Weekly Story: Am I a Schneerorski? 

by Rabbi Sholom DovBer Avtzon 

This week I am posting some of the thoughts which I mentioned at a Yud Beis Tammuz farbrengen in Toms River, New Jersey. As always, your comments and feedback are greatly appreciated and welcomed. Here is a link to the beginning of that farbrengen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNoXva0JEq0&t=1285s 

Being that I did not have enough time to properly learn the maamar in the Dvar Malchus, I chose to explain one thought from a maamar of the Alter Rebbe that is printed in Likkutei Torah, on this week’s Parsha. 

I personally would like to know if you enjoy the style that I presented this thought, in comparison to the way I normally present it. I Thank you in advance.

I should have noted last week, that being that this Yud-Beis Tammuz is the Frierdiker Rebbe’s 145th birthday, therefore his kapital now is chapter 146 in Tehillim. 

On every day of commemoration, the Rebbe mentions the possuk in Megilla,  V’Hayomim Hu’eiloo Nizkarim V’naasim – that these days are remembered and accomplished. Meaning that the purpose of getting together for a farbrengen on any special day, is not merely to relate what happened so many years ago, or in this case 98 years ago, but to relive it and make it part of our life.

This reminds me of one Yud Beis Tammuz when my father was walking on Eastern Parkway and expressed his anguish, when he said, ”Why don’t I smell [sense] Yud-Beis Tammuz in the air”?

My father was an eighteen-year-old student in Tomchei Tmimim when the Frierdiker Rebbe was arrested and then liberated. He lived through it and continued to continue living by it throughout his entire life, but at that moment he personally felt it had not permeated every Lubavitch chossid, and that dismayed him. 

In a certain sense, I wish he would be able to be here today and see that it has indeed permeated hundreds and thousands of chassidim. This can be proven by the following. 

When one of the first groups of chassidim arrived from Russia in the late 1960s, the Rebbe instructed a group of them to go visit Reb Moshe Feinstein. Reb Moshe himself came from Russia and for a few years after he was married, he raised his children in communist Russia. He knew firsthand what the communist oppression was. So turning to these chassidim he asked, how were you able to overcome their pressure tactics and remain not only religious but I see from our discussion that some of you are tremendous talmidei chachomim. 

They responded with various answers, and to each answer Reb Moshe nodded his head in understanding. Then Rabbi Notik responded, how could we have conducted ourselves differently?! 

Hearing this Reb Moshe was overwhelmed with emotion. The others explained there was a reason, but Rabbi Notik was saying, there is no reason but that this is how a Jew lives. 

The same thing is true nowadays with thousands of our fellow chassidim. 

Chassidus explains that mesiras nefesh does not merely mean being willing and ready to actually give up your life for Torah and mitzvos, but it also means giving up your will and desire, to fulfill Hashem’s will and desire. 

In the maamar of V’atah Titzaveh, the Rebbe points out that the possuk says ki’moo v’kibloo Hayihudim es asher heicheiloo la;asos – the Jews fulfilled what they began to do, and as our sages explain it, now the Jewish people fulfilled what they accepted by Matan Torah.

This is normally explained to mean that during the entire year the Jewish nation stood firm in their mesiras nefesh knowing that Haman’s decree was to destroy them because they were remaining faithful to the Torah. So that year they really fulfilled what they accepted previously by Matan Torah.

The Rebbe askes, but this possuk is written after Haman and his sons were hung and their supporters were destroyed and Mordechai became the Viceroy who took control of Hamans power and resources, and the megillah states that many non-Jews converted, as the fear of Mordechai fell upon them. At that point what mesiras nefesh was needed?

But the explanation is, the mesiras nefesh of that entire year was caused by an external factor, and therefore, there is a level of mesiras nefesh which is higher than that, and that happened after Mordechai’s appointment as viceroy to Achashveirosh.

At that point everything was  seemingly excellent, yet then the Jewish people cried out in excruciating pain, but we are still in golus, we still are under the dominance of Achashveirosh. This came from their most inner essence. It wasn’t brought upon them by external pressures; therefore, it is then that the possuk states they attained the highest level of fulfilling their promise in its entirety.

The same thing is with the thousands of shluchim and shluchos, who now go to remote and small communities, with the hope that perhaps in a few or maybe ten years from now I will have a minyan for Shabbos and Yom Tov, and if not, so shall be. They say, we know we won’t ever have the conveniences of buying kosher provisions in a nearby market, our children will probably be without having any religious friends, and missing out numerous other conveniences that most of us take for granted. 

But they are eagerly going on their shlichus, just to fulfill the Rebbe’s ratzon (will) to help another Jew. They are going in the same spirit as the chassidim who went with mesiras nefesh to teach and inspire a few children in Russia, knowing the ultimate price they might have to pay, as many before them actually paid.

The Yevsektzia called them a Schneerorski, a follower of Rabbi Schneersohn of Lubavitch. The shluchim and shluchos who go to these remote places are also Schneerorskis, but the question becomes am I a Schneerorski? Am I giving up some of my own comfort to do something just for the Rebbe?!

No, we are not asking or talking about that level of total self-sacrifice, we are discussing giving up just some comfort. 

I heard some years ago from Reb Akiva Wagner a”h, that Rashi states that when the possuk says the descendants of Yitzchok, it is referring to Yaakov and Esau who are mentioned in the Parsha.

He clarified, every Jew has to know they are comprised of both Yaakov and Esau. Yaakov as the possuk notes is one who is learning Torah, while Esau is one who is working the fields, meaning earning a livelihood. 

Rashi is telling us that one is not considered Yaakov, while they are still in the yeshiva, learning Torah, before they begin earning a livelihood and from then on when they have to work knowing that they must earn and utilize their income as the Torah guides us, they become the Esau as the Torah wants Esau to be.

 But, rather, even when one is married and is working hard to support their family, there must be some time every week and indeed every day, that I am not the “Esau” of the Torah, but now I am a Yaakov. 

I have a set time to learn with my children as well as to learn on my own, as well as doing the Rebbe’s shlichus of reaching out and helping another Jew.

Or perhaps I should express it as follows. The chassidim of the Alter Rebbe knew that if they earned an unexpected amount of additional income, it was a sign that shortly they will be visited by a messenger of the Rebbe informing them that the Rebbe needs some money for a very important purpose.

The same thing with us. If we have extra time, we should know that Hashem gave us this extra time to utilize it to do something good in that time, and that means, that for that period of time I am regular member in the Rebbe’s army of reaching out to another Jew and help them improve their financial and/or spiritual level. 

A Taste of Chassidus           Lo hibit uh’vein b’yaakov vilo ru”uh uhmeil B’yisroel Likkutei Torah parshas Balak

The Alter Rebbe’s main question is, what are the two different levels of Yaakov and Yisroel?

On this he explains that there are two ways we define the connection between the Jewish people and Hashem; Yisroel represents the relationship between a father and son, while Yaakov represents, the relationship of a servant to a master. We have to understand what does it mean that we sometimes serve Hashem as a servant to a Master.

When one serves another, they are taking care of something that the other person needs or is lacking.

The person wants (which means in their mind needs), their house to be painted, the grass to be cut down or to be driven to the airport. So the servant, attendant, takes care of that need and fills the void. However, being that Hashem is complete, that means He has no needs or void, so how can we “serve” Him? He has no need or void to fulfill!

Chassidus explains, this concept (that Hashem has no need) is true until Hashem for whatever reason chose to create a world so that His essence can dwell in this lowly world. But once Hashem chose to create this desire in Himself, He now needs that we who live in this physical and lowly world, elevate it by refining it to the point that He can dwell in it. So now He has that need, and we can and are responsible to take care of and filling it.

So while the service the “slave” does, is not just important, but it is vital to fulfill Hashem’s will, nevertheless, the possuk states, that no inequity was seen in Yaakov, however,  when it to Yisroel who represents the higher level of a son, the possuk says and He did not see any toil in Yisroel. That implies that by Yaakov, there is  toil, and it is noticebe that the person is toiling.

And the truth is that this is indeed so. Yaakov who was given the responsibility of refining and subsequently elevating the world, must toil to accomplish this. The servant has to clean out the old dusty furniture, polish the dirty floor etc., an bring in new beautiful furniture that bring out the splendor of the house or palace. 

This is the mission of a Jew during the weekdays, to bring out the G-dly sparks that are intertwined with the physical, and the physical and materialistic world conceal the G-dly spark that is within it. The way we accomplish that is by utilizing aspects of this world to serve Hashem. [As we are using the internet to give over this thought of Chassidus.]

However, when Hashem concluded creating the world, the possuk states Vayichal Elokim, which Chassidus explains to mean, that Elokim, which is the shield of the sun, which conceals the glory of Hashem from the eyes of humans, in order that they have free choice, ceased to perform on Shabbos. 

Therefore, when the possuk speaks about Yisroel, which represents the service of a son, and the day of Shabbos, it says that Hashem didn’t see even any toil. Because on Shabbos we are forbidden to separate the good from bad, as Shabbos is on a higher level, so the bad does not reveal itself.

However, one cannot come and attain this higher level of a son, until after he succeeds in his mission of a being a servant, as the Torah says, Yaakov’s name was changed to Yisroel, only after he vanquished the angel of Esau. So too only after we successfully fulfill the mission of elevating the world do we come to Shabbos.

Rabbi Avtzon is a veteran mechanech and the author of numerous books on the Rebbeim and their chassidim. He is available to farbreng in your community, and can be contacted at avtzonbooks@gmail.com.