e mas529 a - moshiachissue number 529-beis moshiach 5 every mitzva has its limitations (in a...

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4 | WHY THE RIGHTEOUS HAVE NO RESTD’var Malchus / Likkutei Sichos Vol. 15, pg. 137-144

8 | LIVING AND LEARNING (CONT.)Moshiach

11 | A MATCH MADE IN HEAVENStory

14 | AMONG ELEVATED MENMemoirs / Rabbi Schneur Zalman Chanin

20 | THE ‘BOTTOM LINE’ OF CHABAD CHASSIDUS(CONT.)Moshiach / Interview of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Meizlich by Avrohom Raynitz

26 | HOW BARON DE ROTHSCHILD SAVED THESINAI SCHOOLSFeature / Shneur Zalman Berger

34 | NOW IS THE TIME TO CRY OUT!Shleimus HaAretz / Shai Gefen

36 | BOTH A LEADER AND A PUPPETShleimus HaAretz / Aliza Karp

38 | OVADIA: RETURNING THE HEARTS OFCHILDREN TO THEIR FATHERS Profile

CONTENTS

BEIS MOSHIACH - 9 Mar-Cheshvan 57664

There are two versions of the saying of the Sagesthat appears at the end of Tractate Brachos (as well asthe conclusion of Tractate Moed Katan): a) “Torahscholars have no rest – not in this world and not inthe World to Come, etc.” b) “The righteous have norest, etc.” (The latter version is cited in several places.[Footnote 3 in the original: Ohr HaTorah, VaEschananpg. 67; Hemshech 5666, pg. 12.])

We may postulate that the terminological differencein the respective versions underscores a difference intheir meaning: According to the version that reads,“Torah scholars have no rest, etc.,” the saying of theSages speaks of a virtue that is unique to Torah study(“Torah scholars”), as will be discussed. In contrast,the version that reads, “The righteous have no rest,etc.,” does not speak about Torah study’s distinctivevirtue, because the term “righteous” includes mastersof good deeds who are not Torah scholars.

We must understand the reason for the differencebetween the two approaches.

2. The Arizal explains the fact that “Torah scholarshave no rest, etc.” in Likkutei HaShas as follows: “for inthe world that follows death, Torah scholars areinvolved in Torah study, ascending from level to leveland from yeshiva to yeshiva...for just as G-d, may Hebe blessed, has no end, likewise His Torah has noend.”

This explains the reason for the version that reads,“Torah scholars have no rest, etc.” Namely, it isspecifically Torah (in the familiar manner of speech,the object (cheftza) of the Mitzva of Torah study) thatis at the level of “it has no end.” Thus, there is

likewise no rest (no end) to the ascent of Torahscholars (the subject (gavra) of the Mitzva of Torahstudy), who delve into Torah study. However, withregard to the [other] Mitzvos, although they too arethe Commandments of G-d (Who is infinite), theythemselves (in terms of their being an object) arelimited. In fact, they must be limited. That is, bothwith regard to the Mitzvos in general, of which it issaid, “Do not add and do not detract” [D’varim 13:1;4:2 – see Footnote 8] (Torah study, however, isdifferent; it must be done in a manner of an increasein understanding and etc., as it is said in the Laws ofTorah Study [of the Alter Rebbe, 2:2 – see Footnote9]), and with regard to each Mitzva individually. [Forexample] t’fillin must be specifically four passages, notfive, and etc.

Thus, also with regard to masters of good deeds(the subject of the other Mitzvos) there is an end andthere is rest.

That is, the two alternatives (rest or no rest)correspond to the two levels: limited and limitless.

3. [The same principle accounts for] the differencebetween them (Torah and Mitzvos) with regard to thedegree of obligation incumbent upon the person (thesubject): The obligation of Torah study has nolimitations. In the terminology of the Rambam [Lawsof Torah Study 1:8 – see Footnote 11]: “Every Jewishperson is obligated in Torah study, whether he is pooror rich, whether he is complete in his body [i.e.,healthy] or one who suffers, etc.” Also (with regard totime), the obligation upon the person is constant. Thisis not so, however, with regard to the [other] Mitzvos;

WHY THERIGHTEOUS

HAVE NO RESTLIKKUTEI S ICHOS, VOL. 15, PG. 137-144

TRANSLATED BY BORUCH MERKUR

D’VAR MALCHUS

Issue Number 529 - BEIS MOSHIACH 5

every Mitzva has its limitations (in a designated timeor place, and the like).

4. Accordingly, however, it is difficult tounderstand the reason of the version (approach), “Therighteous have no rest, etc.,” which, as stated above,includes within it also masters of good deeds (theservice of [the fulfillment of] the Mitzvos): How is itpossible to attain “they have no rest,” which signifies anotion of limitlessness, (also)through this service (which islimited, as stated above)?

We must, therefore, say thatalso with regard to Mitzvos there isindeed a concept (and the virtue)of limitlessness, in light of whichthe reason for the version, “Therighteous have no rest, etc.,” is alsounderstood.

5. At first glance it is logical tosay that the law of forsaking Torahstudy for [the fulfillment of] aMitzva that cannot be done byothers compels the notion thatMitzvos also possess the aspect oflimitlessness. For if they are only atthe level of limitation, how canthey supplant Torah study, which islimitless?

But in truth this does not prove that also Mitzvosare at the level of limitlessness, for the fact that Torahstudy is forsaken for [the fulfillment of] a Mitzva thatcannot be done by others is not on account of a virtueassociated with the Mitzvos, but on account of the factthat neglecting to fulfill the Mitzvos results in a lack in

the study of Torah, as will be explained.

6. The Alter Rebbe says [in Laws of Torah study,ibid] (with regard to the reason for the aforementionedlaw): “He should interrupt his Torah study and do theMitzva...for this is the entirety of man. As the Sagessaid [Brachos 17a], ‘The purpose of wisdom isrepentance and good deeds.’ And if one does not doso, it comes out that he has learned not for the sake of

doing, and ‘it would be better forhim, etc.’ [i.e., ‘had he not beencreated’].”

The Alter Rebbe states thereason (for “He should interrupt hisTorah study and do the Mitzva”) inpositive terms: “for this is theentirety of man,” [namely] to fulfillMitzvos. Then [in negative terms]he adds, “And if one does not doso, it comes out that he has learnednot for the sake of doing” (that is,without the fulfillment of theMitzvos, Torah study is not as itmust be). The implication [of thisaddition] is that the reason, “forthis is the entirety of man,” isinsufficient; this reason alone doesnot account for the fact that [thefulfillment of] a Mitzva cansupplant Torah study. It is indeedtrue that the fulfillment of the

Mitzvos is “the entirety of man,” nevertheless, beingthat it is something that is limited, it cannot supplantsomething that is limitless (Torah). Thus, the AlterRebbe adds: “And if one does not do so, it comes outthat he has learned not for the sake of doing.”

That is, the fulfillment of theMitzvos is “the entirety of man” (theperson in his entirety – i.e., includinghis intellect, and) as the Sages said,“The purpose (tachlis, which alsomeans: the completeness) of wisdomis repentance and good deeds. And(on account of the fact that thefulfillment of the Mitzvos is thepurpose and completeness of wisdom(i.e., Torah)) if one does not do so, itcomes out that he has learned (in aninappropriate manner, for it wasdone) not for the sake of doing.”

[To be continued be”H.]

How is it possible toattain the level of

“they have no rest,”which signifies a

notion oflimitlessness, through

the service of gooddeeds, which is, at

first glance,inherently limited?

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Why is there such a need toemphasize the study of “D’varMalchus” at every opportunity?Who says that every “D’varMalchus” contains a new instructionor new teaching?

Rabbi Mordechai Gal: Anyonewho has experienced thetremendous pleasure of regularlylearning the “D’var Malchus” sichosfrom start to finish doesn’t ask thisquestion. It’s similar to someoneasking, “Why do we have to eatthree times a day?” or “Why do wehave to eat only healthy things?” It’squite obvious that anyone wholearns “D’var Malchus” lives withand internalizes the content of thesesichos and simply can’t refrain fromlearning them on a regular basis,year after year. It instills the vitalityof Moshiach into our entire week.

With such a “Geula’dike”radiance throughout the week, howcan we get not just otherLubavitchers interested in learning“Dvar Malchus” but also Jews fromall walks of life?

Rabbi Yosef Pizem: Several yearsago, when I was a yeshiva studentin Kfar Chabad, we would travel toyeshiva high schools in order tolearn Tanya with the students,accompanied by Rabbi Aharon DovHalperin. On one of these journeys,he told us that back in his yeshivadays, he helped to organize a shiur

MOSHIACH

LIVING ANDLEARNING

TRANSLATED BY MICHOEL LEIB DOBRY

“Do everything in your ability to bringMoshiach Tzidkeinu in actual deed” – thisfamous quote from the Rebbe MH”M’s sichafrom the 28th of Nissan, 5751 served as thefocal point of a recent symposium in KfarChabad on the subject of studying “D’varMalchus,” the Rebbe’s sichos from 5751-5752,attended by about one thousand people. Themain event of the evening was a paneldiscussion with mashpiim and shluchim whohave dealt with various aspects of the “D’varMalchus” sichos. * Part 2 of 2

at Yeshivas Kol Torah inYerushalayim, where many of thestudents were raised as Gererchassidim. When it was suggestedthat they participate in a Tanyaclass, they replied that they wouldfirst have to ask their rebbe. One ofthe organizers went in to the then-Gerer rebbe, the Beis Yisroel, andtold him that he and others areorganizing a Tanya shiur in theyeshiva and the students wanted toknow if they were allowed toparticipate. The Beis Yisroel’s reply:“They’re organizing, they learn! It’svery good that they shouldparticipate!” As a result, the Gererstudents participated and were veryimpressed.

What does this tell us? It’s clearthat if we bring these Jews to learn“D’var Malchus,” it will prove to bea big success. They see the sichaitself, the richness in itsinterpretation, its light, its brilliantinnovations down to the last detail,the degree to which it adds to theirprevious knowledge, etc. – itabsolutely grabs any learned Torahscholar. We see that when theylearn, they understand – and thiscomes from within and is acceptedin a totally different manner, andthus has influence.

Regarding the ability to give thesichos over in different places, it’squite obvious that you can’t giveover all the interpretations eachsicha contains. You have to investconsiderable effort to understandthe sicha and to translate the wordsaccurately. If a certain avreich goesto teach a class on the sicha, heshould learn it thoroughly andconsult the footnotes that the Rebbebrings. If he does so, he willsucceed in properly conveying thesicha’s message.

Naturally, one has toappropriately prepare before a shiurin “D’var Malchus,” as does aschoolteacher, to know how toclarify the sicha’s words and

expressions in a befitting manner sothat the student can easily acceptand grasp the material. If this isdone properly, it is readily acceptedby anyone. Even if we’re talkingabout people who don’t know yetwho the Lubavitcher Rebbe is, it’spossible to start the class with anauthentic miracle story or someother amazing occurrence with theRebbe. This arouses much greaterinterest and respect for the whole

subject, which is then absorbedmuch more successfully.

It’s quite easy to talk about theneed “to live with Moshiach and theRedemption,” however, in practice,it’s not so simple. This is a subjectfor which the yetzer ha’ra posessome very powerful roadblocks.How do we deal with this?

Rabbi Levi Yitzchok Ginsberg:I’m supposed to explain how you

deal with the goy? L’chaim, L’chaim!

As we know, Moshiach is both aking and a rav, and the Rebbebrings two things in his sichos.From the point of view of a king,this is a matter of accepting theyoke of his sovereignty, achievedspecifically through “encompassing”matters. However, from the “inner”side, we have to place the lightsinto vessels. And as the Rebbe hasrepeatedly explained, the easiestand most direct way to achieve thisis through learning about Moshiachand the Redemption, particularlythe teachings of the leader of thegeneration. This “inner” approachproves effective even with thosewho are not Lubavitchers, evensimple Jews who know that theRebbe is a Torah giant, a wise man,and a tzaddik, even if they don’tknow about all his unique qualities:leader of the generation, Moshiach,etc. This is because the Rebbe saysclearly that the easiest and mostdirect way to bring Moshiach inactual deed is to learn aboutMoshiach and the Redemption.

Through this method, we knowhow to “live” in our present-daysituation. This is the main thing,and we must instill this everywhere.The emphasis is to learn the entire“Dvar Malchus,” not just bits andpieces here and there. We must tryand understand well what messagethe Rebbe is conveying to us.However, this goes together withthe need for avoda on theencompassing level of “makif” andthe shturem of “Yechi Adoneinu”and “chai v’kayam” from everypossible direction – and it works.

We’re talking here about “inner”avoda and “encompassing” avoda.Do the activities conducted in thestreet – e.g., stickers, flags, signs,billboards, etc. – have an opposingor a complementary influence uponthe “inner” study of D’var Malchus?

Rabbi Zalman Notik: Without


PANELISTS:

Rabbi Mordechai GalDirector, Chabad House,

Ramat Gan

Rabbi Levi YitzchokGinsberg

Mashpia, Yeshivas TomcheiT’mimim, Kfar Chabad

Rabbi Yosef GinsburghRosh Yeshiva and Chabad

House Director, Ramat Aviv

Rabbi Zalman NotikMashpia, Yeshivas Toras Emes,

Yerushalayim

Rabbi Yosef PizemPrincipal, Chabad Talmud

Torah, Krayot

MODERATOR:

Rabbi Menachem MendelHaKohen Friedman

Director, Chabad House,Ohr Yehuda

detracting from what was saidearlier about the need for inneravoda, we first must state somebasic facts:

Lubavitch’s first sticker wasproduced in 5703 by the Rebbeshlita himself, when the RebbeRayatz started publicizing theconcept of “L’Alter L’T’shuva, L’AlterL’Geula” (Immediate Repentance,Immediate Redemption). Each day,when the Rebbe traveled to work inManhattan, he would put stickerson the chairs. The Rebbe wouldsometimes remove the words“L’Alter L’T’shuva” and leave only

“L’Alter L’Geula.”

No one debates that there is aneed for avoda “p’nimius” – thispoint is accepted without question.However, we have to remember thatwe must also do everything that weknow possesses the strength tobring a Jew to live with Moshiach.There is no preferential order here– i.e., first do this, and onlyafterwards, do that. The mainprinciple is that anything you knowthat the Rebbe wants and anymethod you can use to influenceanother Jew accordingly – you mustcarry out.

Permit me to tell you a littlestory: One day, back in 5752, awoman came to my house inYerushalayim. When she entered,she asked me (as if to make sure),“Does a Lubavitcher family livehere?” She simply saw the“Preparing for the Coming ofMoshiach” sign outside, and saidthat she is very interested inChabad.

Not long afterwards, there was abig farbrengen in Yerushalayim, andthe decision was made to go outwith the Moshiach Campaign,speaking to people about Moshiach.As a Lubavitcher resident ofYerushalayim, it was a little difficultfor me to do this. I would knock onthe doors of people’s homes and saythat I wanted to speak with themabout Moshiach. They thought thatI was either eccentric or crazy.

Suddenly, I remembered thatwoman who came to visit us andsaid that she was interested inChabad. We made contact with oneanother, and I began to talk to herabout Moshiach. Today, she is afull-fledged Lubavitcher and herchildren study in Chabadinstitutions.

The logical moral to this story isthat while there is a clear need forp’nimius, chassidishkait, and “avodasha’t’filla,” we still have to put the

sticker on the front door, because ithas an influence. The bottom line isthat anything that can instill theidea of Moshiach and the


Rabbi Mordechai Gal:When you are calledupon to say a d’varTorah, you mustimmediately give oversomething from“D’var Malchus.” Inthis manner, “D’varMalchus” will beinstilled in everyhome, everycommunity, and everyvillage. We must workto open new shiurimin “D’var Malchus,”and the poweremitting from thesesichos will do the job

Rabbi Yosef Pizem:They see the sichaitself, the richness in itsinterpretation, its light,its brilliant innovationsdown to the last detail,the degree to which itadds to their previousknowledge, etc. – itabsolutely grabs anylearned Torah scholar.


Redemption in another Jew must bedone without hesitation.

Rabbi Levi Yitzchok Ginsberg:

This conference has placed aconsiderable emphasis on p’nimius –learning the sichos of “D’varMalchus.” Be that as it may, there isalso a strong place, now more thanever, for things from the makif(encompassing) aspect. While it’strue that we cannot settle for makifalone, there is no denying the factthat the makif has a powerful effectand influence.

I once heard from Rabbi ChaimAshkenazi about election

campaigns, past and present. In theold days, political partyrepresentatives would make electionrallies in the city square, andpeople would come to listen to theparty leaders. Similarly, partyactivists would go from house tohouse and try to convince you thattheir party is the best and deservesyour vote. Today, in contrast, theyhang huge billboards and put bigposters on buses. In politics, there’sno more “inner avoda” the waythere once was.

It’s obvious that if this form ofcampaigning did not influencepeople, they wouldn’t bother usingit. Yet, in our generation, the“makif” approach works the best,because ours is the lowest of allgenerations.

When all the buses are filledwith Moshiach, the world cries outMoshiach (and a very big yasherko’ach goes to Rabbi Yaron Bar-Zohar and all those involved in thisproject). A person hears aboutMoshiach here, “Yechi Adoneinu”there, sees a sticker, then a flag, andit eventually influences him. It’strue that we’re not allowed to settlefor this alone, but when we saythis, sometimes someone gets upand says, “First of all, you’re notallowed” or “This is not appropriatenow.”

While there is a clear need tolearn about Moshiach and theRedemption p’nimius, we also haveto work in every direction,including “makif,” and experienceshows that public relationscampaigns never come back empty-handed.

The subject of studying “D’varMalchus” (and at times, the veryname “D’var Malchus” tends to stirpeople up in the chareidicommunities) should unite Jews onthe level of “as one man and withone heart,” similar to Mattan Torah.How do we do this?

Rabbi Zalman Notik: Theprinciple is: Never speak against,only for. This is an important rule.On the contrary, we must speakfavorably about our fellow Jews,even if they don’t exactly agree withour line of thinking...

A fundamental plank in theplatform of a Jew who is connectedto Moshiach is not to speak againstsomeone who doesn’t think the wayyou do. This is one of the mostinnovative and defining lines of the

Rabbi Levi YitzchokGinsberg: It’s obviousthat if this form ofcampaigning did notinfluence people, theywouldn’t bother usingit. Yet, in ourgeneration, the“makif” approachworks the best,because ours is thelowest of allgenerations.

Rabbi Zalman Notik:The principle is: Neverspeak against, only for.This is an importantrule. On the contrary,we must speakfavorably about ourfellow Jews, even if theydon’t exactly agreewith our line ofthinking...

seventh generation (unlike the daysof the Rebbe Rashab and the RebbeRayatz, who sometimes expressedthemselves harshly regarding Jewswho did not learn chassidus, etc.).The Rebbe never speaks against anyJew who does not learn chassidus,and there’s no such thing as a Jewwho’s not a Lubavitcher – of course,they’re all Lubavitchers, etc. TheRebbe uses this perspective: Speakonly in praise of the Jewish People,in praise of Jews who learned inTomchei T’mimim, those who areconnected to the Rebbe and learnchassidus.

Rabbi Mordechai Gal: Thecentral point of this evening is toincrease the number of people wholearn “D’var Malchus.” “D’varMalchus” belongs to all Lubavitch,and is not the sole property of oneover another. The suggestion thatsomeone understands less and

belongs less to the study of “D’varMalchus” is totally unacceptable tome.

Rabbi Zalman Notik: This isexactly the approach that I wasreferring to earlier.

Rabbi Mordechai Gal: Anotherpoint: Involvement in “D’varMalchus” lets each person live withthe Rebbe with every fiber of hisbeing. Tanya and Chabad chassidushelps us understand that we are allrather complex: animal soul, self-sacrifice, ups and downs. Efforts tobring this mode of learning tocertain communities only arecontradictory to the whole openand broad purpose of “D’varMalchus.”

Together with the Rebbe MH”M,we must conquer Eretz Yisroel andthe world with all its fine peoplewho are most relevant in thismatter. If we don’t bring it to them,

make room for them, and let themunderstand the concepts in an“inner” fashion, we achieve theexact opposite results. We can coversome limited ground, but we missgetting to the heart of the matter.“D’var Malchus” is p’nimius, and itcan and must be expanded upon.

The main thing is the need forgreater increase. I see that womenare organizing their own “D’varMalchus” classes, and are evenlearning portions of the sichos byheart. When you are called upon tosay a d’var Torah, you mustimmediately give over somethingfrom “D’var Malchus.” In thismanner, “D’var Malchus” will beinstilled in every home, everycommunity, and every village. Wemust work to open new shiurim in“D’var Malchus,” and the poweremitting from these sichos will dothe job on its own.


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CHITAS

INYONEI GGEULA

& MMOSHIACH

RAMBAM

SHIURIM IIN LLIKUTEI

SICHOS KKODESH

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STORY

I went to give my weekly shiur, asusual, in a distant neighborhood.Actually, it wasn’t as usual. Thatparticular week I moved the shiur aday earlier so I could attend the barmitzva of friends, fellow shluchim.After all, women shouldn’t miss theirweekly learning because I had a barmitzva to go to!

Having no other recourse, I usepublic transportation to get to everyshiur, farbrengen, or mivtza. Thetime wasted waiting for buses andthe tiring trips with endless stops getto me sometimes. I could accomplishso much more if I had my own car orat least someone who could drive meback and forth to shiurim!

Hashem plans man’s footsteps, allthe more so the footsteps of aChassid, and all the more so thesteps of a shliach, but we onlyappreciate this in hindsight.

Although we were on summertime for a few months already, thestreet was dark and deserted. I wasalone at the bus stop, enjoying a fewmoments of silence before the shiur,where I would meet happy andsomewhat boisterous women. I

would make every effort to interestthem for the next two hours withChassidus, halacha, and stories.

I was lost in thought of distantplaces, i.e., 770 Beis Chayeinu. Ah,how wonderful it would be to bethere now, to stand in the doorway ofthe women’s section and gaze at theholy place...

I didn’t have time for moremusings. I was here, on shlichus. Faraway physically but close spiritually,and it is this feeling of closeness thatI have to convey to the group ofwomen who are taking giant stepstowards the Rebbe MelechHaMoshiach.

The noise of the approaching busroused me from my thoughts and Iboarded the bus. Aside from a dimlight over the bus driver, the bus wascompletely dark. I looked around fora place to sit.

Oy! Who did I notice in the dark,sitting behind the driver? A Chassidwho came from distant parts who iscompletely devoted to the Rebbe’sinyanim. He owns a car and is neverseen on public transportation.

Why did I say oy? Because with

all respect for the speed of hisbecoming a baal t’shuva, he stillhadn’t absorbed all the nuances oflife as a Chassid. In his greatenthusiasm he sometimes stops meon the street for something oranother... I didn’t feel comfortabletelling him that this is just not done,and I always found myself squirminguncomfortably when he stopped mein public.

And here we were on the bus.Why was he on the bus anyway? Andwhy on this bus line and at thishour? I hoped he wouldn’t noticeme. It’s quite dark and I don’t standout, but no such luck. The onlyavailable seat was diagonallyopposite him. It didn’t take morethan a second until he turned hishead around. At least nobody couldsee me blushing in the dark.

“Hello,” he said. His voice was abit too loud and he could be heardclearly in the silence. How do I getout of this encounter in aChassidishe and smooth way withoutoffending him?

“Can you take on a group?”

A group of what? Ball players? Iassume that half the passengers arelistening avidly to this conversation,though so far it’s only one-sided.

I had no choice. I had to respond.I took a deep breath and made aquick request of the Rebbe that I notbe humiliated and said, “What sort of

This is a story of a shlucha who took the busto give a shiur and got into an awkwardconversation that led to surprising results. *A wonderful story of hashgacha pratis.

A MATCH MADEIN HEAVEN

BY A SHLUCHA


group?”

“A group of girls in their twenties,who want to learn about Judaismfrom a Chassidic perspective. Realbeginners.”

“Of course, with pleasure.” Ianswered briefly, hoping he wouldcatch on that I was extremelyuncomfortable and would continuethe conversation on the phone.

“What evening do you haveavailable?”

I told him that I was free onMonday nights and they could cometo my house to get acquainted.

“But this Monday night you arenot free?” he wondered.

At this point, I had to elaborateand explain to him and all my fellowpassengers who were hanging on toevery word of our conversation, thatalthough I wasn’t free this Monday,this was an exception because of asimcha.

After he digested thisinformation, he promised to give thegirls my phone number and leave therest to me. With wishes for successthe conversation ended, finally, thankG-d.

I sank back into my seat, hopingthat my face was returning to itsnormal color. I tried to ignore mydiscomfort and before I could focusmy thoughts again, I felt a gentle tapon my shoulder.

An unfamiliar voice said, “Excuseme, are you the rabbanit who givesshiurim in the X neighborhood? Areyou on your way to give a shiur therenow?”

I confessed that indeed this wasthe case. At least this time theconversation only required that Iturn my head, rather than speakingloudly across a crowded bus,although I had no idea who I wastalking to.

Her next question was, “Can Iattend your shiur? I’ve wanted to

attend it for a while. I’m on my wayhome but if it’s okay with you, Iwould join you.”

Would I agree? Of course! Askinga shlucha of the Rebbe whether sheagreed to include someone in ashiur?! I want to have more andmore women join my shiur! TheRebbe’s new mivtza is to start moreand more shiurim, to add newprojects, to be mekarev more andmore Jews. And believe me,sometimes the desire is strong but weare unsuccessful. Here the Rebbe wassending me a new, unfamiliar womanon a silver platter without the least

bit of effort on my part.

Without being able to turnaround to face the anonymouswoman or girl behind me, I told herto watch when I got off and to followme.

A few stops later, we got offtogether and walked to the local shulwhere the weekly shiur has beentaking place for a few years.

In the few minutes we had towalk together, I learned a few detailsabout her background. Her namewas Edna and she was from atraditionally observant family. She

was not married. She worked at adesirable profession and in thecourse of her work had becomeacquainted with the shlucha in herarea. She was interested in ChabadChassidus.

Her pure faith and innocence wasoutstanding. I didn’t have toconvince her of anything and I feltthat I had the privilege of meeting aspecial person. I strongly felt thatthis would not be a one-timemeeting.

We were in the doorway of theshul but the gate was locked.Something was amiss. Today, of alldays, when I had a new pupil and Ihad to make a positive firstimpression, it was starting off on theleft foot. I apologized for theunpleasantness and we waited forsomeone else to come.

We exchanged a few moreremarks and then I saw two womenheading in our direction. Theyhappily informed me that thelocation of the shiur had beenchanged because of a simcha in thehome of one of the participants. Shewanted us to come to her house forthe Chai Elul farbrengen as acontinuation of the seudas mitzvathat had begun a few hours before.

More apologies. Perhaps it wasn’tcomfortable for Edna, who didn’tknow any of the women, to go to aprivate home where they werecelebrating a family simcha. ButEdna had been looking for anopportunity to learn and she wasn’tgoing to pass this one up.

I greatly admired herdetermination and was even enviousof her. Halevai I had her enthusiasmand persistence.

We entered the house and satdown. Two minutes later a womancalled me over to the side.

“Who’s that woman who camewith you?”

“I don’t know her except for her

“Hello,” he said. Hisvoice was a bit too

loud and he could beheard clearly in thesilence. How do I getout of this encounterin a Chassidishe andsmooth way without

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name and what she does.” I toldDevorah how Edna had come alongwith me to the shiur.

“But why are you asking?”

It turns out that Devorah had asingle brother-in-law, a bachur whohad become a mekurav of the Rebbeand she was looking for a suitableshidduch for him. I said I would askEdna, who I knew all of half an hour,if she was interested in a shidduch,and if she was, whether she wouldmeet with someone who was makingstrides in his study of Chassidus.

Well, Edna was interested! Iintroduced Edna to Devorah andthey conferred in a corner of thehouse while we continued with thefarbrengen. Devorah was very

impressed and instinctively felt thatEdna and her brother-in-law had alot in common. This might work!

To make a long story short, Ednaended up engaged to Devorah’sbrother-in-law. Today, their home isnot only a Beis Chabad because ofthe sticker on the door but is truly ahouse of Torah, avoda, and chesed, aMoshiach center, Tzivos Hashemheadquarters, etc.

The initial matchmaker got off thebus confident that the group of girlswho were taking their first stepstowards Yiddishkait would be asource of much Chassidic nachas. Hedidn’t dream that the girls might notexactly fulfill his expectations, butunknowingly he became the link inthe chain that connected Edna and

the Rebbe, Moshiach of ourgeneration, and then Edna and herbashert!

And I learned some lessons fromthis episode. Of course, there was thehashgacha pratis, that Hashem plansevery detail of our lives. I also saw aclear demonstration of the role of aChassid as a lamplighter, especially ashliach. I learned that the Rebbeselects the souls that belong to himlike the Rebbe Rashab picked thestudents of Tomchei T’mimim, andthat he ensures that they come tohim.

And finally, the power of aChassidishe farbrengen whichaccomplishes what the Angel Michoelcannot accomplish.

CHAPTER 11MAINTAINING

TOMCHEI T’MIMIM

After the Rebbe left Leningrad forRiga, the administration of TomcheiT’mimim fell into the hands of thefamous Chassid, R’ Chonye(Elchonon Dov) Morosov (mayHashem avenge his blood). Whenmy father arrived in Leningrad, hebecame very close with R’ Chonyeand helped a lot in his holy work ofmaintaining the yeshiva.

I heard from the Morosovbrothers, R’ Mendel, R’ Moshe, and

R’ Sholom, that their father wouldsit with my father for hours uponhours. They were still young anddidn’t quite follow the conversation,especially since the adults spoke inlow tones and everything was topsecret.

What they did understand wasthat the conversation was aboutTomchei T’mimim, Lubavitch, andother communal matters that wereimportant to the Chassidim of thosedays. And they knew this because assoon as my father would arrive attheir home, R’ Chonye would dropeverything, sometimes even when in

the middle of davening, and sit withmy father to arrange urgent matters.

Despite their young age, theyknew that their father was one of thepillars of Chabad Chassidim, butthey wondered about my father.How was a bachur in his twenties soinvolved in communal matters?

Mrs. Rivka Minkowitz (Chein)told me that she once visited heruncle, R’ Yisroel Neveler, at hishome in Tashkent, and she saw ayoung man come by, at five a.m., tolearn with him. When she learnedthat the shiur took place daily, sheasked her uncle who he learnedwith. He replied, “You don’t knowhim? That’s Chaikel Chanin.” Whenshe asked who Chaikel Chanin was,he answered, “Chaikel is ‘intellect.’”

R’ Yisroel Neveler was a sharpperson and older than my father andhe was generally terse when it cameto praise, yet he flattered my fathersince he held him in such highesteem.

My father also worked closelywith R’ Yona Cohen (may Hashemavenge his blood), who was menahelof Tomchei T’mimim and one of theselect T’mimim, in maintaining thechadarim and yeshivos. They wereso close that when my father leftRussia he gave R’ Yona his apartmentand all its contents. After the massemigration of Chabad Chassidim, theN.K.V.D. arrested him and tortured


MEMOIRS

AMONGELEVATED MEN

BY RABBI SCHNEUR ZALMAN CHANIN

Just as R’ Chaikel admired and honored thegreat and elder Chassidim, so too, theyhonored and esteemed him for his energy, histalents, and his devotion to the needs ofindividuals and the community. * They allknew you could rely on R’ Chaikel. You wouldnever hear him say “impossible” or “I can’t.”* In the following chapter we read about hisconnections and his work, while still abachur, with the lions of Chabad in Russia,i.e., R’ Chonye Morosov, R’ Nissan Nemenov,and R’ Dovid Horodoker.

15Issue Number 529 - BEIS MOSHIACH

him.

I heard it said in the name of R’Shmuel Pruss that R’ Yona once toldhim, “You have to reckon withChaikel’s opinion.”

SHLIACH TO MOSCOWR’ Shmuel Pruss was my father’s

dear friend. I remember theirmeeting when R’ Shmuel came toBeis Chayeinu for the first time afterleaving the Vale of Tears. This wasan emotional meeting and words failme in describing the meeting, thelove and affection that theyshowered upon one another, and theconversations that lasted long intothe night.

R’ Shmuel told me how theycollected money for maamud (tosupport the Rebbe’s household)when the Rebbe had already leftRussia. From his recounting, youlearned what mesirus nefesh thisentailed.

Anash in Leningrad were oncetold, by diplomatic mail from theSwiss embassy, that the money inKupas Rabbeinu was depleted andthe Rebbe was in dire straits.Because of the fear of the authoritiesand the N.K.V.D. they didn’t know ifthis was true or not. SomeChassidim feared that the N.K.V.D.

had spread this rumor to trap themand catch those who were inconstant touch with the Rebbe andthose who sent the money.

The Chassidim held a meetingand decided to send a specialmessenger to make contact with theshadar, R’ Nissan Nemenov, wholived in Malachovka at the time, asuburb of Moscow. He was to verifywhether R’ Nissan knew about theRebbe and whether the informationthey had received was accurate. Themessenger they sent was R’ ShmuelPruss.

When he arrived in Moscow hefound R’ Nissan in shul davening. R’

Shmuel, who knew R’ Nissan, knewthat R’ Nissan was a true oved andspent hours on his davening. He wasafraid that the sun would set beforehe would have a chance to talk withR’ Nissan. Every minute wasprecious to R’ Shmuel because hedidn’t have a permit to stayovernight in Moscow, which wasnecessary in those days, and hewanted to settle the matter andreturn immediately.

So he hovered around R’ Nissanuntil he managed to distract him andindicate to him that he had aprivate, urgent matter to discusswith him that could not bepostponed and could not bediscussed in shul.

R’ Nissan quickly finisheddavening, took his tallis and t’fillin,and began walking in the directionof the street with R’ Shmuelfollowing him. It was a hot day andthe sun shone fiercely. R’ Shmuellonged for a drink of water. Hewould have stopped and bought acup of water but then he was likelyto lose sight of R’ Nissan.

Thus an hour went by with R’Nissan walking and R’ Shmuelfollowing behind, via narrow streets,right and left, until they came to acertain house. R’ Nissan entered withR’ Shmuel right behind him.

The heat and his thirst were suchthat as soon as R’ Shmuel enteredthe house he grabbed a cup andfilled it with water and was about togulp it down in order to slake histhirst. But R’ Nissan grabbed hishand and stopped him fromdrinking.

“Slow down,” he said. “Why areyou grabbing? Drinking like thatcould cost you to lose both thisworld and the next.”

R’ Shmuel respected R’ Nissan’sguidance. This was the side benefitof this trip, receiving a lesson inbehavior. R’ Shmuel told me, “I

R’ Nissan grabbed hishand and stopped him

from drinking.“Slow down,” he said.

“Why are yougrabbing? Drinkinglike that could costyou to lose both thisworld and the next.”

thought that this was, indeed, theway of a Chassid, a true servant ofG-d. For R’ Nissan had also walkedin the heat of the day and certainlyhe too was thirsty, but he hadworked on himself until he reachedthe level where he knew how tocontrol his desires.”

After R’ Nissan heard about thenews from Beis Chayeinu and thefears of Anash in Leningrad, he saidthere was nothing to fear. He hadreceived the same information fromthe Rebbe’s secretary, R’ ChatsheFeigin. He added that of course theymust immediately raise money forthe Rebbe.

We must remember that at thistime in Russia, people had no sayabout their personal lives. “MotherRussia” told them where to sleep,where and when to travel, andwhere to work. It was forbidden forsomeone to remain overnight out oftown without the proper papers.Every building manager was a spywho informed the authorities aboutsuspicious people who came asguests. That is why R’ Shmuelreturned to Leningrad that samenight.

“ALL HE HAD” – TOTHE REBBE

The next morning there was asecret emergency meeting of theg’dolei ha’Chassidim and some ofAnash, in which they decided on asum of maamud money that neededto be raised from each city that hada Lubavitch community. InLeningrad, the matter was arrangedand the money was collectedimmediately.

The Chassid R’ Leibel Mochkintold me that at that meeting theydecided to send him to Moscow sohe could bring the money theycollected in order to send it to theRebbe Rayatz, as well as to collectfrom the Chassidim in Moscow. Theychose him because he was a young

bachur and it was unlikely that hewould be suspected of beinginvolved in such things. But whenhe arrived in Moscow heencountered many difficulties and itwas only after much effort that hemanaged to receive the necessarysum.

R’ Leibel compared the niceresponse in Leningrad to thedifficulties he experienced inMoscow and wondered about it.When he returned home he askedhis father, R’ Peretz for anexplanation. In Moscow, there weremore Chassidim than in Leningradand yet less money was raised withmore effort!

R’ Peretz answered: What don’tyou understand? In Moscow thereare more Anash but in Leningradthere’s R’ Chaikel and he gave almostthe entire amount!

Along similar lines, my fathertold me that once, R’ NissanNemenov came to Leningrad to raisemaamud money for the Rebbe. Heheld a large meeting of Anash and

told them, in the name of R’Chatshe, the Rebbe’s secretary, thatthe financial situation was dire and alarge amount of money was neededdesperately.

His dear friend, R’ Pinye Altheus,who was exceedingly poor, came tohim and said: Chaikel, did you hear?Nissan came to collect money formaamud. What do we do?

My father said: What do youmean? We must give what we have.

R’ Pinye, who didn’t even havemoney for bread and water andwasn’t working at that time, told myfather: I know that, but what do youdo if you have nothing to give andyou have to give money formaamud? You know what, Chaikel?My wife bought me a pair of shoes.Buy them from me and I’ll havemoney for maamud.

When my father told this story,he would conclude: This is aChassid and good friend of theRebbe. For him, this was mesirusnefesh because he walked in tornshoes.

EXEMPT FROM THE MITZVA AND THE ARMYMy father told me more about the brother of R’ Pinye Altheus, the

Chassid, R’ Shmuel Betzalel (Shmilik) Altheus. Once, when he was inLeningrad at the home of the Rebbe Rayatz, and he saw that theRebbe was preparing to eat lunch, he thought of running to thekitchen in order to be able to aid the Rebbe with the washing.

He was next to the faucet and wanted to fill the cup and give it tothe Rebbe, when Chana, the Rebbe’s daughter, dashed in and grabbedthe mitzva away. R’ Shmuel Betzalel was upset for he wanted to servethe Rebbe but she had grabbed the opportunity away from him. Shewould be able to serve her father the next day or the day after, whilethis was an opportunity that was taken away from him.

The Rebbe smiled and said, “Shmilik, you’re a bit lame. Ah, leaveher alone.”

R’ Shmuel Betzalel didn’t understand what the Rebbe meant bythis. It was only years later, during the war, when he was drafted andslightly wounded in the leg that he understood. As a wounded soldierhe received an exemption and was sent home from the front and thissaved his life. Apparently, the Rebbe’s words were the “cure” beforethe “blow.”


THE STRENGTHOF A CHASSID

I heard in the name of R’ ShmuelPruss that when his passport expiredhe went to R’ Chonye to write to theRebbe and ask for a bracha for him.The answer from the Rebbe came ona piece of cigarette paper and said:“Whoever accepts upon himself theyoke of Torah, etc., will not be asoldier.” In other words, they wouldnot draft him. In hindsight they sawthat upon receiving that answer, R’Chonye received the ability to givebrachos.

This is what happened:

At the beginning of the 30’s, rightafter the answer for R’ Shmuel Pruss,Tomchei T’mimim was in terriblefinancial shape and they needed alarge sum of money for the yeshivaand for maamud. A large farbrengentook place on Shabbos and R’Chonye drank a lot of mashke andannounced that whoever gave 200rubles for the yeshiva would receivea “white paper” which meant amilitary exemption.

People responded eagerly, someof them doing so because theyhoped they would receive anexemption and some of them doing

so because they understood the direneed. But one of the bachurimlaughed at R’ Chonye and said: Howcan you be so sure? And he did notgive the requested sum.

Within a few days, all those whowere eligible for the army and hadgiven or promised to give 200rubles, received a white paper. Andthat bachur received a draft noticeand had to go to the army. When hesaw he was in trouble, he went to R’Chonye to ask forgiveness and hebrought the 200 rubles for TomcheiT’mimim. But R’ Chonye said: Nowit’s too late. I can’t do anything now.

After much pleading and cryingthat R’ Chonye have mercy on him,R’ Chonye rested his head on thetable for a few minutes and thensaid: Give double and Hashem willhelp. And that’s what happened.

When my father would concludethis story he would say that theyrecognized then that that R’ Chonyewas an extraordinary man. He hadbeen the chavrusa of the RebbeRayatz when he was younger andthen his personal secretary, “Butapparently it wasn’t just an ordinarything. He was a Jew who worked onhimself, who fasted a lot, davenedall day and was careful in thought,

speech, and deed. He stood ahandbreadth above the ground andwas a spiritual man.”

At that farbrengen there wasTamim who was cross-eyed, andwhen it was his turn to get a brachafrom R’ Chonye, R’ MenashehAltheus a”h got up and jokingly saidto R’ Chonye: Until now, you didmiracles, and now I’ll do a miracle.And he said to the Tamim: Do youhave 200 rubles? Give it to your wifefor household expenses. Go beforethe draft committee and look withone eye at the general and with theother eye at the door and I promiseyou that you will get a white paper.

Of course they all laughed but R’Menashe’s miracle came to pass too.

R’ DOVID HORODOKER’SREQUEST

In 5692 (1932), a famous anddistinguished Chassid, R’ DovidHorodoker (Kievman), came toLeningrad. R’ Dovid was a greatChassid, a scholar, and a yereiShamayim. My father told me thathe heard from elder Chassidim thatthe Rebbe Rashab once said: It wasworth the entire founding ofTomchei T’mimim solely for DovidHorodoker.

One day, he came to my father’sapartment and asked to speak to himabout a private matter. Since “thewalls have ears,” they decided to goout to the street and talk as theywalked. R’ Dovid said that he hadcome to Leningrad because he wasvery sick. His leg was diseased withgangrene and the only thing thedoctors advised him to do wasamputate the leg.

The suffering from theamputation is not what botheredhim, he said. What bothered himwas that he did not want to leavethis world maimed. He asked myfather, who knew doctors andhospitals, whether he could find him


R’ Shmuel PrussR’ Nissan Nemenov

a doctor who could cure him.

My father, who was still a bachurat the time, promised to help himand considered it a great z’chus tohelp any Chassid, especially agenuine Chassid like R’ Dovid whoasked, from the depths of his heartto “leave this world whole; notmaimed, G-d forbid.”

My father made inquiries as towho were the top doctors in thisfield and after much effort andmoney under the table, he got anappointment with a famous doctor,the greatest in this field in Russia.

In Russia, at this bitter time, theylimited citizens in every way. Nearlyeverything had to be done illegallyand secretly. Even the appointmentwith the doctor had to be donesecretly and took place at thedoctor’s house and not at his office.

R’ Dovid Horodoker went to thedoctor’s house wearing old and tornclothes, as he was destitute. But hisface was refined like an angel’s andhis shining appearance testified towho he was and made a greatimpression on the doctor, who gavehim a great deal of attention.

The doctor checked himthoroughly but then said they had toreturn to his house when he wouldtell them the results of the tests andhis decision. A few days later thedoctor told them the gangrene hadspread and couldn’t be stopped. Ifthey wanted to save R’ Dovid’s lifethere was no choice but to amputate.

The news devastated R’ Dovidand he couldn’t control himself butcried bitterly over his lot. He askedmy father to keep looking for otherdoctors who might have a differentopinion. Perhaps a doctor outside ofRussia could somehow be consulted.Maybe a doctor with anotherapproach would find a way to treathim, the main thing being that whenit came time to bury him he shouldbe whole.

A NEW CURE

My father tried to calm R’ Doviddown and to encourage him not todespair. He promised to do all hecould to find other doctors andother approaches. A few days latersomeone told my father about a newmethod called homeopathy whichwas unknown by conventionalmedicine. The method had proveditself and there were good results forthose who tried it but how wouldthey find a doctor who practiced it?

After running around, ahomeopathic doctor was found andmy father took R’ Dovid to him. Thisdoctor checked R’ Dovid thoroughly,furrowed his brow and then saidthat he thought he could help him,but the treatment would take a longtime. He estimated that it wouldtake at least a few months andperhaps even as long as six months.He advised R’ Dovid to go to a placewith a warm climate where he couldtake mineral baths.

R’ Dovid had to sit for hourseach day covered with sand from hiswaist down on the beach or in desertsand, under the direct rays of thesun. Then, with Hashem’s help, thecombination of sand, sun, andminerals would effect a cure.

R’ Dovid was overjoyed. He saidthat through learning Chassidus andthe avoda of t’filla he hadaccustomed himself not to be drawnafter the animal soul, and so, whatdifference did it make; he would goto where it was sunny and there,under its rays, he would be able tolearn properly.

My father gave R’ Dovid moneyfor the trip and the treatment, aswell as money for daily expensessuch as food and lodging. R’ Dovid

THERE’S NO QUESTIONMy father remembered another story about R’ Dovid Horodoker

which shows his greatness and the great power of a genuine Chassid.When R’ Dovid was in Leningrad he was hosted by poor Jews. Aquestion came up regarding a chicken, and the lady of the housebrought the chicken to the rav of the city. The p’sak din was that thechicken was not kosher.

The poor lady was distressed, for if the chicken was treif, what wouldthey eat on Shabbos? She thought of asking her guest about the chicken,since he seemed like a rabbi. Perhaps he would declare the chickenkosher.

She gave the chicken to R’ Dovid and asked him whether it waskosher, without telling him that she had already asked a rav. R’ Dovidtook a good look, examining the chicken from all sides, and then, asthough a light bulb went off in his head, he said, “A rav alreadypaskened...” And if a rav already paskened, why was she asking him?


When he saw he wasin trouble, he went to

R’ Chonye to askforgiveness and hebrought the 200

rubles for TomcheiT’mimim. But R’

Chonye said: Now it’stoo late. I can’t do

anything now...

went abroad alone because MotherRussia, in her great concern for hercitizens, did not give any of hisfamily members exit permits even inorder to help R’ Dovid in his illness.

After nearly six months thetreatment was a success and theHealer of all flesh allowed R’ Dovidto recover.

AN AMAZING BRACHATHAT WAS FULFILLED

Before going home, R’ Dovidwent to Leningrad. My father gothim an appointment with the topdoctor who had examined himpreviously, so he could give hisopinion about R’ Dovid’s leg and saywhether he was cured or not. Thedoctor checked him and checkedhim again and could not believe thatR’ Dovid had recovered. He saidabout R’ Dovid: He is a holy man,and therefore, G-d cured him. Hesaid that according to medicine,there was no explanation for whathad happened and it wasn’t possiblefor the disease to disappear, leavingno trace.

Immediately after leaving thedoctor, my father brought R’ Dovidto his mother’s house (this wasbefore he married) and arranged athanksgiving meal and goodbyeparty at which the Chassidimfarbrenged till late at night.

When it came time to saygoodbye to R’ Dovid at the trainstation, R’ Dovid asked my father:

Chaikel, how can I thank you?

My father said it should be az’chus for him that he helped aChassidic Jew like R’ Dovid and thiswas a reward for his efforts. R’ Dovidsaid that he knew that my father hadpaid a fortune for the treatments andthe expenses of the trip and that heappreciated all the efforts he hadmade to get doctors and everythingelse he had done.

When my father dismissed thesewords of gratitude, R’ Dovid placedhis hands around my father’s neckand hugged him tightly and kissedhim. With tears in his eyes, he saidthat he felt he owed my father hislife but he couldn’t repay him. The

only thing he could give my fatherwas a bracha that he never bebothered by the N.K.V.D. and theyshould never conduct a search of hishome. And they parted.

My father testified thatthroughout all the years that hespent in Russia, during the war andafter the war, until he left Russia,they did not conduct a single searchof his home and he was neverarrested. This was certainly a greatmiracle because the N.K.V.D.conducted thousands of searches inthe homes of Anash, looking forgold or coins of gold or silver.

Suspicion fell on my father sincehe had a respected position andeverybody knew that he gave afortune to Tomchei T’mimim. Andsad to say, there were numerousinformers. Yet, my father wasn’tbothered by the police.

As I related, my father lived inthe same apartment as mygrandfather (on my mother’s side),Rabbi Shmuel Nimotin (mayHashem avenge his blood). Theycame every few weeks to conduct asearch by my grandfather who wasso poor, and he was arrested anumber of times, saying that even ifhe didn’t have gold, then hecertainly knew who did, but they leftmy father alone.

My father saw how the ChassidR’ Dovid Horodoker was a trueChassid and he had the ability togive brachos.


R’ Dovid Horodoker

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Along with all these giluyim youcan’t deny the evil in the world, theterror?

True, because as I said earlier,the Geula shleima hasn’t actuallycome. We have a situation inwhich, on the one hand, we stillhave remnants of Galus that

express themselves in acts ofterrorism and all the other tzaros inthe world, and on the other hand,there is a blossoming of goodnessand kindness and the rallying ofmost of the nations of the worldagainst terrorism.

(It should be noted that the

primary terror perpetrated againstJews takes place in Eretz Yisroeland this is a result of the free willof a few Jews who do everything toencourage terror.)

When you look at the generalpicture you see that for fivethousand years klipa ruled withoutdissent, and the world was full ofevil between nations in general andtowards the Jewish people inparticular. Since 5751, we arewitness to a process of the breakingof the force of evil. Another klipadrops away and another dropsaway. The tremendous forces of thepowers of evil no longer exist.

Today, if a Jew wants to growspiritually, nobody will stop himaside from himself. You want tolearn Torah? Today you cannotcomplain that there is no shiurappropriate for you in yourlocation since you can dial a shiuron the phone or hear one over theInternet. You want beautiful t’fillin?Pick up the phone and the t’fillinare on the way. This is afundamental change in the world, achange which, if you think about ita bit, demonstrates that we are in anew era of the time of the Geula.

What remains? Our free will.We can still choose between good

MOSHIACH

THE ‘BOTTOM LINE’ OF CHABADCHASSIDUS

INTERVIEW BY AVROHOM RAYNITZ

The Besuras HaGeula, like all the Rebbe’steachings, is built on the foundations ofChabad Chassidus. If you study the Rebbe’slatter sichos, you realize that the BesurasHaGeula is an expression and revelation ofall the foundations of Chassidus. You can alsosee how the reality of the world fits the detailsof the Besuras HaGeula. * Rabbi YosefYitzchok Meizlich, shliach in Mexico, togetherwith a group of young scholars, published“HaT’kufa V’HaGeula,” a compilation of thedetails of the Besuras HaGeula as they arebuilt upon the foundations of ChabadChassidus. * Part 2 of 2

and evil. This will be true in thefirst era of Yemos HaMoshiach.There will be different eras and theprophecy of “and the spirit of evil Iwill remove from the earth” willnot be fulfilled immediately at thebeginning of the Messianic era (in asituation of “lo zachu” – they didnot merit).

So too with what the Rebbe saidabout the avodas ha’birurim beingfinished. This doesn’t mean thatthere is no more evil in the worldbut we have finished all thebirurim that had to be completedbefore the coming of Moshiach.

Galus and Geula are comparedto pregnancy and birth. There isthe gestational period when thelimbs of the fetus are not complete.There are no fingers, for example.At this point, birth is impossible. Itwould not be for the good of thechild. But, then a time comes whenall the limbs are complete, andthen there’s the birth. Let’s saythere’s a problem with one of thelimbs. This doesn’t prevent thebirth. Not only that, but it mightbe easier to treat the problem afterthe birth.

The Jewish people are presentlycomplete in all its limbs and ready

for Geula. The body is ready. Thisdoesn’t mean that there aren’t anysmall wounds here and there thatneed healing. But these are smallblemishes on the surface of theskin, not something internal andfundamentally lacking. In general,everything about us compared toprevious generations is like theheel of the foot, and a small woundin the heel will not hold up theGeula.

The reality, as you mentionedearlier, is also built on halacha.Where do we see the time of Geulawithin halacha?

From a halachic perspective, weare now in the stage of “a king willarise from the house of Dovid,” inthe process of carrying out theactivities to bring the Geula. Theonly posek who describes thestages of Geula is the Rambam andwhen we read his detaileddescription of what Moshiach does,we immediately see that thisdescribes the Rebbe’s activities inthe world.

This situation of a king willarise to compel all the Jewishpeople [to keep the Torah], with allthe breitkait that the Rambamdescribes, is something we never

had before. There were Jews whowanted to help the entire Jewishpeople, but practically speaking,they did not possess the means toreach all Jews.

When the Rambam writes, “hewill compel all the Jewish people,”he means a Jew who can reachevery Jew, literally. From the timeof Moshe Rabbeinu, when all Jewswere together in the desert, it wasnever possible for one Jew to reachevery single Jew wherever Jewslived. Even in the time of ShlomoHaMelech, it is explained inChassidus that goyim who wantedto receive his light had to go tohim.

In our generation, a revolutionhas taken place. A Jew sits inBrooklyn and there is not a Jew inthe world who has not beenimpacted by him in some way. Oneput on t’fillin thanks to him,another put up mezuzos, a thirdkeeps kosher. Even the work ofthose religious groups that “dokiruv” these days, comes as a resultof the revolution the Rebbewrought. There was nothing likethis in the history of the Jewishpeople that one Jew should haveinfluence over every Jew in theworld.

With the Rebbe, we also seehow he influences even goyim,wherever they are, with the SevenNoachide Laws, whether throughthe shluchim or throughtechnology that brings the Rebbe’smessage and influence to literallyall corners of the world.

Suddenly, this halacha in theRambam that describes thephenomenon of the revelation ofMoshiach sounds very realistic. Youlearn the Rambam and read a livingdescription of our times. I onceshowed these halachos to a LitvisheJew and he asked me, in allinnocence: Is it written this way inall editions? He simply saw in the


Rambam a detailed description ofthe Rebbe’s work!

If we’re talking about thehalachic perspective, I shouldmention that the Rebbe referredspecifically to piskei dinim ofrabbanim in connection to Geula.Back at the beginning of the 1990’sthe rabbanim paskened that theJewish people already did t’shuvaand the time for Geula has arrived.And there were those who alreadypaskened then that the Rebbe isMoshiach.

Today, there are hundreds ofrabbanim, morei halacha,Chassidim and Litvishe, from allbackgrounds, who have signed to ap’sak din that according to Torahthe time for Geula has arrived andthat the Rebbe has thequalifications of Moshiach.

One of the chapters of yourbook is dedicated to the topic ofprophecy, under the heading, “TheB’suras HaGeula with the Force ofProphecy.” What did the Rebbe saythat is considered prophetic?

The inyan of nevua inconnection with the BesurasHaGeula appears at length in thesicha of Shabbos Parshas Shoftim5751. If you study this sicha youwill discover that what the Rebbesaid about nevua is not limited to aspecific phrase which is prophetic,but that everything the Rebbe saidin the latter sichos about theBesuras HaGeula has the force ofnevua.

As the Rebbe says there, “All themore so as it has already come intospeech (“niv s’fasayim” is the inyanof nevua), as it has been customarylately to bring things out in speech,including and especially thatbehold the Geula comes.” TheRebbe is saying that all the thingsthat were said in connection to theBesuras HaGeula have the force ofprophecy.

What is the significance of

“divrei nevua” and how does it addto the impact of the BesurasHaGeula?

The Rebbe answers yourquestion in a footnote in that sicha.On the words, “the nevua of ‘L’Alterl’Geula’ and immediately mamash‘hinei zeh (Moshiach) ba,’” theRebbe writes, “not just as achacham and judge but as a navi,which is with certainty – see themaamarim of the Alter RebbeHaK’tzarim p. 355-6.”

In the Maamarim HaK’tzarim theAlter Rebbe explains the advantagenevua has over the ruach ha’kodeshof chachamim and tzaddikim. Withruach ha’kodesh, you see things asthey are in the supernal worlds,and it’s possible that things willchange before their time comes todescend to this physical world. Thenavi, on the other hand, sees whathappens in this physical world andtherefore there cannot be a change.

The Alter Rebbe goes on to


Today, if a Jewwants to grow

spiritually, nobodywill stop him asidefrom himself. You

want to learn Torah?Today you cannot

complain that thereis no shiur

appropriate for youin your location since

you can dial a shiuron the phone or hear

one over the Internet.You want beautifult’fillin? Pick up the

phone and the t’fillinare on the way. This

is a fundamentalchange in the world,

a change which, ifyou think about it a

bit, demonstratesthat we are in a newera of the time of the

Geula.

discuss the topic of kitzin (endpoints for Geula) and says thatwhen the Zohar says that the keitzought to be in 5408 (1748), surelyhe saw the truth but this was thetruth on a very high spiritual plane.Until this was drawn down into thephysical world there were changesand obstacles, but if a navi wouldhave said this, it certainly wouldtake place without any changes.

In other words, when a chachamsays that it will rain tomorrow, it’sbecause he saw in the supernalworlds that this is the way it oughtto be, and according to the usualway of things, what happens todayin the spiritual world comes downtomorrow in the physical world,and therefore, it ought to raintomorrow. However, since there isstill a long way between thesupernal world and our physicalworld, there can be changes.

If a navi says it will raintomorrow, he didn’t see rain in the

heavenly realm, but he seestomorrow as it is in this physicalworld. If he sees rain here, it mustrain. He sees the physical realitythat is taking place in the world.It’s just that he sees it before usand he tells us about it as a nevua.

This means that when the Rebberefers to the Maamarim HaK’tzarimof the Alter Rebbe, he means tostress even more that his nevuaabout the Geula is not just another“keitz” that he sees in the supernalworlds, but a physical Geula thathe already sees in this world. Andas we discussed earlier, we too arealready beginning to see the onsetof Geula in this world.

A nevua means that this isn’tsomething that can be changed. It’snot like a “golden opportunity” thatends at a certain point, but aprocess that comes as a directresult of the fact that we are in thetime of Geula, and nothing canchange this.

In addition to the authority ofthat which is said as a nevua, fromwhat the Alter Rebbe says it comesout that the very fact that the naviverbalizes his nevua, “nivs’fasayim,” this itself confirms thenevua within the bounds of theworld in a way that does not allowfor change. In our case, we mustsay that when the Rebbe verbalizedthis, it was established and becamethe reality in the world in a waythat does not allow for change.

An amazing thing happenedright after this sicha was said. Aswe mentioned, one of the majorevents that demonstrated that thetime for Geula has come is the fallof the Iron Curtain. Right after thesicha about nevua there was anattempted military coup in Russiafor the purpose of reinstatingcommunism. For a while, it lookedas though all those wonderfulchanges were temporary and thiswasn’t Geula, G-d forbid.

At the very time this attemptedrevolution was taking place, onShabbos Parshas Shoftim, theRebbe expressed the BesurasHaGeula and emphasized that hewas saying it as a nevua, andtherefore, the clock could not beturned back. Within a few days andin a completely miraculous manner,the revolution failed, andamazingly, there were nearly nofatalities.

During those few days ofuncertainty, some shluchim askedthe Rebbe whether they shouldleave the former Soviet Union.They received a very sharp answerfrom the Rebbe: “With the greatestsurprise I received the question –obviously, you should continuewith all your plans.”

Now wasn’t the shluchim’squestion legitimate? Why was theRebbe surprised by their question?Chassidim explained that this wasconnected with the sicha that wassaid on the previous Shabbos, andthat once the Rebbe had said thingsas a nevua, it was clear that all thethings the Rebbe had pointed to asbeing part of the Geula processwere said as a nevua and wereirreversible. Therefore, even if therewas an attempted military coup torestore communism, it was to beignored, and the Rebbe didn’t haveto be asked anything for it wasclear that within a short time itwould turn out to be nothing.

An interesting thing happenedto my brother-in-law, YehoshuaMetzger. At that same time, he wasproducing ads for the newspapersabout the coming of Moshiach.That week he was getting ready toput a big ad in the New York Timeswith the word “Moshiach” as aconnect-the-dots. Underneath theword it said, “Draw Your OwnConclusion.” The ad had a numberof thoughts for people to thinkabout, and if you put it alltogether, you would have to


Today, there arehundreds ofrabbanim, moreihalacha, Chassidimand Litvishe, from allbackgrounds, whohave signed to a p’sakdin that according toTorah the time forGeula has arrivedand that the Rebbehas the qualificationsof Moshiach.

conclude that the time for Geulahas come. One of the first pointswas the fall of communism.

On Monday, after word of thecoup got out, my brother-in-lawthought he should postponeprinting the ad since it would lookridiculous if the communistsreturned to power while we spokeabout the fall of communism as anindication of the coming ofMoshiach!

He asked the Rebbe and theRebbe did not agree to postponethe printing of the ad, but wantedthe ad in the paper that week. (Bythe way, the Rebbe really liked thisad and contributed his own moneytowards it.)

So at the height of the militarycoup, on Wednesday, the ad wassent to the paper and was printedthe next day. That Thursday, whenpeople read the paper they alsoheard the news of the failed coup!It turned out to be the best time forthe ad, because whoever thoughtabout it realized that the ad wasprepared right in the middle of thecoup and was prophetic in itswording.

This point, that the Geulaprocess is irreversible, is somethingthe Rebbe accomplished at thatfarbrengen on Shabbos ParshasShoftim, when he verbalized it alland emphasized that everything hewas saying at that time was beingsaid prophetically.

Getting back to the book that isbeing published in its secondedition, who is its target audience?

Our first target is every ChabadChassid who needs to know all thedetails of the Rebbe’s BesurasHaGeula in a way ofunderstanding. When we know andunderstand things as they areexplained at length in the Rebbe’ssichos, we can also pass along theBesuras HaGeula not only as aproclamation and with billboards(which are important to start with),but with a deep understanding.And this is our main job inpublicizing the Besuras HaGeula.

The book is written in a waythat a non-Lubavitcher, interestedin the topic, could understand. Werecommend that the book be givento rabbanim and other influentialpeople. When they learn it, theywill see it’s a whole “Torah” whichis based on a foundation of Torahand Chassidus.

In order to encourage Anash todistribute the book, R’ MenachemMendel Shagalov enabled us toreprint the book in both a soft-covered and a hard-coverededition. It will be distributed inEretz Yisroel and New York at areasonable price to enable Anash tobuy it and give it out.

If Anash distribute the book toyeshivos and kollelim of groupsother than Chabad, we are assuredthat the efforts won’t go to waste.The strengthening of emuna andbitachon in the Rebbe’s prophecy ofGeula will further hasten therealization of everything the Rebbesaid with the true and completeRedemption now!


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This situation of aking will arise, etc.,with all the breitkaitthat the Rambamdescribes, is somethingwe never had before.There were Jews whowanted to help theentire Jewish people,but practicallyspeaking, they did notpossess the means toreach all Jews.


The lawyers for the Chabad Sinaischool system in Paris left thecourthouse in shock. None of them,despite their years of experience, hadexpected such a harsh sentence: theforeclosing of three huge complexesin which thousands of boys and girlslearned. A slim chance remained toprevent this from happening. If theadministration could produce fivemillion Euros for the creditors withina short period of time, they couldavoid foreclosure.

Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Pevsner,director of the Sinai schools, with alldue respect, how did you get intosuch enormous debt (5 million Eurosis about 6 million dollars)?

Rabbi Pevsner, menahel for many

years, sighed deeply. “It’s a longstory... But it involves a chain ofmiracles and the Rebbe’s ruachha’kodesh.”

* * *

“Thousands of Parisian Jewishboys and girls attend the ChabadSinai school system. These mosdoswere founded by my father, RabbiHillel Pevsner. For many years, heworked on opening and maintainingthese schools. In 5741, my wife andI joined the hanhala after wereceived the Rebbe’s bracha. Sometime after we joined the hanhala, weacquired a large building and theschool expanded significantly.

“Remember, 5749 was Shnas

HaBinyan (the Year of Construction),in the course of which the Rebbeencouraged the building of newChabad houses and private homes. Itwas apparently an auspicious timeand the hanhala of the schoolsconvened for a meeting. Theyresolved in the meeting to build aspacious complex that would includeall our mosdos, in which thousandsof children are educated. We quicklybegan working on our plans andthen we sent a model to the Rebbe.

“The Rebbe’s involvement in thebuilding of the complex wasamazing. We received manyinstructions and brachos.Furthermore, the Rebbe evendonated a large sum towards thecosts of the building. You mightremember that that year the Rebbesaid that whoever built a private orpublic building would receive asymbolic $100 from the MachneIsrael fund.

“When I was in New York duringTamuz 5749, I was surprised to hearfrom Rabbi Leibel Groner, theRebbe’s secretary that the Rebbewould give $100 to anybody whocontributed towards the building inParis. The Rebbe put a time limit onthis, saying that whoever made adonation by Rosh HaShana wouldget $100 from him.

FEATURE

The Rebbe personally encouraged the foundingof the magnificent Chabad school system inParis and said a number of cryptic statementsthat weren’t understood until more than adecade later. * This is the miraculous story ofhow the Chabad schools in Paris were rescuedafter they had already declared bankruptcyand were about to be closed.

HOW BARON DEROTHSCHILD SAVEDTHE SINAI SCHOOLS

BY SHNEUR ZALMAN BERGER


“I was stunned, and after somediscussion we set an amount andsaid that whoever gave a minimumof $5000 would get the money andbracha from the Rebbe. The newsspread and the donations poured in.I remember that on Erev RoshHaShana, the last day for donations,there was a long line at my father’shouse. People wanted to give theirdonations because he was the onewho distributed the checks theRebbe sent.

“This special support of theRebbe was a tremendous help andwe raised a huge amount, beyond allour expectations, which paid for80% of the expenses of the building!We received the rest through a bank

loan.

“In Elul 5749, I went to theRebbe to submit a report about thetremendous success we had infundraising and to announce theopening of the new school year. Thatday at “dollars,” my brother,Avrohom Boruch of Yerushalayim,gave the Rebbe a seifer. I arrivedshortly after him and as I stoodfacing the Rebbe, the Rebbe turnedto Rabbi Groner and said, ‘This isalso a son of R’ Hillel?’ Rabbi Groneranswered yes, and the Rebbe raisedhis hands and said, ‘He is buildingSinai there...’

“I told the Rebbe that I came toannounce that we were beginning anew school year and would soon

have a Hachnasas Seifer Torah. TheRebbe suddenly said, seeminglyunrelated to anything, ‘Are there stilldebts?’

“I was taken aback. We hadcovered 80% of the costs (a rareachievement in those years when itcame to building mosdos) and theremaining 20% was hardlyconsidered serious debts. But if theRebbe said so, I remained silent.Then the Rebbe said, ‘I am givingyou another dollar for the debts.’

It was only years later, when thedebts were astronomical, that Iunderstood what the Rebbe wasalluding to.

“In Tishrei 5752, we inaugurated

The first complex in the Sinai empire.Inset: The third complex called Ki Tov.


the magnificent school complex. Thisbuilding contains the mosdoschinuch, which children attend fromthe age of two months until theymarry. In addition, the complexcontains a community center,mikvaos, a Chabad house, and muchmore.

“There was enormous publicitywith the opening of the firsteducational complex. This was thefirst time in the history of Francethat a Jewish school, seven storieshigh, 8500 square meters large, wasbuilt. We used the space as best wecould, and according to the Rebbe’sexplicit instructions to use the spacethat we had gotten to maximumeffect.

“The Rebbe considered itextremely important to build abeautiful building in France, andwanted it to be a model for othermosdos. The Rebbe even said weshould organize official visits ofimportant Jewish figures so theywould see how much was beinginvested in Jewish education.

“We went to the Rebbe again forShabbos Parshas VaYakhel 5752,heading a delegation of about ahundred people, including membersof the board, donors, and those whoworked on the plans and buildingthe complex. My father, rav of theLubavitch community and presidentof the Vaad Rabbanei Lubavitch inFrance, headed the delegation.

“We stood in line for dollars onSunday, 26 Adar I. When it was ourturn, we all approached the Rebbe,and my father, who founded theSinai mosdos, gave the Rebbe the keyto the building. The Rebbe took thekey, blessed us, and said with a bigsmile, ‘Immediately begin building anew building.’

“I was astounded. We had justfinished building a complex thatincorporated all the mosdos and nextto it were additional caravans readyto serve the mosdos at any time!

What did we need a new buildingfor? But the Rebbe’s instruction isholy...

“A few days later we all returnedto France, sorrowful and confusedover news of the Rebbe’s stroke thattook place the day after we saw theRebbe at dollars. The Rebbe’sinstruction prevailed over ourconfusion and I immediately called asenior figure in the municipality tocome and tour our mosdos. The idea

was for him to be impressed andhopefully, to get him to help usobtain a lot where we could buildanother building.

“After hearing the history of themosdos and about the Rebbe’sleadership and his explicitinstruction that we continue tobuild, he suddenly said, ‘Your Rebbeis a prophet!’

“I was utterly taken aback. Thenhe explained that the street where

the Chabad daycare center waslocated was designated fordemolition by the municipality, butthe building plans had not beenpublicized yet. According to theplans, those living on that streetwere to move to other areas and becompensated by the city. The planwas to sell the lots to privateinvestors.

“When I realized that the timewas ripe, I immediately presented arequest for a permit to build anadditional educational complex. Iwas easily given the permit since thecity wanted to compensate us forforcing us to leave the street wherethe daycare center was. (After wehad the permits, the city decided notto demolish the street after all, butthe permits were still ours.)

“On 11 Nissan 5753, the Rebbegave, through the secretaries, threebundles of dollars for the building.In one package were one hundred $5bills, in the second package were onehundred $10 bills, and in the thirdpackage were one hundred $20 bills.The Rebbe’s personal participationspurred us on to continue workingon the plans for the new building.

“Shortly after Gimmel Tammuz5754, we celebrated thegroundbreaking for HeichalMenachem. The building proceededquickly, and after a year and a fewmonths, the building was completed.This time though, we owed half ofthe expenses of the building.

“With time, the mosdos grew andat a certain point we realized that itwas hard for the little children totravel each day from one end of Paristo another. We decided to buildanother beautiful complex in the

17th arondissement, an exclusivearea of Paris.

“The groundbreaking took placeon 6 Tishrei 5761, and two yearslater, this third complex, which wascalled Ki Tov, housed a daycarecenter, preschool, elementary school,

“The Rebbe suddenlysaid, ‘Are there stilldebts?’ I was taken

aback. We hadcovered 80% of the

costs and theremaining 20% washardly considered

serious debts. But ifthe Rebbe said so, I

remained silent. Thenthe Rebbe said, ‘I amgiving you another

dollar for the debts.’”

vocational school, kollel, a machonfor smicha, etc. The wife of PresidentChirac attended the ChanukasHaBayis.

“As compared to the firstcomplexes, the donations this timewere much less. This was because ofthe open anti-Semitism thatexploded around Pesach 5761. Theseevents made wealthy Jews move theirinvestments abroad and theirfinancial situations were unstable.This translated into an immediateand significant drop in donations.The lower rate of donations showedup in the totals of fiscal year 2002.

“If that wasn’t enough, at thattime there was a new decision madeby the government to reduce thestipends to private religious schools.This was because of the upsurge offundamentalist Moslems in France.This decision sorely affected thefinancial situations of the mosdos.From then on the avalanchecontinued to tumble quickly. We hadto constantly fundraise to cover ourgrowing debts.”

By Tamuz 5764, the enormousdebt was unbearable, and the entireeducational empire that had beenbuilt with the Rebbe’s brachos wasabout to collapse. The banks andother creditors pressured themunceasingly and Rabbi Pevsner wasforced to sadly declare the

bankruptcy of the Sinai schools.

After Rabbi Pevsner officiallydeclared bankruptcy, all the creditorswere called to announce how muchmoney was owed to them. The totalwas the unbelievable amount of over10 million Euros! (It’s important tonote that according to the law, assoon as bankruptcy is declared, bankloans that were to be repaid over along period of time are dueimmediately).

In the presence of the creditors,Rabbi Pevsner’s lawyer explained tothe court that the mosdos were notmoneymakers, but the opposite.Indeed, many needy people senttheir children to their school withoutpaying tuition. In fact, they evenreceived financial help from theinstitution.

In the end, the judges wereconvinced that for the good of thestudents it paid to try and help theSinai schools before they fell apart.They gave an extension of 12 monthsfor them to raise the money, and ifthey could not, the three complexeswould be foreclosed on behalf of thebanks and the other creditors.

The court also said thatprofessional assessors shouldestimate the worth of the buildings.However, the court decided thatsince the buildings were built with

public money and they could not besold on the private market, thereforea new non-profit entity should“redeem” the mosdos. As a result, thereal market value of the buildingsdove from 20 million Euro to only 5million Euro. The court in concertwith the banks announced that if anew non-profit entity would redeemthe buildings for 5 million Euro thenthe rest of the debts would beerased!

Even under these circumstances,with a “sharp sword lying on theneck” of the mosdos, Rabbi Pevsnerdid not despair. He often wrote tothe Rebbe and received answersthrough the Igros Kodesh, and withthe Rebbe’s guidance, he beganvarious projects in the attempt toextricate the mosdos from the abyssof debt.

As a first step, he started acommittee of volunteers tobrainstorm the problem and finddonors. A few distinguishedmembers of the Jewish communitycommitted themselves, in front ofthe court, to raise money to coverthe debts. But the court rejectedtheir guarantees claiming thatcommunal figures, as important asthey are, don’t have the wherewithalto cover the debts.

The committee, together withRabbi Pevsner, began to mobilizeJewish men of means who committedto raise the money they needed. Aftermuch effort, they found someimportant real estate dealers whocame to the court and committed tocovering all the debts. This timethough, the court raised a differentproblem. They said, true that thesepeople are buying the buildings forthe benefit of the mosdos, but iftomorrow they want you to leave andthey want the buildings forthemselves, they have the right to doso. And the court said that if it waspossible that the buildingsdesignated for schools could beemptied of students, then the


Rabbi Pevsner with Baron David de Rothschild on the far right


commitment of these wealthy menwould not be accepted.

In the following months, variousideas were proposed and shot down,and salvation was apparently out ofreach. Time was pressing and RabbiPevsner began to envision theforeclosing of the buildings and theclosing of the schools.

As though to pour salt on theirwounds, at the end of last winter, thecourt made a dramaticannouncement that it could nolonger wait for commitments. Sincethe directors of the schools did notfind the necessary money to the tuneof 5 million Euros, the threecampuses would be foreclosed andsold to the highest bidder.

The court told the hanhala toinform their teaching staff that therewould be no new school year. Thepreschools and other schools wouldbe closed and the parents had tolook for alternative schooling fortheir children.

The parents and teachers wereshocked by the news. All feared forthe future.

That was at the beginning of thispast Nissan. When Rabbi Pevsnerwrote to the Rebbe about the criticalsituation, this time he did not receivean answer, not even a hint of ananswer as to what he should do.

“I was very worried,” admitsRabbi Y.Y. Pevsner. “I receive answersfrom the Rebbe through the IgrosKodesh somewhat frequently, and ofall times, when the situation was sodesperate and the schools about todisintegrate, I got no answer. I wasdevastated.

“On Chol HaMoed Pesach again Iwrote to the Rebbe – this time,though, about an unrelated matter,about a woman having troublesgiving birth. It was pikuach nefeshand I said so in my letter. Thehusband, who was with her in thehospital, called me and asked me to

write. I put the letter into volumeten of the Igros and opened to page246. This is the answer that hereceived:

I was pleased to receive yourletter ... of Monday of the sidra of“they caused the children to live,”filled with the report of the greatactivity for the great project ofcollecting paper to print holy works... may you take a large part inmatters such as these for many moreyears ...

“What could be better than abracha of “they caused the childrento live?” On the spot, the husbandpromised 1000 Euros.

“When we met later, he asked tosee the letter and I began to read itto him and was amazed. I saw thaton the pages I had opened to, p.247, it spoke about the toughconditions and compared it to thesituation in Russia. Compared toRussia, what were our difficulties?

What you wrote about thedifficult conditions etc. etc., comparein your mind the conditions in thisholy land to the way it was for a fewhundred of our brethren in Russia,who raised a generation of those wholearn Torah and fulfill mitzvos eventhough this entailed literal danger tolife every step of the way. Whatcomparison is there between thedifficulties now compared to theirs?It is not necessary to go on at lengthabout something obvious.

“I felt that this was directed atme. I saw that the Rebbe went on towrite about finding an apartmentwhere the situation seemed hopeless,and then the Rebbe writes about amitzva one is particularly scrupulousabout and for this person it waschinuch:

And this is also the answer toyour question regarding the personalmatter of the apartment, regardingwhich you don’t see how thesituation will improve. For it saysthat each person has a mitzva that heought to be scrupulous about, for itis the gateway to all matters of Torahand mitzvos, in a way of ascendancy,and the gateway for drawing downeverything you and your householdneed, in a way of bringing down. Inyour case it is the avoda of chinuchal taharas ha’kodesh in the mosad ofthe Rebbe, my father-in-law, NasiYisroel and its leader, who standsand serves in holiness and arousesmuch mercy for the blessing andsuccess of all those who are involvedin his mosdos.

“And then follows the mainanswer in which the Rebbe writesthat you have to take action withoutmaking calculations and then onesees success even if it makes nological sense:

And when you do what you haveto do in your avoda withoutcalculations then you will see successin your matters in general and alsoin this matter. Even if you do not see

“I was astounded. Wehad just finished

building a complexthat incorporated allthe mosdos and nextto it were additionalcaravans ready to

serve the mosdos atany time! What did

we need a newbuilding for? But theRebbe’s instruction is

holy...”

31

the possibility for this according tocalculation, for Hashem’s midda ismeasure for measure. May Hashemgrant you success that you begin inthis way immediately and may it bewithout any obstacles orconcealment.

(Emphases in the original).

“After reading this encouraginganswer, I was sure that the Rebbewould help me ‘without calculations’to save our mosdos.”

* * *

Indeed, at the final momentsalvation came in the most wondrousway. The story begins in Teives 5764.Back then, Rabbi Pevsner invited agroup of Israeli journalists to visitthe Chabad mosdos in Paris. Theywere impressed by what they saw,and they met with President Chirac,the prime minister, and otherdistinguished public figures.

During their tour they had animportant and rare meetingscheduled with David Rothschild, oras he is formally known, BaronDavid de Rothschild. Mr. Rothschildis the head of the French branch ofthe famous Rothschild family knownfor its wealth and philanthropy forhundreds of years. He runs the

Edmond de Rothschild investmentcompany. His primary involvementfocuses on a chain of internationalbanks, which he heads. Aside fromthis, he serves as president of anorganization which is the main socialorganization of French Jewry.

Mr. Rothschild is the friend andneighbor of President Chirac and helives opposite the President’s palace,the Champs Elysee. Rothschild is aprivate person and hardly everappears in public, even at officialevents of the organization he heads.His family is far from observantYiddishkait and his attitude towardsreligious Jews is poor. He doesn’twant anything to do with ultra-Orthodox Jews and his relationshipwith them is cold and guarded. Thisis why everybody was surprisedwhen he agreed to host thejournalists who came to visit himtogether with Rabbi Pevsner.

During the meeting, Rothschildtold the journalists that theorganization that he headed had justcontributed 10 million Euros toIsrael and had even organized toursin Israel for about 60,000 Frenchstudents.

For about an hour and a half

Rabbi Pevsner and Mr. Rothschild sattogether. All the French peoplepresent were astonished. How didRothschild agree to sit with aLubavitcher rabbi with a beard?!

The two spoke briefly andpolitely. Rothschild told RabbiPevsner that he knew him fromvarious events that took place at theChamps Elysee when both werepresent. At the end of this unusualmeeting, Rabbi Pevsner asked tomeet with Baron Rothschild saying,“I’d like to get to know you.”Rothschild thought for a momentand then politely said he shouldmake an appointment with hispersonal secretary.

The next day, Rabbi Pevsnerasked his secretary to arrange ameeting with Rothschild’s secretarybut Rothschild’s secretary keptavoiding setting a date until shefinally said, “I’ll tell you the truth.My boss doesn’t want to meet withthe rabbi.”

It was six in the morning at theairport in Paris when a royaldelegation, headed by PresidentChirac waited for a flight to Polandfor an international ceremony tomark sixty years since the liberationof Auschwitz. Rabbi Pevsner stood ina corner of the lounge where thedelegation waited. Numerousdistinguished figures from the Jewishcommunity in France were there.Suddenly, in walked a man wearing awarm, Russian fur hat.

“Rabbi Pevsner. You don’trecognize me with this Russian hat?”laughed the man. “I am DavidRothschild. How are you?”

Rabbi Pevsner was taken aback byRothschild’s friendly overture. In asplit second he figured out thatRothschild had come to use him.

“My father taught me that Chabadis not supposed to stand like abeggar at the door but must presentitself as an important organization.This is the only way to be successful.

Issue Number 529 - BEIS MOSHIACH

French President Chirac with Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Pevsnerand his father Rabbi Hillel Pevsner

I immediately realized thatRothschild was lording himself overme, as a representative of Chabad.On the one hand, he had displayeddisinterest and even hostility, butnow, in front of all the dignitaries, itwas in his best interests to put on afront as though we were friends.

“I didn’t hesitate but brazenlysaid, ‘You’re not willing to meet withme, yet now, in front of all theseimportant people, you act warmlytowards me?’

“Rothschild responded gracefully,‘I agree to meet with you. Why doyou say that?’

“I replied that his own secretaryhad said that he did not want tomeet with me. This was all in frontof the people standing around us.

“He was embarrassed and he tookme over to the side and said, ‘RabbiPevsner, don’t tell anybody whathappened. Tomorrow morning, afterI return from this trip, call my officeand they’ll give you an appointmentimmediately.’

“I called the next morning andarranged an appointment for a fewweeks hence. The day of themeeting, I entered his office preparedonly to get acquainted with him. Isat down and he immediately askedme, ‘What do you want?’

“I told him that I had only cometo get acquainted. I told him thehistory of our mosdos and about theencouragement and brachos we hadreceived from the Rebbe. After aboutfifteen minutes of talking, he cut meoff and said, ‘I am sure you are abusy man and I am also somewhatbusy. If you have something youwant to ask, why waste both ourtime?’

“I explained to him our mosdos’financial predicament but refrainedfrom asking for a donation. I merelyspoke about the urgent need to get alaw passed that donors would receivea tax credit for their donations, as is

the case in the United States.

“Then he understood what Iwanted. ‘I understand that you didnot come to ask for a donation, butfor a contribution that will help youget out of this mess. For that, youmust prepare a file with detailedreports about the financial situationof the schools. Do you want me toask someone to prepare it or do youwant to prepare it yourself?’

“I told him that I prefer that heprepare it so it would be morecredible. I left the meeting with agood feeling although I knew therewas a long road ahead of us.”

A week went by and Mr. MosheLevy called Rabbi Pevsner. Levy hadbeen, up until recently, the owner ofan important corporation in Franceand at a certain point he had evenrun a joint business venture withRothschild. Rothschild had askedLevy to prepare the file.

Levy, who had recently retired,told Rothschild that he wanted todedicate himself to Jewish-communalactivities on a voluntary basis. SoRothschild thought he would be justthe right person to undertake thecomplicated task of compiling thebrief.

Levy went down to the mosdosand was greatly impressed. “I didn’tknow that the Jews of France havesuch beautiful schools,” he said.Within a few days, he had prepared asubstantial file with his warmrecommendations that Chabadshould be given as much help aspossible.

After giving in the file, he toldRabbi Pevsner that he had spokenwith Rothschild, who consideredsaving the Chabad mosdos animportant mission. Rothschild saidhe would raise money from variousfunds he was affiliated with.

Rothschild asked for money fromthe Fund for the Memory of theShoa, of which he was a member,

and other funds, but even therequests of an eminent personagesuch as he were turned down.Despite his efforts, Rothschild didnot pledge any of his personal funds.

On Monday, 27 Sivan 5765, afateful meeting took place withRothschild. Present at the meetingwere Moshe Levy, the courtappointed executor of the mosdos,and a representative of the Holocaustfund. The executor explained that ifhelp wasn’t received quickly, theschools would close. Rothschildannounced, “I will donate half of themoney, 2.5 million Euros from theRothschild family fund and the other2.5 million I will try to get from theHolocaust fund.”

Then and there, in front ofeverybody, Rothschild called Mrs.Simone Veil, who serves as presidentof the Foundation for the Memory ofthe Shoa. She is a famous woman,who in the past served as a ministerin the French government and alsoserved as president of the EuropeanParliament. A meeting was arrangedfor the following day.

Tuesday morning, 28 Sivan,Rothschild met with Mrs. Veil andtold her, “Within 24 hours you willratify a decision to transfer 2.5million Euros to the Sinai schools.”

The way the fund operates is thatthe chairwoman decides onimportant matters while more trivialmatters are decided upon by thefund’s committee. A decision about ahuge sum like this was up to thechairwoman. She acceded toRothschild’s request and the next daysigned a certificate that the fundwould transfer 2.5 million Eurosover the next two months to theChabad mosdos.

Her donation wasn’t only thanksto Rothschild but includes a personalstory that Rabbi Pevsner relates:

“Mrs. Veil’s agreement to donatetowards the Chabad schools is onlythanks to the Rebbe. Mrs. Veil is a


war survivor who has avoidedreligious Jews and religion ingeneral, to the point that in her willshe wrote that she did not wantKaddish recited at her grave!

“Two years ago, her son waskilled in a road accident, andbecause of this, President Chiraccalled my father and asked him tosend her a telegram of condolence.My father did so and even asked tosay Kaddish for her son but shechose not to respond to his telegram.

“Mrs. Veil was one of the peoplewho went on that trip to Auschwitzas President Chirac’s guest of honor.Despite the moving occasion,someone whispered to me thatduring the day she had said that shedid not like to see a rabbi with abeard with this French presidentialdelegation.

“I took the opportunity andtowards the end of the trip Ipersonally invited Mrs. Veil to visitour schools. She said I shouldarrange it with her secretary andafter the arrangements were made,she came to visit and was veryimpressed. I had her meet withstudents who had recently visitedAuschwitz and when she spoke tothem, there were tears in her eyes.

“When Rothschild asked Mrs. Veilthe first time for money from thefund, she was not opposed but askedthat it first be discussed incommittee, but as we said, aftermuch pressure she agreed to transferthe huge sum.

“And that wasn’t all. She deletedthe instruction about no Kaddish inher will and wrote: After my death Iwant Kaddish to be said for me.”

* * *

Thursday, 30 Sivan was thedeadline that the court had given themosdos. This was the day that thebuildings were going to beforeclosed. On that day, Rothschildgave the court an affidavit in which

he praised the Chabad schools andRabbi Pevsner. In his letter, heexplained that it was important forthe Jews of France that the schoolscontinue to run, and therefore, hecommitted to obtain five millionEuros to save the schools. He askedfor another extension to enable himto get the money.

Rothschild is known in Frenchsociety, and his signature on a letter

like this is like a bank check, i.e., asthough the money is already there.The judges knew this, and theyagreed to give an additional six-month extension.

“I cannot describe the greatsimcha that we Chabad Chassidim ofFrance, the students, parents, andteachers, felt,” says Rabbi Pevsner, ashe emotionally concludes this

miraculous story.

“Not only were the schools notclosed but the very fact thatRothschild and Mrs. Veil, two verynotable personalities, are on the sideof the school, is a source of greathonor and pride.

“After Rothschild gave this letter,it seemed that all had been resolvedin the best possible way, butunfortunately his executives tried tointerfere and asked for newguidelines in the running of theschools including the curriculum.‘They should learn more secularstudies and less Jewish studies,’ theysaid. They also wanted to put in amenahel to supervise the learningand the finances. When Rothschildheard about this he declared, ‘I cameto help the schools and you want toweaken them?’”

And that one line ended allfurther talk along these lines.

Rabbi Pevsner: “When it was allover I remembered what the Rebbehad said to me in Elul 5749. It wasafter Rabbi Groner had told theRebbe that I was the director of theSinai schools in Paris, but the Rebbedid not react. When Rabbi Gronerrepeated this a few times, the Rebbesuddenly smiled and said, ‘He is themenahel? May he be well!’

“I personally feel that these fewwords ensured that non-Lubavitcherswould have no say over the runningof these schools.”

How did you survive an entireyear with the threat of the imminentcollapse of your life’s work?

“There was tremendous pressurefrom the court along with pressurefrom the parents and teachers.Nobody knew what would be theoutcome. But when we are awarethat the one who runs Chabad is theRebbe, and only the Rebbe, then it ispossible to be confident thateverything will work out in the bestpossible way.”


“His executives triedto interfere and askedfor new guidelines in

the running of theschools including the

curriculum. ‘Theyshould learn moresecular studies andless Jewish studies,’

they said. WhenRothschild heard

about this hedeclared, ‘I came tohelp the schools andyou want to weaken

them?’”


WHAT NOW?Many ask: Since the expulsion

happened, let’s sit tight and wait tosee what happens, for what purposeis there in fighting when a new warhasn’t been declared yet?

The answer is simple. G-d forbidwe should wait until Sharon or Mr.Good-for-the-Jews presents anotherawful plan. Now is the time to cryout. All the Rebbe’s cries werespecifically in the calm times, wheneverybody was sure everything wasall right, but behind the sceneswheeling and dealing were going on,which all ultimately led to the presentchurban.

The quiet we are experiencingnow is deceptive, and we “soldiers ofthe house of Dovid” must get up andcry out, as it says, “And Mordechaiknew what was taking place at theking’s gate and he cried out with agreat and bitter cry and went out tothe city gate dressed in sackcloth andashes.” Now is the time to cry out!

HOW DID THE ELDERS SIN?In a cynical and disgusting article

printed in the newspaper of theUnited Torah Judaism party (YahadutHaTorah), it was explained how wisethey were when they sat off to theside quietly during the expulsion andchurban. The author of the articlepraises the wisdom of the “g’dolim”and their silence.

What a chutzpa and crime for apaper that is supposed to representYiddishkait! During the Holocaust toothere were influential papers thatwere silent about what was going on,but they didn’t dare justify theirsilence afterwards. As terrorismcontinues to rear its head, Jews aremurdered, and Jewish cities are underrocket attack, how dare they continueto focus exclusively on their owninterests while justifying this positionof selfishness?

Aside from the vulgarity of anarticle like that, the truth of the matteris that this party did not sit by quietlybut were active collaborators with theexpulsion plan and the burning ofshuls. This was in exchange for 290million shekel. We won’t forget themoney that enabled Sharon to carryout his expulsion plan.

Some T’mimim pointed out to mea shocking Gemara in the tractateShabbos, page 55 on the verse,“Hashem will come in judgment withthe elders of His nation and itsministers.” The Gemara asks: if theministers sinned, how did the elderssin? The Gemara answers that theelders did not protest about what theministers did. The Gemara goes on tosay that the Attribute of Judgmentsaid before Hashem: How are thesedifferent than those? Hashemanswered: These are perfecttzaddikim and those are perfectly

wicked. The Attribute of Judgmentsaid: Master of the universe, they hadthe power to protest and they didnot!

Frightening words. We do notwant to open our mouths for theSatan, but this terrible approach ofremaining aloof while endangeringthe entire nation causes a terribleaccusation. Even if we know for surethat protesting won’t help, we mustprotest. As the Gemara goes on to say,Hashem answered the Attribute ofJudgment saying that if the elders hadprotested, they would not haveaccepted it and the Attribute ofJudgment said: You knew that, butthey did not know that, andtherefore, they should have protested.

Rabbi Osdoba, mara d’asra ofCrown Heights said it well, at theshleimus ha’Aretz gathering in 770,about the group that started the shitaof looking out only for itself whileabandoning the rest of Klal Yisroel.He said this approach ought to beuprooted. Jews are responsible for oneanother and we are not allowed to sitby while Jewish blood is being spilledand danger hovers over Am Yisroel.

We Chassidei Chabad must followthe Rebbe’s lead and protest. Noharm ever came to someone whofollowed the Rebbe’s directives. Onthe contrary, only bracha andhatzlacha and yeshuos are seen inthese matters.

NOW IS THE TIMETO CRY OUT!

BY SHAI GEFEN

SHLEIMUS HA’ARETZ


TREMENDOUS DEBTTO THE SETTLERS

It’s hard to believe that in thePalace of the King, Yerushalayim theHoly City, and in other cities of EretzYisroel, those expelled from Gush Katifare wandering around downtroddenand woebegone, crushed and tossedabout, while the rest of the Jewishnation stands off to the side. Thisphenomenon is not taking place in acity somewhere in Europe or after theExpulsion from Spain 500 years ago,but in the Holy Land, where Jews wereexpelled by Jews in 5765.

As mercy for our killers increasesand the government is so careful not tocause collateral damage to so-calledinnocents, they have succeeded intrampling the dignity of the settlersinto the dust. Chazal say that whoeverhas no home is no man. The Israeligovernment did not only expel themfrom their homes but killed their spirit.Whoever took part in the expulsion isresponsible for what is happeningtoday to the settlers.

The Jewish people owe atremendous debt to the settlers ofGush Katif and northern Shomron, andtherefore, each of us must adopt atleast one family, stand by them andhelp them. Those who can help themfinancially must do so.

Lately we’ve been hearing terriblestories about what is happening toentire families and precious youth whowere expelled from Gush Katif. Howcan we sit by quietly? How can a Jewsit peacefully at home and eat serenelywith his family while thousands ofpeople are lost souls?

Those who bought into thegovernment’s PR campaign aboutcompensation don’t know what they’retalking about. This unconscionablecrime is not measured in money, andnot even in dollars, aside from the factthat the “compensation” does not coverthe direct financial damage, not tomention the indirect damages that cannever be compensated for.

Therefore, in addition to all theprotests, we must help the settlers!

GETTING BACKTO SOURCES

The Rebbe turned ShabbosB’Reishis into Shabbos ShleimusHaAretz by highlighting the first Rashiin the Torah. The first Rashi says that ifthe nations come and claim that we arerobbers for conquering the land of theseven nations, we must know toanswer them that the entire land isHashem’s and He gave it to them andthen took it and gave it to us.

That sums up the battle takingplace here and in the very first pasukof the Torah it emphasizes just howthis battle ought to take form. It’s astruggle that has taken on variousforms over thousands of years, but theclaims remain the same over themillennia, since the Jewish peoplebecame a nation. However, those whofollow the Torah and tradition are notconfused by the claims of the nations.

For those who believe in theeternality of the Jewish people and donot think that the Jewish peoplebecame a nation in 1948, nor thatEretz Yisroel was given to us at thattime but at the Covenant of the Pieces,everything looks different.

Rabbi Dovid Drukman, one of theleading rabbis of the Pikuach Nefeshorganization said he remembers whenChaim Herzog, who was the Israeliambassador to the U.N., went to theRebbe for Simchas Torah. The Rebbeasked Herzog to announce in the U.N.with Jewish pride that Eretz Yisroelbelongs to the Jewish people becausethat is what it says in the Bible.

Herzog did as the Rebbe asked anddid so with great Jewish pride. RabbiDrukman said that he remembers thatHerzog spoke on a radio program andsaid that when he announced in theU.N. that Eretz Yisroel belongs to theJews because that’s what it says in theTorah, all the representatives of thenations of the world were stunned and

not one of them had a response!

There is no response to this claim.The goyim also believe in the Torahand if we based our policies on theTorah, we would save ourselvestremendous suffering. This is whatought to be our guiding light, not onlywith shleimus ha’Aretz, but in everyarea. We need to get back to thesources.

The answer is simple.G-d forbid we shouldwait until Sharon orMr. Good-for-the-Jews presents anotherawful plan. Now is thetime to cry out. All theRebbe’s cries werespecifically in thecalm times, wheneverybody was sureeverything was allright, but behind thescenes wheeling anddealing were going on,which all ultimatelyled to the presentchurban.

The Rebbe’s answer must havecome as a shock to hiscorrespondent. In volume 18 of IgrosKodesh, in a letter dated the tenth ofMarCheshvan, 1958, the Rebbeexpresses his disapproval that hiscorrespondent had ceased associatingwith Jews whom he refers to as“those who scoff at and rebuff theTorah.”

Known for his inclusion of allJews in the mitzva of ahavas Yisroel,the Commandment to love yourfellow Jew, the Rebbe says that theTorah explicitly does not sanctionseparating yourself from such people,except for specifically defined cases.The Rebbe brings as a reference, thedefinitions by the Rambam inHilchos T’shuva, Perek Gimmel,Halachos Ches and Yud.

In Halacha Ches, the Rambangives the definition of those who areknown as “apikorsim,” whom we arejustified in rejecting... not onlyjustified, but whom it is a Mitzva tostay away from. Halacha Yudexplains further who should berejected: “Those who cause themultitude to sin... by tricking otherpeople and causing them tostumble.”

The Rebbe was clarifying that thepeople his correspondent wasreferring to, did not come close toqualifying for the definitions putforth by the Rambam. But, formyself, upon reading this letter, Ifound this teaching very relevant inhelping me deal with the pain,disorientation, and confusion that Ifind myself experiencing since the

Disengagement.

I was one of those innocents whocould not conceive of theDisengagement actually taking place.If I am involved in a project, and Iinvest my time, energy and money, Iwould be devastated if someonewould come and delete all my work.To think that three generations, withall their hearts and souls, built notjust a garden, not just a kitchen, notjust a school – they built beautiful,industrious communities, and all ofit was deleted... This is beyond myimaginative capacity. And to thinkthe destroyers were Jews. The armythat should be protecting Jews fromdeportation actually did thedeporting. I am confused. And I amangry.

So I found that the words of theRebbe and the Rambam helped me tofocus. When we say, “We will notforgive and we will not forget,” I amclear about what and whom I willnot forget... but whom do I notforgive?

The soldiers were the ones toperform the evil deed. I know that ithas been hard for some people to beas open and loving to soldiers as theyused to be, especially soldiers whotook part in the Disengagement.

I never thought I would bewriting such words, “a Jewish soldierwho took part in theDisengagement,” it still seems

BOTH A LEADERAND A PUPPET

BY ALIZA KARP

It is not enough to blame the prime minister.He did not stand alone. And if he says he takesfull responsibility, it is only so that we willoverlook the sins of the accomplices andcontinue to give them our undeserved support.Just as the Oslo process did not stop whenRabin was murdered, so would theDisengagement continue, should Sharon decideto retire. Sharon is both a leader and a puppet.

SHLEIMUS HA’ARETZ



impossible. But in truth tens ofthousands of soldiers did participate.

There are stories and pictures ofsoldiers who became emotional, butthose were the minority. Most carriedout their mission. Yet, the Rebbe saysthat every Jews is worthy of ourcompanionship, and these soldiersneither fall into the category ofapikorus nor of leading others to sin.Baruch Hashem, it is still a Mitzva toembrace our soldiers, bring themtreats, and of course, offer to putt’fillin on them or give them Shabboscandles.

Before our soldiers were sent toextract Jews from their homes, theyunderwent vigorous brainwashing toconvince them that the people theywere dragging from their homes werenothing more than worthlesstrespassers, impediments to thesecurity of the country. Those whoengineered the psychologicalpreparations for the soldiers, thosepeople, do fall into the category ofleading others to sin.

MK Arieh Eldad had become aresident in the Northern Shomroncommunity of Sanur, and waspresent at the Disengagement battle.Together with other residents, hetook up a position on the rooftop ofthe building which served as the laststronghold. From his vantage point,he reported that he observed thearmy commanders who were leadingthe operation. These were men heknew from his many years as aBrigadier-General in the army.

What Eldad saw, was notcommanders who were pained tohave to follow orders against theirpersonal moral values. Eldad reportsthat they were slapping each otheron the back, congratulating eachother and joking around. These arethe men who gave the orders fortheir soldiers to remove Jews fromtheir homes in Eretz Yisroel, byforce, if necessary. A process that notonly caused personal loss to those

involved but also reduced thesecurity in the area and increased thedanger for Jews living in thesurrounding areas.

From these commanders onupward, to all the members ofKnesset and ministers in the cabinet,who voted for or abstained – evenonce – in support of the government,support of the budget or support of

the Disengagement itself, all the wayto the prime minister and courtjudges, here is where the yoke ofresponsibility lies, the ones whocaused others to sin.

Included also are the influentialmedia outlets, who manipulated theirpublications and presentations infavor of the Disengagement.

It is not enough to blame the

prime minister. He did not standalone. And if he says he takes fullresponsibility, it is only so that wewill overlook the sins of theaccomplices and continue to givethem our undeserved support. Just asthe Oslo process did not stop whenRabin was murdered, so would theDisengagement continue, shouldSharon decide to retire. Sharon isboth a leader and a puppet.

The soldiers themselves do notcarry the responsibility as the leadersdo. Participating in theDisengagement caused seven soldiersto commit suicide, and six hundredto be committed to psychiatricconfinement. It is heartbreaking tothink of the psychological damagedone to these young, and in mostcases, innocent, young men andwomen. Meanwhile, has even onemember of the Knesset collapsedfrom the pain of what they callpainful concessions?

In D’varim 23, verses four andfive, the Torah tells us “An Ammoniteor Moabite shall not enter thecongregation of Hashem, even theirtenth generation shall not enter thecongregation of Hashem untileternity.” Rashi explains, “Because ofthe advice that they advised you tocause you to sin.” Even nations thattried to kill us were not given suchan extreme status. But causing themultitude to sin, this is unforgivable.

Representatives of Chabad areaccustomed to inviting governmentand army dignitaries to their events,and to visit them each Yom Tov. Theintention is to bring them closer toYiddishkait. But this year, in thewake of the Disengagement, to bringthem closer to Yiddishkait, they haveto know they have gone to far. Theyhave to feel that they have fallen solow that even Chabad, with its allinclusive policies, is now rejectingthem! And if they want to regaintheir status as being accepted in the‘congregation of Hashem,’ they haveto do t’shuva.

Representatives ofChabad are

accustomed toinviting governmentand army dignitariesto their events, and tovisit them each YomTov. The intention isto bring them closerto Yiddishkait. But

this year, in the wakeof the Disengagement,to bring them closerto Yiddishkait, theyhave to know theyhave gone to far.


A SMALL CHILD DRINKSFROM THE FOUNTAIN

OF TORAH

R’ Ovadia Saadia Matuf wasborn in Chaban, Yemen, around theyear 5680 (1920). His father was

Rabbi Sa’id, who was Av Beis Dinof the city.

From a young age, Ovadia wasdrawn to the study of Torah. Hespent much time sitting andreading the small letters. Even

when his brother wanted to teachhim how to be a silversmith, as wastypical in Yemen of those days,Ovadia would avoid learning thecraft and return to his books.When his brother would rebukehim, “You’ve learned enoughalready!” Ovadia would say itwasn’t enough for him. Thus, hespent day and night on his studies.

In 1949, he made aliya with theMagic Carpet, along with numerousother Jews from Yemen. At first, hestayed with his family at the transitcamp Zarnoga, which was nearRechovot. There he becamemekurav to Chassidus throughLubavitchers who came to the campin order to inform the olim aboutthe religious institutions availableto them.

His son Noach relates, “In thosedays, he was in touch with YisroelLeibov (later director of Tzach)who was his primary connectionwith Chabad. R’ Yisroel wasmekarev my father to Chabad stepby step, until he adopted all theChabad customs and fulfilled theRebbe’s directives.”

In the immigrants’ early years in

As the residents of Bareket worked hard for aliving, their children attended public schoolwithout learning about Torah and halacha.This bothered R’ Ovadia Matuf a”h, and hegathered the children in the evening, after hefinished a backbreaking day’s work in the field,and taught them about Torah and mitzvos.Thanks to him, dozens of children switched toTomchei T’mimim and established beautifulChassidishe homes. * Two of his talmidim whorun Chabad schools today tell about R’Ovadia’s educational endeavors. * It is oneyear since R’ Ovadia’s passing.

PROFILE

OVADIA: RETURNINGTHE HEARTS OF

CHILDREN TO THEIRFATHERS


the country, in the 50’s, many ofthem attended Yeshivas TomcheiT’mimim in Lud and joined theworld of Chabad. They laterestablished beautiful Chassidichomes. But the prevalentatmosphere in Eretz Yisroel at thattime greatly influenced the parentswho wanted their children to havea trade with which they couldsupport their families.

When the immigrants fromChaban were moved from Zarnogato Moshav Bareket and beganindependent lives, many of themsent their children to the publicschool established on the moshav.This school offered minimal Jewishstudies and the classes were co-ed.

FROM BAREKET TOTOMCHEI T’MIMIM

In those days, R’ Ovadia wasalready a family man and heworked in farming like the rest ofthe people on the moshav. Thedifficult economy forced them tothrow themselves into their workwhile mostly disregarding their

children’s education. This botheredR’ Ovadia tremendously. It washard for him to see the childrenignorant of Torah. He wasbrokenhearted when he asked achild the name of that week’s sidraand the children didn’t know theanswer.

Rather than bemoaning thesituation, R’ Ovadia did somethingabout it. He gathered groups ofchildren in his home and taughtthem Torah each evening.

One of those children wasMenachem Samayach, who ispresently the menahel of a ChabadTalmud Torah in Lud. He describesthe situation of those days:

“It was the end of the 50’s andchinuch was abysmal. We childrenof Bareket were ignorant. This wasthe famous ‘lean’ period and mostparents were preoccupied withparnasa problems and had no timeto think about their children’schinuch.

“During the day we learned inschool and when the official

learning was over, the older boyswould learn a trade so they couldsupport themselves. This is howthings were until R’ Ovadia camealong. He did it all on a voluntarybasis, after finishing a backbreakingday’s work in the field.

“We went each day, a group of9-11 year olds, to his house and hetaught us to daven, the weeklysidra and Mishnayos; we weren’tready yet for Gemara. He helped usprogress step by step, succeeding indrawing our hearts to the study ofTorah.

“He took it upon himself tosend us to yeshiva, where we couldcontinue our Torah studies. Thiswasn’t at all simple because inthose days there was an anti-religious sentiment in the countrywhich influenced our parents tosome degree. They didn’t like theidea of yeshiva, and that’s anunderstatement.

“But R’ Ovadia continued towork at it and his persistence paidoff. He sent a number of groups ofboys to learn in Tomchei T’mimimin Lud. And he didn’t stop therebut continued to help us, seeing toit that we acclimated to our newenvironment. He spent hourstalking to our parents in order toencourage them and reassure themthat their son would become aTorah scholar and that parnasawould come with time.

“And as time went by – and Ican testify to this, because I wasone of them – dozens of talmidimwho switched from public school toTomchei T’mimim, establishedbeautiful Chassidishe families. Iand another person even runChabad schools, and we all fondlyremember R’ Ovadia and what hedid for us, till this day.”

The first group to leave Bareketfor yeshiva did so thanks to ahalacha that R’ Ovadia taught. His

R’ Ovadia Matuf

nephew, R’ Yosef Matuf, menahel ofthe Chabad school for girls inNachalat Har Chabad, tells us whathappened:

“In one of the classes, R’ Ovadiataught us halachos from the bookChok L’Yisroel. He read a halachawhich said it was forbidden toteach boys and girls together, evenif there was a glass mechitzabetween them.

“When we heard this, we wereshocked for we learned in a co-edschool. We asked him to repeat thathalacha and he did. The next day,we told our teacher this halacha.

“Because of this, some of thetalmidim decided that we couldn’tlearn in a mixed environment andthat we would go to yeshiva. Butwe were young and we couldn’t dothis ourselves. R’ Ovadia decided tohelp us. He spoke to the yeshiva inLud, but the classes there were full.Having no choice, a group oftalmidim went to learn in theyeshiva in Yahud but we didn’tacclimate, and after much effort onR’ Ovadia’s part, we were acceptedat Yeshivas Tomchei T’mimim inLud.

“We were the first group andother groups followed us. Thisshook things up at the publicschool. The number of studentsthere shrank dramatically until thedecision was made to combine theschool in Bareket with anotherschool in the area.”

SHARING THE WEALTH

The Yemenite bachurim wholearned in Tomchei T’mimim didn’tkeep the spiritual bounty forthemselves. With theencouragement of R’ Ovadia, theybegan learning Torah with the evenyounger generation in Bareket. R’Ovadia spoke about this (in aninterview with the Bareketnewsletter) years later:

“At a later point we hadbachurim from the yeshiva in Ludlearning with the children in theevening in a program we calledYeshivat Erev. The bachurimwandered with their youngstudents from place to place untilwe decided, with the approval ofthe rav of the moshav a”h, topurchase a house where their

learning could take place.”

LEARNING DAYAND NIGHT

R’ Ovadia didn’t make do withthe many hours of study that heestablished for himself but wasalways seen with a book in hand.He would be seen holding a book

at every event he was invited toand he made good use of the timeto study. At each communal event,the residents of the moshav wouldhonor him to say words of Torah,and he inspired his audiences withdivrei Torah and timely matters.

In later years, R’ Ovadia workedin diamond polishing. He used thetravel time, there and back, tolearn. And during work hours hewould operate the machine andglance into whatever he waslearning.

After he married off his threechildren, he decided he didn’t needto work any more. He left hisdiamond polishing job to polishother diamonds... His day beganearly in the morning, as heorganized the t’fillos and shiurim,and it ended late at night withregular shiurim that he had inGemara, Tanach, Rambam, andChassidus.

With his great diligence, hecompleted the study of Rambam indepth a number of times, as well asTanach and all of Mishnayos. Fouryears ago, he surprised his familywhen he invited them to theChabad shul at the yishuv toparticipate in his siyum of Shas!

ATERES Z’KEINIM

In the summer of 5740 R’Ovadia started a kollel, AteresZ’keinim, for the elderly of Bareket,when the Rebbe said kollelim ofthis kind should be established.

“It was after the Rebbe said thatkollelim for the elderly beestablished,” R’ Ovadia explained.“R’ Ovadia Meifai and I joinedforces and we gathered a few oldermen together. Since then, each day,from three in the afternoon untilafter Maariv, we sit and learn:Mishnayos, Mishna Brura, andRambam. Baruch Hashem, thanksto the kollel, not a day passes inour moshav without Torah study.”


The difficult economyforced them to throwthemselves into theirwork while mostlydisregarding their

children’s education.This bothered R’

Ovadia tremendously.It was hard for him to

see the childrenignorant of Torah. He

was brokenheartedwhen he asked a child

the name of thatweek’s sidra and thechildren didn’t know

the answer.

In his great modesty, R’ Ovadiadidn’t describe what he did onbehalf of the kollel. He put inmuch work to organize the seniortalmidim and he got the building

and the furniture. From then, untilhis final days, he was the regularmaggid shiur in the kollel.

CHASSID AND MEKUSHAR

R’ Ovadia’s hiskashrus to theRebbe was unique. He made effortsto fulfill each directive of the Rebbein its entirety. In fact, not only didhe look out for himself; heinfluenced others too.

He went to the Rebbe for thefirst time when he approached theage of 70 and went other timesdespite his age. Each trip to theRebbe was a tremendous spiritualexperience for him. He shared hisimpressions of his first trip, whichtook place in the summer of 5748,with readers of the Bareketnewsletter:

“I have never before seen a manwho is completely devoted to AmYisroel. He has no free time forhimself and only he is fitting to beRosh B’nei Yisroel. I saw how allsubmit to him and he submits toHashem.

“I always felt close to him andalways wondered anew where he hadthese incredible abilities from. Itcould only be because he is a G-dlyman and the spirit of G-d beatswithin him.

“I stood next to the Rebbe theentire time and I watched how hedavened, with such humility, chein,and simplicity that it isindescribable. His eyes were alwaysin the Siddur, and the Siddur is soplain and old ... One time, whenthe Rebbe turned to leave after thedavening, he nodded at me andsaid shalom. I answered withshalom. Then people asked mewhat I did to deserve that.”

At the end of that interview, R’Ovadia wished all the residents ofBareket that “they merit to travel tothe Rebbe and listen to all hisdirectives.”

Two years later, R’ Ovadia won araffle and a ticket to the Rebbe.When he went to the Rebbe thistime, he went as the representativeof all the residents of Bareket.


Talmidim of the yeshivas erev that R’ Ovadia started(the arrow points to Sadia Matuf, shliach and rav in Bareket)

Summer 5750 – R’ Ovadia receiving four dollars from the Rebbe, the first dollar forhimself; the second dollar for the Kollel; the third dollar for Moshav Bareket; the

fourth dollar for Klal Yisroel. And the Rebbe added, “Bracha v’hatzlachab’gashmius v’ruchnius.”


Many of them sent letters with himto the Rebbe. At “dollars” hereceived a dollar for all theresidents of the moshav and for allthose who learned in the kollel.

After he returned home, he wasagain interviewed by the localnewsletter and he thrilled thereaders with his description of theLag B’Omer parade with the Rebbeand the privilege of being in theRebbe’s presence. He called uponall the residents to prepare the“vessels” for the brachos that theRebbe gave the residents of themoshav.

R’ Ovadia believed withcomplete faith in the Rebbe’smessage of the imminent coming ofMoshiach and spoke about it a lot.

Until his final days, hecontinued to give shiurim regularly.

He contracted a virus and aftera few days, on 3 Cheshvan of lastyear, he passed away. His family,many talmidim and the residents ofBareket attended his funeral. Nearhis open grave Rabbi Saadia Matuf,shliach and rav of Bareket said:

“A short time ago I passed bythe kollel building at two in themorning. I could see that a lightwas on. I thought someone hadforgotten to shut the light and Iwent inside to do so. That’s when Isaw R’ Ovadia lying on the floornear the aron kodesh and davening,apparently saying Tikkun Chatzos.”

He is survived by his wife andhis sons: Noach, Tovi, and Achituv

STANDING IN THE BREACHSometimes, R’ Ovadia Matuf a”h had to stand in the breach against those

who tried to negatively influence Moshav Bareket. He himself told thefollowing years later:

One day, a group of female soldiers came to the moshav’s center withclothing to distribute. I was very upset by this since the clothing wasimmodest. At that time, the old rav of the moshav was sick in the hospital, soI went over to the commander and asked her to stop distributing the clothes.

She told her soldiers to continue giving them out. I grabbed some of theclothes from her, threw them on the ground and yelled, “You’re lucky therav isn’t here, otherwise your lot would be bad and bitter!”

When she saw who she was dealing with she told her soldiers to quicklygather up the clothes. Within minutes, the soldiers had boarded a militarytruck and had left.

It was a battle for tznius and our ancestors in Yemen excelled in tznius.That’s why I found this unbearable. Baruch Hashem, the will of Hashemprevailed through me and we protected our camp in holiness and purity.

R’ Ovadia giving the dollar he had received from the Rebbe for Moshav Bareketto the chairman of the committee of the moshav, Avrohom Ben Shalom

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