Weekly Dvar Torah: Revolutionizing Matan Torah

On the 28th of Sivan 5741 (1941), our Rebbe arrived in the USA together with his wife, our Rebbetzin, and we celebrate the miracle of his escape from the clutches of the Nazis.

This is a good enough reason to celebrate. After all, it is thanks to this miraculous event that we have the Rebbe leading us for the last 73 years.

However, according to the teachings of Chassidus, this date has a lot more meaning to it. And when we dig a little deeper, this is a date to celebrate no less than Matan Torah itself.

Let me explain.

There is a saying attributed to the Alter Rebbe, that the revelations of Matan Torah took place in the upper parts of the globe. Which means that the upper part of the world which includes the land of Israel and the surrounding continents and countries, like Europe, Asia and Africa, benefited from the events that occurred when G-d descended on Mt. Sinai, and revealed the essence of G-d in this physical world. And ever since, we are able to connect the mundane with the lofty, through keeping the Torah.

However, in the lower part of the globe, like America, these revelations did not manifest itself. In order to bring those revelations down to the lower hemisphere, we need the deeper and inner dimension of Torah to make it happen.

Originally, the mere event of G-d descending down to this world, made the fusion between the upper and lower worlds. But in America, where the physical manifestation of G-d’s descent has not taken place, this connection was not yet made.

That is why for generations America was called the Treifene Medina. They used to say that in America the cobblestone that paved the streets was Treif, and therefore, one could not be a good Jew in America. As a result, when Jews emigrated to America they dropped their Talis and Tefillin in the Atlantic, and Judaism was not appreciated. If one kept Shabbos one could not hold a job, and was doomed to starvation.

All this changed on the 28th of Sivan 1941. It is true that this process started a little over a year earlier on the 9th of Adar Sheini 5740 (1940), when the Frierdiker Rebbe declared that “America is no different”. The implementation of this declaration only started a year later, when his son-in-law, our Rebbe, landed on the shores of the United States.

Then started a “new momentum” in the strengthening and the spreading of Torah and Yiddishkeit, including the spreading of the wellsprings of Chassidus to the furthest places (outside). Because at that time the Frierdiker Rebbe established the three primary organizations of Lubavitch; Machne Israel (the social arm of Lubavitch), Kehos (the publication house of Lubavitch), and Merkos (the educational arm of Lubavitch). And he appointed the Rebbe to head these organizations.

What happened as a result was the broad publication and dissemination of Chassidus; the inner dimension of Torah, which reveals to us the lofty experience of G-dliness, how we could live it in this mundane world. This initiated the spreading of basic Yiddishkeit, by inspiring Jews to want to keep Torah. And started Shlichus to the furthest corners of the world, which became the mantra of Lubavitch till this very day.

This, the Rebbe explained, could only happen if we learn Chassidus, the inner dimension of Torah, and we relate to G-dliness with our human brain. This couldn’t happen when Hashem gave the Torah on the upper part of the globe, because Chassidus was not yet part of the human domain.

This became a twofold process. On the one hand we took advantage of the freedom and material success of America and we used it to the utmost, by basing the center of Yiddishkeit in the world superpower of America, and therefore we are able project from here to the entire world all that Yiddishkeit has to offer. And on the other hand, we were able to transform America to become the world headquarters of spreading Yiddishkeit, because the center of Chassidus and all its ramifications, is now based in the USA.

In plain simple words, the coming to America by the Rebbe and what transpired thereafter, revolutionized and completed the Matan Torah that started 3,253 years earlier.

Enjoy your Shavuos blintzes, dance away a happy Simchas Torah, we have a lot for which to rejoice. The Torah was now given to us anew like never before.

Have a joyous Shabbos of Matan Torah,
L’chaim and Gut Shabbos

Rabbi Yosef Katzman