Rabbi Y. Wineberg, Scholar Whose Teachings Live On

This past Wednesday a bright light went out. Rabbi Yosef Wineberg was taken from us in the physical sense, but the legacy he left behind is immeasurable. Most famous for the time and effort he spent teaching Tanya to thousands of people across the globe, this great man and his accomplishments will not soon be forgotten.

When asked about their thoughts on Rabbi Wineberg, those who knew him personally lamented the loss of a man who contributed so much to Lubavitch, Chassidus and to Yiddishkeit at large. Some spoke of Rabbi Wineberg’s beautiful weekly radio Tanya shiurim, while others commented on the chesed he did for others; most, however, mourned the loss of the last of the nine Shluchim sent by the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe to Montreal in 1941, among them my late grandfather, Rabbi Aryeh Leib Kramer, OBM. The two were very close; my grandfather treated Rabbi Wineberg like a younger brother. When Rabbi Wineberg married before my grandfather, my grandfather gave him part of his personal salary, which gave the Previous Rebbe much joy.

One comment really struck me. Someone came over to me on Shabbos and asked, “Nu, did you hear about Rabbi Wineberg?” When I replied that I had, he continued. “That’s it; it’s the end of an era; there are no others like him.” That comment got me thinking: is it really over? Are we really in a new era? Is it true that the accomplishments of the previous “era” are now over?

Let us rewind seven decades:

In October 1941, nine students from the yeshiva in Shanghai, China, were sent by the Previous Rebbe to Montreal as Shluchim to start a Lubavitcher yeshiva there. Rabbi Wineberg was among those who successfully established the groundbreaking yeshiva, which today is a large yeshiva with thousands of students having passed through its doors.

Shortly after his wedding, Rabbi Wineberg moved to New York to help fundraise on behalf of Lubavitch schools headquartered in Brooklyn. Rabbi Wineberg was highly instrumental in making the yeshiva and its many subsidiaries become what they are today.

In the 1950s, when traveling was not as easy as it is today, the Rebbe needed the right man for an important job—to offer support to Jewish communities in far-flung areas such as the island of Madagascar. The person chosen for this job would need to leave his family to travel across the world. The Rebbe knew the right Chossid to send; soon Rabbi Wineberg left his wife and children to travel to remote Jewish communities with the mission of bringing Yiddishkeit to Jews who would have otherwise been forgotten.

At a time when Jewish content on the radio was rare, Rabbi Wineberg revolutionized the concept of Jewish programming with his popular weekly Tanya lessons which were broadcast on the radio every Motzai Shabbos. This eventually led to the publishing of the bestselling series Lessons in Tanya, which was translated from its original Yiddish into many languages. Lessons in Tanya made learning Tanya accessible to people all over the world, regardless of their educational background, prior Torah knowledge or observance.

There are countless examples of instances in which Rabbi Wineberg was the pioneer who took that first step into the proverbial boiling water and changed the temperature so that it would be accessible to everyone. The Midrash Mechilta on Parshas Yisro says that “Kol hascholos koshos” – all beginnings are difficult; Rabbi Wineberg persevered in the beginning, when things were the most challenging, and made it smoother for others to follow suit.

With that in mind, I believe that the last 70 years of Rabbi Wineberg’s life was not part of the previous era, rather it was the beginning of a new era. Now it is our job to take that beginning to the next level; we can do so by taking the Tanya that was taught to us for so many years by Rabbi Wineberg and teaching it to our neighbors, and by taking the chesed that he shared with us and sharing it with others. When starting a new project or venture that may seem difficult and challenging – or even impossible – follow Rabbi Wineberg’s example and know that with time and effort your initiative can make a big difference in the world.

When wishing the Wineberg family “Hamokom yenachem eschem besoch shaar aveily tzion v’Yerushalayim” during a recent Shivah visit, I thought of the explanation that the Rebbe once wrote as to why we give a general bracha to someone who is experiencing a very personal loss:

1) Just as the destruction of the Bais Hamikdash affected each and every Jew, the passing of Rabbi Wineberg is felt by the thousands of Jews who studied and continue to study the Tanya with the help of his Tanya lessons, as well as many others who were touched by him in numerous ways.

2) Just like the Bais Hamikdash will be rebuilt and all Jews will be reunited when Moshiach comes, Rabbi Wineberg will be reunited with us when Moshiach comes, speedily in our days.

3) The Romans and the Babylonians succeeded in damaging the physical Bais Hamikdash but were unsuccessful in destroying the Bais Hamikdash, which is in the soul of every Jew. So too, Rabbi Wineberg may be physically gone, but his legacy lives on through the thousands of people who continue to study Tanya through his audio lessons and sefarim, and by those who share with others the kindness he had for them.

May Hashem grant the Wineberg family the strength needed to overcome the loss of a very special person whose presence will be missed—Rabbi Yosef ben Zev Halevi Wineberg, OBM.