Weekly Story: A Tribute To My Mother, Rebbetzin Cheyene (Bina) Avtzon
by Rabbi Sholom DovBer Avtzon
This coming Monday, the 27th of Sivan is my mother’s 39th Yahrzeit. While on the Friday before her yahrzeit, I normally post something about her life, this year I chose to write something I did that summer in her memory. I am doing so in order to share the response I received from the Rebbe.
As always, your feedback and comments are most welcome and greatly appreciated.
During Chanukah 5738 -1977, I began going on Mivtzoyim on Steinway Street, which is located in Astoria, Queens. As by most bochurim our mivtzoyim of mivtza tefillin, is basically limited to Friday afternoons and special occasions, Chanukah, Purim etc. However, during shiva I thought that perhaps I will speak to the storekeepers, many who came to be Menachem Avel, and ask them if they would agree to make a minyan for mincha every day, so this way I can come daily to put on tefillin with those who want to.
My thought was that all those extra tefillin plus the mincha tefilla will be done in memory of my mother. To those that I didn’t think were interested in a mincha, I asked if they would do me a favor and join in the minyan, so that I would be able to say the kaddish in memory of my mother. This request they didn’t turn down. Boruch Hashem, we came very close to many of them, as they invited me to their homes.
One store keeper allowed us to use an upstairs room and the minyan took place every day at a set time.
I would come to Steinway between 12:00 and 1:00 and I will put on tefillin on many of them and then we would have our minyan.
I brought along a wooden pushka, and after davening I would either say a halachah, or a short thought on the parsha. This way we did Torah, Tzedokah and Tefilla.
After a week or so after I began this project, and I saw that I had a minyan everyday besides Friday, I wrote to the Rebbe informing him of what I was doing. I was hoping that I would receive an answer and this way I could share it with the storekeepers who participated on a regular basis, and it will encourage them to continue coming every day, as well as a way to encourage those who were reluctant to begin coming. However, no one from mazkirus called me over and told me that there is an answer from the Rebbe waiting for me.
My happiness or comfort at that moment was that I did not tell the people that I am writing to the Rebbe about this, because then they might have been disappointed that there was no answer. However, a few weeks later, during the shabbos farbrengen, the Rebbe mentioned that when there is a minyan in a business place and the business people also give Tzedokah and learn some Torah, that is revealing the inner reason of the entire business: that the true purpose of the business was that it should house a minyan, where people will learn Torah and give Tzedokah.
[I have some thoughts as to why the Rebbe answered in public, even though it was not really the concept of that sicha, but I am not positive that it is correct.]
Obviously, on Monday before the minyan began, I shared that saying of the Rebbe with all the storekeepers who I was in contact with and it bolstered their commitment.
The minyan continued throughout that summer, until the school year begun and I resumed teaching.
The reason I chose to post this anecdote this week, is because a few weeks ago a former student of mine invited me to come to his place of work and give over a few Concepts of Torah, Chassidus etc., after mincha.
The time for Mincha came and all the workers stopped what they were doing, with a few workers neighboring from close by offices joining them for the minyan.
As arranged, after mincha the weekly shiur took place, and I began saying over some thoughts and stories.
They thanked me and I left. On the way home I realized whatever I said was said, and hopefully it inspired those who were there. But I missed the main point that I should have shared with them.
The point that the Rebbe said that Shabbos, that by making a minyan in a business elevates the entire business and all your toil in it, to kedusha. In other words, the reason you are there is to transform that building into a miniature Beis Hamikdash. This is the concept that Chassidus explains is the true reason why Hashem created the entire world and universe, so that His essence would rest in this physical world.
I then thought of posting it immediately for that week, but I decided to wait for the week of my mother’s yahrzeit and to share it with the public, as I received this guidance in her honor.
I am positive it can be beneficial to the many businesses which have a minyan, that they too should add a daily halacha or thought on the parsha either before or after mincha, as well as giving some tzedoka.
A Taste of Chasidus Shelach Lecho
This week’s parsha begins, that Hashem is telling Moshe to send the spies to Eretz Yisroel.
The Hebrew word for spies is miraglim, so the question is, why does the possuk use a totally different and uncommon word of Viyusurroo, and not the more common word?
The Tzemach Tzedek explains that the root word of Viyusurroo is yehsehr. Yehsehr means more or addition, and Hashem was telling Moshe that the purpose of sending the spies is, that they should bring out the tremendous quality that is in the land. What it has more than others have.
This also explains why the spies had to be sent by Moshe and not merely that Moshe would merely agree to the request of the 12 tribes and reply, being that you want to send someone do it on your own.
But being that they were being sent to Eretz Yisroel, in order to bring out this tremendous, but concealed quality, it had to be done by someone who has that ability to accomplish that feat, and that person was Moshe. However, Moshe himself would not be going, therefore he had to send them as His messengers, because a messenger – a representative, of a person – obtains the power of that person. So now these 12 leaders of the Jewish Nation had the power of Moshe within them and therefore they had the ability to succeed in this mission.
One may ask where or how do we see that the earth is higher and greater than the others?
The answer is simple, only the earth has the power of recreation, as every created living organism on the earth, came from the earth. [Chassidus explains this is the reason why vegetation, living organisms and mankind also have the ability of reproduction, as it is only because they get their life sustenance from the earth.
To explain this in practical terms. Land/earth (dirt and fossils) are the lowest level of the Pyramid of life. Above them are vegetation, living organisms and mankind. Yet while all of these three are higher than earth, they cannot survive without the earth. This demonstrates that land / Earth has a certain quality which they need and they don’t have on their own. In Chassidic and Kabbala terminology earth refers to the sephira of Malchus. Malchus is the lowest of the ten sefiros, yet at the same time, malchus is sometimes referred to as Kesser Malchus. Not only is it the source or conduit through which the power / light of G-dliness comes down to give life to the spiritual world beneath it, but in certain aspects it is connected to Kesser of that world and therefore it is then above the other sefiros
In a person’s service to Hashem, heaven refers to Torah study while earth refers to the fulfillment of mitzvos.
In the talmud there is the question of what is greater, Torah study or fulfilling mitzvos. While each one has qualities which demonstrate that in that particular aspect it is greater, nevertheless, the talmud concludes that Torah study is greater because it enables the person to know what how they are supposed to fulfill the mitzvah.
The commentaries point out, that while the talmud was saying that Torah study is greater, at the same time it stressed, its greatness is only because now the person could fulfill the Mitzvah properly. In other words, its greatness is only because it brings you to do the Mitzvah and therefore in essence the mitzvah is greater than the studying of the Torah, or better said the purpose of studying is in order to fulfill the mitzvah.
However, the Jews who were in the wilderness were being provided all of their needs from Hashem, without the need to be involved in any physical labor. They are the ones to whom the Torah was given. They felt that Torah is the ultimate goal in itself, and there shouldn’t be any association with the world and physical labor. They also questioned if they indeed have the ability of being able to elevate the world.
Therefore, Moshe appointed them as his personal messengers. A messenger of a person is an extension of that person, and everyone recognized that Moshe had the power to enter and elevate the world, so now they too have that ability.
The problem was that they did not recognize that Hashem desires that we toil on demonstrating that earth is an extension of G-dliness and not an opposition to Him.
Rabbi Avtzon is a veteran mechanech and the author of numerous books on the Rebbeiim and their chassidim. He is available to farbreng in your community for Gimmel or Yud-Beis Tammuz. He can be contacted at avtzonbooks@gmail.com.
