CONTENTS

4
FEATURED ARTICLES

WEEKLY COLUMNS

3 Dvar Malchus
27 Parsha Thought
34 Tzivos Hashem

THE TREASURY OF
ALEXANDER
BIN-NUN

OF DEVOTION
14 FLAMES
IN FROZEN SIBERIA
Molly Kupchik

14

CHASSID WHO
18 THE
BATTLED AND

EMERGED VICTORIOUS
Shneur Zalman Berger

RUSSIAN
22 THE
EDUCATION MINISTER
AND THE REBBES
PROPHECY
Nosson Avraham

OF SHLUCHIM
30 AIS CHILD
HIMSELF A SHLIACH

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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:
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HEBREW EDITOR:
Rabbi S.Y. Chazan
editorH@beismoshiach.org

ENGLISH EDITOR:
Boruch Merkur
editor@beismoshiach.org

2015-07-28 9:53:39 AM

DVAR MALCHUS

G-D ACQUIRED
FOR HIMSELF
A MASTER
Translated by Boruch Merkur

Since it is said of the Jewish people that they are My slaves, and
since One who acquires a slave has
acquired for himself a master, G-d
must fulfill the will of His master
(the Jewish people), and the will of
the Jewish people is to get out of exile!
Both the beginning and the end of
the Aseres HaDibros, the Ten Commandments, describe the unique
relationship of the Jewish people to
G-d, a relationship whereby G-d
Alm-ghty is, in effect, the servant of
the Jewish people.
The Aseres HaDibros begin with
I am G-d, your L-rd, Who has
taken you out of the Land of Egypt,
from the place of your servitude.
With this Divine act of saving the
Jewish people from slavery in Egypt,
the Jewish people became the slaves
of the Alm-ghty (the exodus was
sufficient to make them in servitude
to Me Rashis commentary on
Yisro 20:2), as it is written, for the
Jewish people are to Me as slaves;
they are My servants whom I have
taken out from the Land of Egypt.
But the Torah rules that One who
acquires a Jewish slave is as if he
has acquired for himself a master.
[Thus, G-ds taking us as His slaves
results in His acquired for Himself
a master, the Jewish people.]
And the Aseres HaDibros con-

clude with [the commandment not

to covet the property of others], all
that belongs to your friend. Now,
Rashi writes in Meseches Shabbos regarding you shall love your
friend as yourself that friend refers (also) to the Alm-ghty, as it is
written, Do not forsake your friend
and your fathers friend this refers to the Alm-ghty (Shmos Rabba
Ch. 27, beg.). We may, therefore,
assert that (all that belongs to)
your friend mentioned at the end
of the Aseres HaDibros, likewise refers to G-d. To that extent, every
single Jew is, in effect, the owner
or master of all that belongs to
your friend, referring (also) to G-d
Alm-ghty. As our Sages put it, the
righteous decree and all of Your
people are righteous and the Almghty fulfills [their decrees].
Since this is so, when the Jewish
people cry out with all their might
that they are fed up with exile
Daloi galus! G-d is compelled
(as it were) to redeem them, on both
accounts. 1) As discussed above,
since it is said of the Jewish people
that they are My slaves, and since
One who acquires aslavehas
acquired for himself a master, G-d
must fulfill the will of His master
([the Jewish people] they are My
slaves), and the will of the Jewish
people is to get out of exile. 2) Similarly with regard to the ownership of

the Jewish people over (all that belongs to) your friend this refers
to the Alm-ghty.
This is especially the case insofar as the Torah testifies that all
the predicted dates [for the coming
of Moshiach] have passed. Also, regarding repentance (the matter
[i.e., the onset of the redemption] is
only dependent upon repentance),
the Torah testifies that they have already repented repeatedly. The Jewish people have repented not just on
Yom Kippur a time of repentance
for all, etc., an auspicious time for
atonement and forgiveness but
also on a daily basis, three times a
day (in each of the three prayers
Arvis, Shacharis, and Mincha),
requesting in the Shmoneh Esrei,
Forgive us, and saying the blessing, Blessed are You, O G-d, the
Merciful One, Who readily forgives.
Indeed, the Torah promises that
through repentance, they are immediately redeemed, literally at once.
This concept is reflected by the fact
that we say the blessing, Blessed are
You, O G-d, Who redeems the Jewish people immediately following
the blessing, Who readily forgives.
Since this is blessing [which includes
G-ds name, it cannot be said in the
case of a doubt. Rather] it is something that willcertainly be fulfilled,
Continued on page 24
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FEATURE

THE TREASURY OF
ALEXANDER
BIN-NUN
Forty years ago, R
Alexander Bin-Nun
wrote fascinating notes
with deep Chassidic
explanations along with
stories of Chassidim
that were not well
known. * The Rebbe saw
these notes and told
him to publish them.
Unfortunately they
disappeared and were
only found recently and
given to Beis Moshiach
to publicize. * In the
following article there
are stories of Chassidim
and especially, his
memories of the Rebbes
father, R Levi Yitzchok
Schneersohn, whom R
Bin-Nun used to visit. *
Presented for Chof Av.

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R Alexander Bin-Nun (Bunin) was a member of

the household of R Levi Yitzchok, the Rebbes father.
After he moved to Eretz Yisroel, he settled in Raanana
where he opened a school for girls with his wife.
R Bin-Nun is mentioned a number of times in
the Rebbes Igros Kodesh, whether in connection
with the school in Raanana or in connection to his
job as supervisor of the Reshet Oholei Yosef Yitzchok
schools.
As per the Rebbes instruction, he wrote two books
and with the Rebbes consent he called them Toras
Hanefesh according to Chabad. He brings excerpts
from maamarim in Likkutei Torah and maamarim of
the Rebbe Rayatz which mostly deal with the avodas
hatfilla. He explains many deep concepts. Indeed,
tfilla played a central role in his life as his son notes
in the introduction to the second volume and as I saw
with my own eyes.
How did I get to know him? In 5740 I began
learning in Yeshivas Tomchei Tmimim in Kfar
Chabad. I still did not have Rabbeinu Tam tfillin
and when I would go visit my parents, who lived in
Raanana, I was unable to stay with them on weekdays
since Sunday morning I had to return to yeshiva
and borrow Rabbeinu Tam tfillin from one of the
bachurim (on Shabbos too it was very hard because
it was a Shmita year and I would bring fruits and
vegetables from the Kfar and my mother would cook
them separately for me).
My mother, who knew Mrs. Tzippora Bin-Nun,
suggested that I go to them and see whether they had
Rabbeinu Tam tfillin which would solve the problem.
So one day I knocked at their door and introduced
myself. They were very happy and invited me in to put
on Rabbeinu Tam tfillin.
R Bin-Nun was old and very weak by then. He told
me that he hardly ever left the house because of his
heart problems, but he invited me to visit every time I
was in Raanana, both to put on Rabbeinu Tam tfillin
and to visit and learn with him. I learned Tanya with
him a number of times with his unique method he
did not learn it in order but according to topics and he

INTRODUCTORY LETTER
BY RABBI BIN-NUN
BH
8 Kislev, The Luminous
Month, 5739
Raanana
To my brothers and fellow

would skip around.

He also asked me explicitly not to visit on Shabbos.
I asked why and he explained that he spent the
entire day davening. When I wondered how this was
possible he modestly told me that in his youth he had
committed not to sit while davening, for how could
one sit in the presence of the King? And since it was
hard for him to stand, he davened a little bit while
standing and then sat down to rest and repeated that
all day (the truth is that even on a weekday he also
davened at great length).

THE TREASURE TROVE

Thanks to the Rabbeinu Tam tfillin, I was able to
stay in Raanana on weekdays and I was in Raanana
for the summer and organized Shela (Shiurei Limud
HaDas) activities for children, which was then a
novelty.
Its important to mention that no Lubavitchers
lived in the entire area except for the Bin-Nun family
and they continued to live there because the Rebbe
told them to, even though, in every letter they wrote
to the Rebbe, they asked to be allowed to move to
Yerushalayim and live near their daughter.
On one of my visits, R Bin-Nun surprised me and
gave me a collection of papers with stories and his
memoirs. He included a letter to R Mendel Futerfas
and asked me to give it all to him.
Since I saw the treasure that I had, I decided to
first copy it all (I had no access to a copying machine)
and then to give it to R Mendel. Im embarrassed to
say that the whole thing disappeared. I was sure it was
among my papers and I looked but didnt find them.
Then this year I moved and of course I sorted and
arranged and threw things out and suddenly there it
was!
Now I ask forgiveness from these two great
Chassidim and am publicizing these things as R BinNun asked in his letter and as the Rebbe told him to
do.
Yaron Dotan

Tmimim, Chassidim, greetings,

1-For a number of years now,
talmidim from Tomchei Tmimim
yeshivos in Eretz Yisroel and
even ziknei Anash, teachers and
madrichim, have asked me to
write my memories of my youth
when I learned in Russia in the

Tomchei Tmimim in Nevel and

Charkov, and what I heard in
private by the gaon and mekubal,
man of G-d, Rabbi Levi Yitzchok,
the Rebbes father, when I was
in his city. And what I heard in
yechidus by the Rebbe in 5723
and 5729, and the wondrous

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Feature

The rav who asked the question left the Rebbes

room mumbling, A gaon, a gaon! Like a Tanna,
gaon and kadosh, and he fainted. For 100 years, his
grandfather and father had looked for an answer and
hadnt found one, and the Rebbe answered him on the
spot!
stories and explanations that
illuminate the eyes and soul from
the mouth of the Rebbe spoken
to those that turned to him in his
room.
2-In particular, my memories
of the Rebbes holy father. I was
like a ben-bayis (member of the
household) and served him and
Rebbetzin Chana in his home in
Yekaterinoslav in Ukraine, albeit
just a little, in 5687, from Rosh
Chodesh Adar until 18 Elul, the
summer when the Rebbe Rayatz
was arrested and released.
3-However, let it be known
that since fifty years and more
passed since then, and I was
only 16-17 years old at the
time, it is possible that I did not
understand well and proper and
with exactitude the ideas and
categorizations of the mekubal
and gaon, father of the Rebbe. I
may have erred both in content
and explanation.
Another possible pitfall that
concerns me when I accepted this
responsible and exclusive mission
to convey to the generations
what the great Chassidim said in
previous generations is that they
spoke their holy words in Yiddish
and I translated it into Lashon
Hakodesh. I may have left out or
added or wasnt accurate and did
not plumb the depth and content
of the matters and concepts,
perhaps even likely so.
Therefore, I am requesting
that if it is found in books or if
you heard it explicitly and clearly

otherwise or with some change

from what I write, I do not
maintain that you should accept
my version; rather, I assume the
mistake is mine and forgive me.
4-My notes contain two
chapters: one chapter contains
explanations and categorizations
that I remember clearly from
the one who said them, as well
as the place and year. The other
chapter contains explanations
and categorizations in concepts
and observations in the
teachings of Chabad which I
heard and learned. However, I do
not remember clearly who said
them and in which books these
things can be found. Of course,
I am grateful and thankful from
the depths of my heart to all the
wellsprings from which I drew
and drank of their clear and holy
waters, and may they be on the
receiving end of blessing.
5-May Hashem grant that I
properly convey the inner intent
and the truth of the Torah of
our holy Rebbeim and that, G-d
forbid, no mistake go forth in my
recorded writings to those who
read them, because my entire
goal is to spread the wellsprings
of Chabad to the next generation,
to those who were not there and
did not see the lions of the holy
fraternity.
Furthermore,
perhaps
Hashem will grant me the merit,
that by publicizing these few
memoirs of mine I will provide
nachas to the Rebbe, the tree of
life.

6-I thank Hashem for

granting me the privilege of
spending time under the roof and
in the proximity of the gaon and
mekubal and man of G-d, R Levi
Yitzchok, father of the Rebbe, in
the summer of 1927 in his city
and beis midrash when I studied
the holy work of shchita with my
uncle, R Yitzchok Goldschmidt.
Alexander Zushe Bunin (BinNun)
Student in Tomchei Tmimim
from 5683-5689, in Russia

ON THE SPOT, THE REBBE

ANSWERS A 100 YEAR OLD
QUESTION
I heard from the shochet,
R Gordon: A very old rav went
to the Rebbe with a question to
which he had not yet found an
answer. The strange question
without an answer was asked in
the days of his father and the days
of his grandfather, 100 years
earlier. It was asked of gdolei
hador like the Malbim, the Netziv
of Volozhin, the gadol of Minsk,
R Chaim Brisker, the Maggid
of Kelm, R Yisroel Salanter
and others. None of them had
an answer. He requested of the
Rebbe that before he died, he
should answer the question that
was passed along to him by his
grandfather and father. This was
the question:
There
is
an
enigmatic
Midrash on the verse, and
where is the sheep for the olah
(burnt offering), which says, As
it is written, A person worries
about ibud damav (lit. losing his
blood, though usually understood
to refer to losing his money) and
does not worry about ibud yamav
(losing his days). What is the
connection between the verse and
that aphorism?
The Rebbe answered him
on the spot: Yitzchok said, I

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am the bechor (firstborn) and

a korban bechor is kodshim
kalim (sacrifices of a lighter
holiness). Kodshim kalim can
be slaughtered anywhere in the
Azara and their blood requires
just one application as long as it
is done towards the foundation
of the altar. Since Yitzchok
was a firstborn, the sacrifice of
Yitzchok had to be according to
the laws of kodshim kalim.
On the other hand, the olah
burnt offering is one of the
kodshei kodshim which needs to
be slaughtered on the north side
(not just anywhere) and the blood
must be received in a special
vessel in the north, and the blood
requires two applications, etc.
If so, said Yitzchok, where is
the sheep for the olah? i.e., how
will you spill my blood and how
will you sacrifice me, as a korban
olah or as a korban bechor?
There is a big difference!
This is why the Midrash
says, at this awesome moment,
Yitzchok worried about his blood,
whether it would be poured on
the altar as a bechor or as an
olah, and was not concerned
about losing his days.
That was the Rebbes answer
and the Chassid Gordon said:
The rav who asked the question
left the Rebbes room mumbling,
A gaon, a gaon! Like a Tanna,
gaon and kadosh, rashkebhag,
and he fainted. For 100 years,
his grandfather and father had
looked for an answer and hadnt
found one, and the Rebbe
answered him then and there!

MESIRUS NEFESH IN
CHINUCH
When I had yechidus with
the Rebbe on 3 Cheshvan 5723,
I asked: What is mesirus nefesh
for chinuch? How can I know
whether I have it or whether I

The Rebbe at the entrance to his room in the early days of his nesius

need to operate with mesirus

nefesh for the education of
Jewish children?
The Rebbes answer was:
Mesirus nefesh means that after
you accomplished something,
you feel it was hard and entailed
unusual effort only in retrospect.
Not like the mistake the world
makes, thinking that when a
person feels that things are
hard and there are obstacles in
fulfilling one mitzva or another,
that this is an indication that he
is doing it with mesirus nefesh.
This is not so; rather, when it
goes easily and a person does
not see or feel difficulties, and he
does the mitzva, its a sign that

there was mesirus nefesh in that

action. Otherwise, how did he
achieve and succeed despite the
impediments?
But when its hard and he
struggles and sighs, that is
human nature and not mesirus
nefesh.

WHY DOES A CONVERT HAVE

TO IMMERSE IN A MIKVA?
A story which I heard
from the principal of one of
the departments in Yeshiva of
Flatbush in Brooklyn goes as
follows:
An old acquaintance went to

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Feature
him and told him about a family
tragedy. His nephew was about to
marry a gentile woman. She was
a highly educated and wealthy
woman from a distinguished
family.
They tried to convince
her to convert so as not to
bring a tragedy upon the old
grandmother and the entire
family. Although they were not
Orthodox, they still did not
believe in intermarriage.
The fight went on and on and
in the end, the woman agreed to
convert but only under certain
conditions, namely, that the act

At first she was reluctant.

Another rabbi, another Rebbe. I
am tired of these nerve-wracking
visits, she said petulantly. She
was unused to being in such
religious environments.
In their despair, they accepted
my advice and convinced the
woman that this would be the
last time they would suggest that
she meet with a holy man, rav,
or Rebbe. She agreed and after
much effort was made through
the secretaries, she had an
appointment with the Rebbe.
When she arrived for the
meeting, her look and manner

After a while, she emerged from the Rebbes

room like another woman. She glowed with
happiness and in a soft voice she said to the people there,
Here, in this small room, shines the sun of humanity and
Judaism.

of immersion be explained to her.

If it did not make sense to her,
she would refuse to convert and
would marry in a civil marriage.
Of course, they began
bringing her to rabbis and
scholarly people and even to
Admurim, so they could explain
tvilla to her, which conversion
requires. But everything they said
did not satisfy her demand for
logic. She insisted she still did
not understand the reason for it.
Mysticism did not convince
her, nor did hygiene, and
tradition did not obligate her.
And so, the tragedy was imminent
and the family members were
beside themselves.
The
principal
hesitantly
advised his friend to convince
the prospective convert to speak
to the Lubavitcher Rebbe who
would give her an answer that
would satisfy her.

were haughty and she was

completely embittered about
Judaism.
After a while, she emerged
from the Rebbes room like
another woman. She glowed with
happiness and in a soft voice she
said to the people there, Here,
in this small room, shines the sun
of humanity and Judaism.
When she returned home, she
surprised her fianc by saying:
The Rebbe not only convinced
me to convert with immersion,
but far more than that. I am
postponing the wedding because
I want to be a kosher Jew. I will
convert properly and you too,
my future husband, dont be a
Reform Jew without Torah and
mitzvos; become a baal tshuva!
Of course the entire family
was stunned and wanted to
know what the Rebbe had said
to her that changed her mind so

completely. This is what she said:

The Rebbe told me that as a
learned person, surely I know
that a conversion is a rebirth.
Conversion
is
not
merely
knowledge of Judaism and
performance of mitzvos but first
and foremost an act of birth,
meaning, just as a baby at birth
disconnects from its mothers
womb, so too the convert
disconnects from his or her
spiritual, cultural, and biological
past.
Since the conversion process
is like a birth, just as with a birth,
it is natural for blood and fluids
to appear when the amniotic fluid
the baby had been in pours out,
so too, when a person converts,
he needs to shed the blood of
circumcision and immerse. When
a woman converts, she enters
the water as a gentile and then
emerges from the mikva as a
baby who is born. Just as without
water a birth cannot occur, so
too, a conversion cannot happen
without immersion.
The Rebbe concluded: Go
and immerse because only
through immersion will you enter
the gateway of Judaism.
She was convinced by what
the Rebbe said and performed a
genuine conversion and till today,
their home is kosher and they are
connected to Chabad.
The principal concluded his
story: The Rebbe to me is like the
sun which illuminates reality. He
is an illuminating light, a golden
menorah, with his teachings, his
wisdom, and his holiness. He is
truly a man of G-d.

RABBI LEVI YITZCHOK

ON THE FUNCTION OF
DARKNESS
Once, as I walked from the
shul with the Rebbes father who
was known by the Chassidim

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as R Levik, I think it was Rosh

Chodesh Iyar 5687, he stood
there and turned to me and said,
Darkness does not define the
light. That is not its function.
Darkness highlights the light.

WHY A BEN ADAM AND

NOT A BEN OFOR?
R Levi Yitzchok once asked
me: Man was created from the
ofor (dust) of the earth and
it says, for you are dust and
to dust shall you return. So
why is he called ben adam
and not ben ofor or ofri?
Especially when the adama
(earth) was cursed and Kayin
was called an ish adama?
Before telling you his answer,
I will describe his image that
remains before me like a living
image, luminous, clear and sharp,
like today, like yesterday:
He stood, and his soft,
caressing gaze rested upon me.
His blue eyes were sometimes
sharp and piercing like a
skewer, like an electric charge,
so penetrating that I was afraid
of his gaze. And sometimes
his gaze was soft, caressing,
smooth, soothing, drawing one
closer, and a twinkle of irony and
heightened cleverness over and
above that of the person the rav
was speaking to.
His bearing was erect, his
body upright and athletic. His
small, handsome head rested on
solid broad shoulders. His gait
was slow, calm, sure. He walked
lightly and firmly, unlike other
rabbis whose walk was hasty and
nervous. Even under the terrorist
regime he walked like a prince,
like an heir of the realm. The
walk of a king, a ruler, confident
and calm. Whoever saw him felt
that Rav Schneersohn sensed
his own power, and the rare and

R ALEXANDERS LETTER TO R MENDEL

BH
Tuesday in the order of BShalach
Motzaei Yud Shvat 5740, Shmita Year, Thirtieth Year (of the Rebbes
nesius)
To HaRav HaTamim, Mashpia in the yeshiva of Tomchei Tmimim in
Kfar Chabad, R Mendel Futerfas, greetings!
My great brother and friend, the notes I present to you were seen by
the Rebbe and I asked the Rebbe whether I should publicize them among
Anash and in yeshivos. I received an answer dated 13 Kislev 5740 which
said: Many thanks, and it is a timely thing.
Therefore, I permit
myself to giver over these
writings to your perusal,
and if and when it is fitting
and desirable to publicize
them among the mashpiim
at farbrengens or to give
them out to the students,
the decision is in the hands
of the Mashpia R Mendel.
I
carry
out
the
instructions and perhaps
the advice of the Rebbe and
not out of arrogance, G-d forbid, and since I have only one copy, if the
notes are appropriate, print them any way you want in the desired number.
If they are not suitable for those who need such things, please be so kind as
to return them in two months (or even earlier) to the bachur Yaron Dotan
from Raanana who occasionally learns Tanya with me.
Due to my severe heart disease, I am disconnected for two years now
from Anash and have been unable to hear a single sicha from the mashpia
and have not been present at any farbrengen and of course, I am greatly
pained over this.
The Rebbe told me to write a compilation Toras Hanefesh according to
Chabad, that is the name I gave it and I compiled excerpts on the topic of
avoda and not haskala because my intellect is limited, for I am alone.
The compilation is, according to the Rebbes instructions, only from
Likkutei Torah and maamarim of the Rebbe Rayatz and nothing else. Also a
few maamarim from our Rebbe from the year 5718. I learn Chassidus and
write and have forty pages already.
The doctors want to do open heart surgery and the Rebbe wrote, Try
to postpone open heart surgery and may Hashem grant you success. Of
course I followed this instruction of the Rebbe but to walk, speak for more
than an hour I cannot because my heart stops. I will conclude with, may
I be successful with Hashems help and with the Rebbes bracha to benefit
Anash with my notes and for length of days and good years.
If you can respond, that would be wonderful.
A student of Tomchei Tmimim in Russia
Alexander Zushe Bin-Nun

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Feature
wondrous self-confidence he
had.
He looked at me and said:
If a person was called ofri or
ben ofor, his essence, traits, and
character would be dust, sand,
inanimate, unchanging matter.
Contrariwise, the name adam,
although it comes from adamaearth, has another meaning,
adameh to resemble, I
resemble the Supernal One.
That means that a person
needs to know, recognize, and
sense that he has the ability
to correct himself, to change
himself. A person can turn
himself from a dust-like creature
into a lofty being. This is why we
are called adam, to remind us
and demonstrate that we are not
merely dust, a natural creation,
but an adam I resemble the
Supernal One, above the natural,
elevated above all creations in
nature.

THE YECHIDUS OF BORUCH

SHOLOM WHEN HE WAS
THREE DAYS OLD
In 5681, I heard from R
Mendel Voronov the following
story:
When the Tzemach Tzedeks
first son was born, R Boruch
Sholom, on the third day the
Tzemach Tzedek went to the
doorway of the new mother and
asked for a little time with his
son. This astonished the midwife
and his wife, who was the
daughter of the Mitteler Rebbe,
because it was a tradition in Beis
Rebbi that the child was taken out
of the mothers room only for the
bris mila. And it was the tradition
that the Rebbe did not go to the
new mothers room and did not
see the baby until the bris.
They tried to prevent him, but
the Tzemach Tzedek insisted.

The baby was given to him in

his diaper. The Tzemach Tzedek
took the three or four day old
baby to his room and people
could hear the sound of singing
with dveikus and sweetness
along with a sort of dance, a
tapping of the feet.
After a while, the Tzemach
Tzedek came out and gave the
baby back to his mother. His
face shone with exceptional joy.
All the old and young Chassidim
heard about it and they all
wondered about it, especially the
yechidus with the
infant who wasnt even
circumcised yet.
On the day of the bris, the
Tzemach Tzedek saw that
everyone, especially the elders,
looked bewildered. The Tzemach
Tzedek responded, with a
captivating holiness on his face:
Chazal say (Kiddushin and in
the Zohar) that there are three
partners to a person: Hashem,
his father and his mother. There
is no other mitzva where Hashem
is a partner, only in the birth of
a child. If so, how shall I not
rejoice when I received such a
partner such as Hashem!
You can well imagine how
great the excitement was after
the Chassidim heard these holy
words from the Tzemach Tzedek.

R LEVIKS WONDROUS
EXPLANATION
In the summer of 1927,
between Nissan and Elul, one
of the G-d fearing locals went
to R Levi Yitzchok, I think he
was a Lubavitcher, and poured
out his heart about not being
allowed to teach Torah in the
city. The chadarim were closed,
the teachers were in hiding and
even the parents of children who
learned Chumash and Gemara

were arrested. He wrung his

hands as he concluded with a cry,
Rebbe, what do we do?
The rav got up, went over to
the man, and spoke to him as
one tells a secret. This is what I
heard:
Dovid HaMelech in Thillim,
119, says, A time to do for
Hashem, they have made void
Your Torah. The simple meaning
is, when a cruel regime abolishes
Your Torah and it is impossible
to learn Torah because they
interfere, then the thing to do is
A time to do for Hashem we
must do good deeds. Mitzvos can
be done even while the decree
against Torah study is still in
force and if we start with good
deeds, with G-ds help, we will
also attain Torah study (which is
a wondrous explanation of this
verse).

AND IT IS OVER
THIS THAT I CRY
I remember how one time, on
a hot summers day, the rav sat
in the dining room near the long
table and wrote. I stood on a plain
chair and organized the huge
library. I remember the many
windows, the white curtains, and
the sparkling cleanliness which
all reflected the light and the rays
of the sun, and the rav in fine
spirit.
A breeze blew a sheet of paper
off the table and the paper fell on
the floor near the bookcase. The
rav did not notice. I sprang down
with the energy of youth and with
holy trembling, or more correctly,
with trepidation, I picked up the
paper to give to the rav. It wasnt
every day that a miracle occurs
that I would be standing so close
to the rav and could serve him.
But the rav did not see that I
had picked up the paper and my

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glance fell upon these lines which

I will never forget:
And my heart is hollow
within me libi chalal bkirbi
form the acronym of chalav/milk.
Mothers milk is considered not
kosher but without milk a baby
cannot live. This is what Dovid
maintained when he said, my
heart is hollow within me, and
with sin my mother conceived
me. At the end of the paragraph,
in smaller letters, it said and it is
over this that I cry. (A shudder
went through me and goes
through me till today perhaps I
erred, may Hashem help me.)

DOCUMENTING A SECRET
MEETING IN NEVEL
In 5684, when I learned in
Nevel, I ate teg in the summer
and on Thursdays I ate by the
esteemed Chassid, the prince
of Chabad, R Meir Simcha
Chein, who was a baal avoda and
whose tfilla was amazing and
spellbinding. In Nevel in those
days, there were few baalei avoda.
One time I walked into the
foyer and sat down to eat supper.
In the big room there was a
zitzung (secret meeting) about
the many hardships and sorrows
experienced by the yeshivos
because of the cursed Yevsektzia,
which brutally oppressed all those
who learned Torah and every
father of a child that was sent to
learn could expect to be arrested
and fined.
If my memory is not mistaken,
those attending this meeting
were: R Peretz Laine, R Itzke
Leimas, R Yona Cohen Paltaver,
R Gershon Ber Levin, his
brother and my uncle, R Yisroel
Levin, R Yisroel der katzav (the
butcher), the Moreh Tzedek R
Refael Cohen, the brother-inlaw of Folya Kahn, the son of R

Boruch Sholom Moskover, and

the gabbaim from the yunger
minyan and the kleiner minyan.
R Meir Simcha Chein sat
at the head of the table. He was
a nice looking man, of erect
bearing and with very wise
eyes. He spoke very little, had
a rabbinic forehead and a long
beard the color of brown tobacco.
The gist of the conversation

that I overheard was they

all spoke emotionally and
sorrowfully about Eisav the
Wicked who plotted against the
chadarim. There was tremendous
fear of anticipated arrests for
whoever would be caught
teaching or giving a shiur in
Gemara, and the sheep of Yaakov
were scattered without pasture
and without a shepherd.
[To be continued.]

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STORIES

FLAMES

OF DEVOTION
IN FROZEN SIBERIA
Mrs. Chana Rochel Hurwitz, who recently passed
away, was a Chassidishe woman, a mekusheres,
with fiery faith in Hashem and His anointed one.
She told me some incredible stories of mesirus
nefesh from the days of terror in which she grew
up, when World War II was raging and she and
her family found temporary shelter in Siberia.
By Molly Kupchik

y parents were R
Sholom and Perel
Lishner. When I
was seven years old,
we fled the Nazis from Poland to
Russia. We lived in Siberia in a
small town on the banks of the
Hop River.

FATEFUL MISTAKE
My mother and sister Taibe
(Bruchshtat) regularly sailed
to the big city, Novosibirsk, in
order to buy food and Jewish
ritual items. Before every trip,

my mother would take some item

from our poor home and trade it
for the various basic things we
needed.
Once, on their way back
home, they made a mistake and
boarded a boat that did not have
a stop at our town. It was Friday
and we waited excitedly for them
at the station in order to help
them carry the packages. Oy,
calamity! My mother and Taibel
stood on the boat helplessly while
it continued on its way and sent
them further and further away
from us. We could do nothing for

them.
Then it was Shabbos and my
mother lit candles on the boat.
When the gentiles saw this, they
began shouting, She is a Jew
and she wants to burn us all!
They immediately stopped the
boat and put them on the shore
in a place where primitive people
were, who would light bonfires
and lived like animals.
My mother was terrified.
Who knows what would be our
lot if the natives discovered us
We must get out of here, she
said to my sister.

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My mother and sister walked

from this forsaken place for
a few days until they reached
the city where the boat made a
stop traveling in the opposite
direction. They finally made it
back to Novosibirsk and from
there they sailed home, this time
on the right boat.
Another time they returned
from Novosibirsk late on Friday.
My mother got off the boat, left
her packages at the harbor, and
ran home to make it in time to
light the candles. We children
brought the packages home.

WAITING TREES
My father worked in a labor
camp as part of a work brigade.
Each group had a quota of
trees that the members had to
cut down. My father would say
these trees were so tall and wide
that seven men were needed
to encircle one tree. My father
would conclude, These trees
waited for us since the six days
of creation so we could cut them
down and bring them to their
tikkun (rectification).

ABOUT THE ONE TELLING THESE STORIES

Mrs. Chana Hurwitz ah, the wife of a scion of Hassidic royalty, R
Pinchas Hurwitz, and the daughter of R Sholom Lishner, may Hashem
avenge his blood, was survived by a blessed, upright generation of thirteen
sons and daughters who serve as rabbanim and klei kodesh and are
known baalei menagnim (cantors and singers), as well as hundreds of
grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Chassidim and men of good deeds
including many who serve as shluchim around the world including Russia
and Ukraine.
Her home, in the heart of Geula in Yerushalayim, was constantly open
to all, and hundreds of brokenhearted people found chizuk and comfort in
her home. Throughout the week, there were numerous shiurim in Torah
and Chassidus in her home and many farbrengens with the participation of
the leading lights of Yerushalayim.
She was moser nefesh for the chinuch of her descendants, after she
herself underwent a difficult childhood from when she escaped the Nazis
with her family to Siberia, and from there to Samarkand where her father
was killed in jail when he was moser nefesh and did not want to tattle nor
desecrate the holy Shabbos.
May we soon see the fulfillment of the promise, arise and sing those
who dwell in the dust, with her among them.

HIDING PLACES THIS

WAS NO GAME!
At first, my father did not
show up to work on Shabbos.
They once came to look for
him and at the last second he
jumped into our refrigerator.
The refrigerator was a bunker
whose opening had a cover
with a hole that made opening
it easier. My brother Yaakov
Noach was quite mischievous
and he bent over to peek in at our
father. When the commander,
head of the search party, saw
this, he politely asked my mother
whether he could spit into the
hole.
It was a miracle that my
mother did not faint on the spot.

Cutting giant trees in forced labor

However she did look terrified.

Boruch Hashem, they did not
find my father and they left.
My father was Polish and
did not know Russian so he
needed a translator to translate
from Russian into Yiddish. That
translator was present at the
time and when the Russians left

he yelled at my mother, What

did you do? They could see on
your face what was hidden in
your heart! They could see your
neshama on your nose!
Do you know what you
almost caused? They would have
sent him to Siberia where the
polar bears live and you would

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Stories
For the tablecloth she got a
pail full of beets, which she used
to make borscht, and that was
our wine for the four cups.

never know where his bones

are.

KIDDUSH FROM
UNDERGROUND
Following
this
search,
they decided on a plan that
would prevent my father from
desecrating the Shabbos. My
brother would join the work
force on Friday and together,
they would prepare the quota
for Shabbos. On Shabbos, when
the manager appeared, they
would occupy themselves with
eating or something else and
would show him that everything
was ready.
However, this ploy did not
work for long, because the
Russians discovered that my
father did not work and was
unwilling to work on Shabbos.
In order to break his
stubbornness they would put him
into solitary confinement every
Shabbos on a desolate island, in a
place where he could only stand.
There, in the Siberian cold, he
would stand for hours every
Shabbos.
One Shabbos, we knew
where he was confined and we
went there, my mother and the
children. The little kids dug a
hole in the dirt through which we
gave my father pieces of bread.
We gathered above the cell,
silently listening to my fathers
voice which rose from the
depths of the earth, as he recited
Kiddush.
They did not succeed in
breaking him! Nor could they
do anything further to him (as
though that wasnt enough)
since he was a Polish citizen.
They gave him other work to do,
making brooms out of straw. It
seems that in every galus there
are remnants from the galus in
Egypt, because in our galus too

INTO THE FOREST WITH

THE POT

R Sholom Lishner

they would supply sticks and

straw but not the iron threads to
tie them together. To help him, I
enlisted my sister who would go
a few kilometers to the seashore
where there were old barbed wire
fences and from there she would
bring iron threads to my father
for his brooms.

MIVTZA SHOFAR ON A
FORSAKEN ISLAND
They were also particular
to observe the Jewish holidays.
My mother once got a shofar in
Novosibirsk. On Rosh HaShana,
my father took it to an island
where there were Jews and called
out: I am going to blow the
shofar. Whoever wants to hear
can come with me.
He put himself into danger so
that other Jews would be able to
do this mitzva of the day, hearing
the shofar.

FOUR CUPS OF BORSCHT

One day, the beautiful
velvet tablecloth disappeared
from the table. It turned out
that my mother took it with
her to Novosibirsk in order to
buy provisions for Pesach in
exchange.

We were particular about

what entered our mouths. When
we would take long, exhausting
trips by train, at the stops on the
way they would serve porridge
that was covered with bugs. Of
course, despite our hunger, we
didnt touch it.
When my father worked
hard labor in the forest cutting
trees, they would give 400
grams of bread to the workers
and non-kosher food. Every
day, my mother would go to the
forest with a pot of food she had
prepared from something she
found in the house or that she
obtained somehow or other. She
would bring this food to him so
he would not have to withstand
the test of eating treif.
Other Jews who worked with
him were envious of his religious
devotion and would call out to
him, Here she comes with the
pot ... However, even those
who ate the non-kosher food ate
it in order to be able to live and
serve Hashem. My parents kept
mitzvos even when it entailed
great mesirus nefesh.

WHO TO ENVY
We only ate matza on Acharon
shel Pesach. These were matzos
that came from Poland shortly
before the outbreak of war
when mail service still operated
between Poland and Russia.
One of my aunts from Poland
sent us a package of machine
matza and our parents let us
children eat them on Acharon
shel Pesach. Its frightening but
worth noting that in one of the

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last letters that we received from

this aunt, she wrote that she
doesnt know who to be more
jealous of, the dead or the living.

DANGEROUS HOSPITALITY
Pesach
night
was
an
experience. In our town lived
a young man who came from
Lithuania. When the communist
revolution was at its height, he
was captivated by its lure and
left his parents home and way
of life, as did many of his friends
in Litvishe yeshivos. He went to
Russia in order to help launch the
communist revolution.
For some reason he was
sent to Siberia and he would
cry and tell us what a great rav
and tzaddik his father was. In
his despair over his having been
deluded, he tried to commit
suicide. At the last second, my
mother managed to get the noose
off his neck.
He tried again and again
to commit suicide. When it
happened the third time, my
mother decided to adopt him and
to take him into our home. This
was very dangerous since it was
forbidden for three adults to sit
together in one house lest it turn
into an agitation meeting against
the regime.
Pesach night, the communists

When it happened the third time, my mother

decided to adopt him and to take him into our
home. This was very dangerous since it was forbidden
for three adults to sit together in one house lest it turn
into an agitation meeting against the regime.

knew that surely there would be

something illegal going on at the
Lishner home, and they were
right. When we heard knocking
at the door, we panicked. It was
one thing that we ourselves were
gathered, as we were all from one
family, but what about the young
man?
Within seconds we had found
him a hiding place and Boruch
Hashem, after long minutes of
rapid heartbeats we were able to
breathe easy and continued to
pray for redemption from our
Egypt.

CHINUCH WAS ALL

IMPORTANT
That is how we spent the
war years. Constantly, even in
the hardest times, our parents
were particular about mitzva
observance to the nth degree with
great mesirus nefesh.
At the end of the war,
my mother met someone in
Novosibirsk who said that the

Russians would be letting Polish

refugees out of the country to
go where they pleased. Hearing
this, my mother asked, Where
can we raise the children in the
meantime? and the man said
Samarkand was the place.
So we got up and traveled
to Samarkand where there
was active Jewish life and most
importantly authentic Jewish
chinuch for us children. The long
trip there took seven miserable
weeks by train.

NACHAS
My parents mesirus nefesh
shone forth throughout, and as
a result, the other Jews who lived
near us in Siberia joined us. They
said, If Lishner stays, we stay.
If he goes, then were going with
him!
My parents merited YiddisheChassidishe nachas from their
descendants who left Russia and
established beautiful families.

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PROFILE

THE CHASSID
WHO BATTLED
AND EMERGED
VICTORIOUS
R Yaakov Noach
Strasbergs life was
a series of tragedies
and hardships, but he
heroically withstood
all the suffering and
emerged a staunch
Chassid and mekushar
of the Rebbe.
By Shneur Zalman Berger

SHABBOS OBSERVANCE
IN SIBERIA
R Yaakov Noach was born
in Tishrei 5696/1935. His
parents were R Sholom and
Alte Perel Lishner (he took the
name Strasberg years later), a
distinguished and Chassidishe
family.
He was four years old when
the family was expelled from

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their home in the city of Sunik.

The Germans captured the city
and expelled some of the Jews
to Russia, including the Lishner
family.
After much travail, the
Lishners ended up in a Siberian
labor camp where they worked
hard and suffered tremendously.
Even the little children, including
Yaakov Noach, helped in cutting
down trees. They kept Shabbos
with mesirus nefesh, as related
by his sister Itta Rosenberg in
her memoirs (another sister was
Chana Hurwitz; stories from her
are also featured in this issue):
On Fridays we worked
very hard. Aside from the two
trees we felled every day, we
went deeper into the forest and
felled another two trees and
began removing the branches.
The two extra trees were for
Shabbos. The man in charge
of supervising the work came
every day and wrote down what
we did. Hashem helped and he
did not realize our strategy. Our
father made an eiruv techumin
so we could walk there. We took
one of the children with us to
bring us food. When we heard
that the man was coming to
check what we did, we took out
the food and said we were resting
now. That is how we spent all the
Shabbasos.
When war began between
Germany and Russia, the family
left that place and together with
other exiles sailed to Novosibirsk.
From there they traveled to
Samarkand in Uzbekistan.

LEARNING TORAH WITH

MESIRUS NEFESH
Upon arriving in Samarkand,
they found the city full of
refugees. This made it hard to
find a place to live. For several
months, they lived without a roof

over their heads. Contagious

diseases broke out among the
refugees, and Yaakov Noach and
his sister became sick and were
hospitalized.
After they recovered and left
the hospital, the parents found
an attic, completely bare. This
situation was described at length
by Mrs. Rosenberg:
My mother took the two
children out of the hospital and
did not have even a piece of

hospital, but this time the illness

was more severe. When they
left the hospital, they had to be
taught how to walk again.
Their suffering wasnt over.
The day after Yom Kippur
5703/1942, the father, R Sholom
went out to try and sell a pack of
cigarettes in order to bring food
into the house. As he stood in
the market, he was arrested by
policemen who accused him of
black marketeering.

R Yaakov Noach (marked by an arrow) in Yeshivas Tomchei Tmimim in Lud

bread to give them. She cried

like a little girl. The winter of
5702 began and it was difficult
and cold, and we had nothing
with which to warm ourselves.
There was no food and no way to
earn money, and we starved. In
order to obtain a piece of bread,
you had to stand on a long line
from the night before. Ruffians
pushed their way through, and by
the time it was my turn, they said
there was nothing left.
In Adar of that year, his
brother Dovid became sick and
died. In the summer, Yaakov
Noach and his mother became
sick and he returned to the

He was imprisoned and

beaten until he died, may
Hashem avenge his blood. That
was 20 Tishrei. He was buried in
the cemetery in Samarkand.
Yaakov Noach was seven
when he was orphaned. The
suffering he endured was so
great during those years that not
a single memory remained with
him of his father and the seven
years he spent with him.
Yaakov Noach was placed in
an orphanage where they tried
to prevent him from keeping
Torah and mitzvos. At the first
opportunity he ran away, as his
sister describes:

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Profile
The situation grew worse.
My mother had no choice but to
place her three little children in
an orphanage. My sister Taube
joined them. After a week, we
went to visit them and it was
Shabbos. Taube ran to us crying,
Yaakov
Noach
disappeared
and probably ran away, but to
where? We immediately ran in
all directions and found him as
he was running. Seeing us, he
burst into tears. They take my
yarmulke and tzitzis away. I dont
want to be there. Of course, we
took him home.
Even as a young child, Yaakov
Noach was strong-spirited and
did not cave in to pressure at the
orphanage. He wanted to keep
mitzvos no matter what, despite
knowing that if he remained
there he would be well fed, and if
he went home, he would starve.
When he was eight, he began
learning in the covert yeshiva.
However, because he did not
have shoes, since they were sold
for medicine that was needed for
him and the family, his mother
carried him there every day.
At that young age, it was
apparent that Yaakov Noach was
very bright. R Meir Gruzman,
a maggid shiur in Tomchei
Tmimim in Kfar Chabad,
who was one of the talmidim
in the underground yeshiva in
Samarkand, relates:
What stood out about our
learning was that it was done
under the greatest privation
which is hard to describe in
words. We cannot relate to it
today. We starved. The fact
is though, that despite the
hardships, we sat and learned.
We not only learned; we toiled
in learning. That is a childhood
memory that remains with me.
It is impossible to forget
Yaakov Noach, a boy of eightnine at the time, who sat and

learned, toiling in his studies

like any talmid in yeshiva. It was
obvious that he was one of the
better heads in the group.

A SHARP STUDENT
During World War II, Yaakov
Noach lost many of his extended
family members. After the war,
Erev Shavuos 1946, the Lishners
exercised their rights as Polish
citizens and crossed the border
into Poland. From there, they
went to the displaced persons
camp in Poking, Germany.
There, Yaakov Noach joined
the talmidim in the Tomchei
Tmimim that was established.
On 10 Kislev 5709, the
Lishners left the continent that
was soaked with their relatives
blood and sailed to Eretz Yisroel.
The voyage took a month, and
on 11 Teves they anchored in
the port of Haifa. From there,
they were taken to a camp for
immigrants in Pardes Chana.
They remained there for two
weeks until Chabad Chassidim
came and brought them to live
near the train station in Lud
where a Chabad community was
forming.
R Yaakov Noach went to
learn in the Chabad yeshiva in
Tel Aviv where he assiduously
studied Nigleh and Chassidus
until the yeshiva was established
in Lud. Then he, along with a
group of bachurim, went to learn
in Pardes.
The teachers and hanhala
were amazed by the extent of his
knowledge, even though most of
his childhood years he was unable
to learn. R Boruch Shimon
Schneersohn, rosh yeshiva of
Tchebin, who served at the
time as rosh yeshiva in Tomchei
Tmimim, said about him,
Considering his wide-ranging
knowledge and sharpness, if he
would have remained in yeshiva

to learn after he married, R

Yaakov Noach would have been
one of the distinguished roshei
yeshivos.
His
brother-in-law,
R
Avrohom
Meizlich,
added,
During the years that he learned
in Lud, he sat and typed the
entire Hemshech 5666. Thanks
to him, this Hemshech was
available to the Chabad Chassidic
community.
R
Meizlich
described him as a man of truth
who did not tolerate falsehood at
all. He only spoke the truth and
conducted himself in a truthful
manner.

MANY YEARS IN 770

While learning in Pardes, he
yearned to go to the Rebbe. After
much effort, on Chol HaMoed
Pesach 1956 he was given a visa
for the US. It was sent to him
by Rashag with the intervention
of R Avrohom (Maiyor) Drizin,
a member of the hanhala of the
yeshiva. His joy was not long
lasting though, since the hanhala
of the yeshiva in Pardes told him
they did not want such a young
bachur going to America and said
he had to continue learning in
Eretz Yisroel.
R Yaakov Noach did not
give up. He exerted tremendous
effort, and after Shavuos he left
for France for the purpose of
reaching the Rebbe as soon as
possible. In the meantime, he
sat and learned in the Chabad
Yeshiva in Brunoy while waiting
for the papers that would allow
him to continue his journey.
Eight months passed and on Erev
Rosh HaShana 5717 he finally
arrived in New York with the
help he received from R Nissan
Nemanov, mashpia in the yeshiva
in Brunoy.
R Yaakov Noach spent close
to ten years in 770. Those were
the early years of the Rebbes

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nesius, and R Yaakov Noachs

conduct reflected that of a
soldier who is subservient to his
master with mesirus nefesh,
described someone who knew
him from 770 back then.

HIS HOSPITALITY
Shortly
upon
returning
to Eretz Yisroel he married
his wife Shulamis, daughter
of the mashpia, R Yehoshua
Mordechai Lipkin.
Their home was open to
guests, which their son Yoske of
Crown Heights describes:
My father loved having
guests. In shul in Yerushalayim,
if he saw a person that nobody
else was looking at, whether this
was a weekday or Shabbos, he
would invite him. He once told
me: In Crown Heights there are
many guests. The mitzva is not
only to host the bachurim. If you
see someone who is not desirable
for whatever reason and is not
invited, you invite him.
For my father, hospitality
was ingrained in his soul.

HIS HISKASHRUS
R Yaakov Noachs hiskashrus
to the Rebbe was special. He was
always particular to carry out
what the Rebbe said. He went to
the Rebbe nearly every year. One
year he returned from 770 with a
window frame. When his family
asked him about it, he said that
he found it in the yard of 770.
There was a window in the big
zal that was replaced. R Yaakov
Noach, with his great fondness
for the home base of the Nasi
Hador, felt it was a zchus to
take the old frame back home to
Yerushalayim.
His son describes his fathers
hiskashrus:
He was utterly battul to the
Rebbe. One time, when he had

R Yaakov Noach talking with his childhood friend, R Moshe Landau

legal problems, I asked him why

he didnt turn to the Rebbe. He
said to me that he did not want
to bother the Rebbe with his
material concerns. In yechidus
too, he never asked for brachos
for material things.

MAN OF TRUTH
Before he married, R Yisroel
Jacobson asked him to take the
job of running the yeshiva in
Newark. R Yaakov Noachs
response was, If I accept the
job, I will have to raise funds
in various places and deal with
wealthy people and I will have
to flatter them. I am not capable
of living with that kind of
falsehood. This expressed his
inner unvarnished truth, a trait
that cost him a job.
About thirty-five years ago,
he started the Chabad shul in
Mattersdorf in Yerushalayim
together with R Eliezer Perlstein.
They were given land for the shul
but some locals, most of them
Misnagdim, interfered with the
construction. R Strasberg and
R Perlstein persisted and had a
beautiful Chabad shul built.

The troubles did not end.

On a few Shabbasos, people
who went to daven Shacharis
there found the shul locked. The
opposition also interfered with
the Seudas Moshiach, but R
Strasberg remained undeterred.
He fought for the existence of the
shul until everyone made peace
with it.
***
In the final months of his
life, he was stricken with late
stage cancer. With superhuman
strength he kept his suffering to
himself and tried not to depend
on others and not to be a burden
on his family.
About a day before his
passing, he was released from
the hospital. He returned home
and even went out to take care
of things. That evening his
condition deteriorated and he
was taken to the hospital.
The next morning, his son-inlaw, R Elimelech Bienstock, put
tfillin on him and read the Shma
with him. Shortly afterward, on
the morning of 13 Menachem Av,
he passed away at the age of 66.

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MIRACLE STORY

THE RUSSIAN
EDUCATION
MINISTER AND
THE REBBES
PROPHECY
Dr. Eli Eisenberg, senior deputy director general
and head of research, development, and training
at ORT Israel, tells about the fulfillment of two
prophecies from the Rebbe that he witnessed
with his own eyes.
By Nosson Avraham
Translated by Michoel Leib Dobry

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or those unfamiliar with

him, Dr. Eli Eisenberg
is the senior deputy
director general and head
of research, development, and
training at ORT Israel. Over a
period of many years, he has been
advancing technological education
in Eretz Yisroel, which he
considers to be his lifes mission.
At his direction, the ORT network
has also entered ultra-Orthodox
educational institutions in recent
years, including Chabad programs
such as Yeshivas Chanoch Lnaar
in Tzfas. Together with the
director-general,
Mr.
Tzika
Peleg, we work day and night,
investing considerable efforts to
advance children educationally
based on their strongest points.
Many children, for example, are
extremely adept in working with
their hands.
Mr.
Eisenberg
briefly
presented
his
educational
doctrine, stating that he has
tried to learn from the Rebbes
approach: The Rebbe has shown
me the connection between Torah
and flour. I know that the Rebbe
had already foreseen this many
years ago when he founded the
Kfar Chabad vocational school
back in the fifties. I know many
children whom we brought back
to the fold through training in
modern technology, and with the
passage of time, they eventually
established
proper
Jewish
homes.
When he starts mentioning
the Rebbe, the senior deputy
director generals tone of
voice becomes filled with great
esteem and admiration. Im
quite certain that the Rebbe
and his unique leadership have
transformed the Jewish world
into a better place, he says with
determination. He then asks if he
can tell us a miraculous story that
he personally experienced with

the Rebbes bracha.

Although many years have
passed since this story occurred,
it stays with him at all times.
Despite his numerous activities,
anyone acquainted with him
knows that he likes to work
behind the scenes and doesnt
crave publicity. However, at our
request, he agreed to tell us his
story after we told him about the
positive influence it would have
upon Chassidim.

FIRST PROPHECY
1988 was the year of my
post-doctorate.
That
year,
I received an offer to fly to
England and establish a center
of technological education at
Carmel College. This learning
institution, founded by Rabbi
Kopul Rosen, is committed to
educating the next generation
of Jewish leaders. Located
between London and Oxford,
it has also attracted young Jews
from outside England. I was
given the task of strengthening
its technological study program.
It was only later that I learned
about the powerful connection
between Rabbi Rosen and the
Rebbe.

Carmel College is situated

alongside the banks of the
Thames River, covered with
attractive foliage and green
lawns. While I have seen many
college campuses in my life,
this one is by far the most
beautiful. I quickly fit in with the
educational staff and founded
the technological study program.
One of the staff members was
Rabbi Rony Greenberg. He was
a very unique personality, and
as soon as I arrived at Carmel,
we became very good friends.
The friendship soon grew very
close. This young avreich was the
Rebbes shliach on the campus,
and he taught Jewish subjects
there. He would emphasize his
role as a Chabad emissary at
every opportunity.
The close friendship between
us included our respective
families as well. When we
returned to Eretz Yisroel in
1990, in the days before the
Persian Gulf War, we were deeply
concerned about the threats of
Saddam Hussein (may his name
be erased) to rain down missiles
down on Eretz Yisroel. When I
expressed my concerns to Rabbi
Greenberg, he assured me that
there was nothing to fear, for
even if missiles do fall, there will
be tremendous miracles and not
a single Jew will be harmed by
them.
How do you know? I asked.
Naturally,
there
came
the clear answer: the calming
message he had heard from the
Lubavitcher Rebbe, and so it was.

THE REVOLUTION
CAME SUDDENLY
In 1991, as an educator
with international experience,
I was invited together with
Gen. Elad Peleg, then-director
general of the Israel Ministry

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MIRACLE STORY
of Education, to serve as the
countrys
representatives
at
an
international
education
conference in Prague. The title
for the conference was Between
East and West. During this
time, the Soviet Union was led
by President Mikhail Gorbachev,
who was implementing his
perestroika program to create
unprecedented change and repeal
the principles of the hard-line
Communist regime that had
ruled the U.S.S.R. for more than
seven decades. As a result, Russia
and its neighbors were beginning
to develop more democratic
governments and a free market
system.

Elul 5751. A delegation of four

Soviet government officials
Defense Council deputy chief
Oleg Baklanov, KGB head
Vladimir Kryuchkov, premier
Valentin Pavlov, internal affairs
minister Boris Pugo came to
the vacation home of President
Gorbachev in the Crimea and
informed him that they were
stripping him of his ruling
authority and restoring the preglasnost system.
The conspirators planned
the rebellion well. Together
with
informing
Gorbachev
of his ouster, all lines of
communications were cut from
the dacha, carefully watched by

How did you know? she asked me again and

again, totally stunned. The truth is that at first
I couldnt figure out how to respond. What could I say
to her? Explain that theres a Rebbe in New York who
knows everything?

Government
ministers
and educators from all over
the world took part in this
conference,
including
from
newly
independent
nations
recently freed from Communist
dictatorship.
One
of
the
conferences most important
guests was Russias new minister
of education. During the first two
days of the conference, several
high quality meetings were
held among the participants.
I even managed to give a well
attended lecture on technological
education in Eretz Yisroel.
Then suddenly, we received
the
dramatic
news
from
international press reports that
President Mikhail Gorbachev had
been taken prisoner and no one
knew his whereabouts.
It was Sunday, the 8th of

KGB agents. Additional guard

reinforcements were rushed to
the location with strict orders not
to let anyone leave the premises,
effectively placing the Soviet
president under house arrest.
The conspirators demanded
that Gorbachev declare a state
of emergency or step down and
appoint Vice President Gennady
Yanayev as his replacement.
Gorbachev refused to accept the
ultimatum. The plotters left the
house, and Gorbachev remained
under confinement.
At nine oclock the following
morning, rows of tanks and other
armored vehicles started moving
towards the center of Moscow.
Red Square was surrounded by
a chain of Soviet army forces
and paratroop units, preventing
anyone from heading towards
the square or Lenins tomb. The

streets of Moscow were filled

with soldiers, as roadblocks were
strategically placed at various
points throughout the city.
The
conspirators
were
preparing to arrest Russian
Federation
president
Boris
Yeltsin, who was about to
return to Moscow from a visit
to
Kazakhstan.
However,
their plans failed, and Yeltsin
managed to reach the White
House, the seat and stronghold
of the government of the Russian
Federation.
Even before the plotters,
who called themselves the
State Committee on the State
of Emergency, came out for a
press conference to proclaim the
overthrow of the government,
there was already a concern that
the deposed members of the
Soviet Communist Party, who
wanted a return of the previous
totalitarian system, would now
try and make a new Communist
revolution.

A MEETING IN THE
HALLWAY
It was clear that this would
also have an effect upon the
place hosting the conference we
were attending Prague, capital
of the former Soviet satellite
of Czechoslovakia. The festive
event was halted at once, as
the atmosphere in the streets
of Prague was one of tense
anticipation. Gas stations and
stores were closed, and people
refrained from walking through
the streets. Everyone waited to
see what would happen. The
atmosphere was most unpleasant,
and the conference organizers
informed all members of the
various delegations that they
should remain in their rooms.
We began to worry that we
would be stuck in Prague for at

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least several days, and who knew

what would happen afterwards
and at whose mercy we would be
subject.
As there were no mobile
phones in those days, I went
down with my wife to the hotel
lobby and called officials in Eretz
Yisroel to inform them of the
developments at the conference.
One of those whom I called
was Rabbi Rony Greenberg
from Carmel College. I told him
where I was, adding that there
was serious concern among the
delegation from Russia and the
other Soviet republics. However,
he immediately told me that
there was nothing to worry about
and within a couple of days,
the situation would get back to
normal. He spoke in a tone of
absolute certainty. I was a bit
surprised by his resolve, and I
asked him how he knew this.
He replied that this was
the opinion of the Lubavitcher
Rebbe, whose Chassidim in
Moscow had asked what to do
in light of the new situation. The
Rebbes message was reassuring:
In another two days, everything
would be restored to normal.
I heard these calming
words and became relieved. I
remembered well how the Rebbe
had foreseen the great miracles
during the Persian Gulf War, and
I returned to my room with a
greater sense of assurance.
On the way to my room,
the delegation of the Russian
education
minister
came
towards me. She was extremely
frightened and concerned. For
her, the meaning of a Communist
overthrow was quite clear: exile
in Siberia or worse. I dont know
where I got the courage, but I
stopped her and asked, How are
you? She was a little impatient,
and the tension in her face was all
too evident. I told her the news

Tanks in Moscows Red Square. A calming message from the Rebbe.

that I had just received and then

added, Madam Minister, you
have nothing to worry about. In
another two days, everything will
be back to normal.
She was in total shock.
Youre talking nonsense! she
boldly challenged me. I was
born and raised in Russia, and
revolutions in Russia dont end
after two days. You Israelis dont
just like to stick someone with a
knife, you also like to twist it with
relish, she added in an apparent
suggestion that we were happy
about the unstable situation in
the Soviet Union. I apologized
for getting her angry, assuring
her that I was only expressing
my wish that everything would be
all right. She told me that it was
apparently only a matter of time
before her family would be sent
to Siberia. Democracy in Russia
now seemed to be a long way off.
The main concern was not
just for her own lot, rather for
the whole world particularly
the Soviet republics that had
just come out from under the
Communist boot, due to the
fear of a totalitarian resurgence.

Everyone was certain that the

Bolshevik tyranny was on its way
back. People were frightened for
their lives, their families, and
their livelihood. The Western
world, already quite happy about
the developing democracy in
the Soviet Union, became very
troubled with the news of its
leaders disappearance. It still
wasnt clear who the plotters
were and where this whole story
would eventually lead.
As mentioned earlier, the
coup leaders also tried to detain
Russian Federation president
Boris Yeltsin; however, he
managed to reach the White
House. The following day, after
consulting with his advisors,
he came out with a declaration
together with his prime minister
and the federations acting Soviet
chairman that the rebellion was
reactionary. They ordered the
army that had begun to besiege
the capital city of Moscow not
to join the rebellion until Mikhail
Gorbachev could be allowed to
address the Soviet people. The
proclamation was printed on
leaflets and spread all over the
city.
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Unlike in the past, Russian

citizens slowly started to gather
their courage. By the afternoon,
the residents of Moscow began
to assemble around the White
House and erect barricades.
In response, Vice President
Gennady Yanayev declared a
state of emergency in the city of
Moscow, effective at four in the
afternoon. However, it was of no
help to him. Tens of thousands
of citizens blocked all the access
roads for the tanks, extricated the
soldiers, and proclaimed by their
actions that the revolt would go
no further. By the following day,
the rebels understood that their
plot had failed, and the Soviet
Union would continue along the
path to democracy.
Just two days later, exactly
as the Rebbe had predicted,
President
Gorbachev
was
released, and the democratic
revolution
pressed
forward
without death or injury.

THE EDUCATION MINISTER

ASKS FOR CLARIFICATION
Upon receiving the happy
news, the conference organizers

Continued from page 3

without any doubt or shadow of
a doubt at all (Igeres HaKodesh
Ch. 11).
All of the above is in addition
to the concept of redemption as
it appears in the general parsha,
emphasized by the name of the
parsha, VaEschanan, which
refers to the prayer of Moshe
Rabbeinu to enter Eretz Yisroel,
the Holy Land. That is, it is well

decided to resume the program

from the point where the original
schedule had been suspended.
Even before the speeches and
lectures began, I suddenly
received an urgent invitation
from the Russian education
minister for an unofficial talk
with her. How did you know?
she asked me again and again,
totally stunned. The truth is that
at first I couldnt figure out how
to respond. What could I say
to her? Explain that theres a
Rebbe in New York who knows
everything?
When she continued to press
me, I finally told her that indeed
there was a great rabbi sitting in
New York, and he knows what
will be happening anywhere in
the world. I then described the
miracles he foresaw during the
recent Persian Gulf War and
how they came to pass exactly
as he said. He also knew that the
attempted coup would be over
in two days. She was completely
astounded and she told her
entourage about the Jewish
rabbi who successfully foresaw
Gorbachevs release.
As the Pesach holiday

approached, I decided that I

must visit the Rebbe that year for
Yom tov. Rabbi Rony Greenberg
arranged a guest apartment for
us in Crown Heights for us,
and this is where we stayed. We
participated in the Seder night
meals at the home of one of the
Lubavitcher Rebbes secretaries,
and I was privileged to soak in the
uplifting holiday atmosphere.

known that every single person

among the Jewish people has
within him the aspect of Moshe
Rabbeinu, making an impression upon each Jew. In fact, this
spiritual inheritance [does not
remain transcendent and spiritual; it] also has an impact on the
realm of deed [the persons material life]. Thus, it is understood
that the prayer of Moshe to enter
the land (VaEschanan) is also
the prayer of every single Jew

(in virtue of the aspect of Moshe

within them) to enter the Holy
Land with the true and complete
redemption.
The main thing is that all the
above, as it relates to the redemption, should be realized [in the
physical world], in accordance
with the ruling of the Torah that
action is the main thing.

CONNECTING TO THE
CREATOR THROUGH
ACTION
According
to
Dr.
Eli
Eisenberg, the Rebbe symbolizes
the pinnacle of Jewish values,
connecting latent spiritual values
with the world of action. For
me and many other people,
the Rebbe is a model to be
emulated, he says, adding that
the power to form and build is
the ultimate connection with
the Creator. It is written that
everything is created for the
honor of G-d, and the Rebbe is
the one who connected our world
with the loftiest G-dly ideas. Our
lifes mission is to connect to the
Creator through our action.

(From the address of 8 Menachem-Av 5749, bilti muga)

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PARSHA THOUGHT

NO MORE
JEALOUSY
By Rabbi Heschel Greenberg

THE LAST COMMANDMENT

One of the most significant
sections of this weeks parsha
is Moses repetition of the
Ten
Commandments
(more
accurately, the Ten Statements)
that were mentioned for the first
time in the book of Exodus.
There is a principle of
Talmudic interpretation that
everything follows the end.
This means, for example, that
the very last item on a Torah
list captures the essence of that
entire list. In our case, the very
last commandment repeated in
this weeks parsha (albeit, with
some additional detail) is And
you shall not covet your fellows
wife, you shall not desire your
fellows house, his field, his slave,
his maidservant, his ox, his
donkey, or anything that belongs
to your fellow.
Does the fact that this is the
final commandment suggest that
it expresses the ultimate goal
of Judaism? Our challenge is to
find some way of understanding
that it encapsulates all of the
commandments.
It is interesting to note that
Maimonides
concludes
his
Mishneh Torah by describing the
Messianic Age. In his very last
paragraph, he describes a world

in which there will be no more

jealousy.
This placement suggests that
Maimonides considers the lack of
jealously to be the ultimate goal of
the Messianic Age; furthermore,
it will take more time to achieve
this milestone than any of the
other monumental changes that
will occur during the Messianic
Age.
Why, we may ask, is this
human failure of coveting and
jealousy considered so ingrained
in our consciousness that its
elimination will represent the
crowning event of the Age of
Redemption?
To underscore the daunting
challenge of overcoming envy,
we should reflect on the fact that
the very first crime committed
by one human against another
was Cains murder of Abel.
He became enraged with the
envy he felt when G-d accepted
Abels offering and not his own.
Envy was the first example
of the breakdown of human
relationships and it seems
destined that it will be the last
thing to be rectified.

RESPECT FOR BOUNDARIES

G-d created in this world. It

derives from a piercing, primitive
feeling that if another person has
something desirable, then I am
entitled to have it instead. It is a
failure to appreciate that, as our
Sages put it, A person cannot
encroach upon what I set aside
for his fellow. G-d gave each
person the resources that were
intended for him or her.
The issue of boundaries, in
a broader sense, informs all of
the commandments. It is G-d
Who gave us limits and erected
barriers between us and the world
around us. He did not intend us
to indulge in our every whim.
However, the paradigm for all
these restrictions is the tenth
commandment: do not covet.
The question can be raised,
why has envy posed such a
formidable challenge for us?
Why is it so difficult to expunge
our covetousness? Why will we
have to wait for the Messianic
Age (and perhaps, even for one
of its more advanced stages, as
one can infer from Maimonides
placing this promise at the end
of his discussion of the Messianic
Age) to see the disappearance of
jealousy?

Envy demonstrates a lack of

appreciation for the boundaries

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PARSHA THOUGHT

REMOVING BORDERS
While this commandment
underscores the need for us to
respect boundaries, there are at
least two other Torah imperatives
for us to not be stifled or
restricted by them.
Ethics of the Fathers (Chapter
5:10) states: One who says
mine is mine and yours is yours,
this is the average characteristic,
and some say this is the
characteristic of Sodom. As

that every individual has to say

the world was created for me.
This is intended to teach each
individual to feel responsibility
for the entire world. Moreover,
the Jewish people were directly
instructed that each individual is
responsible for the other. There
is a Biblical commandment to
rebuke others who fail to fulfill
their responsibilities. Mind your
own business was never a Jewish
slogan. Everyone elses business
is our business!

The Torah demands that we remove the barriers

between generations even as we, paradoxically,
respect those barriers. We are living in times where
the elders have to listen more carefully to the needs
and demands of the youth because in many ways they
are the more altruistic group. In Messianic times, the
prophet Malachi predicts, The hearts of the fathers will
be returned to G-d through the children. Because the
division between young and old has been partially erased
we have therefore witnessed a breakdown in the needed
boundaries.
commentators point out, to turn
selfishness into a philosophy as
they did in Sodom is manifestly
evil. On one hand it sounds
reasonable and as though it is
based on a healthy respect for
the integrity of our possessions
as well as the others. On the
other hand, it smacks of the
inhospitable Sodomite people
who could never cross over the
fence that separated them from
the outsider.
G-d wants us to give freely
of our own resources to others.
Ideally, we should transcend our
sense of ownership to say mine
is yours and yours is yours. The
ideal is not to be boxed in by
borders but to transcend them.
Second, the Talmud states

These two factors that we

must give of our own to others
and that we are responsible
for others can be a doubleedged sword. While we reach
out to help the other we may lose
sight of and be insensitive to the
others privacy. Indeed, once
we cross the line and trespass
into the others territory we
might look to see what the other
possesses, sparking a feeling of
envy. The coveter may feel he or
she has license to trespass and
encroach on the private lives of
others because of the Torahs
insistence that we reach out to
them sometimes.
We can easily see how a
person who emphasizes one
aspect of Jewish life can forget

that there are other imperatives

that require us to go in an
opposite direction. As we cross
over into the domain of others in
order to help them, we must still
respect their privacy.
Even in marriage which,
according to the Zohar, is
the reunion of two half souls
separated at birth, one must allow
for the husband and wife to have
their own spaces. This is reflected
in the law of family purity that
mandates periods of physical
separation in a marriage. These
periods of separation ensure that
the partners in life do not violate
each others boundaries.

BALANCE!
We can now see why envy
is the last human failure to be
corrected. It simply requires the
most powerful form of balance.
Had the Torah not imposed
on us the need to remove barriers
between people by helping and
taking responsibility for them,
it would not be so difficult a
challenge to banish envy. People
who mind their own business are
less likely to be tempted to look
into each others domain and
covet their possessions.
It is precisely those people,
the ones who are obsessed with
reaching out to help others
and ignore all the boundaries,
who may disregard the borders
necessary to guarantee the
integrity of each individual.
The power to integrate
the two, both to respect the
boundaries and be able to
transcend them, will be fully
operational only in the Messianic
Age.

TEN COMMANDMENTS
HORIZONTALLY
The Ten Commandments
were given on two tablets.

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According to the Midrash, they

were placed side by side and
we can therefore read them
either vertically, from one to
ten, or horizontally, i.e., the first
commandment followed by the
sixth, the second followed by
the seventh etc. Accordingly, the
commandment which precedes
the one about coveting is to
honor your father and mother.
What is the connection
between filial responsibility and
not coveting?
One may suggest that just as
there are geographic boundaries
there are also chronologic
borders. Honoring our parents
is our way of respecting their
seniority and not treating them as
our peers. Honoring our parents
is a paradigm for all of the
commandments in the Torah that
require of us to respect people
from an earlier time frame, which
includes parents, teachers, senior
citizens and authority figures.
It seems, though, that much
like envy, proper respect for
elders and authority figures is
one of the most elusive challenges
of our time. Indeed, the Mishna
declares that in the last days
before the coming of Moshiach
there will be much chutzpah,
with the young rebelling against
their elders.
What is the cause of this
phenomenon?
Here too the answer is that the

Torah demands that we remove

the barriers between generations
even as we, paradoxically,
respect those barriers. We are
living in times where the elders
have to listen more carefully to
the needs and demands of the
youth because in many ways
they are the more altruistic
group. Even in the distant
past, our Sages spoke of how a
teacher gets the most knowledge
from his students, even more
so than from his teachers and
colleagues. In Messianic times,
the prophet Malachi predicts,
The hearts of the fathers will
be returned to G-d through the
children. Because the division
between young and old has been
partially erased we have therefore
witnessed a breakdown in the
needed boundaries.

LIVING THE PARADOX

The challenge today is not
only to find the right balance; the
ultimate goal is to introduce a
trans-boundary energy within the
boundaries.
This was the power vested in
the Bais HaMikdash, the most
significant part of which was the
Ark. While the Ark, our Sages
tell us, had precisely prescribed
dimensions,
it
miraculously
occupied no physical space in the
Temple. It introduced a Divine
power that transcends space into
the very parameters of space.




This is why we focus on

rebuilding the Bais HaMikdash
in these days before and after
Tisha BAv. It will enable us
to create the energy that will
take us beyond our prescribed
borders into a world of precise
measurements and boundaries.

FUSION OF REVEALED
AND ESOTERIC PARTS OF
TORAH
Another paradox of the coexistence of barriers and barrier
transcending power is the
division between the revealed
teachings of Torah, such as its
laws, and the inner dimension
and mystical aspects of Torah
knowledge.
For
thousands
of years this body of esoteric
knowledge was kept secret. There
was a clear separation between
these two disciplines. But, in
the last few hundred years,
particularly with the advent of
Chassidus, that wall of separation
has come down. This mystical
knowledge has been publicized
and made accessible to countless
individuals.
However, these teachings
remain in a category of their
own and the separation still
exists. Here too we can see
the
Messianic
phenomenon
materializing: the fusion of two
opposite worlds, with the removal
of barriers even as we preserve
their integrity.

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CHINUCH

A CHILD OF SHLUCHIM

IS HIMSELF
A SHLIACH
Thousands of Lubavitcher children live in the
world of shlichus and are themselves, young
shluchim. Nosson Avrohom, who is involved in
chinuch, wanted to know about the challenges
and difficulties, as well as the successes,
associated with chinuch on shlichus. Together
with Rabbi Erez Bendetovitz, shliach in southern
Eilat, he analyzes the phenomenon. * Their
conclusion: A child who is a shliach is on a higher
level than other children his age.

t is accepted among the

shluchim that the chinuch of
the children of shluchim rests
upon the Rebbes shoulders,
i.e. is the Rebbes responsibility.
Indeed, in countless stories, letters
and responses, we clearly see
the love and great responsibility
that the Rebbe has for the young
shluchim.
When you encounter the
children of shluchim in our
yeshivos and schools, you see
how, despite the fact that many of

them did not learn in traditional

Chabad schools before, they are
not lacking when it comes to
understanding what is taught and
in their Chassidishe behavior, as
compared to their peers.
However, this does not come
easily. Chinuch requires work
and effort. For the shluchim
who live in environments that
are not Chabad, especially
those who live abroad in nonJewish environments, there are
additional chinuch challenges.

We spoke with a shliach who

is also involved in chinuch, R
Erez Bendetovitz, rosh yeshiva of
Tomchei Tmimim in Eilat, and
one of the shluchim in that city.
What is the best way of
educating children to a life of
shlichus?
By the Nesiei Chabad, and
especially by the Rebbe, we see
that chinuch is a central issue
in which they invested, perhaps
more than anything else. We have
Merkos LInyanei Chinuch, the

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Tzivos Hashem organization,

mivtzaim directed at children,
and the founding of schools all
over the world.
Shaar HaYichud VHaEmuna
in Tanya is called Chinuch Katan.
In the first edition of Tanya, we
see the word missing at the end
of Shaar HaYichud VHaEmuna,
indicating that the manuscript
was incomplete. In later editions,
the word was eliminated. The
Rebbe refers to this and says that
this word was removed by the
Rebbeim because the numerous

maamarim and sichos which they

said filled the gap.
I thought of three educational
approaches that we can learn
from that one word the Alter
Rebbe uses, missing. One
approach: A father can come and
say he is lacking, i.e. he did not
learn in Tomchei Tmimim, he is
busy working, he is an irritable,
nervous type of person, and does
not have the tools to educate his
children. To a person like this the
Rebbe comes and explains that
through the numerous maamarim

and sichos, this void will vanish.

Go and learn and Chassidus will
help you find your way.
A second approach is for
people who want to provide their
children with what they missed
out on, or with what they lack,
in their own chinuch. There are
many parents who want to see
their children succeed where
they themselves failed, but this
is a mistake. A child needs to
receive a chinuch which will
match his abilities and talents
without being measured against
someone else. So the word
missing was removed. As
the Rebbe writes, we have the
teachings of Chassidus which
will provide the correct balance
and the right path to take.
Since the first two approaches
tell us what not to do, I thought
in a more homiletic vein of
a third approach which also
explains the word missing. We
need to approach every issue in
chinuch with the feeling that we
are lacking, and just as someone
who lacks something works to fill
his needs, so too with chinuch. If
a person feels he is lacking, he
works constantly to improve, as
the Rebbe said countless times,
to go from strength to strength.
Do not be satisfied with what
was done until now. The work of
chinuch is endless and when you
are mechanech in this way, then
you raise children that reflect
the investment that was put into
them.
This might explain how to be
mechanech a child in general to
Torah and mitzvos and the ways
of Chassidus, but how do you
train a child to shlichus?
In Igeres Hakodesh, the
Alter Rebbe explains that the
main influence a father has on
his son is through the sfira of
yesod, hiskashrus through love
and pleasure. The more a child

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Chinuch

Our children are our secret weapon. When

an irreligious couple is sitting at our Shabbos
table and I hear them say that they too want to have an
experience like we have, of a Shabbos table with children
who help set up and clear off, who say divrei Torah and
speak politely, then I know we are halfway there and
soon another Chassidishe family will join Lubavitch.
grows up with love and delight,
the more successful he will be.
Being on shlichus provides
daily pleasure and delight. When
I come home at night after a day
of giving shiurim, conversations
with mekuravim and after
mivtzaim, I feel that I came back
from a Chassidishe farbrengen
with the best mashpiim and ziknei
hachassidim. The advantage
of a Chassidishe farbrengen
is that it penetrates the hearts
of the listeners and motivates
them to change. The same thing
happens when you are involved
in spreading the wellsprings and
answering peoples questions;
with each question you think
what is the Rebbes approach to
this. The avoda of shlichus deals
with the core issues of our lives
in a practical way, and when the
shliach returns home with this
focus he returns with delight
and pleasure. This is felt in the
home and affects the children.
A child growing up in a house
like this, where the father comes
home every day with delight and
pleasure, cannot help but be
influenced.
But still, being on shlichus
could pose difficulties in raising
children.
Shlichus cannot raise real
problems; on the contrary,
shlichus helps. The Rebbe says
in one of the sichos that a shliach
feels he wants to be in 770 and
in a Chassidishe environment,

and that is perfectly okay, but

the situation requires us to go
out on shlichus. So of course
there are hardships. But they turn
into challenges if we stick to the
Rebbes derech.
Here
is
an
example.
Previously, Jewish women were
at home more while the men
went out to work, so that the
chinuch in many families fell to
the mother. But in Chabad, the
Rebbe Rayatz and even more so
the Rebbe, took women out of the
home to spread the wellsprings.
My wife is just as busy as I am
in giving shiurim and having
personal talks with mekuravos, so
the time we have for the children
isnt much. Its not just the father
but the mother who is busy too.
When it comes to quantity,
it is possible that those shluchim
who are public figures, whose
time is devoted to the public,
are involved with their children
far less than in other families.
But there is no question that
the quality compensates for the
quantity. It is very important to
make sure that the limited time
the child has with his parents is
quality time. Ultimately, a child
who grows up in an atmosphere
of shlichus, experiences the world
of inner Chassidic meaning and
content at a much younger age
and in greater amounts. At the
Shabbos table with mekuravim,
questions arise and answers
are given so that the chinuch he
receives and is exposed to is more

pnimiusdik.
We know that there are
shluchim
whose
financial
situation isnt good. Can this
affect a child so that he thinks,
when I grow up I dont want to
live like this?
I disagree with your premise
that financial difficulties can
adversely affect chinuch. In
one of the early years of my
coming to Lubavitch, a few of us
bachurim were hosted by a family
in Kfar Chabad. Apparently, they
were not expecting us and there
was not enough food. I will not
forget how the father took his
own plate and served it to one of
the bachurim. His son, who sat
near him, got the best chinuch
for giving.
Obviously, and this is the
view of the Rebbe, all Jews,
especially shluchim, ought to
live expansively. But even when
there are constraints, it greatly
depends on the shliachs attitude.
Its a great opportunity to show
the children how we deal with
giving even when its hard, even
when the animal soul gets no
enjoyment out of giving. Its an
opportunity to teach how we
manage with little and are full
of emuna and simcha despite
the situation. When a child is
exposed to this approach, the
financial situation does not ruin
the atmosphere.
You live in Eilat and are
surrounded by neighbors who
are not religious and its a city
where the religious presence
is not that prominent. How do
you protect your children in this
kind of decadent environment?
I must honestly say that we
have no guarantees against the
influence of the street. Whoever
thinks we do is mistaken. Our
job as parents on shlichus is to
raise our children to be careful
of the effects of the street. We

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teach them that our role is to

transform the darkness of the
street into light. My young son,
from a very young age, lives with
the feeling that he is mashpia
and not mushpa (influenced).
At the same time, what helps
a lot is when the children are
exposed every day to Jews who
came from the street and take an
interest in Judaism. The children
are exposed to the entire process
of becoming baalei tshuva. A
guy who comes with earrings
and a ponytail and within a few
months is wearing a yarmulke,
and after several more months
he is growing a beard and he
buys a suit and hat, or a woman
who starts covering her hair,
these, along with the obvious
conclusions, are engraved in the
souls of the children.
I recently read the research
of a sociologist from Bar Ilan
University. An entire chapter
of her work is devoted to the
children of shluchim. She avers
that the children of shluchim are
more diligent and pious in Torah
and mitzvos than their peers.
What about loneliness? The
nearest Chabad community
to you is in Beer Sheva, three
hours away.
On shlichus there is a price
you pay. We work in Eilat and it
is not easy. For children who are
in distant locations, loneliness is
definitely the hardest part. But
the online shluchim school that
we have is very helpful.
We send the children to
Chassidishe
summer
camps

and a few times a year they go

to their grandparents in Kfar
Chabad where they experience
Chassidishe community life.
Sometimes, relatives visit us and
the children greatly look forward
to these visits.
There are a few baal tshuva
families with young children who
live here. My wife and I spend
quality time with our children
every Motzaei Shabbos and it is
very important and helpful. The
boys play games and spend a lot
of time together. The isolation,
relative to life in a community,
is felt very much and we try to
overcome it.
To what extent are your
children involved in shlichus?
Is it proper to expose them to
the work of shlichus at a young
age?
Our children are our secret
weapon on shlichus. Our main
occupation on shlichus is to be
mekarev people and when an
irreligious couple is sitting at
our Shabbos or Yom Tov table
and I hear them say that they too
want to have an experience like
we have of a Shabbos table with
children who help set up and
clear off, who say divrei Torah
and speak politely, then I know
we are halfway there and soon
another Chassidishe family will
join Lubavitch.
The children join us on Mivtza
Lulav,
Chanuka,
mishloach
manos, etc. and its powerful.
People see that even the next
generation is involved in shlichus,
and it is very effective.

We adults often find it hard

to have an impact, and then
come the children and with
their innocence they are more
successful than we are. My
daughters give out Shabbos
candles every week near the
supermarket and I have heard
from women who were impressed
by them saying they will light
Shabbos candles. Think about
what effect this has on the girls.
When I walk with a child,
holding his hand as I go to shul,
dressed in my Chassidishe garb,
it makes an enormous impact.
I constantly hear about it from
people who say it reminds them
of other times in their lives and
inspires them. The sight of a
father and son walking hand in
hand to shul makes them jealous
and want to copy us, for this
parent-child connection is greatly
eroded in the irreligious world.
In the sicha at the Kinus
HaShluchim 5752 the Rebbe
said that Moshiach needs to
be part of everything. To what
extent does being involved in
Moshiach help raise a child on
shlichus?
The chinuch to live with
Moshiach is absolutely essential
on shlichus. If we do not work
to hasten the hisgalus of the
Rebbe, from where will we get
the strength to do what we do?
When a child grows up in an
atmosphere in which the Geula
is an imminent reality and
everything we do is directed
at hastening it, then his entire
experience of shlichus looks
completely different.

www.MoshiachForKids.com
Check it out!! Educational and Fun!!
Issue 983

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MOSHIACH & GEULA

THE WORLD
IN OUR HANDS
In virtue of hiskashrus, that G-d is connected with the Jewish
people, the conduct of Jews below in this world determines and
elicits a matching response from On High. * From Chapter 8 of
Rabbi Shloma Majeskis Likkutei Mekoros. (Underlined text is the
compilers emphasis.)
Translated by Boruch Merkur

[The unholy forces of] Klipa and Sitra Achara

are able to receive Divine energy through the two
manners of yenika (gleaning spiritual vitality)
discussed above, namely, from the numerous
tzimtzumim [the contraction and diminution of
G-dly revelations, whereby G-dliness descends
and is concealed within the lower levels] and from
the transcendent level of Makif HaElyon [where
G-dliness is imparted indiscriminately]. Now, the
capacity for yenika depends upon the quality of the
Divine service of Jews [i.e., if their avoda is lacking
or insufficient, G-dly energy is channeled to these
unholy forces]. Thus, it is written, in the beginning
(breishis) of G-ds creating, etc. Our Sages
comment: reishis (beginning or purpose)
refers to Yisroel, because the world was created
for the sake of the Jewish people.
Likewise it is written, I have made (Anochi asisi)
the earth, and I have created (barasi) man upon it
I [G-d] Anochi (mi shAnochi) have made the
earth for the sake of man. Thus, it is written, you
are man, and our Sages comment, You [the
Jewish people] are called man, and this man is
for the sake of barasi I have created, which is
numerically equivalent to 613. The meaning of this
numeric equivalence is that the ultimate intent of
Creation is that man should fulfill the 613 Mitzvos
in the physical world, as in the saying, A man must
say the world was created for me.
Since the souls of the Jewish people are the primary
and ultimate intent of the creation of the world,

therefore, all manners of G-dly revelations and

manifestations, even reaching the lowest possible
levels, everything depends upon man, upon the
manner of his conduct and avoda. The result On
High of the haughtiness of man, his arrogance
and conceit, is that Klipa and Sitra Achara raise
themselves up to receive from Makif HaElyon,
whereas by lowering oneself and slouching,
descending into foreign desires and wicked lusts,
the result On High is a descent, as it were, of
the G-dly light into numerous tzimtzumim and
concealments. This teaching is in line with what is
written, And man is bowed down, and man shall be
brought low: Since man is bowed down below
in this world, allowing the evil aspect of his body
to be drawn after lusts and material pleasures,
this causes, and man [here meaning Supernal
Man, G-dliness] shall be brought low, the decent
and lowering, as it were, of G-dly light into many
tzimtzumim and concealments.
Now, even according to the natural order,
according to the measure determined by the Kav
HaMidda (the Divine arbiter of G-dly vitality), the
unholy forces receive G-dly energy from the many
tzimtzumim. Since these forces originate from the
act of Creation, it is, therefore, necessary to say that
they must have some life-force. Thus, it is written,
And You enliven them all even Klipa and Sitra
Achara. However, this necessary yenika, which is
required for the sake of their being sustained, is
highly contracted and extremely precise. It is only
on account of sin and inequity, G-d forbid, that

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additional yenika is drawn to the unholy forces,

more than what is delineated for them by the Kav
HaMidda.

G-d is not compelled, as it were, to do so. Rather,

these tzimtzumim are done willfully, being G-ds
will.

This concept is understood in light of the

explanation found in Eitz Chaim, Shaar Miut
HaYareiach, regarding the concept of the difference
between the diminishment caused by the kitrug
against the moon (the judgment against it that it
should be decreased in its size and glory) and the
spiritual diminishment that resulted from the Sin
of eating of the Tree of Knowledge. Although in
both cases, Sfiras HaMalchus was rendered as no
more than a singular point, the seminal root point,
nevertheless,
there
is a big difference
between the two
diminutions.
Namely, at the time
of the kitrug of the
moon, the Nine
Sfiros departed and
ascended, whereas
the sin of the Tree
of
Knowledge
caused the Nine
Sfiros to descend
into the domain of
klipos. Thus, the sin
caused
additional
yenika
to
be
drawn down to the
unholy forces. Sin,
therefore,
brings
about
something
worse [than the
diminishment
of
the moon], insofar
as it brings about
the
state
On
High whereby the
tzimtzumim become obligatory, incumbent upon
G-d, as it were.

However, sin, G-d forbid, causes the tzimtzumim

to become as if they are obligatory upon G-d.
Although one cannot say that G-d is compelled to
do anything, chas vshalom, nevertheless, in virtue
of hiskashrus, that He is connected with the Jewish
people (the fact that G-d is bound, as it were,
with the souls of the Jewish people), the conduct
of Jews below in this world determines and elicits
a matching response from On High. Thus, the
tzimtzumim that are caused from sin and iniquity
are as if they are
forced, G-d forbid,
as expressed in the
saying, all those
who walk with an
erect stature, it
is as if they push
away the legs of the
Divine Presence,
for it causes the
tzimtzum.

Tzimtzum, in the framework of the natural order, is

something that is directly in line with G-ds will, for
it really isnt a tzimtzum at all. This is as explained
elsewhere that a willful boundary or limitation
is no limitation at all. On the same basis, a willful
tzimtzum is not a tzimtzum at all. In this sense, with
regard to all tzimtzumim that G-d imposes upon
Himself, in whatever manner by which He contracts
Himself and in every dimension that He does so,
even at the lowest levels, none of it is obligatory;

However,
the
positive
aspect
of Divinity is, of
course,
stronger.
Thus, every good
thing a person does
not just fulfilling
Torah and Mitzvos,
but even proper
conduct, such as
beautifying Mitzvos
or supporting Torah
scholars financially
brings about a
revelation of G-dly
light in the world. Indeed, it is within the power of
every single Jew to bring G-dliness into the world
in this manner, as it is written, For the portion
of G-d is His nation; Yaakov is the rope of His
inheritance. This verse employs the analogy of a
rope whose upper end is tied above and the lower
end is tied below. When one shakes the lower end,
the top end also moves. So too with the Jewish
people: The manner of the avoda of Jews below
determines what is elicited from Above.
(Kuntreisim Vol 1, pg. 181-2)

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Really? I want to go back

talking and I eagerly listened
Russia.
to every word he said. These to the time of galus in
what
myself
for
see
to
like
Id
more
seemed
stories of heroism
there.
on
went
my
from
them
real as I heard
My grandfather set the digrandfather and I could picmy
where
room
als and asked me to press the
ture the dark
d
learne
y
secretl
green button in the center
grandfather
minwhere
shul
two times firmly and one time
Torah and the
s
mesiru
with
held
gently. Then, within seconds, I
yanim were
KGB
the
how
d
found myself in an unfamiliar
nefesh. I picture
shul
the
into
place.
suddenly broke
mother
my
and the people escaped out
is
Russian
the windows. I felt the mesirus tongue. After I read what it
nefesh of one of the Chassi- said on the street sign I immedim as he refused to reveal his diately realized I was in Mosfriends names when he was in- cow, the capital of Russia. For
terrogated. I exclaimed, Zaidy, a moment I was frightened.
with everything they suffered, What would I do if a KGB agent
it was still an incredible time, caught me? But I immediately
a time when the Jewish ne- remembered to think positiveshama was revealed and burned ly. I started walking toward a
brightly!
magnificent building not far
True, true, Mendele, said away. I quickly got there and
my grandfather as he patted walked in and was surprised to
see many Jews wearing Chabad
my cheek.
hats and sirtuks.
***
I wondered how come they
Why do I spend time telling
KGB
you about stories I heard that werent afraid that the
went
I
them.
catch
took place in galus? It would be would
asked
better for me to tell you what is over to one of them and
said
He
ing.
gather
happening with me now, when about this
Kinus
a
is
This
smile,
with a
we are already in the Geula.
HaShluchim for all the shluchim
an
has
My grandfather
in the country. They have all
old shed packed with ancient
gathered here for chizuk to
things. Today I decided to orcontinue their shlichus.
ganize it in the hopes of finding
Are you not afraid
something interesting. I spent
the KGB barging in,
of
treathe
a long time among
the middle of the
in
point
some
sures there, and at
I asked in
Kinus?
ious
myster
I came across a
ment.
amaze
but
clock
a
item. It looked like
diiliar
shlThe
it had all sorts of unfam
burst
iach
als and numbers.
I ran to my grandfather out laughing.
with my find and asked him The KGB?
what it was used for. He ex- It no lonexists.
amined it carefully and said, I ger
Kinus
thought I had lost it. Where did This
you find it? In the shed? It is a is approved
clock with unique proper ties. It by the govcan transport you to any time e r n m e n t
which greatly
and place you choose.

respects the shluchim and

is happy to host a Kinus in its
capital city.
Really? Then this is not the
era I wanted. I came from the
Geula to see what my grandfather went through in galus in
Russia but you are living on the
threshold of Geula.
The shliach looked at me a
little strangely but I kept talking. You already get to see the
wonders taking place so close
to the Geula. Even the Russian
government, which once fought
against Torah and mitzvos,
respects and hosts the Kinus
HaShluchim in Russia.
I did not wait to hear a response because I wanted to get
to the era that my grandfather
described. I pressed two and a
half times on the button. As for
what happened next, maybe
I will tell you about it another
time.

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TZIVOS HASHEM

THE WONDERS
OF THE GEULA
By D Chaim

My grandfather is one of the

most fascinating people I know.
His supply of stories is neverending and whenever I can, I
try to hear another story from
him. Even now, after the Rebbe
Melech HaMoshiach was nisgaleh and we are in the era of
Geula, my grandfather continues to tell stories.
I remember that in the final
moments of galus, my grandfather always said that the most
important thing is to be happy.
Mendele, Moshiach is coming
and we need to be happy, he
would say a little mischievously
and with a smile that made me
smile. Now, of course, there is
no sadness and people are always happy.
My grandparents lived in
Russia for many years and
then made aliya. I was very
curious to know what it was
like in Russia for them but for
some reason, my grandfather
was unwilling to talk about it.
Whenever I tried to bring it up,
my grandfather would close
his eyes and after a few seconds would start talking about
something else. But dont think
I gave up; my curiosity only
grew.
One day, before the Rebbe

was nisgaleh, I heard old Efraim

say to someone in shul that until today he sometimes senses
he is being followed. I ran to
my grandfather and said, We
must do something. Maybe its
a robber who is waiting for an
opportunity to rob Efraim of
his little bit of money!
Nonsense, said my grandI
what
dismissing
father,
said with a wave of his hand.
Efraim himself knows that nobody is following him.
But Zaidy, I heard Efraim
himself say so!
I know, said my grandfather reassuringly, that is only
natural after many years when
Efraim was under surveillance
by the Russians. Its okay, I am
familiar with it myself.
opening.
my
was
This
Grandfather himself was referring to that time in Russia! I
excitedly asked my grandfather
before he could change the topic, Why did the Russians follow
you?
Oh Mendele, Mendele. You
cannot imagine what we went
through there.
My grandfathers gaze was
fixed on some invisible point
and it looked as though he was
thinking back to those days.

Suddenly, he asked me,

Why does this interest you?
Zaidy, I find this very interesting!
My grandfather found it
hard to ignore my pleas and
we sat down together at an old
table in the living room of my
grandparents house and went
back in time.
My grandfathers soft voice,
along with his hand gestures,
explained what had happened
as he was walking down the
street and encountered a group
of Russian kids.
They noticed me from the
distance and started whispering, but it was too late for me
to withdraw. A slight indication of fear on my part would
merely increase their boldness.
I was terrified, but was determined to show them that I
was not afraid. I walked toward
them confidently and said,
Whoever thinks hes strong,
come over here.
They all suddenly lost their
confidence and none of them
said a word. Some time went
by and then I said, Dont you
dare touch a Jew. I turned
around slowly and went on my
way.
My grandfather continued

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