692 beis moshiach“incense” allude to the difference between an external and an inner offering,...

Beis Moshiach (USPS 012-542) ISSN 1082-0272 is published weekly, except Jewishholidays (only once in April and October) for$160.00 in Crown Heights, Brooklyn and inall other places for $180.00 per year (45issues), by Beis Moshiach, 744 EasternParkway, Brooklyn, NY 11213-3409.Periodicals postage paid at Brooklyn, NY andadditional offices. Postmaster: send addresschanges to Beis Moshiach 744 EasternParkway, Brooklyn, NY 11213-3409.Copyright 2009 by Beis Moshiach, Inc.Beis Moshiach is not responsible for thecontent of the advertisements.

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contents

TO COLLECT WHAT IS ‘OWED’ TO THEJEWISH PEOPLE [CONT.]Moshiach & Geula | Boruch Merkur

37

THE WINDING ROAD TO A SPECIALSHLICHUSProfile | S. Malachi

38

GEULA: THE CHOZEH’S UNWAVERINGVISIONFeature | Yehoshua Kenig

18

BEGINNING WITH THE FINALBLESSINGShlichus | Rabbi Yaakov Shmuelevitz

11

THE S’FIRA THAT DOESN’T END Thought | Rabbi Chaim Ashkenazi13

BREAD AND BUTTER, BUT NOTTOGETHERMemoirs | Rabbi Shneur Zalman Chanin

30

‘IN PAIN SHALL YOU BRING FORTHCHILDREN...’Story | Avrohom Ber

27

THE REBBE’S LETTER AND THEDOCTOR’S DECREEStory | Nosson Avrohom

7

OFFERING THE ESSENCED’var Malchus5

692:Beis Moshiach 27/04/2009 1:15 AM Page 3

In the days of Moshiach, “the world will be filledwith knowledge of G-d, as the waters cover the oceanbed.” At the moment, it may be difficult to conceivehow our perceptions will change in the times ofMoshiach. We must realize, however, that the changewill be only of perspective and priority. Currently, weconnect to G-d volitionally: in thought, speech andaction we attempt to fulfill G-d’s commands. In thetimes of Moshiach, the connection will be innate and

automatic: as a matter of course wewill be aware of and fulfill G-d’sWill, because the mitzvos willexpress not just the relationshipbetween G-d and the Jewish people,but their unified essence.

These are not two approaches toserving G-d, or expressing ourrelationship with him. Rather, thevolitional is an external mode ofservice, while the intuitive is aninternal mode. Now, the externalmode is dominant, except at certaintimes such as Yom Kippur. Now, wefulfill the commandments of theCreator, but as an individual, onewith a separate identity. This is anexterior service, where theindividual and the mitzva – and thusthe One who gave the mitzva –remain separate and apart fromeach other. But there is also aninterior service. Here the mitzva isfulfilled in such a way that theindividual becomes attached to theCreator, adhering to Him so thatthey are like one entity. This will bethe norm in the times of Moshiach.And this is what we experience, inpart, on Yom Kippur.

Further, these two ways ofserving the Creator, of performingthe mitzvos, parallel the two types ofofferings brought in the Temple.The sacrifices parallel the exteriorservice. They were performed onthe outer altar. While they fulfilled aDivine command, they did not unitethe individual with G-d in acomplete union. The other type ofoffering was the incense. This wasbrought on the inner altar andparallels the individual’s innerservice. This offering with“inwardness of the heart” achieveda unity between the Creator and the

Jewish people. This week’s Torah portion illustrates the nature of

the external service, that of sacrifices, and the nature ofthe internal service, that of the incense. The Torahreading begins: “And the Lord spoke unto Moses afterthe death of the two sons of Aaron, when theyapproached the Lord and died.” The word for“approach” also means to “come close” or “draw near.”

This week’s Torah reading describesthe Yom Kippur service in theSanctuary. This anticipates thenatural state of affairs during thetimes of Moshiach. Then the volitional,external mode of service will becomeidentical with the intuitive, internalmode. This also parallels thedifference between the sacrificialoffering and the incense offering.Understanding the difference explainsthe merit of Aaron’s sons, who diedbringing an incense offering withoutbeing commanded to do so. Aaron’ssons felt so unified with G-dliness thatthey automatically offered “incense,”their very essence and being on the altar.

OFFERINGTHE ESSENCETranslated and adapted by Dovid Yisroel Ber Kaufmann

d’var ma lchus - achare i

5BE IS MOSHIACH Issue 692


Their death was connected with an attempt to becomecloser to G-d.

From this perspective, their actions seemadmirable. To actualize their attachment to G-d, theywere willing to abandon this world. Their soulsexpired not because of a sin, but because of a greatdesire to experience G-dliness. And yet the Torah tellsus elsewhere, in the portion of Shmini, that they diedbecause they put incense in their fire pans and offeredan unauthorized fire that G-d had not commandedthem. This description clearly makes their act sinful.Yet here the opening verse, taken by itself, seems todescribe an admirable approach.

So, did they die as transgressors, as a result of a sin,or as tzaddikim, as a result of their great attachment toG-d?

The narrative in Shmini actually supports the latterviewpoint. Moses explains to Aaron, “This is what theLord said, that through those attached to Me I will besanctified.” Since the incident occurred at thededication of the Tabernacle, Moses obviously meansthat their death sanctified the Tabernacle. Their actionof approaching G-d with an “unauthorized fire” mustbe viewed as exemplary, as the catalyst for theTabernacle’s sanctification.

Accordingly, the statement that they offered“unauthorized fire that G-d had not commanded them”is not a criticism of Aaron’s sons, but the highest praise.They went “above and beyond” the limitations of thecommand. They literally devoted themselves to theirdesire for a revelation of G-d.

Thus the Torah emphasizes the type of service theyperformed: it was incense they intended to offer,because incense and their approach to G-d weremutually dependent. The degree of their attachment,manifested in an expiration of the soul, expressed itselfin the offering of incense before G-d. As mentionedabove, the incense altar was placed within the innersanctum of the Tabernacle.

To elaborate: the outer altar had an effect on theexternal part of the person, namely, the thought, speechand action, which are described as the “garments” ofthe soul. Through the sacrifice on that altar, the personcame to a full and proper fulfillment of the mitzvos inthought, speech and action.

But there is a deeper, more primal level of the soul.There, a person’s attachment to G-d comes through arevelation of the innermost aspect of the soul. Such arevelation automatically affects the thought, speech andaction. Rather than observing the mitzvos because G-dcommanded it, one does so naturally, fulfilling G-d’sWill as the intrinsic consequence of revelation. This isthe offering of the incense altar.

Even the Hebrew words for “sacrifice” and“incense” allude to the difference between an externaland an inner offering, which they represent. TheHebrew word for “sacrifice” comes from the root “toapproach,” or “draw close.” Notwithstanding aperson’s closeness to G-d, there still remains anindividual, separate and apart, who performs themitzvos. The word for “incense” comes from the rootfor “attachment” or “conjunction.” At this level, onedoes more than approach G-d through thought, speechand action; one becomes united with G-d in essence.

Aaron’s sons experienced an open revelation of theinnermost aspect of their souls. At such a level, they didnot need to be commanded to fulfill G-d’s Will. Theyfelt so unified with G-dliness that they automaticallyoffered “incense,” their very essence and being on thealtar. Thus, what they offered was not commanded,because all their actions automatically and ofthemselves fulfilled G-d’s Will.

But why did the incense offering and death ofAaron’s sons sanctify the Tabernacle? And what is theconnection between this incident at the beginning of theTorah reading and the priestly service of Yom Kippur,which follows?

As there are two levels of service within the humanbeing, so there are two degrees of Holiness, two ways inwhich the Divine Presence manifests itself. In the firstcase, the Divine Presence occupies the Tabernacle,descending upon the children of Israel but remainingseparate from them. In the second, the Divine Presenceinhabits the Sanctuary, penetrating to the essence of thephysical structure, making even the stones holy. Thefirst, a mere occupation, parallels the external service,the sacrifices. In the second, there is an indwelling thatpenetrates to the very essence, paralleling the internalservice, the incense offering.

Aaron, the high priest, was responsible for thesacrifices and bringing the Divine Presence upon thepeople. His sons went further, revealing the essence anduniting the soul with the Divine Presence.

And this is the nature of the service of Yom Kippur,to so elevate the soul and reveal its essence and unitywith G-dliness, that one’s Divine service occurs as anautomatic consequence of the connection. This innerservice is the highlight and focal point of Yom Kippur:on that day, the Kohen Gadol entered the holy of holiesto perform – an incense offering. Yom Kippur is the dayof atonement because at the level of incense, at the levelof essence, the Jewish people are not a separateexistence from G-d. Thus, there is no ‘place’ for sin norweakness of the Divine connection.

This is the level of every Jew in the days ofMoshiach.

(Based on Likkutei Sichos 32:98-105)

7 Iyar 5769 BBE IS MOSHIACH6



A collection of mashpiim,rabbanim, and askanim participatedrecently in the bar-mitzvacelebration of HaTamim BaruchShneur Nachshon, son of RabbiDavid Nachshon, chairman ofChabad Mobile Centers in EretzHaKodesh. The farbrengen tookplace in the small zal of 770 andcontinued until the wee hours ofthe morning. The elder chassidimin attendance started talking aboutthose glorious and majestic days of

the revelations they were privilegedto see and hear from the Rebbeduring the years of 5751-5752.

Dozens of T’mimim crowdedaround the tables laden with food,enraptured by the fascinatingdiscussion that was developingamong the mashpiim and askanimwho were present at the farbrengen.

Suddenly, the bar-mitzva boy’sfather, Rabbi David Nachshon, puta halt to the flow of words. “It’sforbidden to be ungrateful,” he

said. “We had the privilege that thebirth of our son, who is nowcelebrating his bar-mitzva, wasaccompanied by a whole series ofwondrous answers from the Rebbe,and I promised that on thisoccasion, I would tell about thechain of events that preceded hismiraculous birth.”

Rabbi Nachshon began his storyas those assembled listenedattentively:

story

He stood there astounded in the face ofmy faith in the letters I had received,but I didn’t have much time left toexplain. I heard them paging me overthe loudspeaker, asking that I come tothe room where my wife and themedical staff were waiting. As soon as Ientered, Dr. Yayina approached me andsaid: “Okay, Rabbi, I give up.Apparently your Rebbe really is strongerthan us and the laws of medicine.” Rabbi David Nachshon

THE REBBE�S LETTERAND THE DOCTOR�SDECREEBy Nosson AvrohomTranslated by Michoel Leib Dobry


THE DOCTOR’SFRIGHTENING WORDS

“In a special letter that theRebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, sent tomy father-in-law, Rabbi ZalmanAbelsky, who was complainingabout his hardships in making aliving, the Rebbe wrote that achassid is compared to an animal:the animal provides wool and themilk for the master, while themaster has to make certain that theanimal has adequate food andwater. The Rebbe concluded theletter: ‘And you are connected to myrevered father-in-law, the leader ofthe generation, so you can removeall worry from your heart.’

“I don’t know how much we arechassidim according to thiscomparison, or how much wool andmilk we have brought to the Rebbe,but there’s one thing I do know: theRebbe MH”M makes certain toprovide us our sustenance fromAbove, directing and guiding us,blessing and influencing us beyondnature, every step of the way.

“We have merited that our son,who is now sitting before you, wasborn with the Rebbe’s bracha. TheRebbe said that publicizing miraclesand wonders hastens theRedemption, and the story of hisbirth indeed fits the description of a‘miracle.’

“It began when the doctorsstated that my wife could not haveany more children, as furtherpregnancies would endanger herhealth and her life. While such amatter required an authoritativedecision by rabbis and other expertsin the field, before seeking theiradvice and consultation, I wrote aletter to the Rebbe, presenting themedical diagnoses and requestinghis guidance.

“The answer that we receivedwas amazingly clear. It was mostthrilling to get a response with suchclarity, in virtually the same fashionthat we received answers from theRebbe before Gimmel Tammuz,5754. The page opened to a lettersent to a woman who had informedthe Rebbe that she was expecting,and the Rebbe blessed her that herpregnancy should be completed tofull-term and she should give birthto a healthy child. In the face ofsuch an accurate and appropriateanswer, I couldn’t remainindifferent. I was in Crown Heightsat the time for a visit to BeisChayeinu, and I showed the answerto the neighborhood’s chief rabbi,Rabbi Yehuda Kalman Marlow, ofblessed memory. He, too, wastremendously stunned andimpressed, and said that theaccuracy of the response had lefthim speechless.

“Thus, with the help of AlmightyG-d, we were privileged to learnthat my wife was expecting anotherchild. During the ninth month, wecame to Laniado Hospital inNetanya for a series of tests withDr. Yayina, who had accompaniedmy wife during the entirepregnancy. It turned out that therewere some complications which,stated the doctor, posed a danger tothe health of the child.

“As is customary among doctorsin general, Dr. Yayina didn’t leaveout any details in describing herdiagnosis, stating that based on

8 7 Iyar 5769 BBE IS MOSHIACH



what she had seen, the child’skidneys were three times larger thannormal for a fetus of this size. Therewere also other problematic testresults, requiring that the childundergo a life-saving operationimmediately after his birth. Sherequested that we return for asecond appointment. She wouldconsult with other expert physiciansto get their professional opinion ofthe test findings in the meantime.

“Her words caused us to becomea bit nervous, but I constantlyenvisioned the Rebbe’s letter beforeme.

“On the Thursday of that week,we came in again for anothermedical check-up. Dr. Yayina waswaiting in the examination roomwith other doctors, who haddetermined that based on the initialfindings, the child should bedelivered via Caesarean sectionshortly before her due date. Whenthe doctor informed me of thisdecision, I protested that the Rebbehad written to me explicitly that shewill complete the days of herpregnancy, so the doctor’s adviceconstituted a direct contradiction tothe words of the leader of thegeneration. My reply elicited acombination of pity and puzzlement.

“When the doctor recoveredslightly from her surprise, she said,‘I don’t know what the Rebbe says;I am a doctor, and it is my duty toestablish things only from a medicalpoint of view.’ She softened hertone a bit as she continued, ‘Yourwife is already in the ninth month ofher pregnancy, which means thatshe has completed the time of herpregnancy, because it is natural forwomen to give birth already at thistime.’ I explained to her that whenthe Rebbe blesses a woman that sheshould merit to complete the days ofher pregnancy, it means that thewoman will give birth at the time setby Heaven, without any medicalinterference.

“The doctor remained steadfastin her belief that it would be farpreferable to do the operation asquickly as possible, since delayingwould risk unexpectedcomplications. Since she knew thatwe had small children, shesuggested that we should go hometo them for Shabbos, and thenreturn to the ward again on Sunday,when they would conduct more testsand bring her into the operatingroom.

“While it seemed quite apparentthat her words were in directcontrast to the clear statement ofthe Rebbe, nevertheless, she arguedthat the situation left no room forany alternative.

“LISTEN RABBI,I GIVE UP”

“We went straight from thehospital to the home of my friend,R’ Avi Taub. I found myself facedwith a complicated dilemma, as thewords of the doctor didn’t seem toleave room for any alternative.

“Upon entering Rabbi Taub’shome, I didn’t lose any valuabletime. I immediately made all thenecessary preparations and satdown to write another letter to theRebbe, laying out the situation andasking what we should do. Thistime as well, the Rebbe’s reply wasquite clear. I felt that the Rebbe wasgiving his ‘support and backing’ tothis pregnancy. It was very excitingto see how clear the answers were.The Rebbe wrote: ‘In regard to whathe wrote to me about their visit tothe doctor, who made them feelrather low, there is known thesaying of the Tzemach Tzedek thata doctor is given permission to heal,and if they hold by the words, theywill see that the words of theaforementioned are false.’

“I was stunned andoverwhelmed. Who needs a cleareranswer than that?!

“Since we still have to make the

physical ‘vessels’ in this world, weappeared at the ward on Sundaymorning, filled with trust in thewords of the Rebbe. Four otherdoctors entered the room in orderto establish a clear medicaldiagnosis. While I waited outside inthe hallway, curious to see whatwould happen, I made theacquaintance of a Sanzer chassidwhose wife works in the hospital.After a few minutes of pleasantconversation, I told him about theRebbe’s answers and how I wascertain the doctor’s diagnosis wouldprove to be incorrect.

“He stood there astounded inthe face of my faith in the amazingletters I had received, but I didn’thave much time to explain to himthe deep meaning of ‘Rebbe,’ ‘leaderof the generation,’ etc. I heard thempaging me over the loudspeaker,asking that I come to the roomwhere my wife and the medical staffwere waiting. As soon as I entered,Dr. Yayina approached me and said:‘Okay, Rabbi, I give up! Apparentlyyour Rebbe really is stronger thanus and the laws of medicine.’

“What happened?” I asked.“She told me that the

examination they conductedsuddenly showed good results.There was no sign of what they hadseen in the previous test. Thekidneys and all other things that hadappeared abnormal just a few daysearlier had returned to their naturalsize. She was stunned, and herfacial expression showed that she

In the face of suchan accurate andappropriateanswer, I couldn’tremainindifferent.


was totally in awe. Even the Sanzerchassid who had waited outside withme was very moved and excitedabout the test results, and has sinceshared this remarkable story withnumerous people. The doctor toldme that with such good results, wecan go back home and wait for thebirth in its proper time.

“These were special days; weknew we had seen G-dliness withour very eyes. We felt how theRebbe was leading us along the wayand was taking full responsibility forthe handling of the pregnancy.

“A few weeks passed, and mywife was ready to give birth. It wasthe day before Zayin Adar, thebirthday of Moshe Rabbeinu a”h. Atthe time, I was in B’nei Brak withmy friend and fellow shliach, RabbiAlter Betzalel Kupchik. Iimmediately called Dr. Yayina andasked if she could be there for thedelivery. She, too, was in the midstof her own personal commitments –getting ready to go out to a bar-mitzva, to be precise. Nevertheless,she quickly changed her plans andmade her way to the delivery room.

“I changed my plans as well, andheaded straight for LaniadoHospital. My wife was already there,and late on the night of MotzaeiZayin Adar, the baby was born –our son, who is now celebrating hisbar-mitzva. Dr. Yayina called meover, wished me a hearty ‘MazelTov,’ and informed me that we hada new son. The doctors still werenot completely confident, and theyrequested that we come back withthe baby a few days after his releasefor a series of medical scans, inorder to make certain thateverything was in proper order withno health problems.

“We arrived at the appointedtime, and after a battery of tests, thedoctors informed us that all wasperfectly fine, and the baby hadbeen born healthy and strong.

NEW CHILDRENWITH OLD NAMES

“After seeing such miracles andwonders,” continued RabbiNachshon, “I said to myself that thisis the Rebbe’s child, and I must givehim a name connected with theRebbe’s family. By the way, whenone an older son, Levi Yitzchok,was born, I wrote to the Rebbe thatsince we already had named a sonafter the Rebbe Rayatz, I wasrequesting permission to name thatnewborn son ‘Levi Yitzchak,’ afterthe Rebbe’s father. The Rebbe wroteon the note that I had submitted,‘And the matter is correct,’ addingthe word ‘Shlita.’

“As I tell this, I also recallsomething in connection with thenaming of our daughter, who wasborn in 5751. I had a very strongdesire to name her after theRebbetzin Chaya Mushka, ofblessed memory; however, mymother’s name was ‘Chaya.’ Iturned to Rabbi Binyomin Kleinwith a request that he ask theRebbe if this would pose a problem.When he presented my inquiry, theRebbe replied, ‘Nu…,’ as if he weresurprised. When Rabbi Klein askedthe question a second time, theRebbe again said ‘Nu…,’ adding‘long life and good years.’ Weunderstood that there was noreason to hold back, and we gaveour daughter the name ‘ChayaMushka,’ and got a bracha for mymother to boot. I quickly called mymother and told her about themarvelous bracha for long life thatshe had just merited to receive fromthe Rebbe.

“Now with our newest son,today’s bar mitzva bachur, bornafter such a long chain of miracles,we were unsure of which name togive him. I was considering each ofthe Rebbe’s grandfathers: ‘MeirShlomo’ and ‘Baruch Shneur,’ but Iwasn’t certain which one would bepreferable. As always, I sat down

and laid out the question before theRebbe in writing, requesting that heprovide me with clear guidance,similar to what I received prior tothe baby’s birth.

“Indeed, the response was quiteastounding and also aroused muchwonderment. I immediately saw thewords ‘Beginning with the wordsL’Admur HaZakein.’ I quicklydeduced that the one that served asthe beginning to the Alter Rebbewas his father, Rabbi Baruch. WhileI was excited by this answer,nevertheless, I still wanted a muchclearer one.

“Thus, I found myself on the daybefore my son’s bris sitting andwriting another letter. I wrote that Iunderstood that the Rebbe wasdefinitely referring to ‘Shneur,’ butregarding ‘Baruch,’ the answer wasnot as clear as I used to receive inthe past. The answer I received waspositively electrifying. My heart wasengulfed by feelings of intenseemotion. This is perhaps the onlyletter in all the volumes of ‘IgrosKodesh’ where the Rebbe writes onthis subject.

“The Rebbe writes: ‘Regardingwhat he writes about the father ofour family, Rabbi Baruch, the fatherof the Alter Rebbe, known of greatquality,’ and the Rebbe proceeds todetail the entire range of hisqualities…

“I will never forget how thrilled Iwas by this clear response, as Isimply burst into emotional sobsand found it difficult to calm myself.

“In addition to this clear answer,I saw an allusion to the fact that themany brachos we had received werein connection to the renovationsthat I was making together with myfriend, Rabbi Avi Taub, at thegravesites of the Rebbeim and othertzaddikim in the Rebbe’s family,including the gravesite of RabbiBaruch, the father of the AlterRebbe.”



Surely many people rememberhow, when the Rebbe bentched, hedid so from a Siddur, whether theBirkas HaMazon or Al HaMichya.Those of us who merited to bepresent at farbrengens on MotzaeiRosh HaShana and Yom Tov, stillhave the words at the ends of thebrachos, which the Rebbeenunciated out loud, reverberating inour ears. The following are stories ofshlichus related to bentching.

THE BIRKAS HA’MAZON THAT CAME BY FAX

Rabbi Ben-Tzion Grossman ofMigdal HaEmek told about awoman who became frum thanks to

the Mivtza Neshek of my wife andsome other Lubavitcher women ofBeit Shaan. People who don’tregularly do Mivtza Neshek mightmistakenly think that these are one-time encounters, but the truth is thatover the years, connections havebeen made with hundreds andthousands of women. Some of themcome to the stand every Friday inorder to meet the Rebbe’s shluchosagain and to strengthen theirconnection with them. They hearsomething from the “Rabbanit” andreceive candles. This connectionmay be their only one with Judaism.

A young woman, a security guardby profession, encountered mitzvaobservance for the first time thanks

to Mivtza Neshek. Every week sheheard new things and committed toanother mitzva. At some point, mywife explained to her aboutbentching. The woman got a Siddurand was careful to say the brachaafter every meal.

One day she called the Rebbetzinwith a real problem. That day shewas sent to guard a branch ofBituach Leumi (National Insurance)in Natzrat (not Natzrat Illit, which isa Jewish city, but Natzrat Tachtit,which is populated by Arabs). It wasbreakfast time but the womancouldn’t eat the sandwich she hadprepared because she didn’t have herSiddur for bentching and there wasno Jew around from whom toborrow one.

At first my wife suggested thatshe start eating and when shefinished, she would read thebentching over the phone to her.This, however, would be impossiblewhile she was on duty. Therefore, R’Grossman called the shliach inNatzrat Ilit, Rabbi ShimshonHalperin, and asked whether hecould bring a Siddur or a bentcherto the Bituach Leumi branch officein the nearby city since the womancouldn’t start eating without it.

R’ Halperin came up with aresourceful idea. He asked whetherthe branch office had a fax machineand when he was told that it did, hesent the bentching by fax, enablingthe woman to finally eat her mealand then bentch.

sh l i chus

BEGINNING WITHTHE FINAL BLESSINGBy Rabbi Yaakov Shmuelevitz, Shliach, Beit Shaan



R’ Grossman concludes the storyby saying, “I wish that I said thebentching every day with the samedevotion as that woman. She wasabsolutely thrilled with oursolution.”

BIRKAS HA’MAZON IN WRITING

I once heard a story about twobachurim from Tomchei T’mimimwho spent a few weeks on shlichussomewhere in the US. During thecourse of their work they joined ashliach and even traveled with himto a few small towns in order to lookfor Jews.

At one point, they stopped on theside of the road and took out theirsandwiches so they would have thestrength to go on. When theyfinished eating, the two bachurimbegan bentching.

They noticed that the shliach hadtaken out a pen and paper and wasbusy writing. At first they didn’twant to be nosy, but when he kepton writing they finally politely askedhim what he was doing when theyneeded to bentch and be on theirway.

The shliach told them that a fewyears earlier he had had yechiduswith the Rebbe and the Rebbe toldhim that it was preferable to bentchfrom a Siddur. “Since then,” saidthe shliach, “I have always beencareful to do so. Since somehownone of us remembered to bring a

Siddur, I am writing out thebentching so that I will be able tobentch from the text.”

SINGING IT TOGETHERHere in Beit Shaan, at the family

Shabbos meals, we have alongstanding practice (for thebenefit of the little children) ofbentching aloud together, with atune. When we’re finished, wecontinue using the same tune andsay, “Devorah Leah all thebentchers, Sholom Ber all theglasses, Chaya Mushka all thesilverware, Blumi and Rivky all theplates, Shneur and Mendy pick upthe garbage, Tatty and Mommy… goto sleep.”

Over the years, many of theguests who have eaten with us in thepast have since told us that theyhave adopted our practice with theirown families and they sing thebentching out loud, together.

BIRKAS HA’MAZONBEFORE EATING

I heard the following story froma fellow shliach who wishes toremain anonymous.

A family well-known in Chabadmade its first steps towards Jewishpractice thanks to their young son.

For the sake of convenience, theyregistered him in a religiouspreschool. In school he learned tosing some lines of the bentching. Hisparents, who did not want to cause

conflict, agreed to sing it at hometogether with him. For some reasonthey didn’t know exactly when tosing this song and for a long timethey would always sing it beforeeating.

One thing led to another untileventually, the family began learningTorah and became religious. Todayall the members of the family areobservant and even Chassidic – allthanks to some lines from the BirkasHaMazon.

BIRKAS HA’MAZON –SEGULA FOR PARNASSA

A mekurav to a Chabad housewas experiencing financial problems.He remembered that he had onceheard from the shliach in his town,quoting the Rebbe, about somesegula for parnasa, but he couldn’tremember what it was.

He went to the shliach to ask himwhat the segula was. As he waited atthe shliach’s house, he overheard theshliach speaking on the phone. Inthe course of his conversation, theshliach mentioned that a segula forparnasa is to say the bentching froma Siddur, word by word.

The shliach concluded his phonecall and turned his attention to hisguest to be told, “Thank you, I havemy answer.” When the mekurav gothome, his wife related that she haddreamed that the Rebbe told her thatbentching from a Siddur is a segulafor parnasa.


www.MoshiachForKids.comCheck i t out!! Educational and Fun!!


WHY DO WE COUNT?Among the stories commonly

recounted at Chassidishefarbrengens is the one about theChassid who was busy Erev YomKippur raising money to redeemcaptives. In order to make up theenormous sum, he agreed to a dealproposed by some gadabouts inwhich he would drink copiousamounts of vodka in exchange forthe money they would make in theircard game.

He was successful in freeing theJewish prisoner before Yom Kippurbut he then spent most of the holyday asleep. When he woke upseveral hours later and saw everyonegathered in shul, he stood up andbegan singing “Ata Horeisa” with thetraditional Simchas Torah niggun.

The shocked worshippers wanted

to throw him out of shul, but theywere stopped by Reb Levi Yitzchokof Berditchev. “With the great deedhe did with mesirus nefesh,” heexplained, “this man accomplishedall the avoda of Yom Kippur andSukkos and he is now alreadyholding by Simchas Torah.”

There is another story which alsoillustrates such a jump in avodasHashem. A bachur came toLubavitch before Pesach and,meeting all the requirements of aTamim as far as learning went, hewas accepted into yeshivas TomcheiT’mimim. Nevertheless, the RebbeRashab saw a lack of refinement onhis face. He instructed the RebbeRayatz to assign the most difficultphysical labor in the Pesachpreparations to this bachur,including bedikas chametz in severalbuildings, in addition to learning a

maamer Chassidus by heart. Thepurpose of this was for the “sweat ofa mitzva” to refine his coarsenessand uncover his inner refinement.

When the Rebbe Rashab saw thistalmid Pesach night, he was verypleased to see that his face hadbecome more eidel and refined.Similar to the first story, the jobs hecarried out accomplished in only twodays the work of “and you shallcount for you” of S’firas HaOmer.By Pesach he was therefore alreadyon the level of receiving the Torahon Shavuos.

Many questions are asked aboutthe purpose of the 49 days: Whywere we given these days? What isaccomplished by our counting theOmer? How do we accomplish thegoal? Obviously, just by taking aminute a day to count we can’t beaccomplishing the purpose of this

Many questions are asked about thepurpose of the 49 days: Why were wegiven these days? What is accomplishedby our counting the Omer? How do weaccomplish the goal? * 49 days is justnot enough, we may need 49 weeks, oreven 49 years to get a hold on theanimal soul and refine it until it shines.* Said at a Chassidishe farbrengen.

THE S�FIRA THATDOESN�T ENDBy Rabbi Chaim Ashkenazi

thought




mitzva.These days are referred to as

yemei ha’s’fira, which means thatthe days, the entire 24 hour periods,are connected with s’fira. How doescounting at night affect the entireday? Why is the counting done inconnection with the Omer sacrifice– s’firas ha’omer – when the korbanOmer was brought on the first dayof Chol HaMoed and that was theend of its connection to this timeperiod?

The first time B’nei Yisroelcounted, when they left Egypt, theywere counting the days until thegiving of the Torah. Would it nottherefore be appropriate to call thesedays, “Yemei HaS’fira L’MattanTorah,” rather than “S’firasHaOmer?”

Why, in fact, was the word“s’fira” chosen out of all the wordsfor counting, especially when wedon’t count the omer but the days!

The period of time in which wecount the omer is also significant.We start counting the omer not fromthe day of, but from the day after weleft Egypt, and there must besomething we can learn from this.

LIGHT AND GLOWBaruch Hashem, we have

Chassidus which answers ourquestions and enables us tounderstand what the avoda of thesedays is.

The Alter Rebbe tells us that themitzva to count, “u’s’fartem lachem– count for yourselves” is from theroot even sapir – a sapphire stone, astone that shines, and the mitzva isto illuminate the “lachem.” Anotherexplanation is that the word“u’s’fartem” alludes to the ten s’firoswhich illuminate for us. So the inyanof counting the omer is to increasethe light and glow until a personshines like a sapphire.

Imagine for a moment what itwould be like if Hashem created aJew with only a G-dly soul. Our

neshama would shine full-forcebecause the body wouldn’t obscureit. This was the level of MosheRabbeinu. When he was born thehouse was full of light, because hisbody was solely a vehicle for theneshama.

This is why, when an Egyptiannursemaid was brought, Moshe didnot nurse from her. As a baby, hecould not possibly have had therational understanding not to do so.His refraining to nurse from a non-Jew was automatic, similar to theinstinctive reaction of a person (andeven an animal) to keep away fromfire.

If we had only a G-dly soul, itwouldn’t be necessary for us tostudy what is permissible andforbidden according to Torah. Theneshama immediately senses thatwhat is forbidden is klipa, poison,and it won’t go near it.

This is true of tzaddikim ingeneral, as it says, “lo y’unehl’tzaddik kol aven” (no sin willinadvertently befall the righteous),that even when a tzaddik doesn’tknow that something is forbidden(for example, if he was served non-kosher food by mistake), he eitherwill not see it or he will know toavoid it.

This is what is meant when itsays that the house filled with lightwhen Moshe was born. The light ofhis neshama was not obscured by hisbody. When only the G-dly soul ispresent, anything that doesn’tpertain to holiness is in effect non-existent and therefore has no impact.If we were created this way, wewould study Torah to connect toHashem but not in order to knowwhat is permitted and forbidden.

On the other hand, if Hashemcreated us with only an animal soul,learning what is permitted orforbidden wouldn’t help sincenothing would stop us. That whichis forbidden doesn’t disturb theanimal soul. It doesn’t consider klipa

and impurity to be poison; on thecontrary, it lives off them.

THE LOST ONES WILLCOME FROM ASHURIt is for this reason that we are

created with both a G-dly and ananimal soul. Hashem places theG-dly soul within the animal souland puts them both into the body inthis world and thereby, the radianceof the neshama is dimmed. If aperson is immersed in the pleasuresof this world, he adds more andmore layers over the neshama, asthe Alter Rebbe describes in Tanya,“and certainly the [animal soul] isstrengthened over time with eatingand drinking.”

This is when man’s avoda begins.“Better is one hour of t’shuva andgood deeds in this world, than all oflife in the world to come.” The AlterRebbe asks: Why do we needt’shuva? Why doesn’t it say, “Betteris one hour of Torah…”

Furthermore, what is meant by“good deeds?” It should have said,“mitzvos!” The answer is that thesituation in which the neshama istogether with the animal soul withinthe body and in this world is called“aveida” (a loss). What is a loss?When something is not in its properplace. If it’s a wallet, it wassupposed to be in a pocket andinstead, it’s lying in the street. If it’sa farm animal, it was supposed to bein a pen or barn and instead, it’s inthe wilderness. These items need tobe retrieved.

The same is true for theneshama. Instead of being in a statein which G-dliness is self-evident, itsuddenly finds itself incircumstances where it’s not at allobvious that “there is nothing butHim.”

The person discovers all sorts ofinteresting things that attract theeyes and heart and give him physicalpleasure. The degree of attractiondepends on the character of the


BE IS MOSHIACH Issue 692 15

person and his spiritual level. If, assaid before, he has strengthened hisanimal soul over time, then thethings that attract him and give himpleasure will become progressivelymore gross and depraved.

The result is that the neshamafinds itself “lost in the desert” wherethe ideal qualities of Man arenowhere to be found. The versesays, “and the lost ones in the landof Ashur.” Ashur comes from theroot of osher and oneg, referring tothose lost in the pleasures of thisworld. In such a case, it is notenough for man to learn Torah andfulfill mitzvos because if thepleasures remain as they are, thespiritual “loss” will not be retrieved.

What is necessary is t’shuva, achange in thinking, in desire, andeven beyond that, in oneg, in theproper direction.

This is like the Chassidic analogyof the kishka, a delicacy of stuffedintestine. It is made by cleaning outthe animal’s intestine and then fillingit with a tasty filling. If the intestineis not cleaned first, then even if themost delectable ingredients are used,the end result will be disgusting.

So too, if there is no t’shuva thenit’s like this person’s avodas Hashemis wrapped in filthy intestine. It isregarding this switch that it says,“Better is one hour in t’shuva” –shaa or hour, according toChassidus, is not the sixty minutehour of a clock. Rather, it has thesame root as we find in the verse,“and He turned to Hevel and hisoffering and did not shaa – turn – toKayin and his gift.”

So we read “better is one hour oft’shuva” as better is one turn in theright direction, towards the place thatthe neshama was always used to – tosee G-dliness and only G-dliness ineverything, in order to extricate theneshama from its “lost” status andbring it to its rightful place.

Similarly, Halacha states that acow that runs towards the fields

outside the city is lost. If the cowturns towards the city it is notconsidered lost.

A complete return is, of course,an extremely high level, but at thevery least, one needs to turn in theright direction. Let’s use the cow asan example. Although it’s not backhome, it turned in the rightdirection, towards the city, soeventually it will return home.

After man turns his back onpleasures of this world and heads inthe right direction, his activities inTorah and mitzvos are deserving ofbeing called “good deeds,” as it says,“Better is an hour of t’shuva and

good deeds.” For a person can learnTorah and do mitzvos even before hecleanses himself of his odiousdesires, but they are not called“good deeds” that shine and sparklelike “precious stones,” as the AlterRebbe calls them in Likkutei Torah.They are like the delicacies that fillthe kishka that hasn’t been cleaned,whose stench is nauseating.

By “one turn of t’shuva” hisdeeds become “good” and shine, hisbody and animal soul and all hisactions in this world are permeatedby G-dliness, and his neshamareturns to the state it was in before it

descended to this world. This iswhat is meant by “u’s’fartemlachem” – to illuminate the “lachem”by cleaning, polishing, and shiningthe animal soul so that it cooperateswith the G-dly soul and togethertheir actions are pleasing toHashem, uncorrupted by the vilestench of worldly lust and pleasures.

EVERY PERSON’SPERSONAL OMER

The animal soul consistsessentially of emotion, wanting whatis best for me, what pleases me,what is understandable to me, whatseems right to me – whateverconcerns me. These emotions can bebroken down into at least 49 sorts of“me,” which is why we have 49 daysto deal with them and elevate them.

This is why these days are called“S’firas HaOmer.” The omer was ameal offering of barley, while allother meal offerings brought in theMikdash consisted of wheat. Barleyis animal fodder and is generally notfitting to be brought on the altar.The purpose in bringing the barleyoffering of the Omer to elevate allanimal souls to be receptive topurification.

We bring animal food and not ananimal because the point is to refinethe animal soul. The coarseness ofthe animal results from its eating (asquoted above in the name of theAlter Rebbe).

S’firas HaOmer refers tobringing light into the animal whicheats the omer (barley). The avoda ofs’fira is to shine the “lachem” – theemotions of the animal soul – bypolishing one aspect every day. Thenwe become ready for Mattan Torah,which is the day we fill the kishka –the body and animal soul – withTorah and mitzvos, in order to unitewith Hashem.

You might wonder – if we leftEgypt already, what is the purposein the avoda of S’firas HaOmer?This point can be illustrated with a

That which isforbidden doesn’tdisturb the animalsoul. It doesn’tconsider klipa andimpurity to bepoison; on thecontrary, it livesoff them.


Chassidic story. A firstborn calf wasborn on a Jewish settlement. Since itwas holy as the firstborn, they werecareful not to let it get blemished.While every animal must have itshide cleaned from time to time toremove dust and dirt, they wereafraid to scrub this calf lest theymake a cut or wound and transgressthe prohibition against making ablemish in kodshim. The animalremained dirty and smelly.

One time, this calf entered aJew’s house and they were unable tochase it out lest they injure it. Thebalabus said to the calf, “Bechor,bechor, you are indeed holy, but yousmell bad!”

Chassidim used this story as ananalogy to talmidim who consideredthemselves above the rest, making itdifficult to get them to improve theirbehavior. Eventually, while they wereholy in their own eyes, their conductgave off a bad smell.

This is the state of a Jew beforecounting the omer. He has theelevated status of G-d’s “firstborn,”but, in the case of some Jews, hemay have lived for years in a coarseenvironment, and he just decided toleave it, i.e. his personal Egypt. Hestarts afresh with t’filla and t’fillin,Torah and other mitzvos, but hisinclinations, thoughts and feelingsare still that of his former lifestyle.To rid himself of this, he needs theavoda of S’firas HaOmer.

For others who were raised in amore pure environment, the sameapplies but at a higher level. Today’shigh ground is tomorrow’slimitation.

GOING OUT OF EGYPTIS NEEDED TO COUNT

THE OMERPerhaps we can say that this is

how a Jew fulfills remembering “theday you left the land of Egypt all thedays of your life.” Chassidusexplains that going out of Egypt is a

condition that exists every day andat every moment in a person’s life.It’s not just about rememberingsomething good that was done forus in the past that we are merelythankful for each day.

Just as when we left Egypt “theSupreme King of kings was revealedto them and redeemed them,”removing them from servitude andelevating them to the stature of freemen, the same thing happens in ourown lives. Hashem removes us fromour place and appoints us as rav,shliach, menahel, teacher, husband,and father.

The Gemara states a principle,

that “even one in charge of thewater-wheel is appointed fromHeaven,” i.e. even a menial job suchas being responsible for distributingwater from the well, is from Heaven.It’s like a “going out of Egypt” inthis particular area for he was givena job from up Above which is aturnabout from his previous status.Previously he was like a slave andwas dominated by strangers andnow he is a free man and he has theability of making decisions.

Similar to going out of Egypt, itcomes from Above, but there is noguarantee that the animal within himwas refined. It is very possible thatall the coarseness that was presentfrom birth or from his upbringing, isstill present. Hashem had His

reasons for choosing him, but thisdoesn’t make him perfect. It merelysays that in Heaven they expect himto exercise his free choice to use hisabilities for this job in the bestpossible way. That says nothingabout his present state and heshouldn’t fool himself into thinkingthat his getting a certain positionproves that on a deeper level he ismore elevated than others.

The story is told of a poor personwho became rich and was given aseat on the eastern wall in shul.People spoke to him and consultedwith him because human nature issuch that people believe that thosewith money have opinions worthlistening to. Then he suddenly losthis money. Naturally, he lost his seatat the eastern wall and with it, theaccompanying honor.

He went home and sadly told hiswife, “Losing my money doesn’tmean I lost my wisdom. How comethey stopped respecting me?”

He thought that if Hashemgranted him wealth and financialsuccess, then he was also wise.Wisdom requires work and withouteffort it is lacking.

The nimshal is clear. We oftenwonder, “So-and-so has such animportant job. How come hebehaves in such a small-mindedmanner, unbefitting for someone ofthat position?” The Alter Rebbestates in Likkutei Torah, in themaamer, “Adam ki yakriv mi’kem,”that “baalei avoda” sometimescomplain that they were inspired intheir avodas Hashem for a while andthen they suddenly lost it.

This is because the “going out ofEgypt” is not enough. There is stillthe work of 49 days of refining todo. Without doing this work, weremain like the Eirev Rav who madetrouble for the Jewish peoplebecause they had not rid themselvesof their negative ways.

When we “remember the day youleft Egypt,” we must recall that

Hashem removesus from our place

and appoints usas rav, shliach,

menahel, teacher,husband, and

father.



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going out of Egypt took just oneday. The change, though, is anavoda that takes much more time.

How do we achieve thisrefinement? In brief, we mustexamine our situation with acombination of both bitterness aboutit intermingled with happiness atbeing able to recognize the truth.After that, we need to set clearboundaries with red lines thatcannot be crossed and to acceptthese boundaries with kabbalas oland iskafia.

The main thing is to add lots andlots of light to counter the darknesswe absorbed. In areas that are foundwanting in our cheshbon ha’nefesh,we need to increase in light andholiness in thought, speech andaction, while beseeching Hashem int’filla for success in all this. In thisway, we will emerge from the daysof the Omer more refined and readyfor Mattan Torah.

Understanding this inner journeyis important for everyone so that wedo not become downcast when wefeel an undesirable longing, jealousy

or pride etc, after it seemed that wewere weaned of it. For example, ayeshiva bachur who is inspired by afarbrengen or by something he heardor learned, who then reverts back tohis old ways, might wonder – what’sgoing on here? Where am I reallyat? Is my true self revealed now orin the moment of inspiration? HaveI fallen from my previous state?

The answer is that just as thespiritual inspiration was not afigment of his imagination, so too,the appearance of negative thoughtsand emotions are not a “fall.” Theinspiration was like a “going out ofEgypt,” after which avoda is needed,S’firas HaOmer, illuminating theanimal soul.

Incidents like those described atthe beginning, of the Chassidcollecting money for pidyon shvuyimwho reached the level of SimchasTorah in just a few hours or thebachur in Tomchei T’mimim whorefined his animal soul in two orthree days of hard labor, are rare.We need 49 days, and sometimes 49weeks or perhaps even 49 years, in

order to attain control over theanimal soul and to refine it until itshines.

Today, in the seventh generation,we don’t have time for such a slowavoda. The Moshe Rabbeinu of ourgeneration told us that we are goingout of galus and receiving the Torah,“the new Torah which will go forthfrom Me.” He emphasized, “Hinei,hinei Moshiach ba” – not in another49 days but right now. We have tohurry up. We need to clean all thejunk away, flee from it and not lookin its direction any longer.

Just as that bachur in Lubavitchwas successful, with the ko’ach ofthe Rebbe Rashab, to make aspiritual leap and illuminate his mindand heart in such a short time, wetoo can be confident that the RebbeMH”M will lead us on the paths ofour personal S’firas HaOmer in thequickest way, so that we merit toreceive the hidden light of the Torahof Moshiach even before Shavuos.May we be a pure receptacle tocontain the G-dly light.

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Eastern Poland in the year 1744:Rabbi Yaakov Koppel of Lukov, thegrandfather of the Chozeh of Lublin,was widely praised as a generousphilanthropist whose home was opento all.

As he traveled, he would inviteany Jew he met onto his wagon.Sometimes, when the wagon wasfull, R’ Yaakov himself would getdown and walk alongside the wagonwith the reins in his hands.

It was a Thursday and R’ Yaakovset out to buy what he needed forShabbos. He noticed a pauperwalking by and offered him a ride.To his surprise, the man shrugged inrefusal. R’ Yaakov tried to persuadehim but the man continued todecline the offer. “It’s better for meto walk,” he said. When R’ Yaakovkept urging him to ride in hiswagon, the man impudently said,“Yes, I’m tired, but I won’t go onyour wagon. I know you baaleitz’daka. You run after mitzvos justto earn a share in the world to come.I’m not interested in helping youwith that.”

Hearing this, R’ Koppel’s face litup and he said, “I’ll make a dealwith you. You come up into thewagon and I’ll give you the rewardfor this mitzva as a gift.”

The poor man wasn’t satisfieduntil they had sealed the deal with ahandshake.

The fascinating life story of RabbiYaakov Yitzchok Horowitz, theChozeh of Lublin, one of the greatAdmurim of Poland. His talmidimrelate that he possessed a spark ofMoshiach, and the Sh’china spokefrom his mouth. So eagerly did heawait the Geula, that each night, hewould instruct his shamash that if heheard Moshiach, he should wake himimmediately. His 120 talmidim,giants of the spirit, illuminatedPoland with the light of Chassidusand yearning for Geula. Part of aseries on G’dolei Yisroel anticipatingthe Geula.

feature


GEULA: THECHOZEH�SUNWAVERINGVISIONBy Yehoshua Kenig


A GRANDSONWHO WILL ILUMINATE

THE WORLDThe odd fellow climbed up into

the wagon and then he fixed hisgaze on R’ Yaakov and said, “Youshould know that it was decreed inthe Heavenly court that you had toleave this world. When this verdictwas declared, groups of angels thathad been created by your acts ofkindness rose in protest. ‘It says inYour Torah, ‘and tz’daka savesfrom death,’’ they contended. ‘R’Koppel of Lukov is constantlyinvolved in acts of tz’daka! Whyshould he die before marrying offhis youngest daughter?’

“Satan immediately retorted,‘The wise one [King Shlomo] didnot mean people like him. Thesepeople do chesed for themselves,in order to gain the respect ofpeople and to earn a share in theWorld to Come.

“In the end, the Heavenly courtgave me permission to go downand test you. You passed the testand earned another 25 years. Youwill attend not only the chuppa ofyour youngest daughter Meitel, butalso the chuppa of the son she willhave, who will illuminate the worldwith his Torah and his holiness.”

Upon saying this, the Angel ofDeath disappeared. R’ Koppel keptthis terrifying experience to

himself until a few hours before hispassing, on Purim 1769, when herevealed it to those close to him.

FIRST STEPSThat same year, a suitable

chassan was found for hisdaughter Meitel, R’ AvrohomEliezer Horowitz. R’ Yaakovpromised him fifteen years ofsupport at his table but on thiscondition – “If your first child is ason, I want a prominent role in hischinuch.”

Indeed, the couple had a son ayear later and he was namedYaakov Yitzchok. The happygrandfather put great efforts intohis chinuch. As a child, YaakovYitzchok showed promise ofgreatness. At the age of three heknew nearly all the prayers byheart. When he began learningGemara he stood out among hispeers as an outstanding student.He later related that when he wasa child he considered writing acommentary on the Order ofKodshim!

The young lad continued tomake tremendous strides in hisTorah study. At first he studied inthe yeshiva of R’ M.Z.H. Meizlish,the rav of Zolkeva, and then heattended the Chassidic yeshiva ofR’ Shmelka of Nikolsberg.

THE LIGHT OF CHASSIDUS

According to some traditions itwas R’ Shmelka who brought his topstudent to the Maggid of Mezritch.It was R’ Shmelka’s practice to takehis special pupils with him to hismaster. This is how R’ Moshe Leibof Sassov, the Kozhnitzer Maggidand others ended up in the Maggid’scourt. According to anothertradition, it was R’ Zushe of Anipoliwho brought him to the Maggid, ashe would do whenever heencountered lofty souls in the courseof his wanderings.

One incident undoubtedlyinfluenced R’ Yaakov Yitzchok andconvinced him that he still hadn’tfound his path in the service ofHashem. The Admur Yechiel Chaimof Apt related:

In the tzaddik of Lublin’s youth,on the day he completed all of Shaswith the poskim, he was feeling inan elevated mood and he wentstrolling in the fields thatsurrounded the city. He encountereda maskil, a modern “enlightened”Jew who said mockingly, “I alsofinished Shas and poskim like you,but now I’ve graduated to become astudent who studies the wisdom ofthe world. You should do the same.”

This shook him up and hewalked to the shul in a storm ofemotion. How could a person whohad learned so much Torah


An aerial view of Lublin



deteriorate to such an extent? R’Yaakov Yitzchok poured out hisheart before the Aron Kodesh andsuddenly he beheld a vision of hisfather. “Do not fear!” his fatherinstructed him. “Go to Rovna, whereyou will find the truth.”

R’ Dovber, the Maggid ofMezritch, was then serving asmaggid in Rovna. When R’ YaakovYitzchok arrived there, he wasdevastated to hear that the Maggidwas mortally ill. He went to themikva immediately and then stood

and prayed for the Maggid.At that moment, the atmosphere

in the Maggid’s home changed andthe tzaddik showed signs ofrecovery. R’ Yaakov Yitzchok, whohad thrown himself into prayerbefore resting from the rigors of thejourney, fainted on the steps of themikva. The Maggid sensed this andtold his disciples: “Hurry to themikva and save a Jewish soul!” R’Yaakov Yitzchok’s life was saved atthe last minute.

“BEN-DOVID WILL NOTCOME UNTIL THETEACHINGS OF R’

ZALMAN AREPUBLICIZED”

On the first Erev Shabbosfollowing his arrival at the Maggid,R’ Yaakov Yitzchok went to thekitchen, took a piece of fish andsalted it well. When he was askedabout this he explained, “I amaccustomed to salt the fish that I willeat on Shabbos.”

This aroused the surprise of theholy brotherhood. The fish he hadsalted would be cooking in the potwith all the other pieces of fish. Howdid this stranger know that thisparticular fish would end up as hisportion?

R’ Shneur Zalman, who laterbecame famous as the Baal HaTanyaand was the dear talmid of theMaggid, took a thread and tied it onthe piece of fish and waited to seehow things would turn out.

At the meal, the shamash servedthe fish to the disciples. The fishwith the thread was served to thetalmid who sat next to the newyoung man. That talmid, however,was feeling ill and he couldn’t eat.He moved his plate aside, towardsthe person sitting next to him... noneother than R’ Yaakov Yitzchok. Thepiece of fish with the thread was his!

A warm relationship developedbetween the Chozeh and the AlterRebbe. A talmid of the Chozeh, R’Aharon Moshe of Brod, would urgehis mekuravim to have set times tostudy the teachings of the AlterRebbe and he explained this with thefollowing incident:

R’ Aharon would occasionallylook into the Tanya, but he madesure to do so privately, since he wasafraid that his Rebbe wouldn’t bepleased. One time, as he wasimmersed in study, the door openedand in walked the Chozeh.

The startled talmid was even

THE CLOCK THAT ANNOUNCED THE GEULAAfter the Chozeh’s passing, his three sons divided his holy

belongings. His son, R’ Yosef of Turtchin, received his father’s silkShabbos clothing and a wall clock that had hung in his room.

When the Shiva was over, R’ Yosef took his precious bundle and setoff for Turtchin. The skies suddenly clouded over and it began to pour.He hurriedly took shelter in a Jewish inn and hoped the rain would stopso he could continue his journey, since he was traveling without anymoney. The rain did not relent and he had to remain at the inn until thenext day.

When the skies finally cleared, R’ Yosef did not know what to dosince he did not have any money to pay for his stay at the inn. He hadno choice but to ask the innkeeper which of his belongings he wouldlike. The man consulted with his wife. He was impressed by the silkgarments, but the clock was a rare item in those days and was apractical addition to their house. “With the clock we will be able tohave a set time for the milking, morning and evening, and it will begood for us and the cow.”

R’ Yosef went on his way and the clock remained at the inn. Yearswent by and the tzaddik R’ Yisachar Dov of Radoshitz arrived at theinn. In the silence of the night, singing and dancing could be heardfrom the Radoshitzer Rebbe’s room. The innkeeper tossed and turnedin bed, wondering why the tzaddik was so happy.

In the morning he inquired, “Why didn’t you sleep last night andwhat were you so happy about?”

The Rebbe answered with an inquiry of his own. “Please tell me,where did you get the clock that is hanging on the wall in my room?”The innkeeper told him what had happened.

The Radoshitzer Rebbe explained, “When I heard the ticking of theclock I immediately recognized that it belonged to the Chozeh ofLublin. When an ordinary clock ticks, it lets its owner know that he isanother day closer to his death. True, this information urges him to dot’shuva and good deeds, but it is also sad.

“This clock, which belonged to the Chozeh, is different. With everytick it announces that we are that much closer to the Geula. That iswhy I rejoiced all night.”


more surprised when the Chozehtold him that it was a good thing tostudy Tanya. “Ben-Dovid will notcome until the teachings of R’Zalman are publicized,” said theChozeh.

In a letter to R’ Levi Yitzchok ofBerditchev, the Chozeh wrote aboutthe Alter Rebbe: “He sacrificedhimself and his life, constantly, overthe suffering of Jews.”

THE CHOZEHThe Maggid passed away on

Yud-Tes Kislev, 1773, and R’ YaakovYitzchok went back to his teacher,R’ Shmelke, who was the rav ofShiniva at the time. After the passingof his beloved teacher, R’ YaakovYitzchok attached himself to R’Elimelech of Lizhensk, who lovedhim dearly.

R’ Elimelech would send hisbudding young Chassidim to theChozeh to learn how to serveHashem. The Chozeh originallysettled in Lantzet, but following anamazing dream that he had, fromwhich he understood that his Rebbewas upset that he had based himselfin a town so close to Lizhensk, hemoved to Rozvedov.

R’ Elimelech attributed theChozeh’s ruach ha’kodesh and hisamazing vision from one end of theworld to the other to his beingexceedingly careful to preserve thesanctity of his eyes. In his youth, the

Chozeh would cover his eyes with ahandkerchief as he walked in thestreet. This had an adverse effect onhis physical vision, but earned himsuch incredible spiritual vision thathe became known as the Chozeh,“one who sees.”

R’ Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov, whowas one of his disciples, said aboutthe Chozeh: “The differencebetween my Rebbe and the prophetsis only in that he cannot say, ‘koamar Hashem…’”

Indeed, the Chozeh himselfrelated, “I was able to see from oneend of the world to the other, butwhen I observed the tremendouscorruption in the world, I prayedthat this ability be taken away.”

SPARK OF MOSHIACHIN THE HOLY OF HOLIES

In the year 1800, the Chozeh setup court in the heart of the Jewishquarter in Lublin. The city quicklybecame a center of Polish Chassidus,a nucleus of Torah and avoda thatilluminated the entire country withthe light of Chassidus.

Scholars and simple Jews alikeflocked to his court in order to baskin his light and to receive his adviceand guidance. The Chozeh workedenergetically to spread Chassidus inPoland and taught and gaveguidance to many disciples.

His student, the Yid HaKadosh

of Peshischa, explained, “TheChozeh has a spark of Moshiach,and this is why they all travel to seehim.”

R’ Uri of Strelisk said: “Lublin isEretz Yisroel, the courtyard of thebeis midrash is Yerushalayim, thebeis midrash is the Temple Mount,the Chozeh’s apartment is the Ulam,the Azara and the Heichal, his roomis the Holy of Holies and theSh’china speaks from his mouth.”

Out of his large circle oftalmidim, many went on to foundthe Chassidic dynasties of Polandand Galicia, while numerous othersbecame rabbanim throughout thecountry. Among the more renownedof his talmidim were the Yid


“We, too, mournin our heartsover the exile ofthe Sh’china butwe rejoice overthe fact thateven in exile, itdwells amongstus.”

The city of Lublin in the early 19th century



HaKadosh, the Sar Shalom of Belz,R’ Naftali of Ropshitz (whose talmidfounded the dynasty of Tzanz), andR’ Menachem Mendel of Kotzk.

FALSE MOSHIACHBeing the primary disseminator

of Chassidus in Poland, the Chozehsuffered greatly from the misnagdim.One time, some hotheads plotted tomake a mockery of the Chozeh andto shake the faith of his disciples.They took a piece of deer hide andwrote on it: “Yaakov Yitzchok son ofMeitel mashuach (is the anointedone), says Hashem.”

They were sure that when thetzaddik saw the note, he wouldbelieve it had fallen from heaven andwould publicize that he was chosenas Moshiach. They would thenshame him by announcing that itwas they who had written themessage.

One of them managed to sneakinto the house Erev Shabbos andplace the note in the Chozeh’sShabbos clothing. He waitedimpatiently, knowing that theChozeh would check his clothingbefore Shabbos in accordance with

the injunction of the ShulchanAruch, to avoid carrying on Shabbosinadvertently.

The Chozeh reached inside as theMisnaged held his breath. Hescanned the parchment and thensaid aloud, “Hashem’s seal is Truthand since it doesn’t say “emes” here,this parchment is fraudulent.” Heraised his voice and declared,“Sheker, sheker, sheker!”

When the Misnaged who washiding heard the Chozeh’s cry, hefainted. From then on he became anardent Chassid of the Chozeh.

ALWAYS B’SIMCHAThe Chozeh of Lublin eagerly

anticipated the coming of Moshiach.R’ Yisroel of Tomashov related thatthe tzaddik would warn his shamashevery night that if he heardMoshiach he should wake him upimmediately.

Nonetheless, he shied away fromsadness, even from lofty concernslike “the Sh’china in exile.” Hisservice of Hashem was withtremendous simcha, with joy on hisface despite the sadness in his heartover the exile of the Sh’china. Theverse, “and you were tired andweary and did not fear G-d,” heexplained, refers to tiredness andweariness from fasting and afflictingoneself.

R’ Moshe Teitelbaum, theYismach Moshe, originally opposedChassidus and Chassidim. He metthe Chozeh and questioned himabout the Chassidim who did notproperly mourn the churban.

The Chozeh replied: “This isanalogous to a king who was takencaptive and exiled to distant parts.His loyal followers were saddenedand cried, but when he found hisway to the home of one of his loyalsubjects, the host’s face was radiantwith joy as he kept his sadness atbay. We, too, mourn in our heartsover the exile of the Sh’china but werejoice over the fact that even in

exile, it dwells amongst us.”R’ Moshe eventually became his

ardent Chassid and would regularlytravel to Lublin.

CAMPAIGN TO BRINGTHE GEULA

The longing for Geula thatburned in his heart spurred him onto various efforts to hasten it. Firstalone and then in collaboration withother tzaddikim, he attempted timeand again to speed up the process.

The first attempt was made bythe Chozeh alone. He immersedhimself in prayers and special loftyunifications while pleading for theGeula. He was convinced that thetime of Geula was approaching, buthis efforts proved unsuccessful. Heregretfully explained to his disciple,the Yid HaKadosh, that the simplepeople were ready for Geula but the“lofty people” had delayed it, sinceeach one sees himself as a leader.

WITH R’ MENDEL OF RIMANOV

For the Chozeh’s second attemptat hastening the Geula, he includedhis dear friend, R’ MenachemMendel of Rimanov. Together, theydecided to “make unifications” forfive Shabbasos in a row, thusdrawing down the five parts of thesoul that pertain to Moshiach.

However, the plan did not workout. The first Friday night, when R’Mendel sat down at the table withthe Chozeh, he was taken aback atthe sight of Chassidim who spokefreely. At his own table theChassidim sat in trepidation in thepresence of their Rebbe, and R’Mendel could not tolerate ordinarytalk at the Shabbos table. When hechastised the Chassidim of theChozeh, they quieted down andnobody spoke. An atmosphere ofyira prevailed.

The Chozeh’s approach was todiscuss holy matters with his

He regretfullyexplained to hisdisciple, the YidHaKadosh, that

the simple peoplewere ready forGeula but the

“lofty people” haddelayed it, since

each one seeshimself as a

leader.



Chassidim and he asked his friend,“How can you impose fear onJews?”

The next day, when R’ Mendelcame to the table, he removed thecloth covering the challos. TheChozeh, however, maintained thatthe challos should be covered. Theseoccurrences highlighted theirdifferent paths and affected theirjoint efforts.

On the second Shabbos that R’Mendel was in Lublin, he had a highfever and he was unable to attendthe third Shabbos meal. Acceptingthe failure of the plan for fiveconsecutive Shabbasos of yichudim,R’ Mendel returned home the nextday.

When his condition improved assoon as he left Lublin, until hecompletely recovered before hearrived at home, he realized that itwas the Satan who had ruined theirplans. However, the Chozeh did notgive up and continued to think ofhow to hasten the Geula.

THE NAPOLEONIC WARSThe Chozeh came up with his

third attempt during the war

between France and Russia,Napoleon and Alexander. TheKozhnitzer Maggid, the Chozeh ofLublin, and R’ Menachem Mendel ofRimanov considered this war anauspicious time for the Geula inlight of the Gemara that says, “Ifyou see kingdoms sparring with oneanother, anticipate Moshiach.”

These tzaddikim prayed toHashem that Napoleon win the warand that this be the war of Gog andMagog, which would be followed byMoshiach. Indeed, Napoleon’s armywon battle after battle.

The Alter Rebbe, however,disagreed with these tzaddikim. Hemaintained that it would be betterfor the Jewish people if the Russianczar won the war. He said, “On thefirst day of Rosh HaShana, beforeMusaf, they showed me [with ruachha’kodesh] that if Bonaparte wins,wealth will increase in Israel and theJewish people will be uplifted, buttheir hearts will be distanced fromtheir Father in heaven. If Alexanderwins, although poverty will increaseand the Jewish people will bedegraded, their hearts will bond withtheir Father in heaven.

The tzaddikim knew that the

decisive moment when the Heavenlycourt would determine the outcomeof the war would be during theshofar blowing on the upcomingRosh HaShana. The tzaddikim ofPoland deviated from their customto daven at length and rushed toblow the shofar in order to finallysilence the Accuser, but the AlterRebbe preceded them. How? Earlyin the morning, before Shacharis,while the tzaddikim of Poland werestill davening, he took the shofar andblew one hundred blasts. The AlterRebbe thus tilted the scale againstNapoleon.

After Shacharis, when it was timefor the t’kios in the beis midrash ofthe Kozhnitzer Maggid, he felt thatthe battle had already been decided.“The Litvak [referring to the AlterRebbe] preceded us and won,” hedeclared resignedly.

THE FOURTH ATTEMPTNapoleon’s downfall did not

dissuade the tzaddik and he sooncame up with another initiative tohasten the Geula. This time, heincluded other tzaddikim – R’Mordechai of Chernobyl, R’ Isaac of

Jews in Lublin prior to World War II



Kaliv, and his great talmid, the YidHaKadosh – in the hopes that withtheir joint efforts they would besuccessful.

The day they chose to focustheir prayers was the night of theSeder in the year 1813, sinceChazal say, “In Nissan they wereredeemed and in Nissan they will beredeemed.”

Maariv, Yom Tov night, theChozeh davened with wondrousd’veikus, praying with great intensityand with supernal unifications.However, later that evening, duringthe Seder, he sensed that hiscolleagues were not with him in hisyichudim. After Yom Tov he foundout why.

In the home of the YidHaKadosh, the Satan caused a fightbetween his wife and his mother.Instead of being busy with yichudim,he found himself forced to intervenein the quarrel. In the home of R’Mordechai of Chernobyl, theafikoman was lost and it took a longtime to find it. In R’ Isaac’s home inHungary, they said the Hagada inHungarian.

Thus the Chozeh’s fourthattempt to bring the Geula failed.His mesirus nefesh for the Jewishpeople knew no bounds so,

undeterred by these four failedattempts, he prepared to try again.

TZADDIKIM UNITEA few months before Rosh

HaShana, 1814, the Chozeh beganthe necessary preparations. He knewit would be a war in all the worldsand he had to enlist his best forces.Alongside him were his holydisciples, R’ Klonimus Kalman,author of Maor V’Shemesh, and R’Naftali Hertz of Berzhan. R’ Yisroelof Kozhnitz and R’ Mendel ofRimanov would participate fromtheir locations.

The Chozeh saw with his ruachha’kodesh that this wasn’t enoughand he sent an urgent letter to R’Menachem Mendel of Kosov, authorof Ahavas Sholom, to come toLublin and help with the yichudim.However, the Satan interfered onceagain and R’ Mendel remained inKosov, sending his son, R’ Chaim, inhis stead. This was not what theChozeh wanted and he wasdisappointed.

When it came time to blow theshofar, everybody stood in awe andtrepidation. They knew it was afateful moment. The Chozehannounced the t’kios and his talmid,R’ Dovid’l of Lelov, was the baaltokeia.

The tzaddik stood in the beismidrash as his soul went aloft. Thesmall shofar that R’ Dovid’l held hadto arouse the great shofar, the shofarof Moshiach. Surely the Satanwould not sit by idly and would tryto thwart their efforts.

Silence prevailed and thetalmidim trembled. This was a battlewith Satan himself. The Chozehannounced, “Tekia!” R’ Dovid’l drewthe shofar to his lips and tried toblow, but no sound emerged.

The Chozeh announced it againand this time, a clear note sounded.It was a small victory on the way tothe big victory.

GOING OUT OF GALUSWITH SIMCHA

At the meal on Rosh HaShana,the Chozeh said to his talmidim,“The accusations on High are greatbut we think that what was notaccomplished with the sound of theshofar will be achieved with thesimcha of Torah on Simchas Torah,because the power of joy is greaterthan the power of awe.”

A battle took place in Kozhnitztoo. The night of Yom Kippur theMaggid cried out, “Master of theuniverse, please say ‘I forgive you asyou said,’ and hasten the Geula. Lestyou say we lack tzaddikim in theworld, you have R’ Mendele ofRimanov, who is a real tzaddik. Lestthe “Urim V’Tumim” be lacking, wehave the Chozeh who illuminates likethe Urim V’Tumim. Lest you lackbaalei t’shuva, I, Yisroel of Kozhnitz,with my weak body, am ready to dot’shuva for all the Jewish people!”

The Days of Judgment passedand the tzaddikim knew that theyhad to complete the avoda of yirawith the avoda of simcha duringSukkos and Simchas Torah. TheSatan also knew to redouble hisefforts. On Erev Sukkos, the Maggidof Kozhnitz suddenly took ill. Hiscondition worsened from hour tohour.

On his sickbed, he addressed hisson, R’ Moshe Elyakim: “A fewminutes ago, the tzaddik R’ LeviYitzchok of Berditchev appeared tome. I asked him why he did not keephis promise that when he wouldascend to heaven, he would not restuntil he brought an end to the galus.

“R’ Levi Yitzchok replied, ‘Soon,when you are in the World of Truth,you will understand the truth of thematter. An upside-down world willbe shown to you, for what seems likea disaster for the Jewish people inthis world, appears in the World ofTruth as the greatest good.Therefore, it is absolutely forbiddento force the keitz.’”

The tzaddik stoodin the beis

midrash as hissoul went aloft.

The small shofarthat R’ Dovid’l

held had to arousethe great shofar,

the shofar ofMoshiach.


Shortly thereafter, the Maggid ofKozhnitz passed away. Due to thehester panim (concealment), theChozeh did not sense the passing ofhis friend. His Chassidim hid theinformation from him so as not todistress him on Erev Yom Tov.

THE FALLSimchas Torah. The beis midrash

was packed with Chassidim who hadcome to be with the Rebbe. Theydanced and sang and the tzaddikencouraged the crowd, “If we have ahappy Simchas Torah, we will alsohave a happy Tisha B’Av.”

By this he meant that the simchawould bring Moshiach and there

would be no fast day, but timewould reveal that if Simchas Torahwas not sufficiently joyous, then themourning on Tisha B’Av would befar greater.

The simcha in the Chozeh’s beismidrash was at a peak, with theChassidim circling the bima and theChozeh dancing and singing withthem. Song followed song and noneof the Chassidim noticed that theChozeh had left the shul and goneup to his private room to bemiyached yichudim as the tzaddikimhad agreed to do.

At the same time, R’ KlonimusKalman was also involved inyichudim to bring the Geula whilehis chassidim danced and sang.Suddenly, a large stone shattered thewindow of the beis midrash inKrakow, ruining the joy of thecelebrants. In R’ Naftali Hertz’s beismidrash, too, the Satan was up tono good. A mysterious fire brokeout, scattering the congregants.

What happened in Lublin wascalled “the well-known fall,” butnobody knew exactly whathappened.

DO NOT CAST ME AWAYIt was close to midnight when

one of the Chassidim, walking downthe street, heard a groan. When heapproached he was horrified to seehis Rebbe on the ground. His crybrought the Chassidim on the run.

The Chozeh sighed and said,“Why did you hide from me that theKozhnitzer Maggid passed away onErev Sukkos? Had I known, I wouldnot have walked these dangerouspaths alone. The Samech-Memcame to attack me and made me fallout the window.”

The Chassidim were shocked tohear this, knowing that their Rebbe’sroom had only one small, narrowand high up window. R’ Yehuda Leibof Zaklikov, one of the older ones of


Above: The old gravestone onthe grave of the Chozeh.Right: The Ohel on the gravesiteof the Chozeh of Lublin


the group, then recalled what theChozeh’s Rebbe, R’ Elimelech ofLizhensk, had said many yearsbefore. “Know that you have to praymightily: ‘Do not cast us away in oldage.’”

The Chozeh was ill for nine anda half months. His talmid, ProfessorChaim Dovid Bernhard, was adoctor. Despite his best efforts, hisRebbe did not recover. “All theforces of the sitra achara werearrayed against me,” he told thedoctor. Even on his sickbed hemaintained his faith andanticipation. “I await him[Moshiach] every day, that he come”he would keep murmuring.

The Chozeh of Lublin passedaway on Tisha B’Av. He had beenmoser nefesh to bring the Geula.The tens of thousands of hisChassidim felt it an additionalchurban. That year, R’ Mendel ofRimanov, the third member of thegroup, passed away on 19 Iyar.Many people considered the reasonto be the attempts made by the threetzaddikim to force the keitz.


THOUGHTS ABOUT GEULAFROM THE CHOZEH OF LUBLIN

Calculating the Keitz because of Kibbud AvHe said that tzaddikim calculated when Moshiach would come

because they were following the Halacha. The Halacha is that when ason sees that his father is not doing something properly, out of respectfor him he cannot tell his father directly that he is doing somethingwrong. He must show him the Halacha and say: Father, this is what itsays in the Torah.

Since we want to express our opinion to our Father in heaven so Hewill have mercy on His children and redeem them, and it’s not right, asit were, that they suffer the burden of galus anymore, the tzaddikimcome up with a date and show an allusion in a verse of Tanach howMoshiach will come in that year. This is to show our Father in heaven:Father, it says so in the Torah…

Why was Rebbi unable to annul Tisha B’AvThe Gemara relates that Tisha B’Av once fell on Shabbos and Rebbi

(Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi) wanted to cancel the fast of Tisha B’Avaltogether, but the other sages were unwilling.

One can understand this as Rebbi wanted to uproot Tisha B’Avaltogether, in other words, to bring the Geula and cancel the fast ofTisha B’Av completely. The other sages did not agree, that is, they didnot help him since they were not on his level to be able to do somethinglike that.

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“You simply can’t understand it.There’s no chance in the world thatyou’ll be able to understand such athing,” Shimon told me when wemet in his shoe store onManhattan’s Lower East Side.“Anyone who has no children cannever fathom the feelings of amother sitting beside her son’s bedfor close to six months, until thebitter end – a parent who buriesthree of his offspring. Who canimagine what it feels like to come tothe hospital in the ninth month,

time and time again, only to returnhome each time empty-handed r”l.”

We all hear “miracle” stories onthe Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach. Allof us have our own collection ofsuch tales, ready to tell uponrequest. There are stories that havebeen more publicized; others less.Some have already been printed,while others still make the roundsvia word-of-mouth. This story,never previously publicized, is oneof the most amazing stories yet tobe printed. It is an impressive

display of simple faith in Hashemand His agent, the Rebbe shlita,Melech HaMoshiach.

THE MONEY OFCHILLUL SHABBOS –

WAS GONEShimon and Nava (the names

have been changed at their request)are an Israeli couple living in theborough of Queens, New York. Foryears, the trying times they wentthrough were simply too difficult tospeak about, but at last they haveagreed to tell their unique story tothe readers of “Beis Moshiach.”

Shimon and Nava were marriedtwenty-five years ago. They make aliving selling clothes and shoes. Atthat time, Shimon and his fatherowned a store on Jamaica Avenue,which honorably provided thefamily with financial sustenance.The problem was that the store wasopen on Shabbos.

Shimon was then in the processof returning to his Jewish rootsthrough the T’mimim who came tohis store on “mivtzaim”. When heheard about a story where theRebbe personally got involved in amatter of keeping Shabbos in astore owned by Jews, he went to theQueens Chabad House and happilyinformed the shliach, Rabbi ShragaZalmanoff, that he would startobserving Shabbos. He then askedRabbi Zalmanoff to write a letter tothe Rebbe on his behalf, requestinga bracha to find a new location forthe store, where he could keepShabbos.

“A week passed, then another,and then another,” recalledShimon. “I would periodicallycheck with Rabbi Zalmanoff for ananswer, but none was forthcoming.I couldn’t understand why theRebbe wasn’t responding. Doesn’tthe Rebbe want us to keepShabbos?

“One day, about a month after

story

“The doctor came out of the deliveryroom with a solemn expression on hisface that sank my heart. ‘Not again,’ Ithought to myself despairingly.” * Thepreviously untold story about the Rebbewho couldn’t speak and the childrenwho could not be born.

story

�IN PAINSHALL YOUBRING FORTHCHILDREN...�By Avrohom BerTranslated by Michoel Leib Dobry


the writing of the letter, a Gentileof Georgian descent came into thestore and asked us how much wewant to lease him the premises fornine years, which was theremainder of our contract. Wereplied that two hundred thousanddollars would be sufficient. Withouthesitation, he asked to lease thestore. In my wildest imaginations, Inever would have believed that itwould be possible to close such animportant deal so quickly!

“My father told him that sincewe have made an agreement withthe property owner to inform himof any changes that we made, wewould have to let him know first.The owner, who was Jewish, told usthat he agrees to buy out the leaseof the store from us for $200,000,and since we preferred to sell thelease to a Jew, we decided to dealwith him.

“The Gentile came back thefollowing day, and when he heardabout our agreement with theowner, he immediately offered toup the price to a quarter of amillion dollars! Here, we received alittle education from our father, ofblessed memory, as he told him thathe is unwilling to break his word tothe Jew, even for another fiftythousand dollars. The Gentile askedmy father if he had already signed acontract with the owner, and whenhe replied in the negative, a look ofabsolute shock crossed the man’sface. ‘You’re prepared to pass up$50,000 without a contract?’ heasked my father before leaving.

“The contract with the Jewishowner was signed, and we foundour current location in Manhattan.All the merchandise was still left inthe old store on Jamaica Avenue.

“One day, the owner came andasked us to remove all of ourmerchandise, as he needs the placeurgently. We quickly transferred allthe goods to the store inManhattan, although we had not

yet installed a proper alarm systemor adequate locks. We’re talkingabout merchandise valued at morethan eighty thousand dollars!”

When Shimon came to this partof his story, tears welled in his eyesand his voice cracked slightly. “Andthen…and then…one night, thievesbroke into the store and stole all ofour merchandise. It wasn’t enoughthat we had lost fifty thousanddollars by turning down theGentile’s offer, but now we werealso left without any stock. But wewere not dismayed. We realized thatit was Hashem’s plan that thieveshad taken all of the money we hadearned on all those Shabbosim andallowed us to turn a new page in anew location. The store has been

closed on Shabbos ever since.”The tremendous faith of simple

Jews is simply awe-inspiring…

WHAT DOES THE REBBEKNOW ABOUT SUCH

THINGS?After this lengthy introduction,

we now turn to the miracle story,which is the main subject of thisarticle:

As with any young couple aftertheir wedding, when the firstpregnancy comes along, theexcitement is very great. They waitimpatiently to embrace the childthat is soon due to enter the world.Nine months of waiting reach their

climax. Did we say “nine”? Not in this

case.“At the end of the sixth month,

Nava already had to go to thehospital. The baby, a girl, wasborn... but lived for only an hour.You have no idea what it was like. Itwas simply unbearable.

“We returned to our emptyhome and tried to deal with theloss. We are very strong people witha lot of faith, and we are not brokenthat easily. We tried again.

“This time, the pregnancyseemed to go normally. After ninemonths, we found ourselvestraveling once again to the hospital,our lips uttering words of prayerthat things should just go well.

“The doctor came out of thedelivery room with a solemnexpression on his face that sank myheart. ‘Not again,’ I thought tomyself despairingly. The doctorinformed me that I had a baby boy,alive but not that healthy. The joythat the baby was alive made meforget the complications for themoment – a very brief moment. Mywife sat near the baby in thehospital, day and night. For fourharrowing months, she hardly camehome. It’s difficult for me even torecall that horrific time.

“In the physical sense, theprayers didn’t help. After fourmonths, my wife returned homewithout the child.

“This was even harder than theprevious time. I felt that I wasabout to explode. Friends andneighbors looked at me withabsolute pity. I could read theirminds: ‘Look at that poor Jew; he’salready lost two children.’

My wife traveled to the RebbeMH”M and passed by him atSunday dollars. She burst into tearsand asked the Rebbe for a bracha tohave children. She said that shecan’t take it anymore, and shewants a living and healthy child.


“Do youunderstand what

you’re about todo? What does a

rabbi know aboutthis?”



The Rebbe merely observed herwith kindly eyes, but said nothing.

“The third pregnancy was arepeat of the previous ones. Thehopes, the prayers, theexpectations, and the greatdisappointment. My wife waited forsix months at the hospital in LongIsland, and eventually returnedhome alone. The baby was interrednext to his other siblings.

“I had three graves of mychildren. Do you understand whatwe’re talking about?

“From then on, it had alreadybecome a kind of routine. My wifewould become pregnant, go to thehospital... and give birth to a deadfetus. We would go back home, andgnash our teeth, but we remainedunbroken – until the next time.”

Five, yes, five, moreantagonizing times – things endedin bitter frustration.

“My wife wrote many times tothe Rebbe MH”M in request of abracha, yet the Rebbe did notrespond. I don’t know how tointerpret the ways of G-d or why

this Heavenly decree was destinedto fall upon us, but it remained amost painful fact. My wife wouldwrite to the Rebbe, and the Rebbewould not respond.

“In Nava’s ninth pregnancy, thedoctors revealed that she wascarrying twins. This led them todraw two conclusions: First, that itwas imperative for Nava to remainunder observation from the fourthmonth, and second, in light of herprevious history, she must abortone of the fetuses, as giving birth totwins would endanger her life.

“It was 5753, and the Rebbeneither spoke nor responded toletters personally. The new order ofthings was that the secretary wentin and asked the Rebbe MH”M toreply with a nod or a shake of hisholy head.

“Nava wrote to the Rebbe –again. We are believing Jews, whoknow the power of a tzaddik.There’s no such thing as ‘it’simpossible to write to the Rebbe.’

“Two days later, we received acall from the secretary. The Rebbe

had said that she should not go tothe hospital, rather she shouldarrange for a personal attendant tohelp her until the birth. After a fewdays, we received a letter in themail. The Rebbe had sent Navathree dollars, apparently for her andthe twins.”

The doctor at Long IslandJewish Hospital, an observant Jew,opened his eyes in shock at thecouple sitting before him. “Do youunderstand what you’re about todo? Do you understand that you’regoing to kill your wife because ofsome rabbi? What does a rabbiknow about this?”

“Of course, they wouldn’trelease us from the hospital until wesigned a form declaring that weaccept all responsibility for whathappens. Only after we signed didthe doctors agree to release Nava.

“Nu, what do you think?”laughed Shimon happily. “Today, Ihave two teenagers, a son and adaughter, alive and well – and it isall in the merit of the Rebbe,Melech HaMoshiach!”

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It was the end of the summerof 1946 when my parents andsisters entered Camp Hof aftercrossing the border betweenAustria and Germany. I neverheard details from my father abouttheir wandering in Austria andwhich cities or places they campedin. After I began making inquiriesfor this article, and I asked otherpeople who were there what theyremembered, I saw that theyremembered very little.

The first thing they allremember is that they were told tobe absolutely quiet. They alsoremember their fear. Fear of theunknown, fear of the secret police,fear of soldiers, fear of the dark,fear of the long journey and fearof losing the group or laggingbehind.

They all also remember howexhausted they were. Even when

they spent a few days in one place,it was never restful. They werealways living out of suitcases,ready to travel. All the transitcamps they spent time in duringtheir travels looked more or lessthe same. There were longbuildings called barracks. Therewas a large room which hadmilitary folding beds, and that wasit. There were no partitions and noother furniture.

Each family was allotted acorner or a row of beds. They builttables out of their suitcases byputting them one on top of theother, with the bottom suitcaseupright and the one on top of itlying down. Their beds served aschairs on which to sit and eat theirsmall ration of bread, until theywere told it was time to move on.Soldiers or policemen guarded thetransit camps and the refugees

were not allowed to leave them. When they crossed the border

and entered camp Hof in theAmerican zone of Germany, astone rolled off their hearts. Theyknew that they were amongfriends, that the KGB wouldn’t getthem and that the communists hadno ability get them back to Russia,and their fear dissipated.

The camp in Hof was like allthe others. Here, too, they broughtthem into a large room, gave thembunk beds to sleep on and toldthem to wait until they werebrought to a different camp.However, this camp was differentfrom the others that they hadgotten used to, where they hadlimited food, usually bread andwater. In Hof, or as the refugeescalled it, Oifnams Lager (receptioncamp), they were given not onlybread but also… butter. The foodwas sent by the Joint and UNRRAand when the refugees received it,there was nobody happier thanthem.

UNRRA – United NationsRelief and RehabilitationAdministration was founded tohelp refugees and citizens living inAllied countries that had beenliberated in Europe and the FarEast. In Germany, the UNRRAwas under military surveillance

storymemoirs


“You can eat each item by itself. Whenyou eat bread, eat it to satiety. Whenyou eat butter, eat it for your goodhealth. But I cannot understand whyyou have to eat the bread with butteron it!”

BREAD AND BUTTER,BUT NOT TOGETHERReminiscences of R’ Nissan Nemenov a”hBy Rabbi Shneur Zalman Chanin



throughout the country. Militaryauthorities were responsible formaintaining law and order in thedisplaced persons camps,acquiring basic provisions anddistributing it, and providing livingquarters. UNRRA ran the camps,providing health services, relief,entertainment, professionalguidance and supplementaryprovisions.

My father told me:“The first few times that we

received butter from the Joint, aproduct we hadn’t seen in ages,people ate it with a great appetite.We were famished and an item likebutter was rare. Naturally, wewere happy to be able to smear abit of it on the dry bread we weregiven.”

It is important to clarify thatfor Chassidim under thosecircumstances it was permissible,without a doubt, for them to eatthe butter that the Joint providedeven though the butter was fromgentiles. Why? First, because allmitzvos are set aside when there isa chance of danger because it says,regarding mitzvos, “and you shalllive with them.” Since the buttercontained vitamins and was rich inenergy, it supplied them with alittle of what their bodiesdesperately needed.

Second, according to Halacha,butter has a different rule thanother dairy products becausetechnically butter does not need tobe supervised and made out ofchalav Yisroel. In order to

understand the Halacha, we needto understand how butter wasmade then and the differencesnowadays that change its halachicstatus.

In the period of time I amtalking about – and before that, aswell – the cream was skimmed offthe milk, cooled and left forbacteria to curdle it. Then thecurdled cream would be pouredinto a container called a butter-churn, where it was churned for along time or the container wasspun around quickly. Thisseparated the drops of cream thatwere in the milk and theycongealed and formed clumps offat, or butter grains. Salt would beadded to maintain freshness.

Shulchan Aruch paskens (YorehDei’a siman 115) that you don’tstop someone from eating gentilebutter because the milk from aOne of the barracks in Hof

The DP camp in Hof


non-kosher animal cannot curdleinto butter. Thus it was not aproblem for the refugees to eat thebutter they were given in the DPcamps.

(However, in order not to leadany readers astray, I mustemphasize that nowadays, butterproduction has changed andadditional issues have arisen. If aperson eats non-Jewish butternowadays, he is likely to encounterproblems with the prohibition ofmeat and milk and the g’zeira ofnot consuming non-Jewish milk.)

The following Shabbos, myfather related, after they finallyhad butter to smear on their bread,the Chassidim farbrenged as theyused to do. They sat together to

tell stories and relate divrei Torahas though they weren’t in a waystation, traveling a dangerous roadand as though all their work wasdone and their suffering wasbehind them. They didn’t care thatthe improvised “tables” that theymade out of suitcases were ofdifferent heights and that thefolding cots were their chairs. Ofcourse, the main speaker was themashpia, R’ Nissan Nemenov.

R’ Nissan couldn’t restrainhimself and he took theopportunity to chastise the menand bachurim:

“Gevald, gevald!” he cried out.“What has become of us? BaruchHashem, we have merited to leavethe darkness. Hashem broke the

copper doors for us and the boltsof iron. He did a miracle for usand we left there in a supernaturalway. We must give thanks toHashem.

“Now tell me. How should wethank Hashem for this? Do wethank Him by hungrily attackingbread spread with butter?

“I’m not talking about whatChassidus demands of us. I’m notasking for iskafia or is’hafcha,which are lofty levels in avoda.Gezunterheit! On the contrary, eatas you please and it should be foryour good health. I am talkingabout something else. I’m talkingabout our becoming so quicklycoarsened. Baruch Hashem wehave ample bread. Eat and satiate


CORRECTING AN ERRORMrs. Itta Sossonkin-Levitin, who was killed in

Czechoslovakia, was the daughter-in-law of theChassid, R’ Nachum Shmaryahu Sossonkin, rav ofBatum, and not his daughter, as I had writtenpreviously. I apologize.

Halacha dictates, “taus – l’olam chozer” – a BaalKorei who made a mistake whilereading the Torah must always goback to the beginning of the verse toread it correctly. Since I made amistake in the previous chapter aboutMrs. Sossonkin-Levitin (neeKleiman), I have to go back not onlyto the beginning of the “verse,” but tothe beginning of the “chapter,” anduse the opportunity to tell a bit abouther life.

Itke, as she was known, wasmarried to R’ Moshe, the son of R’Shmaryahu Sossonkin. When theirdaughter Chana Feiga (Tzippora) wasthree and their son Avrohom was threemonths, R’ Moshe was arrested for being a religiousJew and sentenced to ten years exile in a camp inSiberia. Itke, the wife of the “criminal,” was notpermitted to continue living in Leningrad and hadto move to nearby Luga.

Three years later, when the Germans advancedon Leningrad, she managed to flee with her two

small children to a forsaken village in the district ofMolotovsk, Siberia.

When the war ended, she managed, after greateffort, to locate and contact her father-in-law, whohad moved with many of Anash to Samarkand. R’Shmaryahu arranged an official travel permit for her

and his grandchildren so they couldjoin him in Samarkand in Central Asia.

When she finally arrived inSamarkand, after weeks of traveling,R’ Shmerel took her into his smallhome and shared his bit of bread withher and the children. At that time,they also had their three year oldgranddaughter Rochel living withthem, the daughter of their son, R’Asher. She was orphaned from hermother, and her father was in a laborcamp in Siberia.

One night, when R’ Sossonkin wassitting up learning Torah, as usual, henoticed that his daughter-in-law had

woken up and looked upset. He asked her whathappened but she politely declined to answer. Thenext night the same thing happened. Itke woke upin a fright and once again did not answer anyquestions.

The third night, when she woke up once againand began to pace back and forth, she agreed to tell

R’ Shmaryahu Sossonkin


yourselves. There’s butter? Eat asyou desire.

“You can eat each item byitself. When you eat bread, eat itto satiety. When you eat butter,eat it for your good health. But Icannot understand why you haveto eat the bread with butter on it.Not only that, but you make sureto spread the butter on the breadso that it is evenly distributed sothat one side or corner, heavenforbid, does not have a drop morebutter than another. This is whathurts me! As the verse says, ‘youbecame fattened and thickenedand covered in flab.’ It’s the gasusruach (coarseness of spirit) I’mtalking about. Is that where wehave gotten to in so short a time?

To become so megusham? Gevald,gevald!”

By the way, the butter therefugees received from the Jointwas the same butter that was givento the American soldiers, and itwas very salty so it could last along time without refrigeration.My mother admitted to me thatunder any other circumstances shewouldn’t put butter like that intoher mouth.

Nevertheless, R’ Nissancouldn’t tolerate it. My fatherwould conclude, “R’ Nissan? Hewas a real Chassid and oveidElokim. Go and tell people todaywho R’ Nissan was. They willthink he was a fanatic who didn’trelate to this world.”

***It says in Mishlei 10:7, “the


“Gevald, gevald!”he cried out.“What has becomeof us? Hashembroke the copperdoors for us andthe bolts of iron.Is this how wethank Him?”

him what was troubling her. “This is the third nightthat my brother, Yaakov Kleiman, who died ofstarvation in Leningrad together with his wife, cameto me in a dream and asked me to save his children.”

She told her father-in-law that she and herbrother had made a pact that whoever remainedalive after the war would take care of the others’children. She had survived but when she saw howhard it was for herfather-in-law to supporthimself, his wife, theirgranddaughter and nowher and her children,she felt she couldn’timpose on him withadditional children. Forthis reason, she had notmentioned her promiseuntil then.

R’ Sossonkinreassured her andtogether they discussedhow to find hernephews, who were incommunist institutions, and bring them toSamarkand. After great effort, the three orphanedchildren of her brother were brought to Samarkandand R’ Sossonkin took them into his house.

One day, a prisoner who had been together withItke’s husband came with the bitter news that R’Moshe had died. He told about the hardships, the

backbreaking labor and subhuman conditions R’Moshe had endured and also recounted his mesirasnefesh. Despite his suffering and starvation, herefused to eat non-kosher food.

After a few months, despite the pain over theloss of his son, R’ Shmaryahu encouraged hisdaughter-in-law to remarry. She married themashgiach of yeshivas Tomchei T’mimim, R’ Shneur

Zalman Levitin, whosefirst wife had been killedin the bombing.

They joined thegroup my parents werein and together madethe trip from Russia toPoland toCzechoslovakia. Theywere about to cross theborder into Austria whena Czech soldier shot andkilled her.

After these tragediesand despite theenormous difficulties, R’

Shmaryahu raised all six orphans: his threegrandchildren, Itke’s two children and R’ Asher’sdaughter, (R’ Asher remained in Russia in a laborcamp in Siberia) and the three Kleiman childrenwho were nephews of his daughter-in-law. Heraised them to Torah, chuppa and good deeds in theway of Chassidus. May his memory be a blessing.

R’ Moshe Sossonkin R’ Shneur Zalman Levitin


memory of a tzaddik is forblessing,” that whenever wemention the name of a Chassid oryerei Shamayim, we need to blesshim and sing his praise. Since Imentioned R’ Nissan, I want to tellyou some more about him andhow I, his talmid, saw the goodqualities that he had.

If you didn’t know R’ Nissan,you could think that he wasremoved from this world like theperushim described in the RebbeRayatz’s Memoirs, who coveredtheir eyes so they wouldn’t seeoutside their immediate area.

R’ Nissan wasn’t like that. Onthe contrary; he definitely saw

what was happening outside hisfour cubits. For example, whenhe would meet my mother in thestreet, although she was a womanand it was in public, he wouldalways stop to ask how she wasand say a few encouragingwords.

R’ Nissan was an oveid Elokim.He was a Chassid who worked onhimself and his middos. HisShacharis on a weekday took 5 or6 hours, and not because he didn’tknow how to read well. He wasdemanding of himself and of histalmidim, largely in the area ofiskafia – breaking, conquering,and subduing the Evil Inclination;

subduing the coarse and negativetraits and self discipline to behavein the proper manner.

I knew R’ Nissan in yeshivasTomchei T’mimim in Brunoy whenI was a boy. I learned with himonly the beginning of the study ofChassidus, a few chapters ofTanya and one maamer in LikkuteiTorah, I think it was the maamer,“Lo Sashbis.” Right after my barmitzva my family and I left Francefor Crown Heights.

I first went to yeshiva inBrunoy in 1954, when I was a boyof six. At home I was the babyson, born to my older parents. Iwas born in Paris, after all thehardships my parents had gonethrough. My sisters were older bythen. There was no school for mein Paris and so, despite theconcern for my welfare and thedifficulty in parting with their “benyochid,” they sent me to R’ Nissanin Brunoy so I could receive thekind of Chabad chinuch for whichthey had been so moser nefesh inRussia.

The yeshiva building was givento the Chassidim by the Joint andthe food was also donated byvarious organizations whocontinued to support Jewishrefugees for years after the warwas over. The food given in theyeshiva kitchen was made withwhatever ingredients they wereprovided with and the taste waslike that of the manna, i.e. it hadno taste of its own … everyonetasted in it whatever he wanted…

I was the youngest boy in thedormitory. My father wantedsomeone to ensure I would eatproperly, so he asked his friend, R’Nissan, to have me eat in hishome. R’ Nissan’s wife would cookfor her household in any case andanother portion was no extrahardship for her. In the Nemenovhome at that time there were threesons. There were the two olderR’ Nissan Nemenov and his sons, R’ Sholom Dovber and R’ Moshe,

shortly after they left Russia



boys, R’ Sholom Ber and R’Moshe, and the younger son, mydear friend R’ Yitzchok (themenahel ruchni of the yeshivanow), who is a year older than me.

There is an aphorism, “Tell mewho your friends are and I’ll tellyou who you are.” After the briefperiod of time that I ate in R’Nissan’s house and saw what heate, I modified the saying to, “Tellme what you eat and I’ll tell youwho you are.” By seeing what myteacher ate, I was able to learn, tosome extent, about the greatnessof this Chassid and G-d fearingman.

Though I was just a boy, Inoticed that R’ Nissan did not usethe bread that most of Anash used.That bread was baked in thebakery of a non-Jew and aLubavitcher would throw a littlewood into the fire or light the ovenso that the bread would be pasYisroel and kosher according to allopinions.

R’ Nissan’s wife would bakebread for him at home that wasmore mehudar. She did not havean oven so every Thursday orFriday, she would bake threechallos for Shabbos in a metal panon the fire. The challa that was leftover after Shabbos was used forthe rest of the week.

This challa, with the addition ofa little cheese that the Rebbetzinmade herself, were the only thingsR’ Nissan ate during the week. In1954 there were no plastic bags tokeep bread fresh. The bread orchalla remained on the tablecovered with a napkin thatprotected it from flies but not fromdrying out. Of course, as eachadditional day went by, the challabecame harder and harder until itwas like a rock. In order to eat it(I remember it as though it wastoday), R’ Nissan would dip it inhot tea to soften it. I don’t knowhow the cheese tasted.

I am not exaggerating when Isay that day after day, week afterweek, and year after year, this isall R’ Nemenov ate.

So when my father told mewhat R’ Nissan demanded of thegroup of refugees, I couldunderstand a bit of his pain. As amashpia, it hurt him to see howthey “grabbed” fresh bread withbutter. He couldn’t understandhow Chassidim could be so coarse.

Another small example from thetime I was in Tomchei T’mimimBrunoy:

In my day, there were noshowers in yeshiva. Who hadheard of a personal shower? Oncea week we would go to the townbathhouse and every bachur andchild was given ten minutes toshower. If someone did not comeout after ten minutes, he would beforcibly removed, dressed orotherwise.

We could manage with thebathing conditions but, asChassidim, we could not managewithout a mikva in which toimmerse before davening everyday.

R’ Nissan (and a few otherspecial Chassidim like R’ Nachum

Labkowski) came up with an idea.The yeshiva building was in themiddle of a thick wooded area andat the edge was a spring. Thewater was cold and shallow; it wasoutside, without a roof or anythingaround it. That is where R’ Nissanand these other brave souls wentto immerse. It made no differencewhether it was summer or winter,whether it was pouring, snowingor bitterly cold and windy.

R’ Nissan went to immerse inthat spring every day, withkabbalas ol and without taking theconditions into account. Therewere no steps leading down to thewaters of the spring; in order forthe water to cover the entire bodyat one time, you had to lie spread-eagled and R’ Nissan was noyoungster. Only an emeser erlicherYid, someone with yirasShamayim, could do this.

***These little stories are etched in

my memory, heart and soul till thisday. I learned from them. It wasan edifying lesson about how agenuine Chassid conducts himself;someone who demanded muchmore of himself than of his pupils.It is no wonder, then, that hedemanded of others what he did,that gashmius shouldn’t hold suchan important place in their lives.To him, that was plain andobvious.

We could managewith the bathingconditions but, asChassidim, wecould not managewithout a mikvain which toimmerse beforedavening everyday.




[Continued from Issue #690]

“And especially – in addition to the fact that G-d, of Hisown volition, wants to give Jews charity – Jews cry out,‘Until when?!’ including the righteous women of thegeneration, as well as ‘Hadasa is Ester,’150 who ispresently in the World of Truth. She cries out togetherwith all the women and children of the Jewish peopleand with all the Jews, ‘Until when?!’ How long will‘Shushan [be] in the depths of terror’?151 Indeed,there must be the bestowal of life from ‘the Giver of lifewill give you life.’152

“Moreover, a Jew shouldn’t have to come to the pointof crying out; he should only have to extend his hand toG-d, and G-d will fulfill his obligation139 (on Purim)that ‘we give to anyone who extends a hand.’ Heshouldn’t have to speak or ask; he should only do aphysical action, extend his physical hand andimmediately G-d gives him, from the ‘full, open, holy,and generous hand’153 of the Holy One Blessed Be He.

“Here we are speaking about a gift relative to thecapacity of the Giver, what the Holy One Blessed Be HeHimself can afford, regarding Whom it is said, ‘Thesilver is Mine and the gold is Mine.’154 Indeed, G-d’s

generosity is manifest even within thenatural order, where there is physical(as well as spiritual) silver and gold.

“All the more is the above true insofaras the gift comes from G-d’s essenceand being, for the Jew who ‘extends ahand’ appeals to G-d’s very essence.The profound care that G-d has forthe Jewish people is reflected in thestatement of the Rebbe Rayatz155 –that the simplicity of a Jew (especiallywhen he does an action withsimplicity, ‘extending a hand’) uniteswith the true simplicity of [whatRambam refers to as] the ‘TrueExistence.’ Of consequence, the‘giving’ [to ‘all who extend a hand’] isaccording to what G-d’s essence and

being can afford, beyond all possible measure.

“At the same time, perfection is attained with regard tothe capacity of the recipient to receive as well as hisactual enrichment; bountiful good given in a mannerthat can be received, overt and revealed goodnesswithin the framework of created beings.

“Indeed, we are talking about the perfect gift both withrespect to the Benefactor as well as to the recipient,including [the ultimate gift of] the true and completeRedemption by our righteous Moshiach.”

NOTES:

150 Ester 2:7.151 Liturgy from the Musaf Prayer of Yom Kippur. SeeTorah Ohr Hosafos 116c.152 Yoma 71a.153 Third blessing of Grace After Meals.154 Chagai 2:8. 155 The address of 12 Tammuz 5707, Section 3 (LikkuteiDibburim Vol. 3, pg. 491b, beg.).

mosh iach & geu la

“A Jew shouldn’t have to come to thepoint of crying out; he should only haveto extend his hand to G-d...andimmediately G-d gives him, from the‘full, open, holy, and generous hand’ ofthe Holy One Blessed Be He.” * Tracingthe Rebbe MH”M’s instructions on howto perfect our Divine service in theFinal Era.

~ The Final Era ~

TO COLLECT WHAT IS �OWED�TO THE JEWISH PEOPLEBy Boruch Merkur


EARLY YEARSChanan was born in Rechovot to

a frum Tunisian family. In hischildhood, his father was sent toAlgir, Morocco, to bring people onaliya but he was brutally murderedin 1958.

In yeshiva high school, Chananhad questions about emuna, and hequickly ran into problems when heendeavored to find answers. Theanswers he was given didn’t satisfyhim, and when he continuedasking, his teachers forbade him toask questions about emuna, either

because they didn’t have answers orbecause they didn’t want to dealwith him. Chanan left yeshiva forpublic school.

SECRET PLAN TOCAPTURE MAGUR

After high school, he wasdrafted into the army. During hisarmy service, he was assigned to acommand group responsible forpreparing a military plan to capturethe eastern side of the Jordan River,in Jordan. The command group incharge of the operation called to

project Magor – an acronym forMenasheh, Gad, and Reuven, thetribes which settled in that area inBiblical times. They had detailedplans, down to a list of officers andcommanders who would takecharge of Rabat Amon and othercities.

After his military service,Chanan studied mathematics andcomputer science at Bar-IlanUniversity. In 1973, he married hiswife Varda, who also used to bereligious, and settled in Ramat Gan.Six years later, they moved to thehills of the Shomron with thenucleus that started the Elkanasettlement.

“We were 16 families. Our firstattempt at building a settlement wasquelled by the authorities, but in1977, after Rabin’s resignation, theinterim Peres government gave itsapproval. Peres thought it wouldhelp him in the elections.”

THE RESCUER WHO WAS SAVED

In 1993, Chanan decided to“rescue” his sister who had becomeinterested in Judaism. In theprocess, he found Yamima, aspecial woman who was mekarevmany people. Chanan, who had


prof i le

THE WINDING ROADTO A SPECIALSHLICHUSBy S. Malachi

BIODecades after they first troubled him in yeshiva high school, Chanan

Hassan found the answers to his questions in Toras HaChassidus.The road to knitted kippa and from there to sirtuk and black hat

was long and arduous, but it ended with hiskashrus to the Nasi HaDor.Even the interruptions in that journey proved to be a “descent for thesake of an ascent.”

Today, Chanan is the director of the computer department in thedaughter-company to Bank HaMizrachi called Meichish. Did we callhim a director? Actually, he is the director of the company’s Chabadhouse. He sees his work as a shlichus, and defines his job as putting theAlef of Geula into the Gola (exile), so that the company becomes aplace that is Meichish (speeds-up) the Geula.

Chanan, who lives in Elkana in the Shomron, is one of the mainactivists in the Chabad house there. Much of that shliach’s success is toChanan’s credit.


completed his first degree and wasstarting to work on a second, tooka break and began taking classeswith Yamima. (The shiurim weregiven modestly, with separateshiurim for men and women, andthe men did not see her.)

“I wasn’t looking for Judaism. Iwas just afraid my sister wasentrapped and I decided to gatherenough information to be able toextricate her.”

Chanan soon fell under the spellof p’nimius ha’Torah. Yamima wasmekusheres to the Rebbe and hershiurim were rich with Chassidicconcepts, presented in an appealingmanner.

Chanan also took an interest inKabbala. He attended shiurim inBreslover Chassidus with RabbiMoshe Erez Doron and RabiShimon Teichner.

Chanan had many questions.Yamima pointed out, “you examineeverything logically; if it satisfiesyou, you accept it and otherwiseyou reject it.” Her advice wassimple. “Don’t reject it; say youdon’t understand. As time goes byyou will discover that it’s right, thatyou cannot think otherwise.”

AN ANSWER TOEVERY QUESTION

Chanan began his foray into theworld of Chabad Chassidus. Hewas fascinated by the mekubal,Rabbi Yitzchok Ginsburgh. Heenjoyed the language of Kabbalaand the deeper secrets of LashonHaKodesh, and the fact that R’Ginsburgh is a mathematician andphysicist satisfied an old time needto connect abstract emuna withlogic and science.

He would go to learn Chassiduswith the mashpia, Rabbi YosefYitzchok (Fitche) Offen in RamatGan. There he met the shliach,Rabbi Matti Gal, who had aninfluence on him too. The moreChanan delved into Chassidus, the

more he found the answers hesought. He also began to realizethat logic is limited. He came to theconclusion that by learning, hewould find answers to all hisquestions.

Then R’ Rami Antian a”harrived at a nearby yishuv, ShaareiTikva. Chanan began attending hisweekly shiurim in Likkutei Torah,Torah Ohr and the D’var Malchussichos of 5751-5752. Chassidus,especially these sichos, changedChanan’s way of thinking and gavehim a different perspective on theworld.

RABBI ELIYAHU DIDN’TSEE A PROBLEM

“I was uncomfortable withRami’s belief in the Rebbe asMoshiach chai v’kayam. I wonderedwhether anything is wrong withlearning from someone with suchseemingly radical ideas. I went toRabbi Mordechai Eliyahu andasked, “Is learning Tanya andChassidus the right thing to do?”

“Of course!”

“But the rav there, he’s one ofthose they call Meshichisten…”

“So what’s the problem?”“He always says, ‘Yechi

Adoneinu.’”“So what?”“When I was ready to leave,

Rabbi Eliyahu asked me, ‘And he isMeshichi?’

“I answered in the affirmativeand he smiled, and then I left.

“To this day, I can’t be surewhat he meant with that lastquestion. It felt as if he was askingme, in third person, if I believe thatthe Rebbe is Moshiach.”

In any case, Chanan’s discussionwith R’ Eliyahu affirmed that hewas on the right path, and hecontinued to learn Chassidus.

“I believe that emuna has tocome from within, and that’s whymy journey was very pnimius’dik. Ilearned deeply, which changed myworld.”

FIRST LETTER TO THE REBBE

Chanan wrote his first letter to



the Rebbe with R’ Rami. When heopened the Igros Kodesh he sawthree letters that asked: ‘Why aren’tpeople learning Tanya where youlive?’

He did not get answers to thequestions he had written.

“It annoyed me and I decided tostop asking,” Chanan recalls with asmile.

Rami tried to convince Chananto give a shiur at the yishuv, butChanan did not feel ready to do so.Rami’s own attempt at giving aTanya shiur at the yishuv wasunsuccessful. He would say,“Elkana is like a nut – hard tocrack, but the inside is good.”

Chanan’s journey back to areligious life wasn’t easy, neitherfor him nor for his family, who bythen had opinions of their own.

“We let the children do as theypleased. The girls saw the change inus and began looking into Judaismand attending classes on their own.”

A SHLIACH FOR ELKANAAfter ten years of Jewish

involvement and learning, Chananand his wife decided that their path

is Chabad. Already accustomed to adifferent style, the transition tolearning Chassidus wasn’t easy forthe family.

“When I wrote to the Rebbeabout this, I opened to a veryencouraging answer. The Rebbegave a bracha that our daughterwould marry a Tamim. It took along time, but the bracha waseventually fulfilled.”

In 5763 Elkana got its ownshliach, Rabbi Yitzchok Kenig. Itwas no longer necessary to travel tohear a shiur in Chassidus, anddavening in a Chabad minyanbecame a reality. Chanan offeredhis help from day one, introducingthe shliach to life on the yishuv.

The center of Chabad activitieswas the Sefardic shul whereChanan was a regular worshipper.Various people, who looked askanceat Chabad, convinced the gabbai toshut them out.

Thanks to this turn of events,they decided to go l’chat’chillaaribber and buy a building for theirshul – a seemingly unrealistic planat first, but it proved to besuccessful.

THE REBBEAlthough Chanan had made a

huge shift, his outer appearancedidn’t change. One day, he openedto a letter where the Rebbe said:“Inside, he is a Chassid, but thisshould be apparent externally, too.”

Chanan switched to nusachArizal and bought himself a blackhat and a gartel. As with everythingelse, this was with the constantsupport and encouragement of hiswife.

Chanan made the trip to theKinus HaShluchim 5767. Justgetting there entailed manychallenges and miracles (see box),and when it all worked out heconsidered it a positive sign fromHeaven.

After two weeks in 770, Chananreturned home with renewedkochos, a stronger hiskashrus to theRebbe and… a sirtuk.

FIVE MINUTES THAT TURNED INTO HALF

AN HOURChanan doesn’t keep Chassidus

to himself. He spreads the Rebbe’steachings at every opportunity.Back then, he davened at the mainshul of the yishuv – Moreshet.

“I suggested to my neighbor,Yaakov Zeidman, that we learn aChassidic aphorism each day. Weset aside five minutes, but the fiveminutes soon grew into over half anhour.”

Light attracts, and more andmore people joined the short shiur.They would read a Chassidicaphorism from Otzar ha’Pisgamim.

“There are things in that bookthat are simply amazing,” exclaimsChanan. “Every short sentencecontains treasures that give youstrength all day. Those five minutesbecame half an hour, and even thenit was hard to stop.”

They began learning the HaYomYom and from Mi’Gola L’Geula.


BETWEEN BEER SHEVA AND ASHKELONTwo years ago, Chanan decided to give his maaser money to a

Chabad house that operates with no financial backing, and wherethe locals are not able to support the work.

“I opened the Chabad.info phone book and the first place thatcaught my eye was Ofakim. It’s a city between Beer Sheva andAshkelon, out-of-the-way and with no financial support. I sawthat they have a soup kitchen and thought that would be theperfect place to make my donation.”

Chanan called the phone number but nobody answered. Whenthere was still no answer the next day, nor the following week, hedecided to call the shliach in Ofakim, Rabbi Yisroel Hershkowitz.He told him that he had been trying to reach the soup kitchen fortwo weeks. Was there a soup kitchen or not?

R’ Herkowitz excitedly told him that his call was perfectlytimed. The program had stopped not long ago due to lack offunding, but he was now sitting with R’ Shneur Zalman Kenigand they had decided to open it up again.

“I saw the Hashgacha Pratis with my own eyes,” says Chanan.


INSTILLINGPNIMIYUS HA’TORAHChanan ends the Gemara shiur

he gives at the Sefardic shul withChassidus. Explanations andanalogies from Chassidus areinterwoven throughout the shiur.

“Chassidus is not meant only fortime set aside for it. In everyconversation, in everything, there isthe Chassidic view.”

As for his work in spreading thewellsprings, Chanan has specificanswers from the Rebbe. A group ofyoung men asked him to give thema shiur in Kabbala. He saw this asan opportunity to teach Chassidusbut he wasn’t sure whether it wasthe right thing to do.

When he wrote to the Rebbe, heopened to two interesting answers.One was about giving shiurim toyoung people, about thetremendous help they need, andabout the importance and need toinstill p’nimius ha’Torah in them.The other letter said not to leave hisjob under any circumstances.

“A short while later, the bankoffered me early retirement with apension buyout and good terms. I

liked the offer because I waslooking forward to the day when Icould leave my job and spend moretime on spiritual pursuits,particularly when the offer was verygenerous. But the Rebbe had toldme to stay. I suppose my shlichus isat my place of work.”

CORPORATE CHABAD HOUSE

Chanan is the authority onJudaism for hundreds of people athis place of work. As the director ofa department he tries to bring thelight of Chassidus in a myriad ofways: in staff meetings, speechesand even in greetings attached to agift; a short Chassidic saying canpack a punch.

People ask him about anythingconnected to Judaism – fromchecking mezuzos to a chicken forKaparos. Chanan is the one theyask about the laws of mourning andyahrtzait, the location of Chabadhouses around the world…someone once even asked himabout the menu of the Chabadhouse in Thailand.

Many people write to the Rebbe,

while others make positive mitzvacommitments. One of the mostpowerful outreach tools he uses is aweekly Torah email. It started withhanding out printed publications:

“I would order brochure stylepublications on the parsha inHebrew and Russian and give themout. That had a limited reach. ThenI got the idea of sending out myown e-mail.”

WEEKLY SHIUR FOR THOUSANDS

What better approach for a manin computers than to send outJewish reading material viacomputer? Chanan began writing aweekly sheet with Chassidic ideason the parsha. He sent it out via e-mail to all who wanted it. Theinitial list of subscribers includedhundreds of employees at thecompany he worked at, but itquickly expanded to thousands ofpeople.

He got glowing feedback. Formany, these parsha sheets weretheir first exposure to p’nimiusha’Torah and the depth of Judaism.Countless people said that theyforward the material to their friendsevery week, while others said theyprint it to read at the Shabbos tableor hang it up in shul.

Over the years, Chanan hasadded nicer graphics and color, and

One day, heopened to a letterwhere the Rebbesaid: “Inside, he isa Chassid, but thisshould beapparentexternally, too.”


Chanan farbrenging


the list of subscribers grows. Thecontent is usually limited to wordsof Torah, but twice a year, beforeRosh HaShana and Pesach, inaccordance with the Rebbe’sinstruction, Chanan asks readers todonate to the needy before theholidays.

“Every week I put hours of workinto it, and I feel that it’s worthevery minute.”

IN CONCLUSIONEvery Lubavitcher, every Jew,

can be a shliach!You can give a shiur, support a

Chabad preschool near you…actually, there’s no need to giveexamples. If you open your eyes,you will see numerous Jewsaround you who are waiting foryour help.

Even if we don’t see them goingto yeshiva tomorrow and becomingbaalei t’shuva, every positiveinfluence is significant. A smallaction on our part can helpsomeone change, become mekusharto the Rebbe and fulfill his destinyin life.


MIRACLE FLIGHTI have to tell you about series of miracles I had in

connection with my trip to New York for the KinusHaShluchim. For many years I had an unlimited visato the United States, but after the attack on the WorldTrade Center, all visas were automatically cancelled.

When I decided to fly, I submitted a new request. Iwas very nervous since my last name is Hassan. If thatwasn’t enough, my English birthday is 9/11.Americans don’t care for that sort of thing.

I asked for an interview three weeks before myscheduled flight to the Kinus HaShluchim, and wasgiven an appointment in two months. I decided to playdumb. I asked, “But I have a visa for an unlimitedamount of time?”

They replied that they had canceled all visas.I asked, “How can you do that without telling

people?” They said it was publicized in the papers. In the

end I managed to get an interview in two weeks, abouta week before the flight.

When that problem was solved, I discoveredanother one. This time, it was with my passport. Iwent to the Ministry of the Interior offices, and got mynew passport a day before my appointment at theembassy.

I assumed that my wait at the embassy would be along one and I decided to take not just one, but twobooklets of material to learn. The line took hours, andas I waited I noted that all but one of the clerks werewomen. I hoped I would be called by one of thewomen since they are more compassionate. When myname was called, the available counter belonged to theman. Having no choice, I went over to him.

I pushed my papers under the glass partition andthe man asked me gruffly, “What do you plan ondoing in the United States?”

His opening question did not bode well, but Icontinued to hope. I answered: “The Lubavitcher

Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach lives there and I’m goingto visit him.”

“You’re a Chassid?” he asked.When I replied in the affirmative, he said, “You can

help me then. I attend a Yiddish class (I don’t knowwhether he was Jewish or not) and I want to knowhow to say ‘passport’ in Yiddish.”

I told him, “It’s amazing that you’re asking me thatquestion now. On my way here I learned somethingthe Rebbe taught in Yiddish, and it has the word‘passport’ in it. Apparently the word is the same inYiddish as in English (it was Parshas Chayei Sarah andthe Rebbe quoted the Rebbe Rayatz as saying thatwhat’s important is not the age it says on the passportbut what a person does, that ‘life of Sarah’ refers toher deeds).

The clerk asked whether I could bring him aphotocopy of the page or send it to him, and onceagain I saw the Divine Providence. I replied, “I tooktwo today. If you preserve the sanctity of the booklet, Ican give you one.” I showed him where the word waswritten, and the rest of the interview was brief, withonly one question.

I saw how the Rebbe was arranging things when Igot the visa the next day.

One by one the problems were resolved. Due to amedical problem, I had concerns about flying. I spoketo my doctor and learned that a new medication wasavailable which made it possible for me to fly withpeace of mind. A place to stay worked out smoothly,as well. I saw how the Rebbe took care of me.

***The first time I wrote to the Rebbe after I returned

home, I opened to a letter which said – “You didn’tsay how it worked out with the visa.” Of course, Iimmediately sat down and wrote the Rebbe a thankyou letter for the miracles that I had experiencedthroughout the trip.


692 beis moshiach“incense” allude to the difference between an external and an inner offering,...

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