Why the Maamar Ve’ata Tetzaveh is So Crucial for Gimmel Tammuz and What You Can Do About It?
A message from the Tut Altz Team at Merkos 302
As the holy day of Gimmel Tammuz is upon us, one question is on everyone’s mind: How do I properly utilize this day?
An obvious answer would be to look at – and review – the final ma’amar the Rebbe personally gave out to each of his chassidim on Purim Katan 5752, the famous “Ve’Atah Tetzaveh.”
While the connection between this landmark ma’amar and Gimmel Tammuz is obvious to every chassid, it is also quite clear that the relationship goes far beyond the simple fact that it’s the last ma’amar we have merited so far to personally receive from the Rebbe’s hand.
After all, the ma’amar’s central point speaks to the Jew who has thankfully graduated from situations of obvious pain and suffering. Back in the day, the conventional notion of “being crushed” by golus required no explanation or imagining, as everyday life for a practicing Jew was fraught with danger and literal self-sacrifice. In those times, it was easy and very practical to yearn for better times, to pine for the geulah.
But contemporary times have given way to a new reality. Life is no longer a daily struggle of survival; in fact, for many, it’s quite comfortable. So, who needs geulah in such a utopia? With a quick car ride to anywhere at the tap of a finger and even a wonderful shiur Torah on any topic imaginable at anyone’s beck and call, what’s the rush to yearn for better? Why pine for an alternative?
It is to this comfortable and complacent Jew that the Rebbe speaks in the final pages of the ma’amar. True, we might not be crushed by external forces today, so the call of the hour is to now create our own internal crush. To buck that complacency and be truly bothered that the geulah is not here. Why? Because the world inherently needs Moshiach. Because Hashem yearns to be revealed! So long Hashem isn’t fully comfortable and present in our world, we should be banging on the table that He be here with Moshiach now! The lack thereof should bother every chassid to their very core!
Is this not our mandate today? Being so close to the final geulah, every Jew must find that inherent yearning within themselves, not from without. We are at a time in history when the quest must be for nothing less than “your true you” and to come to a state where the ordinary Jew wants, and indeed works, to bring geulah like the Rebbe himself.
In the post-Gimmel Tammuz era, this message rings with amplified urgency.
We at the Moshiach Office of Merkos 302 have been working feverishly to produce resources to aide chassidim as they study this seminal ma’amar. Building on the tremendous success of the popular Tut Altz program and working together with partners, like the prolific folks over at JLI and, of course, our very own Curriculum Development Department, we have produced three new resources now available just in time for Gimmel Tammuz.
“Gimmel Tammuz is a time to refocus on the central, core mission of our generation,” said Rabbi Mendy Kotlarsky, executive director of Merkos 302, “and these resources will IY’H go a long way in doing just that.”
They are:
- Adult Curriculum. ‘Aspiration: the geulah approach to wanting geulah‘: A comprehensive, 150-page booklet that provides context, life lessons, and a line-by-line instruction through this fundamental ma’amar. Much space is devoted to unpacking the core points of the ma’amar that can be challenging to process in one quick reading. Perhaps most importantly, through exercises and relevant language, the core lessons of the ma’amar are exposed, providing practical takeaways for every chassid’s personal avodas Hashem.
Link: TutAltz.com/summer
- Kids’ Curriculum: ‘Our Moshe and Me’. There’s no denying that the ma’amar of Ve’Atah Tetzaveh is a very deep study. This brand new, professional curriculum breaks down the deepest and most abstract concepts of this ma’amar for even a small child. Illustrations, activities, and stories bring the ma’amar to life for Lubavitch’s youngest audience.
- The Annual International Moshiach Contest challenging children to create projects illustrating themes about Moshiach – and this year: from the ma’amar Ve’ata Tetzaveh – has just concluded. Gathering media and art from these creative exhibitions, the staff at the Tut Altz Kids Department have produced a full-color magazine, ‘V’yikchu Eilecha’, that teaches the concepts of the ma’amar – taught through the art created by the kids themselves!
Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wymra64ub7irdfz/Contest%20Winner%20Booklet.pdf?dl=0
“We feel privileged and proud to provide such levels of accessibility for the wider Anash community to one of the most fundamental ma’amarim of all time,” said Rabbi Shlomie Naparstek, co-director of the Moshiach Office.
This Gimmel Tammuz, let’s learn the ma’amar with renewed enthusiasm and really take that message to heart once more. With the resources above, such efforts should IYH be that much easier.
