YOU COUNT! HERE’S WHY…

Yet, on Shavuos the Eibeshter Himself descended with all of His hordes and hosts of angels and declared to us: YOU COUNT! He indicated to us that He desires a dwelling place specifically on this lowly, negligible, insignificant spot in His vast creation. And He wants it to be effected by the conduct of these lowly, unimportant beings – these insignificant specks of humanity. That is to say: you and I!

The following story was related by Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Schwartz who settled in Brazil on the advice of the Rebbe. It was first published in the Kfar Chabad several years ago.

THE REBBE CAN’T SLEEP BECAUSE OF YOU

One day, Rabbi Shwartz received a call from the parents of one of the children in the school that he ran, requesting a meeting. While this was a fairly common request, in this particular instance the anxiety in the voices on the phone indicated that this was no simple matter. He invited them to meet him in his home that evening.

“This does not concern our son,” began the father, “who is doing wonderfully in your school; rather, it is about our eldest daughter, who grew up here before you came. As you know, we are not scrupulously observant, but it is important to us that our children retain their identity as Jews. This is why we send our son to your school, despite the fact that your school is considerably more religious than we consider ourselves to be.

“To get to the point, our daughter has informed us that she has fallen in love with a non-Jew and that they intend to marry. We have tried everything to dissuade her, but our arguments, appeals, threats and tears have all been to no avail. She now refuses to discuss the matter with us at all and has moved out of our home. Rabbi! You are our only hope! Perhaps you can reach her. Perhaps you can impress upon her the gravity of the betrayal of her people, her parents and her own identity by what she intends to do!”

“Would she agree to meet with me?” asked Rabbi Shwartz.

“If she knew that we had spoken to you, she’d surely refuse,” they replied.

“Then I’ll go and speak to her on my own.”

He took down the address from her parents, and rang her bell that very evening. She was visibly annoyed to learn of the purpose of his visit, but she was too well-mannered not to invite him in. They spoke for several hours. She listened politely and promised to consider everything he said, but he came away with the feeling that little or nothing had been achieved.

For several days Rabbi Shwartz pondered the matter, trying to think of what might possibly be done to prevent the loss of a Jewish soul r”l. Then he remembered an avenue that he hadn’t yet pursued – the Rebbe. He called the Rebbe’s secretary, Rabbi Chadakov, related to him the entire affair, and asked for the Rebbe’s advice as to what might be done. A few minutes later the phone rang. “The Rebbe says to tell the young woman,” said Rabbi Chadakov, “that there is a Jew in Brooklyn who cannot sleep at night because she intends to marry a non-Jew.”

The unexpected reply confused Rabbi Shwartz, and he didn’t immediately grasp what Rabbi Chadakov was saying. “Who is this Jew?” he blurted out.

Suddenly, he heard the Rebbe’s voice on the other extension saying: “His name is Mendel Schneersohn.”

Rabbi Shwartz slowly returned the receiver to its cradle, more confused than ever. “How could I possibly do what the Rebbe is suggesting?” he wondered. “Why, she’ll slam the door in my face!” After agonizing all night, however, he decided to carry out the Rebbe’s instructions to the letter. After all, the fate of a Jewish soul was at stake, and what could he lose, other than his pride?

Early the next morning, he was once again at her door. “Listen,” she said as soon as she spotted him, “whom I marry is my own affair, and no one else’s. I respect rabbis and men of faith, so I heard you out the last time, when I should have shown you the door. But now, please go away and stop bothering me.”

“There is one more thing I need to say to you,” he said urgently.

“Then say it, and go.”

“There is a Jew in Brooklyn who cannot sleep at night because you intend to marry a non-Jew.”

“That’s what you came to tell me?!” she said, incredulous, and proceeded to close the door.

Midway she stopped. “Who is this Jew?” she asked, suddenly.

“A great Jewish leader, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe,” he replied. “The Rebbe is greatly concerned about the material and spiritual well-being of every Jew, and agonizes over every soul that is lost to its people.”

“What does he look like? Do you have a picture of him?”

Shocked by her unexpected question, he answered her: “I should have a picture somewhere. I’ll go and get it for you.”

Surprisingly, she didn’t object, and nodded in assent. He rushed home and nearly turned the house upside down in search of a photograph of the Rebbe. Finally, he discovered one in a desk drawer, and hurried back to the young woman’s apartment with it.

She took one look at the Rebbe’s likeness and her face turned pale. “Yes, it’s him,” she whispered in amazement.

Noticing his astonishment, she explained: “All week long this man has been appearing in my dreams and imploring me not to abandon my people. I told myself that I was conjuring up an image of a Jewish sage and putting those words in his mouth as a reaction to what you and my parents have been saying to me. But no, it was not my imagination. I have never met this man in my life, seen a picture of him, or even heard of him. But this is he – this is the man I have been seeing in my dreams!”

There are many powerful arguments that can be used to deter a person from such a drastic and tragic step as intermarriage r”l; in this story, however, the Rebbe took a unique approach. His message to her was: “You make a difference!” Although the Rebbe is the leader of the entire Jewish nation, of millions of people, and there are myriads of organizations worldwide that are overseen by him, nonetheless – he said to this woman – you, as an individual, are important to the Rebbe.

Sometimes, it is the mere realization of the impact of one’s actions, which can help them re-assess and appreciate the true gravity of their decision. The Rebbe feels this impact, and this was the message that he conveyed to the woman.

THE SHLIACH AND THE ASKAN

The Rebbe once explained the difference between a shliach and an askan: An askan arrives in a city and is immediately concerned with changing the world. The shliach, in contrast, is focused on that one neshama that he can return to its source. Indeed, in this respect, the Rebbe is the quintessential shliach. The countless global projects that he is involved with do not detract even one iota, and rather stem from, his complete personal concern and care for each and every single individual.

It’s a message that is so very telling to each and every one of us: Lubavitch is not only about multimillion dollar undertakings with worldwide influence, but it is about every single maaseh, dibbur and machshava performed by every and any man, woman or child. It’s about recognizing the magnitude of every single individual deed. Although the Rebbe was directly involved with so many large scale projects, his (perhaps most oft-repeated) slogan was the quote of the Rambam about how one act or speech or thought by one person tips the scale for the entire universe.

To be sure, the Rebbe’s goal was, and is, to change the world. But he never allowed himself – or us – to forget the fact that this is achieved by changing ourselves.

A Chassid once said to the Rebbe “L’chaim far Lubavitch.” To which the Rebbe responded: “Lubavitch ken zich alein an eitza gebben, zog L’chaim far zich!” (Lubavitch can take care of itself; say, rather, L’chaim for yourself).

EVERY INDIVIDUAL COUNTS

This week we begin a new seifer in Chumash, Chumash BaMidbar, that is also known as Chumash HaPekudim – the Chumash of Counting (that’s right, the commonly used translation of “the book of Numbers” is not accurate; the correct translation of “Pekudim” is ‘counting,’ not numbers).

What is so special about the act of counting the Jewish people, to the point of naming a Chumash after this event? What was the necessity or significance of counting Yidden in the first place?

The Rebbe often repeated the explanation that this counting gave B’nei Yisroel the status of a “davar sh’b’minyan” which can never become battul. If you buy a bushel of apples, one apple more or less won’t necessarily make a difference; you aren’t buying a specific number of apples, but rather a whole bunch, and one more or less won’t affect that. But if you buy a dozen eggs, each and every egg is essential for them to be a dozen; eleven or 13 aren’t a dozen. And that holds true even if you’re buying 500 dozen; if you only get 5,999 eggs then you didn’t get 500 dozen (whew, thank G-d for my calculator).

A davar sh’b’minyan means a group in which you don’t just see the aggregate, but a group in which every individual element has its inherent value and importance.

A davar sh’b’minyan is a group in which – no matter how large the general group may be – every single individual counts.

And this is the theme of Seifer BaMidbar: every single individual counts. The total may be 600,000, it may be 3,000,000. You may feel yourself as an unimportant statistic.

But the Torah tells us otherwise; Moshe Rabbeinu indicated otherwise. From the perspective of the Eibeshter, whose connection with – and interest in – us cannot be measured by physical standards, every single one of us counts, and counts equally!

• • •

This is the central point of Chag HaShavuos, Z’man Mattan Toraseinu, as well. When we consider the solar system, with all of its heavenly bodies and vast amount of space, our little planet is an insignificant speck of matter that can hardly be considered of any importance. Now consider the entire universe, with infinite galaxies and planets; from this vantage point the world as we know it is too insignificant to even be called insignificant.

And that’s merely on the physical plane. When we further consider that the entire physical existence as we know it is nothing more than the tail-end of an intricate “seder hishtalshlus” that is dwarfed by the ongoing chain of spiritual worlds that precede it, rising higher and higher to eternity, then the happenings of even our entire universe, let alone our measly planet, and especially a small portion thereof, are the epitome of inconsequential.

Yet, on Shavuos the Eibeshter Himself descended with all of His hordes and hosts of angels and declared to us: YOU COUNT! He indicated to us that He desires a dwelling place specifically on this lowly, negligible, insignificant spot in His vast creation. And He wants it to be effected by the conduct of these lowly, unimportant beings – these insignificant specks of humanity. That is to say: you and I!

Because to Him we count! And everything that we do, say, or even think counts! And this realization itself can and must induce us to pay more attention to our behavior.

It is sometimes easy to throw great effort into a massive program with wide-reaching consequences. We can’t underestimate the importance of hundreds of t’fillin, thousands of tzitzis, multitudes of Jews reached by a given endeavor.

But, it can be hard to recognize and accept that I, too, count. As important as it is to change the world, it is as important to impact the Olam Katan – zeh ha’adam. To figure out what I can do about my own learning, how to increase a shiur in nigleh and chassidus, and how to take steps to better my own behavior.

On Shabbos BaMidbar, according to the directives of the Rebbe, we focus especially on Achdus. And there are ambitious plans to initiate new programs that will promote achdus amongst Chassidim, or even amongst world Jewry. But here too, we must remember that “I too count.” It’s not enough to bring about global unity; it’s a good idea for me (and you) to start getting along with someone with whom I had difficulty getting along with in the past. It’s a time that I should take a step towards improving and refining my character traits that define my relationship with others.

Because on BaMidbar, we are each told: In this great nation, and in this massive universe: YOU COUNT!

L’chaim! As the Eibeshter is again surely counting us (since HaYamim HaEilu Nizkarim VeNaasim), he is surely simultaneously counting our tears, our sighs, as well as our limitless hope and stubborn faith, and surely the count will tip the scale and bring about the immediate and actual hisgalus of Moshiach Tzidkeinu Teikef U’miyad Mamash!!!

From a written farbrengen directed towards Alumni of Yeshivas Lubavitch Toronto