Beis Moshiach #1416 by Crown Edition

BRINGING MOSHIACH VALUES INTO OUR HOMES

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In Our Magazine

04 The Jewish Right To Eretz Yisrael The Rebbe’s opinion on

06 What Are We Waiting For? From the Rebbe’s pen

08 Is It Okay To Light Shabbos Candles With A Lighter? Ask the Rav by Horav Yosef Yeshaya Braun

44 Maintaining Perfect Balance Parasha Of The Future by Rabbi Nissim Lagziel

59 To Love A Fellow Jew Short Stories of the Rebbe’s Ahavas Yisrael

62 A Chassidishe Take On the “Marshmallow Test” Dr. Anna Kara-Ivanov, Ph. D.

Halacha Times & Shiurim

Saved From The Sea - Comic

When The Torah and World Perspectives Clash, Is There a Question Where Is The Truth?

Test of Faith: The Editor’s Cut

The Shliach of the Shluchim

It Wasn't Just a “Declaration,” But a Cry From The Heart!

The Rebbe's Opinion On

The Jewish Right To Eretz Yisrael

This is my first opportunity - owing to the intervening festivals to acknowledge receipt of your letter with the enclosure. I only wish it were a happier subject, though I am of course very gratified to note your personal interest and concern in regard to the settlement of Hevron.

The reason I mention a “happier subject,” is that it evokes a painful feeling which is connected with the attitude of the government of Eretz Yisroel to Hevron. Actually this attitude has its roots in its general attitude towards the Jewish right to Eretz Yisroel, an attitude which, sad to say, has not changed and has been the policy of all the governments of Eretz Yisroel.

I do not wish to dwell at length on this most painful subject. Hence I will confine myself to some limited remarks, which I am sure will be sufficient for you.

The problem with the said attitude is that it is based on the ill conceived premise that the Jewish presence in Eretz Yisroel is something that requires the approval and good graces of the nations of the world םימואל! - This has been the basic line, regardless of whose approval was needed, be it the Turks, or the British, or the United Nations. Thus, even when the situation called for a forceful approach, it was not really forceful enough and the other side seemed to sense it, especially when subsequent actions confirmed this timidity.

el is that ns of the world hose d Nations. , it was not especially when ledge, but for some nly to the Arabs and e wondrous victor y f the government Mr. s nations that out pressure Arab side ee any of

To cite one illustration, which is now public knowledge, but for some time was known only in the world capitals and certainly to the Arabs and Egyptians. I refer to the fact that immediately after the wondrous victory of the Six Day War, a high ranking representative of the government of national unity (including the opposition headed by Mr. Begin) traveled from capital to capital to assure the various nations that “everything was negotiable” - and this was done without pressure from anyone, neither from the U.S.A, nor from the Arab side who, after their crushing defeat, never expected to see any of the territories returned.

Dvar Malchus

Immediately after the wondrous victory of the Six Day War, a high ranking representative of the government of national unity traveled from capital to capital to assure the various nations that “everything was negotiable”.

❞Parenthetically, the above completely refutes any claim purporting to justify the camp David accord as having been forced on the government, for in reality it was the only logical consequence of the said avowed ill-fated policy.

Much more could be said on the subject, but it is too painful to dwell on and not one that I wish to publicize, though you may, if you think it worthwhile, show it to some of your friends, even members of the government, but not to the media, for understandable reasons.

What has been said above is by way of a reply to your letter regarding the property of my late father-in-law of saintly memory in Hevron, etc.

To put it more explicitly: in view of the said policy of the government, who is to guarantee that the government’s policy towards Hevron will be changed, especially since Hevron has consistently been kept, in effect, Judenrein, and the most that was achieved after much pressure was the settlement of Kiryat Arba, with emphasis on the fact that it was outside Hevron? If before camp David, I was reluctant to do anything about the said property in Hevron, because of my apprehension, these apprehensions turned out to be stark reality after camp David, when Jewish settlements, in Sinai, were forcibly uprooted in compliance with the camp David agreement (settlements that included also Jewish settlers from the U.S.A.).

Forgive me, therefore, if I say that your suggestion “to get the Military to take it over” is no guarantee that what happened with those settlements in Sinai could not happen to Hevron for the sake of “peace” on a piece of paper, which would probably be toasted and celebrated as a great achievement in behalf of our grandchildren.

quite c improv action settlem

Inasmuch as in keeping with the Torah, every Jew is an optimist, being quite confident in bittochon in G-d, I too, am confident that things will improve and there will come a time when it will be possible to consider action in regard to our property in Hevron and encouraging a Lubavitch settlement in the City of our Ovos.

Incid a Luba my app th

Incidentally, the above will explain also why I could not encourage a Lubavitch settlement in Kiryat Arba, for it would be tantamount to my approval of the government’s policy in regard to Hevron. At about the same time that I was approached about the above, I also had an offer from a Jewish philanthropist of $100,000 for the purpose of a yeshivah in Hevron proper. I thereupon sounded out the government about the offer and suggested that with adequate protection, by which I mean not just Military, but permitting at least a substantial nucleus of a Jewish presence around the Yeshivah. But nothing came of it.

Once again, many thanks for your kind offer of assistance, which I heartily appreciate.

With esteem and blessing, ■

(The Letter & The Spirit Vol. 5, p. 449)

From The Rebbe's Pen

What Are We Waiting For?

A portion of the letter of the Rebbe that served as the introduction to the Kuntres Shavuos sent to the Chassidim in 5710 in the Rebbe’s holy handwriting:

“…And the appeal of my saintly fatherin-law the Rebbe מ “ כה — which he cried out to us from his innermost soul — should constantly resound in our ears and minds and hearts, shuddering the depth of the soul: What are we waiting for? The Geula is being held up! It’s already past noon on Erev Shabbos! ■

Times for Brooklyn NY

שדוק תבש חרק תשרפ Korach

SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

SHABBOS

THURSDAY

'ה JUL 11

FRIDAY

זומת 'ו JUL 12

Ask The Rav

Is It Okay To Light Shabbos Candles With A Lighter?

A second installment of Halachic Q&As regarding the special mitzva of the Jewish woman and girl: Hadlokas Neiros Shabbos, from Halacha2Go.com and AskTheRav.com by Horav Yosef Yeshaya Braun, Mara D’asra and member of the Crown Heights Beis Din

Forgetting To Light Shabbos Candles

If a woman or girl forgets to light Shabbos candles, there is a knas, a penalty, that she must light an additional candle from the following week onwards.

There are many discussions in poskim about this halacha:

1. Does it apply in a case where the forgetfulness is considered to be an absolute accident or for a reason beyond her control;

2. There is a discussion about whether the same rule applies if she forgot to light candles on a Yom Tov;

3. If she forgot to light the same number of candles that she normally lights and

diminishes their number, [but she didn’t forget altogether];

4. If there is electrical lighting that illuminates the home anyhow; and other similar questions.

In any case where there is a question whether there is a knas to light an additional candle from the following week onwards or maybe only the following week, a Rav should be consulted as to the details. Halacha2go.com #20

Q.May I light Shabbos candles in my apartment if the landlord says not to?

A. It is the renter’s—and every individual’s— responsibility to take all necessary precautions to prevent their Shabbos candles— or their menorah on Chanuka—from posing a fire hazard, and not to leave lit candles unattended. However, a renter (termed socher in halacha) is not bound by any new conditions

their landlord might impose after the rental agreement has been signed.

Someone who is borrowing living space is responsible to prevent any damage to the premises in the course of their stay. Although a borrower (shoel) does not pay for accommodation, the transmission of responsibility for the premises constitutes a form of halachic kinyan (acquisition), even if it is only implicit and not verbalized or transcribed. The borrower, as the renter, is only obligated in the original regulations concerning their stay, and the owner cannot later demand they refrain from using candles in a responsible manner.

On the other hand, a houseguest who does not have any type of agreement with their host—such that the length of their stay is at the whim of the homeowner, is bound to follow all their instructions, whether they were set out at the beginning of their stay or added at a later time. Halacha2go.com #741*

Q.May a Non-Jew Light Shabbos Candles for Me?

A. If a person has the custom of lighting a yahrtzeit candle, but forgot to light it before shkiah on Friday evening—and this custom is very important to them—they may ask a non-Jew to light it after shkiah, as long as it is still before tzeis ha’kochavim (nightfall). This is because during the time of bein ha’shmashos (between shkiah and tzeis ha’kochavim), it is permissible, in cases of great need, to ask a non-Jew to do melachos that are forbidden on Shabbos, even if they are melachos min HaTorah.

Similarly, if a woman forgot to light Shabbos candles and realizes it only after shkiah, she may ask a non-Jew to light one candle for her

Horav Yosef Yeshaya Braun

(but not more than one), as long as it is still before tzeis ha’kochavim; after the non-Jew lit the candle, she should cover her eyes, and instead of saying the usual bracha of “Lehadlik ner shel Shabbos Kodesh,” (To light the candle of the Holy Shabbos), she should conclude the bracha with “Al hadlakas ner shel Shabbos Kodesh” (On the lighting of the candle of the Holy Shabbos) since she did not light it herself, and is merely benefitting from the light.

The same concept applies to all other melachos forbidden on Shabbos; if it’s very important to a person to have it done, they may ask a non-Jew to do it for them, but only until tzeis ha’kochavim Halacha2go.com #369

Electric Candles

There is a debate among poskim whether one can fulfill the mitzva of lighting Shabbos and Yom Tov candles by lighting electric candles. The same question applies to lighting the Chanukah menorah and to making the bracha of borei meorei ha’eish on Motzoei Shabbos

The consensus among poskim is that regular candles or oil lamps are required for lighting the Chanuka menorah, and the bracha of borei meorei ha’eish may only be recited on actual fire;

however, the mitzva of lighting Shabbos and Yom Tov candles can be fulfilled by using electric candles. Although it is preferable to use regular candles or oil for Shabbos and Yom Tov, if a person is in a place where they cannot light regular candles, such as in a hospital, they may use electric candles instead.

The same applies to the mitzva of bedikas chometz: according to many poskim, one may use a flashlight instead of a candle. Halacha2go.com #263* ■

0 Beiis s Mo Moshiach ch

As we approach Gimmel Tammuz - a day that puts us in conflict between its content as presented extensively in the Rebbe’s sichos as a day of “Ischalta d’Geula” and a day when the Rebbe Rayatz was transferred from a fate of the opposite of life to life, and what appears to our physical eyes, a day when the greatest concealment began - we chose to discuss the significance of the day with HaRav HaGaon R’ Heschel Greenberg shlita, shliach of the Rebbe MH”M to Williamsville for decades and the author of many scholarly sefarim and books.

Rabbi Greenberg, besides being an exceptional lamdan and tremendously knowledgeable in Shas and poskim - is known as a wonderful expounder, whose lectures have brought thousands of Jews closer to the Rebbe and Chassidus.

Q. Rabbi Greenberg, we’re approaching Gimmel Tammuz. What is the significance of this day for you?

A. Gimmel Tammuz was a relatively anonymous day until recently. But if we go back to the beginning of Jewish history, we’ll find that Gimmel Tammuz was the day when Yehoshua made the sun stand still during the conquest of Eretz Yisrael.

When the Rebbe Rayatz was released from prison to exile in Kostroma in 5687 (1927), the third day of Tammuz gained some publicity. However, even then, the importance of the day was overshadowed by the yemei ha’geula that followed soon after - Yud-Beis and YudGimmel Tammuz, when the Rebbe Rayatz was completely released from Communist prison.

This continued until Gimmel Tammuz 5754 (1994). Since then, this date stands before our eyes every day, and holds great significance for us.

Many will speak about the events that occurred on this day in Jewish history, and about what happened on Gimmel Tammuz

Beis Moshiach

5754. But with your permission, I will focus not on what Gimmel Tammuz does say, but on what it doesn’t say. I believe that on the following points there is unanimous agreement in the family of Chabad Lubavitch Chassidim:

• The eternity and relevance of the Rebbe’s teachings certainly did not stop on Gimmel Tammuz.

• The need to carry out the Rebbe’s mivtzaim, to reach every Jew with unconditional loveis of course no less important since Gimmel Tammuz.

• The Rebbe’s presence and influence on our lives - have not changed since Gimmel Tammuz.

• It’s clear and understood that the Rebbe’s sichos, in which he demanded that we prepare ourselves and the entire world to greet Moshiach Tzidkeinu - are immeasurably important even after Gimmel Tammuz.

• Everyone also agrees that unlike in previous generations, the Rebbe’s leadership was not transferred to a new Nasi. The meaning of a generation in this context, of course, is measured by the Nasi HaDor, and the Rebbe made this clear in no uncertain terms when he said that we are in the seventh generation which is the last of galus and the first generation of Geula. Only when the Geula is complete will the Rebbe inform us that this is the sign of our entry into the eighth generation. Until then, the Rebbe, the Nasi of the seventh generation, continues to be the Nasi of our generation until the true and complete Geula.

After listing the things that no one disputes, I want to pose an obvious question: If nothing has really changed, why has Gimmel Tammuz become such a significant date in our generation?

It seems that every Chassid agrees that despite all of the above, the situation as it has been since Gimmel Tammuz is unbearable.

The very fact that we live in a time when the Rebbe is not visible to our eyes, as predicted in the book of Daniel and several other sources,

is the complete opposite of the entire essence of the Rebbe’s approach. Throughout the years, the Rebbe fought against darkness, sadness, despair, compromise, and everything included in the galus reality of concealing Elokus

We cannot be comforted by knowing that the Rebbe’s influences have not diminished since Gimmel Tammuz. This does not satisfy us - even though the Rebbe’s influence has grown immeasurably - and it doesn’t satisfy the Rebbe either. The Rebbe is not interested in anything less than absolute good, unlimited revelation of Elokus within this lowest world: mamash, mamash, mamash and without quotation marks.

As long as the Rebbe remains concealed from our eyes and as long as even some of us have not managed to open our eyes and see the Geula before us - the work that the Rebbe demands from us has not been fulfilled.

Now to your question: “What does this day mean to me?” The answer is clear: Gimmel Tammuz warns us that we cannot sustain ourselves on memories and tradition from the past. We also cannot find comfort in the fact that the Rebbe’s spiritual presence hovers “above us”. We can’t even be satisfied with the fact that the Rebbe is with us, in any way, if we can’t see him with physical eyes.

On a day like Gimmel Tammuz, the anticipation for the Rebbe’s hisgalus (revelation) takes on a completely different dimension than any other date. This is a day when we express supplications from the depths of our hearts to Hashem and cry out with all our heart and soul: “Ribbono Shel Olam, ad mosai? We are not satisfied with anything less than the true and complete Geula! We cannot accept anything as a substitute. We want Moshiach now and Geula now in the most literal and simple sense, so that we can see the Rebbe with our physical eyes, and say before him with feelings of joy and happiness: Yechi Adoneinu Moreinu V’Rabbeinu Melech HaMoshiach L’olam Va’ed.

Q. In the coming week, we will mark thirty years since Gimmel Tammuz 5754! Some people who are not from Chabad were sure it was only a matter of time before Chabad Chassidim would disconnect, G-d forbid, from the belief that the Rebbe is Melech HaMoshiach, but they are unable to understand how it is that after such a long time that the Geula has been delayed, this faith is not weakened at all, and on the contrary: it is growing stronger, and the number of believers is growing. Is there an explanation for this?

A. First of all, the passing time strengthens and intensifies the longing and anticipation for the complete revelation of the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach. Therefore, precisely with the passing time, the desire to see our king grows stronger, which is expressed primarily in adding actions to hasten the Geula. This desire and longing are also expressed in the cry of “ad mosai” coming from the heart of every Chassid, who cannot bear this terrible exile, and the proclamation of “Yechi Adoneinu”, which also bursts forth like a flame from his heart, out of complete faith in the Rebbe’s words that this proclamation hastens and accelerates the complete hisgalus we all yearn for.

And regarding your question - at first glance, the doomsayers should have been right. Time, apparently, works against us, and every moment that passes should weaken our faith and cause hesitations and doubts.

One thing they didn’t take into account is that it is a matter of emuna: faith, at its root, is above intellect, and therefore it is not subject to the limitations of intellect, and is capable of strengthening and intensifying against all logical reasoning.

The truth is that if you look at the matter with true Torah logic, there is no difference between Gimmel Tammuz 5784 and Gimmel Tammuz 5754, and even Gimmel Tammuz 5752, because from the moment the Rebbe said that there had already been a revelation of Moshiach’s existence in the world (see Sicha

of Vayera 5752), and his revelation to all began through his actions, and there is nothing holding it back, then even one moment later, there is no logical explanation for the continuation of galus.

The Rebbe himself said that there is no explanation for the continuation of the exile, after Am Yisrael has already done Teshuva, and the time of Geula has already arrived. In one of the most painful sichos we ever heard from the Rebbe, after the murder of Mrs. Lapine HY”D,(11 Adar I 5752) the Rebbe expressed painful expressions, and the content of the words was that the Rebbe himself does not understand, and that in essence, it is impossible to understand why Moshiach has not yet arrived. This means that it is impossible to understand the current galus, even at the highest level of holy intellect. And if in Adar 5752 it was not understood intellectually why the revelation of Moshiach was delayed, then the same question existed in Nissan, in Iyar, and so on till this very moment!

Therefore, to come and say that thirty years ago the faith of the Chassidim was logical, but after thirty years have passed it is less acceptable - is first-rate nonsense! On this

issue, even logic says that there is no difference between one day and thirty years!

The same super-rational faith that gave us the strength to believe in 5752 is what gives us the strength of soul to continue believing in 5784.

Q. Still, how do we explain the fact that almost thirty years have passed since Gimmel Tammuz, and we still haven’t merited the revelation of the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach?

A. We don’t explain. Plain and simple. The Rebbe never asked us to understand why the Geula is delayed. On the contrary: the Rebbe asked us to not accept and understand this! The Rebbe wants us to understand that Moshiach is coming any moment, to understand that the time of Geula has already arrived, to understand that Moshiach has already begun his actions, to know that the table is already set with the Livyasan and the Shor HaBor and the Yayin HaMeshumar, and we just need to open our eyes and “drag the Geula into our room,” as the Rebbe said to Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu.

Every Jew has the freedom of choice to use the power of intellect and understanding in the

right direction. And our direction should be as the Rebbe wants, that it should be ingrained in us with decisive and clear understanding that the time of Geula has arrived, and therefore galus is the strange and incomprehensible reality.

Now, by nature, we think exactly the opposite, but the Rebbe demands that we overcome nature, and work on ourselves so that our intellect and our understanding, is permeated with the matter of Moshiach, with the fact that Moshiach should already be here, and the Rebbe should already be revealed completely. Until this becomes a thing understood intellectually, and the galus reality becomes refuted and incomprehensible.

Q. Does this seem practical to you?

A. If the Rebbe demands this from us, it’s certainly practical, because as Chazal tell us about Hashem that “I only ask according to their ability”. Indeed, it’s very difficult, and as the Rebbe himself said (Shabbos Parshas Balak 5751) that “despite the ‘shturem’ in the matter... after seeing the wonders that testify that this is the ‘year that Melech HaMoshiach is revealed in it’, we see that there is difficulty (‘es kumt ohn shver’) to instill the recognition and feeling that we are on the threshold of the days of Moshiach literally, so that we begin to ‘live’ with matters of Moshiach and Geula”.

But in the same sicha, the Rebbe offers the way to overcome this difficulty: “And the advice for this is through learning Torah in matters of Moshiach and Geula, because [it is] in the power of Torah... to change human nature, so that even when one’s emotional state is still, G-d forbid, outside the matter of Geula (since he has not yet left the inner exile), through learning Torah in matters of Geula, he elevates himself to a state and condition of Geula, and begins to live with matters of Geula, with knowledge, recognition and feeling that ‘behold, he [Moshiach] is coming’”.

The difficulty in living the Geula stems from the very fact that we are in galus... Galus

doesn’t just mean that we are outside of Eretz Yisrael, but mainly that we are in an inner exile: our thinking is galusdik, our view of life is from a galusdik perspective. In a galusdik view, the assumptions of the world take first place, and the assumptions of Torah are far, far away, if at all. Leaving the inner galus means: declaring war on nature. And this is difficult...

Q. Regarding Gimmel Tammuz, Mashpiim often quote the Rebbe’s words regarding the histalkus of the Rebbe Rayatz, that “the event that occurred is only a test” - what is the explanation for this, and how do we explain this to people like us who are used to determining reality only according to what they see with their eyes?

A. Look, one of the most prominent characteristics of the Rebbe’s teachings is undoubtedly the reference to Torah as Toras Emes. Torah that is truth. Truth is not just the absence of falsehood, but the idea of consistency, something that does not cease and does not change. The Rebbe takes the idea of consistency to a higher level. Not only must something in Torah naturally fit and be consistent with all other parts of Torah - since all of Torah is essentially one point - but Torah must fit and be consistent with the reality of our existence. No one can separate the reality of Torah from the reality of the physical world.

The fact that we do see dichotomies and inconsistencies when Torah and reality do not match, is only a result of galus. Galus blurs the absolute truth of Toras Emes. Torah in general, Chassidus in particular, and the Rebbe’s teachings in the most specific detail, are directed at removing the barrier between the reality of Torah and the perceived reality of our experience.

We see this throughout the Rebbe’s teachings. For example, regarding the apparent conflict between Shabbos observance and business income. Since Torah is the blueprint of creation, it’s inconceivable that Shabbos observance could interfere with and harm a Jew’s livelihood!

We see this also in the context of the Gemara’s declaration in Taanis (5a) that “Yaakov Avinu did not die”, and in Sotah it is said that “Moshe did not die”. What is the difference between Yaakov and Moshe and other tzaddikim who are also clearly alive in terms of their soul (“even in their death, tzaddikim are called living”) and have a positive continuing influence on the world but it is not said about them that they “did not die”?

The Rebbe explains that Yaakov Avinu and Moshe Rabbeinu embody the quality of truth. Truth means there is no inconsistency and conflict between the life of the soul and the life of their body. While for all tzaddikim their soul obviously continues to live (and to some extent even their bodies), for Yaakov and Moshe life continues through the continuation of their soul within their body.

Similarly, in the words of our Rebbeim, who are truth and their Torah is truth, there are no expressions of exaggeration or overstatement. Since a Rebbe embodies “truth” and “Toras Emes” in all his essence, there is no room for inaccuracy or mere expressions and wishes in the Rebbe’s words.

After this introduction, we can know how to assess and evaluate the seriousness to be attributed to the Rebbe’s declarations about Moshiach. Because if Torah is truth and the main parts of expressing truth are in halacha and Chassidus, then Moshiach is the most prominent expression of truth. Therefore, it is clear that the Rebbe will not say trivial things about Moshiach and his identity. It’s ridiculous to think that the Rebbe, of all people, would use exaggeration or overstatement regarding any part of Torah, and certainly not regarding Geula and Moshiach.

Therefore, when the Rebbe explicitly says that “Moshiach, Menachem shmoi”, and this is in continuation to the leadership of the Rebbe Rayatz and the role of the Rebbe Rashab in bringing Moshiach, it is inconceivable that he is speaking in riddles or just expressing a wish. Similarly, if the Rebbe writes that the

Beis Moshiach

number 770 is the gematria of “Beis Moshiach”, it’s impossible to think that he meant to bring a nice literary description, and when the Rebbe declares that Moshiach has already been revealed and begun to act in the world as part of Moshiach’s actions, is it true to say that the Rebbe actually meant this only metaphorically and not in the most serious way? It’s clear that we need to take the Rebbe’s words as absolute, every word precisely as it was said.

To present the Rebbe’s words in any other way and try to interpret and explain that his inner intention does not align with the clear words he said, is to apply a galus mentality and way of thinking, chas v’Shalom, to the Rebbe who is the complete opposite of galus!

Q. You mentioned earlier the Rebbe’s prophecy that the time of Geula has arrived. What does this actually mean - has the Geula already begun in practice?

A. Indeed, this is a quote from the Rebbe’s words and it’s very important to be very precise in these matters, since the Rebbe fought for many years against all those who say that there has already been an “Ischalta d’Geula” (beginning of redemption) with the formation, in 5708 (1948) of the State of Israel.

In fact, if you look carefully at the Rebbe’s words, you won’t find even once that the Rebbe expresses himself in the language of “Ischalta d’Geula”. There are similar expressions, but very different. The Rebbe stated dozens of times that “higia zman Geulaschem” (the time of your redemption has arrived), “higia” from the word “touch,” that we are already “touching” the time of Geula, and as the Rebbe expressed elsewhere that “we are already standing on the threshold of the beginning of the days of Moshiach, on the threshold of the beginning of the Geula” (Balak 5751), “matters of Geula have already begun” (Shoftim 5751), “our days - the days of Moshiach - in which we are now” (19-20 Kislev 5752), “we see (a foretaste and) the beginning of Melech HaMoshiach’s action on the nations” (Mishpatim 5752), and more.

The time of Geula has arrived, matters of Geula have already begun, there is a foretaste and beginning of the prophecies of Geula, and our days are already defined as “the days of Moshiach”, but the Geula itself has not yet begun. Because Geula is a clear halachic concept, which begins when Melech HaMoshiach builds the Beis HaMikdash in its place and gathers all the dispersed of Israel. Only after these two conditions are fulfilleddoes the Geula begin.

We are currently in an intermediate stage, or as the Rebbe defines it, the “peak time”, this is the transition point from galus to Geula. At this point, Moshiach has already been revealed and begins to act in the world, and the whole world begins to change towards Geula. We are already touching Geula, but still in galus. Therefore, at this stage, the main work should focus on “greeting Moshiach Tzidkeinu in actual practice”.

In other words, at a deeper level: All matters of Geula have already been accomplished in this physical world, but we need to open our eyes and see the reality in actual practice. Therefore, as long as we haven’t opened our eyes, and we don’t see this true reality with physical eyes, we can’t say that from a halachic perspective we’ve reached a state of Geula.

The exact same thing applies to the belief that the Rebbe is alive and well. We know, based on the Rebbe’s sichos, that this is the true reality, but we don’t see it with physical eyes. To say we’re happy with this situation? Chas v’Shalom! No one is happy, but we know the true reality, and we do everything so that this will also be the visible and revealed reality.

In the maamar of Erev Shavuos 5749, the Rebbe said that “when Jews issue a psak din (halachic ruling) according to Torah that the time of the Geula has already arrived (because all the kitzin have passed and the Jewish people have already done teshuva) so it will be and immediately the Geula comes”.

By the way, it’s interesting to note what the Rebbe’s source is for “the Jewish people have

❝ it’s interesting to note what the Rebbe’s source is for “the Jewish people have already done teshuva” is. The Rebbe references “As the psak din of my father-in-law, the Rebbe, that a sigh of a Jew is great teshuvah which is cited in HaYom Yom for 3 Tammuz…

already done teshuva” is. The Rebbe references “As the psak din of my father-in-law, the Rebbe, that a sigh of a Jew is great teshuvah which is cited in HaYom Yom for 3 Tammuz…

The terrible concealment of Gimmel Tammuz 5754 caused a great sigh in every Jew, and if an ordinary sigh is great teshuva, then that sigh of Gimmel Tammuz is the greatest teshuva that has ever been!

The very fact that a Jew can think that the Rebbe is not with us, this is the greatest helem v’hester (concealment and hiding). This is not the Geula the Rebbe spoke about, and this is not the Geula we yearn for. When the main point of Geula, Melech HaMoshiach, is not revealed to our physical eyes, this is the greatest helem v’hester. But precisely because of this, we must do everything to remove the helem v’hester and reveal that he is ba’chaim - the Rebbe is alive and well, because the more we see and show that the Rebbe is alive and well - this removes the helem v’hester!

Q. Why is it really so important to publicize that the Rebbe is alive, when this is something people not familiar with Torah and Chassidus concepts can perceive as strange and outlandish?

A. This is part of hiskashrus (connection) to the Rebbe! One aspect of hiskashrus is the chayus (vitality) and ‘koch’ (enthusiasm) in the

❝ The Torah’s perspective on the Rebbe’s existence is that the Rebbe is chai v’kayam! This is explicitly stated in the sichos, and this is understood by anyone who learns in Chassidus about the role of the Nasi HaDor and Melech HaMoshiach.

matters that the Rebbe is involved in himself with a ‘koch’. When we look at the Rebbe’s sichos from the years 5710-11, we see a special koch that the helem v’hester is only a test, and we need to know that the Rebbe is alive and well. After the Rebbe accepted the nesius (leadership), of course there was no need to agitate about the fact that the Rebbe is alive and well (although even in later years, when the subject came up, like during the period of the sefarim trial, the Rebbe again emphasized in words that cannot be misunderstood, that the Rebbe Rayatz is alive, and no rabbi or lawyer can change the simple reality that he is alive, so there’s nothing to talk about inheritance!).

But now, when we are in a helem v’hester where we don’t see the Rebbe, we need to learn these sichos, and engage with koch and chayus in what the Rebbe was engaged in at the time. Additionally, the Rebbe said then that we need to study the last sichos we heard from the Rebbe with precise attention. When we do exactly that with the last sichos (for now) that we heard from the Rebbe, we see clearly that the Rebbe is talking about there being no interruption in the seventh generation, but we enter into Geula through eternal life. From the natural feeling of a Chassid, he engages in matters that the Rebbe engages in, even if he doesn’t understand what the benefit is.

All the more so in our case, when this approach, that the Rebbe is alive, stems from the approach that says that Elokus, Torah and the Rebbe are eternal truth, and the helem v’hester is not truth. This is the whole matter of Moshiach - “Emes Hashem l’olam” (G-d’s truth is eternal), that we see the true reality of the world, as it is reflected in Torah eyes, not as it appears in the assumptions of the world.

In a well-known sicha for Parshas Vayechi (Likkutei Sichos Vol. 35), the Rebbe says that there are two approaches: how Hashem looks at things, and how the world looks at things. The Egyptians considered the assumptions of the world, and therefore when “it appeared to them that he [Yaakov Avinu] died” they did what was expected, but we need to see everything from Hashem’s perspective. Fine, during the time of galus there is room to look according to the assumptions of the world, but when we are already touching the Geula, we need to emphasize how the Torah looks at things.

And in our case, the Torah’s perspective on the Rebbe’s existence is that the Rebbe is chai v’kayam! This is explicitly stated in the sichos, and this is understood by anyone who learns in Chassidus about the role of the Nasi HaDor in general, and Melech HaMoshiach in particular.

If we look at a peripheral matter through the eyes of worldly assumptions, perhaps it’s not so terrible, but when we take the matter that is the very heart of the Geula, Melech HaMoshiach, and look at him with galus eyes - this is a contradiction and the greatest inconsistency!

When the Rebbe says we need to ‘live with Moshiach’, it means we need to live with the assumptions of Torah, to look at everything from a Torah perspective. And as is extensively brought from the Rebbe’s sichos - through learning Torah in matters of Geula and Moshiach, we accustom the mind to look at the world from a Torah perspective, a perspective of Geula. ■

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0 Bei e s M Mosshhiach

Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky a’h, was born on Rosh Chodesh Sivan 5709/1949 to his parents, R’ Tzvi Yosef (Hershel) and Mrs. Golda Kotlarsky. His father was a talmid of Tomchei Tmimim in Poland who was saved during the war via Shanghai and then went to Montreal, where a small group of survivors from Europe, he among them, started a branch of Tomchei Tmimim, under the instruction and guidance of the Rebbe Rayatz.

Years later, his parents moved to Crown Heights. Young Moshe began his schooling in Crown Heights and later learned in the yeshiva in Montreal until he married. He married Rivka, the daughter of Rabbi and Mrs. Shneur Zalman and Shula Kazen of Cleveland, on 23 Kislev 5731.

Friends offered to make sheva brachos for them on Thursday night in Montreal, allowing them to return to New York Friday morning to spend Shabbos Chanuka in Beis Chayeinu and have sheva brachos during the Rebbe’s farbrengen. The chassan wrote to the Rebbe asking whether to accept the offer. “We would like to come back here for Shabbos, to make sheva brachos during the Rebbe’s farbrengen.” He wrote that snow was predicted but not to the extent that flights would be grounded.

The Rebbe circled the last line, from the words “We would like,” and wrote, “Then, why bother and on Nittel etc. and one ends on a positive note.” That Friday was December 25 which meant the night before was Nittel.

When he got this clear answer, the chassan and kalla remained in New York and had a different sheva brachos Thursday night. The next day they found out that Montreal had been hit by a major snowstorm which shut down the airport which would have made it impossible for the couple to return to New York to the Rebbe’s farbrengen.

That Shabbos, after the Rebbe finished saying the maamar, he turned to the father

Beis Moshiach

of the chassan who stood in his usual place behind the Rebbe and motioned with his hand, “Nu, sheva brachos ...”

UTTER DEVOTION

The Kotlarskys settled in Crown Heights and built a beautiful home that was open to guests to an extreme. Every Shabbos, dozens of people were at their Shabbos and Yom Tov table. Thousands of bachurim and guests ate at their home over the decades. All enjoyed the abundance and the special treatment by the hosts.

Journalist Yossi Elituv said, “To me, an eleven-year-old, what I remember forever is his standing erev Yom Kippur and serving hundreds of people who were there for the seudamafsekes, with the outstanding hospitality that he displayed on Shabbos and chagim. I always wondered how he could smile to all those who were down and out and find the right word for a young boy from France, while simultaneously being able to find the way to the hearts of major tycoons, mekusharim and mashpiim who ate at his table. And it was done with simplicity; nothing was hard for him.”

The Kotlarskys raised their nine children in the spirit of shlichus and devotion to the Rebbe. Although he and his wife were set on going on shlichus, the Rebbe appointed him to work at Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, to help with the constant flow of activity. He became responsible for founding and bolstering the work of the shluchim, starting mosdos and Chabad Houses, obtaining funding to open new places of shlichus, and carrying out various assignments that the Rebbe gave him.

An extraordinary episode which occurred when he first started working for Merkos is one R’ Kotlarsky later recounted. He was involved in making shidduchim and he was successful. However, at some point, a number of shidduchim he was involved in didn’t work out, which was surprising to him since he had

been successful previously, and he decided to stop.

Years later, he found out what happened. One of his relatives had yechidus with the Rebbe and the Rebbe asked him what he planned on doing for a shidduch for one of his descendants who was of age. The person said to the Rebbe that he was going to ask R’ Kotlarsky, who worked in shidduchim, to get involved.

Hearing this, the Rebbe said in surprise, “Is it possible for R’ Moshe to also be involved in shidduchim?”

R’ Kotlarsky figured out that the time his relative was in yechidus was precisely the time that he had stopped being successful in shidduchim.

CARING FOR EVERY SHLIACH

The work at Merkos was difficult and demanding. Rabbi Chodakov was the head of Merkos and he constantly pushed R’ Kotlarsky

to expand the work while not compromising on the clear work rules about anything done in the name of Chabad.

An example of the difficulties of those early days was something he himself related years later. A million dollar donation was offered to Merkos by one of the major American Jewish charities to expand the work of Lubavitch. R’ Moshe, who was just starting out, was thrilled by the promised sum and he reported to R’ Chodakov.

Those who ran the fund asked him to prepare a detailed contract between Merkos and the fund. While preparing the documents, the board of the charity made it clear that for donations of this size they wanted to receive a detailed report of the bank accounts of the organization receiving the donation as well as a detailed report of the bank accounts of the president of the organization, to ascertain that everything was done legally. In addition, they wanted to meet with the president of the organization to draw an impression of his trustworthiness and integrity.

R’ Kotlarsky did not for one moment consider acceding to these requests. He stopped the negotiations with the board of the charity and reported to R’ Chodakov about the donation that was canceled.

A short while later he was called for yechidus. The Rebbe asked him to come in before the time designated for those who had appointments for yechidus. At this yechidus, the Rebbe spoke smilingly and with great closeness and encouraged him to continue his work. The Rebbe said to him then, “We must not forget that there needs to be plowing and planting and all the 39 Melachos before we get a million dollars.”

His work, the work of heaven, was indeed sown with many hardships but he used all his abilities and talents to help shluchim in their work. Over the years, he forged pathways to the hearts of financial giants and turned them into key donors in the development of shlichus around the world.

Thanks to his impressive oratory and his vision, he personally raised hundreds of millions of dollars over the years for projects of Jewish education, helping the needy and building community centers around the world. R’ Kotlarsky’s influence wasn’t limited to his

official roles. He was a personal friend and mentor to thousands around the world. He was known for his readiness to help anyone who needed help at all hours of the day and night, and he provided financial aid or medical assistance to many people.

Already in the first years of his work he began traveling to distant Jewish communities for the purpose of planning the establishment of new Chabad centers. His efforts breathed new life into Jewish infrastructure around the world including the former Soviet Union, the Far East and the Caribbean islands.

R’ Kotlarsky was a father figure to many shluchim, his home was in Brooklyn but he lived mainly on planes. Nothing was too small but neither was anything too big; big dreams were realized, thanks to him.

He always presented them in the best light to the Rebbe and asked the Rebbe for his bracha for them. For example, after one of his trips at the end of Cheshvan 5751, he wrote a detailed report about his trip and the shluchim he met. He mentioned shluchim who send their children to distant schools from whom he never heard a complaint about this sacrifice. He said they did this with simcha. He asked that the shluchim see outstanding success in

the chinuch of their children and that they merit that their children go on shlichus. The Rebbe’s response was, “May it be with very, very great success.”

These visits to shluchim, especially those who lived far away, breathed hope and encouragement into them to continue their work. He was such a welcome guest as he farbrenged with them, saw what they lacked, and encouraged them to proudly continue the Rebbe’s work.

Rabbi Chaim Binyamini, shliach in Petrópolis, Brazil wrote “Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky came here for a brief visit… and saw the yeshiva,” in Iyar 5745. “He davened Mincha in the Beis Medrash and it provided him and us excitement and inspiration. He expressed his amazement about the conduct of the talmidim and we received encouragement from the fact that by divine providence someone came to us from Merkos to... encourage us to continue our work.

“If only everyone who comes to Brazil on any shlichus connected with the Rebbe, would come here and would farbreng or at least inspire us, we who are in the middle of the forest, etc.”

Thousands of Jews have no idea that they owe their spiritual lives to R’ Moshe, for example, Jewish refugees from Ukraine, students from London and bar mitzva boys from Sderot or Australia, and thousands of graduate students who learn Torah every day in special kollelim.

Throughout the years, he was privileged to have a special relationship with the Rebbe thanks to his work, whether at farbrengens or when dollars were given out. The Rebbe would give him extra dollars and say, “For all the shluchim,” or “Success for all the trips.”

R’ Kotlarsky raised many points of light of Lubavitch in the world with great ingenuity and mesirus nefesh as he went from one terminal to another and jumped between countries and only occasionally seeing his wife and children. There is no place on the globe where he didn’t

light the torch, followed by the shluchim and centers that he helped, amassing thousands of mekuravim and baalei teshuva.

He had the rare ability to stay in the background of the system that he built out of nothing and yet, to give each shliach his place and ability to express his hidden talents. There is no continent that he didn’t visit and no city in the world that he didn’t know. In each place, he knew how to plant the right people. He operated under the constant guidance of the meshaleiach, with diplomatic skill and rare ingenuity, but with utter bittul to the Rebbe.

R’ Kotlarsky was the overseer and director of the Kinus events for Shluchim and Shluchos every year. His distinctive voice set the tone from the first moment and throughout the days and nights. In his speeches, some of which were quite fiery, he breathed into them a spirit of encouragement and energy to continue their work proudly and with hiskashrus and bittul to the meshaleiach.

Many may have thought that his main work was in the limelight, but the truth is that his involvement with the shluchim throughout the year was grinding and often demanded tremendous patience to resolve problems and, when necessary, to bridge between them. Many shluchim can tell you how R’ Kotlarsky would schlep to come visit them, sometimes for days and even weeks, in order to bridge differences and resolve conflicts so that everyone would know their area of responsibility.

Even in recent years, every shliach, no matter how young, who had a problem with another shliach in the area, knew that when he turned to R’ Moshe the latter would drop everything and help him.

HIS LAST OUNCE OF STRENGTH

In recent years, he stood at the helm of a number of institutions that he founded and developed such as Chabad on Campus, an organization that operates on over 230 college campuses around the world and JLI, which provides Jewish curricula for adults. He also

‘TONIGHT IS OUR REBBE’S BIRTHDAY’

Over the years, R’ Kotlarsky worked hard to establish Chabad Houses in the Far East. One of the families who was a primary supporter at the start of this work, was the Kashani family. Of Iranian origin, they are very wealthy and because of their business dealings in the Far East, they were one of the ﬁrst to ﬁnance and support Chabad’s work in Thailand.

[Interestingly, the Rebbe didn’t use the phrase “Far East.” The times that R’ Kotlarsky passed by the Rebbe for dollars with Mr. Kashani, the Rebbe said, “G-d should help you have great success, especially in the East which is not close.”]

When the older brother, Yitzchok became engaged, the wedding was on Monday night, 11 Nissan 5748. When the family asked R’ Kotlarsky to come to the simcha, he said it was a special day for him because it was the Rebbe’s birthday and although it didn’t look as though there would be a farbrengen (since it was a month and a half after the passing of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka), he thought there would be a special sicha and he couldn’t possibly miss it. He said he would come later on but wouldn’t be there for the chuppa.

The night of 11 Nissan some ziknei Anash went to bless the Rebbe on behalf of the Chassidim. The Rebbe responded with brief words of blessing and after Maariv, the Rebbe began saying a sicha. After the sicha, the Rebbe gave out dollars for tzedaka.

R’ Kotlarsky was one of the first to receive a dollar and he left immediately for Long Island, to the wedding. When he arrived at the hall, it was ten o’clock. When he asked the first person he met when the chuppa was, he was surprised to find out that “the

chuppa didn’t happen yet because they are waiting for a rabbi from Brooklyn.”

The rabbi who officiated at the chuppa, who was a member of the kehilla, began the chuppa by saying, “I don’t know how you merited such a great zechus that you received a letter of blessing for mazal tov from the most important Jewish leader in the entire world, the Lubavitcher Rebbe.” He then called upon R’ Kotlarsky to read the letter. The crowd of 800 people responded with great applause.

After he recited the brachos under the chuppa, he wanted to return to Crown Heights since it was late, but the chassan begged him to say for the rest of the wedding, at least until after the dancing. At midnight, R’ Kotlarsky noticed that the guests were all pouring champagne in special glasses, the hall was darkened and the crowd was asked to sit. The band began to play, “Happy Birthday” as a ﬁery glow illuminated a huge cake that was brought into the hall on a special table. On the cake were 88 colored candles and written on it was, “Happy Birthday to the Lubavitcher Rebbe.”

The excited chassan took the microphone and explained that “This evening is the birthday of our Rebbe.” Then everyone said l’chaim in honor of the Rebbe.

R’ Kotlarsky, who was so moved by this sight, was asked to say a few words. He said that the Rebbe greatly encouraged anyone who wanted to give him a birthday present to do so in the form of a spiritual gift. Therefore, he suggested that the men commit to start putting on teﬁllin every weekday and the women commit to lighting Shabbos candles, in honor of the Rebbe.

When he returned to Crown Heights, he sat down to write a detailed report about

founded Merkos 302 which provides planning and infrastructure for Chabad centers and produced special programs that were launched in thousands of places like CTeen, Chabad Young Professionals, Chabad on Call, etc.

“Our two organizations in Eretz Yisrael were especially dear to his heart: CTeen, a branch of the global organization that he grew, developed and worked tirelessly for in the last decade,

and Chabad on Campus Israel,” said Rabbi Moshe Shilat, founder and director of these organizations. “He showed gratitude and helped us tremendously in our work, and was a great admirer of them.

“There was hardly a time that I went to Crown Heights and we didn’t meet. He was always energized, always with a good word about shlichus.

the kiddush shem Lubavitch etc. Then he went to the Rebbe’s house to give it in.

Before Shacharis on Tuesday, 11 Nissan, at 9:30, the personal aide, Rabbi Sholom Gansbourg, was seen looking for R’ Kotlarsky. When he saw him he said, “I have something for you,” and gave him the Rebbe’s response to the report.

On the line where he had written that “in the middle of the meal, to my surprise they brought out a birthday cake with candles

and everyone stood up and said it was the Rebbe’s birthday, the Rebbe circled the words “with candles” and made an arrow to a note that he wrote, “A general note about this, there are those who say that in some of them there is a concern about [animal] fats…” Under where R’ Kotlarsky had signed his name, the Rebbe wrote, “So may you always relate good news all the days and with an increase.”

This note was written by the Rebbe on 11 Nissan, even before Shacharis.

“This past 11 Nissan I visited him at home for the last time and I cried when I left. I realized it was the last time I would be visiting him. It was hard for him to talk but he showed me on his phone how he wrote an email to one of the big donors in which he asked him to help us with four new buildings on the campuses which will be built in the next two years, something I had asked him a month before when I didn’t yet know what his condition was. On that occasion, he showed me a picture in which he is standing next to the Rebbe who is giving him a big package of matzos and the Rebbe’s hands and his hands are holding the matzos as they are literally eye to eye. ‘This gives me the strength,’ he told me.”

WE NEED TO BRING MOSHIACH

Over the years, he suffered from health problems but he kept going. During the past years, he contended with a harsh disease but even from his hospital bed, he pushed forward vital programming and helped shluchim. His unceasing work touched the lives of tens of thousands of Jews.

In one of the last months of his life, as he battled his illness, he said, “I’ve already stopped operating according to medical dictates. Every moment that G-d gives me is dedicated to the good of the shluchim. My time is not my own. The mission I received from the Rebbe, I will return when I say to the Rebbe, ‘I did all that I could according to your instructions, to fix the world and bring the Geula.’”

He passed away on 27 Iyar, surrounded by his family, shortly before his seventy-fifth birthday.

“Rabbi Kotlarsky left many spiritual orphans, who don’t even know it,” wrote journalist Sivan Rahav Meir. “Most of the people whose lives he influenced don’t even know who he is because whoever was influenced by any Chabad House in the world over the past decades, owes him personal thanks.” ■

THE REBBE ASKED TO SEE THE BUTTONS

It was after the Six Day War when the Rebbe launched a new offensive of mivtzaim, especially Mivtza Teﬁllin. Anash and the tmimim worked to develop this mivtza, with the Rebbe encouraging these activities.

In the winter of 5728, tamim Moshe Kotlarsky and his friend, Menachem Mendel Lipskar (today shliach in South Africa) were walking on the street in Montreal. It was during elections for the prime minister of Canada and political activists gave out ﬂyers and buttons that encouraged people to vote for a certain candidate.

The bachurim thought about how to use what they saw for Mivtza Teﬁllin. They decided to produce something similar for the Rebbe’s campaign.

They found the phone number of a company that manufactured these materials and ordered 50 ‘button’ pins. The man on the phone said he didn’t accept orders for less than 200.

“Fine, make us 200 pieces, but for the price of 50…”

As they spoke, they came up with the new slogan, “I put on tefillin; do you?” and they dictated it to the man on the phone. When they went to pick up the buttons, they saw that the man, who had no idea what the word meant, had misspelled “tefillin.” They told him to fix it and rewrite it, this time adding some words, “I B”H put on tefillin today; did you?”

He and the other talmidim in the yeshiva in Montreal went to the Rebbe for Yud Shevat of that year and the

entire story about the buttons for Mivtza Teﬁllin fell by the wayside.

On Sunday, he was called to R’ Chodakov’s room and R’ Chodakov asked him, “Did you make the chotchka for Mivtza Teﬁllin?” Although R’ Kotlarsky tried avoiding answering and said it was nothing, R’ Chodakov feigned anger and asked, “In which Tomchei Tmimim did they teach you to hide things from the Rebbe?”

The conversation kept going back and forth with R’ Kotlarsky trying to minimize what he did and explain that they did something minor and didn’t think it was something signiﬁcant, but R’ Chodakov insisted, “It makes no difference what you think and don’t think. Did you send the Rebbe what you did?”

That’s when he realized that there was more to the story and that the information about the buttons he had made with his friend had somehow reached the Rebbe which is why R’ Chodakov said what he said.

It was two o’clock on Sunday afternoon and R’ Chodakov said he should return to the office at 3:10, before the Rebbe would go in for Mincha, and he wanted to have a button so he could give it to the Rebbe that same day.

Completely out of sorts, R’ Kotlarsky spoke to the Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Isaac Schwei, to consult with him about what he should do. R’ Isaac was an admired and beloved rosh yeshiva who was a listening ear for them at any time.

After considering the matter and clarifying all the details, R’ Isaac suggested that it wasn’t ﬁtting to write an apology to the Rebbe or an explanation regarding the request conveyed by R’

Chodakov. The right thing would be to write a letter and include the button. The letter should say that enclosed is a button that some tmimim had made in order to strengthen Mivtza Teﬁllin in Montreal and they were asking the Rebbe whether to make more of them and if yes, should any change be made in the wording or look.

R’ Kotlarsky wrote the letter and ended it by saying that he hoped that this would give nachasruach to the Rebbe. He gave the letter and buttons to R’ Chodakov before Mincha. Right after Mincha, R’ Chodakov went to the Rebbe and a short while later, he came out with a big smile. He held the answer that the Rebbe wrote: Regarding the question, ‘Should I make more of them” - the Rebbe crossed off the word so that it read, “Make more of them.” He also underlined these words to emphasize that he wanted many more of these buttons.

Regarding the question about any changes, the Rebbe changed the word “whether” to “no” and made a line through some words so that it ended up reading “no change.” The Rebbe added, “Especially as they are already used to such things, just mention an address where they can get information.”

On the last line where it said he hoped it would give the Rebbe nachas, the Rebbe changed it so it read “caused” rather than “will cause” and the entire phrase read, “It caused great nachas ruach to C”K Admor shlita very much, I will mention it at the tziyun.”

After this answer, stickers were made that were added to all the buttons with contact information. A special booklet was printed with the brachos and Shema and information about the mitzva of teﬁllin.

Those who know, don’t say and those who say, don’t know. That can be applied to the stormy summer of 5754, a period laden with emotions and expectations along with stubborn emuna and lots of work. An era that began with Chof-Zayin Adar of that year and ended on Gimmel Tammuz.

Two years ago, Anash and the tmimim were given a glimpse into a fascinating, one can even say, shocking window into that world with authentic descriptions which shed light and bring the viewer into that unique atmosphere. It was an excellent production by the V’Abita Niflaos team of ATaH (Igud Talmidei HaYeshivos) HaOlami in 770. Along with live descriptions (from that period) made public for the first time, there were video interviews with rabbanim and mashpiim who were in 770 at that time and shared their feelings with the viewers, the struggles and mainly the fiery faith. That is the secret to the film’s success; it has accumulated tens of thousands of views despite its length, an hour and forty minutes!

The film shows the viewer daily life of Chassidim at that time; the move of the center of Lubavitch life to the grounds of Beth Israel Hospital; the lives of the tmimim which revolved around the hospital; the regular updates from on high; the stormy discussions which everybody was part of; the interest of Jews around the world in every crumb of information and emuna; the many journalists who peppered the visitors to the hospital with their pointed questions; the hours of saying Tehillim and doing nonstop activities and with all that, the publicizing of the prophecy of Geula with the certainty of the hisgalus of Melech HaMoshiach, the Rebbe shlita.

UP FROM OBSCURITY

For a long time we’ve successfully edited a monthly program for the tmimim, with descriptions from the years of “wonders” [the early ‘nuns’]. While working on these descriptions, we came to the difficult period between the second Chof-Zayin Adar and after Gimmel Tammuz 5754. On Chol HaMoed Sukkos 5782, we heard Rabbi Yisroel Halperin a’h’s speech in which he vividly described how along with being the most difficult and frightening situation Lubavitch has ever known, this was a peak period in the emuna of the Chassidim.

We sat down with the editors of the project, members of the V’Abita Niflaos teamin 770 and asked: How did it all begin?

For understandable reasons, the Chabad media refrained from dealing with and talking about this disappointing time, but the lack of information left an inaccurate and slightly erroneous impression. People were not at all aware of the facts and the great emuna which constantly burned among the Chassidim.

We decided that we must produce an accurate documentary film about those unknown days with the lessons a Chassid ought to derive for our times.

HARD, MIRACULOUS WORK

With a clear goal, the work began in earnest after Pesach of that year. Poring through Israeli and American media archives, we searched for interviews which were done at that time with Chassidim who expressed views that were full of emuna. After extensive research, we got to a woman who serves in a leadership position in the Israeli media, Mrs. Ilana Dayan. She was happy to help “bring the Geula” (as she put it), and after a careful search she found some raw video footage that documented the lives of Chassidim at the base of the hospital. We were very happy and after signing a contract and paying her, we got the video rights for publication.

At the same time, we looked in archives of Chassidim in Crown Heights for events documented in 770. Here too, we had a miracle. In most cases, audio recordings don’t interest us. We didn’t have the right equipment

to transfer them and they’re usually lying by the dozens in piles and most of them don’t have the content written on them. Nevertheless, in one meeting with a collector in Crown Heights, we came across an audio recording and for some reason I looked at the sticker and saw, “Farbrengen 6 Tammuz 5754.” We felt how divine providence was leading the way.

We would sit in the ATaH offices, listening and really connecting to farbrengens of Chassidim from the beginning of the era of terrible “concealment,” along with the clear faith that it would be nothing more than a fleeting moment, and then we would go upstairs to 770 to daven with the Rebbe and discover we were still in the same situation… this was no easy upheaval.

THE REAL DIFFICULTY

The work was very difficult. Out of dozens or hundreds of hours of material, the research team had to choose the relevant portions, translate them, put in subtitles and edit them so that the viewer would get a completed product that was strengthening and moving. But the editing work wasn’t the real difficulty. The real difficulty was emotional. As Chassidim and tmimim, the constant exposure to authentic material and documentation from the summer of 5754, was difficult and moving. In a certain way, we can say that it’s like we lived through the era we were researching.

FAITH FROM DAY ONE

Over the years, many videos were made on inyanei Moshiach. There have also been shiurim on Geula and Moshiach and even documentaries on eras in Lubavitch. What makes this video stand out?

One of the fascinating conclusions from reviewing that era is that the assumption of many fine people that the “super-rational” emuna in what the Rebbe said began on Gimmel Tammuz, is a mistake.

Reb Yoel Kahn speaking across the street from the hospital

From a rational and logical standpoint, there isn’t much difference between the period leading up to Gimmel Tammuz and the period after Gimmel Tammuz. Then too, the numerous reports coming from the hospital weren’t positive and the reality on the ground didn’t match the G-dly truth written in the Rebbe’s sichos. Like today, then too, someone who wanted face the cynics or stand down the yetzerhara, needed a firm position and a pure super-rational devotion to what the Rebbe said. Someone to whom “nature” was everything, had a hard time with emuna then too.

This was our goal, to show the common denominator between the days preceding Gimmel Tammuz and the days following it. Emuna, which is the root of everything, did not change; it was the factual data that changed and the factual data don’t change the G-dly truth in the Rebbe’s words. As Rabbi Zalman Liberow explained it in an interview

he gave for the film, “To Chasidim, tests were never something that weakened one; they only strengthened. That’s how we were raised. This was clear to my grandfather, R’ Mendel Futerfas in Russia and it was clear to me. Whether it was Chof-Zayin Adar or Gimmel Tammuz.”

MORE CERTAIN THAN THAT THE SUN WILL RISE

As would be expected, much space was given to R’ Yoel Kahn a’h, the one who was the lead expositor at the time. He kept repeating in his inimitable style the point that the purpose and existence of creation is fulfilled only when the Nasi of the seventh generation finishes his job to draw the Shechina down below and actualizes the ultimate purpose of existence, “a dira ba’tachtonim.” This is an incontrovertible truth which is why it is clear to Chassidim that any other plan, as realistic as it may be, is out of the question!

Anash and tmimim watching the ﬁlm in 770

Part of the veracity of Torah is that there is a purpose to the world and that purpose is realized when the seventh Nasi is revealed as Moshiach. It cannot be otherwise! “The fact that the the sun will rise tomorrow is connected with the reality of the world and is not absolute. That the Nasi of the seventh generation is revealed as Moshiach is the reality of Torah and far more absolute,” he cried.

EMUNA IN STAGES

There’s a reason that nobody touched Gimmel Tammuz itself previously. You weren’t concerned?

The idea was to convey to the viewer who did not experience Gimmel Tammuz, the events as they happened, how slowly things became clear and the sichos solidified into an ironclad faith. It’s not necessary to get into explanations when you see things. This is aside from the advantage of a film, where things look more real; a picture is worth a thousand words. The explanations are incorporated within the events.

Heights at that time, “Yechi Adoneinu, the Rebbe will return. He won’t suffer and we won’t yearn,” the viewer makes a sharp turn to the moving description of Rabbi Yosef Yeshaya Braun from Shabbos, 2 Tammuz 5754, in Beth Israel.

The viewer experiences a chill when he hears the description of the twilight period as Shabbos drew to a close between Beis and Gimmel Tammuz 5754, as R’ Braun reviewed a maamar in Beth Israel from Gimmel Tammuz 5718, “Ha’sam Nafsheinu BaChaim.”

The viewer experiences the events starting from Chof-Zayin Adar 5754, gets a sense of the transfer to Beth Israel, hears R’ Moshe Slonim wonder, “How is it possible that nature and the situation will insert doubts in inyanei Moshiach, when the entire concept of Moshiach is completely above nature?!”

He feels the nerve-wracking wait together with Rabbi Yitzchok Hendel a’h who expresses emuna and hope that the test won’t last long“Not as long as now; over two years is already too much!” He hears how a reporter tries to dig into the tamim, Elkana Shmotkin and to extract some kind of awareness (“Maybe somewhere in the depths of your heart...”) in the event that, r’l, it would end differently, and he, with the innocence of a Chassid, says, “There is no such thought.” The ramifications for our time don’t need to be stated; they speak for themselves.

HOLDING ON TIGHT

Then came Gimmel Tammuz. One after the other, the rabbanim describe the moment they heard the news, the tremendous pain and the immediate holding on tight to what the Rebbe said, so as not to break.

There is no need to go on at length with verbal descriptions. Let’s listen to what Rabbi Dovid Nachshon had to say on 6 Tammuz 5754:

After a break with a short clip which expresses the feelings of a boy from Crown

BEING STRONG AND ENCOURAGING IN A TIME OF CONFUSION

“In this situation, each of us is going about lost and confused. Oy vavoy to a Chassid who, at least in the first instant, did not experience any confusion. On the one hand, it’s the most natural thing for any of us. On the other hand, it’s definitely a limud zechus that can be offered for all of us, about the situation we are in now – a terrible situation of doubled and redoubled darkness; one cannot even define what darkness this is… Under these circumstances, you can’t come with complaints to anyone. Any Chassid who has a feeling, a statement or a claim, we cannot judge anyone now.

What can help in a time like this, is what the Rebbe said on Shabbos parshas Vayakhel 5752, the last sicha before there will be a ‘Torah chadasha” from his holy mouth, may it be today – was a clear instruction about Jewish unity.

❝

Now we can understand it. In this difficult time, when each of us realizes this is a critical moment in every sense, obviously, each of us will feel responsible to strengthen his fellow. Even when he doesn’t feel he is on the level of a “maven” or “gadol” in the Rebbe’s sichos, the very fact that he feels responsible to strengthen his fellow, the Rebbe looks at him and asks: What are you doing now, at this moment? Are you busy with my inyanim and strengthening another or are you sowing doubts, heaven forbid?

PROPHECIES FOR NOW

I made no preparations but I feel an obligation, that the Rebbe wants each of us to do this now, to find the way to strengthen one another and to go to outside with his besura.

We will begin with some questions that are asked. There are constantly difficult and terrible thoughts, which is normal on the part of the body.

We are not on the level of not having questions. They exist, but we need to look for the answers within what the Rebbe said, because the Rebbe did not leave even a single thing unclear. Even for a black time such as this, “For a brief instant, I have abandoned you,” as it were.

Why did the Rebbe need to say all the prophecies and reveal them to the outside? Why did he have to do so many miracles for all those seated here? Why did he allow people to recount his wonders, to write the prophecies and publicize them… For many generations, Chabad Chassidim were not occupied with miracles but in our generation, the Rebbe let us print these things. Why?

When you think about it, you realize that it all led to these moments, that when the moment of the “main prophecy,” the final one, would come, “The time of the Geula has arrived,” I, the seventh Nasi, the final one after which there won’t be a galus… At the last moment, when it seems that the faith is being challenged, it’s precisely for this moment the Rebbe did all the miracles and wonders, to tell us: Remember all the wonders and miracles. The Rebbe asked and pleaded – so that now, we would believe in him!

The Rebbe said, “Hinei zeh Moshiach ba,” he “points with his finger and says, behold, zeh Melech HaMoshiach ba,” and he enters the door. Regarding“the time for your redemption has arrived” he says this is a definite prophecy.

MOSHE IS TRUE AND HIS TORAH IS TRUE

Consequently, despite all the calculations about what we are seeing, the darkness does appear dark… but it is impossible for anyone to challenge r’l the emuna that what Moshe Rabeinu – Nasi Doreinu – Moshiach Tzidkeinu said and says, “Behold, zeh Melech HaMoshiach ba, u’kvar ba” - is true with no change.

Furthermore, on the last Sunday of dollars, on 26 Adar I 5752, a reporter from the New York Post went to the Rebbe and the Rebbe told him that the headline of the article should be that Moshiach is coming soon and it’s not that he’s coming but that he is already on his way.

If you learn the sichos, you see that the Rebbe spoke not only about Moshiach on his way… The Rebbe is already doing everything that Moshiach does among the nations and there is not only

his existence but also his revelation. So, Ribono Shel Olam, either we believe that everything that Moshe Rabeinu, Nasi Doreinu, Moshiach Tzidkeinu, told us is all true or Rachmana litzlan…

I won’t forget the sight on the night of Shemini Atzeres 5731, when the Rebbe stood here and established balabatim over the world. At that time, the Rebbe stood and cried out that now we should proclaim, “Moshe emes v’soraso emes and we won’t abandon it...”

That was an amazing sight. Whoever remembers that moment... that’s a moment that is engraved in my memory. The Rebbe asking and pleading... Believe that Moshe is true and his Torah is true, and we won’t abandon it...

NOW IT’S FOR REAL

Why all these promises?

When the Rebbe gives out dollars, says sichos, issues answers in writing and orally – as was our practice to ‘bother’ him day after day - is it a big chochma that you are a big believer? That you cry out Yechi Adoneinu?

And now, when for a moment, for reasons of his own, Rachmana litzlan, he closed the door, because of this you run away from him and don’t believe him?

A MINIMUM OF RESPONSIBILITY

I said to some who asked: Do you agree that in addition to all the qualities that the Rebbe has: kadosh, tzaddik, tahor, navi, amud ha’olam –first and foremost he is a person with a minimal sense of responsibility? Did the Rebbe ever issue something that wasn’t properly edited? Did he leave any things unresolved?

A row of mitzva tanks outside the hospital back then

Then how is it possible to say that the Rebbe said those sichos and expressions and he suddenly disappeared? He tossed the keys on the desk and left… Is that appropriate for the Lubavitcher Rebbe, the most responsible man in the world? Even the least responsible person wouldn’t do that… Even a store owner… To say about the Rebbe that he took the keys, tossed them on the table and left?!

YOU’RE BREATHING?

THAT MEANS THE REBBE IS ALIVE!

If you didn’t believe before, why would you believe now?

The Rebbe said that a Rebbe is the “tree of life,” i.e. that through him pass all material and spiritual things. Tzaddik HaDor and Nasi HaDor, manna from the heaven. Moshe Rabeinu provides all the gashmiyus to the world… Is bread lacking now? Is somehow here lacking something to eat?

If you don’t believe that he is giving the food, if you think that you yourself have your own gashmiyus then, Rachmana litzlan, you didn’t believe in him to begin with; you had no hiskashrus.

And if it’s clear to you that the Rebbe draws down all spiritual and material good, that’s the way it was until now and that’s how it will continue, you can’t breathe and eat without the Rebbe… because there is no reality without the Rebbe, therefore, you must say that the Rebbe’s existence is in a revealed state and everything remains as it was.

WE DIDN’T PAY ATTENTION;

NOW THE REBBE IS SHAKING US UP!

On Shabbos, parshas Tazria-Metzora 5751, the Rebbe said that Moshiach is sitting in suffering and waiting in anxious anticipation to be revealed, and we sat like calves… The

Chassidim gathered outside the Beth Israel Hospital

Rebbe was sitting and hadn’t yet revealed all, and we didn’t know the health situation. He didn’t show it to us then. Each of us went home to rest. If a problem came up, we sent a letter to the Rebbe and everything continued as usual… We continued quarreling with one another, one didn’t give in to the other, etc… Each of us needs to make a cheshbon for himself about whether he behaved properly…

The Rebbe wanted to bring the Geula without an interruption. When I say “interruption,” I don’t mean there is really an interruption; it just appears that way to us. He wanted it to be without this interruption that we see. The Rebbe is making a “maris ayin” so we wake up!

There is a sicha from 5710 in which the Rebbe asks about the pasuk, “See, I give before you today, blessing and curse.” The word “anochi” refers both to Hashem and to Moshe, so the Rebbe asks, how could the Nasi HaDor give a curse, the opposite of a blessing?

be revealed, you didn’t believe that I would be revealed - so at least wake up now!

WAITING FOR US

Jews around the world are waiting to know what is said here at Beis Moshiach [770]. Did they finish with their Moshiach? Burn the flag? Or do they still believe? That is what will set the tone, in this moment and in these days, the emuna is what will decide.

They ask and want to see whether Lubavitch is saying “Our father is alive and what the Rebbe said is true and firm and it will all happen” or chas v’shalom…

The Rebbe explains that even if it seems that you asked for a bracha from the Rebbe and it didn’t happen, it was the opposite of a bracha, you should know this is the way it was supposed to be… The Rebbe explains that there is a goal that was achieved by things working out that way. The Rebbe wants to wake you up. Moshe, Nasi HaDor, wants to rouse you so you wake up and come to him… The fact that we see everything in this way is because the Rebbe wants to wake us up in this terrible fashion, because until now we didn’t wake up. We each went our own way... This is not fooling around.

The Rebbe loves each of his Chassidim with an essential love… The Rebbe loves each one in the most physical sense, then how is it possible that the Rebbe would allow us to go about in such confusion?

Rather, the Rebbe wants to shake us up a bit. The Rebbe is asking, “Cry out to me ‘Abba,’ at least.” Don’t sit shiva for me and write, “nishmaso eden.” I’m here. This isn’t what I asked of you. I announced that I am going to

The Rebbe revealed his prophecies by showing how everything he said took place, one by one. If you have brains, get out of the nonsense and gloom. True, one needs to be pained by the cheshbon nefesh: Why did I bring on this situation? But it needs to lead to action.

However, to display weakness in emuna to the outside? If you would walk by the Rebbe - is this what the Rebbe would say? Ultimately, the Rebbe will place everyone in a row and ask: What did you say to the world? What I said, is it true or not? We each need to think of that moment which will certainly take place. The Rebbe will be revealed now. How will I look at him when he asks me? What will I answer?

Out there, people are warm and love the Rebbe tremendously and are ready to accept the news and know that Yaakov Avinu did not die. The time has come to wake up, to help one another… It hurts and it’s terrible… but each one should say a good word to another… A real feeling of Ahavas Yisrael. G-d forbid, don’t fall in your faith at the last moment!

LIKE A FLINTSTONE

People ask: What is left to do? The Rebbe says clearly that the only thing left in the avoda of shlichus is to welcome Moshiach. That’s what the Rebbe said; no pshetlach are necessary. And we already had more than enough gloom and doom... This a real act of Satan, the Satan is

waiting for the moment when the emuna will fall.

The Rebbe wants “the tribe of Levi” to stand strong like a flintstone at the last moment, not allowing anyone to confuse us. We believe with pure faith as the Rebbe taught us, immediately hinei Moshiach ba.

The Rebbe said on Chof-Ches Nissan “until they cry out in truth.” At the time, this sounded like a wishful hope, but now, is there a moment of truth greater than now?

With Hashem’s help, we will all welcome the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach. It will be sooner than you think because there is no histalkus and nothing like that. The Rebbe warned us not to say histalkus, that they shouldn’t say the Rebbe departed; the Rebbe stands and serves in actual deed.

With Hashem’s help, everyone will continue the work even more, the Jews who are thirsty and waiting to hear from us will be amazed about the strength of emuna and everyone together will join in doing what the Rebbe is pleading for now; at least, wake up!

And soon, we will cry out together with the Rebbe, in all the worlds: Yechi Adoneinu Moreinu v’Rabeinu, Melech HaMoshiach L’Olam Va’ed.

YOU PROMISED SOMETHING TO US

Back to the film… The Chassidim get themselves together and that same week there were already kinusim to instill emuna and start a series of good resolutions to strengthen emuna and the hastening of the hisgalus. Rabbi Shlomo Rosenblatt [then a bachur on Kevutza] related, “On mivtzaim, there were Jews who were unwilling to put on tefillin, saying, ‘You promised something and it didn’t happen.’ But slowly, the emuna of the tmimim began to stick to them and they joined in even more than before.”

“What the Rebbe said, doesn’t go backward. With emuna peshuta it is obvious that everything that is happening is another step on the way to the destination: the hisgalus of the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach.”

REACTIONS

The reactions were quick to come. After the film was shown in 770, the tmimim from all over 770 joined in a Yechi dance. The entire night they didn’t stop talking about the video. Many kept saying, “For the first time we understand what went on there. For the first time, we felt what Gimmel Tammuz was about.”

There were also reactions that reflected the fact that this is a film that should inspire some real personal accounting, “Where are we?” “Are we also holding by the same strong faith in the Rebbe’s prophecy?”

THE LITVAK TRAVELING TO HAKHEL

The big chiddush, which surprised us, the editors, wasn’t the excitement between the walls of 770 and yeshivos Tomchei Tmimim but the reaction from further afield.

Rabbi Aryeh Leib Cohen [also from the Kevutza of 5754] sums things up like this,

Beis Moshiach

One small example; a Lubavitcher from the north related, “In my work, I attend a religious computer course. As a Chabadnik, I spread the wellsprings among the participants of the course. There was a Litvishe fellow who had a certain book for ‘Chabad insiders,’ which writes slander from the Rebbe’s secretaries’ office and speaks very derogatorily about the Rebbe’s secretaries as well as the Rebbe’s responses regarding inyanei Moshiach etc. Once he read the book, he didn’t leave me alone. He felt that he had ‘figured out’ the internal differences in Chabad and he greatly disparaged Chassidim and their faith and tried to draw me into debates about Chassidim and Moshiach.

“One day, I went over to him and said, ‘You know what? I’ll send you something. Watch it

and then we’ll talk.’ I sent him a link to Rega HaMivchan.

“A week went by and he came back to me in shock. ‘I didn’t know,” he repeated. ‘The concept of ‘Rebbe’ is completely different for you than what I heard and how I was taught. To you, it’s clear that every word of the Rebbe is holy of holies, a fact which is incontrovertible. It took me time to digest. It’s all anchored in the Rebbe’s words.’

“After that, he has far more respect for the faith of Chassidim in the Rebbe MH”M, and he plans on joining me on a trip to the Rebbe for Shnas Hakhel.”

THE RESEARCHER WHO DISCOVERED EMUNA AND WAS ASTONISHED

Another interesting story came to us indirectly. On a Torah forum on the Internet, researchers and talmidei chachamim from all over the world spend time, discussing current topics of Torah and “hashkafa.” In this forum, there are many participants who in general look askance at the beliefs of Chassidim, and do not exactly love Chassidus and those who learn it; certainly not their faith in the Rebbe.

In the ‘Beis Moshiach Ft. Lauderdale’ community in Florida, dozens of businessmen and mekuravim from the “broader world”, sat and watched the documentary. It generated a lot of excitement and interest and they didn’t stop talking about it at farbrengens in the community.

One day, someone brought to our attention an interesting discussion on a thread about R’ Yoel Kahn. A person quoted what R’ Yoel said in the video and concluded, “There’s a clip of him saying after the Rebbe’s stroke that it is as clear as day the words of the Rebbe that he is Moshiach and it’s part of the Oral Torah and whoever doubts this is also doubting whether G-d created the heavens and the earth, no less!”

Rabbi Braun speaking about Gimmel Tammuz 5754

For the first time, the researcher saw that the belief in the Rebbe as Moshiach as not just the imaginings of a few Chassidim after Gimmel Tammuz, but anchored firmly in what the Rebbe himself said and as the great Chassidim understood it.

The researcher marveled how after Gimmel Tammuz they heard R’ Yoel speak differently. “Has he ever explained exactly how it’s possible to be mistaken when the Rebbe said this explicitly and just a short while ago, he considered this emuna like belief in the Written Torah?”

MOVING FORWARD

After sustained work of hundreds of hours of editing and selecting materials that we did for a whole year, and because of the feedback that we received, we began to show this film in Chabad communities and Chabad Houses. A few communities already arranged times and places for viewings. In addition, an entire team

worked on translating the video into English and French.

A final question. Do you really think this film is suitable for Chabad Houses?

Definitely. A shliach is also made out of physical materials and he has a yetzerhara. What keeps him strong in his emuna can also strengthen a mekurav. If it was just addressing a series of questions and answers about ‘chai v’kayam,’ maybe you could ask how the same video can be shown all over the world when every Chabad House has different levels of connection with the people there, where they are holding, etc.

However, the film does not deal with the question, “Is the Rebbe alive,” but with an earlier and deeper stage - belief in the Rebbe. In other words, the cause and the foundation that leads a Chassid to believe in the fact that the Rebbe is chai v’kaya333333m and is about to redeem us, the answer is: Yes, this principle is suited to all.

By watching the film, the mekurav will understand what motivates you, the shliach, what makes you believe. Not just what you believe but why. It’s an opportunity to expose him to the inside, Chabad truth, the emuna. For mekuravim who are somewhat ‘inside,’ part of a Tanya class, people who are trying to get what Chassidus is all about and tasted a bit of its depth, the film will definitely move them forward, getting them into the inner world of Chassidic faith.

We end the article with a demand of Hashem, as Rabbi Braun ended the interview, “If I can speak not to the video but to HKBH, the fact that Chassidim are still standing in such a situation is not normal, standing strong full force, even after such concealment. I don’t

know whether there was ever such a thing in history.”

To stand before Hashem and say, “We did Your shlichus,” we withstood the “rega ha’mivchan ” [the defining moment], we continue to stand strong in faith, not one word of the Rebbe will fall to the wayside. We believe with complete faith in the prophecy of Geula, we demand “no more videos!” Enough, we cannot go on with this terrible situation. Stop this terrible test and bring us the complete hisgalus of the Rebbe MH”M! ■

“Test of Faith” and more documentaries by ATO with English subtitles can be watched on www.Moshiach.app

TO CONCLUDE WITH A STORY

We will end with an amazing story about how the Chassidic approach to chesed changed a person’s life. Professor Avrohom Yosef Polichenko, a computer expert who specialized in futuristic science, was one of the leaders of the leftist, socialist movement of Argentinian Jewry. In his articles which were published in the newspapers, he expressed his extreme anti-religious views.

One day, he decided that in order to bolster his anti-religious approach and express it in the most persuasive way, he needed more information about religious Judaism. He asked many rabbanim to teach him Judaism and told them his purpose. None of the rabbis agreed until he came to a Chabad shliach who was willing to teach him Torah while completely ignoring his goal.

Professor Polichenko began learning Torah and his views gradually began to change until he became a religious Jew. He convinced his wife and both of them became Chabad Chassidim. As a Lubavitcher Chassid he had a strong connection with the Rebbe so that the Rebbe even called him, “My Chassid in Argentina.”

We will end with a miracle story. One time, Professor Polichenko asked the Rebbe about wearing a woolen Tallis. He was highly allergic to wool since childhood and Chabad is particular about wearing a woolen Tallis Koton and Tallis Gadol. The Rebbe’s answer was that he should wear ones made specifically from wool.

The incredible thing was, as soon as Professor Polichenko started being particular about only wearing a woolen Tallis, not only didn’t it bother him but he was no longer allergic to wool!

Good Shabbos! ■

Parasha Of The Future, cont. from p. 46

Parasha Of The Future

MAINTAINING PERFECT BALANCE

BEGIN WITH A GRIN

Stalin was addressing an assembly of peasants in Russia, when a man in the crowd sneezed.

Stalin asked: Who sneezed?

No one responded.

Stalin says to one of his KGB agents, “Go shoot everyone in the front row.” So he shoots everyone in the front row.

“Now,” Stalin says, “who sneezed?” Again, no one responded. “Shoot everyone in the second row,” so he shoots everyone in the second row.

Stalin, getting impatient, asks again: Who sneezed? A man in the middle of the crowd slowly raises his hand, and in a quiet voice says “Me.” Stalin looks out into the crowd and sees the man with his hand up and says, “Bless you.”

HISTORIC BALANCE SHIFT

Parshas Korach is, without a doubt, one of the hardest parshiyos in the Torah. A dispute rips apart the Jewish nation with seemingly legitimate complaints against government policy, the gap in equal rights and class distinctions, and what not?

[Unfortunately, it seems that not much has changed since Korach and his congregation… and today too, we are living through the problem of national divisiveness and challenging government policy.]

However, the question of all questions that needs to be asked is, as Rashi puts it, “Korach, who was smart, how did he get involved in such nonsense?” How did a wise person gets mixed up in a fight against Moshe Rabeinu?

All the gedolim throughout the generations, Rishonim and Acharonim, addressed this question, each with his explanation. Many lessons were derived by the Mussar and Chassidic greats about the negative power of disputes, about the proper honor that needs to be given to leaders of the people and its prophets, but this week, we will focus on something positive in this altogether painful parsha.

Let’s look at the dispute of Korach with Geula eyes and derive lessons from it for the service needed today to bring Moshiach and the Geula. One of the surprising explanations which appears in Chassidus (Likutei Torah) is that Korach wanted to advance the Days of Moshiach! Whoever reads this must be wondering, “What connection is there between a painful dispute and Moshiach? Isn’t

Moshiach meant to bring peace and unity to the nation?”

The simple explanation, based on the Arizal (Shaar HaPesukim to Yechezkel) is that in the future, the Kohanim will be Leviyim and the Leviyim will be Kohanim, and this is precisely what Korach wanted! Korach, who was a Levi, and Moshe’s cousin, wanted to be a Kohen (the Kohen Gadol, in fact!). As for Aharon who was chosen to be a Kohen, Korach wanted him to be a… Levi! Just as in the Geula!

The Arizal explains an astonishing verse in Yechezkel (44:15) in which Yechezkel describes the service of the Kohanim in the Beis HaMikdash in the future. He says that, “The Kohanim, the Leviyim sons of Tzadok, who preserved the guardianship of My Mikdash when the Bnei Yisrael strayed from Me, they will approach Me to serve Me.” This occurred at the end of a special tour one of the ministering angels provided for Yechezkel of the third, future, Beis HaMikdash. After showing him the entire structure of the building with all its parts and details, he also told the prophet that the descendants of Tzadok the Kohen, who was a Kohen Gadol in the time of the first Mikdash, who preserved the guardianship of the Mikdash even during exile, when the Jewish people left G-d, are the ones who will merit to serve in the third Mikdash.

But the phrase, “the Kohanim the Leviyim” sounds odd, doesn’t it? After all, if they are Kohanim they’re not Leviyim, if Leviyim not Kohanim... The answer is that in the days of Moshiach there will be a role reversal, with the present day Leviyim becoming Kohanim and the Kohanim of nowadays becoming Leviyim, and this is how the Arizal explains the surprising verse, “and the Kohanim the Leviyim.” The Kohanim – who serve in the

Rabbi Nissim Lagziel

Beis HaMikdash, the Leviyim – will be the ones who are today called Leviyim.

Why should this happen? Why should their roles be reversed?

The Arizal goes on, in his wondrous explanation, which is based on an interesting fact and says that Yechezkel was the only prophet who uses the phrase, “the Kohanim, the Leviyim sons of Tzadok.” Why is this so?

The root of Yechezkel’s soul is from Kayin (son of Adam, brother of Hevel), which is why he begins his prophecies, time after time, with the words, “And you, son of Adam (man),” because he really was the son of Adam, the first man!

Like Yechezkel, so too the Leviyim! The root of their souls comes from Kayin, while the source of the souls of the Kohanim is the soul of Hevel.

Kayin was Adam’s oldest son which is why he was supposed to receive the priesthood, but since he sinned, the right of the firstborn went to Hevel, and Aharon, who was from the soul-root of Hevel, became a Kohen. However, in the future, when the world will achieve its complete rectification and all sins will be rectified, including that of Kayin, the situation will revert to the way it was at first (and to the way it was supposed to be if not for sin). The Leviyim will get back their original job and will be Kohanim, while the Kohanim will revert to their “normal” state and assist the Leviyim.

USE YOUR BALANCE, DON’T LOSE IT

As amazing as this is, it raises a powerful question about the entire story about the dispute of Korach. According to this, what was

so terrible about Korach? What did he do already? He just wanted to bring Moshiach sooner, and what’s bad about that? Isn’t it what every novice Lubavitcher is trying to do?

Chassidus has a lot to say on this and we will bring a summary from which we can learn important and practical lessons about bringing the Geula.

Kohanim are rooted in the sefira of chesed while Leviyim are from the sefira of gevura. The essential difference between the two are in the manner in which they relate to G-dliness. An analogy to this is brought in Chassidus. Picture two people, one standing on a mountain and the other in a valley. There are two ways to connect the two of them; either the one on top comes down (which Chassidus calls “hamshacha”) or the one down below will make the effort to ascend (which Chassidus calls “haalaah”).

The chesed of the Kohanim represents the first option, while the ideal that guides the gevura of the Leviyim is the second option. This is tangibly expressed in the difference in which the Kohanim and Leviyim served in the Mikdash. The service of the Kohanim wasn’t done with a commotion and passion, but in silence and intention that the offering be willingly accepted by G-d, and through this, spiritual and material abundance will be drawn down to the world. The service of the Leviyim, in contrast, entailed singing and playing music while the offering was brought and their job was to effect the ascent of the offering and the ascent of the physical and material aspects of the world to supernal holiness.

In Tanya (chapter 50), the Alter Rebbe explains that this is the essential difference between the “element of water” which is drawn downward and the “element of fire” which constantly seeks to ascend. It’s the difference between “gold” which is like fire and “silver” which is more like water. It’s the struggle between competing forces that began at the dawn of history between chesed and gevura, between drawing down and raising up, between Kayin and Hevel, between water and

fire, between Kohanim and Leviyim, and so on. So, who is right? Which is really better?

The answer is, it depends when! True, for now, the main thing is to draw G-dliness down to the world, so that the world remains in its present existence and becomes permeated with G-dly light, which is why now the Kohanim are the primary force and the Leviyim are subservient to them. But in the Geula, the situation will change. After the goal of making Him a “dwelling down below” will be achieved, there will no longer be a need for the Shechina to descend below; there will only the service of G-d in a way of rising up ever higher into infinity...

Therefore, the souls of Leviyim will become the main driving force while the Kohanim will become secondary to them.

Korach wanted to ignore the world, to disconnect from the need to draw G-dliness down into creation, into the environment, into the societal structure. He wanted to disconnect, to close himself off and be involved only with his self-perfection and his personal attainments, and this was the start of his downfall!

When we, G-d forbid, ignore G-d’s will and deal only with personal elevation and cleaving to spiritual levels, without looking at the world around us and seeing how we can carry out our mission “to rectify the world,” the result is that the imbalance produces undesirable results, even destructive results, and this was the actual sin of Korach!

The lesson to learn from Korach’s mistake is simple and all-encompassing. There are many situations in which we need to use our judgment about what approach to take, whether to use chesed or gevura, whether to be like water or fire. The answer is that nowadays, in most instances, we should prefer chesed over gevura. Even if, occasionally, we need to use gevura, it has to be done in a calculated, limited way in order to prevent destructive results which only lead to discord!

cont. on p. 43

Beis Mosh s ia

✪ REBBETZIN SIMA ASHKENAZI

Over the years, I went to the Rebbe many times, on all sorts of occasions, but not on chagim. Since the previous time that I was in 770 for Tishrei, 47 years passed! Before Shnas Hakhel 5776, I got an invitation from the Rebbe to come. It was a few days before Rosh Hashana when I opened the Igros Kodesh to ask for a bracha for someone and the Rebbe wrote to me, “Regarding your visit here during Tishrei, if it won’t take away from your work at the mosad, then fine, and make preparations for the trip.”

What preparations were needed? The Rebbe’s words reminded me that I didn’t have a visa and so, how could I go? You usually have to wait a month for an appointment for a visa but this time I got an appointment at the consulate for the day after Rosh Hashana, 3 Tishrei. That was already an open miracle.

The clerk asked me where I was going. I said, “To Lubavitch.”

“And where will you be?”

“In Lubavitch.”

“Fine,” she said and added that since the week of Yom Kippur they didn’t have enough workdays, the passport and visa would be ready the next day. Wow!

JUST LIKE BEFORE

When I was at the Rebbe that Tishrei, I saw the continuity and sameness between what was in the past and the present. The joy, the dancing, singing, tefillos and the farbrengen on motzoei Simchas Torah, amazing! The bachurim and young men of today did not merit to see the Rebbe and it’s amazing how they align with the Rebbe’s approach, how everything was run, how everything was wonderfully organized.

The fact that I was moved and cried was not surprising since I remember the glory days, but that today’s girls cry… I cannot describe in words the feelings that everybody felt. There is no doubt that the Rebbe sat there and ran the entire farbrengen; it’s not something that could naturally occur.

During the 48 hours of Simchas Torah, the dancing was nonstop; those going and those returning from tahaluchos; they didn’t stop dancing with the Sifrei Torah. In the afternoon the room had to be set up for the farbrengen. In previous years, they emptied the zal of people in order to set up the tables and pyramids, but now it’s different. While they danced, others set up without either disturbing the others. It was all amazingly organized.

ACHDUS

The Rebbe wants everyone to unite. The best segula to bring Moshiach is to be united. We do everything to bring Moshiach and we were told by the Tzemach Tzedek that the unity of the Chassidim would bring Moshiach. We need to work on this. It doesn’t matter that we have differences of opinion; that’s legitimate, for “just as their faces aren’t the same, their views aren’t the same.” The Rebbe will soon come and say exactly how we need to think and what needs to be done but in the meantime, we need to be unified, looking for what unites us and not what separates us. The main thing is there should be unity.

The farbrengen began at six. They began singing nigguneidveikus; that the neshama remained inside is a miracle. I felt kelos ha’nefesh; I can’t explain it in words.

There was that same intensity at the Simchas Beis HaShoeiva as well. Every night there was dancing until six in the morning. It poured on two nights but the bachurim didn’t stop dancing.

I saw the fulfillment of what the Rebbe said that even the street will dance! The Rebbe’s holy wishes came true and nobody was fazed by the late hour, by the rain, by the exhaustion. They continued because the Rebbe said so, and therefore, they didn’t veer from the goal. It warms the heart in a way that is indescribable.

We see how Lubavitch lives and exists, contrary to all those who were afraid about what would happen to Lubavitch. We withstand such a hard test, with such pain, because we want to see the Rebbe.

THE POWER OF THE WOMEN

Traveling to the Rebbe strengthens the emuna and anticipation for Moshiach. Those days were uplifting in the women’s section too. The girls come early in the morning to get a seat and they sit and learn with chavrusos. Each of them wants to be part of the amazing experience and atmosphere there. The tefillos are so moving; niggunim whose power is hard to describe. All this elevates the soul to supreme heights. One cannot find tefilla like this anywhere else in the world.

In earlier generations, mainly the men went to the Rebbe. We are closer to the Geula and now the tremendous lofty quality of women, in whose merit we will be redeemed, is revealed. Women are moser nefesh, not fully sleeping and eating; none of them thought about physical things. They just sought to reach higher, to learn and be strengthened more and more.

Being with the Rebbe is something that must have an ongoing impact. We cannot land! The plane landed but we didn’t land… The fire is so powerful and stirs us up from within. The days before being with the Rebbe are unlike the days afterward. A Hakhel gathering was made for girls and women and we spoke about it as much as we could so that the impressions should go further and even girls who didn’t come to the Rebbe should be affected.

In a shiur for women that I gave afterward, women said, “We didn’t feel the chagim; now we actually felt them.” When you hear what happens at the Rebbe, it is heartwarming.

Why did they all come for Hakhel? In order to “fear Hashem!” In order to add in yiras shamayim, and that is what is demanded of us women.

In my first yechidus, in Tishrei 5729, the Rebbe asked me, “What about the yiras

shamayim of the women and girls of the Kfar?” At the time, I wasn’t the wife of a rav; I was a young woman from the Kfar, 21-years-old, and I didn’t dream in the direction of rabbanus. I was involved in chinuch and running N’Shei Chabad in Kfar Chabad but I had no connection to leadership. I didn’t think I could say anything about the yiras shamayim of anyone, so I didn’t answer.

The Rebbe began to explain that the touchstone for yiras shamayim is tznius and tahara. The Rebbe told me that when I returned to Kfar Chabad I should divide the Kfar into sections and we should learn these subjects in home classes. In fact, we did so.

From the Kfar it went all over the country and the world. Old and young, everyone learned and was strengthened. Now too, we need to strengthen tznius for it’s part of increasing yiras shamayim.

THE PROCLAMATION AND ITS REWARD

That declaration of “Yechi” which I wanted to farbreng about, happened on motzoei 28 Teves 5752, Rebbetzin Chana’s birthday.

At that time, the Rebbe said that what remained was just to welcome Moshiach Tzidkeinu. That motzoei Shabbos, they made a melave malka for women for kabbolas pnei Moshiach and it was broadcast to the world. By divine providence, I was in Crown Heights; I had come for my son’s engagement.

It was a big event, attended by over 2000 women who filled the big zal. The girls were in the women’s section. The broadcast of the melave malka was transmitted live to 119 places in the world. They set the tables with the “Shor HaBor,” the “Yayin HaMeshumar” and the “Livyasan.” They brought huge fish, special meats and wine. During the evening, various speakers addressed us.

The first speaker was Rabbi Chaim Gutnick a’h, who spoke about Rochel Imeinu who cried and Hashem said to her, “There is reward for

what you did,” and he said to us, “Women, you know how to cry. Cry, pray, say Tehillim, ask that Moshiach come, it’s your koach.” Everyone took sifrei Tehillim, cried and asked from the depths of their heart. It’s a moment I will never forget.

The emcee said that they had submitted a letter/request to the Rebbe in which they asked him to attend the event. The Rebbe was in his room at the time. His chair was prepared on the platform and the excitement was enormous and can’t be described. We felt that if the Rebbe came that would mean the hisgalus! The hopes of all the generations were about to be realized now. Everyone said Tehillim emotionally and with tears that the Rebbe come, but he did not come.

The emcee said that in the meantime we would continue with the program. I said to those sitting next to me, “What program? We came for a program? We came to welcome Moshiach! We had enough speeches already. We want to welcome Moshiach!” They said to me, “Go up and say it.” At first I refused but they went to the emcee who invited me to come up and speak.

I went up and said, “What didn’t they do in recent weeks so that Moshiach would come? Each of us accepted an addition in Torah and mitzvos, went on mivtzaim, were mekarev Jews, just so we would be worthy of the hisgalus of Moshiach.”

I told a story from the time of the Rebbe Rashab, when there was a harsh decree. The gedolei Yisrael gathered and tried to avert the decree but despite all their efforts, the decree remained in place. The Rebbe Rashab cried and Rabbi Chaim Brisker said to him, “Lubavitcher Rebbe, why are you crying?”

The Rebbe said, “Because we did not succeed in averting the decree.”

R’ Chaim said, “But we did all we could.”

The Rebbe said, “But the decree remained!”

I said, “In recent weeks we did all that we could, and now we want to welcome Moshiach!” I took a Tehillim and said the Rebbe’s chapter, 90, verse by verse, and all repeated after me.

After I finished, I had to get off the platform; I wasn’t part of the program, but I suddenly felt the need to cry out “Yechi.” I so wanted Moshiach to come! It wasn’t accepted at that time to declare “Yechi,” and I knew that I would be doing something that, G-d forbid, could displease the Rebbe, but I couldn’t do otherwise.

At that moment, I felt I was falling and fainting. I held on to the Rebbe’s shtender and looked downward; I simply couldn’t look at the crowd. And from the depths of my heart I cried out “Yechi Adoneinu...” I saw how the crowd got up, all 2000 women, and cried out with me. I shouted it three times. It wasn’t a “declaration” but a cry from the heart! We did all that we could and we pleaded that the Rebbe be revealed. I said, “Now, now, now!” I went down and felt terrible. I was afraid the Rebbe would be annoyed. I went home; I couldn’t stay for the rest of the program.

The next day, when the Rebbe gave out dollars, I was supposed to go with my son, the chassan, and the kalla to ask for a bracha. I felt terrible and wanted to push it off as late as possible. I couldn’t calm down. We went for a bracha at five o’clock.

I didn’t know that they had already told the Rebbe all about what happened and that, in response, the Rebbe wrote to R’ Chaim Boruch Halberstam, who broadcast it to the world, “Many thanks for the nachas he caused and causes.” I only heard about that afterward.

I went over to the Rebbe and the Rebbe looked into my eyes and gave me such a bracha that I waited for years to receive! I understood that I had done the right thing and learned that we need to cry out “Yechi” from our hearts and Hashem will listen to our prayers and bring Moshiach.

THE REBBE SENT ME ‘KOS SHEL BRACHA’

When I was there for Tishrei 54 years ago, on the second day of Sukkos the Rebbe farbrenged in the big sukka. The wall of the sukka was flush against the right wall of 770. Women couldn’t hear or see the farbrengen and yet, a group of us went and thought that perhaps we would manage to see or hear something.

We entered 770 and went to the room that was right next to the sukka, the yeshiva’s Otzar HaSefarim. The window there was closed with reinforced glass that the bachurim had sealed shut with nails before Yom Tov so it wouldn’t be able to be opened. We couldn’t see or hear anything. The women with me gave up and went home. I was upset. I thought: I waited so many years to come to the Rebbe and now the Rebbe is farbrenging and I can’t see?

I saw a crack in the windowpane on top and thought: Soon the stars will be out [i.e. Yom Tov will be over] and I will try move the glass then.

Right after Yom Tov, I climbed up on the windowsill and managed to remove that millimeter. When the Rebbe spoke, I put my ear there and when he finished, I looked through. My excitement was through the roof.

Toward morning, the Rebbe gave out kos shel bracha. I suddenly had the urge to ask for a bracha and kos shel bracha. I knew this wasn’t rational; of course, I wouldn’t go to the sukka to ask. There was a huge line. People came from other neighborhoods too. Some would approach holding one cup, some two, for someone else.

I was reminded how, on motzoei Rosh Hashana, my husband received kos shel bracha from which he drank a little and then he gave me and the children. I thought: If only he asks for me now too. But I knew this was nonsense. One didn’t bother the Rebbe and didn’t waste even a second of his time.

Still, I greatly desired receiving a bracha from the Rebbe. I felt a sense of despair when I saw him pass by without asking anything. Then

Anticipating the Geula - Women’s gathering in 770

I saw him turn back toward the boxes in order to get down (for one doesn’t turn his back on the Rebbe) and suddenly, the Rebbe called him and said, “Take for your rebbetzin.”

How could he take when he didn’t have another cup? The secretaries immediately gave him another cup and the Rebbe poured and he went down in great astonishment. He was sure I was at home, asleep.

When I saw my husband go out, I also went out and I cried so hard. I heard the Rebbe and felt how the Rebbe sensed my wish and sent me kos shel bracha. My husband asked me, “What are you doing here?”

I said, “I was here the entire time. I saw and heard everything.” It was indescribable.

THERE IS NO JOY

LIKE RESOLVING DOUBT

I heard a story about a bachur who was an aide in the Rebbe’s house. Once, around some auspicious day, the Rebbetzin told him that the Rebbe would farbreng the next day. He went to 770 and nobody knew about this until the last

minute when they announced that the Rebbe would come out and farbreng. There was a big commotion. They began calling people to come. They quickly prepared the room and everyone ran to 770.

The aide asked the Rebbetzin afterward, “If the Rebbe knew the day before that he would farbreng, why wasn’t this announced in advance? When it’s announced, it’s much easier to set up and let everyone know so they don’t make other plans?” The Rebbetzin said, “My husband loves a shturem (commotion)!”

When we are told at the last minute, excitement and great joy fills us and the chayus is much greater. The sudden notification generates a tremendous joy of surprise.

That’s what will happen when Moshiach comes! We all try to add in mitzvos and good deeds, in hiddur mitzva, so that Moshiach should come. We wait and wait and it doesn’t happen. We need to remember that the Rebbe loves a shturem. In a moment, the entire world will turn upside down, everyone will know, all the phones and networks… Moshiach came! We know that this will happen. In the big shturem the Rebbe will conquer the world! ■

TZIREL

Frankel is the shlucha from Los Angeles who pushed me to go and study in Crown Heights. When I became a baalas teshuva, I was working in masculine professions as a carpenter, painter, etc. I remember driving my truck and saying to myself, “Sima, you can’t just go about in masculine places!” I wanted a career

change. And who called me just then? Tzirel! She quickly sent me off to study.

Tzirel, tell us a bit about yourself.

I was born and raised in Maitland, Florida, a suburb of Orlando to a Conservative/Reform family, typically American. I was sent to a Jewish school for five or six years, once or twice a week. We went to temple on many Friday nights but what most interested me was only

the social aspect. Most of my friends were not Jewish and this was despite living in the most Jewish part of central Florida.

When did you start taking an interest in Judaism?

When I was fourteen, I went to a Jewish summer camp in North Carolina. That was a turning point for me; before that, I had no interest in Judaism. In camp, all the campers and staff were Jewish. For the first time in my life, I felt I really belonged and I connected to other kids in a way I had never felt before.

I learned some Jewish history and realized that our existence is simply miraculous. The Holocaust greatly affected the way I identified as a Jew. I realized that we are a nation apart and we can never fully rely on our generous host nation (the US). After that summer I went home and joined a Jewish youth group in Orlando. I became friends exclusively with Jews and my goal was to find a way to make aliya after I finished high school.

My opportunity to move to Eretz Yisrael came the summer after tenth grade. They offered us a trip to Israel to learn for two months in a program called Tichon b’Yisrael.

The curriculum was in-depth study of Jewish history from the Creation of the world until that year, 1975. This strengthened my resolve to live a Jewish life to the best of my ability. After I finished the program, I went to a kibbutz to volunteer. It was Chanuka and I didn’t undersatnd why they didn’t say the blessing on the candles. It was a Shomer HaTzair kibbutz; it was a movement that was angry at G-d. I realized I didn’t belong to a movement that did not recognize G-d. Logic told me that I had to try something more religious.

How did you find Chabad?

I registered for a religious kibbutz two weeks before the program began. Until then, I spent time in Yerushalayim where I met Rabbi Meir Schuster who arranged a Shabbos for me with a religious family.

The Shabbos experience made me realize that I didn’t want to be on a kibbutz and that

I wanted to study. They told me about the seminary Neve Yerushalayim where I studied a bit and then I became religiously observant. After other adventures, I returned to America to finish twelfth grade.

When I got home after a year in Israel, I found the nearest Chabad House to Orlando which was in Tampa and run by the Rivkin family. I spent Simchas Torah with them and they suggested I go to New York and finish high school. I went to Crown Heights.

At first, I said I would never be a Lubavitcher and my staying in Crown Heights was because there was nowhere else to study in the US. I have to say that life dorming with thirty girls constantly telling me what to do as a Lubavitcher was a turn-off, but when I heard the Rebbe speak that is what ultimately softened me and helped me feel I belong.

What was your relationship with the Rebbe?

I loved the Rebbe’s positivity and joy, the Chassidim and Chassidus. After that year and graduating high school, I was invited to attend Bais Rivka seminary. I was very excited and respected the fact that Mrs. Chana Gurewitz believed in me and invited me to join this high level learning.

After I finished seminary, I was offered a teaching position in Springfield, MA. I had two wonderful, very meaningful years there. I learned a lot from the shluchim with whom I worked, the Deren family. Since I lived in their house, I saw role models and how a Chassidishe home should be. Two years later I met my husband, Simcha. After a year of kollel we went to Los Angeles with the Rebbe’s blessing, as his shluchim. I’ve taught here for nearly forty-two years (children and adults) and we were blessed with terrific children and adorable grandchildren, thank G-d.

The Rebbe’s teachings and blessings continue to guide us and sustain everything we do. Thank you, Rebbe! I am grateful that I met the Rebbe on a number of occasions and for receiving dollars many times. The most

memorable time was when I asked for a bracha for children. This was after we lost a day-old baby because of a heart defect. Thank G-d, I became pregnant again but I was very worried. The Rebbe gave me a bracha and said, “Besuros tovos.” We recently found this moving video clip.

IN CHARGE ON THE DOLLAR LINE

I lived with Esther Dukes in the basement of Mrs. Sara Labkovsky’s house and learned a lot from her about Judaism.

Esther, tell us a bit about yourself.

I was born many years ago in Amsterdam. My parents both came back from World War II alone. They never spoke about the war or what they went through. I grew up shielded from the horror stories they experienced. Unfortunately, my mother died at a young age. The loss of a parent shakes you up and sometimes changes

your life from one extreme to another. My father was a good father who tried to fill the void left by my mother but this didn’t assuage my great yearning for her.

When did you find out more about Judaism?

After I did well in school, I knew that I wanted to continue in college. Since I had no idea what profession I wanted to pursue, my father directed me to do a masters in business management, which I did. I am grateful to him for that.

One day, in 1982, I was in New York. Sarah Rosenberg (today, Rebbetzin Weinstein) brought me to Rebbetzin Sara Labkovsky’s house. We immediately clicked. When I was on a short visit to New York, I decided to return to Amsterdam for my job and Rebbetzin Labkovsky kept in touch with me. She convinced me to return to New York. The time had come to explore what it meant to be

The interviewees as students at Machon Chana in Crown Heights

a Jew and I decided to take a year’s leave of absence from work.

What is your special connection to the Rebbe?

While learning at Machon Chana, I was asked by Mrs. Esther Sternberg to help her while women passed by the Rebbe for dollars on Sundays and other times. I am tall and have presence and I speak many languages. I stood near the Rebbe for hours. Every week, I got a bracha from the Rebbe. When I was in 770, I saw many miracles. I have no doubt that thanks to the brachos and guidance from the Rebbe, I met my husband, I had children, and we were blessed with grandchildren.

Since that year in New York, I haven’t gone back to Amsterdam. Crown Heights is very special but since my husband is from Canada and neither of us were legally allowed to remain in the US, we moved to Canada.

THE REBBE GAVE ME ENORMOUS KOCHOS!

Ahuva is my dear neighbor from Yerushalayim. I asked her to tell me a bit about herself and her connection to the Rebbe:

I was born in Morocco. We made aliya in 1963, when I was seventeen. We were a traditional family with three children that ‘landed’ in Herzliya. Six years later I married and moved to Petach Tikva.

After the birth of our children, we wanted to sell our small apartment. As a result of the economic upheaval in 1972, we lost both the apartment and the money and concluded that everything was for the best.

We rented a shack and bought the half a dunam of land it was on. The neighborhood was one where religious Yemenites lived and we were influenced by them and slowly began to keep Shabbos.

One day, a neighbor knocked at the door and invited me to a shiur. I went and from that day on, our lives changed. It was hard at first to

convince the rest of the family but eventually, everyone became religious. The neighbor brought a lecturer from Bnei Brak who was Lubavitch, Mrs. Yona Abraham a’h. She didn’t push Chabad; she taught dinim and parsha in a way that deeply affected me.

How did you get to know the Rebbe?

We were one of the first to do teshuva in Herzliya, the city where Rabbi Yisrael Halperin a’h was sent on shlichus. We helped a lot in establishing his Chabad House, even whitewashing the building. I cooked the meal for the chanukas ha’bayis.

The night of the chanukas ha’bayis, I had an interview with Rabbi Ben-Tov regarding one of my sons who vacillated between yeshiva life and enlisting in the army. R’ Ben-Tov said to me, “You have a lot of G-dliness in the house.” I remember that I cried a lot.

Mrs. Etty Halperin came to my house to bring me along with the food and we saw that there was a cross within one of the decorations of the house. R’ Halperin said we needed to go to the Rebbe and he arranged a raffle for a trip to the Rebbe. Amazingly, I won! R’ Halperin was very happy for me and helped me arrange all the details, a flight, and a place to board for a month.

Each time I received a dollar from the Rebbe, I asked in my heart for my son who was torn, but the Rebbe did not answer. This was Tishrei 1986. At the lekach distribution I hesitated. The Rebbe gave me a piece of lekach and I moved on. Suddenly, I was called back and the Rebbe gave me four pieces of lekach and said I should make a big cake out of them, for all of Herzliya! The Rebbe gave me enormous kochos.

When I returned to Eretz Yisrael, it was nighttime and the son in question was on his way home. Suddenly, the police came and said my son had been hurt in a car accident with a van that hit him when he left yeshiva. When I got to the hospital I asked the nurse, “Where is he?” She looked down and said, “He died instantly.”

We went to get the children and the funeral was the next day. I felt that the kochos that the Rebbe gave me were what sustained me despite all the complaints leveled against me: Why did you do teshuva? See what happened …

We continued working in Herzliya and three years later, Hashem gave me a sign that my teshuva had been accepted. At age 45 I gave birth to my son, Yisrael.

I am connected to the Rebbe, my children attended Chabad schools, I am active in mivtzaim and in the community and I hope that I give the Rebbe nachas. I’ve seen many miracles in my life and often the Rebbe answers the many requests I write to him.

FROM TZORFAS TO UFORATZTA

Gilda-Gila Dellin is my friend from Machon Chana. She lives in Pittsburgh.

Gila, tell us a bit about your family and childhood.

We lived in France in Nant (which is on the estuary of the Loire River in the Atlantic Ocean). There was a shul in our city that my parents went to. My father came from Romania to France after World War II and because of what happened to Jews, he did not want to reveal his Jewish identity. This is also the reason why we didn’t have Jewish names. My father spoke Yiddish but asked that we only speak French.

How did you get to know Chabad?

I worked as a nurse in Nancy (eastern France) when I met Rabbi Matusof. I was very surprised that although he dressed in a way that was funny to me, he spoke a good French and his home was open. I celebrated my first Seder in his house but didn’t quite understand what he was saying. There was a group of young people there and none of them was religious.

When my parents came to visit, they met him and his wife. They told my parents about Machon Chana in New York and suggested I

go there to study, but I wasn’t interested and my parents didn’t like the idea of sending their daughter to America. R’ Matusof ran a Gan Israel camp in the summer where I met Bracha Goldberg from Brunoy (today Bracha Wolf of Chicago). Bracha and I became friends and a year later I went to the girls’ camp. I said the pasuk of Shema for the first time with her. The following year, I met Shterna Pevsner (today, Kalmanson). Despite my friendship with them, I wasn’t ready to change my way of life.

A few years later, I decided to visit America. One of my stops was Los Angeles, where Bracha lived, and she connected me with Mrs. Baila Goldstein in Crown Heights.

When I was in Woodmere, Baila invited me to visit. That was the end of December and they had winter vacation. She took me to some shiurim. Although I didn’t understand them, I was very impressed by the women. They sounded intelligent and had their feet on the ground.

Before my flight back to France, Baila suggested that I write to the Rebbe. The next day I flew back to France and Shterna called me to say that the Rebbe said I need to “talk with a rabbi who can make halachic decisions.” She said that her father could help me, being a rabbi. He asked me whether I wanted to get married and if I did, I should move to Crown Heights.

What most impressed you?

I got dollars from the Rebbe and I attended farbrengens, but I think that today too, I still don’t understand what a tzaddik is.

I enjoy reading the biographies of rabbanim. Today, in hindsight, I can say that the years that I spent in Machon Chana were the best. I enjoyed the classes with excellent teachers, I met girls from all over the world, and I’m still in touch with some friends who learned with me then. Of course, thank you to Rabbi Shloma Majesky, the best mechanech who taught me. I was fortunate to be one of the Machon Chana girls and now, I am the proud grandmother of a dozen grandchildren, kein yirbu. ■

To Love A Fellow Jew Short Stories of the Rebbe’s Ahavas Yisrael

BY MALKY KENIG

OPENING STATEMENT

Motzoei Yud Shevat 5710

At 9:45, the Rebbe entered the small zal in order to farbreng on the first yahrtzeit of the Rebbe Rayatz. In the second sicha, the Rebbe alluded to accepting the nesius and spoke about the American custom of making a statement when starting something new. The statement that the Rebbe made on that day that we all became his Chassidim was about three loves: love for Torah, love for Hashem, and Ahavas Yisrael.

“When there is Ahavas Hashem but there isn’t love for Torah and Ahavas Yisrael, that indicates that the love for Hashem is also lacking. When there is Ahavas Yisrael one ultimately attains love for Torah and love for Hashem.

This statement needs to be announced. When we see a Jew who has love for Hashem and he does not have love for Torah and Ahavas Yisrael, he needs to be told that he should know that love for Hashem alone, without love for Torah and Ahavas Yisrael, does not last.

And through this the Geula will come, for just as the reason that “we were exiled from our land” in the final galus is because of the opposite of Ahavas Yisrael, so too, through Ahavas Yisarel the Geula will come speedily in our days.” (Toras Menachem Beis, Yud Shevat)

Indeed, Chabad Chassidus, which came from the town of Lubavitch, continues in the same way.

In a maamar Chassidus that the Rebbe delivered right afterward, he related stories from each of the Rebbeim about their unbounded Ahavas Yisrael for every Jew.

A SINGLE BOY

Rabbi Nachman Yosef Twerski relates:

“In 5735, 9 Kislev was on Shabbos. How fitting it would be for the Rebbe to honor the baal ha’hilula with a farbrengen. But no. To everyone’s surprise, there was no farbrengen.

A short while before, the mother of a boy in yeshiva in Crown Heights, wrote to the Rebbe. She said that her son’s appearance was “different” and boys in his class were mean to him.

The Rebbe asked R’ Chodakov to personally get involved.

The boy’s bar mitzva was on Shabbos, 9 Kislev. At the end of the davening, people sat down to celebrate with him but they tried to do so quickly so as not to miss the Rebbe’s farbrengen. At some point, a Chassid came in and announced that there wouldn’t be a farbrengen with the Rebbe, so the people relaxed and continued to farbreng with the boy which made the boy very happy.

Later on, the Rebbe explained to the secretary that in order that a boy not be disappointed by a quick celebration, for the sake of a Jewish boy’s happiness, the Rebbe did not farbreng on that special day.

R’ Nachum Rabinowitz related:

“A certain askan went to the Rebbe’s room and saw the Rebbe looking serious. He got up the courage and asked about it. The Rebbe told him that a couple who had just married had come and asked to go on shlichus and he made it conditional on their receiving their parents’ approval. They returned a few days later with their approval and he gave them his blessing.

The wife was an only girl with five brothers who served as the Rebbe’s shluchim around the world, and the Rebbe began listing each place. He concluded by saying the parents were left alone.

“Now they are at the airport and many tears are being shed. Although they are tears of joy, they are still tears. At this moment, I am with them.”

Once, the Rebbe said:

“The thing for which I was placed on the chair [i.e. became Rebbe] is to draw down G-dliness, and they are not allowing me to do this because of the lack of unity that prevails.”

THIS IS FOR THE LOVE

Rabbi YY Jacobson relates:

On Sunday, 26 Adar 5752 I was a bachur and I was going to Eretz Yisrael. Before the trip, I asked the Rebbe for a bracha when I went for dollars.

In front of me stood a girl around six-seven years old, not a Lubavitcher. When she received a dollar from the Rebbe she said, “I love you.”

The secretaries were uncomfortable and I was curious about how the Rebbe would respond. The Rebbe smiled in a way I had never seen before. The girl, who had started walking to the exit, was called back by the Rebbe. He gave her another dollar and said, “This is for the love.”

WE’LL THINK ABOUT IT TOMORROW

When the Rebbe returned from the Ohel on Yud Shevat one year, he announced the distribution of kuntreisim. Thousands of Chassidim, who were in 770 at the time, immediately stood on line and the distribution took hours.

During the distribution, R’ Yaakov Hecht suggested that the Rebbe pause the distribution so he could eat something, since he hadn’t eaten since the morning.

The Rebbe said, “We’ll think about it tomorrow,” and continued what he was doing.

MIVTZAIM? WITH AHAVAS YISRAEL

To someone who was excitedly involved in mivtzaim but lacked Ahavas Yisrael, the Rebbe said in yechidus, “Mivtzaim is my thing and I don’t want you to go on mivtzaim.”

Beis Moshiach

with the flow.” “Go for it.” “Take the plunge.” “Just do it.”

What these phrases have in common is they tell us that restraints or inhibitions are something negative. The perfect person who is interesting, alive, happy and kicking, is a person who is free of those. This is what the world teaches us today, from babyhood and on

things outside of our awareness are difficult to imp ossible to imp ose control over and the y come out in indirect, uncontrollable ways), and the absence of actual boundaries (for not everything that arises in our inner world is meant to be turned into action; on the contrary, the beinoni remains a beinoni despite the thoughts that arise from his heart to his mind, as the Tanya says).

After thousands of years of clear social

After thousands of of clear social boundaries (even the nations back in the day, g idru es atzmam”), where did this weird worldview come from, that the greatest value is breaking boundaries and being free of restraints?

AN UPSIDE DOWN WORLD

It isn’t pleasant to admit this but I attribute the onset of the removal of boundaries to the birth of psychology. Psychology developed at the end of nineteenth century, and one of its first precepts was that suppression, lack of awareness of what you’re really feeling, about what is going on in your psyche is bad, while awareness and the ability to allow emotions to surface to where they are accessible to us, is something good. This way of thinking said that awareness itself is enough to free one or do away with various symptoms which are the psyche’s roundabout way of connecting us to what’s happening inside it.

And so we’ve come to being in a world which constantly teaches us that “the heart rules the mind f rom birth,” and a person who lives with clear boundaries and reins in his urges, is a rigid, inflexible, uninteresting, pathetic

Accordingly, the abilities of constraint and inhibition (= not reacting, the ability to stop ourselves or our urges) have become rarities. One of the “starring” diagnoses in children these days is ADHD (attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder). It’s a disorder characterized by the dysfunction of the prefrontal lobe of the brain which is responsible for planning, organizing, paying attention, making decisions, problem solving, memor y, and judgment. The child (or adult) with ADHD finds it hard to stop his mind from wandering when he needs to concentrate, and finds it hard to move his to

That’s all fine and good. We can stand behind that. But there were people who took this a step further and from the world of the psyche they applied it all to the world of action. We don’t need to suppress our subconscious urges or desire or feelings, right? Then if we don’t suppress them in our inner world, we won’t suppress them in our behavioral world. These people confused awareness (which actually enables us to better control ourselves, enables more “mind rules the because those

more “mind rules the heart,” because those

arises. When hyperactivity is added to this (which is not always the case) the difficulty in inhibiting oneself is expressed in the difficulty in restraining actions or words that were better left unsaid.

In other words, our world which highly pr aises sp ontaneit y an d l ac k of societa l constraints is at the same time diagnosing and prescribing pills for people whose nature is to be free of constraint more than other people. (This is not a polemic regarding these medications. There are situations in which the price for not taking the pills is higher than for taking them but that’s a topic for a different column. Here, we are only looking at this interesting contradiction.)

attention from task to task when that needs interesting contradiction.)

29 SIVAN 5784

THOSE WHO DELAY GRATIFICATION ARE MORE SUCCESSFUL

Let’s take a closer look at the subject of restraint, inhibition or the ability to delay gratification.

In 1970, Walter Mischel, a professor of psychology at Stanford University, conducted an experiment which became very famous, called the Marshmallow Experiment. A marshmallow was placed in front of little children (3.5-6 years old) and someone explained to them that they can eat the marshmallow now, but if they wait a while, they’ll get two marshmallows. In long-term studies following the lives of these same children, it has been clearly demonstrated that the children who waited not only got more to eat but were more successful in life - academically, professionally, health-wise, etc.

This experiment showed empirically (by means of observation or experience) what we all understand intuitively, that a person who can delay responding to his immediate needs, is a person who will be more successful, for he can be part of a long-term project whose results are more satisfying than the small satisfactions which will try to divert his attention along the way.

I can buy clothes and jewelry every two days or I can save up for something bigger and more significant.

I can eat what I want here and now or I can invest in my long-term health.

A child can eat his treat all by himself; after all, it’s his! But he can also share it with a friend and deepen the friendship.

It’s worth noting here that restraint is a fundamental condition for successful relationships. In order to engage in mutual and positive relationships, I need to be able to put myself aside at times; to delay expressing my anger for a

more suitable time; to be able to tolerate the fact that someone close to me did something not nice and not to immediately react because I want to preserve the relationship. Anyone who is impulsive can tell you how negatively his relationships are affected by this.

So, if restraint, delaying gratification, are so important and useful, what stops us from implementing them?

UNDERSTANDING ‘ISKAFYA’

It’s fairly obvious that this discussion leads us to a fundamental concept in Chassidusiskafya. In chapter 12 of Tanya, it says, “every person may, with the power of the will in his brain, restrain himself and control the drive of his heart’s lust, preventing his heart’s desires from finding expression in deed, word, and thought.”

The Alter Rebbe is telling us an amazing thing. The raw material of the ability for selfcontrol, to delay gratification, is within every one of us from birth. Each of us was born with the potential for restraint and if we don’t actualize it, it’s only because we weren’t taught enough, we weren’t trained enough, and we don’t train ourselves here and now.

One of the reasons that they didn’t train us or we didn’t train

ourselves has to do with what it says at the beginning of this article, the fact that we are constantly absorbing messages from the world around us, sometimes without being aware of it. We are told we need to be free, that we don’t need to constantly be in control, not to always demand things of our children because they deserve a nice childhood and they deserve that we protect them from everything in the world.

This is true, of course; they deserve a nice, safe childhood, but up to a certain point. Children who grow up without demands from their parents, and when parents don’t allow others to make demands of their children (schools, youth groups) - the children simply won’t be prepared for real life. To suddenly expect iskafya from them at age thirteen, after an absence of limits before that, is not realistic and isn’t right.

Restraint and boundaries (external and internal, and we must have external boundaries in order to create inner boundaries) need to be taught from a very young age.

SO, HOW DO WE DO IT?

As a practical example of iskafya, the Alter Rebbe mentions (in chapter 27) the Torah scholars who delayed their meal by two hours, just to train their iskafya “muscle,” and to teach themselves to delay gratification. In our generation,

which is weak, so that the Rebbe said that fasting is not for us, perhaps we shouldn’t train ourselves with food, but we definitely should train ourselves. We and our children need to train ourselves to delay gratification (which is harder for us in these generations). We can do this by delaying screen time (relevant to all ages), delaying treats until after doing household chores, delaying conveying criticism for later (if it’s between the couple, it can be delayed until the children are asleep, and one can hope that once delayed, it will remain delayed), delaying playing with friends until after homework is done, etc.

If we talk at home about the importance of iskafya and delaying gratification, all these things can be challenges for a child, a positive challenge, of course, instead of something upsetting which the parents force on him.

It’s important to remember and to try to pass on to others, that for children, the ability to wait, to delay gratification, being able to control urges is an asset, both a psychological asset as well as a spiritual asset. A person who knows how to stop himself and practice restraint will be more successful in life, both on the material and spiritual planes.

A boy who grows up with the idea of delaying gratification at home can more readily become a Chassid since this is a basic step in avodas Hashem.

Bottom line, delaying gratification brings joy to life. Things that are quickly obtainable feel like “bread of shame,” and their value is diminished. The more we wait for something, and for sure if we worked for it, the more its value rises and its pleasure factor increases. Not surprisingly, today’s generation of abundance and instant everything is sadder than ever and more anxious than ever.

Restraint, the mind controlling the heart, simply improve one’s quality of life. ■

A. SHEMLI

Recap:

A bitter argument broke out among the community leaders. Getzel is determined to sell his estate before the city is forced to evacuate, while the others opposed this move out of concern that it will reduce the value of their properties. The maidservants report to Shmuel that Aidel is very weak and exhausted.

At six o’clock in the morning, a knock could be heard at the door of the Rav’s house. The Rebbetzin, surprised due to the early hour, opened the door with some apprehension. It was the rosh ha’kahal. She should have thought of this herself. For years now, he knows the secret behind this tranquil time of the day, taking full advantage of it when he wants to consult privately with the Rav. She quickly withdrew into the kitchen as she called out in a hoarse voice: “Shabsi! It’s Shmuel, the Rosh Ha’kahal!”

Shmuel entered with awe and respect. He stands facing the Rav, who has already finished davening Shacharis at sunrise and was sitting in

front a huge volume of Shulchan Aruch. The Rav looked up, his eyes tired yet smiling.

“Were there any new developments from yesterday’s meeting after I left?” Shmuel shook his head. “The same argument continued, although in a less pleasant manner. People allowed themselves to speak in a way they wouldn’t dare do in the Rav’s presence.”

“Nu, nu,” the Rav smiled. “Hashem will save us from this misfortune as well. We should only merit to see how – and very soon. I came up with an idea when I went home, and I was thinking about it all night long. I wanted to hear what you think, Reb Shmuel. However, before that, tell me what has brought you here.”

Shmuel lowered his eyes, playing a little with the lace on the chair placed before him. “The truth is,” he smiled with embarrassment, “I came to speak with the Rebbetzin.”

The Rav smiled in surprise. “Sara Rochel, the Rosh Ha’kahal came to see you!” he called out. The Rebbetzin immediately came in, equally surprised.

“It’s about Aidel,” Shmuel lowered his gaze, his deep voice literally a whisper. “She’s very weak, apparently due to a lack of iron, and they’ve recommended that she should have liver.”

“Quite right,” the Rebbetzin said in agreement, vigorously nodding her head.

“However, our family customarily refrains from eating a chicken’s internal organs. As a result, our cook Sophia hasn’t roasted liver for twenty years now.”

The Rav nodded his head. “Indeed. I still remember that from your father, of blessed memory!”

,, Shmuel lowered his eyes, playing a little with the lace on the chair placed before him. “The truth is,“ he smiled with embarrassment, “I came to speak with the Rebbetzin.“

Shmuel still lowered his gaze. Naturally, you’ll tell the butcher to charge the liver to my bill, agreed? Liver, if I recall correctly – it isn’t cheap.”

“Don’t worry,” the rebbetzin said excitedly. “She’ll receive her first serving of liver before the day is out. I’ll continue to spoil her until I see her standing on her own two feet!”

“I’m certain that Aidel wouldn’t want to trouble anyone, and except for the Rebbetzin, I don’t think that there’s a woman in Lubianka I can rely upon in matters of kashrus…” He was extremely embarrassed, and the Rebbetzin interrupted him: “Of course I’ll make liver for her. There’s not even a question. I also know exactly how she likes it…”

“And before you even ask,” the Rav added, “I am already ruling for you that she can even eat liver during the Nine Days. With regard to the fast – I’ll let you know as the day gets closer. All right, Reb Shmuel?”

The Rebbetzin left the room, and Shmuel looked up. “Thank you, Rebbetzin,” he called out in a slightly clearer voice, “and I’m sorry for all the trouble!”

“Put your mind at ease, R’ Shmuel,” the Rav laughed. “During the eight years that Aidel was here, my wife managed to envision how she would spoil her after she got married, making her lunch, helping her with the cleaning, sending her fish every Shabbos… The shidduch with you was wonderful, but for my Rebbetzin, it put an end to her dreams to some extent.

She sits at home and thinks about Aidel, but in truth, she has no way that she can help her, right? Well, you have just saved her lost dream…”

Shmuel didn’t smile. He pulled out the chair he had been leaning on up until now and sat down. He placed his elbows on the table, supporting his head. “Sometimes, Rav, it seems to me as if I made a mistake by getting remarried…”

The Rav’s eyes opened wide in shock. “A mistake? This is the first time in many years that I have seen you so happy!”

“That’s true. I am very happy.” He sighed. “However, I have failed to be a good husband. Aidel has been so weak for a long time now, lacking any appetite. She can’t manage to get up in the morning, then rests again in the afternoon – and I didn’t even notice!” He raised his voice in agitation. “And I would have continued failing to notice were it not for the maidservants bringing the matter to my attention!”

“Reb Shmuel,” the Rav smiled. “The Rosh Ha’kahal is being overly stringent with himself…” Shmuel sat silent as he curled his right peyah, rubbing his left finger along the laced tablecloth.

,, Gronem sits near the table, an open sefer in front of him as he tries to review the argument made by Shraga the dayan, raised suddenly during this afternoon’s deliberations.

“We don’t wait to get married until we become perfect, Reb Shmuel. We get married, and this makes us better and more sensitive.”

“The Rav presents a nice argument,” Shmuel smiled with difficulty. “However, it doesn’t meet the test of reality. Just look at Aidel…”

“Enough, Shmuel, you’re uttering sheer nonsense,” the Rav stops him. “You’re extremely troubled by the edict that has come upon us, and I venture to guess that you’ve been having trouble lately sleeping at night.” After a moment, he added softly, “And if you’ll permit me to remind you what your honor used to cry about here in years past…”

Shmuel shook his head and shuddered.

“What is the idea that the Rav came up with?” he quickly asked.

“I think,” the Rav replied slowly, stroking his beard, “that perhaps Count von Sadislavski can help us. Justice Laurence, who came out against us, is the count’s protégé, and he greatly admires him. I understand that von Sadislavski pulled the strings that got Justice Laurence appointed to his current position of authority over this region. If he’ll put in a good word for us…”

Shmuel was surprised. “Only recently, this past Shavuos, I was forced to disappoint him. Fate moving its huge hand… He wanted me to come with him to Kiev to sign a guarantee on a large bank loan he was taking out for a once-in-a-lifetime business deal.”

“If you aren’t able to be a guarantor for him, then you can’t,” the Rav replied with disappointment.

“But I am, Rav,” Shmuel quickly clarified. “It’s just that the signing must be done in Kiev, and I wouldn’t leave Aidel by herself during the first year…” He smiled reticently. “That trip to Palchova… I’ll never repeat it for as long as I live…”

“If you passed up on the business venture with von Sadislavski simply because it’s the first year of your marriage, maybe you’re not such a bad husband after all…” the Rav said

with a wink. Shmuel was astounded and a bit bewildered.

“If he still needs your signature – then go.” The Rav suddenly became quite serious. “Saving Jewish lives overrides everything. After Chanuka, when family after family sets out on a wandering journey along snowy roads, it will be a disaster. Even Aidel, who will be in the best possible health, is not supposed to be getting into a heated carriage just a month after giving birth, Shmuel. And I don’t even want to think about the other people of the village evacuating on foot.”

“He still does need my signature, very much,” Shmuel said. “And since he knows what it would be for me to leave everything and come – I hope that this will serve as a significant bargaining chip to ask for what I need.”

Shmuel stands up. “B’ezras Hashem, I’ll go immediately after Tisha B’Av. I’m sure that Aidel will understand.”

no longer speak on the matter. Mirele is still here, but it seems as if she has a suitcase ready under the bed, ready to get up and run off at any moment. It was as if the whole floor was covered with glass, and he was barefoot. In other words, think well before carefully putting your foot down.

Actually, something nice occurred today. He told her a funny proverb told by one of the litigants whose case he was judging this morning. After she laughed, she tried gently to explain to him why, in her opinion, the man made the claim that he did. It was interesting, and it made him think again about his ruling.

“Travel immediately after Shabbos, Shmuel,” the Rav said in a serious tone. “Don’t even wait until after Tisha B’Av. And tell Aidel to leave the door open and the bed made at all times, until you return safely home.”

“I will, Rav,” Shmuel nodded. “And again, give my thanks to the Rebbetzin!”

“Thank you very much for your mesirus nefesh and dedication!” she called out from the kitchen. “And for your permission to spoil your gevirte…”

Gronem sits near the table, an open sefer in front of him as he tries to review the argument made by Shraga the dayan, raised suddenly during this afternoon’s deliberations. It came a brief moment before the Beis Din was about to issue its ruling, changing the whole situation completely and forcing a delay to the conclusion of the case until tomorrow.

Gronem looked up from the sefer, directly at Mirele. She was all ready to go to sleep, and she started lowering the oil lamps in the hallway and the kitchen.

“Once things were good for me,” he said cautiously. “All my siblings knew that I was privileged to have such a good wife. Tzadok’s wife is spoiled, and Yossel’s wife is impudent, making comments on every step he makes. Only you never answer me back, you never let yourself be pampered,” he sighed. “I don’t understand why things had to change; everything was so good.”

Who can concentrate in this heat anyway? Who could concentrate with this situation still prevailing in his home? Since that night, they

Mirele turned towards Gronem and chuckled. “Maybe it was opportune, but it was never good.”

“Why wasn’t it good?” he furrowed his brow.

“Because you had a shmatte of a wife, Gronem.” She became quite serious, staring at him. “Do you honestly believe that an outstanding dayan like yourself, the youngest in Lubianka, who in addition to that is also the rosh ha’kahal’s son, deserves to get married to a shmatte?”

Gronem looks at her in stunned silence. Who taught her to speak anyway?

“A shmatte can be something quite opportune,” she smiled. “But good? I don’t think so…” ■

To be continued…

Story Time StoryMador kids Story Time

By Leora Nadtochy - From The Tzaddikstory.org Collection

The Salt Lake City Bris

Shalom Aleichem!

My name is Rabbi Benny Zippel, and I’m a Chabad Shliach in Salt Lake City, Utah. New York is on the east coast of America, and Utah is all the way on the other side of the country, close to the west coast. It’s a beautiful place, full of snowy mountains that people come to visit from all over the country, but b’ruchniyus, Salt Lake City wasn’t always so beautiful.

That’s why, in 5752 (1992), my wife and I came here to serve the Jewish community, and we’ve been doing that ever since!

When we just started out in Salt Lake City, we noticed Jewish parents weren’t giving their baby boys proper brissim. There was a pediatrician – a children’s doctor – on a nearby air force base who would perform brissim for the community, but the doctor knew these “brissim” weren’t being done according to halacha.

For the mitzva of Bris Milah, a regular circumcision by a doctor isn’t good enough, it has to be done by a Yid, and in the right way. We wanted all the Jewish babies in Utah to have a kosher bris.

We realized this was something we needed to work on. So right away, we invited a frum Mohel from Los Angeles to visit Salt

Beis s Mo h shiaach ch

Lake City whenever we needed one. We’d organize his flights, and offer our home for the Simcha. Sometimes people wanted to have the bris in their own home. It didn’t matter to us, just as long long as they were giving their child a kosher bris!

By doing this, we were, B”H, also able to solve another problem.

You see, when someone has a bris that’s not done according to halacha, then it can actually be fixed! This is called a hatofas dam bris, and can be done by a proper Mohel as well.

Anyway, this often happens when a person’s parents had a bris done for them as a baby incorrectly, and then they found out more about Yiddishkeit later on in life. By having a hatofas dam bris, their past bris is corrected and fixed.

Whenever we arranged for the Mohel to come eight days after a Jewish baby boy was born, we also invited community members to bring their older boys to the Mohel for hatofas dam bris, to fix the bris that the pediatrician did years ago. This is something many people in the area, B”H, agreed to do. We really were helping Jews and filling an important need.

“Mazal tov, *Cheryl!” My wife smiled into the phone, wishing her good friend well after the birth of her second baby boy.

We knew Cheryl well. She and my wife were very close. Sadly, she didn’t marry a Jewish man – but her baby was still Jewish, and we were looking forward to helping her arrange a proper bris.

There was just one thing about Cheryl. She was a VERY organized woman. She always needed to know exactly what was going on, and what her schedule was going to look like.

It was the summer, Tammuz to be exact, and we planned the bris for a Monday morning. She agreed to give her three-year-old boy a hatofas dam bris in our home first, at exactly 11:30 am, followed by the bris of the new baby at 12 noon in her home. Everything was arranged.

“Great!” Cheryl said to my wife. “So the Mohel has your address, and knows where to drive from the airport… That’s good. We’ll be there at 11 am, just to make sure everything is in order. I’ve already got the caterer confirmed for noon at my house, but my in-laws may come slightly earlier to help out… Oh! I almost forgot… the balloons! You can’t have a party without balloons. Those will be at my place, too. Everything should be set to go.”

“Perfect!” answered my wife, trying to keep up with Cheryl’s planning and all her excitement. The pressure was definitely on. This would be a grand celebration, but it was well worth it. We were doing this for the mitzva!

But the Motzoei Shabbos before the Monday morning bris, I got a call from New York. It was probably the most difficult call

I’d ever gotten in my life, sharing news I never thought I’d hear.

The date was Gimmel Tammuz, 5754.

Everything was blurry. I couldn’t understand or process what was going on. The Rebbe was our leader, our teacher – he was the reason my family was here, spreading Yiddishkeit to this lovely little community, on his instructions! And now, we can’t see him… What a hard nisayon, what a hard test!

While Chabad Chassidim and many other Yidden all over the world were struck with shock and grief, I couldn’t feel anything. I didn’t have time to think.

All I could think about was the bris. Two Jewish boys needed a bris, no matter what. I am a Shliach. My job was and always will be to help other Jews, as the Rebbe directed us.

Knowing the Mohel was a Chabad Chassid as well, I immediately hung up the phone and dialed his number, only thinking about how we could pull off this bris, given the horrifying news. His wife picked up the phone.

“I’m so sorry, he’s on his way to the airport now. He’s going to New York, and will be there all week. You’ll have to find someone else. I really apologize…”

Now, Chassidim and Shluchim from all over the world were traveling to New York… Everyone wanted to be in 770, united through this very hard time, but this news was too much for me to handle.

What about the bris? What about Cheryl and her VERY organized plans? WHAT WOULD WE DO??? No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t get rid of these thoughts.

Meanwhile, I also wanted to be in New York, so I called the airline to book myself a ticket, too. It was past midnight. I wasn’t sure if I’d have any luck at that hour, but I figured I’d give it a shot.

“Sorry, sir,” said the woman from the airline, “our last flight to the east coast left an hour ago. Our next flight won’t leave until 5:00 AM tomorrow morning, and it makes a stop in Dallas, Texas.” I remember feeling so broken.

I had no Mohel, and I’d have to wait until 5:00 in the morning to start my trip, stopping in Texas, of all places, but I had no other choice. I booked the ticket and got my things together.

My mind was foggy. I felt completely lost. All I could do at that point was cry and say Tehillim until it came time to leave my home, travel to the airport, and board the plane. After landing in Dallas, I had to move past my misery and keep figuring out this bris!

Now, this story took place in the 90’s, before cell phones became popular. So during my stopover, I went to find a payphone. I had to find another Mohel!

I called one Mohel I knew of and I explained the whole situation.

“Rabbi, I’m really sorry, but I can’t help you on such short notice,” was his response.

I didn’t have time to despair. I had to continue my search. So I called the number of a Mohel from Denver, Rabbi Feder, and to my relief, he agreed!

“Don’t worry about the expenses. Just put everything on your credit card, and I’ll pay you back,” I assured him. At this point, I could finally, finally breathe a sigh of relief!

The next thing to do was let Cheryl know. Still standing at the payphone, I dialed my home number, asking my wife to tell Cheryl about the emergency change of plans.

“Just let her know something came up, and I won’t be able to make it Monday morning, but you’ll be there, and a different Mohel will also be there. That’s all she needs to know,” I explained to my wife.

“You know what, Cheryl’s actually on the other line right now,” she said. “Let me give her your message. Don’t hang up. I’ll let you know what she says in just a minute.”

I anxiously waited for what felt like forever. It was such a relief to hear my wife’s voice again.

“Alright, so… this is what she said.” My stomach began to twist. I knew my wife very well – I knew the voice she was using. This was not going to be good news.

“Either you and the regular Mohel will be there Monday morning for our toddler at 11:30 and the baby at noon, or there won’t be a bris at all. And if the bris doesn’t happen tomorrow, she says you should never speak to her about a bris again. There won’t be one at all, and she doesn’t want to discuss it further.”

B”H, I found a Mohel. Hopefully, now everything else will fall into place, I told myself. Now I can go to New York and join the Chassidim at 770.

If I felt broken before my flight to Dallas, well, now I felt a thousand times worse. How could I let two Jewish boys miss out on the opportunity to have a bris, all because of Gimmel Tammuz? How was I supposed to get back to the other side of the country that quickly?! And if I couldn’t get the original Mohel to come with me, none of it would matter! Those little boys would never have their bris!

Chas V’Shalom! I wouldn’t let that happen! But how?

My flight to New York landed at LaGuardia airport at 2 pm in the afternoon. I hadn’t put a thing in my mouth since Shabbos

I took a taxi straight to 770, where I tried to get as much information as I could. Things were very chaotic at that point. No one really knew what was going on.

Shluchim were upstairs in the Zal, saying tehillim together, which went on for some time. I personally had one eye on my tehillim, and one eye looking out for our Mohel from L.A. At the same time, my mind went back to those nervous thoughts. The Satan did this horrible thing – he hid our Rebbe from us! And now, because of that, two Jewish boys might not have a bris! It can’t be! Something’s got to give!

I got out of my seat and started asking people around me if they’d seen my Mohel. People thought I was crazy! Everyone was so sad, unable to even process what was going on, and here I was, looking frantically for a friend like it was a normal day! But that was just too bad. I had something important to do. I am a shliach of the Rebbe, and if these brissim didn’t happen, I’d have let him down. Nothing else mattered.

I came back to Crown Heights at 11:30 that night to find Chassidim sitting in 770, crying and saying Tehillim. By now, I hadn’t eaten for 36 hours, and my mind was moving a million miles a minute. The bris was supposed to happen 12 hours later, and I had no clue where the Mohel was, or how I would convince him to come back to Utah with me.

Without thinking, I did the only thing I could think of.

President St., searching all of Crown Heights for this one Mohel from California.

By now, it was already after midnight, and people must have thought I was a meshuganeh – knocking on random people’s doors asking for a Mohel at midnight – but I kept going! Some people even thought I was sick and offered to call Hatzalah. But I wasn’t sick. I was just determined.

At every door, I asked people if they knew where my Mohel might be staying. It was disappointing to get so many nos, but I knew I had to continue.

After some time, someone finally gave me some information I could use.

“Yea, actually, I think he’s staying in a basement on Montgomery St., between Brooklyn Ave. and New York Ave.,” the man at the door told me.

These words were music to my ears! I was so grateful to Hashem! I raced in that direction with a newfound koach!

I marched right out of 770 onto Eastern Parkway and started knocking on doors. I knocked on every Jewish door on the street, and then made my way to Union St., knocking on every single door. From there to

Beis Moshiach afternoon, but I had no time to eat. There was too much on my mind, and too much to do.

When I made it to the block, I began knocking on every basement door, until finally, he opened the door. It was him. It was finally, really him!

“What are you doing here?! It’s after midnight!” he asked in total shock.

“Listen, my good friend. We have two brissim to do in under 12 hours, and we need you there.”

He looked at me seriously. “But…. didn’t my wife… she told me that she told you that I can’t do it? That you should find someone else?”

“Yes, she did!” I answered, going on to explain the new situation. “...That’s why, if you don’t come, THERE WILL BE NO BRISSIM! NOT TOMORROW, NOT AT ALL!!! We cannot let that happen!”

I held my breath and waited for an answer.

“I’m going to think about it,” he finally told me after a few moments. But by that time, I wasn’t myself. I couldn’t think. I could only act, and what I did, I had NEVER done before, and NEVER did again.

I marched into the basement, took his bag, took him by the collar of his shirt and shlepped him outside. As this was going on, he started to yell at me. “Benny, I think you’re sick. I think we need to take you to a doctor – something seems really wrong with you. You’re going crazy.”

He was right! I was going crazy. But it didn’t matter. I had to do this. I called a car service to come pick us up, and within minutes, we were on our way to LaGuardia airport.

The Mohel seemed like he might only be going along with me because he was concerned about my mental health. We’d spent lots of time together in the past, and he’d never seen me like this before. Don’t forget – I still hadn’t eaten since Shabbos day, and it was already Monday morning, sometime after midnight. I really was acting like I’d totally lost it!

Now, flights from LaGuardia to Salt Lake City always left at 6:30 am, so we needed to get to the airport as quickly as possible to book our tickets in time!

This is what I told the Mohel: “I don’t want you to miss out on being in 770 with the Chassidim. After the bris, I’ll pay to fly us both back to New York. We’ll be with everyone else in Crown Heights, and then I’ll fly you back to Los Angeles, and I’ll fly to Salt Lake City.”

B”H, we made it to my house on time for the hatofas dam bris at 11:30, and for the bris at Cheryl’s at 12 noon. It was a very special simcha, where I was even given the honor of being Sandak!

Mission accomplished. Knocking on doors at midnight like a crazy person was the only thing that allowed these two Jewish boys to have a bris.

After things wrapped up, I turned to the Mohel and said, “A deal is a deal. Let’s get our things together and fly back to 770, as planned.”

The Mohel looked at me as if I was crazy. “Are you kidding me? You’re going to spend all that money flying us both from coast to coast? Absolutely not. I won’t have it!”

So, instead, we sat together in my basement floor for hours, crying and saying Tehillim. Later that night, the Mohel flew back to Los Angeles, putting an end to this story. ***

Our Delta Airlines flight landed in Salt Lake City at 10:00 am. I immediately called my wife to have her let Cheryl know we were back on schedule.

That was my Gimmel Tammuz 5754.

There is one important lesson that I learned from this story. Gimmel Tammuz is a difficult day. We want to see our Rebbe’s hisgalus! We want the farbrengens, dollars, brachos and hora’os! We want things to be just like they used to be! Yes – it’s a hard day, and it’s been thirty years, but sadness will not strengthen our hiskashrus to the Rebbe. Only doing what we’ve been asked to do. That’s what’s required. Let Gimmel Tammuz be a day that pushes you to do one more mitzva, one more thing for the Rebbe, for your hiskashrus and connection to a tzaddik. Our Rebbe taught that ha’maaseh hu ha’ikar. The most important thing is all the actions we do. So just do something!

That will surely bring you closer to the Rebbe, and surely bring Moshiach Now!

Recap: Avremi and his father meet on mivtzaim a Russian Jew who never had a Bar Mitzva.

Avremi:

Yeeeeessss! It’s finally Thursday! Today is Mr. Leon’s celebration. It’s been three weeks now that we’ve been working together to make him a bar mitzva.

We hung up a decorated sign, “Welcome to the Bar Mitzva,” at the entrance to the shul.

“Avremi,” said Mendy, who was in charge of arranging the candies on the tables, “give me the bag of candies, please.”

We wanted every guest to have his own bag. We prepared one for Leon too, putting his bag on the chair of honor where he would be sitting soon. Rabbi Lissinsky arranged for a new pair of tefillin for him and today he will get to put on his very own pair of tefillin.

Shmuli’s uncles helped with another surprise that will come soon. Everyone will be very excited! Each person had an important role to play; we wanted him to feel special. I’ve never seen such devoted volunteering. Tanchum came over to me, holding a list of the special guests.

“Why are there two extra chairs?” he asked in confusion. We hardly included anybody in the upcoming surprise. I shrugged as though I didn’t know and quickly changed the topic.

“Do you want a candy?”

Tanchum took the candy and went on his way. I breathed in relief. Soon, everyone would know why, I said to myself. My father left to pick up Leon from the train. After waiting and great anticipation, my mother whispered to me from the other side of the mechitza, “They’re here!”

When they entered, we clapped and threw candies in the air. Leon blushed but looked happy.

“Quiet, please. We’re about to begin.”

It was time for the aliya to the Torah.

“They’re not here...” I whispered to Shmuli and then the door suddenly opened.

“They’re here,” Shmuli whispered back with a big smile.

When they walked in, they said something in Russian. Michoel, the neighbor who understands Russian, shouted, “They are relatives of the bar mitzva!”

“Welcome,” said the Rav. “Come in, we are about to begin. Honored guests and dear R’ Leon, we decided to surprise you and with Hashem’s help we were able to locate two relatives of yours. They’ve been living in the state for some years already.”

Leon and his relatives were thrilled and hugged one another. There wasn’t a dry eye… It was an amazing moment. Everyone cheered and clapped and began singing, “Sheyibaneh Beis HaMikdash.” I’m so happy that I joined my father that day for Mivtza Tefillin! By divine providence, we found ourselves in the right place at the right time.

Leon went over to my father after the Torah reading. “From now on, I will put tefillin on every day. I found relatives and friends for life. I now realize the meaning of, ‘Love your fellow like yourself.’ I thank Hashem and you, my friends, for everything.”

The speech that he delivered concluded the event which everyone agreed, including the SMAT Team, was perfect. My father joined us at the table and proudly said to everyone, “Yasher koach Avremi. Thanks to your fantastic idea, we brought a Jew to the observance of such important mitzvos. It is never too late! You and your friends are real Chassidim. I am sure that many neshamos in Heaven danced today in joy, thanks to you.”

I gave my father a big hug.

“Thank you Hashem for such a special child like you,” he added with shining eyes.

Shmuli:

After Leon’s moving event, we were back to our routine but then we had a refreshing surprise. My older cousin, Nachum, returned

from 770, I mean the real 770 where he was learning in Yeshiva, and came to visit. It’s always wonderful because he likes to hike and so do I. In the afternoon, we went on a walk with Nachum and the entire family. We walked through paths and gardens until we came to a big woods. I asked my mother whether we could stop a bit and enjoy the shade.

I went over to a tree which looked particularly interesting. It wasn’t too high and its branches were wide. I climbed up and sat down. I closed my eyes and sank into thought. Then I suddenly heard whispering. I looked down and saw two children sitting under the tree. They hadn’t noticed that I was directly above them.

I managed to understand just one thing. They were planning some activity. I didn’t move so I wouldn’t make a sound. I tried to see who they were. Since I’ve recovered, I am careful about getting hurt, but it wasn’t simple. Suddenly, I heard my mother calling me, “Shmuli, where are you?”

I was afraid they would look up, so I covered myself with a leafy branch and waved to my mother so she wouldn’t worry.

One of the children under me was holding something small. Slowly and quietly I took out the small telescope from the detective kit that was in my pocket, and I saw that one was holding a magnifying class and the other had white gloves on. What was that about?

They continued talking and were concentrating on some task. I heard something about an experiment they would do and about a room whose location I did not understand. It was hard to hear them. Uh oh. This time, my mother’s voice sounded closer. The children finally decided to get up and go. I still hadn’t managed to figure out who they were but my mother suddenly said, “Daniel, how are you, sweetie?” He smiled and waved at her and then went off with his friend.

Daniel?! Stunned, I came down from the tree and began thinking about the next step.

Daniel:

Micha’s family moved to our neighborhood recently. His father got a job along with my father at the city council and he is in my class. We easily became friends. Our parents are also good friends. It’s been a while now that I’ve been following Shmuli’s group, the SMAT Team. I’ve observed their activities from near and far and have been inspired by them.

I made a lot of effort and gave lots of hints so they would realize that I want to join their group. I know that I can contribute from my talents toward the success of their projects. I was bashful to ask them directly about joining and they didn’t get my hints.

A few days ago, on one of my surveillance jaunts they went to the clubhouse in the building where Micha lives. What divine providence! I thought. But suddenly, out of nowhere, Micha surprised me from behind.

“Daniel, what’s happening? What are you doing?”

I had no choice and revealed to him my secret mission. His reaction astonished me.

“I’m willing to help you join the SMAT Team.”

He went home with me and I told him about the clubhouse that the boys found and maybe it would be possible to help them make progress. The idea he raised was perfect! We sat together and worked out all the details.

Shmuli:

“Pay attention, friends: we

have a new mission!” I said as

soon as we gathered in the big schoolyard during recess. In the morning I had told them that attendance was mandatory. I recounted what had taken place in the woods.

“Wow! That’s some news!” said Mendy.

“What did the boy with Daniel look like?” asked Tanchum.

“He had short, brown, curly hair, is average height and he’s thin. Have any of you seen him before?”

They said no.

“In any case, we need to make investigating Daniel top priority and find out why he is constantly following us, who his new friend is, and what their plans are. I think we will find answers. Today, at five o’clock, let’s work on our plans.”

“Let’s decide on a place before we meet, “said Avremi.

The bell rang for the end of recess. As we walked quickly to class, I added, “Maybe this will be able to stop all of the following around.”

to be continued...

Saved From The Sea #8

Time is short, I need to send my Itzik’l far away from here!

One second! I’m rich! Big! Strong! I’m going to run like a rabbit? No way!

I just had a genius idea! We’ll grab another child in place of Itzik’l. I know just the right person for the job...

TWO HOURS LATER

Titch? Druk? I have a worthwhile deal for you.

What’s up? You came to give us all your money? Usually it’s the other way around... Hahaha.

That big balloon, the rich fatso, came to see us. It’s a holiday today... Fishko, go.

we caught a fat fish today, very fat...

Hahaha,

Hahaha.

Clucluclud

Kupas Rabbeinu Lubavitch

B.H. Sivan, 5784

917-913-6724

P.O.B. 288 Brooklyn, New York 11225

SIVAN 28 - GIMMEL TAMMUZ MAGBIS

To all Anash, Men and Women, G-d bless you.

We are soon approaching the very auspicious day, Gimmel Tammuz. This day comes in close proximity with Sivan 28, the auspicious day that the Rebbe MH"M and the Rebbetzin arrived in the United States.

Obviously, these are very opportune days, when one should again evaluate his or her "Hiskashrus" (connection) with the Rebbe, and more important, to utilize these special days to 'strengthen' the Hiskashrus to the Rebbe.

"KUPAS RABBEINU," was established with the full consent and blessing of the Rebbe, with its purpose and goal to make every effort that all of the Rebbe` s activities, institutions etc. continue unchanged. By supporting Kupas Rabbeinu, one is actually participating in many of the Rebbe's activ-ities, and thus strengthening their Hiskashrus to the Rebbe.

With this in mind, we therefore urge each and everyone of anash, men and women to support Kupas Rabbeinu in every possible way.

In this merit may we be "zoiche" that much before Gimmel Tammuz, the Rebbe will be revealed as Melech Hamoshiach and redeem us from this deep and bitter Golus and lead us all to the true and final Geulo, NOW MAMAOSH.

R’ Yosef Boruch Spielman

On behalf of Kupas Rabbeinu, R’ Samuel Malamud Groner family

P.S. Of course, you may send to Kupas Rabbeinu all contributions that you would send to the Rebbe; all will be devoted to the activities to which the Rebbe would devote them. You may also send Maimad, Keren-Hashono (this year 5784 - 383 days), Vov Tishrei, Yud Gimmel Tishrei Magbis etc. to Kupas Rabbeinu

Important Note: Please make all checks out to “Kupas Rabbeinu” and send only to the following address: Kupas Rabbeinu, P.O.B. 288, Brooklyn, New York 11225 www.kupasrabeinu.org