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Nosson Avrohom

He PrOtects tHe leGs Of His cHassidiM

Menachem Ziegelboim

18 dOuBle BlessiNG Nosson Avrohom 22 a taMiM frOM a PreViOus GeNeratiON

Avrohom Rainitz

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Dvar Malchus Moshiach & Geula Moshiach & Geula Viewpoint Memoirs Parsha Thought Shleimus HaAretz

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fOur MOre Years! s-O-s!

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DVAR MALCHUS

EARTHQUAKES, UPHEAVALS, AND THE ERA OF MOSHIACH

These radical upheavals, these tumultuous changes, which have a direct impact on the majority of the worlds population, are taking place in silence and tranquility, something that has no precedent in the entire history of mankind!
Translated by Boruch Merkur

CONFOUNDED BY MY RADICAL CLAIM

The emphasis on the refinement of the world as a preparation for the Messianic Era is something that is (not only mentioned in the Torah portion but is) openly visible throughout the world these days. To preface: There are those who are confounded by what is being spoken about of late. Namely, that we are presently in the Era of Ikvisa DMeshicha, at the end of the exile. These people ask: What is taking place that supports this claim? The world is carrying on as usual from year to year! But in fact it is the greatest wonder that they dont consider the nature of current events unfolding in the world, events that are readily observable and well covered by the media! In the latter period (beginning with recent years and increasing with the passage of time), upheavals are taking place across the globe, events that are transforming the political

landscape from one extreme to the other. It is only with the benevolence of G-d that these revolutions are silent that is to say, without war and bloodshed, may G-d preserve us to the extent that daily life (commerce and the like) goes on as usual in these places, as if everything were operating as normal. But the fact is that revolutions are taking place in each of these countries on a national level, internal upheavals that are being negotiated through diplomacy. First off there is Russia (the country the Rebbe Rayatz, leader of the generation, came from, together with his students and emissaries). The seventyyear rule of this powerful and dreaded regime instilled fear in all of its citizens, to the extent that even for just criticizing the government the consequence would be exile to an uninhabitable land (such as Siberia). However, the governing party, all of a sudden, in a very short time, underwent a radical change (enacted by those at the top political positions), and this

change spread to other countries of the same ilk. Similarly regarding China, which has in recent years undergone a transformation in its domestic policy as well as its foreign policy. The same is true of India, for its longstanding heads of state were swiftly replaced. Likewise with regard to the upheavals in several other countries across the globe, including iyei hayam, islands of the sea [these are the Greek Islands Rashi on Yeshayahu 11:11], though there is no need to elaborate at length about this matter, as it has become widespread public knowledge. The fact is that we are speaking about upheavals in nations that are heavily populated, revolutions in governments and regimes whose authority extends to billions of people across the globe, affecting the majority of the worlds population!

A GREAT WONDER THAT THIS IS NOT UNIVERSALLY RECOGNIZED

The miracle is this: It is a great wonder that people dont pay any attention to these cataclysmic changes, in the spirit of the verse, Ein baal hanes makir bniso (a person

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doesnt perceive the miracle done for him). These radical upheavals, these tumultuous changes, which have a direct impact on the majority of the worlds population, are taking place in silence and tranquility, something that has no precedent in the entire history of mankind! Typically, regime change is accompanied by prolonged war and bloodshed, disrupting normal life, bringing in its wake ruin and destruction, may G-d preserve us. There is no need to search extensively through the annals of the history of previous generations for examples, for in this very generation we have seen the incredible destruction of the Second World War, may such horror never recur. However, in recent times, even greater upheavals are taking place, affecting the majority of the world, and with G-ds kindness, they are transpiring without wars and without bloodshed, G-d forbid, but amidst quietude and tranquility. Moreover, it is apparent that these upheavals taking place in our times are (not only concerning human affairs but are) also in connection with the rest of G-ds creations: the animal, plant, and mineral kingdoms. I am referring here to the rash of earthquakes that have taken place recently, in a short span of time, and are presently continuing in various places in the world (including this nation). But with the kindness of G-d, the number of victims has been minimal, especially when

The miracle is this: It is a great wonder that people dont pay any attention to these cataclysmic changes, in the spirit of the verse, Ein baal hanes makir bniso (a person doesnt perceive the miracle he encounters).

compared to similar events that took place earlier.

HOW IS THIS RELEVANT TO US?

To explain the connection of the above to the Jewish people: (For at first glance, political upheavals that take place across the globe (without any direct connection to the Jewish people) are not of interest to Jews, whose job it is to study Torah and fulfill Mitzvos.) a) Recognizing the greatness of G-d and offering praise and expressing appreciation for His great benevolence. For, in addition to the greatness of G-d that is visible in the framework of nature as it is written, The heavens recount the glory of G-d, etc., when I see Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and stars that You have established G-ds miracles further emphasize His greatness, in a more pronounced way. In our case, this applies to the radical upheavals across the globe taking place amidst quietude and tranquility, a miracle of such enormity that these occurrences are only within the power of the Alm-ghty

Himself, Who is omnipotent. Thus, we must thank G-d for His great kindness, for how much more is praise and thanks incumbent upon us for these great miracles when even for natural conduct we must thank Him daily. (And certainly, involvement in Torah study and the fulfillment of Mitzvos does not detract at all from contemplating the greatness of G-d, and praising and thanking Him for His tremendous kindness.) b) An increase in faith in the coming of Moshiach and the anticipation of his imminent arrival, Every day I await his arrival, for the revolutions taking place in the world are signs cited in the Midrashim of our Sages, of blessed memory, regarding the era of Ikvisa DMeshicha, the stage immediately preceding the redemption. Indeed, seeing these upheavals in our times serves as an addition confirmation that we are presently in the final moments of Ikvisa DMeshicha, and immediately Moshiach Tzidkeinu will arrive.
(From the address of Shabbos Parshas Toldos, 4 Kislev, 5750, muga)

TO BRING MOSHIACH NOW!

ADD IN ACTS OF GOODNESS & KINDNESS

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Profile
From a child who grew up feeling a lack of self worth, whose life was run by the dictates of others, Ronen Gridish turned his life around. He started Chasidrama, a drama program for kids who find it hard to express their emotions. He knows how they feel and he knows how to help them.
By Nosson Avrohom

RAMA HASID C
6 2 Kislev 5773

haim (a pseudonym) is only nine, but he bears a heavy emotional load on his shoulders. As far back as he can remember, he remembers the scorn his family heaped on him. His father said that every family has its black sheep and out of all his children, Chaim is the schlimazel. That is just one example. No wonder that Chaim stopped believing in himself and his abilities and withdrew to the point that he didnt dare open his mouth. He would show up to school on time but schoolwork was the last thing on his mind. He waited for the afternoon at which time the nightmare called school would be over. He didnt even try to pay attention. His attitude toward his teachers was something like: I wont bother you and you dont bother me, a sort of ceasefire. Years went by in this way. Teachers in the lower grades would describe him as having unrealized talent and wasted potential. His report card said: A particularly weak child. Another one said: A child at risk, sad and afraid of his own shadow. His parents tried; he met with professionals and diagnosticians. Some said he needed therapy. Some went back to his mothers difficult experience of his birth as an explanation for his behavior. None of them saw the child. They all spoke of deterioration, and a pedagogical committee even recommended switching him to special education. Then, when it all seemed like a big, black hole, light appeared from an unexpected place. His parents registered him for Chasidrama under the direction of Ronen Gridish, so Chaim would have something to do in the afternoon. Nobody dared

hope he would actually achieve anything. The goal was for Chaim not to sit at home alone while his parents were at work. Success with Chaim didnt happen instantaneously, and I am sure much more work is needed, but we began the process, said Ronen. We took a child whose inner light was extinguished. When he was asked to stand, he stood; to sit, he sat. Nothing more. Ronen remembers the first lessons in which Chaim barely spoke. He was in an inner

break them; on the contrary, it will galvanize them for the future, and the most important thing is that we believe in them. I had a difficult, frustrating life, because in my childhood they didnt believe in me. I do what I can so that children wont go through the same thing.

A DIFFICULT CHILDHOOD
Ronen is from a traditional family from Lud. The greatgrandfather was a mekubal from Tripoli, Rabbi Sholom Tayar.

Anyone who observed me must have been sure that I was a happy person, full of confidence and self-awareness, but that was so far from the truth. I smiled and joked around, but inside I felt like half a man.

turmoil. I had a life like that and I felt what he was going through. His soul cried out wordlessly. It was only in the seventh or eighth lesson that he began to open up. I identified his strong points and built them up. For our final project, a movie we produced in collaboration with Nitzotzot shel Kdusha Sparks of Holiness, led by Yigal Hoshiar, Chaim took a significant part and everyone complimented him on his acting abilities. The production team was amazed by the talent of this young boy. In the past two years, dozens of other boys have passed through Ronens Chasidrama program. Each and everyone made progress, he says confidently. Some more and some less, but for the first time, it allowed the children to express themselves, to speak about their feelings, to develop awareness. Failure wont

My family had tremendous respect for tradition and religiously observed the Jewish holidays, but it was all done in a ritualistic way. After Kiddush, the television was turned on and we even used a car. There was no depth. We kids kept even less, not even the ceremonies and rituals. From a young age I developed an antipathy towards, and even a hatred of, tradition. The hardest thing Ronen had to deal with as a child was his great love for acting. His father insisted that he study a practical field. My father, who was educated a certain way, found it hard to understand me. I felt that I had no way of actualizing my true desires. In the culture in which we were educated, I had to walk the path my parents laid forth for me. This caused a growing frustration which I did not know how to express.

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Profile
teachers could not understand how such a talented and successful boy had a hard time as a student. Today, they assign labels to such situations, there is greater awareness. But back then I yearned for unconditional love and warmth from my parents. The love I received was conditional. I was given orders and listening, caring and empathy were lacking. I wanted to actualize my talents and they didnt let me. As a child, nobody explained to me what I was feeling and why I felt that way. A few days ago, my daughter said to me about a certain thing, Abba, I dont like this. I was so moved because she was able to express what I, as a child, could not. Whatever I did, I did because I had to. No credence was given to feelings. Every morning, I went to school with the feeling that I was going to a place I did not like, which I even hated. I waited for freedom with the ringing of the bell when I could finally leave school. When I got a bit older, I counted the days and hours until Id become draft age when I would be independent and able to break away from all prior expectations. I had a lot of anger in me and lacked peace of mind. Even when I performed on my trumpet and people complimented me, I didnt believe them. I thought they were liars and were only saying what they did to please me. I felt like a puppet on strings. When Ronen was finally old enough for the army, he wanted to go as far away as possible and enlisted in the navy. I went through a training course to be a trainer in the field of small combat operations and ended up training small combat teams of naval commandos.

UNEXPECTED INTERROGATION
The trip to 770 was a significant step for Ronen on his journey to becoming a Chassid and mekushar. When I arrived at 770 for the first time, I thought I would stay for two weeks and then return home. How would I support myself if I didnt work? I ended up staying for another eight months, which led me to choosing a path in life of being battul and mekushar to the Rebbe; squelching my ego and my desire to control my life, and filling myself up with Chassidus and hiskashrus. It happened with wondrous Divine Providence. After a busy Friday doing mivtzaim, I returned to Crown Heights where I discovered, to my dismay, that my wallet with all my important documents and $500 had been stolen. At first, I was frantic. What should I do? How would I manage? Then I switched my thoughts to what I had been taught and I wondered why this had happened. Hashem had a reason. On Motzaei Shabbos I called all the credit card companies to cancel the cards and I called the insurance company to inform them of the theft. I knew that by canceling the credit cards my insurance company would not receive money and would stop insuring my car, so I called to inform them of what had happened so they wouldnt cancel my insurance. I called my insurance agent and his wife said he wasnt home. Where are you? she asked. In America. Where in America? In New York. But where? I was surprised by this unexpected interrogation, but was polite enough to respond. I said, In Brooklyn, Crown Heights, 770. She burst into tears. You wont believe what Im going to tell you, she said. She said that she had a picture of the Rebbe on the computer and she asked him for a bracha. Her husband, a religious man, had spiritually declined in recent months and was going off the derech. If there was someone who could help her, it was the Rebbe. Thats what she told me. I suddenly realized that the theft of my wallet was only so that I could help her. I wrote her request and put it into a volume of Igros Kodesh. The answer I opened to had to do with the importance of having a mashpia. I called my mashpia and he wanted the details about the insurance agent. Later on, I found out that at the mashpias own initiative, he had arranged to learn Chassidus with the agent. They learned together for a year, week after week, until not only didnt he deteriorate further, but he became someone who could positively influence others. As for me, because of the theft, I was more involved with the bachurim and men in 770 who helped and guided me. I became a participant rather than the observer I had been until then. From a young age I was a popular member of the Scouts. I played the trumpet for thirteen years and performed on various stages in Eretz Yisroel and the world over, but I got no recognition for this from my father, and I missed it. My

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Anyone who observed me must have been sure that I was a happy person, full of confidence and self-awareness, but that was so far from the truth. I smiled and joked around, but inside I felt like half a man. When I meet cynics today, I know why they are that way. They have not made peace with their lives and that is the feeling I walked around with at that time. Towards the end of my military service, the Shayetet Disaster of 1997 occurred, or, as it is referred to in the military, the Ansariya Disaster. Navy commandos, whom I knew well, members of the unit that I trained, went deep into Lebanon one night and twelve of them were killed. I grieved for a long time and this led me to start thinking of the true value of life. I left the army feeling confused and I tried to find my way. I lost my discharge bonus in a failed business venture that left me deep in debt. Money wasnt coming easily. I began studying computers. It was a time of deep and ongoing searching. I did so many things, skipping from subject to subject, but I felt that nothing was providing me with true satisfaction. Although I got good marks and they predicted great things of me in this field, I decided to drop computers. I found work at the airport. One day, I got a phone call at work from my sister who said our mother had been involved in a bad accident and had broken her leg. I dropped everything and went home. That is when I saw how seriously she had been injured. It wasnt merely a broken leg. A car driven by an eighty year old man was traveling against the traffic and plowed right into her. She suffered injuries all over

The process is no less important than the results. Its like giving notes to a musician and having him play, without understanding what the music is about. A SEARCH
Ronen chose to go as far as he could. His destination was Australia where he spent a year with some friends. They worked at jobs here and there to support themselves and spent their free time on the beach. One day, some of us decided to go on a trip to the northernmost point of the continent. I was asked to drive the jeep throughout the trip. I agreed, and we set out. I dont know why, but the entire time I felt an inner tension as though something bad was about to happen. I tried to dismiss these feelings but they only grew. We spent days hiking through dense jungles, magnificent places. I remember standing facing these gorgeous
Issue 856

her body. At the hospital they bandaged her and said they were only superficial injuries. This was the night before Pesach. We insisted that she not exert herself in the kitchen as she always did. We spent Pesach night with one of the uncles where she sat down and lost consciousness. It all took place in front of my eyes. When the medics arrived at the house, all they could do was declare her dead. A blood clot had gone from her leg and blocked her lungs. It is only today that I appreciate the full intensity of the grief, but at that time, I didnt allow myself to break. Why? Because that is the life I lived at that time. It was a life devoid of true happiness.

Profile
sights and thinking: What now? Ive conquered the northernmost point and now Ill go back to work. Was that the purpose? It doesnt make sense that a person comes to this world just to spend his life enjoying himself. That seemed too prosaic to me, unintelligent, simplistic. I was in an emotional turmoil, but nobody could tell what was going on inside me. Outwardly, I seemed calm. We laughed and had a good time until the volcano exploded. One night, I left the tent that we had set up at a rest stop and I felt that I had no air to breathe. I looked in the mirror and saw that I was pale. My heart raced and my mouth was completely dry. It was a frightening feeling, as though I was going to die. I rushed off to a hospital but the doctors didnt find anything. When I returned I arrived home and my father, seeing how I looked, was frightened. He took me to a top doctor who said what the other doctors in Australia had said, that all was fine. I remember my father telling the doctor to just do something so that I could function like a human being. I listened to this and thought, he has no idea what Im going through. I avidly read books on psychology and philosophy with exercises for inner work. I began thinking positively and doing what I enjoyed and not what I was told to do. Slowly, I got back to myself. As a result of this inner work, I realized that my biggest problem was that I was disconnected from myself. I resolved to fulfill all my childhood dreams. That is how I Ronen was wary, but he quickly got into things as he felt that Judaism was not a religion full of oppressive rules but had so much beauty and joy. There is a Creator of the world and Someone who is directing things; things dont happen on their own. I began thinking about how to market the Creator. I went to R Chonon Kochonovskys Chabad house in Rishon L Tziyon where I met R Moshe Gruzman. The only thing I knew at that point about Chabad and the Rebbe was that during the Gulf War, the Rebbe reassured the Jewish people that nothing bad would happen, and he was right. I soon became a regular guest at the Chabad house. I learned and heard more about the Rebbe. I was blown away by the first Tanya shiur that R Gruzman gave. Those were insights that I had no idea existed in Torah. Two souls, a G-dly one and an animalistic one. This was all news to me. I remember going home after a shiur and my heart overflowed with emotion. I felt that this was just what I had been looking for. I eventually learned sichos and maamarim of the Rebbe and realized that these werent just teachings from many years ago, but that there was someone now, a Nasi, a king, who leads the Jewish people. I finished an important project at work and took time off in order to learn more. R Kochonovsky, who saw that I was really devoting myself to Yiddishkait, suggested that I check out the Chabad yeshiva in Ramat Aviv. At first, I wasnt sure about the time commitment, but once I got there, I was hooked.

In the past, people may have been able to live a lie; today, its a different generation, one that despises falsehood.

from our trip, I went to other doctors and everything checked out fine. That is, until they examined my stomach where they discovered the Helicobacter Pylori bacterium, which only produces symptoms when a person is under stress and fear. These symptoms can cause a person to experience extreme disorienting nausea and stomach pains and to feel like his entire circulatory system is a mess. After a short while I decided to return home, to Eretz Yisroel. I was committed to not abandoning the search for meaning; I was abandoning material comforts in favor of my spiritual search. I did not accept an offer to manage a hotel and make good money.

came to enroll in a psychodrama course. In order to pay for it, I worked for an exclusive real estate agency. I finished one drama course and signed up for another. I loved what I was learning and it felt liberating. All the klipos that covered me since I was a boy, everything I had kept inside for years, I was able to get out and be cleansed. Ronen felt like a new man and that is why he was open to hearing about Torah and mitzvos. I became a more open, receptive, and understanding person. Through his job, he met a religious man by the name of Matisyahu Cohen. It was Cohen who got him on track. At first,

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TOUCHING SOULS
After he got married, Ronen threw his energy into various projects. He did not think of turning what had helped him into a program that could help others. Drama helped me neutralize the lack of trust, self-worth and self-confidence that I walked around with. I met more and more kids who were in the same place I had been. I felt that I could not allow them to grow up in a world without confidence. The problem these children were experiencing was the same one I had experienced that of not being able to express themselves very well. It hurt me to see sad, frustrated children, disconnected from themselves and definitely from their environment; those who werent using their abilities and talents because the educational and familial structure didnt consider allowing them to. Ronen decided that he had to create a program that would provide these boys with a way of expressing their feelings and revealing deeper layers of their soul. That is how Chasidrama came to be. These children need total love and inclusiveness; a place that will accept them as they are, with their weaknesses and deficiencies. Only love like this can foster growth. What is special about drama is that through doing the work, you understand what you are really capable of. The process in drama is no less important than the final results. Today, in education, they talk about achievement, but not about the process that gets you there. The Gemara says, just as their faces are different, so are their views dissimilar. I add to that by saying that their characters and abilities are different too.

Every class is comprised of many types and degrees of intelligence, each different from the next. It is not necessarily the case that a child who is not good in one subject wont be good in another subject. Children with attention deficits get frustrated because the environment is not inclusive of them, although many of them have high intelligence and incredible abilities and talents. You have to give them a chance. The process is no less important than the results. Its like giving notes to a musician and having him play, without understanding what the music is about. Hashem gave us talents and our mission is to use them. The principle behind our work is to give kids the tools with which they can do the work with themselves, and help others do the work without masks and without barriers. Many of these children, due to past failures, cover themselves with many masks and many layers and we,

in our program, remove them and allow them to succeed without fear of failure. In each drama lesson, they learn many Chassidic concepts and the great success they enjoy proves how necessary this is. As someone [the author of this article] who hosted Chasidrama, I can tell you that this program causes change and leads to positive outcomes with the children. We had a boy who was such an introvert; I had never seen anything like it before. He kept his hands in his pockets and his gaze on the floor and spoke very low. To get him to participate in an exercise was like splitting the sea, but I didnt give up on him. Not only did I let him act, but here and there I made him in charge. He had no choice and he participated in the exercises. At first, he did it like someone forced to do so. Later, he did it more happily while showing ever greater interest. Throughout
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Profile
this time, I noticed that he was checking me out to see whether, when I said I believed in him, I really believed in him, or those were just words. He had stopped believing people. But I really believed in him because I understood him. In the end, this boy was the leader of the group. I really enjoy doing this taking kids like these, who dont believe in themselves, and showing them how much they are worth. I do it with a lot of warm words and faith, along with firmness. If I dont give up on him, he wont give up on himself. Ronen has copious examples: There was a child in the group who had no confidence at all. At school, the other kids called him the punching bag, because they all liked hitting him. I decided to take him on as a project. When I would give him something that required a bit more work on his part, he would say, I cant, Im no good. Hes better than me. I consistently did not give in. I would challenge him, obviously not with big things, but with things I knew he could do. When he insisted that he was not capable, I did not move on to the next child. I would calmly say to him, Youre next in line, and wait until he did it. At first, he did things only because he had to, but I persisted in conveying the message that he was capable. After a number of weeks, the message got through to him. He believed me when I said I believed in him. The other kids began to admire his work. He started getting positive feedback. I slowly assigned him bigger roles. Eventually, he began to show signs of eagerness and joy of life. He would be the first one waiting for me, ten minutes before everyone else. I drew out the abilities he had, abilities that each one of us has, but we helped him reveal what he had already forgotten. Even when he did something that was not quite perfect, he learned to accept that this was okay and the next time would be better. It brought about a change in every aspect of his life in class, in shul, and at home. He became a happy child. Ronen, who is trained as a personal coach and leads groups of Chasidrama, is developing the exercises and programming into a structured system. He is writing goals according to the teachings of Chassidus and is utilizing his knowledge and experience to develop a structured program. What is the world of Tikkun? Its when children find their place so they dont feel frustrated and have negative emotions because they are not understood. When the Rebbe is revealed in the true and complete Geula, the world will be rectified. Each of us is a miniature world. In the past, people may have been able to live a lie; today, its a different generation, one that despises falsehood.

A NEW PROJECT
Chasidrama for Men is a new group that is forming. Ronen says he did not initiate the idea. This generation is one of masks that we need to remove. I have a strong inner belief in the avoda a person can do. You do your part and Hashem will do His; sanctify yourself down below and Hashem will sanctify you even more from above. Open for a Me an opening the size of a needle and I will make you an opening the size of a hall. When you fix yourself, you make not only yourself happy but everyone around you. Ive seen this in my immediate environment when I began learning the Dvar Malchus with my father once a week on the telephone.

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Moshiach & Geula

HOW WILL WE GIVE TZDAKA WHEN EVERYONE BECOMES WEALTHY?

By Rabbi Gershon Avtzon

Dear Reader shyichyeh: Everybody is looking forward to Moshiach. For many it is for spiritual reasons, as the Rambam writes (Hilchos Melachim 12:4): The Sages and the prophets did not yearn for the Messianic era in order to have dominion over the entire world, to rule over the gentiles, to be exalted by the nations, or to eat, drink, and celebrate. Rather, they desired to be free to involve themselves in Torah and wisdom without any pressures or disturbances, so that they would merit the World to Come. Yet for many it is the physical blessings of the Messianic era that increase our anticipation, as the Rambam (Ibid) continues: In that era, there will be neither famine or war, envy or competition for good will flow in abundance and all the delights will be freely available as dust. As the Gemara (Ksubos 112b) relates: R. Chiya bar Ashi stated in the name of Rav: In the time to come all the wild trees of the Land of Israel will bear fruit, for it is said in Scripture: For the tree bear its fruit, the fig-tree and the vine do yield their strength. Based on the above it is clear that there will be no needy people in the times of Moshiach as is prophesized, There will be no poor among you. If so, how will the Mitzva of Tzdaka and

Gmillus Chassadim, which is one of the three pillars on which the world rests (Avos 1:2), be done in the times of Moshiach? Here are a few answers: 1) One of the three pillars is also Avoda, bringing Korbanos. In the time of exile, we fulfill the spiritual service of the Korbanos by learning about the details and laws of Korbanos. In the times of Moshiach, we will give Tzdaka by learning the laws of Tzdaka. (Chasam Sofer, Parshas BChukosai) 2) While there may not be physical charity, as BH everyone will have what they need, the need for spiritual charity will remain. When it comes to learning and understanding Torah, there are always different levels of understanding in different people. When someone answers anothers question or clarifies a Halacha for him, then that is chesed as well. (Sicha Parshas Ki-Savo, 5749) 3) There will be physical chesed as well. Even though people will have what they need, people will lend each other money just to fulfill Gmillus Chassadim. (Likkutei Sichos Vol. 24, pg. 317) There is a beautiful story (Igros Kodesh of the Frierdike Rebbe, Vol. 7 pg. 164) that illustrates this point: There was once a simple merchant named Yisroel

who came to visit the third Lubavitcher Rebbe, known as the Tzemach Tzedek, for a Shabbos. That week the Rebbe said a deep Chassidic discourse. One of the points explained was that the chesed of Avraham Avinu was so great that it gave more pleasure to Hashem than chesed of Atzilus! The simple Chassid went home and took this lesson to heart. That year he made a point of going around borrowing money from others, just to give them the Mitzva of lending money. When he returned to Lubavitch the next year, the Tzemach Tzedek commented to his son Reb Shmuel (the Rebbe Maharash) that he sees on R Yisroels head the light of Chesed of Atzilus!
Rabbi Avtzon is the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Lubavitch Cincinnati and a well sought after speaker and lecturer. Recordings of his in-depth shiurim on Inyanei Geula uMoshiach can be accessed at http://www.ylcrecording.com.

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Miracle storY

THEYD NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS BEFORE!

Mr. Benny Sheetrit is a very warm and kindhearted individual, known as the local greengrocer for the Chabad community of Tzfas. When he was suffering from considerable pain and immobility in both of his legs, he arranged to have an operation at a prominent medical center. However, an answer from the Rebbe changed all his plans in an instant. Benny, who is not a Chabad Chassid, followed the Rebbes instructions, and the surprising results came shortly thereafter
By Menachem Ziegelboim Translated by Michoel Leib Dobry

t stands to reason that there isnt a member of the Chabad community of Tzfas who doesnt know Benny the greengrocer as he is called. For many years now, Mr. Binyamin Sheetrit, owner of the Pri VYerek Chabad fruit and vegetable store, has faithfully served his hundreds of Chabad customers with tremendous joy and affection. Its more than just a veggie store, and all the local Chabadnikim can attest

to that. Benny is a person of much kindness, and he provides assistance to many needy people, quietly and without fanfare. He arranges for his customers to pay him in numerous installments. He is a Jew who shows great understanding and consideration. He has a warm and compassionate heart, and anyone can always have a pleasant chat with him. For many long years, Benny suffered from pain in his leg

joints. He had considerable difficulty walking, and every movement caused him intense physical discomfort. The cartilage between his leg bones had worn down, and he could only walk with a distinct limp. When I saw that the situation was getting worse, and the limp became even more noticeable, I decided to do something about it. I underwent a series of x-rays at the Sieff Medical Center, and since I wanted the best orthopedic

14 2 Kislev 5773

surgeons available, I arranged to have the suggested operation done at a private hospital the Herzliya Medical Center.

SPIRITUAL HEALTH LINKED TO PHYSICAL HEALTH

After consulting with Rabbi Ezra Sheinberg from Tzfas, Benny decided to start with an operation on his right leg. The procedure at the medical center was scheduled last month. I brought them the x-rays of my right leg joint, and I emotionally prepared myself for the operation. Most of my customers are Chabad Chassidim, including friends with whom I share some of my most private concerns. One of them is R Shneur Lipsker, director of Yeshivas Chanoch Lenaar. When he heard about my upcoming operation, he immediately asked me, Have you written to the Rebbe already? I replied that there was no longer a need to write to the Rebbe. The operation has already been scheduled, I explained. However, R Shneur would not relent. When my wife heard about this, she too urged me to write to the Rebbe. No harm can come

The answer was so clear that I could reach no other conclusion. Without a moments hesitation, I cancelled the appointment for the operation...
teachings of the Torah and the stringent observance of mitzvos, this will also increase the health of the body, including the pain about which he writes. See also in Likkutei Torah, Parshas Dvarim, Ki HaMitzva HaZos on the pasuk Tamim Tihiye. With a blessing for an increase in Torah study and mitzvah observance, and for good news in all the aforementioned. The practical meaning of this answer was that the operation at the private hospital should be cancelled, thereby avoiding the sizable expenses that would be incurred and that I should return to the doctor who had initially examined me at the Sieff Medical Center in Tzfas. The answer was so clear that I could reach no other conclusion. Without a moments hesitation, I cancelled the appointment for the operation in Herzliya, and made an alternative appointment with

from writing to such a tzaddik, she said. I was convinced. When R Shneur made his next visit to the store, he came with Vol. 16 of Igros Kodesh. He explained to me how to prepare for writing to the Rebbe. In my letter, I wrote about the entire chain of events in detail, the intense pain that had been a part of my day-to-day life, and the upcoming operation in Herzliya. The Rebbes answer simply amazed me. I never expected to receive such a reply. The letter appears in Vol. 16, pg. 300: In reply to his letter from the 23rd of Shvat, in which he writes that he has begun medical treatment with a doctor, it would be appropriate to continue the treatment, and may it be G-ds will that it should be with success and a speedy recovery. It is surely proper to awaken him to [the fact] that the more one increases in the health of the soul, i.e., the study of the revealed and hidden

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Miracle storY
Dr. David Rotem at the Sieff Medical Center in Tzfas. As I arrived at the hospital ward, he was in the middle of making his rounds. When he noticed that I was waiting for him, something totally astonishing happened that I still dont understand to this day. He acted towards me as if we were the best of friends. While there was a long line of people waiting since seven in the morning, he went straight over to me and asked the receptionist to let me in first. He examined my leg and then sent me for a series of x-rays on both legs against the advice of another doctor. He even accompanied me personally to the radiology department and gave specific orders regarding the x-rays. At the end of the day, when he checked the pictures, he told me quite plainly that my legs were not in very good condition. However, he advised me to have an operation done on my left leg first. I immediately consulted with Rabbi Ezra Sheinberg. Since the Rebbes reply had not mentioned which leg to treat, Rabbi Sheinberg said that if this was the doctors professional opinion, I must follow his instructions. The doctor set a date for the operation, which would obviously be done under full anesthetic. During the procedure, complications set in. While the operation was expected to take no more than two or three hours, it eventually lasted from six a.m. until two oclock the following morning. My family was extremely anxious as the hours passed, but the doctor came out periodically to reassure them. He added that this was one of the most complex operations he had ever performed. When I woke up after the procedure was over, he came over to speak with me. I also asked him why the operation had taken so long. He told me that the x-rays had graphically shown that my leg had been in a very precarious condition. If I had waited much longer, no operation in the world could have solved the problem. As a result, he had to perform some tricky medical maneuvers to save my leg. In fact, by the second day of my post-operative recovery, I stood on both legs to the absolute amazement of everyone. During the doctors rounds that same day, Dr. Rotem came in with several members of the hospitals medical staff, including a number of gentile doctors. One of them proceeded to ask me: How can the Jews say regarding G-d that there is nothing else besides Him? If it hadnt been for Dr. Rotem, he insisted, I wouldnt have been able to walk again so soon I decided that now was the appropriate time to tell them about the Rebbes answer. I explained how I had originally planned to have the operation in Herzliya, but the Rebbe had caused me to change my decision at the last minute. The doctors were dumbstruck. Then, Dr. Rotem asked if he could say something. He told all those present that when he was a young medical student, he had been privileged to pass by the Rebbe for dollars and to receive his blessing. I was deeply moved to hear this: A doctor receives the Rebbes bracha, and lo and behold, the Rebbe sends me to him for treatment. About a week later, when I had already returned home, I discovered that I had gone through a very delicate operation, normally requiring a most lengthy period of rehabilitation. I also eventually heard a lot more about Dr. Rotem. It turned out that this surgeon had a very unique operating approach for people suffering from my condition. He developed a special expertise in his field, which proved to be far more effective in treating this infirmity. I dont know what would have happened if I had undergone the operation at the Herzliya Medical Center, but according to all indications and considering the serious condition of my legs, I realized that the Rebbe had sent me to the best doctor available to cure my ailment. When I was released from the hospital to continue my recovery at home, the doctors said that there was only one way to describe my situation a medical miracle. They had seen a thing or two during their lives, but never anything like this!

A NEW MAN FULL OF GRATITUDE

Benny has already returned to running his store, and his amazing story spread throughout the city. We saw him last week smiling and relaxed, after years of enduring pains in his legs that have now disappeared as if they never existed. He feels like a new man, totally refreshed, and he gives many thanks for this to the Rebbe. Up until five years ago, my business was located in the Kiryat Chabad complex. At a certain point, I decided to move into a larger storefront on Zalman Shazar Street, but I had many concerns about the change in venue. Naturally, I asked for the Rebbes bracha, and the business has thrived ever since, Benny recalled with a tone of deep satisfaction in his voice.

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Moshiach & Geula

KIDDUSH WITH HIS KAVANA, HIS HOLINESS

following the histalkus of the rebbe rayatz, the rebbe MhM proclaimed that the rebbe remains alive as before. * source materials on this topic, compiled by rabbi Majeski in likkutei Mkoros. (underlining is the authors emphasis.)
Translated and presented by Boruch Merkur

he Rebbe is with us as before. He is presently in his room and hears us farbrenging. If so, how do we [have the audacity to] farbreng here [before the Rebbe]? [The answer is simple:] Because the Rebbe wants us to. *** Once, the Rebbe had a microphone set up and listened to the farbrengen taking place here [while still in his room]. The same thing exists now, but obviously in a much more robust way [being no longer confined to the constraints of physicality]. Seifer Chassidim3 mentions that [even after his passing] Rabbeinu HaKadosh would come every Friday evening to his home, at dusk, dressed in Shabbos clothes. He would make Kiddush and discharge others of their obligation thereby.4
3 Siman 1129 4 There is considerable debate over the legality of discharging the obligation of others to hear Kiddush in this manner. See the Chida on this section of Seifer Chassidim, and

Also now it is dusk, after Mincha, and Rabbeinu HaKadosh [i.e., our holy Rebbe, the Rebbe Rayatz] is coming to make Kiddush and even stay here for the night. *** One time, this winter, I entered the Rebbes room. He was sitting, resting his head on his hand, immersed in thought. He told me that he wishes to travel to Eretz Yisroel. I said: How is it possible to make the journey? There is so much work to be done here. He took a moment to reflect on what I had said and responded: Nu, it was a pleasant thought.5 In his thoughts, the Rebbe was already in Eretz Yisroel.
his Shem HaGdolim, Part I, Letter Alef, s.v. R. Eliezer ben R. Nosson. See also Gilyonei HaShas by Mahari (R. Yosef) Engel on Ksubos 103a. 5 It is interesting to note that the Rebbes earlier journeys (before coming to America) his journey from Russia, from Riga, from Warsaw were all unavoidable, for which reason he always left at the last possible opportunity the last train, the last ship. (Mreshima pratis, bilti muga.)

Indeed, [the Torah tells of how] the bones of Yosef were brought to Eretz Yisroel [alluding to, in this context, how the Rebbe Rayatz, Rabbi Yosef (Yitzchok) Schneersohn, succeeding in making his way to the Holy Land, at least in thought]. *** Once, a Chassid came to the Rebbe from far away and asked the Rebbe to say a maamer Chassidus. The Rebbe answered that he [typically] says Chassidus on Shabbos. The Chassid countered that when he comes to the Rebbe it is Shabbos for him. The Rebbe [accepted this line of reasoning and] said Chassidus.6 So too, now, through proper hiskashrus to the Rebbe, it is possible for it to be Shabbos for every single person any day, any moment. The Rebbe comes, makes Kiddush, discharging others of their obligation. That is to say that he extends influence upon them as if they had made their own Kiddush, Continued on page 29
6 See the Rebbe shlitas notes on the written maamarim of the Rebbe Rayatz, nishmaso Eden pg. 24.

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storY

DOUBLE BLESSING
By Nosson Avrohom

A Siddur party at the Ohr Menachem girls school in Tzfas is a very special and moving event. The staff of the school puts in much time and effort to make the celebration one that the first graders, most of whom are not from Lubavitcher homes, wont soon forget. Every year, the staff invites someone to tell a miracle story of the Rebbe and this past year it was Mrs. Yaffa Butbul, from Kiryat Shmoneh. She is not Lubavitch, yet she wanted to share the story of the birth of her daughter who was in the first grade, and of her son. Both of them were born with the Rebbes bracha after many years of marriage. The large crowd of mothers and girls was astounded by her story. It was not only the audience that was moved, she said in an interview the next day. That was the first time I was telling the story to such a large crowd. As soon as my son was born, the medical team at Ziv hospital wanted to call down a TV crew to hear the miracle, but I didnt let them. However, when I was asked to speak at the party,

I felt that there was no better time to thank the Rebbe for this big miracle. It is the reason that my daughter makes the trip every day from Kiryat Shmoneh to the Chabad school in Tzfas.

A LETTER TO THE REBBE

For many years, my husband, Meir Moshe, and I looked forward to and prayed for a child. We were married in 5751 and soon realized that having children wouldnt go easily for us. We underwent a series of unbearably lengthy treatments, but that did not help. We suffered greatly. With the early treatments we harbored great hope but were disappointed many times. After more and more treatments over time, our expectations were lowered. Who didnt we visit? We went to doctors and rabbis all over the country. There was no segula that we didnt try. At a certain point, we began to fear that we might never have children. In 5762, my husband heard of a new segula Chai Rotel. He went to the gravesite of the Tanna Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai

in Miron on Lag BOmer in order to give out wine to the visitors. He made a promise that if we would have a son, he would name him Shimon. My husband had started getting interested in Chabad some time before that. He met wonderful people and began learning a bit of Chassidus. He loved it. He was also told about the possibility of writing to the Rebbe even today, through the Igros Kodesh. So in Miron, when he saw the Chabad sfarim stand, he wanted to buy some volumes of Igros Kodesh. The Lubavitchers told him that they had only one volume left, Volume 18. He bought it and felt this was a sign from heaven since he had just finished the segula of 18 Rotel and it was the 18th of Iyar. The pilgrimage to Rashbi fortified my husband and me as we faced the last treatment. We were told how to write to the Rebbe, made a good hachlata, and before heading for the hospital we wrote a letter to the Rebbe and asked for his bracha. We opened to page 377 where it

18 2 Kislev 5773

said: It is surprising that she keeps repeating her request each time when I wrote her that she should be confident in the Healer of all flesh who does wonders. As the verse says, He does everything properly in the right time noting two things, in the right time and that it is done properly. May the medical treatment be in the right time and successful and may she relate good news in a good state of mind in both personal and general matters. We pinched ourselves to make sure this was real. The Rebbe had written explicitly that the treatment would be in the right time and that we would have good news. We were very excited. I went to the hospital with the feeling that this time, it would be all right. I did one of the medical treatments close to home, at Elisha Hospital in Haifa, under the supervision of Dr. Levitt, an expert in the field. Ill never forget my first meeting with him. He asked how many years we

were married without children and how many treatments we had tried. I told him that we wanted to try for the umpteenth time and he was taken aback. You havent given up?! I was prepared. In addition to the mountain of medical documents, I had the Rebbes clear and encouraging answer. Dr. Erlich carried out the actual treatment. He was the good shliach through whom the miracle happened. It was in the month of Elul, the month of tshuva. I got the phone call from the hospital a day after Rosh HaShana. Ill never forget that conversation with the secretary. Mrs. Yaffa Butbul. Your blood test shows that you are pregnant. I began to cry. It took a long time for the news to register. The days that followed were full of anxiety and consultations. In the months that followed, I spoke a lot to Dr. Shussheim of the Efrat organization. He advised me about which tests I should do and which werent necessary. The Rebbes answer accompanied me throughout the

nine months and it was clear to me that come what may, I would have good news to tell the Rebbe. I felt even stronger about this when the doctor told me the estimated due date. I checked the calendar and saw it was 18 Iyar, Lag BOmer! I was flabbergasted. What began with Rashbis hilula would end on that date. We considered this yet another sign among a series of signs. I went to the hospital on 9 Iyar 5763 and due to early developments and not wanting to take any chances, I agreed to a C-section and my son was born that day, but the bris was Erev Lag BOmer. Ill never forget how many doctors came to my room to view the miracle. News about the birth of my son spread quickly and the entire Kiryat Shmoneh rejoiced. My husband and I cried and laughed, overwhelmed with joy. Hundreds of people attended the bris. Nobody needed an invitation; they all came spontaneously to wish us a heartfelt mazal tov. As my husband promised, we named the baby for the Tanna and added the name Noam.

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storY

THE REBBE WROTE: MAZAL TOV ON THE BIRTH OF A DAUGHTER

I asked for a bracha for another child one year later. One was not enough now that we knew that there was someone we could turn to, a leader whose brachos were fulfilled. We made a good hachlata, put coins in the pushka, and put our letter into the volume of Igros Kodesh. We opened to a letter on page 238 which ended with: With blessings for good news and blessings of mazal tov on the birth of a daughter I just heard the news about this; may you raise her and all your children to Torah, chuppa and good deeds. We read the letter and although we were used to clear answers from the Rebbe, we just couldnt get over this one. Not only did the Rebbe wish Mazal Tov and good news but he had

informed us that it would be a girl. I went back to Elisha hospital and hoped that my doctor would be Dr. Yochanan Erlich who had treated me the last time. Before I had finished praying that it would be him, he walked into the room and asked how I was. I told him about my son and he was happy to hear about it. I returned home with high hopes and within weeks received the news that I was pregnant. Throughout the nine months I did various tests. I knew though, that the Rebbe did not make mistakes and that he had written about a daughter and that it would be a girl. I was taken aback when the doctor told me the estimated due date was Rosh Chodesh Adar, the date on the Rebbes letter. I cant say I was surprised when I was told I had given birth to a girl. We named her Yael

and she brings us so much joy. When she became old enough, we looked for a good school for her. One day, we heard about the Chabad school in Tzfas. The traveling back and forth from Kiryat Shmoneh isnt easy, but its worth it. The school does a great job and Yael is happy to go to school. Yael told me that she will only marry a Chabadnik and that shell wear a wig and not another head covering. I was so moved when I read what she had written on the first page of her Siddur: Ribbono Shel Olam, I request of you that Moshiach come now and I will overcome the Yetzer Hara. When a first grader nowadays writes like that, that tells me that Chabad knows how to educate. I am very grateful to the devoted teachers and administration that have incredible Ahavas Yisroel.

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20 2 Kislev 5773

viewPoint

BEYOND THE STARS

By Rabbi Yisroel Harpaz

eople like reading their horoscopes, getting feedback from psychics, astrologers and other spiritualists, and looking for clues to their nature and destiny in Torah codes, tea leaves and tarot cards. Some of these modalities are legit and kosher. Some are pagan and idolatrous. All of them are dangerous. The same can be said for life coaches, therapists, rabbis, consultants, and advisors of all kinds. When taken the wrong way, when I become dependent upon them for my self-definition and evaluation of who I am, then I risk becoming imprisoned. It may be a comfortable prison, even a luxurious one, but it is a prison nonetheless, one which stifles my potential and my ability to recognize and achieve my real purpose. Anything in life can become a prison people, work, money, religion, fast cars, expensive clothes, fancy gadgets if I allow it to. Instead of seeing everything in the context of the big picture of life, and utilizing everything to serve that purpose, things take on an importance in and of themselves. In the absence of a higher power to give the fragmented elements and events of my life a sense of perspective, order and continuity, each item jumps out at me as the be all and end all of my life, and tries

to take over. When things are divorced from the big picture, from the ultimate reality that they and I are supposed to serve, then I become enslaved to them, even worship them. The result is chaos, if not in my life trajectory then in my mind. We are all guilty of worshipping these idols sometimes. The good news is that Abrahams experience shows us the way out. Abraham was a gifted spiritualist, an expert in Astrology. When G-d told him that he and Sarah would have a child that would inherit and continue their legacy, Abraham was skeptical. He consulted the Astrological charts and it was clearly not in the cards. So, the Torah relates, G-d took Abraham outside and showed him the stars, and told him that his descendants would be numerous like the stars. But what was the point of taking him outside? He could have mentioned the stars without taking him outside, and if G-d needed him to see the stars Abraham could have taken himself outside. The Sages conclude that the Torah must be teaching us something else: That G-d took Abraham outside of the universe and showed him the stars from the outside looking in. From that perspective, the stars, and the Astrological forces and horoscopes that come with them, are merely tools serving a

From the perspective of the Master Conductor, anything is possible.

higher purpose, instruments in the orchestration of a supernal will. From the perspective of the Master Conductor, anything is possible. I was blessed to be raised by a mother (of blessed memory) who taught me that anything is possible that there is no such thing as not smart enough, not connected enough, not tough enough. She always told me I can go anywhere and do anything, and she promised (or perhaps threatened) that she would go there with me. I am equally blessed with a father, a man of logic and science, who quietly raises his eyebrow and smiles skeptically at such talk. The combined lesson is that while I can go anywhere, I have to be logical and figure out the details and steps of the journey that will get me there, within the natural order of things. But, as I learn from Abraham, if that nature gets in the way, with the right energy and momentum, I can override it, leap past it, and channel a power from beyond the stars.
Reprinted with permission from Exodus Magazine

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Profile

A TAMIM FROM A PREVIOUS GENERATION

When he lived in Kutais, his home was wide open and all the bachurim knew that his home was a refuge. Although by nature he was extra cautious, he did not hesitate to put himself and his family in danger in order to help out the Tmimim. * After leaving the Soviet Union and settling in France, he would make trips to Switzerland where he sowed ruchnius and reaped gashmius for the yeshiva in Brunoy. * The life of R Alexander Sender Menkin ah.
By Avrohom Rainitz

HIS YOUTH IN LUBAVITCH

R Alexander Sender Menkin was born in Poltava on 6 Menachem Av 5660/1900. His parents were Chaim Eliyahu and Chaya Leah Menkin. Rabbi Yaakov Mordechai Bespalov, the rav of Poltava and one of the distinguished Chabad rabbanim of the previous generation, was his sandak. In his youth, he learned in Yeshivas Tomchei Tmimim in Lubavitch, during the period when the Rebbe Rashab still lived

in Lubavitch. The chazan in the Rebbe Rashabs court, R Yechiel Heilprin, known as R Yechiel der Chazan, took note of his musical abilities and included him in his choir. From R Yechiel he learned the nuances of the nusach hatfilla and was very particular about them all his life. He married Aida Lipsker, the daughter of R Chaim Tzvi Lipsker who was a rav in Poltava. The families made another shidduch when his brotherin-law R Aryeh Leib Lipsker married his sister, Malka.

R Sender lived in Poltava where he had a store for iron products. In those days, he was very strong and was able to easily bend iron bars with his hands. He later recounted that he once traveled to the gravesite of the Alter Rebbe in Haditch. When he entered the beis midrash near the Ohel, the Shamash asked him whether he wasnt afraid to go down the steps to the Ohel alone. Since he was a young, very strong man, he did not understand what there was to be afraid of and he said he could go down alone.

22 2 Kislev 5773

Yet, he merely opened the door to the steps and he was suddenly struck by such a great fear that his knees knocked together. He went down to the Ohel with great difficulty. When he returned, the Shamash said to him: Now you understand.

THE HOME OF THE TMIMIM IN KUTAIS

During Stalins terrible purges, when hundreds of Chabad Chassidim were arrested and killed, or sent to Siberia, many Lubavitchers left for Central Asia, including Kutais in Georgia. In Georgia of those days it was far better, not only materially but spiritually too. The government persecuted, exiled and tortured rabbanim, shochtim, melamdim etc., but the persecution in Georgia was not as bad. Georgia in general and Kutais in particular served as a refuge for Yeshivas Tomchei Tmimim Lubavitch during the worst years of NKVD persecution. The arrests of roshei yeshivos and talmidim, and the wandering of the only yeshiva in that vast empire, reached their peak in the middle and end of the 1930s. That is when Kutais became the host for Torah in all of Russia. A Lubavitcher boy came secretly from Charkov to Kutais; two Lubavitcher boys sneaked in from Odessa; some Lubavitchers made it from Moscow; others from Leningrad. And there were the talmidim that R Michoel Teitelbaum smuggled from the Soviet orphanage (after NKVD agents in Berditchev caught them learning and arrested them). The Jews of Georgia and especially their chachomim (the title they used for rabbanim) were a big help to the Lubavitcher

R Sender (center) with his oldest grandson, R Shneur Zalman Wilschansky. On the right is R Tzvi Yosef Kotlarsky

yeshiva in Kutais, but the family of R Alexander Sender Menkin stood out. He had moved from Poltava to Kutais and his home was the home of the Tmimim. R Senders son-in-law, R Yehoshua Dubrawski ah, the great Chassidic writer, described small moments that exemplify the conduct of the Menkin family in general, and their relationship with the Lubavitcher yeshiva in particular: There was a family by the name of Menkin. It consisted of five people: the father, R Sender; the mother, their son, and two

daughters. R Sender was a partner with his brother-in-law in tzech (a certain business in which you could earn either a meager livelihood with difficulty or 5-10 years in jail with ease). The parents worked all day in tzech and the girls did housework. Their son learned in yeshiva. Their lives revolved the yeshiva and around the bachurim. Each of them, in his and her way, gave it their heart, chayus, and delight. The yeshiva bachurim considered the Menkin home their second home, and sometimes even their first home.

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There were those who were regular guests there someone who had returned from the front with no strength, a Polish citizen with no roof over his head, and the like. But the house was mainly for the talmidim of the yeshiva. A bachur showing up for lunch or supper in the Menkin home was the norm. To the girls it was not surprising to find, in the morning, bachurim sleeping under the table. The Menkin home consisted of a small bedroom, a dining/ food or even their bread since a yeshiva bachur was worth more. Sometimes, they gave soup or other food to a refugee or a guest and this was a regular event. When their daughter told me of this afterward, she said it simply, without any indication that what they did was out of the ordinary. As for their concern for bread for the bachurim, she told this to me as though she was experiencing it then and there: She remembers how hard it was to wake up from a deep sleep at five in the morning, to leave the house and the warm bed so early, and to run in the cold and dark in order to get a place on line for the bread distribution. This was in order to bring some bread back for the bachurim. She never asked herself why the bachurim couldnt get up themselves and stand on line to get their own bread. (From the writings of R Heishke Dubrawski)

Years later we found out that the girls would deprive themselves of bread and send it to us, so that we bachurim would have plenty to eat and could learn without disturbance.
to the devotion of the Menkin family. There was another instance (among many more) when a yeshiva bachur became so sick that his life hung by a hair. It was only natural that the Menkin home became his hospital. Due to the boys grave condition, his father in Leningrad was informed and he quickly came to Kutais. As he walked down the street in Kutais, he heard a wailing from a house (where the Georgian Jews prepared the dead for burial) and he wondered: Was he too late? As for the Menkin girls, they knew what needed to be done for the bachurim who learned Torah and Chassidus. They did everything for Torah, for Chassidus, and especially for the talmidim of Tomchei Tmimim who learned Torah and Chassidus. That is how they were raised. Furthermore, often, not only the parents but also the young girls readily forwent their cooked

sitting room (not big either), and a kitchen with a gas burner. The bachurim and guests would sleep in any free space, even between the table legs. That was a typical sight. The situation changed when a bachur fell sick. The only daughter who remained alive of the Menkin family, Mrs. Dubrawski, remembers: One of the older bachurim became very sick. He had a high fever and we feared that he was sick with something dangerous and contagious. The Menkins could not leave the sick boy with the yeshiva bachurim. Nor did they want to take him to the hospital, since the danger was far greater there (in those days in the Soviet Union). The Menkins did what any parents of a sick person would do (if not more). They put the sick boy in their bedroom for a week. With Hashems kindness the boy recovered, at least in part, thanks

A FAMILY OF CHESED
The family made a deep impression on all the bachurim who came to their house. R Yechezkel Brod, in his memoir, described the Menkins as an extraordinary family, noble and deeply Chassidic: R Sender was a dear Jew with a heart of gold, and the whole family was the same way. His wife was a good neshama whose thoughts were all about helping people. If there was a wedding in Kutais, she was no longer at home two days before the event. Back then, unlike nowadays when we have caterers, they prepared the food themselves. She would always go and help out with the wedding preparations. She would spend entire days in homes where

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wedding preparations were taking place and even sleep over there. Her devotion and good heart were boundless. The two girls, Zlata and Asya, were righteous women. It was the eve of the war and food was expensive. Years later we found out that the girls would deprive themselves of bread and send it to us, so that we bachurim would have plenty to eat and could learn without disturbance.

DAILY MESIRUS NEFESH

R Refael Wilschansky, who later became R Senders son-inlaw, also stayed at the Menkin house when he was a bachur in Kutais. He arrived for the first time in Kutais together with his friend, R Heschel Tzeitlin, and all they had was the Menkins address. It was very late at night and the family was already asleep. They knocked gently at the door and one of the bachurim who was sleeping there, R Leibel Mochkin, opened the door. R Leibel reassured them that R Sender would definitely be happy to host them, and they could sleep in the house without hesitation. He prepared an improvised bed for them out of a few chairs and they slept. In those days, you had to stand on line for hours in order to get your daily bread. There was terrible crowding on the bread line and the strongest would win out. The Menkin girls stood on line every day with food coupons that the government distributed, as well as forged coupons that they had obtained on the black market. R Sender would evenly divide the bit of bread that they got with much effort among the bachurim and the family members. He never gave his family more food than the bachurim.
R Sender with his three Wilschansky grandsons

Yet, this did not stop him from hosting bachurim in his house, even though, in those days, this entailed actual danger to life since many of the bachurim were draft dodgers. Someone caught harboring a draft dodger could be sent to Siberia for many years.
the last of the items she had brought from Poltava. In those days, these pillows were worth a lot. People considered them life insurance for they could be sold during an emergency and enable one to live a while longer. She took the pillows to the black market. As she stood in the black market, some religious Jews walked by who were not Lubavitchers. They knew the Menkin family. When they saw her standing there with the pillows, they were sure the Menkins were in deep trouble; otherwise, why would she be willing to sell something so valuable? They approached her and asked her what terrible thing had happened for which she was selling the pillows. When she
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Day after day, hour after hour, the family devoted themselves to the bachurim. Mesirus nefesh was so much a part of them that they did not see anything special in what they did; they viewed it as a moral obligation, plain and simple. The following story illustrates this: During World War II, Mrs. Menkin found out that Heschel Tzeitlin had been arrested by the military authorities and was going to be sent to the front. Being sent to the front was an almost certain death sentence, and the only way to save his life was with a big bribe. She checked to see what valuable items still remained in her possession that she could sell on the black market so she would have a large enough sum with which to bribe the officials. She noticed a pair of feather pillows,

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LEIB HENOCH MENKIN AH

R Sender had a son named Leib Henoch, who died of malaria in Samarkand. In R Dubrawskis reminiscences, after describing the devotion of the Menkin family to the Tmimim, including those with contagious diseases, he highlights the devotion of Leib Henoch to one such patient: More than the rest of the family, their only son devoted himself to this student with all his heart and soul. He sat next to the distinguished bachur day and night, hoping to see a change for the better in his condition. He paid no heed to the warnings of the doctor that this illness is contagious. He was so concerned for this bachur and took to heart every turn for the worse, to the point that I once heard the following speculation: There is a speculation that the Menkins only son gave years of his life to the sick bachur who got better. The Menkin boy died a few years later in Samarkand, when he learned in Yeshivas Tomchei Tmimim. He was in the prime of his life. He died suddenly and unexpectedly. Physically, he was absolutely healthy and suddenly came down with a fever, and it was felt that he was taken by Heaven. This hypothesis is almost certainly nothing more than fantasy, but an interesting fantasy with a solid foundation. The Menkin boy was very special. He definitely could have done something like that. He also wrote about him: You can imagine that the small Menkin house was far from spacious and nice, but this brother did not even want to take pleasure in a house like this. If you want to get even a little close to Chassidus, you need to forgo something; to want less, he would say. He did not take a bed for himself at home and mingled with the bachurim. If it happened that they bought a kurtka (a short garment that warms the body during the winter), he found a thousand reasons not to wear it. Nearly all the bachurim, aside from him, used it. When war refugees arrived in Kutais, weak and in torn clothes, he did not rest for a minute. He would not take care of them during learning time, and so every minute between sdarim and after sdarim, by day and by night, he went from house to house (where many Georgian Jews lived) to collect food and clothing for them. It was a special delight to look at his glowing face

when the refugees received what he brought for them. He continued in his diligence, not ceasing to work, until he fell into the net of the police who accused him of dealing on the black market and arrested him. It took great effort to extricate him from their clutches and he continued his work as before. R Yechezkel Brod also wrote about Leib Henoch in open amazement: He was a Chassidishe bachur whom I cannot forget. His davening was incredibly sweet. Before davening, he would contemplate Chassidus for a few hours. A regular weekday davening took him at least three to four hours. He also learned very diligently, both Nigleh and Chassidus. I remember once sneaking into his room and seeing how he recited the bedtime Shma. It made a tremendous impression on me. The main thing about him was the inward manner in which he took in everything. He hardly ever went out into the street. We had a system by which, every so often, one of the bachurim would go out to bring the food that had been prepared for us. Leib Henoch would try to avoid doing this. When it was his turn, he would ask one of the bachurim to do it in his place and in exchange, he was willing to copy some Chassidic discourses for him or the like. He would do any other service willingly, but he refrained from going out so as not to leave the atmosphere of the yeshiva. Leib Henoch was a special bachur and apparently Satan wasnt able to make peace with the fact that such a bachur existed. Everything seemed perfect. We had the best conditions under which to immerse ourselves in the pure atmosphere of Torah and Chassidus. We had a superb mashpia who was especially devoted to us. But for some reason, he got it into his head that he had to go to Samarkand where the mashpia R Nissan Nemenov was. In the holy Zohar it says a persons feet are his guarantors, i.e. they lead him to where he has to go. He just got up one day and went to Samarkand. Over there, in the summer, he became sick with malaria and died. R Yechezkel Brod concludes with these emotional words, A bachur like Leib Henoch was someone that I would like my children, my grandchildren and the youngsters of today to picture before their eyes. I want them to know that there were Jews, and surely there are Jews like that today, who knew what a bedtime Shma was and what davening at length was.

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told them that she was selling the pillows in order to get enough money with which to bribe the military officials so they would release a yeshiva bachur, they could not believe it. They tried dissuading her by saying: You have a family and it is very possible that the day will come when you will need to sell these pillows to keep your family alive. When they saw that their words made no impression on her, they began shouting: How dare she abandon her childrens needs for the sake of someone else? Whenever Mrs. Menkin related this, she would shudder and say: How could merciful Jews, the children of merciful Jews, talk that way? How can one speak this way? That is the only way I could try and save him! To those Jews, what she did was an act of self-sacrifice, but to her, it was so simple that she did not understand how they could think otherwise. R Senders boldness was acquired through inner toil, since by nature he was a very nervous person as the following story illustrates: Many years after he left Russia, when he lived in Paris, R Sender was a shadar to raise money for Yeshivas Tomchei Tmimim in Brunoy. He would send many packages containing tfillin, mezuzos and sfarim, to people with whom he was in touch in Europe. He would go to a branch of the post office at the other end of the city and send the packages from there. His grandson once asked him why he didnt go to the post office right next to his house. R Sender was surprised by the question and he asked: Didnt you notice where that branch is located?

The grandson, having no idea what his grandfather meant by the question, said, Next to the municipal offices. His grandfather said, Thats not what I meant. On the other side of the street is a police station. If they see me going regularly to the post office with packages, they will begin to suspect me and if they question me, they will immediately see that I speak Russian and dont understand a word of Polish. Since I came to France under the pretext of being a Polish citizen (like many Lubavitchers who escaped Russia that way in 19467), they can arrest me! When he saw a newsstand where they sold the Russian newspaper Pravda, he would immediately cross to the other side of the street. He would say that if he passed by and glanced at the Russian paper, they could see that he wasnt just glancing but was able to understand Russian, and from where would a Pole know Russian? He was so nervous even though 25 years had passed since he had left Russia! Yet, this did not stop him from hosting bachurim in his house, even though, in those days, this entailed actual danger to life since many of the bachurim were draft dodgers. Someone caught harboring a draft dodger could be sent to Siberia for many years.

R Sender playing the violin with greatgrandchild, Levi Yitzchok Wilschansky

SOWING RUCHNIUS IN EUROPE

The Menkin family left Russia as mentioned, and after a period of time in a transit camp in Poking, Germany, they obtained visas for France. With the help of his friend, the sofer (scribe) R Yeshaya Matlin, he and his friend R Shimshon Charitonov got jobs

with the Joint, checking Sifrei Torah that had been rescued from the Holocaust. This was to enable kosher Sifrei Torah to be provided to Jewish communities in Europe. Once the yeshiva in Brunoy, near Paris, was founded, R Sender began working as a fundraiser for the yeshiva. He would travel around to Jewish communities in Switzerland to raise money. He was already very weak at this point, after having been sick in Poking and requiring an operation to remove part of his intestines. His hard life, with his son Henoch dying in his youth (see box), and then his daughter Zlata dying when she was 26, leaving behind three children, had broken him. Yet, he still traveled in order to help the yeshiva in Brunoy. He would refer to himself on these trips as being na vnad, which literally
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means wandering, but he meant, the acronym nisht essen un nisht davenen (no eating and no davening). In accordance with the Rebbes instructions that a shadar must sow ruchnius and reap gashmius, he would urge the Jews he met throughout Switzerland to keep Torah and mitzvos. Wherever he went, he would remind them to check tfillin and mezuzos. Since he had experience checking Sifrei Torah, he would examine mezuzos and tfillin, and when new ones were needed, he would take care of it when he returned to Paris. He also spoke about the importance of learning Chassidus and he sent are preaching, and not you who are saying musar, but you are conveying words of truth that are taken from the Torah of Truth; especially as a Chassid who is in touch with our Nasi, the Rebbe, my father-in-law, you are just to fulfill your shlichus, and then the power of the one who sent you, the Rebbe, my father-in-law, is with you. He [the Rebbe] has broad enough shoulders to direct the shlichus in every location and every time through every person, as long as the shliach is connected with the meshaleiach. In another letter that the Rebbe sent him, on 12 Sivan 5717/1957, the Rebbe wrote: gladness of heart, influencing all those in your environment so that they too do the same. The Giver of the Torah and mitzvos is dependable to fulfill His promise that anyone who increases will have added for him in what he needs, materially and spiritually. Good health is obviously included in this. We are coming from the days of Kabbalas HaTorah. Chazal say that at Kabbalas HaTorah, all the Jews were healthy and whole, physically too. It seems to me that when we spoke I mentioned to you that surely during your travels you find sfarim in shuls and private homes that are and not being used, and that it would be worthwhile to send them here if they are rarities or the like and to replace them for the community with Siddurim, Chumashim, Kitzur Shulchan Aruch and the like. It is surprising that you do not mention this, although I hope you have not forgotten.

Although, in those years, most of the plots near the Ohel were already taken, and only special individuals merited this, R Sender was one of those few who was buried near the Ohel
the Sifrei Chassidus that were available at the time. In a letter that the Rebbe sent him on 22 Elul 5712/1952, the Rebbe wrote: I was pleased to receive your letter ... in which you write that you are continuing in your work to collect gashmius for the yeshiva. Consequently, the gashmius becomes ruchnius and sowing ruchnius, and that you make efforts, when you are home, to have an influence on your surroundings. You end your letter by saying that you often feel down and say to yourself, who are you to preach musar. In general, Chazal say that if not for Hashem helping, a person would not be able to withstand the Evil Inclination, and therefore, it is not you who Surely it is superfluous to urge you about the needed increase in spreading the publications and all the more so, putting on tfillin and putting up mezuzos which you write about. And this has to go beyond [the normal rule of] maalin bakodesh [increasing in matters of holiness], since you actually see the saving of Jewish souls to life in the World to Come when you inspire them with words and connect the inspiration to action in mitzvos like tfillin etc. It is like what is explained in Likkutei Torah that an arousal from Above has to be connected to an arousal from below and through action... May you do all this with the requisite energy and in measures that continue to grow, with simcha and

FRAGRANCE OF THE PREVIOUS GENERATION

R Sender was an incredible Yerei Shamayim and a genuinely learned man, who loved sitting and learning Torah. He was suffused with Chassidishkait and had a special talent for repeating Chassidic aphorisms with wonderful accuracy and with a remarkable enthusiasm. Whenever he met a Jew on his travels, he would take the opportunity to say a brief Dvar Torah spiced with a Chassidic story or saying. He had a hadras panim (dignified appearance) and he brought lively energy wherever he went, with a fragrance of the previous generation. Rabbi Moshe Tzvi Neria, founder of the Bnei Akiva

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yeshivos, was R Senders cousin. He once told R Senders grandchildren that when he traveled in Switzerland and said that his name was R Neria, they did not always know him, but when he said he was R Senders cousin, they all knew that name. R Sender bequeathed his great love for sfarim to his family. When his oldest grandson celebrated his sixth birthday, he gave him a set of Yachin UBoaz Mishnayos, which at that time was a very expensive set of Mishnayos. It was given on condition that his grandson would learn Mishnayos by heart. A year later, R Sender gave him a set of Shulzinger Chumashim, and by the time he was bar mitzva, he already had a bookcase of sfarim from what he received from his grandfather. Thus, he taught his descendants to love Torah and love sfarim. R Sender especially cherished the Rebbes sichos and sfarim. The Likkutei Sichos had not been published yet and even booklets of sichos were very rare. When he managed to borrow a mimeographed copy of a sicha of the Rebbe from somebody, he was as happy as someone who won the lottery and he would ask his grandsons to copy (by hand) the sicha for him. When he sang a Chassidic Continued from page 17 but in a more profound way making Kiddush with the Rebbes kavana, and thus, his holiness.7
7 Towards the end of the farbrengen the Rebbe shlita spoke with great emotion and in tears, saying that in referring to the Rebbe Rayatz one mustnt use the phrase, Nishmaso bginzei mromim. What ginzei mromim? Ginzei

niggun, he lived the niggun. He said that one time he was at a wedding in Switzerland and wanted to sing the Dalet Bavos at the chuppa. After he finished singing the moving niggun, many people went over to him to thank him. One of them, a Yekke (German Jew) who found it difficult to express what he felt, said: Listen, R Sender, when you sang this niggun, I felt like someone being led to be slaughtered R Sender was taken aback by this remark and the man quickly explained what he meant: I didnt mean that negatively, but positively. I felt that my entire life that I had lived until now was finished and I was starting to live anew! R Sender played the violin. When his first granddaughter, the daughter of R Yehoshua Dubrawski, married R Shmuel Gurewitz (who is a shliach in Lyon, France), R Sender called the brother of the chassan, Yosef Yitzchok, and said to him: I attended weddings in the US and the music there is awful. They dont play Chassidishe niggunim and when they play, its with no taste and no flavor. I had an idea I will record some Chabad niggunim that I play on the violin and you will take the recording to America and have them play it at the wedding.

HIS FINAL YEARS

At the end of his life, R Sender lived in Crown Heights. He passed away at the age of 80 on Erev Shabbos, 26 Av 5740/1980. He was survived by the Wilschansky and Dubrawski families and merited to see his descendants going in the way of Chassidus as shluchim, roshei yeshivos, mashpiim, and rabbanim of Chabad communities around the world. Some Chassidim who lived in Crown Heights and had benefited from R Senders hospitality in Kutais R Yechezkel Brod, R Sholom Ber Pevsner, R Sholom Morosow, and others went to R Shmaryahu Gurary (Rashag) who, as a member of the chevra kadisha of Aguch, was responsible for burial plots, and asked him to designate a plot for R Sender that was near the Ohel. They told Rashag about R Senders mesirus nefesh for the talmidim in Kutais and Rashag was tremendously impressed. He said: I did not know that such a great Chassid walked about among us. Although, in those years, most of the plots near the Ohel were already taken, and only special individuals merited this, R Sender was one of those few who was buried near the Ohel.

mromim is an expression that pertains to illuminations and revelations. The Divine service of the Rebbe, however, was not done lekabel pras for the sake of receiving a reward, a term that is linked etymologically to prusa a slice/piece [of bread], which is something that connotes a mere illumination or revelation (Likkutei Torah Tazria 20b). Rather, the Rebbe is connected with the essence, which transcends illumina-

tions and revelations, insofar as the essence is (in the place where his general service was done) here below (as explained in the teachings of Chassidus). The Rebbe is also here below! (And the Rebbe concluded) My revered father-in-law, the Rebbe shlita. [See also pg. 83 of Toras Menachem] will take us to the true and complete redemption. (Mreshima pratis, bilti muga.)

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THEY SHOULD OVERCOME ALL THE OBSTACLES

the last letter that r Zalman received from the rebbe rayatz was akin to a last will and testament. * from the life of r Yehoshua shneur Zalman serebryanski ah.
Prepared for publication by Avrohom Rainitz

R Abba Pliskin devoted himself fully to the nascent yeshiva. He abandoned working in the garden, work he had done during the first weeks since his arrival in Shepparton, and learned with the three talmidim. The two refugees were G-d fearing and from a kosher home, but they had no Chassidic background and knew nothing about Chabad Chassidus. R Abba began giving them basic shiurim in Tanya and tried to slowly accustom them to the foundational ideas of Chabad. In those days, R Zalman Serebryanski was in touch with his Chassidic friends in Melbourne, mainly with R Shmuel Betzalel Altheus, who was enthusiastic about helping out with the yeshiva. He asked these friends to find additional talmidim to come learn at the yeshiva in Shepparton. R Zalman considered having additional students a double advantage, for they enlarged the yeshiva and fortified the existing talmidim. In his letter to the Rebbe Rayatz, R Zalman wrote that when there is no gathering

of students it is hard to hold onto these two. They thought that upon coming here, they would find a special building for the yeshiva and an expert teacher. When they didnt find this, they began doubting and questioning. Anash in Melbourne said that as long as the yeshiva was so far from Melbourne, it had no future. R Zalman spoke with R Feiglin and tried to convince him to build a special building for the yeshiva. He said that if the yeshiva had a special building, the news would spread and bring many talmidim. However, R Feiglin, who was still busy with his sick wife, was too busy and found it hard to throw himself into improving the yeshiva. He also thought it made no sense to build a building for three talmidim and surely the other donors would not allow their donations to be used for three talmidim alone. R Zalman spoke with R Shmuel Betzalel Altheus and asked him to explain the importance of the matter to R Feiglin. He also asked him to find another two or three wealthy

men in Melbourne who would be interested in helping the yeshiva so that the financial burden would not fall on R Feiglin alone. In response to the detailed report that he sent to the Rebbe Rayatz, R Zalman received a letter from the Rebbe dated 20 Kislev 5710: In response to your letter of 28 MarCheshvan past: I was pleased to be informed that Anash in Melbourne have approached with great seriousness the matter of founding a yeshiva and that, with Hashems help, the learning began in Shepparton. They should overcome all the obstacles and try to properly arrange all the material needs of the talmidim and to increase the number of talmidim. May Hashem bless the talmidim, the melamdim, the RaMim and the askanim and those who help, they and their households, and grant them success in everything they need. From one who seeks their welfare and blesses them with all good, materially and spiritually. Yosef Yitzchok This letter, the last letter that R Zalman received before the passing of the Rebbe Rayatz on

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10 Shevat 5710, was a sort of last will and testament about the long road which R Zalman would end up traveling under the guidance and brachos of the next leader, the Rebbe MHM.

THE SUN SET AND THE SUN ROSE

Anash in Australia were utterly broken by the bitter news of the passing of the Rebbe Rayatz, on Shabbos 10 Shevat. When they got over the initial shock, they corresponded with Anash in 770 who informed them that even before the sun set, the sun had risen. As the Chassidim back then put it, There is a Rebbe! R Zalman quickly wrote a letter of hiskashrus to the Rebbe and received a response dated 26 Adar 5710 in his handwriting: The Rebbe, my father-inlaw, wrote in one of his letters: Chassidus accomplished that wherever one is, one is not alone. If this was so when the tzaddik was alive on earth in a physical place, all the more so now that he is present more than during his lifetime even in this world of action. And all the more so with a tzaddik who is a Rebbe, a unifying intermediary between Havaya and you, Havaya that has no association with nature chv. And the intermediary is comprised of both aspects for which he serves as intermediary, and in relation to his Chassidim and mekusharim, who stand even now as before, since the hiskashrus of yechida must transcend time, in a direction of hiskashrus with greater power, because they say to their souls and bodies: it is impossible for us any other way. In that

case, there is no interruption at all chv. On the contrary, the spirit draws a spirit etc. in the spiritual and even the material and for all good things. This is because just as is it is up Above, so too down below with the Rebbe the nature (which is above reason) of the good is to do good. With wishes for a kosher and happy Pesach Rabbi Menachem Schneersohn The Rebbes response revived Anash in Australia. The feeling was that there is a leader of Chabad Chassidus, and Chassidim were not left like sheep without a shepherd. The strong hiskashrus of the Chassidim in Australia to the Rebbe and their great mesirus nefesh are what spurred them on to act in the good times and strengthened their spirits in the hard times.

NEW TALMIDIM
More bachurim came in the months of Kislev-Teves 5710, which are summer months in Australia. Leib New was a young Australian who had graduated high school. His father decided to send him to the yeshiva for a year or two before going to university. He learned with the younger Herzog. Then came Mendel and Leib Cohen, refugees from Hungary, who knew how to learn Chumash and a little Gemara. Twelve year old Shlomo Adler also came. He was Australian and did not know Yiddish, and he had a hard time at first with the shiurim that were studied in Yiddish. Three new students came after Pesach: Shmuel Horowitz, the son of R Nachum Zalman, who joined the second class;

Shimon Altheus, the son of R Shmuel Betzalel, who joined the third class. These latter two learned with R Abramson from Sydney until Pesach, and after hearing about a yeshiva that had opened in Shepparton, they switched there. At this time, a bachur by the name of Shmuel Gore, another boy from Australia, came to the yeshiva. His parents were not religiously observant but he had become interested in Judaism. At first, he went to the United States to learn in Telz, but after a short while he returned to Australia and went to the yeshiva in Shepparton. The dormitory and dining room for the bachurim were in the building designated for workers who had come to help in the field. R Feiglin reassigned it to the yeshiva. Mrs. Pessia Pliskin, R Abbas wife, ran the kitchen. R Feiglin had a mikva in his house. It was the only beautiful mikva in Australia and Lubavitcher women would come from Melbourne, a five hour trip by train, in order to use it. The location of the yeshiva in the country was reminiscent of the town of Lubavitch. The bachurim were cut off from the world. There were no telephones and the nearest city was five kilometers away. The talmidim were serious, not the kind who wanted to play around, and they learned diligently. R Abba was the mashpia. He was a Chassidishe, pnimiusdike person, and he instilled love and fear of Hashem in the way of Chabad. In the early years, he was also a maggid shiur. R Betzalel Wilschansky worked a few hours a week as a shochet in Shepparton and he used his free time for the yeshiva. Every morning, he would show

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up for the minyan for Shacharis and then spend hours davening. He was a role model of a Chassid who was an oved Hashem and he made a deep impression on the talmidim. R Betzalel was also a big scholar in Nigleh and he learned Yoreh Deia with one of the bachurim. The talmidim greatly enjoyed the supervision of the three Chassidim, R Zalman, R Abba, and R Betzalel. Throughout the week and especially on Shabbos, the three of them would daven at length with a quiet, deep Lubavitcher excitement. Their learning was also with a big chayus and the talmidim were greatly impacted by this. They felt that the learning in yeshiva was not just habitual, for everything was done with a particular enthusiasm. The effect of the atmosphere penetrated into the hearts of the talmidim, and a year later they were able to influence of Chabad in every way, was a chavrusa with Herzog who the new talmidim with a chayus. The day began with had learned in the Dushinsky Shacharis, which took place at yeshiva in Yerushalayim and 7:00. R Zalman wanted to start was influenced by sifrei musar. the day with Chassidus for an When he first started learning in hour and a half, as is the practice Shepparton, Chabad Chassidus in Lubavitch yeshivos, but the was completely foreign to him. first talmidim were not ready Aharon slowly began having to learn Chassidus and it took a Chassidic influence on him. time until he instilled the basics They learned Tanya and read the of Chassidus in them. R Feiglin Seifer HaZichronos together, and and his sons, as well as his son- after half a year, it was possible in-law, R Aharon Kaploun, also to see the change. Herzog davened at this minyan. Each began following certain Chabad morning, R Feiglin took pleasure practices and one could see in the zchus that he had to start a that he had certain Chassidishe Chabad yeshiva on hisExpress servicehergeshim (sensitivities). settlement. Express service Fully Computerized Fully Computerized a certain point, he even At The first learning partners in the yeshiva, Aharon Serebryanski wanted to travel to New York 331 Kingston Ave. Yeshivas Tomchei and Aharon Eliezer Herzog, and attend 331 Kingston Ave. (2nd(2nd Flr) Brooklyn NY 11213 Flr) Brooklyn asked personified the positive impact Tmimim there. The Rebbe NY 11213 of the yeshiva. Serebryanski, him to remain in Australia in who had been raised inGetyour tickets within order to strengthen the yeshiva. a Chabad minutes! Get your tickets within minutes! home and known nothing else, He acquiesced(718) 493-4444 Fax: (718) 493-4444 Fax: and remained in who was suffused with the spirit Australia.

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32 2 Kislev 5773

oP-eD

FOUR MORE YEARS!

S-O-S!
An analysis of the recent elections in the United States from the vantage point of American citizens in general, and Chabad chassidim in particular, who live in Eretz Yisroel.
By Michoel Leib Dobry

guess its just my nature. As someone who received degrees in political science and public administration and who worked on Capitol Hill in the early Mems (eighties) before I was won over by the Lubavitcher chassidim in Baltimore and College Park, Maryland, the workings of the American political system has always been a fixation of mine, especially come election time. Therefore, with the permission of the editors of Beis Moshiach, I thought Id give my own perspective on last weeks exercise in American democracy:

MORE OF THE SAME PILED HIGHER AND DEEPER

The longest and most expensive campaign in the history of politics has finally come to an end. And what do we have to show for it after all the complaints over the past two years of gridlock

and intransigence among our representatives in Washington, D.C.? A confirmation of the status quo same president, same Congress, and little room for compromise. While I was hoping and expecting a slightly different outcome, the results did not come as a complete surprise. Seven months ago, when Mitt Romney was in the process of sewing up the Republican presidential nomination, I said openly that primary voters had chosen the easiest candidate for President Obama to defeat. His moderate views on abortion and homosexuality did not endear him to the partys conservative wing. But more than that, the Obama campaign had a field day categorizing him as a wealthy businessman with a net worth of a quarter of a billion dollars someone who could not possibly relate to people who struggle

each day to make a living. Nevertheless, after his big win in the first domestic policy debate against Obama, Romneys electoral prospects increased substantially, to the point that victory seemed well within his reach. However, his failure in the foreign policy debate to take the president to task for what happened in Benghazi, Libya, when the U.S. ambassador and three others were murdered in cold blood, may have been a costly mistake. The liberal press was more than happy to leave the whole subject alone, ignoring the fact that the State Department had disregarded requests from the embassy for greater security measures. Then there was Hurricane Sandy. In all honesty, even I was surprised to see how much Obamas public handling of the crisis influenced undecided voters during the campaigns

34 2 Kislev 5773

final week. Effusive praise from the Republican governor of New Jersey, a big Romney supporter who delivered the keynote address at last summers Republican National Convention, made it all the easier for them to support Mr. Obama. In the nine so-called battleground states, the President won all but one of them and that was the whole ballgame. There will be much discussion in the weeks and months to come about how the Republican Party squandered a chance to recapture the presidency that was within their grasp because it appears to have lost touch with the nations young people, women, and minorities, and that may be true. However, in the final analysis, a majority of voters went to the polls last Tuesday and cast their ballots with their hearts, not their minds. A sizable cross-section of the American public preferred to

Only Jimmy Carter, a classic apologist for Arab terrorism known for his disparaging remarks against Israelis and using anti-Semitic stereotypes, has been worse. However, unlike Mr. Obama, his fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mr. Carter, thank G-d, was denied a second term in office.

hear their chief executive say how he understands their hardships, promising them the unrestrained continuation of all the benefits of socialized medicine. They didnt want someone like Romney confusing them with the facts that Americans have to be more self-reliant and independent. You cant tell these people that America is sixteen trillion dollars in debt and we just cant afford such things right now. They want to get as much as they can for as little as possible. And thats

exactly what the president of the United States was prepared to offer them in exchange for giving him a second term.

ORDER OF PRIORITIES FOR AMERICANS LIVING IN ERETZ YISROEL

But I digress. While my interest in U.S. political affairs has persisted, my perspective has changed considerably since I came to live in Eretz Yisroel twenty-six years ago. In fact, I

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oP-eD
have now lived here longer than I did in America, and as a result, I perceive things from an entirely different vantage point. We can see this clearly by how our fellow Jews cast their ballots. In the last three presidential elections, more than seventy percent of American-based Jews voted for the Democratic nominee, whereas Americans living in Eretz Yisroel voted by an even wider margin (85% this time) for the Republican candidate. If thats not a huge ideological gap, I dont know what is... majority of American citizens privileged to dwell in the Holy Land are concerned first and foremost with the preservation of the People and the Land of Israel. While its quite true that the economy was by far the most important issue in this campaign, and Mr. Obamas renewed mandate had far less to do with his record on foreign policy and social issues (or the lack thereof), we must address this matter as we move forward in our activities on behalf of Shleimus HaAm, Shleimus HaTorah, and Shleimus

DONT RELY ON UNCLE SAM NOW TO PROTECT OUR VITAL INTERESTS

Thus, we have a situation where we have a president in Washington with a renewed lease on the White House who wants Israel to withdraw to the borders prior to the Six Day War and a prime minister in Yerushalayim who is determined to find the way to give the Palestinians their own independent state. The results of last weeks presidential election have made it abundantly clear that Americans living in Eretz Yisroel should not expect much support from the Executive Branch of the United States Government in the immediate future on the issues of primary importance to them. Over the past four years, the president has shown where his sympathies lie in connection with the Middle East and the pursuit of stability in the region. He has visited virtually every Arab country while he callously avoided paying a call on Americas staunchest ally, choosing instead to give aid and comfort to his Moslem brethren. The condescending tones emanating from the Obama White House, not to mention a few diplomatic snubs, have made the icy relationship between the George H.W. Bush Administration and the government of Mr. Yitzchak Shamir seem tame in comparison. Only Jimmy Carter, a classic apologist for Arab terrorism known for his disparaging remarks against Israelis and using anti-Semitic stereotypes (voices from Jerusalem dominate our media, and most American citizens are unaware of circumstances in the occupied territories), has been worse. However, unlike Mr.

The vice president, Mr. Biden, has proven to be no more compassionate. While he had been quoted four years ago, during his abortive presidential campaign, stating that there was a rationale for granting clemency to Jonathan Pollard, he whistled a totally different tune last year: President Obama was considering clemency, but I told him, Over my dead body are we going to let him out before his time. If it were up to me, he would stay in jail for life. And so it goes.

To pursue this point further, living in Eretz Yisroel helps straighten out your priorities. Granted, Americas budget crisis is quite important and people have a right to know what a presidential candidate intends to do about it. However, Ive never been a fiscal conservative, and that alone wouldnt get Romney my vote. Besides, there are things far more important, starting with the quality of life and the moral values we want for our society. In this respect, I consider a candidates positions on social issues such as the sanctity of marriage and the right to life for the unborn to carry far greater weight than economic issues. But above all, the vast

HaAretz. Like it or not, Barack Obama is the president of the United States, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, he will remain in this post for another four years and two months by the will of the electorate. This is exacerbated by the fact that his Israeli counterpart, Mr. Netanyahu, will also be facing the electorate in another two months, and if all indications prove to be accurate, he will receive a third mandate from the voters, thereby keeping him in the prime ministers office for the duration of Obamas occupancy of the Oval Office.

36 2 Kislev 5773

Obama, his fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mr. Carter, thank G-d, was denied a second term in office. The vice president, Mr. Biden, has proven to be no more compassionate. While he had been quoted four years ago, during his abortive presidential campaign, stating that there was a rationale for granting clemency to Jonathan Pollard, he whistled a totally different tune last year: President Obama was considering clemency, but I told him, Over my dead body are we going to let him out before his time. If it were up to me, he would stay in jail for life. And so it goes.

NOW FOR THE REALLY IMPORTANT ELECTIONS

Most Americans living in Eretz Yisroel have deep pride of their native country and their status as citizens of the United States of America, and rightly so. We all hope and pray for the day when Israeli currency will proudly bear the words Yisroel Betach BaShem, the Hebrew equivalent of In G-d We Trust. However, we also have a responsibility here in Eretz Yisroel. To paraphrase the old saying, Now is the time for all good Jews to come to the aid of their homeland.

The recent election in the United States was most important, but nowhere nearly as important as the one about to take place in Eretz Yisroel. As Chabad chassidim with the right to vote in Israeli parliamentary elections, we will be responding to the call of the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, regarding the holy obligation and privilege of each and every chareidi and those who fear the word of G-d to participate personally in the elections and to influence others to vote for the most chareidi list, so that not one vote goes to waste. (Igros Kodesh, Vol. 4, Letter #1064, pg. 345) By Divine Providence, the election will not only take place on the day after President Obama stands on the steps of the United States Capitol to deliver his second inaugural address, it is also scheduled for Yud-Alef (Yechi Adoneinu), the 11th of Shvat, commemorating the first full day of the Rebbe MHMs leadership. This will be the day when the citizens of Eretz Yisroel will elect the leaders they wish to represent them during Mr. Obamas next term. It is vitally important that the next government of Israel be a strong one that can properly serve the cause of the Land of Israel for the People of Israel according to

the Torah of Israel. Naturally, the question of which party running for the Knesset best represents the most chareidi list [of candidates] is subject to legitimate debate. Some will choose an ultraOrthodox party such as Yahadut HaTorah (United Torah Judaism), while others will opt for a right-wing party such as Ichud HaLeumi (National Union). The best option would be for all religious and right-wing parties to join forces as a united bloc on one list, as the Rebbe requested on numerous occasions. This will maximize their electoral strength while maintaining their status as independent parliamentary factions, and ensure that not one vote goes to waste, if they should splinter off into separate lists. Above all, we must do our utmost as loyal Chassidim to fulfill the Rebbes wishes in the preservation of Eretz Yisroel according to the laws stated in Shulchan Aruch. With G-ds help, and in the merit of our efforts, we will hasten the day when, as the Rebbe said, I hope that very soon the prime minister there will be Moshiach Tzidkeinu.
YECHI ADONEINU MOREINU VRABBEINU MELECH HAMOSHIACH LOLAM VAED!!

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Parsha thouGht

IGNORE THE CYNICS

Rabbi Heschel Greenberg

REDUNDANCY
This weeks parsha begins with what appears to be a rather redundant fact. These are the generations of Isaac the son of Abraham. Abraham begot Isaac.

conceive and bear a child, what good was it for the mockers to claim that she conceived from Avimelech? The magnitude of the miracle of Isaacs birth would not be diminished one whit.

WHY THE REPETITION?

Rashi observes that there is a need for the Torah to repeat Abrahams relationship with Isaac to underscore that Abraham was indeed the father of Isaac and to counter the cynics (lit. the clowns of the generation), who claimed that Sarah had conceived from Avimelech. Avimelech, the Philistine monarch, like Pharaoh before him, took Sarah as his wife after he was told by Abraham that she was his sister. When he was informed by G-d in a dream that she was a married woman, he promptly returned her untouched to Abraham. So it was natural for Abrahams detractors to claim that he was not the real father of Isaac. Rashi continues: What did G-d do? He formed Isaacs face to be a spitting image of his father Abraham, so that everyone who saw the two of them easily recognized that Abraham begot Isaac. With the greater miracle of Isaacs birth being that Sarah, a ninety-year old woman, could

THE UNSOPHISTICATED SCOFFER

The simple answer is that this is precisely the nature of the cynics and the scoffers. They are not serious people and they are generally not rational or consistent. Their nature is to throw cold water on the enthusiasm exhibited by serious people, making some inane joke to dilute the enthusiasm of the believers and doers. In Biblical literature this cynical and mocking approach is identified with the Philistines. When Samson was captured, the Philistines mocked him and sneered at him.

PARALLEL WITH AMALEK

One is tempted to draw a parallel between the cynical approach of the Philistines and the evil approach of another nationthe Amalekites. They, too, are identified with an attempt to instill doubts in the minds of the believers. The very word Amalek is said to be the numerical equivalent of the Hebrew word

for doubt-safek. When a person is enthusiastic about something spiritual, Amalek tries to cool off the excitement by sowing doubts. Indeed, Amalek was the first nation to attack the Jews when they left Egypt. The Midrash compares this situation to a boiling tub of water that everyone is terrified to enter into. Someone then comes along, and, knowing that he will be scalded, takes the plunge and gets burnt, but succeeds in cooling off the waterboth literally and psychologicallyfor others to follow. A superficial analysis of Amalek and the Philistines would conclude that they share this trait of trying to desensitize people to the reality of G-d, His teachings and the unique role the Jewish people play in G-ds Master Plan for the universe. The cynics of Abrahams and Isaacs time tried to mock the role of Abraham as father of a child who would ultimately lead to the formation of a Jewish nation that would transmit G-ds message to the world. The Philistines sought to undermine that goal, and similarly, the Amalekites sought to destroy the nascent and fledgling Jewish nation on their path to Sinai to receive the Torah. Both the Philistine and the Amalek motto seem to be nip G-ds experiment in the bud!

38 2 Kislev 5773

TWO NATIONS; TWO APPROACHES

Upon deeper reflection it will become clear that there is a difference between these two evil nations and mindsets. Though both attitudes are designed to deter people from attaining lofty goals by either mocking them or sewing doubts, there seems to be a difference. G-d does not create anything redundant. G-d would not have created two distinct peoples who would be identical in their attempts to undermine our progress. To understand the difference between these two forces of evil it is important to examine the timing of their attacks. The first time we meet the Philistine challenge is soon after the first Jewish child is born. Again, when the Jews leave Egypt, the Torah relates that G-d did not take them through the Land of the Philistines. There was a concern that traveling through that area could infect the Jews with cynicism and cause them to give up on becoming a Jewish nation and convince them to return to slavery in Egypt. This explains the underlying logic of the words in Exodus: He took them through a circuitous route and did not take them through the land of the Philistines lest they will see war and they will return to Egypt. The war that would impel them to return to slavery was the war against Philistine mockery and scorn. Only later, after witnessing the incredible miracle of the splitting of the sea and the end of the Egyptian threat, did Amalek enter onto the scene and attacked them both physically and spiritually. This difference between these

two nations is echoed in the Shulchan Aruch, the authoritative Code of Jewish Law. In its opening paragraph it declares: Do not be embarrassed by the mockers. The message conveyed by this exhortation is that if you want to get off the ground and become or do something worthy, dont allow yourself to be deterred by the cynics. If we go to the end of the Code of Law that deals with our daily lives, it discusses the laws of Purim, the holiday in which we celebrate the victory over Amaleks most infamous descendantHaman. The very last words of that section are a quote from Proverbs: A good heart always celebrates. The message is that if Purim is the Holiday that marks the

whereas the latter never gives up. Even the most advanced person in the most advanced stages of his or her development needs to be aware of the insidious ways that Amalek tries to derail us. In other words, Philistines cynicism was not very sophisticated. They would never be taken seriously by any thinking person. Proof of that is the fact that they tried to minimize the excitement of the miracle of Isaacs birth by stating that Sarah conceived from Avimelech. But a thinking person would immediately realize the inane nature of that argument since it was Sarahs ability to have a child that was by far the greater miracle. Amalek, by contrast, is sophisticated and is always a step ahead of us.

G-d does not create anything redundant. G-d would not have created two distinct peoples who would be identical in their attempts to undermine our progress.

defeat of Amaleks doubts and desensitization campaign, it does not suffice to celebrate Purim one day a year. One must extend the war against Amalek every day of ones life. Indeed, while the cynicism and mockery of the Philistines cannot deter someone who is well on the road toward ones goals, Amalek never gives up. Amalek hounds us and when he is defeated, he merely changes his disguise and attacks us over and over. In summary, the salient difference between the cynicism of the Philistines and the assault of self-doubt of Amalek is that the former generally attacks us before we get off the ground,

WHAT WOULD AMALEK HAVE SAID?

If Amalek had been around in the days of Abraham, he would not have stated foolishly that Sarah conceived from Avimelech, but rather Why are you getting excited and making such a big deal out of G-d performing a miracle! It is almost demeaning to think of G-d as merely a miracle worker. If anything, Amalek self-righteously taunts us, we should be impressed with the miracle of nature rather than with nature-busting tricks. Meanwhile, Amalek succeeds in cooling off the ardor and excitement that is generated by the miracle. Amalek is quite

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Parsha thouGht

The message conveyed by this exhortation is that AT THE CROSSROADS We are now standing at if you want to get off the ground and become or the crossroads between the do something worthy, dont allow yourself to be deterred era of galus-exile and geulaRedemption. Our journey now by the cynics.
adept at even throwing a curve ball at the most sophisticated Torah scholar. holy chutzpah is the antidote to the cynical attempts of the modern day mockers to get us to not even try to grow. Conversely, Amalek who epitomizes the wrong type of chutzpahhe is not afraid of jumping into a scalding cauldron and will take on the most sophisticated among us is countered not with chutzpah, because Amalek is better at it than we are. The answer to Amalek is joy, joy that comes from a humble dedication to G-d regardless of the forces that try to demoralize us and depress us. Indeed, joy helps us destroy Amalek and destroying Amalek leads to joy, which explains why the month of Adar, in which we destroy Amalek, is the ultimate month of joy.

RESPONDING TO THE TWIN THREATS

How does one deal with these twin forces of evil? To get rid of the Philistine cynicism we must use the opposite trait of chutzpah. Dont care what others say. That G-d forms Isaacs face to resemble Abraham symbolizes the way that G-d altered nature as an act of defiance and holy chutzpah. In fact, the Code of Jewish Law states that one has to be careful not to allow the chutzpah needed to ward off the cynics to alter ones personality. But, nevertheless, some modicum of

has met with two sinister forces. For the unsophisticated and unlettered amongst us, the cynics come along and mock our sincere faith in the imminent coming of Moshiach. The Philistine cynicism and scorn has no substance and it can invadethe word Philistine actually means invadersthe minds and heart of those who are not able to respond logically to their taunts. To counter these efforts, we need a healthy dose of holy chutzpah. But for the Amalek challenge, which cloaks itself in much more sophisticated and intellectually sounding garb that attempts to sow doubts in our faith, we need to obliterate it with the humble joy that derives from the realization that Amaleks end is near.

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40 2 Kislev 5773

E s t h e r s P a r t y G r i l l

Yechi HaMelech HaMoshiach!

Scientific Thought in Messianic Times

By Prof. Shimon Silman

WHO SHOULD BUY THIS BOOK?

Every Shaliach for the intellectually oriented members of his community. Every educated Jew to understand the basic Torah & science issues Every Jew to get a clear, organized explanation of what we believe and what we know about Moshiach and the Messianic Era Every non-Jew to understand why Creation is correct and why evolution is not science. Is there anyone else?

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The Swords Into Plowshares theme is inspirationalGood discussion of the axiomatic method Overall I think Prof. Silman has done an excellent job.

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shleiMus haaretZ

YAAKOV HAD A DREAM!

Translation by Rabbi Binyomin Schlanger

o Yaakov had a dream! Does this mean that Eretz Yisroel belongs to the Jewish People? Someone once came here for a visit and asked me how I might substantiate my words to the extent they ought to be spoken in the UN, supporting the fact that Eretz Yisroel belongs to the Jewish people. G-d said to our patriarch Yaakov, And you should spread forth to the West, and to the East, to the North and to the South and To you will I give her [Israel] and to your children. This was told to Yaakov on his way to Haran, when he was tired and exhausted from the journey. As usual, when one sleeps, one dreams! Therefore, this fellow asked me: Just because Yaakov had a dream, does this mean that the Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish People? I answered him: It is well known that the power of prophecy is attained specifically during sleep. Maimonides explains [Laws of the Fundamentals of Torah Chap. 7.2] that all prophets spoke prophetic words either at night while sleeping or by day in a state of loss of consciousness. Only in such a condition were they able

to receive prophecy. For in order for the spirit of prophecy to rest on a prophet, he had to be in a state whereby the presence and power of his material shell was minimized. Thus it was with Yaakov: All of the patriarchs were a vehicle for G-dliness; their conscious awareness was immersed in the extra-universal energy which flows into and moves the cosmos [not subjected to the concealment imposed by the curtain of Earths matter]. Yaakovs life was a continuum of alertness to the flow of G-ds life force. Therefore, also during times of sleep when dreams occur, he was mindful of this spiritual vitality. The gentiles already understand that Eretz Yisroel belongs to the Jewish people. Now, all that remains is to convince Jews of this. Gentiles know that the connection which Arabs have to Israel began only when they came to Israel, just a few hundred years ago, no more. Additionally, even the Arabs who live around Israel, as for example Egypt, are not the Egyptians of time gone by. These are a different nation from a different root, with no connection to the ancient Egyptians. Substantially different however is the bond of

the Jewish people with the land of Israel, beginning with the Revelation at Sinai, and before, when G-d, the G-d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, gave the land to the Jewish People. Even gentiles know this, and that the dream which Jacob had was the factual truth, and that the entire world is an instrument to make this dream a reality! Despite all this, it is actually the Jew who argues that he does not believe this! He is bound to exclaim: What are you doing in the Land of Israel? Go to Chutz LaAretz! There, from your viewpoint, it will be better! How is the holiness of the land of Israel in any way of greater value than countries outside of Israel? Indeed, there are so many Israelis who have left Israel, most of whom did not have this faith in the Land.
[FROM THE FARBRENGEN OF PARSHAS TZAV, 1976] Dear Reader, Please take a few moments to copy, paste, and email this sicha to 10 friends, asking your friends in turn to email the same to 10 further friends, ad infinitum. Thereby you will be taking a strong and active part in the Rebbes battle to protect the lives of millions of Jewish people whose lives are so endangered. This is, as the Rambam writes, Milchemes Hashem, and we will see it through to the final Nitzachon! Please go to http:// beismoshiachmagazine.org/true-peace/ where you will find the current sicha.

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Check it out!! Educational and Fun!!
42 2 Kislev 5773