Weekly Story: From Yud Shevat 5710 To Yud Shevat 5711

by Rabbi Sholom DovBer Avtzon

When I write a story, I try to get all the details and write it properly. However, when I write Lubavitch history, especially when it is going to be used as a chapter in my upcoming two volume biography on the Frierdiker Rebbe, I write more briefly. As I explained in the introduction to his biography, there are a few books written about his arrest and liberation on Yud Beis Tammuz, taken mainly from his own writings, as well as on other aspects of his life. Then I will be just rewriting other people’s work, and even of bigger concern is that since the series is primarily geared to our youth, I am afraid that it may be too cumbersome to read all the details. Obviously, those who do desire to further their knowledge can read those books as well.

So now that I am writing about the year between the Frierdiker Rebbe’s histalkus and the Rebbe officially accepting the Nesius, the following year, I am again faced with the question of what I should include and what could I omit. Since I am writing this chapter for this week’s post, obviously it is going to be shorter than the final draft in the biography and perhaps the readers can help me fill in what they feel is pertinent or missing. Just as people brought to my attention an important detail on last week’s post.

This is just one of the reasons I write your feedback and comments are appreciated and most welcomed.

The Year Between Yud Shevat 5710 and 5711.

To the outsider, Lubavitch was continuing just as the Rebbe wanted it. His two surviving sons-in law were working diligently in maintaining and perhaps even expanding the responsibilities that their father-in-law, the Rebbe, had entrusted them with. Receipts and letters were written on the stationery of the Rebbe’s

Rebbetzin, and on some of them, the names of the two sons-in-law were written as well.
However, to those on the inside, there was a tremendous void. The Rebbe is the life of a Chossid. He is the one who guides us in our service of Hashem, and while the Rebbe’s activities are continuing, it seems to be only his activities, not his essence. This was especially acute in America, and it extended to the Chassidim worldwide.

The Chassidim in America had supported the Rebbe’s activities before he had settled in America ten years earlier on Tes Adar Sheni, 5700 (1940). But it was no comparison to his essence being with them, when they were close to the Rebbe and were able to ask him questions and receive guidance and advice, which enriched their lives.

I heard from a son of a lone holocaust survivor, who said he asked his father, “Father, you came to America without any family, friends, or acquaintances, besides fellow holocaust survivors [so how did you survive]?” His father’s reply was straightforward; “We had the Rebbe [we had a father who took us by our hand]”

This sentiment was the same by Chassidim worldwide. Those who escaped from Russia were helped by the Rebbe. He was helpful in their escape and arranged that they be resettled from the DP camps. He also arranged visas for numerous Chassidim to settle in various countries, and in 1949, established Kfar Chabad in Eretz Yisroel. So to all these Chassidim, the Rebbe was not just a spiritual mentor who bestowed upon them brochos (blessings). Rather he was a father who held their hands day to day.

Historically, in Lubavitch and most Chassidishe courts, one of the sons of the Rebbe succeeds him.[1] However, when the Rebbe didn’t have any sons (just three daughters), the Chassidim understood that it would be one of the Rebbe’s surviving sons-in-laws.

The first thing was to see if the Rebbe wrote something in his tzavaah (will), as to which one should be his successor. However, when they saw that he did not write anything about it, in essence he wanted them to make this decision.

For various reasons many of the Chassidim in America desired that our Rebbe assumes his father’s- in-law chair and become Rebbe. However, when they spoke to the Rebbe about it, he said NO in many ways. To some he said, “Do you really think that is able to be a Rebbe,” to others he responded, “I never received such guidance.”

Rabbi Eliyahu Simpson, who was a mazkir of the Frierdiker Rebbe related the following. “One night I had a dream in which the [Frierdiker] Rebbe asked me, ‘Why are the spirits of the chassidim so depressed?’”

“I replied, ‘Because we have no one to go to.’”

“The [Frierdiker] Rebbe asked me, ‘Isn’t my son-in-law [mentioning our Rebbe by name] with you?’” Reb Eliyahu Simson replied, “But he refuses to accept the nesius upon himself.”

To this the [Frierdiker] Rebbe responded, “He [our Rebbe] was already instructed to do so.”

At the first opportunity Rabbi Simpson related this dream to our Rebbe. To which the Rebbe said, “I have not received such an instruction.”

Rabbi Simpson related this conversation to other elder chassidim. Hearing this, he and another nine Chassidim went to the ohel. In their Pidyon Nefesh they requested that the Frierdiker Rebbe gives our Rebbe this instruction. Indeed, from then on, our Rebbe never repeated that statement. However, he continued to refuse to entertain the thought of becoming Rebbe.

Yet there were some indications that he was going to make that decision. A few months after the Rebbe and Rebbetzin arrived in America, on Chof Ches Sivan 5701 (1941), the Frierdiker Rebbe instructed him to farbreng on Shabbos Mevorchim. So after Yud Shevat, when he continued to farbreng every Shabbos Mevorchim, it didn’t indicate anything. However, when he began to farbreng in honor of other occasions throughout the year, even though he didn’t say a maamar Chassidus, this was understood by many as an indication.

Additionally, there are questions that a Chossid asks his Rebbe and doesn’t ask to anyone else, (and some may not even mention it to their closest friends). Before the histalkus, even if someone came to our Rebbe and asked him this question, his reply was always the same, “Such questions are to be presented to the Rebbe for a reply. However, now when someone asked him those question he often would give an answer.”

But to some people our Rebbe indicated that eventually he will become Rebbe in a more open way. The first one that we are aware of was to Rabbi Yitzchok Dubov of England. He had arrived in America a few days before the Rebbe’s histalkus and after the week of Shiva, he asked our Rebbe to become Rebbe, the Rebbe replied, “Do you know what a Rebbe is, that I am able to be one?” Rabbi Dubov continued, “And what about the students?” The Rebbe replied, “I will always be together with the students.”

Rabbi Shlomo Aharon Karzornovsky related that originally the Frierdiker Rebbe was interred without anything around his holy eternal place. Then in Elul, a cement wall was built around it, and our Rebbe as a member of Agudas Chassidei Chabad, expressed that a complete ohel be built. They hired an engineer who was also a builder to make a blueprint, however, our Rebbe didn’t approve of it and demanded some changes. For some reason the engineer didn’t want to make those changes, so they hired a second engineer.

One day a member of Agudas Chassidei Chabad needed to make a phone call and when he concluded the call from a phone booth, he inadvertently left the first blueprint there. Someone else entered the phone booth and noticed the envelope. Realizing that it is probably something of importance, he called the engineer. When the engineer received the prints, he understood that Agudas Chassidei Chabad was not going to use his design and took them to court.

Rabbi Karzornovsky continued, “I received a letter that I as the secretary of Agu”Ch is a defendant and that the Rebbe’s son-in-law is also a defendant. In the disposition, the engineer’s lawyer asked our Rebbe, “Since Rabbi Joseph Isaac Schneersohn is no longer alive, who is presently the President of this organization?” Our Rebbe did not verbally reply, he just made a fist and with his thumb sticking out and pointed to himself. At that time, I knew, that it was just a matter of time before he assumes the position in an official manner.”

Rabbi Shmuel Dovid Raichik of California would relate every year, during a farbrengen on Sukkos with the Tmimim, the following. Two weeks before Yud-Shevat 5711 (1951), Rabbi Karzarnovsky, Rabbi Levitan, and Rabbi Simpson, placed a notice in the edition of the 26th of Teves in some of the prominent Yiddish newspapers, that on the upcoming Yud Shevat the Rebbe will accede to the request of Chassidim and would accept upon himself the mantel of nesius.

The following day, the Rebbe called Rabbi Karzarnovsky to his room and demanded that he places a notice of retraction in the next edition of those newspapers.

Rabbi Karzarnovsky asked the Rebbe if he may say something, to which the Rebbe replied, “Yes.”

Rabbi Karzarnovsky then said, “Last night I had a dream in which the [Frierdiker] Rebbe said to me: “Tell my son-in-law [mentioning our Rebbe by name], the following [explanation]. It says in the Possuk, “And Hashem spoke to Moshe [the leader of the Jewish nation], ‘Why are you crying out to me; speak to the Jewish nation and they shall travel forward.

“Tell my son-in-law: Why are you telling everyone that I [the Rebbe Rayatz] is the Rebbe? You should speak to the Jewish nation and they shall travel and be elevated with you until the coming of Moshiach Tzidkeinu.”

The Rebbe said to Reb Shlomo Aharon, “Thank you for the good tidings, and since you told me good
tidings, I shall give you good tidings.”

The Rebbe then showed him a telegram he had just received from Rabbi Herzol, the Chief Ashkenazic Rabbi in Eretz Yisroel, congratulating the Rebbe on becoming the seventh Rebbe of Chabad Chassidus.
On Wednesday, Yud Shevat 5711, the Rebbe went to the Ohel of the Frierdiker Rebbe and read many letters of requests (Pidyon Nefeh/Pa”n) where the writer requested that the Rebbe prays on their behalf. Whenever he picked up the michtav hiskasrus, the letter which states that I the undersigned is committed to the total binding of a chossid to his Rebbe, and to fulfill all of his directives

energetically, the Rebbe continuously put it under a large batch of letters, until it was the final letter to be read. When he began reading it, he broke out in sobs.

Author’s note: I was told, although I have no verification of this, that unlike all other letters that the Rebbe reads at the Ohel and then rips up, this letter remained with him forever. The person told me, “You see when the Rebbe enters the shul with his siddur, between the cover and the siddur are folded pages. Those pages are that michtav hiskasrus which was signed by thousands of chassidim.”

Bezras Hashem next week I will post what happened that night in 770 before and during the farbrengen.

A Taste of Chassidus

Basi L’Gani 5710

In the maamar that the Frierdiker Rebbe gave out to be learned on Yid Shevat 5710, he begins with the statement of the midrash, that Hashem’s essence was revealed in this world. However, through the subsequent actions of man, the shechina removed itself from this lowly world to the first heaven, then to the second, until it ultimately elevated itself to the seventh and highest heaven.

Then came seven tzaddikim, beginning with Avrohom Avinu, who through refining the world, brought the shechina closer to the earth. He brought it down from the seventh heaven to the sixth, followed by Yitzchok, Yaakov, Levi, Kehos, Amram, each one bringing it down one more level, and Moshe who is the seventh (and all sevenths are beloved) brought it down to this material world through the building of the mishkan.

The possuk states, “You shall build me a Mishkan, and I will dwell in them.” The obvious question is there was only one mishkan that Moshe was instructed to build, so seemingly the proper wording should have been, “And I will dwell in it.”

The explanation is that “In them” is not referencing to the Mishkan, but rather to the entire Jewish nation, as each one contributed towards its building. So Hashem is saying, “I wish to dwell in each one of you.”
So, the question becomes, how can I cause that Hashem will dwell in me?

However, by paying attention to the guidelines that Hashem gave us on how the mishkan must be built, and what should be done in it in order for His shechina to dwell in it, we can emulate those concepts and cause Hashem to dwell in us.

The main function of the mishkan was to sacrifice an animal and then place it on the alter, where a fire from heaven (together with the fire the Kohanim create), burns it.

When the possuk discusses the bringing of a korban, it states, “A man who brings a sacrifice from you.”

Here too we have to understand the wording of the possuk. Seemingly it should state, “A man from among you who desires to bring a korban,” why are the words “of you” at the end of the possuk?

However, there is tremendous significance in this “minor change.” The word Korbon, while it is generally translated to mean a sacrifice, it also means to come close. The possuk is informing us, that when an individual desires to come closer to Hashem, he must be willing to give up something from himself. The following pesukim discuss that if he brings an animal, he can bring from cattle, sheep or

goats. This is to inform us that Hashem, who created us, knows that we are so different. Therefore, the remedy to one person might not be the remedy for another. One person may have an evil inclination which is very strong and brazen, like an ox which sometimes has the tendency to gore. Yet for others, their inclination is not so strong or visible and is compared to a timid sheep.

The sacrifice is consumed by the fire from heaven. This is a reference to the fire of love that every Jew has in their G-dly soul. By some it is revealed and by others it may be concealed. But G-d placed both souls in a person’s body, in order that the love of the G-dly soul inspires the animalistic soul, and as we know, many animals can run with more strength than a human. So, once the animal soul is influenced, it creates a stronger desire to serve Hashem. Thus, the person comes closer to Hashem.

Now that we understand that the goal of building the Mishkan was that through it, a human can refine himself, we can understand why one of the main components used in building was cedar wood. In Hebrew, cedar wood is call Atzei Shitim (or in singular Shita). Shita is similar to the wood Shtus (craziness) and the word itself is often translated ‘To Turn.’

Therefore, we find that the place that the Jewish men sinned in the wilderness with the daughters of Moav, was in the place called Shitim. Also, when a man suspects that his wife is being unfaithful, the possuk says; V’e’shu Ki Sishte – When A women turns astray. Our sages express this concept by saying,

“No member of the Jewish nation sins, unless a spirit of folly enters them!”

The explanation of this statement is as follows. One may see a Jew or many Jews not serving Hashem and disobeying His commandments. Yet, those same Jews, if they were given an ultimatum to either convert and denounce Hashem or die, they will accept untold suffering and even death rather to deny in the Creator.

So, if they believe in the creator, why do they disobey His commandments even in public?

The reason is, as many of us heard a Jew reply, “I am a good Jew at heart. I support many Jewish institutions, including the orthodox and Chassidic. I support the land of Israel, and I will contribute to the fund to allow any orthodox Jew to take off from work on the Sabbath.” So that person is telling us, I am connected to G-d, just as you are. I am connected by my good deeds, and you are connected by your good deeds, like putting on Tefillin and keeping the Sabbath. Furthermore, both of us circumcised our sons on the eighth day after his birth.

But now that the adversary is demanding that that person renounces their connection to G-d, that is impossible, because no Jew wants or can be completely become disconnected from G-d.

This sense that I am completely connected to Hashem. even when I disobey many of His commandments, is the folly that the world and the animalistic soul places over the G-dly soul. The G- dly soul desires to reveal Hashem’s glory in the world that not only does He control the world, but in fact the world is an extension of Him, and the body conceals this concept.

But we need to clarify one point. It is true that the world which in Hebrew is OLAM which sounds similar to the word HELEM (concealment) covers up on the neshoma in the body, however, there are parts of the neshoma that are too powerful for the body to contain them. Therefore, when the person feels that he is going to be completely disconnected from Hashem, those levels give the person the fortitude to withstand any pressure. However, when he commits a transgression, he feels that it is only a small aspect of a Jews connection to Hashem, and therefore he feels that it is not so terrible or a negative statement against Hashem.

So how does one rectify this?

The Rambam states that if a tree is bent ten degrees in one direction, if you desire to straighten it out it is not sufficient to forcibly move it back to its proper position, but for an extended time you have to push it towards the opposing direction in the same degrees. So here too, if one wants to rectify the folly that he followed into the negative direction, they must use an equal amount of folly to serve Hashem.

Therefore, Hashem instructed us to build the mishkan with Cedar Wood, the wood of Shitim. This way we are transforming our folly from the negative to the positive, instead of causing Hashem to distance Himself, He is coming closer. Or in other words, until now I may have gone below what clear intellect guides one to do, and now I serve Hashem with a folly of higher than intellect.

The Frierdiker Rebbe gives a practical example of this. The Talmud relates that Rav Shmuel, the son of Rav Yitzchok, would take three willow branches and juggle them in front of a Kallah. Some of the sages disapproved and one said it is not befitting for a scholar to conduct himself in such a manner.

However, when he passed away, a pillar of fire descended and separated him from everyone else. At that time everyone realized that Rav Shmuel going beyond the call of duty earned him this special recognition.

We find a similar situation by a prophet, that in order to merit prophecy one has to let go of the personal thoughts and feelings. The same thing is by us. In order for us to reveal G-dliness in this world, we have to elevate ourselves above the world and to only focus on Hashem’s will.

In practical terms, why is almost everything at a set time and can’t be changed, besides one’s time to learning and davening? The opposite thing should be our reality. We were created only for one reason, and that is to serve Hashem. Therefore, the time of davening and learning should be firmly established and everything else should revolve around them.

By containing the mindset of the animalistic soul and ultimately transforming it, the essence of Hashem will once again be revealed in this materialistic world, with the coming of Moshiach. May it be speedily in our days!

Rabbi Avtzon is a veteran mechanech and the author of numerous books on the Rebbeim and their chassidim. He can be contacted at avtzonbooks@gmail.com

[1] In Lubavitch, the one exception was after the histalkus of the Mitteler Rebbe, that although he had two sons, his successor was one of his numerous sons-in-laws.