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contents
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featured articles WeeKlY cOluMNs
We WONt fOrGet aNd We WONt fOrGiVe!
Rabbi Sholom Dovber Wolpo
16 KOsHer MeditatiON Sholom Ber Crombie

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4 14 32 35 38
Dvar Malchus Science & Geula Parsha Thought Crossroads Memoirs
24 WHO are YOu NaMed after?

Levi Yitzchok Garelik
28 resurrectiNG JeWisH cHerKassY

Menachem Savyon
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744 Eastern Parkway Brooklyn, NY 11213-3409 Tel: (718) 778-8000 Fax: (718) 778-0800 admin@beismoshiach.org www.beismoshiach.org EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: M.M. Hendel HEBREW EDITOR: Rabbi S.Y. Chazan editorH@beismoshiach.org ENGLISH EDITOR: Boruch Merkur editor@beismoshiach.org
DvaR Malchus
HISKASHRUS TO BRING MOSHIACH

By focusing on hiskashrus, the Rebbes promises are fulfilled. The Rebbe will fulfill the promises he made to each person, including the general promise that he made to the Jewish people at large, Immediately to tshuva brings to immediate redemption, and he will lead us to Moshiach.
Translated by Boruch Merkur
STORIES ARE NOT ENOUGH WHEN YOU CAN LEARN CHASSIDUS

As lofty and as inspiring as a story may be [stories of tzaddikim, for example], those who are capable of understanding Chassidus are surely not fulfilling what is required of them by sufficing with stories. The Rebbe once wrote to someone that baking bread is indeed an important task, but one who can [make jewelry by doing the specialized craft of] drilling through pearls should do just that. So too, we mustnt suffice with inspiring stories, being that we do not fulfill our obligation thereby; we must delve deeply into the Chassidus of the Rebbe. Certainly we must know the stories, especially insofar as they are needed to inspire others. That is, those who for the time being are not capable of understanding Chassidus still must be reached out to by sharing with them inspiring stories. Even for ones own sake
[stories are vital, as stated in Gemara Shabbos 10b], ones own garments are precious to him (i.e., a disciple cherishes his masters teachings and avidly pursues learning more of them to paraphrase Rashi). All those who are properly suited for the study of Chassidus, however, must be devoted to doing so. The proper place for stories is, as an Olamsher once said that when his mind is weary he then learns Agadata, Talmudic stories and parables. Of course, one must certainly toil in those stories and dialogues (sichos) that are rich with depth and meaning. Indeed, the Gemara states (Sukka 21b, elucidated in Seifer HaMitzvos of the Tzemach Tzedek 105a) that even the mundane speech of Torah scholars requires study. How much more does this apply [to insightful stories and conversations], etc. Then the sicha, the speech, is also like a maamer, a profound discourse. But the main thing is the concept that is derived through the toil
[the in-depth analysis of the stories and conversations]. (It is understood that the maamarim and sichos pertaining to particular times and holidays take precedent over everything else during those times.) However, the absolutely most essential point of everything is hiskashrus, connecting to the Rebbe. Whether we are talking about the study of Chassidus or learning sichos, hiskashrus is the top priority, as stated earlier that Moshe commanded us the Torah. In fact, Torah study for the sake of hiskashrus also constitutes the concept of lishma, learning for the sake of Heaven. In this manner, by focusing on hiskashrus, the Rebbes promises are fulfilled the promises the Rebbe has made not only in material matters but also in spiritual concerns, and not only in spiritual concerns but also in material matters. We must hold on to the Rebbes door handle and fulfill his orders and instruction, even those things that a person dashes over with his heels, as stated in this weeks parsha, Vhaya eikev tishmeun and it shall be when you hearken,
4 22 Menachem-Av 5772
which engenders, and He will keepthe covenant and benevolence, meaning that the Rebbe will fulfill the promises he made to each person, including the general promise that he made to the Jewish people at large, Immediately to tshuva (returning to ones Source) brings to immediate redemption, and he will lead us to Moshiach.
WHY WE SAY TACHANUN EVEN ON THE YAHRTZAIT OF A TZADDIK

Once I asked the Rebbe the
reason why Chabad Chassidim have the custom of saying Tachanun on the yahrtzait of the passing of tzaddikim. The Rebbe answered: When is there a better time for supplication? The reason for this distinction, between our custom and the custom of the Chassidim of Poland is as follows. The Polishers dont say Tachanun because a yahrtzait is a day of ascent, of elevation, a time when we stand above the whole concept of Tachanun. Whereas, among Chabad Chassidim we say Tachanun because we want it to also affect the body,
a cleansed body. The Polishers apply the principle, A tzaddik lives with his faith dont read it as lives yichyeh but gives life yichayeh. Thus, to the Polishers, a yahrtzait is a day of ascent for the adherents as well as the tzaddik. This is not an internal path, however. The approach of Chabad is in pursuit of inwardness, an inwardness that is brought about through ones own efforts. Therefore, even then, Tachanun is said.
(From the farbrengen of 20 Menachem-Av 5710; the original Yiddish transcript was edited by the Rebbe)
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Issue 845
shleIMus haaRetZ
WE WONT FORGET AND WE WONT FORGIVE!

Seven years ago, in Av 5765, the State of Israel expelled the Jews of Gush Katif, destroyed their homes, abandoned their shuls, and exhumed their dead. Rabbi Sholom Dovber Wolpo, one of the leaders in the fight against the withdrawal and expulsion, was interviewed by Beis Moshiach soon after the churban took place.
We all participated in the mass tfilla at the Kosel. Tens of thousands rent the skies with their prayers for months on end. How do we explain the fact that despite our prayers, Gush Katif was destroyed? The question about tfillos being for naught, as it were, is not new. In last weeks parsha it says that Moshe Rabbeinu prayed 515 prayers as the numerical value of the word VaEschanan, until Hashem rebuked him and said, Enough! Do not continue speaking to Me anymore about this matter. And in fact, Moshe did not enter Eretz Yisroel. But those who learn Chassidus know that there is the situation in which if we meritedand now
that we did not merit, that the situation of not being meritorious is loftier than being meritorious. We see this with the breaking of the Luchos that if we had been meritorious, there would not have been the Sin of the Golden Calf and we would have the first Luchos. Now that we were not meritorious and Moshe broke the Luchos, that were the work of G-d and had His writing on it, we received the second Luchos and it was these Luchos that were Kiflayim L Tushiya (double the power). It is like the statement of Chazal that if Yisroel did not sin, they would have only been given the five books of the Torah and the book of Yehoshua, and now
that they sinned, we have the 24 books of Tanach and the Mishna, Gemara, poskim, etc. So too with Moshe entering Eretz Yisroel. If we had merited it, Moshe would have brought us into Eretz Yisroel and it would have been the final Geula. Since we were not meritorious, Moshe remained in the desert, and the true and complete Geula will be incomparably greater than the Geula we would have had with Moshe, without a churban and galus. This is like the advantage that baalei tshuva have over tzaddikim, as Chassidus explains at length. So, G-d forbid to say that Moshes prayers did not help, because surely Hashem heard
his prayers and he will ultimately enter the land and fulfill the mitzvos there, but Hashem wanted Moshes entry to the land to be on a much loftier plane than what Moshe prayed for. It is the same in our situation. We definitely had to plead to Hashem to annul our enemies plans and allow the settlers to remain forever, but now that we did not merit the fulfillment of our prayers, we need to find the silver lining in this terrible situation because no evil descends from Above. What about the fact that rabbanim announced that surely Hashem listens to the prayers of the masses and the expulsion wont happen,
Actually, the Ischalta dGeula is the last remaining communist country in the world.
prayers so that he would reach a higher level though churban and galus? G-d forbid to say such a thing and someone who thinks that way is a heretic. Because from the outset, you need to pray for what seems obviously good, but now that we were not meritorious, we need to look for the good, the Yerida L Tzorech Aliya. It is like the inyan of the special quality of baalei tshuva that if someone says he will sin and then repent in order to attain the quality of tshuva, he is not given an opportunity to repent.
and now, we have all kinds of explanations about why the prayers were not immediately and tangibly responded to? The answer to this question too can be found in the breaking of the Luchos and Moshes prayer. Is it possible that when Moshe received the first Luchos, someone would have thought that it would be great if the Jewish people sinned and the Luchos would be broken so that we could get Kiflayim L Tushiya? Or is it possible that while Moshe prayed he would have considered Hashem not listening to his
Issue 845
shleIMus haaRetZ
LEARNING WHAT KABBALAS OL IS

The Baal Shem Tov says that we need to learn a lesson in the service of Hashem from everything we see and hear. When I was in Gush Katif I learned many things: In Chassidus it explains the quality of iskafia (selfsuppression), particularly regarding one who keeps his mouth closed iskafia in speech, not speaking lashon hara, rechilus, angry words, etc. We had the opportunity to see thousands of soldiers and policemen being yelled at and not responding. They acted as though they didnt hear the pleading or the insults or the tears. I was very impressed by this tremendous display of Avodas HaMiddos. Although this was the opposite of kdusha and the results were churban and expulsion, we say, You have made me wise from my enemies. There is what to learn here, in Avodas Hashem. Likewise, we can learn what Kabbalas Ol is. Each of the soldiers and policemen (aside from a few exceptions) did his/her shameful work as though compelled to do so, with broken hearts and spirits, while absorbing sharp comments and the crying of men, women and children. This was in addition to the physical conditions of heat and 80% humidity. They knew that a soldier must follow orders and that while carrying out orders the mind does not work and the heart does not exist and the heat isnt felt. There is just one thing Kabbalas Ol to carrying out the order. Although the results here were devastating, and it was all coming from the Evil Inclination and the utilization of the G-dly Kabbalas Ol for evil things, we may keep in mind as mentioned above, You have made me wise from my enemies. Each of us must ask himself: Do I do Hashems mission that was given to me by the Rebbe MHM without being thrown off by my thoughts and feelings, without considering the heat or the cold, without being embarrassed by those who mock? Am I passionate about the mission to the point of transcending physical limitations as the soldiers were for evil purposes? The Rambam says at the end of the Laws of Kings (in the excerpt removed by the censor) that the Christian Yoshke and the Ishmaelite Mohammed
paved the way for Moshiach. Here too, we can say that the discipline of the army is a preparation for Moshiach, because now the soldiers are used to carrying out orders for an evil regime and a Knesset of heretics. When Moshiach comes, they will immediately know that they inherited lies from their fathers, and their prophets and fathers misled them. Then they will use the Kabbalas Ol they were trained to have in order to be loyal soldiers in the Army of Hashem of Melech HaMoshiach. Another thing that is hard to forget and which we can learn from is the tremendous achdus among the youth and between all those who worked to protect Gush Katif. You were able to see it everywhere, especially when they danced together with their hands on each others shoulders. They came from all over the country with varying views and ideologies and one thing united them. The goal was to save Am Yisroel and Eretz Yisroel. I had many arguments with the leaders, especially on the topic of Ischalta dGeula, but our arguments always ended with a hug and loving words. Why? Because we knew that there was more that united us than divided us and our mission had to unite us. Shouldnt we adopt this in our own camp? Is our goal, the mission we were given to bring the Jewish people to an acceptance of Moshiach, not important enough to dissolve our differences of opinion and unite us? I must also express my amazement for the Kirshenzaft family. Who among us would be willing to have dozens of people living in our home on a regular basis? Young and old sat in their house throughout the day, learning Chitas and Rambam, saying Thillim and davening. People were sleeping on the floor, on sofas and out in the yard. The family did not stop asking people to wash for a meal, to have a cup of tea, to have a cold drink. All the rooms hummed with activity. The porches were occupied. The phones and cell phones did not stop ringing. When you walked into the house you had to be careful not to step on someone sleeping under the table. The children walked around without shoes, because they were lost in the chaos created by the guests. So tell me, honestly, who would be willing to raise a large family under these conditions for weeks on end? And this was after the father was injured in a terrorist attack and had still not fully recovered. Before I try to respond, I will ask forgiveness from the large and holy segment of our society, whom we love and with whom we became more and more friendly
From the outset we need to do the right thing according to Torah, but after the fact, we need to look for the good and make sure we take full advantage of it.
What good can we find in the terrible churban of holy communities of Jews in Eretz Yisroel, which brings terrorists closer to our cities?
israel bardugo
in recent months. I assume that what I have to say will hurt some of them, but if we dont have the courage to say the truth, we will be failing in our G-dly mission as Chassidei Lubavitch, Soldiers of the House of Dovid. The hidden good that came out of this awful process is that the prophecy that before Moshiach comes, matters will become clarified, came true. The entire world saw how those whom many considered to be Moshiach Ben Yosef and what they called Ischalta dGeula the beginnings of the blossoming of our Geula i.e. the members of the government, and with the aid and consent of religious Knesset members, declared open war on the G-d of Israel, Toras Yisroel, Am Yisroel, and Eretz Yisroel. The army, which to them is considered the most holy ideal, did not defend the Jewish people
I had many arguments with the leaders, especially on the topic of Ischalta dGeula, but our arguments always ended with a hug. Why? Because we knew that there was more that united us than divided us and our mission had to unite us. Shouldnt we adopt this in our own camp? Is our goal, the mission we were given to bring the Jewish people to an acceptance of Moshiach, not important enough to dissolve our differences of opinion and unite us?
and its land. Instead, dressed in black with the symbol of the State on their chests, they worked assiduously on behalf of Hamas and Islamic Jihad as a well-oiled destruction machine, to destroy dozens of Jewish settlements, exile thousands of Jews, leave shuls and battei midrash for destruction by our enemies, and exhume our dead, including those who died Al Kiddush Hashem, from their graves. These horrific things could not be perpetrated by any other country in the world; just in one place, the State of Israel of Ben Gurion, Rabin, Peres, Begin, and Sharon. Of those who, till today, still promote nationalism and
Issue 845
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faith in the State as the Ischalta dGeula, how can they not hide their heads in shame? How can they not klap Al Cheit for poisoning thousands of youth with heretical ideas that pushed off the coming of the real redeemer and caused bloodshed for generations? Up until this very day, they maintained that although the Prime Minister does not act properly, and this minister and that minister are no tzaddikim either, the State itself, i.e. the Israeli government in Eretz Yisroel, is the Kisei Malchus Hashem, and its just that the Geula comes bit by bit. They claimed that with time, the people in these positions will be changed and then the glory of the State will shine in full force. But now we see that the problem is not with one person or another, but that the State itself is rotten from the foundation. This is because it is a democratic regime that decides not according to Torah but according to majority vote of Arabs, Christians and (lhavdil) an eirev rav of Jews. These are joined by the votes of religious Jews who make decisions about life and death matters after receiving bribes of positions in the government or money for yeshivos. And the IDF which is supposed to protect Jews is given cruel orders from evil men and ends up serving the terrorists over their fellow Jews. It sounds from what youre saying that we are living in a democratic country. Of course, its not like that at all. I only meant those principles that the country is supposedly founded on, which even in the best case scenario is one of a pluralistic democracy. Actually, the Ischalta dGeula is the last remaining communist country in and that passes the rules of the Council to Defend Children. To show him how they are destroying his school and his shul, thats great. To leave a child and his parents without parnasa and to force them to move to a new place and start life over again is wonderful. But what was not fine is that parents should have explained to their child that the soldiers, the policemen and the elite commandos in black who are overtaking the yishuv are really good angels that dear uncle Arik Sharon sent to help them pack their belongings so they could move to a new wonderful home away from the mortars. If, because of all this, thousands of Jews stop celebrating the communist, heretical Independence Day, if they stop referring to the institutions that tore countless Jewish children away from their religion through the phrase the beginning of the blossoming of our redemption, then the Expulsion will be transformed into an impetus for belief in the real Geula through Moshiach Tzidkeinu. This is the silver lining that we can see in the terrible darkness of the destruction of Gush Katif. Hundreds of thousands of Jews have been disengaged, once and for all, from their blind belief in a natural Geula through the State of Israel and are inspired to ask for the Malchus Dovid and the true Geula. I think that many settlers have already drawn these conclusions. Yes, we hear more voices calling for disengaging from belief in the State, and that is a positive step. What sort of positive regard can those removed from Gush Katif and the Shomron and their supporters have, after seeing the
the world. The difference between a democratic country and a dictatorship is primarily in its media. In a democratic country, the media is not a tool of the government, while in a communist dictatorship, Pravda serves the government. We have seen that we live in a dictatorship. All the Israeli media, without exception, were enlisted in the war against G-d and His anointed one. Every broadcaster who opened his mouth was happy to report about progress in the withdrawal. They were delighted to report about families being dragged from their homes and the destruction of shuls and homes. The hypocrisy of the media is outrageous. They repeatedly said we cannot involve soldiers in political debates, and therefore they should not be told to refuse orders. In other words, to force them to act against their conscience and to turn them into an army of expulsion and destruction is okay; that does not involve them in political debate, but to tell them not to do that, is forbidden. Then a new accusation appeared. Why did the expellees involve their children in opposition to the withdrawal without considering the emotional damage this would cause them? Here too, falsehood reigns supreme, because to expel a child from his home is fine,
men in black with the symbol of the State on their chests and caps, uprooting Am Yisroel from their land, destroying their homes and abandoning their shuls to destruction, preparing the infrastructure for a Hamas and Al-Qaeda state, and desecrating our dead? Some years ago, there was a chase after senior terrorists in Bethlehem. The terrorists entered a church and the chase was halted, because it was clear that soldiers could not enter the church even though it contained terrorists with Jewish blood on their hands. In the end, the terrorists emerged triumphant and the soldiers of the State of Israel retreated in shame. And yet here, thousands of our soldiers broke into dozens of shuls, not in order to catch criminals but to destroy the shuls. The Rebbe screamed about how, during the Six Day War, over 700 of our soldiers were killed in the Old City of Yerushalayim, only because the government did not allow the Air Force to bomb the mosques where the Jordanian Legion soldiers were hiding. But the criminal PM Sharon and his band of criminal ministers deliberately destroyed shuls where the Shchina dwelled and all the media trumpet their courage. While we sat in the Sephardic shul and waited for the expulsion army to come and remove us, various rabbanim gave shiurim and words of chizuk. One of the rabbanim praised our dear youth and said to them: You are terrific; there is nobody like you; you will be the future leaders of the State! I was sitting on one of the benches in the back, and when I heard that I exclaimed: What State? The State is finished. Just Malchus Dovid!
If after everything weve been through they are still singing the anthem of Sharon and his cronies, with words composed by someone who had no connection to Judaism, without a mention of G-d, then apparently we need a bigger jolt which will show us what sort of free nation we are in our land.
bachurim before the expulsion from the shul and he said, The menorah etched in the Arch of Titus as a sign of the defeat of the Jewish people has itself become a symbol of the revival in the State of Israel. I could not refrain from shouting out, It is not a symbol of revival but a symbol of capitulation to terror, a symbol of displacement and expulsion. This menorah rests on the heart of every soldier and policeman who is presently destroying the holy land, making the Gaza Strip Judenrein, and repeating the terrible events of Kristallnacht and the burning of shuls. When the speeches were over, we all stood up for the last
There was silence and nobody knew what to say. Then another rabbi spoke, and in the middle of his talk he said: I support what one of the rabbis sitting here said before: There is no more State! What we want is only Malchus Beis Dovid. They all applauded. R Chaim Drukman gave an inspirational talk to hundreds of
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shleIMus haaRetZ
Mincha. After Mincha, they took out all the Sifrei Torah from the Aron Kodesh as we said Avinu Malkeinu. I considered going to the nearby Ashkenazi shul and bringing the new Torah we had just brought there, but then I saw that someone had made a chuppa over the Sifrei Torah out of a big Israeli flag! Thats when I decided that the Torah that we had written would not go under a makif of a state of expulsion and destruction. I heard that there was recently a gathering of hundreds of teachers from religious schools for the purpose of discussing how to continue to explain faith in the State as part of the process of Geula when kids ask questions and want to know how that fits with the terrible things that they perpetrated. One of the participants told me that throughout the day, Zionist rabbis came up with all kinds of explanations to show how it is not a contradiction. Not one person said the answer is simple, that its because it is all a lie and the State has no holiness whatsoever and the emperor has no clothes! The hardest moment for me, throughout these months, when I believed that the expulsion would not happen, was when I suddenly lost that belief. It was at the conclusion of the huge rally in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv. After one of the rabbanim said Shma, Hashem Hu HaElokim, Ana Hashem Hoshia Na, etc. everyone sang HaTikva. It was at that moment that I said to myself: If after everything weve been through they are still singing the anthem of Sharon and his cronies, with words composed by someone who had no connection to Judaism, without a mention of G-d, then apparently we need a bigger jolt which will show us what sort of free nation we are in our land. Arent you insulting the rabbanim, Gdolei Torah, whose ideology this is, and those who follow them? Rabbi Shmuel Tal, head of the Toras Chaim Yeshiva, definitely believes in the greatness of the rabbis who were the founders of religious Zionism and yet, he and other big rabbis have dropped the observance and celebration of Independence Day. They also teach their students to eschew the waving of Israeli flags and other Zionist symbols. Many have gotten G-ds message after the destruction they witnessed. One of them is Rabbi Shimon Riklin, a distinguished religious Zionist educator. On Channel 1 television he said, I gave a get krisus (writ of divorce) to the State. I will no longer celebrate Independence Day. The army is not holy. I will consider it an educational failure if my students enlist in combat units. Other national religious people began distributing stickers which say (in translation): There is no way I will be drafted into an army of Jewish expulsion. Is it possible for good to come out of this? It seems cruel to say, but we see with Rabbi Akiva that when he saw a fox come out of the Holy of Holies, he laughed. This was because after seeing Zion plowed under, he knew that the subsequent salvation would be that much greater. In a yechidus that R Efraim Yolles had with the Rebbe, he asked: If the Israeli government continues its policy of appeasement and concessions is there a danger that the State would be dismantled? The Rebbe replied: The State wont be dismantled, but it will be a lowly State. We have reached the nadir of wretchedness and it is time for Moshiach to come. How can you blame the army which merely receives orders and carries them out? There are those who defend the soldiers and police, many of whom carried out the crime with sensitivity and tears. However, in my humble opinion, this is where we see the klipa of the State. For if only heartless soldiers served in the army of destruction and expulsion it would make sense, but when this was perpetrated by thousands of believers in G-d, who fervently kiss the Sifrei Torah and sincerely sob along with those being thrown out, and many of them wore a kippa and some had beards, this is because they were given a heretical education. They were taught that there is a Creator and He gave us the Torah, but the State supersedes all. This is precisely the point we want to stamp out. The State is merely a technical entity with no aura of holiness and this technical entity is intended to serve Torah. If it does so, fine; if it does not do so, it is bad. In either case, we do not regard its institutions and those who bear senior positions in the State or the army as having any sanctity or as Ischalta dGeula whatsoever. One of the most moving moments in Neve Dekalim was before the soldiers burst into the area of the shuls, when the mara dasra Rabbi Yigal Kaminetzky recited the Keil Malei Rachamim for those killed al kiddush Hashem in Gush Katif. The crowd of over thousand young people wailed and the more names he read, the more they sobbed. When he reached the names of Mrs. Tali
Hatuel and her four daughters, the crying reached a peak. As I observed the incredible precision and professionalism of the execution of the expulsion, I asked the commanding officers: Where were you when 6000 mortars and missiles fell here? Was the army born yesterday? If you are so mighty, why was Mrs. Hatuel and her family murdered? Why were dozens of Jews killed in shooting attacks in Gush Katif? Why were over 1000 Jews murdered in terror attacks under Sharons reign? Why are tens of thousands of Jews maimed for the rest of their lives? Where were you, my brothers, until now? You have so many professional soldiers and policemen, and yet the list for the Keil Malei Rachamim is so long! I had an argument with Rabbi Chanan Porat in Neve Dekalim. He said: How can you say that the army is not holy? If the army was dismantled, we would not (through natural means) be able to live here! My response was that based on that reasoning we should say that the policemen in Brooklyn are holy because without them, Jews couldnt live there. So obviously, these are not holy entities but simply technical entities. If they serve holiness, they fulfill their purpose; if the Israeli army and police betray their function, they are the opposite of holiness. Until now, youve spoken from the spiritual perspective of Moshiach and Geula. What can be done practically about Shleimus HaAretz in order to prevent a repetition of the tragedy of the destruction of additional yishuvim in YehudaShomron? In a letter that the Rebbe wrote
to Mrs. Geula Cohen in 5741, he said that he could not instruct his Chassidim to live in settlements that she had specified, because it was clear to him that the settlements were only temporary. In the Rebbes words, Calls on my part and the like are possible when they can be based on the firm hope that the settlement will endure, but not if it is only to serve a political goal and to capitalize on the excitement of public opinion and then, before very long, the settlers will be removed. I do not get involved in politics but in halacha. According to the ideology of those who had and have influence in these matters throughout the last 32 years, I have seen that it is in one direction, that of concessions and withdrawal ...What do they care about removing settlers from a place or two or more, especially when outside pressure increases, and especially when they actually did this already (in Yamit), when they used the IDF for this, and all the parties just went back to business as usual. So to openly say they should settle there and to hint to the settlers that this is only meant to serve as a temporary demonstration, is not my approach. From what the Rebbe says we see that he does not think the settlements stand a chance as long as there is no fundamental change in the States policies. Nevertheless, the Rebbe continued to protest and fight
against giving away land, because we need to protest and do what we can to topple the government and replace it with something better as we saw with his efforts during Shamirs tenure, nine years after this letter was written. The media reported that the American government told the prime minister as soon as the expulsion began that this is just the beginning and now the entire Road Map needs to be implemented. So the battle over Yehuda, Shomron and Yerushalayim has first begun. We need to do all we can to acquaint the public with the Rebbes message, while there are still hundreds of thousands of people who are moved by the horrors of the expulsion. We need to change public opinion about further concessions and withdrawals. You must also take into account that the policemen and soldiers who took part in the expulsion are upset with the government for forcing them to carry out this crime. We need to reinforce that feeling by being mekarev them to Torah and mitzvos, in a manner that negates the possibility of any future government being able to do the same thing again in the future. The main thing is to spread the belief in the true Geula through Moshiach. Now that the false Zionist lie has been buried, its the right time to disseminate the truth.
Issue 845
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scIence & Geula
THE WHAT PARTICLE?

By Prof. Shimon Silman, RYAL Institute and Touro College
ince last month I have gotten a steady stream of inquiries regarding the discovery of the G-d particle at the CERN (European Center for Nuclear Research) Laboratory in Switzerland. What do I think of the discovery? Why do they call it the G-d particle? What is the G-d particle anyway? I am very conCERNed about all this. First of all, every particle is a G-d particle, as it was created by G-d in the 6 days of creation. The particular particle discovered at CERN is technically called the Higgs boson, named for Prof. Higgs who first theorized its existence in 1966. Its existence was needed to complete the picture of the physical universe known in physics as the Standard Model, which unifies, to a great extent, the ideas and discoveries of modern physics. Since the 1960s physicists had been trying unsuccessfully to find such a particle. This prompted one physicist to nickname it the G-d particle because it was so elusive and mysterious.1 Now that they have presumably found it, its understandable that they are celebrating.
true of every world event but its especially true of modern science since the entire existence of modern sciencethe reason it was introduced into the world in the Great Flood of Knowledge in the 1800swas to reveal the unity in the natural world which would ultimately prepare us for the revelation of the absolute unity of Hashem in the Era of Moshiach, as the Rebbe MHM explains in the famous Sicha of Parshas Noach.2 It is for this reason that I am very disappointed with particle physics in general. The great accomplishment of atomic theory in the late 1800s leading to quantum mechanics in the early 1900s was that it demonstrated that the various diverse forms of matter in the world are all composed of 3 fundamental particlesprotons, neutrons and electrons. This brought a tremendous unity to our view of the physical world. It showed the professor that there is really no difference between his pipe and the tobacco that hes smoking in it. But then physicists began looking for particles that were even more fundamental than these three, particles that the protons, neutrons and electrons themselves were supposed to be composed of. They did this by building huge atom smashers and sending beams of these particles to collide with each other at very high speeds. (The ultimate atom smasher is the
THE DIRECTION OF MODERN PHYSICS

For us, any development in physics has to be evaluated in terms of its role in the Era of Moshiach. Actually, this is
Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN where the G-d particle was discovered.) Indeed this led to the discovery of more fundamental particles but they discovered what one famous physicist called an embarrassingly large number of such particles. So in the structure of particle physics they were no longer reducing the number of different substances in the world to a few basic ones (like the proton, neutron and electron) but instead were getting a vast number of basic particles. It seems that they are going in the wrong direction. Whats even worse is that its questionable if these newly discovered particles can even be considered particles at all because after the collision that produces them they only last for a small fraction of a second before they metamorphosize into other particles and energy. For example, the Higgs boson (G-d particle) lasts for only a fraction of a trillionth of a second. In my opinion, such particles can only be considered artificial particles. To illustrate this with an example, suppose you have a rock and you want to find out what its composed ofwhat its fundamental particles are. So you throw it against another rock and you see that it emits a spark. Would you say that the spark is a fundamental component particle of the stone? No, its only an effect of the collision. The stone is not made of sparks.
THE REAL G-D PARTICLE

The Baal Shem Tov says that from everything that a Jew sees he must learn something and apply it to his service of Hashem. So we must learn something from the discovery of the G-d particle. Firstly, the fact that the name of G-d is being used in this context is significant. Physics is not what it used to be. The spirit of G-d hovers over the waters of physics. It is always in the background. Modern physics has reached the point where they are really looking for the beginning of everything and the idea (maybe even the fear) that it might be G-d is always there. The fact that the universe is clearly fine tuned for the existence of man is now well known in all of physics and must constantly be addressed. The attempts to sidestep itsuch as the idea of multiple universesare so preposterous that, in effect, we may say that they have already given up. Many physicists believe in G-d the Creator and express it openly. They are no longer afraid to say so.3 One more thing. In one email inquiry about the G-d particle I was asked what I thought of the discovery. I responded with some of the things that I have written in this article, playing it down. So my email correspondent responded with a video attached and wrote, But look at how happy the scientists are in this video If a particle which is smaller than anything we can imagine and which lasts for an unimaginably short amount of time can bring happiness and excitement to a group of people, how much more so must we be excited by even the smallest Mitzva or word of Torahwhich is in fact
The 13,000-ton CMS detector is one of two being used by CERN to find the God particle.
Physics is not what it used to be. The spirit of G-d hovers over the waters of physics. Modern physics has reached the point where they are really looking for the beginning of everything and the idea (maybe even the fear) that it might be G-d is always there.
infinite and influences the entire universe and lasts forever. More importantly, as the Rebbe MHM says, it has the power to complete the Geula and bring about the complete revelation of Melech HaMoshiach! To encapsulate: The real G-d particle is the Mitzva.
1) See the Wikipedia entry for G-d particle where a second reason, which we cant repeat, is alleged. 2) Likkutei Sichos Vol. 15 p. 42, Scientific Thought, Chapter V sec. 1. , 3) See the Introduction to Scientific Thought for a full discussion of this.
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KOSHER MEDITATION
Many decades ago, the Rebbe asked that Chassidim who were familiar with meditation develop something kosher, without any spiritual component to it. The Rebbe explained that creating a proper alternative would save many Jews from idol worship. Furthermore, those who truly need exercises like these for their health would have a kosher format. * Rabbi Dror Shaul decided to develop courses that provide a meditative experience along with contemplation of Chassidic concepts.
By Sholom Ber Crombie
The location: Dharamsala, India. The breathtaking scenery and villages at the foot of the majestic Himalayas in northern India is a source of inspiration in and of itself. The course: Jewish Meditation. The instructor: A shliach of the Rebbe. This is a description of a scene that repeats itself daily during tourist season. Over the past several decades, Dharamsala has become a magnet for anything associated with spirituality and meditation. There are ashrams, centers of healing and courses on meditation of all sorts. Visitors from the world over flock there in droves in order to find tranquility. Jews in general, and Israelis in particular,
head the pack. Some of them even give courses and workshops on spirituality and various forms of idol worship. Fortunately though, twelve years ago, Rabbi Dror Moshe Shaul and his wife Michal opened a Chabad house, which is also a center where courses on spirituality are given, albeit of the right sort. Over the years, the Chabad house firmly established its presence and now there are two Chabad houses in Dharamsala. During the annual tourist season, many Israeli backpackers from all over India head to Dharamsala in order to attend the Chabad houses special courses,
which interweave intensive indepth learning and experiential tools for self-knowledge. In these courses, they find answers to many questions that preoccupy them in their spiritual search. The urge to see what Judaism has to offer only grows in light of the exposure they have to numerous Far Eastern disciplines, most of which are sourced in impurity. The courses in the Chabad house of Dharamsala address the structure of the soul according to Chassidus and Kabbala. They enable the students to express their inner world in terms of Tanya and deep maamarei Chassidus. The shluchim, R Dror Shaul and R Uri Tzipori designed
the courses under the guidance of R Yitzchok Ginsburgh, who has been involved in the establishment of the Chabad house of Dharamsala since its inception. R Ginsburgh even gave some shiurim in order to guide the shluchim in how to create an authentic and internal system of soul meditation. The fact that the shluchim themselves were involved in their own spiritual search in the Far East not that long ago, enables the tourists to identify and relate to them. The common language along with personal experience has become a successful recipe for hafatza. In
recent years, hundreds have become baalei tshuva by way of the Chabad house, many of whom are shluchim themselves today.
THE TANYA SAYS: PICTURE IT IN YOUR MIND

In a special interview with Beis Moshiach, R Dror Moshe Shaul agreed to discuss his courses and to share what lies behind the unique Jewish meditation workshops. In the past, meditation was regarded as outright
idol worship, but in recent years it has become more accepted. Today, many forms of it are known in medicine such as guided imagery. What is the difference between them? Which are associated with idol worship and which can be utilized? Meditation includes a plethora of techniques and tools, depending on the place where it was developed and its spiritual source. The common denominator of them all is that
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it is a method by which you calm the body and soul, and then you focus the power of thought on a particular issue that you want to implant in your psyche in a deep, experiential way. Today, this idea is also used in conventional medicine under the name medical hypnosis, to address emotional problems and physical pain. Although there is neutral meditation, most of the approaches and techniques that the public is exposed to come from a source of idol worship, usually from Eastern religions. Today, most of the teachers of these techniques have learned to gloss over the direct connection between the approach they teach and the prohibitions of idol worship, so as not to turn people off. But in the vast majority of meditational paradigms there is impurity and idol worship mixed in, such as a connection to a spiritual mentor or names of impurity. Do you think that the connection between kosher meditation and Chassidus is a natural one? In Chassidus it explains the difference between external hearing to inner hearing (derher). The first is when you absorb the content intellectually, so that the listener and the topic remain two separate things. The second is when the topic is internalized. The difference between the two types is enormous. While intellectual understanding is also prone to contradiction and forgetting, a direct experience remains forever, even if it is sometimes contradicted. The emphasis in our courses is to try and lead the students to an experience in which Torah and they are one thing, and learning from sfarim is a sort of glimpse into their souls. This way, the learning doesnt remain mere pretty words but is actualized in exercises whose goal is to experience the learning on the most practical level. Chassidic meditation demands substantive contemplation as it is explained in several places in Tanya such as perek 11 of Igeres Hakodesh, Now when a man will contemplate in the depths of his understanding and will [moreover] picture in his mind how he comes into being ex nihilo at every single moment ... In other words, the Alter Rebbe demands that we have a direct experience of G-ds existence in order to fulfill the bottom line of truly living a life of faith. Do you know of people who got more involved with Chassidus as a result of these courses? One of the unique programs that we do at the Chabad house in Dharamsala is an eight day intensive meditation course. The participants get up very early in the morning, immerse in a mikva and start the day by learning Chassidus, hisbonenus and tfilla. Then, throughout the day, we learn Chassidus together in the Chabad house. The high point of the course is when the participants go on a four day hike in the Himalayas. Every day there is a Jewish meditation exercise and learning of Chassidus, so that within two weeks, they go through a process of inner work in conjunction with physical and mental challenges. On one of these outings we encountered very bad weather with heavy hail coming down. We had to take shelter in a cave until the storm died down. We sat together, learned an inyan in Chassidus, did a meditation and relaxation exercise while meditating upon what we had learned earlier. After a few hours of the exercise, we opened our eyes and saw that it was still hailing outside, so we decided to continue sitting in the cave. While sitting there, we asked each participant to relate what he had experienced while meditating. In the group was a man who had learned with us for a while at the Chabad house, but still hadnt felt moved by the learning. Before we had gone on this trip, he asked me whether he would be able to sense the learning on an experiential level during the trip, since until that point, he hadnt felt anything in particular. When it was this fellows turn to share, he asked whether everyone had seen what he had seen. When we didnt know what he was referring to, he said that during one of the niggunim he opened his eyes and saw an old man with a white beard and white clothes enter the cave and touch the head of each person. He said he had felt a special delight during this exercise. He was emotionally overwrought by the experience and wanted to make a special hachlata. I started suggesting the usual things: tfillin every day, Chitas, setting fixed times to study Torah. I finally suggested that when he arrived in Eretz Yisroel he should go to the Aris mikva and immerse there. He liked this idea very much, but he said he wanted to immerse immediately in the river at the place we had planned on davening Shacharis. I tried to dissuade him by saying that the water flowed from a glacier and was freezing, but he insisted, and with great mesirus nefesh he immersed in the freezing waters at dawn. To appreciate what this experience did for people I will
tell you that out of nine people in this workshop, I know that five are Lubavitchers today who have established Chassidishe families, boruch Hashem. That bachur is a shliach who runs a Chabad house at one of the Israeli universities.
SAVING LIVES
I first got involved with this when I was in the army and responsible for teaching and training soldiers for survival and escape missions in enemy territory. The most critical area which will determine whether a soldier will be able to survive or escape to safer territory is his ability to control his emotions and his mind and the ability to make the right decisions. Through a variety of challenging tasks, we introduced the soldiers to levels of ability they were unaware they had, forcing them to persevere calmly and confidently in the most difficult moments. Afterward, I studied the subject in a variety of venues in India from a false spiritual perspective. One of my encounters with foreign spirituality was in Nepal. In my search for truth, I spent a few weeks in the area and heard there was a great spiritual teacher in one of the ashrams in the mountains. Since I wanted to meet someone I could relate to, I traveled for two days to a little village and then walked another two days in the mountains. With great anticipation and excitement I entered the ashram and searched for someone to tell me how to meet with this man. The first people I met were a man and woman in their forties. In a brief conversation I learned that they were the personal secretaries of the old, foolish king. They told me that the old monk did not feel well and I couldnt meet
Chabad house in Dharamsala
She said she chose not to continue since she felt that it was affecting her on such a powerful level that she couldnt take the enormity of it. She said that after hearing the niggun Tzama Lecha Nafshi during the hisbonenus, she dreamed of the Rebbe singing the niggun and she felt a powerful feeling of kdusha and she couldnt handle the intensity of the experience.
with him. They asked me, in their American accents, where I was from. I said I was from Israel. Ah, nice, we are Jewish too, they said. If you would like, you can meet with his chief disciple who is also from Israel. I was very disappointed but since I had already made the trip, I went to the little room where his disciple was. I met a kibbutznik about fifty years old
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truth and this was happiness, you could sense that this was a denial of his sad situation. Putting ideas and experiences from my past to good use began thirteen years ago. One day, Machon Ascent made a special request of me. They had heard that over the years I had become an expert in giving tours in Eretz Yisroel and the world and they asked whether I could give spiritual tours in the Galil. I liked the idea and began incorporating Chassidic ideas having to do with nature with the flora and fauna that you encounter on a hike. When Ascent heard about my background in meditation, they asked me to develop this field in the right direction.
THE REBBE RECOMMENDS KOSHER MEDITATION

In the 70s, many people were interested in various forms of meditation. It bordered on idol worship and caused many to stumble spiritually. In a sicha of 13 Tammuz 5739/1979, the Rebbe spoke about this phenomenon and suggested that a kosher form of meditation be developed for those who think they need meditation for healing purposes. The Rebbe set forth two conditions: 1) kosher meditation should be only for those who need it for healing or those who have convinced themselves that they need meditation, who also need to be healed, and 2) those who are involved in it should be knowledgeable so that no idol worship is involved, and they also need to be experts in medicine so they will know how to heal using meditation: In every matter there is, as the verse says, See, I have given before you life and good, and as the verse goes on to say, the opposite of life and good. There is a great principle here. We find regarding avoda zara that the Gemara asks, Since they have been worshiped as false gods, shouldnt they be destroyed? However, should G-d destroy the world because of the foolishness of the idol-worshipers? There are idol worshipers who worship the sun, moon and stars. In other words, there are things that are good and beneficial and they turn them into avoda zara, which is a rebellion against the King of kings, Hashem. And if one wonders why the sun and moon exist when they are turned into objects of worship, then the answer is as the Gemara says: should the world be destroyed because of fools? The same concept applies in regard to meditation. Though essentially good, meditation can also be destructive. There are those who have connected meditation to actually bowing down to an idol or a man and worshiping it or him, bringing incense before them etc. This has led to a new plague which is not written in the Torah, which has spread in this country and is now reaching other countries and even Eretz Yisroel. They have called it by a refined name, meditation, or transcendental meditation, i.e. something above limits, above our bounded intellects. However, they have also incorporated into the procedures the bringing of incense and other practices that are clearly avoda zara, the worship of false gods. Since we are living within the darkness of Galus, many Jewish youth, boys and girls, and even adults, have fallen into this snare. Before they became involved with this cult, they were troubled and disturbed. The cult was able to bring them peace of mind and even to good health. However, their meditation is connected with avoda zara, burning incense and bowing to a guru, etc. These are people who need to be healed so they will be cured of this sort of illness. First and foremost, their nerves need to be calmed, and they need to relax in general, and this is enabled through this method called meditation. G-d forbid to say that it must be associated with avoda zara. This is a matter of healing and as we see, those who tried to be healed in a kosher way, without incense, without idols, and without anything related to avoda zara, not even something supportive of avoda zara, were successful. who was dressed in a red robe and was living in poverty. In my conversation with him, I felt that with all his admiration for his mentor and his philosophy, he was living in terrible loneliness and was pathetic. When he said that he had found the path of
HISBONENUS: LIKE LISTENING TO A MAAMER

Since it was very important to me to ensure that there was no impurity in the content or techniques, I spoke to R Yitzchok Ginsburgh and told him about the request to use meditative techniques in a way of kdusha. He responded with a number of fascinating shiurim, some of which were given in Yeshivas Od Yosef Chai at Yosefs grave in Shchem. The shiurim explained the inyan of hisbonenus in Judaism according to the Rebbeim. The shiurim were textually based on chapter Ein Dorshin in tractate Chagiga which deals with the structure of the earth and the seven heavens. These shiurim were the basis of the book I wrote, which is a practical guide to Jewish meditation called, Hisbonenus BMaaseh Merkava. R Ginsburgh published these shiurim in several books, the most fundamental one being, Lichyos BMerchav Eloki.
What techniques are your workshops based on? There are a number of techniques that we use, but the classic structure that we created is based on a similar process of saying a maamer as was customary by the Rebbe. Generally, before saying a maamer, the Rebbe said a sicha, and before he said the maamer, people stood up, sang the Niggun Gaaguim (song of yearning), closed their eyes and listened, and then concluded with a Niggun Simcha. Similarly, hisbonenus begins with learning Chassidus while engaging in deep discussion and providing vivid examples. Then the sfarim are set aside and after creating a silent state in body and soul while standing, we begin singing one of the niggunei gaaguim like Tzama Lecha Nafshi, while meditating on its meaning, closing our eyes and using the tool of guided imagery on the basis of the Chassidus that was learned. When the guided imagery is over, we return to the world with a Niggun Simcha. I got an especially interesting and powerful reaction from a girl who came to the Chabad house for the course and wanted to inform me that she was dropping out. When I asked her why she was leaving, she said she chose not to continue since she felt that it was affecting her on such a powerful level that she couldnt take the enormity of it. She said that after hearing the niggun Tzama Lecha Nafshi the day before, during the hisbonenus, she dreamed of the Rebbe singing the niggun and she felt a powerful feeling of kdusha. And being that she felt so distant, she felt that she couldnt handle the intensity of the experience. There are also exercises in
Learning in the woods near the Chabad house
Jewish meditation engenders inner humility, chayus and giving, while the other meditation which boasts of love and wholeness engenders estrangement and apathy.
which we combine meditation with breathing exercises. Another course consists of exercises that combine movement and restful poses in the shape of Alef beis according to Chassidus. Having to move the body in the proper way from a medical standpoint, along with channeling the consciousness towards the spiritual energies of each letter, turns the exercise into a process of inner work which is felt in the limbs of the body. What is the difference between the approach that you use and the classic approaches to meditation used in the world or any guided imagery that are not associated with avoda zara? There are many important differences between Jewish meditation and what is generally found in non-Jewish meditation. Jewish meditation consists of deep Chassidic content, which is learned in depth by the intellect and only then is fused with experiential exercises that access the super-conscious. So that when a person experiences something G-dly, it is generally absorbed in the intellect and translated into genuine love and fear and not anything delusional. In non-Jewish meditation, they usually try to empty the head of any thought or content. Then, if there is a spiritual experience, it turns into an ego trip or towards avoda zara. Another important point, although Jewish meditation is in lofty, subtle concepts, the purpose is to bring it down and affect this world with simcha and action which express love and unity with others. In meditation that
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she tried to heal the wounds. After a while she asked, Did you ever experience genuine good, sweetness and pleasantness? The girl thought and then declared, No, never, except for the meditation tonight. That was genuine relaxation, confidence and hope that I never knew of before. At the end of the evening the girl said to my wife, Until today, I learned that everything is good, but this is the first time in my life that I felt that everything is good. She left us after promising that she would start learning Chassidus, knowing that this was the only way she would find tranquility for her soul. What feedback do you get from the backpackers? For many of them that go around to the many ashrams in India, the conflation of meditation and Judaism seems strange, but after they become familiar with the contents of the course, it seems the most natural thing in the world. The course enables a person to connect on an experiential level to Chassidic concepts and to transform them into something alive in his life, as opposed to just remaining in the realm of intellect. In order for a person to make a real change in his life, he needs to experience G-dliness directly. Obviously, when you see it directly from the source as written in Chassidic books, it becomes that much more powerful and enables the one engaged in contemplative meditation to succeed in his lifes mission. The Rebbes demand that we live with the yechida of the soul, requires us to reach a state wherein knowledge of Chassidus is something alive. The experience transcends the power of thought and opens the person
FROM INDIA TO ERETZ YISROEL

Six months ago, R Dror Moshe Shaul founded the Yichuda center in Rechovos. It is meant for those seeking the same philosophies in Eretz Yisroel and who fall into programs that are sourced in impurity. For a number of years we were asked in India where there are similar courses and workshops and we were embarrassed to say that you have to go to Dharamsala to get it. So we decided to open the Yichuda center in Rechovos, which will be a place for mekuravim from India as well as for those who seek spirituality in Eretz Yisroel. Many mekuravim need a way-station. They are not ready for yeshiva but they want to continue to learn and grow. Groups of mekuravim are also forming in Tel Aviv and Yerushalayim. If you know anyone who would find this of interest, refer them to what will truly be good for them. Contact info: yichuda@gmail.com is derived from unholy sources, the exercise causes the person to look at the world from the topdown and this leads the person to feeling estranged and sad. In other words, Jewish meditation engenders inner humility, chayus and giving, while the other meditation which boasts of love and wholeness engenders estrangement and apathy. In my experience, anyone who was ever involved in other forms of meditation and is then exposed to Jewish meditation, experiences the enormous conceptual revolution and understands its significance. symptoms, which is like external calm that only covers over the problem and ultimately causes it to worsen. On one rainy day, a young girl appeared out of the Indian monsoon and said she wanted to take the course on meditation. My wife explained that there was no course at that time, but if she organized a group we could have an evening of meditation. They arranged a day and time and the girl told other girls to come for an interesting evening at the Chabad house. Ten girls came to that event and the main topic was chapter 11 of Igeres Hakodesh in Tanya, lhaskilcha bina. This chapter is fundamental to meditation because it deals with the constant bond between man and Hashem. The girls enjoyed the program and it was very successful. However, after they all left the one who initiated it remained and complained to my wife, How can you say that G-d is only good when I went through terrible suffering in my life that no psychologist has been able to heal? My wife got into a long conversation with her in which
PROVIDING THE TOOLS

What is the uniqueness of these techniques in terms of the health benefits? The goal of the meditation, breathing and movement courses is to give the participants practical tools to deal with fears, anxiety, confusion and other things we have to contend with. Here too, we see the difference between the truth of Torah which allows for treating the root causes of the internal distress and resolving it and medications that deal with
to becoming a G-dly vessel. Are there sources in Chassidus for hisbonenus like this? Theres the story about the Alter Rebbe who asked the Mitteler Rebbe what he davened with. The Mitteler Rebbe said by meditating on, vkol koma lifanecha sishtachaveh, i.e. the
koma of Adam Kadmon. Then he dared to ask his father what he davened with and his father said, with the shtender. He explained that he saw the activating G-dly force which vivified the lectern. Each of us knows that a genuine experience helps a person even if he only recalls it for a moment several years down
the road. One of the important areas we are developing is a persons identification with his mission, particularly as it is assigned to him by the Rebbe. In my life I have had to deal with many difficult challenges. Many times, in the most difficult situations, this is what helped me prevail. This work is really one of saving lives.
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WHO ARE YOU NAMED AFTER?

Rabbi Levi Garelik, who is named for the Rebbes father, Rabbi Levi Yitzchok Schneersohn, tells of his first yechidus with the Rebbe and how the Rebbe led him to connect the first Levi, the son of Yaakov, with the Rebbes father.
Rabbi Levi Yitzchok Garelik
Rabbi Levi Garelik
occasionally recall the first time I had a private audience with the Rebbe. Although I was a little boy, and the Rebbe spoke to me as one would speak to a little child, every word of the Rebbe is meaningful, especially as this was my first yechidus. As the Rebbe Rayatz said, quoting his grandfather (HaYom Yom
20 Sivan): The intellectual and emotional structure of the Chassid is consonant with his first yechidus with his Rebbe. The first yechidus is in accordance with the essencecharacter of the Chassid. The Rebbe prescribes an order of avoda appropriate to the nature of the Chassids essence-character. It was 13 Shevat 5728/1968. I had come from Italy a few weeks earlier to Crown Heights along with my mother and five brothers and sisters. On the day we were going to fly back to Italy, we all went to daven Mincha with the Rebbe. We arrived at 770 at 2:30 and stood in the anteroom, between the Rebbes room and the small zal (where the Rebbe davened on weekdays in those years), so that we could see the Rebbe when he came out for Mincha. As we stood there, the Rebbes secretary R Chadakov passed by. He glanced at us and then entered the Rebbes room. He came out a short while later and said: The Rebbe wants you
to come in now for yechidus. You can well imagine how surprised we were by this tremendous and unexpected zchus. First, the Rebbe spoke to my mother about various things. Then he asked my older sister some questions, and then he spoke to me in Yiddish. This was our conversation: What is your name? Levi Yitzchok. What are you learning? Chumash. Which Chumash? BReishis. Which parsha? Toldos. What does the word Toldos mean? The children. Whose children? Yitzchoks. Who was Yitzchoks father? Avrohom. Who were Yitzchoks children?
Yaakov and Eisav. Who was more frum? (Although I spoke Yiddish, I had not heard the word frum in Milano. I turned to my mother and asked her in Italian what the word meant. The Rebbe smiled and asked in Yiddish): Who was better? (I answered in astonishment) Yaakov! Nu, so lets talk about Yaakov. Do you know whether Yaakov had children? Fortunately, during my visit to New York, I had gotten a puzzle of the twelve shvatim from my cousin and so I knew the names of the shvatim by heart. I said to the Rebbe: Of course. Start saying them. I began saying Reuven, Shimon, Levi, Yehuda, Yisachar, Zvulun and the Rebbe picked up his hand and said: Enough. What was the name of the third one? Levi. And what is your name? Levi. I dont remember the Rebbes exact words but the gist of it was: How is that possible who is Levi? You or him? I considered what the Rebbe might mean by this and answered: Hashem created two Levis. Who are you named for? I knew that I was named for the Rebbes father because the elders of the community in Italy liked to call me Berditchever Rav, thinking that I was named for Rabbi Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev, and I always told them that I was not named for him, but for the Rebbes father. When the Rebbe asked me who I was named for, I did not
waiting for the Rebbe. I realized that we had been in the Rebbes room for at least half an hour.
THE COMMON DENOMINATOR BETWEEN YOSEF AND LEVI

As I said earlier, the first yechidus is especially important and I always wondered what the significance of that dialogue was. The Rebbe had brought me back to the first Levi in history, the son of Yaakov Avinu, and then wanted to know who I was named for. What was the connection? It was only many years later, in 5740/1980, when the Rebbe said an entire sicha on Levi, a
When the Rebbe asked me who I was named for, I did not know what to say. I knew that I should say that I was named for his father, but I did not know how to express this respectfully. I knew how to say your father in Italian in a respectful way, but not in Yiddish.
know what to say. I knew that I should say that I was named for his father, but I did not know how to express this respectfully. I knew how to say your father in Italian in a respectful way, but not in Yiddish. I finally said, Der Rebbes tatte. The Rebbe smiled broadly and then asked me to come over to the desk. He took out a small Siddur with a Thillim from his drawer and gave it to me as a gift. Then the Rebbe spoke with the other children and towards the end, he spoke to my mother again about my chinuch, amongst other things. I think it was about when I would start learning Mishnayos. When we left the yechidus, I went into the zal for Mincha and noticed that everyone was
A young Levi Garelik
sicha printed in Likkutei Sichos Vol. 20 for Parshas VaYechi, that I came up with a possible explanation: On the words of the verse, and his children carried him, referring to their carrying Yaakovs casket to the Land of Canaan, Rashi says that Yaakov commanded them that Levi should not be one of the people carrying him since in the future he would carry the Aron. Yosef should not carry him because he is a king. Instead, Menasheh and Efraim replaced them. The Rebbe asks: Why is it that Levi should lose out in this mitzva of carrying his fathers casket because, in the future, his descendants will carry the Aron? Furthermore, Moshe Rabbeinu himself carried Yosefs
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we find regarding Levi that even after the enslavement began, the tribe of Levi was exempt from working since they were constantly learning and teaching the people. Because both Levi and Yosef represent a state of transcending galus, Yaakov told them not to carry his casket (something that indicates the beginning of the enslavement). Menasheh and Efraim would substitute for them, Menasheh instead of Yosef and Efraim instead of Levi. What is the connection between Yosef-Menasheh and Levi-Efraim? The Rebbe explains that Menasheh symbolizes the estrangement from my fathers house (G-d has caused me to forget all my toil and my fathers house.). It makes a Jew conscious that he is not in his natural place, hence his longing to reconnect to my fathers house. This is the avoda of Yosef, that while being a king in Egypt he was above a state of galus and he constantly thought about my fathers house. As such, he represents the effort to transcend galus. Efraim, on the other hand, represents the advantage of galus (G-d made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.). He finds the advantage within the darkness of galus to the extent of fruitfulness. This is the avoda of Levi, to transform the darkness of galus to light. To summarize: Yosef is about being above galus and Levi is about working within galus and transforming it into Geula. Yitzchok, which is a name that alludes to the future Geula. The Rebbe mentioned this many times, quoting the Gemara that in the future it will be said to Yitzchok, specifically, you are our father, and this is why the name Yitzchok is in the future tense, to allude to the Geula, when our mouths will be filled with laughter. There are two ways to achieve Geula: Levi-Yitzchok or YosefYitzchok. The Rebbe Rayatz led the way to Geula in the manner of a Nasi, a king, above any inyan of galus. R Levi Yitzchok led the way to Geula through living within galus. Perhaps this is the reason that generally, when the Rebbe spoke about his father, he mentioned two things: 1) that he was a rav mora horaa, which is the inyan of the tribe of Levi to teach the Jewish people the way of Torah, as it says in Moshes blessing to the tribe of Levi, Teach Your statutes to Yaakov and Your Torah to Yisroel, and 2) that he died in exile, which is the inyan of G-d made me fruitful in the land of my suffering. Today too, when we need to deal with the concealment that we experience, we can act in a way of Yosef and be above galus, or we can take Levis approach and be in galus and reveal the Alef which turns gola (exile) into Geula.
casket even though Moshe was one of the children of Kehos who carried the Aron. If Moshe Rabbeinu could carry Yosefs aron, surely Levi, who lived a few generations earlier, could carry Yaakovs aron! The Rebbe explains that carrying Yaakovs aron out of Egypt symbolizes the beginning of the servitude in Egypt, as Rashi says at the beginning of Parshas VaYechi, Why is this parsha closed [without spaces between VaYigash and VaYechi]? Since Yaakov Avinu died, the eyes and hearts of Bnei Yisroel were closed due to the suffering of the servitude that began to enslave them. Levi and Yosef, though, represented the opposite of servitude. The Midrash says about Yosef that as long as he lived, the Jewish people did not experience the burden of Egypt, and Rashi says regarding Levi, Why are Levis years counted? To tell us how long the enslavement was, for as long as one of the tribes was alive there was no servitude and Levi lived the longest. Furthermore,
REVEALING THE GEULA WITHIN THE GALUS

Perhaps this is what the Rebbe meant to convey to me in my first yechidus when he asked me which Levi I was named for, but he guided me to the understanding that there is a Levi the son of Yaakov and another Levi, his father. This taught me that in order to understand the
TWO PATHS TO GEULA

The Rebbe had two mentors, if we can refer to them as such: his father-in-law, the Rebbe Rayatz, and his father, Rabbi Levi Yitzchok. Both were named
inyan of his father, R Levi Yitzchok, we need to learn the inyan of the first Levi, the son of Yaakov. As the Rebbe himself explained about the first Levi, his inyan is to be above the galus, but not in a way that ignores the galus; rather, while being within galus to reveal the G-d made me fruitful in the land of my suffering. This is the dwelling for G-d below. This is why the original redeemer comes from the tribe of Levi as the Rebbe explains at length. When you act in this way, by teaching the Jewish people and explaining the treasures contained within Chassidus, that the purpose of galus is that all future revelations depend on our actions while in galus (as is explained at length in Tanya, Chapter 37), we are certainly hastening the hisgalus of the Rebbe MHM.
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RESURRECTING JEWISH CHERKASSY

Young people who only recently got involved in Jewish life immerse in a mikva with freezing water * A phone conversation in which the shliachs offer is turned down ends with a successful peula * The inspiring generosity of a Jew from Williamsburg * Approval from the city comes just after the construction of the mikva begins * A special dream with the Rebbe and the Rebbe Rayatz * These are only some of the stories that the shliach, Rabbi Dov Axelrod of Cherkassy, Ukraine has to share!
By Menachem Savyon
R Dov Axelrod relates: When we first started out on shlichus, my wife and I lived in Tashkent. We had a yeshiva where young baalei tshuva learned. Some of them had gentile fathers. At that time, there was no mikva in Tashkent and the only choice was to immerse in the fountain of freezing water out in the yard. They did it! Even those who had just gotten involved in Judaism and did not know much. Today, some of them are wearing sirtuks and living in Eretz Yisroel. Sometimes, you have to jump into the water and that takes away the makif of the klipos. *** One day, the chief rabbi of
Russia, R Berel Lazar and Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetzky, rabbi of Dnepropetrovsk offered us a shlichus in Cherkassy, the city where the tzaddik, R Yaakov Yisroel, son-in-law of the Mitteler Rebbe, is buried. I accepted the offer. Not being able to find an apartment in Cherkassy, which was buried under five meters of snow, we lived in Kiev for the first month and operated from there. A month later we found an apartment that needed a lot of renovating, but we moved there right away and fixed it up while we lived there. That is how the Chabad house of Cherkassy opened.
At a Chanuka party with local Jews
R Axelrod (left) meeting with the governor of the district
Cherkassy is a district capitol in the Ukraine. It is the size of Eretz Yisroel. It has 300,000 people out of which about 10,000 are Jews, many of whom are not registered as such. When we first met, the heads of the community told me that there are only 800 Jews in Cherkassy, but by now we send mail about Judaism to about 2000 Jews who are in our data base. We are constantly discovering more Jews. In Cherkassy there are also many people who made aliya and came back. That is why there is a large group of Hebrew speaking people here. This is a phenomenon you will find all over the CIS. Lev Leviev the philanthropist helps us by giving money to the Chabad school, Ohr Avner that we opened. The Rohr Fund also supports us and there are additional important donors.
All the outreach in Russia is a sign of the Geula. When you work in Russia and see three generations that did not know what Judaism is and suddenly, the Jewish neshama wakes up in a grandson or great-grandson, you are literally seeing resurrection of the dead.
Well, over one hundred Jewish children have attended our school to date. Most of them are now in Jewish schools. The head of the community is one of the main helpers of the preschool and elementary school. Here is one story about the school. When we opened it nine years ago, I heard that in Uman, a city in our district, there are some Jewish families with children. I called one of them with a son going into first grade and told his mother that we are new shluchim of the Rebbe to Cherkassy and I asked her to send her son to our schools dormitory. She politely refused. About five years went by and her son was in fifth grade. She called and asked me whether our school is still open. It turned out that she had married a gentile and they did not want the boy to stay with them. That is how Dennis came to our house before Chanuka of that year. He knew nothing about Judaism. He lived with us for half a year, from Chanuka until the summer, was accepted into the school, and began receiving a proper Jewish and Chassidish education. In the summer we sent him to a learning program in Kfar Chabad and he became even more involved in Jewish life. When he returned, he went to learn in Zhitomir where he underwent a bris mila. In the meantime, his cousin from Uman, his mothers nephew, remembered him and called him. Both of them went to learn in the Chabad school in Charson. Today, both boys are Lubavitchers. It all started with a phone call that I made to the family in the attempt to recruit
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THE EFFECT OF ONE CONVERSATION

When we first came to Cherkassy, I met with the head of the community and I told him about my plans. I told him that we wanted to open a Jewish school. He claimed there are no Jewish children in Cherkassy.
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another Jewish boy to our school. the law, in addition to owning the property, we had to transfer the title to our name. We spent a long time trying to make the transfer, but for some reason it dragged out and the person who worked on our behalf at the government office was unsuccessful. We did not want to put money into land that was still not officially ours, but in the end I decided that I could not wait any longer and would start construction in the hopes that we would soon get the permits. On 12 Tammuz 5768 we poured the foundation for the mikva. A day later, the man from the government office called me and announced that the long awaited approval had been received. The cost of the construction ended up being a quarter of a million dollars, with the donor from Williamsburg footing most of the bill, together with the Merkaz Rabbanei Europe and other significant donors. That is how we ended up with a Chabad mikva which is one of the nicest in Europe. I was in touch with a rav who is expert in these things, but the fact that he wasnt there with me made me nervous. I was very tense the night before we were going to carry out the work. That night, I dreamt that the Rebbe and the Rebbe Rayatz came to me. The Rebbe Rayatz wore a shtraimel and the Rebbe looked relatively young. They looked at me with glowing faces and the Rebbe asked me, What do you need? I said, We need you! The Rebbe turned red and he looked down. I thought in my dream that the Rebbe did not feel comfortable hearing me say that since he was standing near the Rebbe Rayatz. The next day, I woke up in a different frame of mind. I remembered the dream and felt that the Rebbe and the Rebbe Rayatz, who was a grandson of the Cherkasser, had come to encourage me about the mikva. In the end, all was fine. Once the mikva opened, I felt that the gates of gashmius and ruchnius opened up for us. Many local youth suddenly began getting interested in Judaism, to put on tfillin, to wear tzitzis, and agreed to have a bris. I felt that the mikva had broken the klipos. Even our material situation improved. It has had a spiritual effect on the entire city.
MIRACULOUS MIKVA IN CHERKASSY

The Rebbe does not want his shluchim to be in a place without a mikva, which is why I really wanted to build a mikva in Cherkassy. I knew that if we linked the building of a mikva with the plans to build a shul, it would take a long time. I decided to begin building a mikva right away in the hopes of continuing from there. I took a loan from a bank and bought land for the mikva. Two years later I finished paying the mortgage and all that was left to do was to get money for the actual construction. At the time, there was a man who worked for me who went to Monroe, a Satmar Chassidic enclave in New York, in order to fundraise for the mikva. One day, I got a phone call from a Satmar Chassid who said he had heard that I wanted to build a mikva in Cherkassy and he wanted to help me find a donor. I did research and found out that he was serious. A week before the Kinus HaShluchim I went around with him in an attempt to find a donor. We went to a Jew in Williamsburg to whom the subject of building mikvaos around the world is close to his heart. He was very surprised to hear that I live in Cherkassy and on the spot he told me that he would make a donation to build the mikva! How much do you need? he asked me. $80,000, I said. A short while later I left his house with a check for $25,000 as an advance. I wanted to start building but there was one small technical problem. According to
A DREAM OF THE REBBE AND THE REBBE RAYATZ

Another story connected to the mikva: The construction of the mikva took place in the winter, but we dont have any rain in the winter, just snow. You can put snow in the reservoir on a day when the temperature is ten degrees below zero, when the snow isnt watery but is ice, and that way, there is no problem with using water that is drawn. In order to fill the reservoir, you need a large quantity of snow because snow is full of air. In addition, there are other details that make the job particularly difficult and complicated.
WHEN BRESLOV DID MIVTZAIM

Not many know but in Uman there is a local Jewish community which is comprised mostly of older people. They are not at all connected to the area of Rabbi Nachmans grave and the huge pilgrimage there on Rosh Hashanah. In previous years we would
A chuppa in Cherkassy
Hachnasas Seifer Torah in Cherkassy
bring bachurim every year who would help the khilla there on Yomim Tovim, blow the shofar, daven for the amud, etc. One year, it wasnt arranged and I was stuck without bachurim. I traveled to Uman two days before Rosh Hashanah and began looking for someone who would agree to walk twenty minutes on Rosh Hashanah in order to blow the shofar for the local community. Whoever I met and tried to recruit did not understand what I was talking about. After all, they had come to Uman to daven at the grave of Rabbi Nachman so why would they go somewhere else? My explanation that their tikkun this year would be in helping other Jews was met with surprise: What? There are Jews who live in Uman?
I finally found some fellows who had served in the Sayeret unit in the army, and they agreed. I walked them from the gravesite until the shul of the khilla and back and arranged that at twelve noon on Rosh Hashanah they would go there and blow the shofar. After Yom Tov, I called one of the local Jews to hear how it was and he said that eight Breslovers had come and did Chabad mivtzaim. They danced, blew the shofar and it was terrific. That is how the Rebbe works through Breslover Chassidim. Since then, this is the third year in a row that they come in the name of Chabad and do the Rebbes mivtzaim with the local community. *** R Axelrod concludes: We know that our success is
not due to our personal talents. It comes from the Rebbe lifting us up and letting us see that everything is with his kochos and brachos. It happens that we think we will be successful with something and it doesnt work out. The opposite also happens, that there are things that seem impossible and suddenly, it works out. All the outreach in Russia is a sign of the Geula. When you work in Russia and see three generations that did not know what Judaism is and suddenly, the Jewish neshama wakes up in a grandson or great-grandson, you are literally seeing resurrection of the dead. May we immediately merit the end of galus with the full hisgalus of the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach!
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THE OLIVE JEW AND THE EGG JEW

By Rabbi Heschel Greenberg
THANKING BEFORE AND AFTER

This weeks parsha is known specifically for the commandment to recite Birkas HaMazon, the Grace after Meals. The Torah expresses this commandment succinctly: And you shall eat, and you shall be satisfied and you will bless G-d. The wording of the Torah makes it clear that the obligation to recite this blessing is only if one has been satiated by eating the food. If one were to just nibble or snack, there would be no obligation to recite the Birkas HaMazon. To be sure, there is a rabbinical obligation to recite a blessing prior to partaking of any amount of food. In the words of the Talmud: It is forbidden to derive any benefit from this world without first blessing G-d. One may not partake of G-ds resources without first acknowledging that we are guests sitting at His table, as it were, and partaking of His food. However, the blessing we recite after a meal takes the expression of our gratitude to the next level. We must thank G-d for providing us with an ample supply of food. \ In other words, the blessing before eating is akin to asking permission to partake of His foodin any amountwhile the
blessing after eating is to thank Him for being satiated by the food.
SHOWING FAVORITISM
The Talmud cites the verse: May G-d show you His shining countenance. The Hebrew term employed here suggests that G-d showers special blessings on the Jewish people and shows them favoritism, which prompts the Talmuds rhetorical question: Is it fair for G-d to show favoritism to the Jewish people? The Talmuds answer is: How can I not show favoritism to they who are strict and recite the Grace after Meals even if they eat only a kzayisthe size of an oliveor kbeitzathe size of an egg? In other words, while the Torah obligates us to recite the Birkas HaMazon only if we have eaten our fill, the Jewish people act more stringently and go beyond the laws requirement. They recite this blessing even if they eat no more than an olives worth or an eggs worth. The question has been raised, why is it praiseworthy to recite this blessing when the Torah clearly does not oblige us to do so? One may not recite a blessing which contains G-ds name if one is not obligated to do so. It is akin to saying G-ds name in vain! Why then is it praiseworthy to recite the Grace after Meals
even when eating less than the prescribed amount? Another question has been advanced. An egg is larger than an olive. If indeed it is praiseworthy to thank G-d for smaller amounts, the Torah should have reversed the order. It should have stated that we are deserving of favoritism because we bless G-d even when eating the amount of an egg, or even a smaller amountthe size of an olive. Instead, it says that we recite the Birkas HaMazon even if we eat an olives worth (the smaller amount) and even if we eat the size of an egg (the larger amount)!
MAN DOES NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE

One way of answering both questions is to reflect on the entire function of eating as a way of surviving. What is the ultimate reason we depend on food for life? Why would G-d create us in a way that forces us to depend on lower forms of life? According to the great Kabbalist, Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, known as the Arizal, we do not really live by eating physical food. We live by eating the food that contains within it Divine sparks of energy that nourish the soul. And when the soul is sated, it feels comfortable
residing within the physical body and we continue to live and thrive physically as well. This, the Arizal explains, is what is meant by the Biblical phrase in the beginning of the Parsha, Man does not live by bread alone, but by the word of G-d does man live. Man does not live by consuming the physical bread, but by the Divine force that gives life to that bread, which is contained within the bread. When we are more spiritually oriented, we can more easily access and internalize the spiritual energy that is embedded within the food that we ingest. Once we feel the spiritual energys effects on us we no longer feel hungry. We are satisfied. This then is the praise of the Jewish people for which they deserve preferential treatment. They recite the Grace after Meals even when they eat the small amount equivalent to an olive or an egg. By reciting the blessing which is usually reserved for one who is satiatedeven after eating only the small amount of an olive or an egg, it is a sign that even this reduced amount has accomplished its goal of satisfying ones hunger for spiritual energy. It is indicative of a heightened spiritual sensitivity that enables satisfaction with much less eating. In effect, the person who recites the Birkas HaMazon for the small amounts is indeed satisfied and is mandated to recite this blessing. However, within this heightened level of spirituality where less is morethere are two levels: there are those who can extract, digest and absorb the spiritual energy by eating only the small amount of food equivalent to an olive, and then there are others who need the relatively
larger size of an egg before they can harness the G-dly vitality contained within the food. Hence the Talmud states: Look how special we are! We can feel satisfied even with the minuscule amount of food equivalent to an olive. But even if we are not on that level we still deserve praise because we are satisfied with the amount equivalent to an egg. This egg Jew, while not as sophisticated as the olive Jewinasmuch as it takes him longer to discover and internalize the G-dly energy within the foodis nonetheless
This egg Jew, while not as sophisticated as the olive Jewinasmuch as it takes him longer to discover and internalize the G-dly energy within the foodis nonetheless deserving of much credit and adulation.
kept secret, is symbolic of the spiritual and esoteric teachings of Torah. Thus, the Talmud tells us that the word for wine in HebrewYayinand the word for secretsodare both numerically equivalent. They both add up to the number 70. If wine represents the inner dimension and secrets of the Torah, what does olive oil represent? The answer is that olive oil represents the secrets of the secrets, the most unknowable aspects of Torah that will only be revealed in the Messianic
deserving of much credit and adulation.
THE CRUSHED OLIVE AND THE HARD BOILED EGG

At this point we ought to ponder the difference between the olive Jew and the egg Jew, and how they relate to us today. The olive is seen as the symbol of spiritual light because it is the source of olive oil which is the source of light. In Chassidic literature, water, wine and olive oil are seen as metaphors for the Torah. Water is the metaphor for the basic teachings of Jewish law that guide our day to day life. Without that knowledge we cannot survive. Wine, which has the capacity to loosen us up and may cause us to divulge matters that we
Era. And just as the olive does not produce the oil with mere squeezing, it requires crushing, so too, we have been told, the future Messianic secrets will come after we have endured the painful and crushing period of exile. Hence, even if we are not so spiritual, the mere fact that weas a peoplehave been so crushed throughout our long exile means that wewhether we recognize it or notare spiritually sophisticated. And we are indeed deserving of the final Redemption through Moshiach when we will all recite the ultimate and consummate Grace after Meals. Life has been compared to a banquet and we have had our fill of the banquet of exile. We have had our equivalent of the crushed olive and are ready to
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bask in the light of the oil that we have produced by virtue of the way we were crushed in exile. However, not everyone has undergone the brutal and crushing effects of exile as did the Jews of the Holocaust and of countless other tragedies is our history. Perhaps they are not as sophisticated as the olive Jews but nevertheless they still deserve to recite the final blessing after the banquet of exile because they are like the egg. The egg is a food we eat on Passover and is therefore associated with liberation. It is a unique food, for the longer you cook it the harder it gets. Just by virtue of our long stay in exile, we have become hardened, even though we have sometimes lived in conditions where Judaism can thrive and where we have enjoyed the blessing of prosperity. As the saying goes, When the going gets tough, the tough get going. We have been hardenedin a positive way. We have withstood the centuries and millennia of exile. And contrary to those amongst us who see the current generation of Jews as inferior to the earlier ones, we have been going tough, and that toughness has enabled us to be more spiritually sensitive than many of our forbearers. So whether we are olive Jews or just egg Jews, we are more than satiated and content (excuse the pun: and fed up) with the challenges posed by exile. We are ready to pronounce the final blessing on the banquet of exile as we enter into the feast of the Messianic Age, imminently!
Continued from page 37 To this day, not a single politician has stood up to ask forgiveness. None of them has said, I was wrong. They continue to hold fast to the altar and ignore their part in this disgraceful affair. Were not talking about a personal apology, rather an admission of guilt for their crime against the entire Jewish People. Anyone who deserts the residents of Gush Katif, allows for their cruel expulsion, turns a blind eye when their dearly departed are unnecessarily uprooted from their resting places and synagogues go up in flames will eventually cause grievous injury to millions of Jews living in southern Eretz Yisroel. Anyone who thought that opposition to the expulsion was a matter pertaining only to the settler community now understands that he is harming the security of the entire Jewish people, both in the Jewish homeland and across the globe.
4.
The reason why we remember the expulsion is not chv to
convey a message of hate, but a message of cheshbon nefesh. Its clear that the failure in stopping the Gush Katif withdrawal was a failure in perception. The citizens of Eretz Yisroel lacked adequate connection with the pioneers on the Gaza Strip, and the polls proved that the public relations machinery for the disengagement forces clearly won out over their hardline opponents. The efforts to connect with the general public by using the slogan We will win through love were too little, too late. There was no longer any room for such tactics. When love was needed, most people were totally unfamiliar with Gush Katif, and when love came instead of the battle, it represented a useless loss of momentum. These two approaches must be applied at the proper time. Just as the Rebbe demanded protest, he also demanded love and each has its right moment. On the one hand, we must embrace the Israeli public and incorporate a sense of Jewish awareness, as this is the only answer for the ignorance that led to the estrangement and alienation preceding the actual
withdrawal from Gush Katif. A well-known right-wing activist told me that during those days prior to the expulsion, even if the army would have fired upon the settlers with live ammunition, people would have accepted it with understanding. There has been a deep split within Israeli society, and this is something that we must correct. On the other hand, we must not neglect the use of public protest. This is the only way to send a signal to the countrys politicians that they must come to their senses and put a halt to the absolute madness of abandoning Eretz HaKodesh to the terrorists. Seven years later, the selfexamination is ours to make. Are we doing everything we possibly can to make certain that this wont happen again? Are our actions truly engraved with the declaration of Never Again? Each and every one of us bears a personal responsibility to act with true Ahavas Yisroel and put these difficult seven years behind us, once and for all. From this moment on, we should hear only good news until the announcement of the True and Complete Redemption.
cRossRoaDs
HISTORY JUDGES THE SEVEN YEARS OF FAMINE

Its important to publicize the names of those people who spearheaded the disgraceful process of the Gush Katif expulsion. The public must know who was responsible for this colossal tragedy. Its imperative that these people should not be permitted to guide the ship of state and that such a crime against the Jewish People should never be allowed to happen again.
By Sholom Ber Crombie Translated by Michoel Leib Dobry
1.
Its quite ironic that just as we commemorate seven years since the expulsion from Gush Katif, all the rancid garbage left behind by this cruel miscalculation has blown up in the faces of its perpetrators. There are at least two main levels where it doesnt appear that anyone can escape the frightening symbolism. The terrorism that reared its ugly head following the expulsion has become the central threat
to Eretz Yisroel, more than any Arab army. Egypt is in turmoil, as the ruling parties try to outdo each other in their hatred for the Jewish state, while the Gaza Strip has long since become a sophisticated terrorist stronghold menacing Israeli cities. On this front, to our great regret, all the predictions have proven accurate. But worst of all, the cost has been far greater than what even disengagement proponents dared to estimate.
While seven years ago, opponents of the Gush Katif withdrawal waved banners with the slogan A tailwind for terrorism, its now quite clear that the expulsion didnt just provide a tailwind. It has brought the harsh and devastating terrorist war of attrition back to life. However, theres yet another, albeit less painful, circle being closed at the present time. The political entity that gave birth to the expulsion, which was then still part of the Likud Party and later officially became the Kadima Party, is laboriously taking its last breaths. The small-minded politicians who supported the expulsion and made possible the terrible visions from seven years ago are now fighting for their political future in the murky darkness they created, mindful that the end is quite near. The partys chairman, who served as minister of defense during the expulsion, has become the most ridiculed person in Israeli politics, and he will always be remembered as a childish and bizarre individual. His predecessors in the party
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leadership have earned equally tarnished reputations. Ms. Tzippi Livni is no longer considered as an alternative for leadership, Chaim Ramon is beset by criminal allegations, and former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has taken up permanent occupancy at the courthouse. There is no joy in all this. When your enemy falls, do not rejoice. However, there is a clear understanding that the writing is on the wall. Withdrawing from the territory of Eretz Yisroel is the path of national suicide. The party born in sin has finished its journey in shame. This is the end of the road. While Kadima will probably run in the upcoming national elections, its electoral prospects are shrouded in serious doubt. Last week, many of its Knesset Members, fearful of reports that the party may be wiped off the political map, tried to save themselves before it was too late. As this article went to press, their efforts had been unsuccessful, and these MKs have been compelled to remain aboard their sinking ship until after the recitation of Kaddish. includes those in Lebanon, which were apparently responsible for the brutal carnage at Burgas Airport. Its not easy to see the bloody results experienced by the People of Israel over the past seven years. It started with the Second Lebanon War, which broke out less than a year after the Gush Katif withdrawal, continuing the following winter with Operation Cast Lead. It grew progressively worse during the next six years, when Hamas made all the cities of southern Eretz Yisroel their virtual captives, firing missiles at will and giving local residents little respite or hope for prolonged tranquility. Its staggering to think how many of these same people remained so indifferent and complacent during that tragic summer seven years ago. How could the Gerer Chassidim living in Arad and Ashdod have supported the uprooting of their brethren from Gush Katif? How could their chief parliamentary representative MK Yaakov Litzman have paved the way for the implementation of the disengagement plan in the Knesset Finance Committee? At the pivotal moment for the Jews living on the Gaza Strip, he ran off to the Dead Sea for a postal service conference, claiming that it was more important than stopping this wicked proposal. The real reason was the money that flowed to Torah institutions when the ultra-Orthodox joined Ariel Sharons government. The party born in sin has finished its journey in shame. This is the end of the road. While Kadima will probably run in the upcoming national elections, its electoral prospects are shrouded in serious doubt. Today, residents of southern
2.
The end of the Kadima Party should serve as a warning sign that those who led the way on the path to this frightful expulsion will eventually pay the ultimate political price. Yet, the ones who are really experiencing the pain for the crime of disengagement are the entire Jewish People. When everyone was talking about the murder of the Jewish tourists in Bulgaria, they should have recalled those experts who foresaw prior to the expulsion that terrorism would increase and the withdrawal from Gush Katif would breathe new life into these murderous organizations. This
Eretz Yisroel would be quite happy to turn the wheel of time back. Even Kiryat Malachi has become an area under the constant threat of terrorism. Those politicians who had supported the expulsion wish they could change the past and declare their opposition to the whole idea. But they were extremely short-sighted and drugged with power when they sold their souls for a committee chairmanship or a deputy ministerial appointment. Historians say that they will be forever known as those who changed the course of history in the worst possible way. We are not reminding these people of their transgressions for the purpose of smugly declaring that we told you so. The sole objective here is to encourage government policymakers to use sound logic and remember that theres a price for frenzied
israel bardugo
treason committed by those seeking to advance their own narrow self-interests, rather than listening to their conscience.
3.
Its important to mention those people who spearheaded the disgraceful process of the Gush Katif expulsion, although this is not chv in order to take vengeance upon them. The public must know who was responsible for this colossal failure. Its imperative that these people should not be permitted to guide the ship of state and that such a crime against the Jewish People should never be allowed to happen again. For example, the incumbent prime minister of Israel did everything to ensure that the Knesset would approve the plan. He was a full partner in the whole process supporting
the withdrawal in the internal Likud referendum, voting for the disengagement plan in the Knesset, and then selling it to the public at-large. He was very concerned about being painted as delusional, walking lockstep behind the irresponsible rightwingers. Then, just a week before the scheduled expulsion, certain that the government would soon fall and pave the way for new elections, Netanyahu submitted his resignation as foreign minister in protest against the plan he had worked so hard to implement. At first, people were stunned, but they quickly got the message: Was this nothing more than a preelection pronouncement leading up to the next round of Likud primaries? Yet, what reverberated in everyones ears was the roll call vote on disengagement, and when the clerk reached the
name Binyamin Netanyahu, the response was clear Aye. Today, Bibi stands on every available platform to declare that he opposed the disengagement plan. If we allow him to deceive the public in this fashion, it will give him a renewed sense of confidence to go off on some other hare-brained scheme. The same applies to the other Likud ministers who supported the expulsion, such as Limor Livnat, Yisroel Katz, and Silvan Shalom. They too made their respective rounds and then conveniently resumed their lives as advocates of the cause for Greater Israel. They expected that we would forget their role in this crime at least until the next time. It would be appropriate for them to realize that even if we wanted to forget we cant. Continued on page 34
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AND THEY TRAVELED FROM KROLEVETS AND CAMPED IN DOROKHOVA

Heishke was nearly bar mitzva when his family had to leave their small town. * Under unbearable conditions, the family fought to survive and to lead a Jewish-Chassidic life.
By Rabbi Yehoshua Dubrawski ah
SEEKING A CURE FOR MY FATHER

At the end of the 30s, my fathers health deteriorated. The doctors in Krolevets said that he needed to consult with bigger doctors and had to be treated in a proper hospital. This meant traveling to Moscow. However, in those days it was impossible to go and live in Moscow. The Soviet regime would not allow such chaos in which any individual could decide to take up residence in a city like Moscow. Every sector had a person in charge of it and one had to register with him. This was one of the ways that the government was able to keep tabs on everyone. A person who simply showed up could not be registered as a resident. Furthermore, in our town it was impossible to obtain a ticket for the train to Moscow. You needed protektzia or money to pass under the table to the person who sold tickets. But thanks to the official documents from the
doctors that stated that my father needed to travel with his family to Moscow for a cure, we all got tickets easily. This meant that we had permission to travel to Moscow, but not to live there. The medical documents were not enough for that. They allowed us to live in a distant suburb outside the capitol. My mothers sister, Chana Shapiro, lived in Moscow. Her tiny apartment was on the small street of the big shul in Moscow. They called the street dont be frightened by the long, difficult name Sposogileniveshtzesky. My mother managed to travel ahead of us, and with the help of her sister she found an apartment in Dorokhova, about thirty kilometers outside of Moscow.
A NEW APARTMENT
Moving from Krolevets to a suburb of Moscow was a difficult experience, as one could understand, but we children approached the preparations for
the trip with childish excitement. First, was traveling to and near Moscow a small thing? Boarding a train and traveling were an experience! Who could imagine the long awaited moment in which we saw and heard the locomotive with the rest of the train coming into the station. Of our old broken furniture my parents sold three or four items for a little bit of money. The truth is, I have no idea from where we had the money to exist, since my father had not been working for a long time and Zeide-Rav received very little money from the Jews of the town. It seemed almost certain to me that our relatives in Leningrad and Moscow helped us. I am not embarrassed to say that I greatly enjoyed the trip to Moscow and then the trip in a taxi for the first time in my life. We first went to Aunt Chana in Moscow, and a few days later we went to our home in Dorokhova, a small town on the edge of a huge forest which extended for
dozens of kilometers. Our apartment in Dorokhova if it can be called an apartment had one room that was not large, in which six people crowded in. How? I dont remember how we managed to do this. We had no kitchen. Between our room and the room that the gentile landlord lived in, was a sort of kitchen-hall with two stoves that were attached to the two rooms. These stoves were used for cooking and for warming us during the cold winters. This is how my father described the benefit we had from them: In the summer they were not in operation since we rarely had what to cook and in the winter they did not warm us since they were worth Kaparos (i.e. ineffective).
collapsed and nearly froze to death. The landlord preempted its death by killing it. At least he and his family had horse meat for a long time. He sought ways of saving the second horse and came up with an idea. I entered the corridor one day and stood there transfixed. The horse was standing there in the middle of the hall, filling the length and barely leaving any space on the sides. We children were afraid of passing through to our apartment, but the gentile assured us that the horse had the nature of a docile lamb. We were afraid nonetheless.
and she hit him back. They would usually conclude their argument with wounds and swollen faces. They once fought in the hall. Of course, none of us intervened, but amidst the screams my mother heard the cry of a child. That was something that she could not bear. She went to the hall and saw something which caused her heart to tremble. The two of them were beating each other up, but she could see how he was holding the child with one hand as he was trying to protect himself from her fists with his other hand, while she
Her tiny apartment was on a small street. They called the street dont be frightened by the long, difficult name Sposogileniveshtzesky.
THE LANDLORD AND HIS HORSES

The landlord was a clever man. Like everyone in Soviet Russia, he was scared to breathe a word that might indicate his dissatisfaction with the government. But he wasnt afraid of my father and grandfather, and so he poured fire and brimstone and death wishes on Stalin. He was an engineer in a local glass factory. For his good service to the Motherland he received a cash bonus. With this money he bought two horses, with the plan of earning a bit of money. He had a large yard which was empty and desolate and did not even have a fence around it. He bought the horses at the end of the summer and they walked around the yard. They had no stable. In the cold winter days (and in Moscow, winters are very cold), the horses shivered in the cold and wind and one of them
A few days later, the gentile called my father over and showed him what a Soviet engineer can make. Even back then, long before perestroika, I heard the words ostroika and perestroika which meant that he had attached a pail to the front of the horse and behind the horse and other additions so that the hallway would no longer be dirty. In the end, he saw that it was pointless and one winter day he decided to do the same to the second horse as he did to the first horse. Once again, he and his wife had plenty to eat for a while.
FOR THE LOVE OF A CHILD

It was astonishing to see how respectful he and his wife were to our family. As was customary among many Russians, he liked his liquor, and like many such as he, he would occasionally lift his hand to his wife. His wife, though, was a healthy specimen
tried wresting the child from him. It wasnt a Jewish child, said my mother with tears in her eyes, but her warm, motherly heart was pained when she saw how he held the child close to him, upsidedown. I went out to the hall and witnessed my mothers compassion and heroism. In the midst of the brawl between the two inflamed gentiles, she approached the man and screamed, Azi, give me the child immediately! You are choking him! Pity! Give me the child! Incredibly, he gave her the child which she brought into our apartment. The childs mother did not even utter the slightest protest as my mother took the boy. As my mother took the child and brought him into our apartment, she mumbled towards the pair: Now you can hit one another gezunterheit. We heard the fight slowly
Issue 845
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die down until the two of them knocked on our door and with pleading eyes they held out their hands and said: Thank you, dear neighbor...Vasili, our little boy My mother said that of course she would return the child, but only after they promised to make peace amongst themselves. With a smile, she gave the child back to his mother. Late on we heard the story. The landlord and his wife had had a big fight and she grabbed the child and wanted to run away to her parents in town. He said she could run where she pleased but not with the child. prepared it for the guest. In those days, we ate an egg once in a blue moon. On the rare occasion that we did procure an egg, my mother would save it for Shabbos. But then we heard things from our guest that amazed us. We children, who stood near the table, heard how Uncle Moshe Chaim was talking to Zeide about how Zeide had revived him with the hot fried egg, since for days he had been eating canned sardines and he couldnt take it anymore. I remember looking at my sisters and saw their wide-open eyes: He was sick and tired of sardines! We knew that sardines were the food of kings. We had never seen them before. We heard that in some faraway place in some imaginary expensive stores there were nice boxes of sardines that were so delicious, and yet our uncle was saying that he was disgusted by them! But my uncle heard none of this and had no idea how poor we were. the trees and were half rotten. Shmuel Dovid looked this way and that and quickly cut some thick branches for himself and for me. He had a thick rope and he tied the bundle of branches together and the forest watchman did not catch us. On Shabbos we had no minyan in Dorokhova. On Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur we barely managed to arrange a minyan. For my bar mitzva in Shevat, two Lubavitchers who lived in Dorokhova attended, but even these two guests could barely enter the hall where my bar mitzva was held (this was described in a previous chapter).
SARDINES OR EGGS WHICH IS MORE PRECIOUS?

When we were first living in Dorokhova, it was possible to buy as much white bread as we wanted, but from where we had the money to buy one kilogram of bread, I dont know. My father was sick; my grandfather had no income. Shortly after we arrived in Dorokhova, my mother got a job in Moscow where she went every day, but I remember that her salary was not enough for water for porridge. From the following somewhat far-out episode, you will see how limited our paltry income was. One summer day, Uncle Moshe Chaim Dubrawsky, who lived in Leningrad, came to pay us a visit. What a guest! My mother was at work in Moscow and my father was in the hospital in Moscow. Only Zeide-Rav was at home with us children. Our daily fare was bread, potatoes and onions, but when a dear guest arrived, he needed to be honored with some better food, something tastier than mere potatoes. Zeide found an egg or maybe two, and
I YEARNED FOR A FARBRENGEN

I would like to go back and say a good word about myself. I have no idea how I came by such a thing, but in my early childhood, I had a strong desire for farbrengens, Chassidishe farbrengens, despite not quite knowing what this entailed. In a warm corner of my memory is my experience of participating in my first farbrengen. In my overdeveloped sense of curiosity, I once listened to a conversation between my father and grandfather in which they spoke about having a farbrengen in the house. I think it was the week before a Chassidishe Yom Tov (Yud-Tes Kislev). I needed no more than that; hearing that sudden good news made my heart pound. In my tremendous anticipation I counted not only the days but also the hours. Since I was blessed with a pessimistic nature, I was plagued by a fear that something would happen to make me miss the farbrengen. By day, thoughts and fears besieged me, and at night
LOGS FOR FIREWOOD

Another Lubavitcher family came to Dorokhova, Shmuel Dovid Belinov, his wife, and child. His young wife Chava would come over occasionally to get help in some matter. Shmuel Dovid would also come to invite us to go to the forest and collect logs for the stoves. Although our yard bordered on the huge forest, we were required by law to buy logs in the market which were sold by the meter. Shmuel Dovid said that all the red officials could go to purgatory, those who forbade us from cutting even one branch. We were only allowed to collect branches that had fallen from
I had nightmares. Day after day I felt nervous, but at the same time, I was as excited as usual. Two days before the farbrengen, I woke up in the morning with a bad headache. Oy! It was all because of my fears. Aside from the headache, I felt feverish too. I tried to control myself and not tell my mother and get dressed. Forget about it! I fell right back into bed. Then began the usual routine. My mother took my temperature and it was high. And then Dr. Orlov came. He listened to me, felt me, and said that I had the flu or bronchitis, I dont remember exactly. He wrote a prescription and said to put bankes (cupping, a treatment in which vacuumed cups are applied to the skin to draw blood through the surface). I remember pleading with my mother to ask the doctor whether I would be able to attend the farbrengen the following day. She said something to him and he smiled, mumbled something, and I burst into tears. I did everything the doctor said, the bankes, cough syrup, and all the rest, hoping he would have mercy and let me attend the farbrengen. I had a hard night, but the next day I felt better than the day before.
My mother took my temperature and ah! I had an idea. As soon as my mother turned her head, I took the thermometer and turned it over, in the hopes that it would make my situation easier. It did not help. It still showed that I had fever.
AN UNFORGETTABLE MOMENT
Its odd, but I do not remember how the day itself (Yud-Tes Kislev) went. My head felt a lot better. I napped a lot throughout the day and with rare optimism I looked forward to the
through the open door. I sat up in my bed. Mama, mama, I called. When my parents came quickly, I said with uncharacteristic firmness: I want to go to the farbrengen! My mother was pleasantly surprised, but said, What are you talking about ... My father said, Well, why not? He wrapped me in a blanket and brought me to the dining room where all the Chassidim in town were sitting, along with a few yeshiva bachurim. I cannot forget the unusual emotions I felt when my father brought me into the dining room.
I remember looking at my sisters and saw their wide-open eyes: He was sick and tired of sardines! We knew that sardines were the food of kings. We had never seen them before.
farbrengen. Towards evening, probably in the middle of Mincha, I fell into a deep sleep. I woke up late at night from the sound of a joyous Chassidic niggun that came from the dining room where the farbrengen was held. Along with the niggun, a ray of light also came into the room
A single electric light was lit, but I saw a clear halo of light. The Chassidic niggun flooded me with a tremendously inspiring feeling that I had never felt before (or maybe since). The faces of the Chassidim who sat around the table looked like rays of light to me.
TO BRING MOSHIACH NOW!

Issue 845
ADD IN ACTS OF GOODNESS & KINDNESS
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contents

We WONt fOrGet aNd We WONt fOrGiVe!

Rabbi Sholom Dovber Wolpo

16 KOsHer MeditatiON Sholom Ber Crombie

Dvar Malchus Science & Geula Parsha Thought Crossroads Memoirs

24 WHO are YOu NaMed after?

28 resurrectiNG JeWisH cHerKassY

HISKASHRUS TO BRING MOSHIACH

STORIES ARE NOT ENOUGH WHEN YOU CAN LEARN CHASSIDUS

WHY WE SAY TACHANUN EVEN ON THE YAHRTZAIT OF A TZADDIK

CHECK OUT THE NEW WEBSITE

WE WONT FORGET AND WE WONT FORGIVE!

LEARNING WHAT KABBALAS OL IS

scIence & Geula

THE WHAT PARTICLE?

THE DIRECTION OF MODERN PHYSICS

THE REAL G-D PARTICLE

THE TANYA SAYS: PICTURE IT IN YOUR MIND

Chabad house in Dharamsala

THE REBBE RECOMMENDS KOSHER MEDITATION

HISBONENUS: LIKE LISTENING TO A MAAMER

Learning in the woods near the Chabad house

FROM INDIA TO ERETZ YISROEL

PROVIDING THE TOOLS

20 av / MoshIach & Geula

WHO ARE YOU NAMED AFTER?

Rabbi Levi Garelik

THE COMMON DENOMINATOR BETWEEN YOSEF AND LEVI

A young Levi Garelik

20 av / MoshIach & Geula

REVEALING THE GEULA WITHIN THE GALUS

TWO PATHS TO GEULA

RESURRECTING JEWISH CHERKASSY

At a Chanuka party with local Jews

R Axelrod (left) meeting with the governor of the district

THE EFFECT OF ONE CONVERSATION

MIRACULOUS MIKVA IN CHERKASSY

A DREAM OF THE REBBE AND THE REBBE RAYATZ

WHEN BRESLOV DID MIVTZAIM

Hachnasas Seifer Torah in Cherkassy

THE OLIVE JEW AND THE EGG JEW

THANKING BEFORE AND AFTER

MAN DOES NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE

deserving of much credit and adulation.

THE CRUSHED OLIVE AND THE HARD BOILED EGG

HISTORY JUDGES THE SEVEN YEARS OF FAMINE

AND THEY TRAVELED FROM KROLEVETS AND CAMPED IN DOROKHOVA

SEEKING A CURE FOR MY FATHER

THE LANDLORD AND HIS HORSES

FOR THE LOVE OF A CHILD

SARDINES OR EGGS WHICH IS MORE PRECIOUS?

I YEARNED FOR A FARBRENGEN

LOGS FOR FIREWOOD

TO BRING MOSHIACH NOW!

ADD IN ACTS OF GOODNESS & KINDNESS

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