled him to make connections

R’ Gershon leading his son to the chuppa near 770

One of his neighbors who was the first to discover

him after he had his stroke saw him lying on

the floor with his hand holding his yarmulke so that it

wouldn’t fall off.

Continued on page 37

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“AND THE NATIONS SHALL GO BY YOUR LIGHT”By Rabbi Yaakov Shmuelevitz, a”h

Former shliach in Beit Shaan

There is the story about one of the Rebbeim who told one of his Chassidim to learn a certain maamer

400 times. The Chassid did as the Rebbe told him. When he finished this assignment, he left the room where he had been learning and no matter what he looked at, all he saw was the maamer.

In a recent Tishrei there was a bachur, one of a thousand or so, who went to 770 after concluding a stint of several months at a Chabad house in India. This bachur said that today too, there are shluchim who operate with a similar approach to the Chassid described above, as occurred with him on his recent shlichus.

Upon arriving in Dharamsala, he said, the local shliach, R’ Dror Moshe, told him the above story. It is known among Chassidim that in order to be even more

mekushar to the Rebbe, especially in order to be successful in the Rebbe’s shlichus, and even more so in difficult times, you need to pick a maamer and learn it over and over until you become completely saturated with the maamer. This is what provides completely different kochos to work on shlichus.

This shliach in India sat with the bachur and they learned the Rebbe’s maamer “Ata Horeisa Lo’Daas Ki Hashem Hu HaElokim, Ein Od Milvado.” In the days that followed they reviewed the maamer no less than seven times until they really felt that the maamer had penetrated their bones and they had the kochos they needed for the shlichus.

Then, one morning, this bachur went outside and saw a local Indian ride up on a bike,

holding a large brick and with a threatening look he began shouting in English, “Get out of here, you Jews, this is our country, there is nothing here for you. We’ll throw you out!” He kept shouting and threatening as he occasionally raised the large brick. It looked like any minute he would throw it at the bachur or at one of the visitors to the Chabad house.

The bachur was scared. This was the first time he had experienced anything like this and he didn’t know what to do. Then, as though welling up from the depths of his neshama, the answer appeared. He looked directly at the threatening Indian and shouted loudly and in the Simchas Torah tune, “Ata Horeisa Lo’Daas! Ki Hashem Hu HaElokim! Ein Od Milvado!”

The Indian was very

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frightened. He put down the brick and fled as fast as he could. He also remembered what the bachur looked like and whenever he saw him in the neighborhood or on the street, he quickly crossed to the other side of the street.

Thanks to the shliach in Tzfas, R’ Yitzchok Lifsh, who heard the story from the bachur and told it to me so I could share it with you.

GOYIM “MEKUSHARIM” GOING TO THE REBBEIn a sicha on VaYeitzei,

the Rebbe explains that an inseparable part of the Geula of the Jewish people is the birur (refinement) of Eisav, to rectify the nations of the world too, so that all the inhabitants of the world recognize and know the

kingdom of Hashem (as we recite in davening).

The following are stories about shluchim of the Rebbe who knowingly, or unwittingly, encounter the B’nei Eisav and impact them as part of preparing the world for Geula.

R’ Sholom Blau (now a shliach in Beit Shaan) was on shlichus in Chabad yeshivos in Italy for a year. He tells of an interesting and dangerous phenomenon which ultimately produced good results. There is a group of Christians in Italy whose priests and nuns make a special point of greeting every Jew they see, perhaps for the purpose of attracting them to Christianity.

R’ Blau noticed that a group of these nuns, whenever they passed by the yeshiva or the t’fillin stand, would stop for a

second, say a friendly hello, and then walk on.

One day, three nuns stopped at the yeshiva in Venice and asked what went on in the building during the day. Sholom Blau and his friend were standing there and they took the opportunity to explain the Seven Noachide Laws. Since the nuns did not know English, only Italian, a passerby was found, a local gentile, who knew both languages and served as the interpreter.

As they spoke, the bachurim emphasized that there is a big tzaddik in America who said they should publicize the Seven Noachide Laws and this tzaddik is called the Lubavitcher Rebbe. The bachurim wanted to explain to the interpreter, for him to convey to the nuns some more details about the Rebbe but the interpreter stopped them with a

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smile and said, “You don’t have to tell me who the Lubavitcher Rebbe is. I know him well; I’ve been to see him a few times.”

Now it was the bachurim’s turn to stop the interpreter. They eagerly pumped him for information about his connection to the Rebbe. The non-Jew explained that he had heard and read a lot about the Rebbe. The persona of the Rebbe and the messages he conveyed, really excited him. He went to New York several times, met with the Rebbe, spoke to him, and learned many things from him. Naturally, the continuation of the conversation with the nuns was in a much more enthusiastic atmosphere. They all saw that the Rebbe is in New York but his net is spread throughout the world and he affects non-Jews as well.

THE DEPUTY MAYOR AT THE KINUS HA’SHLUCHIM

The Kinus HaShluchim is also a good opportunity to be mekarev b’nei Noach to their seven mitzvos and to enable them to help the shluchim. Here is one example.

Among the popular speakers who farbrenged one year on Rosh Chodesh Kislev was R’ Shabtai Slavaticki, shliach in Antwerp. R’ Slavaticki sat surrounded by hundreds of Chassidim who hung on to his every word and ignored the clock which said it was six in the morning.

R’ Slavaticki, who had a drink or two, suddenly got up and told the disappointed crowd that in another four hours he had a meeting with the deputy mayor of Antwerp in the Children’s Museum in Crown Heights. He said that the deputy mayor, who was not Jewish, came from

Belgium especially to see the 4000 colleagues-shluchim of the shliach in Belgium.

The deputy mayor attended the banquet, watched what the Rebbe said about shluchim and shlichus, and was tremendously impressed by the stories of the shluchim around the world. Now they were going to have a meeting to arrive at some decisions regarding the success of the shluchim in Belgium.

By the way, the deputy mayor is someone who is regularly interested in what is going on with the Jewish people, Chassidim especially. He visited Yerushalayim, and attended one of the big Chassidic courts and saw their magnificent beis midrash. After that visit, he had great expectations of Chabad world headquarters. At first, he was disappointed, but on second thought he said to R’ Slavaticki, “It’s true that the beis midrash of that Chassidic group is bigger and more beautiful, but I want to help Chabad because I see that you are less involved in self-glorification and more committed to the entire world.”

Being a light (also) to the nations.

FACING OFF WITH A HOSTILE GENTILE

R’ Yisroel Gliss, shliach in Dimona, tells the following story:

A gentile couple made aliya and settled in Dimona. Interestingly, their fifteen year old son decided to convert. He went to a yeshiva high school and began visiting the shul in Dimona on off-Shabbasos from yeshiva. One day, he met R’ Gliss and began to learn Chassidus. When he finished the yeshiva high school he switched to the Chabad yeshiva in Tzfas.

His non-Jewish parents were very angry with him and were especially angry at R’ Gliss who they blamed for their son’s religiosity. The boy’s mother called R’ Gliss and threatened that if her son did not leave yeshiva, blood would be spilled (“I will drink your blood,” she said).

R’ Gliss got up his courage (and he needed a lot of courage) and went to the parents to talk to them about their son. The conversation wasn’t easy but in the end, even the parents understood that it was in their son’s best interests to let him find his own path. The bachur continued learning, got married, and now he and his children are mekusharim to the Rebbe and belong to a Chassidic community somewhere in the US.

TAKING ON THE MISSIONARIES

R’ Menachem Mendel Wilschansky, shliach and rosh yeshiva of the Chabad yeshiva in Haifa, once met a Jew who did not want to put on t’fillin. R’ Wilschansky told him sincerely, “My brother, give a hand to the bringing of Moshiach, put on t’fillin!”

As soon as the man heard about Moshiach, he was turned off even more and he said, “My older brother told me that the Messiah has already come.” It turned out that these Jewish brothers belonged to a Christian missionary group whose messiah came 2000 years ago.

R’ Wilschansky saw that there were two souls that needed saving from missionaries and he asked to speak to the older brother. This led to a series of meetings with the brothers and with the entire group. Yad L’Achim

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was also involved. There were debates, the Jewish brothers read some Jewish books, and in the end they proved to the Christians and the priests that there was no justification to direct Jews toward Christianity (I’m telling you the story in brief; it was actually much more difficult than these few lines convey). The Jews returned to mitzva observance and the non-Jews understood that they were better off fulfilling the Seven Noachide Laws.

AN ARAB BOY INVITING JEWS TO A SHIUR

Every Friday, says R’ Wilschansky, bachurim go on mivtza t’fillin all over the city. In addition to putting on t’fillin, they give out brochures and flyers inviting people to visit

the yeshiva and attend shiurim. Every day, many guests visit the yeshiva, learn b’chavrusa with the bachurim, attend a shiur, daven, and sometimes an entire family is transformed.

One day, an Arab boy went over to the bachurim at the t’fillin stand and said he wanted to help. The bachurim gave him a few hundred flyers advertising the shiurim and told him to distribute them to Jews only. The boy took the job seriously and gave out the flyers to passersby, to store owners, etc.

The boy came back every Friday and continued giving out flyers. Many people said they came to the yeshiva because an Arab boy gave them a flyer!

Some Arabs who work for the city and were sent to remove

a large picture of the Rebbe hanging outside the yeshiva building were told by one of the rabbis at the yeshiva that this picture is of a big rabbi and tzaddik. The Arabs told their boss that they would not take down the picture.

The matter came up for discussion at a full session of the city council and fascinatingly, it was the Arab treasurer who led the discussion and passed a resolution that said that since the Rebbe is a special tzaddik (as well as making the point that it was not advertising for business purposes), they should give their approval to the picture. And that’s what happened.

In a paraphrase of the prophet, “And kings will be your nursemaids and the Arabs your defenders.”

with Jews from other religious groups. He was even asked to review Chassidus in shuls of other groups.

He was very responsible financially and never took anything from anyone. He taught his family to live simply and to live within their means. At a certain point in his life he was involved for a number of years in selling insurance and mutual funds. Some of his customers lost money from their investment so R’ Gershon took on extra jobs in order to repay his customers.

Someone who had just arrived from Eretz Yisroel and did not have medical insurance asked him for help in obtaining medical care for his foot. R’ Gershon went out of his way to help him meet the best doctors and to go through the treatment successfully.

MOVING SPEECHR’ Gershon often used his

oratorical abilities to strengthen people’s yiras Shamayim. He would describe the Jewish home of old and tell tales of tzaddikim that he heard from Chassidim of previous generations. In his speeches he drew his audience into another world, into a world that no longer exists. Many Jews were inspired by his talks. He made no demands of people but the stories that he told were like lanterns that illuminated the way.

One time, he was invited to speak at a big campus in Boulder, Colorado where his daughter, Mrs. Scheiner, is a shlucha. 800 people were present when he thanked the son of Mr. Sugihara who had saved him and his family. He emotionally told about what European Jewry went through. He made such a powerful impression on the

audience that for many of them this was the turning point that led to their return to Judaism.

Yiras Shamayim was an inseparable part of him even in the hardest moments. One of his neighbors who was the first to discover him after he had his stroke saw him lying on the floor with his hand holding his yarmulke so that it wouldn’t fall off.

R’ Gershon Chanowitz passed away one year ago on 2 Av 5773/2013 at the age of 91. His children are: Mrs. Elki Elbaum of Boro Park, R’ Moshe of Montreal, Mrs. Shifi Kohl of Boro Park, R’ Bentzion, shliach in Monticello, Mrs. Esti Fishman of Boro Park, Mrs. Simi Schtroks, shlucha in Surrey, BC, R’ Sruli Chanowitz of Monsey, and Mrs. Chani Scheiner, shlucha in Boulder, Colorado.

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YOU HAVE FAILED MISERABLY, MR. PRIME MINISTER!

IT’S TIME FOR YOU TO PACK YOUR BAGS!How many times have we cried out that the Israel Defense Forces are being constrained by world opinion? The bitter truth revealed during the recent military operations is that we get a ringing slap in the face specifically when the Israeli government tries to appease the international community.

By Sholom Ber Crombie

Translated by Michoel Leib Dobry

1.If all the commentators last

week were still asking in amazement if we had been victorious in the recent Gaza operation, now they wondering if we actually lost. It’s not just whether we lost the “protective edge,” rather how much did we lose and how painful will this loss be for us in the long run.

It’s no longer a question of why the Israel Defense Forces went out to fight a war that it failed to win. People were asking why we suffered the loss of sixty-seven of our best soldiers and citizens, may G-d avenge their blood, while Hamas eventually won the battle and attained its objective. Now the question is whether they got everything they wanted before

they started this conflict, i.e., the lifting of restrictions on the coastal blockade, approval of an airport, re-opening the Rafiah crossing – or just a part of it?

Another point: Do you remember that before this operation began, the prime minister was taking pride in how his government did not and would not negotiate with the Hamas terrorists? Well, so what that he promised? During the last two weeks of hostilities, that promise was replaced with a new statement: “We will not negotiate under fire.” In other words, negotiating with Hamas has been approved. The government of Israel even sent a delegation to Egypt for that very purpose – just as long as it is not done under fire. However, the most amazing thing

is that the government of Israel has even failed to meet this condition. Hamas continued to fire missiles while the Israeli delegation talked with them about the conditions they had set for the war’s success – from their point of view, of course. Only a few ridiculous excuses kept the Israelis from sitting at the negotiating table that Friday morning – during a missile attack on the cities of southern Eretz Yisroel. The official excuse was that the delegation had to leave the talks in time for Shabbos. Come on, who are they trying to kid?

According to the latest reports, the Israeli delegation wasn’t just negotiating with Hamas – it was doing so under fire, while Hamas was aiming its rockets at the south with an unceasing barrage. But worst of all, this same delegation agreed to virtually all of the terrorists’ demands. If so, why did we go to war? Why were our finest soldiers killed? To give the Rafiah crossing to the cursed murderer Abu Mazen, who pays a monthly salary to these terrorists, at a rate set according to the number of Jews they slaughter? Is this the objective our fighting men sought to achieve when they went out to be killed al Kiddush Hashem?

One more question: If they were firing missiles on Israel’s

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southern cities before the war, and they will undoubtedly continue to do so afterwards at the same pace and without interruption, what has changed as a result of the recent conflict? The apparent claim is that we went to war to demolish the Hamas tunnels, as this was part of the military objectives. However, that is an outright lie. No one had even heard of the tunnels’ existence nor could they estimate their vastness in scope until the incident when thirteen terrorists emerged from a tunnel shaft beyond the border with Gaza. Only then did they suddenly change course and establish a new military objective – destroying the tunnels.

2.Everyone is asking: Could it

have been possible to conduct this battle in a different manner? The journalist Chanoch Daum wrote in his inimitable style the same message that the Rebbe conveyed time and time again during the war in Lebanon: “Just for the sake of argument, let’s assume that Hamas got upset with [Egyptian president] Sisi because he didn’t give them the Rafiah crossing, and they decided to start firing rockets on Egypt. It wouldn’t take long before Hamas realized that it had made a colossal mistake. An hour? Two hours? A day? Sisi would be nowhere to be seen. He would simply advance his tanks to the border with Gaza and start blasting. Within three hours, there would be three thousand dead Palestinians there. The world would get involved, Hamas would stop firing its missiles, and everyone would realize that it’s not a good idea to start up with Sisi.

“Now, this is certainly not ethical and it’s quite clear that this is not the way to do things. However, let’s admit that from a mathematical standpoint, Sisi would put a halt to the firing upon his citizens in three

hours, while making the Palestinians in Gaza pay a price that Israel is collecting from them in installments, over a period of three months. In other words, if instead of the nearly two thousand Palestinians killed thus far in Gaza there would have been only one thousand killed, yet they were all on the first day of fighting, it’s conceivable that we would be well into a ceasefire by now, with fewer killed for them and for us, and quiet

that would last for several years.”Daum’s words are quite logical.

This is the message that the Rebbe repeated throughout the war in Lebanon. The Rebbe emphasized that while the enemy was created in the image of man, one swift and mighty blow against them also would have saved countless casualties on both sides.

International considerations have also been added to this operation. How many times have we cried out that the Israel Defense Forces are being constrained by world opinion? The bitter truth revealed during recent military operations is that we get a ringing slap in the face specifically when Israeli policy places a heavy emphasis upon its efforts to appease the international community. This battle has been waged by, of all people, an Israeli prime minister raised overseas, and he has devoted a major portion of his diplomatic tactics to paying an unprecedented amount of attention

to world opinion. With “impeccable” logic, he explained to us how every ceasefire gives the IDF greater legitimacy before the world, and how all the “humanitarian” ceasefires have enabled us to receive approval for continuing the war.

However, this tactic has failed to prove its effectiveness. Instead of receiving greater legitimacy before the world, we have placed a ring of international media

cameras around us. As a result, when they start talking about a “humanitarian ceasefire,” the press immediately goes out to check why the humanitarian situation in Gaza is so atrocious. During one military operation, the government of Israel agreed to five separate ceasefires.

This war lasted for twenty-nine days. Since there was no ground offensive during the first eight days of action, this means that ground forces were only in Gaza for twenty-one days. During this three week period, no less than five ceasefires were called! Some lasted a few hours, some for a full day. Is this the way to conduct a war? What’s really most incredible is that these ceasefires did us absolutely no good in the eyes of the world.

3.Let the truth be told: If it weren’t

for the unequivocal statements of the leader of our generation against

The recent military operation has also revealed

the simple truth that we are “a nation that will

dwell alone.” It makes no difference how many ploys

or tricks we use to gain favor before the world at-

large – this strategy simply won’t work. The only way

to impress the world community is through a firm and

confident declaration of an uncompromising policy

against the terrorist organizations.

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showing indecision before the international community, we could easily have been convinced by the prime minister’s arguments. There are even those among our own ranks who explained to me that Netanyahu is running the operation with remarkable shrewdness, as the logic behind the ceasefire approach has revealed the true face of Hamas to the entire world. “They continue to fire missiles while we receive greater understanding before the community of nations,” they say. When I claimed that the Rebbe taught us that showing such indecision merely places us in a position of weakness and inferiority, they replied that the situation has changed and things work quite differently now.

In the final analysis, it’s impossible to deviate from the Rebbe’s words. Everything occurring now had been foreseen long ago in dozens of detailed sichos that the Rebbe delivered with pinpoint accuracy. Instead of proper international recognition, we get a United Nations “war crimes” committee, chaired by an anti-Semitic Canadian attorney who previously said that Prime Minister Netanyahu (and even Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shimon Peres!) should be brought before the International Court of Justice in the Hague as war criminals.

Here is a recitation of the facts as publicized by research investigator Raviv Druker, distinguishing between Operation “Protective Edge” conducted according to a policy of appeasement, and Operation “Cast Lead” with its more conventional Israeli approach.

“At first glance, the two operations were quite similar. ‘Cast Lead’ lasted twenty-two days, resulting in three civilian deaths and a ground offensive beginning on its eighth day. ‘Protective Edge’ went for twenty-nine days, with

three civilian deaths and a ground offensive beginning on its ninth day. However, just look at the difference: During ‘Cast Lead,’ the ground forces went deep into the [Gaza] Strip, to the outskirts of Gaza City. There were already reports on Hamas terrorists shaving their beards [out of fear for IDF retaliation – S.B.C.], and the price to Israel was ten soldiers killed. In ‘Protective Edge,’ the ground offensive was superficial, only a kilometer or two into the Strip. The cost: sixty-four soldiers. During ‘Cast Lead,’ the talk was about seven hundred Hamas terrorists killed. ‘Protective Edge’ apparently had the same amount, more or less. The significance: From a ratio of one of ours killed to seventy of theirs in ‘Cast Lead,’ we came to [a ratio of] one of ours killed to about eleven of theirs [in ‘Protective Edge’].

“Take a look at Hamas. During ‘Cast Lead,’ they fired an average of thirty-nine rockets a day during the first week. In ‘Protective Edge,’ it was four times as much – an average of 144 rockets a day during the first week. During ‘Cast Lead’ they brought Israel to a halt as far as the Ashdod-Ashkelon border. In ‘Protective Edge’ it upset the routine for residents of Tel Aviv, the Sharon region, Yerushalayim, and even Haifa – two-thirds of the country. During ‘Cast Lead,’ as long as the operation continued, the rocket attacks gradually decreased. By the third week, Hamas was already firing an average of [only] fifteen rockets a day – a 60% reduction from the first week, also proportionate to a successful ground operation. In the fourth week of ‘Protective Edge,’ Hamas fired more missiles than in the third week. While this marked a decrease of 32% in the daily average compared to the first week, it was still an average of ninety-seven rockets a day when the IDF had

tens of thousands of soldiers in the [Gaza] Strip.”

4.While the present-day reality is

not very encouraging, we can take some comfort from the fact that as with all the analysis made in recent years, here too, we reveal the true essence of the Jewish People. We draw the conclusion that there is only one way to live in Eretz Yisroel with peace and security – in accordance with the instructions of the Torah and its eternal message of “the land upon which the eyes of G-d are focused from the beginning of the year until the end of the year.”

Just nine years ago, we thought that the expulsion from Gush Katif had put an end to the Jewish People’s identification with the Land of Israel according to the Torah of Israel. Instead, we have discovered that the expulsion actually brought a fortification of our true and justifiable claim to Eretz HaKodesh for all to see. Today, no one dares to say that it was good that we chose to abandon the inheritance of our forefathers. The People of Israel have come to their senses. They have finally understood that only a connection to Eretz Yisroel through their faith in the Torah will give us true peace and security, with the knowledge that this is our land and we will protect every inch of it.

The recent military operation has also revealed the simple truth that we are “a nation that will dwell alone.” It makes no difference how many ploys or tricks we use to gain favor before the world at-large – this strategy simply won’t work. The only way to impress the world community is through a firm and confident declaration of an uncompromising policy against the terrorist organizations as a means to bring greater security to the People of Israel in their land.

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THE MYSTERY OF THE BOOKS

By D Chaim

I’m sure you enjoyed reading my previous article about what happened to us in old Sholom’s printing house. I am happy to report that the “Adventures of Shmuli and Berel in Sholom’s Print House,” if I can call it that, have not ended. All our friends in class already knew just how we bravely snuck into the print shop and managed to solve the difficult mystery that disturbed the peace of all who lived in our quiet house … (okay, now I’m writing exaggeratedly, like those who tell stories …).

Anyway, Sholom (the suspender man) fascinated us so much that our previous visit made us want to visit him again. So a week later, Shmuli and I decided that it was time for another royal visit. When I say “royal,” I mean that this time, we would not hide behind a

machine or something like that, but would show up for a polite visit and extract (or at least try to extract) trade secrets from Sholom. We set out in the hopes that Sholom would not chase us away like he once did.

We were greeted with the roar of the machines as we walked into the print shop. Sholom’s two eyes were piercing and for a moment we were frightened, but we immediately recovered and I said, “Hello Sholom. You know, the invitations that you printed for my bar mitzva were so impressive that all my friends

immediately asked where I had them printed.” As

I spoke, I noticed from the corner of my eye that Shmuli’s lips were moving. I guess he was whispering a chapter of T’hillim for the success of our visit.

S h o l o m glowered and then his mouth opened and a small smile appeared.

“We did it!” whispered Shmuli

excitedly. “I can’t believe it happened!”Sholom made believe

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that he hadn’t heard Shmuli’s loud whisper and asked me somewhat sarcastically, “So what did you tell them, that Sholom printed the invitations and miraculously, he did not manage to ruin them?

“I see that you are Chassidishe kids with heads on your shoulders,” continued Sholom, who had turned into a sweet grandpa. “I have a challenge for you.”

We perked up, being the curious types, and listened closely. Sholom pointed toward the left of the shop and said, “You see that machine over there? It is now printing a book that is different than all the books you know. If you can discover what book it is, who it is meant for and what it does to bring the Geula, I will print the invitations for the next bar mitzva in your class or for any event you pick, free.”

We went over with Sholom to the odd looking machine and he took a paper out of a pile that was lying on the side. He gave it to us and said, “You have until tomorrow night to come back to me with answers.” We left the print shop as we wracked our brains trying to figure it out: a strange book in which nothing was written, that only had holes as though mice had nibbled at it.

The next day, during recess, I told the class about the strange book that old Sholom was printing. When they heard the prize that he offered, everyone tried to solve the mystery. Half the day passed and we hadn’t even come up with a small piece of the solution.

The school day ended and Shmuli and I were on our own.

After a lot of thought, we

decided to go to the library. Maybe we’d solve the mystery there. We walked in and saw a librarian with a medium sized beard. He directed us to the second floor, the last shelf on the right side. “When you get there, you will see what you need to do,” he said.

We quickly walked along the hallways and after a brief search we arrived at the right shelf. I looked right and left and noticed something odd. A man sat near one of the tables. In front of him was a book and his fingers tapped on it as he stared into space.

“Look at how he’s reading,” I whispered to Shmuli. He was also surprised by this peculiar sight.

“I know what it is,” Shmuli suddenly whispered to me. “The man is blind and he cannot read the usual way. The book in front of him is made especially for the blind. Let’s see whether the page Sholom gave us looks like this man’s book.”

We walked near the table and saw that our page was just like his book. We suddenly heard a voice saying, “Hello there.” We jumped in fright and then realized that it was the blind man who had heard our footsteps. We began talking to him and told him why we had come to the library.

“Put your paper on the book in front of me,” he asked. We placed the page on his book, hoping it wasn’t upside down, and he began to quickly touch it. “Ah,” he said, “It’s a Tanya. Here … ‘Chapter 1 of Tanya, at the end of chapter 3 of Nida, he is made to take an oath, be a tzaddik and do not be a rasha ...’”

“We’ve answered one question then,” said Shmuli. We wanted to thank the man and hurry home, hoping my father would be able to help us solve the other questions. But the man continued speaking, “I wasn’t born in a Chassidic home, but I always heard about the Tanya and wanted to learn it because I heard that the Baal Shem Tov went to Moshiach’s chamber and asked him when he is coming. Moshiach told him: When your wellsprings spread outward. That means that only when the wellsprings of Chassidus spread to everyone everywhere Moshiach will come. So I simply wanted to hasten Moshiach’s coming.

“But as you surely realize, I could not learn Tanya because I cannot read regular print. One day, I heard that the Tanya had been printed in Braille which is special writing for the blind. After learning the book, I became a Chassid. Later on, I heard that the Rebbe said in one of his talks that after the Tanya was printed in Braille so that even the blind can learn Chassidus, the spreading of the wellsprings necessary for Moshiach’s coming was already completed and nothing can delay his coming.”

The man paused and then said, “That, in short, is the story of the page you have. I hope I’ve been of help.”

We thanked him and rushed to Sholom’s print shop with the answers. On the way I thought, I sure hope that the invitations that Sholom prints will be the invitations to the biggest event in the world: kabbalas p’nei Moshiach Tzidkeinu!

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