Birthday of Rosh Yeshiva at Tiferes Bochurim

Morristown, NJ — In the middle of afternoon seder on the 8th of Adar, Rabbi Dubinsky, Rosh Yeshiva of Tiferes Bochurim, threw a surprise farbrengan in honor of his birthday and the upcoming Tes Adar which celebrates the arriving of the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe to America. When the Freideker Rebbe (the previous Rebbe and father-in-law to our Rebbe) came to the United States, the outreach of Chabad Chassidim vastly enhanced. Their mission stemmed back to the Alter Rebbe who claimed that spreading Chassidus in America is a necessary goal in bringing Moshiach. The kelipot that was inhibiting the Yiddishkeit of American Jews caused them to feel that America was a country where religious Judaism had no place (certainly in the public eye). Unfortunately this misconception plagued religious and non-religious Jews alike.

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Rabbi Dubinsky showed the importance of the Freideker Rebbe’s work in a spiritual sense, by asking, “Why does the neshamah come down into this world from such spiritual heights?” The most common answer is that the soul needs to be uplifted through this world. However, the Ari Zal has a different approach, who says that we do not come into this world to be fixed since the soul doesn’t need a tikkun. “The original approach makes one focus too much on themself, instead we should see ourselves as having a shlichus from Hashem in order to fulfill a particular mission in fulfilling the world. To achieve this Hashem gives us each the choikus, the strength and ability, to succeed. ”How much of this strength do we get? Most people would say that we get enough to do our duty. In reality, the more we broaden our attitude, the more we can accomplish, and the more power Hashem gives us. Depending on our initiative and will to do more, Heaven blesses us. This is the major challenge of life, to not narrow our service to Hashem by letting the yetzer hara persuade us that our potential is limited. Just as a mother with her first child would think her situation is overwhelming, a mother with many children would think having only one child is easy, because of a slightly different perspective. G-d gives us the power to pass challenges and by contemplating on this we can do so too.

Similarly, a Jew should not limit their service to G-d to the realm of logic. Rabbi Dubinsky remembered many of his fellow bochurim who would go beyond their daily seder (oftentimes in a manner that would seem beyond reason) by learning all of the Rebbe’s sichos or by memorizing an entire book of Talmud. The more we give to Hashem, the more we are given the ability to give. This is what American Jews of the early 20th century forgot. The Freideker Rebbe needed to remind the Jews that their never-ending service to G-d was not a burden, but rather a service whose vitality is unlimited and prospers the more we do. Unlike physical energy, the more a Jew exerts the more we get.

Nowadays, there is an additional problem of people living as robots, acting in a programmed way. We were given free choice by G-d, but rarely do we use it. Hashem allows us to break out of our program.

When we are not in the mood to study Torah or do a particular mitzvah, then we should just do the opposite of how we feel. If we haven’t been davening with great kavanah then at least we should say the next line with all our might. “Lie to your yetzer hara! And why not? He certainly lies to us enough.” Through pushing ourselves, we will see that Hashem will bless us with the power to get through any challenge we are willing to attempt to overcome.