Why are more people than ever in Beitar participating in Chabad events? How can an adventurer half way up a mountain continue to to learn Tanya every day? Find out this and more in these delightful stories!
UNITY DESPITE THE DIFFERENCES
Rabbi Yaakov Turnheim has been the shliach in the religious city of Beitar Ilit for many years. He also runs the cultural department of the city, a department with wide-ranging responsibility, which helps tremendously in Chabad activities, shuls, rallies, Siyumei Rambam, Lag B’Omer parades, and more.
In Beitar, there is a large community of Lubavitchers, schools, and shuls and they are helped by R’ Turnheim. R’ Asher Lemel Cohen has been the rav of the Chabad community since Beitar Ilit was founded.
In recent years, there has been a concerted effort to build a greater cohesion within the Chabad community thanks to the initiative of two or three young men. Thanks to the unity, many more people participate in Chabad events than ever before.
In order to get more information about this radical change in Beitar, I spoke with one of the achdus initiators, R’ Aharon Shlomo Lison.
“When I spoke with some friends in the community about the idea of unifying all the mosdos, they told me it would never work. They said it was a shame for me to waste my time and energy. Nevertheless, I did not give up. I, and a few other optimists who helped me, spoke with all the rabbanim and directors of the various mosdos, and Boruch Hashem, the achdus idea was contagious.
“The results astounded everyone. If at a Siyum HaRambam a few years prior there had been a few dozens participants, now, thanks to the achdus and joint activities, there were 800 people.
“After everyone saw the advantage of achdus, we decided to continue with this approach for the Lag B’Omer parade. Once again, there were those who were cynical and said, ‘There’s no way, it won’t work,’ but thank G-d, it worked out better than we expected. Not only did the Lubavitchers in town attend the parade, but all the students of all the boys’ elementary schools showed up – Chassidic, Litvish, Sephardic, Ashkenazic – they all came.”
It was a tremendous Kiddush Hashem when 3000 children shouted, “V’Ahavta” and “Shma” together. At the dais sat people who had previously barely spoken to one another. Now they were all united for the success of the Rebbe’s parade. At the end of the parade, R’ Turnheim warmly thanked all those who had worked to make the parade the enormous success that it was.
R’ Lison singled out one of the main people who worked on creating achdus, R’ Shneur Goldmitz, who brought his experience from the parade in Yerushalayim and transplanted it in Beitar.
There is still much to be done to strengthen this achdus. The reason for writing stories like these is to get out the message that if you want to do it, it can be done. With Ahavas Yisroel we will bring the Goel.
CHITAS ON HIS iPHONE
R’ Amram Shaatal is the shliach in Tel Mond and the yishuvim of Lev HaSharon for over thirty years. I met one of his talmidim under circumstances that got me so excited when I realized what an enormous influence a shliach has. This is what happened:
I had gone with my wife to a wedding in Yerushalayim. On the way back to Beit Shaan, late at night, I saw two young men waiting for a hitch towards Yam HaMelach. I picked them up and continued driving. They did not look religious; they had long hair, one in a ponytail and one in a braid. They had backpacks and sleeping bags. As we got to talking, I learned that one of them, a Yemenite, was from Tel Mond and the other guy was an American gentile. They had met while touring in India half a year earlier.
I asked the Israeli whether there was a shliach in Tel Mond. He said, “Of course, R’ Amram Shaatal.” In the same breath, he told me about all the shluchim in India who welcomed him warmly on his last trip, who served as a continuation to the Tanya classes he had started in Tel Mond. I told him to give regards from the shliach in Beit Shaan, myself.
The minute he realized I am a Lubavitcher, he was so excited. The first thing he did was to loudly proclaim Yechi. Then he told me about “his” Chabad house in Tel Mond, about the t’fillos on Shabbos and the learning of Tanya.
Then he asked me if I could tell him what we would be learning tomorrow in Tanya. I asked him whether he had already learned that day’s portion and he said yes. “Today we learned about Yaakov Avinu, that Hashem did many kindnesses for him and he did not become boastful (Igeres Katonti).”
I asked him how he managed to learn Tanya every day while touring and he told me he uses his iPhone. He goes to the Chabad website and reads the Chumash, T’hillim, and Tanya just as R’ Amram Shaatal taught him.
I asked him when the last time was that he put on t’fillin and he said, “What’s the question? This morning, at the central bus station in Teveria!”
“Nice,” I said, “and where will you put them on tomorrow?”
“Tonight, we are going up a mountain facing Yam HaMelach and tomorrow I will put on t’fillin as I watch the sunrise.”
Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather …
LEARNING CHASSIDUS IN DEPTH
After an incredible encounter like that, I had to call R’ Amram. “How do you do it?” I asked him
He said, “At first, I thought I’d speak to the mekuravim indirectly about Chassidus, as opposed to learning Chassidus directly. I figured that their minds are just not into this. But afterward I realized that what would actually transform them from the inside is learning sichos and maamarei Chassidus. Externally, they look far from it, but when you start drawing them into the depths of Chassidus, they feel the uniqueness of being G-d’s chosen people and they become devoted to Hashem, to Torah and to all Chassidic practices. They even influence their families and friends.”
R’ Shaatal told me about one of his mekuravim who had recently married in a Chassidic wedding and had joined the Chabad community in Rechovot. He had belonged to the Breslov community but was still searching for his path in life. At a certain point, he had attended one of R’ Shaatal’s deep shiurim, loved it, and began regularly attending the class.
His Breslover friends intervened, protesting his defection. When R’ Shaatal heard about this, he simply started a Chassidus class in the home of the head of the Breslov group. They did not turn into Lubavitchers, but the protests ceased. They said to their friend, “At least now we understand what you are excited about.”
THE POWER OF A TWO WEEK CHABAD CAMP
R’ Shaatal told me about his son, Asaf, who joined him in his outreach work in Tel Mond after he married. Like his father, he started many shiurim for all ages and levels: for Tzivos Hashem clubs and day camps, a shiur for young people that takes place in a restaurant, a shiur for those coming back from India, and a shiur for seniors in an exclusive senior center near Tel Mond.
Yad L’Achim called R’ Shaatal and told him that thanks to his Tzivos Hashem club, they were able to rescue a Jewish child and her mother from an Arab village.
“We received information about a mother and daughter who were living within an Arab clan and unable to get out. We got in there somehow, and explained to the elders of the clan that these two people were Jewish and needed to live among Jews. After a long, weird and scary debate, they agreed to release the mother, but ‘the girl is Moslem’ they insisted.
“Suddenly, the girl began to proclaim the various p’sukim and lines about mitzvos. It was just the thing we needed. The elders’ claims were undermined and we took advantage of the momentum and left hurriedly with the mother and child.”
Afterward, the mother said that her daughter had learned this thanks to the classes at R’ Asaf’s club. It was all of two weeks long that the girl had been in the Chabad camp, and yet it stayed with her.
HONEY IN THE MAILBOX
R’ Asaf told me about a special shiur he gives at an exclusive seniors’ residence near Tel Mond. It’s a village for wealthy seniors who can purchase a small home for their golden years. In order to open up a dialogue with the residents, before Rosh HaShana, R’ Asaf would put a bottle of honey and wishes for a good year in their mailboxes. Reactions followed.
One of the people, a veteran military man, called immediately after Rosh HaShana and wanted to buy the Dalet minim for Sukkos. Then he wanted to learn b’chavrusa, a shiur that soon turned into a general shiur for all residents of the village who go to the man’s home every Friday, where it is held. Then the host of the shiur heard about the Tanya and he immediately wanted to buy it so he could learn it. At the next shiur, he heard about Likkutei Sichos and he wanted to buy that too. And this is how the “House Full of S’farim” campaign got underway at the seniors’ village.
THE LITVAK AND THE LUBAVITCHER
The following story shows how the Rebbe influences the world, even with the help of a Litvishe rav. This story was told by a young Lubavitcher man from the Chabad community in Rechovot at a farbrengen.
Someone from Yavne, in his fifties, saved money for years in order to be able to buy a piece of real estate where he would build something that would provide him with an income in his old age. He finally withdrew the money from his bank account, put it into a large briefcase, and hailed a cab in order to travel to the lawyer to buy the property with cash. He had $180,000 in that briefcase. His future and the future of his entire family depended on it.
He paid the driver, got out of the taxi and suddenly realized that he had left the briefcase in the cab. He had no name or phone number for the driver, nor did he know whether the taxi belonged to a company or a particular taxi stand. He knew nothing. Instead of going to the lawyer, he went back to Yavne and on the way, he stopped every taxi that he saw. All the drivers used their radios to contact their friends to ask about a briefcase, but nobody had any information.
The man was devastated. He spoke to a Litvishe rav in Yavne, with whom he was in touch, and told him what had happened. The rav commiserated and then advised him, “Start a shiur in your home and with Hashem’s help, all will be well.”
He listened to the rav’s advice and invited some friends over for Monday night and they had a shiur.
Tuesday morning, he went to shul for Shacharis and felt someone tapping his shoulder. He turned around and saw the driver of the taxi who said, “Are you the one who traveled with me this week?” and he handed over the briefcase with all the money, piles and piles of bills; none were missing.
The ecstatic man thanked the driver and then dared to ask, “Where were you until now? I looked for you all over …”
The driver smiled and asked that they step outside the shul where he would tell him what happened.
“A few days ago, when I took you from Yavne to Rechovot, after you got out I saw that you had forgotten a large briefcase. I opened it and was shocked to see so much money. I decided the money was a gift for me. I needed it, and how did I know (said the yetzer ha’ra) whether its owner had obtained the money honestly. Perhaps he had fooled someone or stole the money.
“I went home and told my wife we are rich. For the next few days, my wife and I rationalized with one another about our using this money. Last night, I was working and a Lubavitcher got into my cab. He was a nice guy and he began talking to me as though we were old friends. He asked me whether there was a pushka in the taxi. I asked him why there should be a pushka in a taxi! He told me that the Lubavitcher Rebbe recommended that every vehicle have a pushka as a protective measure. As we spoke, he took out a small pushka and gave it to me.
“He continued talking and asked me if I had already learned that day’s Chitas. I had no idea what that was and he took out a booklet and said he would learn out loud and would explain what it said so it would be like we were learning Chitas together. I agreed.
“He began reading and explaining the verses from the Torah (it was Parshas Behar) and he read ‘Do not cause your brother pain.’ He explained that it was forbidden to fool anyone. You have to earn your money honestly. What’s yours is yours, and what is not yours is not yours. He explained and explained and my insides began churning. I felt as though this young man had been sent to me by Heaven in order to warn me not take the money unjustly. He spoke from the heart and as he spoke, I resolved that the next morning I would go to Yavne and return all the money to the address I had found on the briefcase.
“This morning, I went to your house and your wife opened the door and said you had gone to shul. So I came here and here is your briefcase. I am sorry for the delay.”
***
As I said earlier, this story was told by someone at a farbrengen in Rechovot. Afterward, a discussion ensued about how all this pertains to us and how we see the Rebbe’s influence in the world.
“First of all,” said one person, “the fact that the driver decided to return the money is only thanks to Chitas and thanks to the bachur, who doesn’t even know what he accomplished. Thanks to the shiur he gave in the taxi, thanks to the hafatza that he did, he saved a Jew from a terrible plight.”
“That’s not the main thing,” said another man at the farbrengen. “The fact that a Litvishe rav told him to make a shiur in his home and all would be well is something that comes directly from the Rebbe. Twenty or thirty years ago, no Litvishe rav would say something like that. If not for the Rebbe and Chassidus, who would connect hosting a shiur to finding a lost briefcase filled with money when one is ruchnius and one is gashmius? Why should a spiritual activity affect the physical reality of the world? It is the Rebbe, over decades of leadership, who instilled this awareness that a spiritual activity has a material effect, whether by checking mezuzos, being careful with family purity or kashrus. All these mitzvos prevent tzaros and solve material problems. If a Litvishe rav internalized this message and even conveyed it, that is a result of the Rebbe’s impact on the world and the preparing of the world for the coming of Moshiach!”
A HAPPY DISPUTE
R’ Yerachmiel Gorelik is on shlichus in Tyumen somewhere near Siberia. When he arrived in his place of shlichus, a Jewish community was already established there, but unfortunately, it was Reform. There was a Reform rabbi, who led t’fillos with mixed seating accompanied by an organ on Shabbos, etc.
When he first started out, he tried to make contact with all the Jews in the city including members of the Reform congregation, and even with its leaders. He invited them to events and even had flyers advertising Chabad’s events hanging on their bulletin board. But as time went on, the members of the Reform congregation noticed that the Chabad rabbi was “stealing” their people away. Their congregation was dwindling as more and more members transferred their loyalty to Chabad. At a certain point, the Reform community decided to no longer cooperate with Chabad. “They are competing with us and there is no point in helping them,” they concluded.
R’ Gorelik felt bad about this ostracism and tried to do away with it. Before Pesach, he took handmade matzos and brought them to the Reform rabbi. He walked in with a friendly smile but the rabbi responded with barbs. “You are too religious and you are undermining and derailing everything that we created here over the years. You are not wanted in our community.”
R’ Gorelik left feeling bad and he looked for consolation within the pages of the Igros Kodesh. He wrote to the Rebbe and asked for a bracha for success in his shlichus. The Rebbe wrote, “It is not our way to collaborate with a community which compromises and distorts the Torah.”
R’ Gorelik understood from this that he had no reason to feel bad by the split; on the contrary, this was as it should be and this was the only way he could continue his shlichus. He also felt that the Rebbe was encouraging him and leading him to the right path, forward to success without interference from the other congregation.
Indeed, he persevered and sees more and more people joining activities that are according to Torah and Halacha as illuminated by Chassidus.