Weekly Story: Some More Aspects on Yud Shevat

by Rabbi Sholom DovBer Avtzon.

Since this Thursday was Chof Beis Shevat, I will share an aspect of the Rebbetzin’s life that I don’t believe is known to most of Anash.

I heard from Reb Moshe Rubin that he remembers that on the Yomim Noraim the Rebbetzin would often come to his father’s shul, Beis Dovid Gershon, which is opposite the police station on New York Avenue. 

This week I am posting two of the thoughts I mentioned around Yud Shevat at various farbrengens.  As always, your feedback and comments are always appreciated.

I would like to begin by posting a discussion I had with a reader. He asked me if I knew where the Rebbe would farbreng Shabbos Mevorchim before he became Rebbe. I replied that I didn’t know, and both of us began asking. He then informed me that he heard from Reb Leibel sheyichye Posner that it was by the same south wall that the Rebbe farbrenged on Yud Shevat.  

In Reshimos (p.389) the Rebbe relates that on Motzei Yom Kippur of 5697, he was told by his father-in-law, the Frierdiker Rebbe, that on Motzei Yom Kippur everyone should make their own havdalah. He then said to me, “Take the leftovers of my havdalah and go into the kitchen and make havdalah there.”

The Rebbe asked him, “Isn’t it noted in Shulchan Aruch (end of chap. 296) that one should not drink the leftovers of someone’s havdalah?”

My father-in-law the Rebbe replied, “This is what his grandfather [the Rebbe Maharash] instructed my father [the Rebbe Rashab] to do, and he said do it in a private place, in order not to create any jealousy (amongst his brothers),” and my father instructed me likewise, to add to his leftovers and make havdalah in a private place.

When I related this discussion at my Shabbos table, one of my children asked me, “But if it says otherwise in Shulchan Aruch, why were the Rebbeim instructed otherwise?”

I replied that some years after Yud Shevat 5710, the Rashag travelled to Chicago and one of the people he went to was a staunch supporter of the Yeshiva. But to the Rashag’s bewilderment and disappointment, this time he only donated eighteen dollars. Since the Yeshiva was counting on his generous donation and desperately needed it, the Rashag couldn’t contain his pain and asked the donor, “What happened that caused him to minimize his donation so drastically?”

The gentleman replied, “Rabbi Gurary, this is the donation I give to all institutions I respect. So why did I give you so much more previously? It was not because of you or your wonderful institution, but it was because of my tremendous respect and reverence to your father-in-law, the Rebbe.  I loved him and I would do anything to help him and his institution. However, now that the illustrious Rebbe is no longer living with us, I gave you my regular donation.”

The Rashag heard this, and he saw that he wouldn’t be able to convince this gentleman to change his mind. However, on the other hand, the yeshiva really was desperate, so he asked him, “May I make a phone call to New York and speak to my brother-in-law, the new Rebbe?”

“Of course,” was the reply, “the phone is over there.”

The Rashag called the Rebbe and relayed what this gentleman said, and the Rebbe replied, “Tell him, it is the same neshoma (soul) just in a different body.”

When the gentleman heard those words, he was so overcome that he immediately wrote out his regular large donation and continued doing so in the coming years as well.

So yes, a stranger should not drink the leftovers of someone’s havdala, but the same person can.

My children understood my answer and the seudah/farbrengen continued.

After bentching, I began to think and said to myself, that is good with a Rebbe and his successor, they have the same neshoma. However, when we were zoche to receive kos shel brocha from the Rebbe, weren’t we receiving the leftovers of his havdala?

[I remember vividly how Rabbi Mentlik would add wine to the Rebbe’s becher. He always added it little by little, this way his addition was always smaller than the amount in the becher, It was explained to me that this way the additional wine never was more and able to nullify the wine of the becher.]

So how are we able to drink the leftovers of the Rebbe’s havdala?

After thinking it over, I came to the conclusion that the Rebbe was stating, “You are connected to me!” That brought out the realization, that not only is this a tremendous zechus, but together with this merit comes the awesome responsibility, that we should continue to strive to be worthy of being connected to the Rebbe and being part of the fulfilling his mission!

Another point I mentioned was that the Frierdiker Rebbe stated that he came to America to thaw the ice of American Jewry. It is interesting to note this is the same thought that he expresses in the final chapter (5) of the maamar Basi L’Gani. 

There he notes and bemoans the situation that a person’s day revolves around the materialistic aspects of their life. The time to go to sleep, get up, and eat are all dependent on the time they have to be at work. So they are set and firm times. However, the time to learn and daven changes because of those activities. 

So in essence he is saying, that a person is frozen in his ways.

The Rebbe continues in the maamar, that a person should make their day revolve around their davening and learning. Those times should be set and unchangeable, while everything else would change if that is what is necessary.

So in essence once again he is saying, “Don’t be frozen in your outlook and actions, let the warmth of Judaisim thaw you out.”

This is the same thought that the Rebbe mentions continuously in his Sichos. For example, on the fifth evening of Chanukah when one lights five candles, he is doing the mitzvah in the best manner possible. In fact, you can’t do it better.

Yet the following evening you are told, while yesterday you were perfect, today that is not sufficient and you must add another light. 

So here too we have the same message, albeit to a different audience. Yes, you are not frozen in the ways that a materialistic world tries to dictate how one should live. You follow Shulchan Aruch meticulously. Not only so, but you also leave work a few hours before Shabbos, and you stop working at midday. Not only do you learn before and after work, but you have a set time every day, during work hours to learn.  Your conduct is a beacon of light to others. It is exemplary.

Yet at the same time, the Rebbeim are exhorting us not to sit back and look at our accomplishments, but to continue to grow and ask ourselves, how can I improve and accomplish more in preparing this world to become the true dwelling place of Hashem?

May we accomplish this speedily in our days.

A Taste of Chassidus

Bachodesh Hashilishi 5733

As the Alter Rebbe notes in Torah Ohr, there are a few points in the Possuk of Bachodesh Hashlishi that have to be explained.

A. Normally the Torah says the date of the month, as Pesach and Sukkos are both on the fifteenth of their respective months. However, in this possuk, the possuk only says, Bayom Hazeh without stating the actual day, and since the Torah also uses the word Hazeh when Hashem instructed Moshe about Rosh Chodesh (the first day of) Nissan, we know that this possuk is speaking about the first day of the third month. So why doesn’t the possuk say it clearly?

B. We also have to understand why the possuk begins with noting that we are discussing the third month and only afterwards does it allude that it was the first day.

C. Additionally, we have to understand, why does it state that the Jews arrived in the wilderness of Sinai before mentioning that they left from Refedim? Shouldn’t it be like every other possuk that states that the Jews traveled from place A and arrived in place B.

The explanation is that all of the details mentioned in these pesukim are enabling us to receive the Torah properly, and we can do so when we understand the unique aspects of the Torah. The first point to understand is why was the Torah given to us specifically in the third month?

In order to explain that, we first have to clarify another key point. What was the great accomplishment of Hashem giving us the Torah when we already had it? Avrohom, Yitzchok, and Yaakov learned the Torah, and before they entered Mitzrayim, Yaakov sent Yehudah to open a school where they could learn the Torah. This does not only refer to the written Torah, but to the Oral Torah as well!

This question becomes amplified when we learn the saying of our sages that for the first twenty-six generations (or two thousand four hundred and forty-eight years, the earth was trembling and only calmed down when the Torah was given to us at Har Sinai. But the Torah was being studied throughout that entire time!!

However, as discussed last week, in general the world is conducted through two conduits, kindness on the right and judgement on the left. Therefore, some mitzvos are connected to the right (as mezuzah is) and others are connected to the left (as tefillin is). [Similarly, we have Torah versus tefillah and in Torah itself there is the inner essence of the Torah and the revealed aspect of the Torah. In fact, we find it in every aspect of creation.]

When there are two judges stating opposing opinions, one requires a third judge to come to a conclusion and make peace between them. [Such as two ministers who present their opposing opinions to the King, but once the king decides in a certain manner, even the minister who originally stated otherwise, will implement the king’s decision with all his heart and energy.] So the third unites the two.

Here too, before we received the Torah at Har Sinai, there were two opposing opinions, but Mattan Torah brought a third conduit into the picture and fused them all into one. In fact, the purpose of the Torah is to make peace in the world. [As we say when the Torah is lifted up, “Its ways are pleasant and its paths are peaceful.”] 

In essence, this is what our sages teach us that before Mattan Torah, the heavens were heavens and the earth (physical) remained earth. But then Hashem came down to the earth and broke this separation and heaven and earth became fused together. Therefore, before mattan Torah when a mitzvah was performed it didn’t transform the physical into spiritual. However, after Mattan Torah, the wool that we use for tzitzis and the leather hide we use for mezuzah, tefillin, and a sefer Torah, are transformed into holiness. And this is the accomplishment of Mattan Torah.

To point this out in a powerful way, the Parsha of Mattan Torah begins by stating, “Bachodesh Hashlishi,” in the third month, to point out that the main point is a third aspect that combines the previous two opinions into one cohesive group. As we say Shabbos morning in davening, “Sur Merah, v’aseh tov, baikeish Sholom” – Turn from bad (don’t do something the Torah prohibits), Do good (fulfill the positive mitzvos) and seek good -learn his Torah.

These three points represent Torah, Avodah, (servicing Hashem by not acting against His will), and Gemilas Chassadim, (doing points that are positive). The Mishna in Pirkei Avos states that the world stands and exists on these three pillars. [This shows that the world settled only after Mattan Torah.]

The Torah then informs us that it was on Rosh Chodesh, when the moon and sun once again become connected. However, if it said the first day of the month, not necessarily would a person think or realize that it is connected to the unification of the sun and moon.

This is followed by the words, “They came to midbar (the wilderness) of Sinai. Sinai is similar to the word Sinah, which means hatred (jealousy), as the nations of the earth were mad at us that we are His nation and only after that does it say that we left Refidim. Our sages inform us that it was called Refidim, because there the Jews connection with Hashem became lax. However, through receiving the Torah, when the mountain was ablaze, representing a fiery desire to be connected with Hashem, we left that point of not being interested in Hashem, but showing interest in the material world. It became completely nullified and our only interest is connecting to Hashem.

Rabbi Avtzon is a veteran Mechanech and the author of numerous Seforim on the Rebbeim and

their Chassidim. He can be contacted at avtzonbooks@gmail.com